The group of ponies and human left the teacher’s lounge, Sweetie and Applebloom leading. The two little fillies crept along the hallway, looking left and right. They watched up the vent that they had fell from previously.

The two in the back, the teacher and the mare, were talking quietly to each other.

The mare had picked up a plasma cutter before she left, digging it out from the piles of refuse in the barricade. It appeared to be a standard cutter, built for a pony to wield in their mouth.

“Hey, y’all back there! Stop slowin’ us down!” Applebloom called over her shoulder, and CD and Sketch realized there was a meter or more between the pairs of people.

CD picked up speed, and got behind her, and nudged her forward by a foot. “Oops.” CD didn’t try to sound sincere.

Sketch faced backwards and walked fast enough to catch up the the two fillies, “How’s this?”

The two fillies eye him for a moment, Sweetie rapidly losing interest. Sketch wasn’t entirely sure what to make of their rather sudden quiet. Almost as sudden, was the change from Sweetie staring dead ahead and looking around, her hidden eyes keeping her face locked onto something moving in the ducts.

The loud clangs of rapid movement tipped all of them off that getting to the classroom faster was a good idea, and they charged the gymnasium.

The door opened, and the six of them crowded towards the large door. They each skidded to a halt, however, when they saw that there was nearly a dozen of the bat-like infectors, and more than twenty large necromorphs stood in the large room. All of them turned towards the newcomers in tandem.

“What now, little-miss-perfect?” CD whispered.

“Uhm... I think we kin go aroun’ this time.” Applebloom said, backing out. The necromorphs continued to stare at the group for a second or so.

“Yeah right, Sketch, you ready?” Sketch got out his Line Gun.

A deep growl emanated from nearby, followed by a rumbling voice saying, “Discretion... is the better part of valor.” The two colts looked around for a moment, before realizing, with a start, that the distorted, deep voice had come from Sweetie Belle.

“Well, I’d say something funny about puberty, but I’m more on the idea of shooting and running away.” CD said, aiming at one of the monsters.

“My Line Gun is ready, locked and loaded.” Sketch said, aiming the weapon at the crowd of necromorphs.

“I’ll say again,” the deep-voiced Sweetie intoned, “that we should probably flee.”

“Genius, I just said that and agreed, but how about we shoot while running to slow them down?” CD said. “So do we go now, or keep talking?”

The decision was made for them, when the horde of necromorphs charged the small group, and the colts heard screams of terror from behind them.

CD fired a few shots at the necromorphs while moving back, picking up Applebloom and putting her on his back so she wouldn’t get trampled, Sketch picked up Sweetie Belle for the same reason, firing off the first Line Gun shot.

The horde of necromorphs hit the strip of glowing energy directly, and few fell, cut in half. Unfortunately, sheer numbers overrode the strength of the shot, and they continued to pile forward.

At about this time, Sketch felt Sweetie slip off the back of his suit, and saw that she was steadying the weapon in her hooves. The mechanical fingers held it perfectly still as she lined up the shot, then hesitated.

“If you take aim, shoot already!” CD said to Sweetie, too busy firing at the monsters to question what he saw. Sketch fired another shot into the crowd, the line of energy slicing apart the necromorphs. Noting for a second an option for ‘alt fire’, He gave that a try, and a packet of material flew out and hit a necromorph, falling to the ground and sticking there. The shot had taken up two shots, leaving the clip next to empty.

An orb of white energy floated over the block of stuff, looking pretty and making weird noises, but not really doing much of anything.

Most of the necromorph horde passed by and through it without being harmed in the slightest.

“Fuck! I wasted two racks for a light bulb!”

As if spurred to action by his harsh words, the orb proceeded to redeem its value by detonating spectacularly, beams of light projecting in all directions and spinning rapidly, slicing and dicing dozens of the monsters as they went. Unfortunately, it also hit the young mare, bisecting her just as neatly as the necromorphs.

“Oooooooooh, brutal!” CD yelled excited by the effect it had on the mob, then looked behind him at the mare. “On second thought: Eeew. That’s nasty. Sketch, you’re going to need more practice with that, it’s not pretty.”

“N- no! Weatherust!” the teacher had fallen to his knees, holding the front of her, and even CD could see she was still alive.

“Goddamnit!” Sketch shouted, firing the last of the Line Gun ammo into the oncoming horde, the bar of actinic fire slicing apart many of the remaining necromorphs, leaving only a few still advancing. Sketch reloaded the Line Gun.

“As horrible as this is, I’m gonna be merciful.” CD said, pushing the teacher out of the way, and shooting the mare right through the forehead with his Cutter, killing her instantly. The teacher screamed in horror, and tackled CD to the ground, his hands going to CD’s neck in a vain attempt to strangle him through the suit.

“Hey, asshole, if I didn’t do that, she’d have spent her last moments in horrific, unbearable pain!”

“You murdering bastard! You fucking killed her!” the teacher picked CD slightly up and slammed him down, finally finding a way to harm Data through his suit.

Sketch used the alt fire again, even though it just accidentally killed the mare. The packet flew out, this time in a long arc to keep it farther away from the group. The orb began to rise as the teacher continued to slam Copy.Data’s head into the floor of the hall.

CD growled , and bucked the human away, before turning to fire at the few remaining creatures. A moment later, he was flattened to the ground from the the teacher tackling him. The enraged human went back to trying to slam the earth pony’s head into the ground.

“That’s it, I’m making this one hurt.” CD bucked the teacher again, this time, aiming lower and hitting him where it would be hard to ignore.

The human fell to the side for a moment before doggedly crawling back up and attempting to tackle the pony again. CD got a good look at his face, contorted with rage and sorrow. Then, he almost casually pushed the man aside, as he was very obviously weakened from the blow to his crotch.

“Now listen, jerk. If I didn’t shoot her, she’d have died a slow, painful death. If you didn’t want me to shoot her, then by all means let her last words be screams of intense agony. Understand?” CD said, looking down at the human, then turning around, heading for the gym door.

The guy just sniffled, and Sketch saw him crawl to the corpse of the young mare, embracing it and sobbing.

“Let it out and let’s go, we don’t want to wait here for any more, I’m down to three shots with the Line Gun.”

The man didn’t respond to Sketch, instead opting to stay where he was, crying over the mare’s body still.

“Listen, if you want to stay and cradle a dead body, that’s fine. Right now, we need to get going. Sketch, where are the filli... shit.”

“They ran off, but I’m going to stay here for a second, let the guy mourn her and get it out of his system.”

“Whatever, mister guilt-trip. Y’know, I’m really starting to not care about anyone. I’m just gonna head back to Cheerilee and scare the crap out of her, that should get my mood up.” CD then headed over to the door, trying to get back to the classroom. “If you find the girls, take ‘em back to class. Unless you don’t want to stay here in the gym with a dead body and a thick-headed sob-sack.”

With that, CD strode from the room, heading towards Cheerilee’s classroom. Sketch stood awkwardly near the mourning man.

CD turned to Summer, in her own beautiful rendition of the Engineering Suit, the copper sections contrasting with her green and gold hair nicely. CD sighed. “I know that was harsh, but I’m serious, it’s getting annoying dealing with everypony.”

“Copy, you’ve got to be nicer to others. I know you’ve always had your problems, but it’s not right to treat others like that.” The mare’s voice was serene, but sounded concerned. “You take away little pieces of them when you do, and you have to let things stay whole.”

“So I should ignore the fact that I was assaulted for offering mercy?” CD heard his tone and softened up. “Yeah, that was bad what happened, but I was trying to give her a better death, that was good, right?”

The conversation was interrupted by the door to Cheerilee’s room opening. Inside was Broker and a much calmer-looking Cheerilee, and the remaining children.

As they entered, Broker looked up from where he was sitting, patting Cheerilee on the back.

“You got a suit, Sketch? Awesome, buddy! You can finally stop running away from the creatures that haunt this place.” Broker looked genuinely happy to see his old friend, not realizing it was the wrong person.

“Sorry, wrong guy.” CD said, his helmet plates sliding back. “I make this look better than he could, isn’t that obvious?” CD stood there smirking. “But Sketch is back in the gym with a teacher who is currently mourning this mare that got killed on our way back here. Oh, and Cheerilee, do you know where Applebloom and Sweetie are? They followed us again.”

“A mare died?” Broker sighed at the grave news, “Always hard to accept, even though death is all around here.”

Cheerilee, however, took the news of ‘Bloom and Sweetie rather bad, looking around to confirm her students had actually gone.

“W- Where could they have gone?! If- if they were with you, why aren’t they here now?” As Cheerilee spoke, CD could see the panic rising in the mare’s face.

“Because I kept my word. I already said that if they followed, then I’m not bailing them out. They need to grow up and learn to deal with what comes from their actions. Right?”

“They’re just children, though! Sweetie Belle is barely twelve, and Applebloom just turned thirteen! W- where could they have gone?”

“I have no idea, but Sweetie left the AutoStore with some seriously powerful gear, so as long as she doesn’t get lost, run out of ammo, or leave Applebloom, they’re both going to be perfectly fine.”

As CD finished his speech, something clanged against a desk welded over a vent. A moment later, a brilliant spot appeared on the metal of the desk, tracing a slow rectangle into the cheap, recycled steel. A moment later, it fell inwards, and the white and copper forms of Sweetie and ‘Bloom slid into the classroom. Once they landed, Sweetie sheathed the weapon she’d used to cut through the weld.

CD didn’t bat an eye, just offering a casual “Told ya.”

Sketch continued to stand next to the teacher, who refused to leave the mare’s corpse.

“I understand you need to mourn her death, but can we do that somewhere safe?” Sketch advised, looking around for necromorphs.

“She’s dead.” The teacher’s voice was flat as day-old soda.

“Yes she died, can you please move from here? I can’t just leave you here to die.”

“Why not? I- I don’t have anything that matters anymore.”

“Stop being depressing and get a hold of yourself, so yes, one student died, but-”

“Just one student?! She- she was...” The teacher began to speak, but broke off with a choked sob.

“But... It’s your job as a teacher to help the other students still alive, now please come with me to Cheerilee’s class. We need to check on them.”

“I- but...”

“Dude, dying isn’t going to bring her back, now get off your butt and lets go help the remaining students, they need you, and Cheerilee is kind of losing it.”

“I- “ he faltered, sighed, and swallowed heavily. “Yeah... you’re right. She wouldn’t want this.” The man stood up, age etched into his features, wiping his eyes. “A- alright, let’s go.”

“Follow me, and don’t make too much noise and move quickly, I don’t have enough ammo for another horde.” Sketch said quietly.

The teacher nodded, and the two jogged towards the small spot of light in the darkness of the school.

Cheerilee had finally calmed down, and had started chatting with Broker, obviously thankful for the more learned unicorn’s presence and education. Given her usual audience, it wasn’t too surprising.

CD had somehow found himself wrangled into watching the rest of class, mostly in keeping them calm. He also seemed to have been put in charge of keeping an eye on Alex, the injured kid, and his new ‘girlfriend’ Big Heart. The little filly had started to wipe off the boy’s forehead with a piece of cloth.

CD quickly got bored and decided to address the metaphorical elephant in the room. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, how exactly did you get out into the vents after they were blocked off, and with Cheerilee supposedly keeping an eye on you? You know, completely ignoring the fact that you somehow got access to that equipment.”

The filly in the engineering suit watched him, the helmet back and showing her red mane and large eyes. “I- I’m not gonna say anything ‘bout Sweetie, but we got out usin’ the CMC emergency exits... Also known as resettin’ the vent controls. There’s a couple of the older vents that ya have ta’ cut through ta get inta tha newer ones.”

Applebloom shrugged. “We had a free afternoon after Ms. Cheerilee’s class, an’ my Junior Engineerin’ class had showed me the schematics of tha’ vents. It wasn’t to hard to figure it out from there, install hatches, reinforce the older ducts, stuff like that.”

CD was obviously impressed, but something bothered him. “How could you do that without anypony knowing? You kids aren’t the quietest vent crawlers I’ve heard.” He shook his head. “That’s beside the fact that those passageways could be used by the smaller necromorphs to get anywhere in the school with little issue.”

“Actually, the hatches’re offset, so y’ cain’t get a good angle on ‘em. Anypony yer age should know that leverage is needed to get any real force behind ah swing.”

“Yeah, still, how did you manage getting through these passageways undetected in the first place? You aren’t all that silent up there, in fact, you made so much noise I almost shot you the first time.”

“That’s ‘cuz those vents’re over a hallway. Most of ‘em are in the walls, an’ those’re all anchored well.” Applebloom countered.

CD paused for a moment, before finally accepting that Applebloom knew what she was talking about. “Kid, you’re smarter than you look, I’m impressed. I like you.” CD gave her a grin before turning to Cheerilee. “Although now that the secret’s out, I’m guessing they’re gonna block those off somehow.” He leaned in closer to ‘Bloom “I wouldn’t mind giving you a hoof if you need it though, teachers always ruin the fun.”

“Ah doubt it. If we’re gonna abandon the school, the vents’re gonna stay setup. An it’d take a lot more effort to remove them than it was t’ put ‘em in, in the firs’ place.”

“Yeah, anyway we should get going before anypony-” Before Data could finish his sentence, the door to the classroom opened, revealing Sketch, still holding the line gun, and the teacher from before. Cheerilee, looking up from a spirited conversation with Broker, lost her calm look at the sight of the other teacher.

“Hello, Dave. I’m surprised you survived.” The words from the burgundy mare were bordering on venomous.

“He wouldn’t have if I didn’t talk some sense into him, at least we have another adult here to manage the kids.”

“Provided he doesn’t decide to take them away for some ‘private tutoring’, right, Dave?”

The older teacher, Dave, flushed a bit and set his jaw. “That’s enough, Cheerilee. Just because you never found someone special for your life-” Dave stopped, biting off the end of his own sentence.

“Wait,” Sketch turned and aimed the Line Gun at Dave, “Explain what she’s talking about, now. I’m not having a pedophile join the group.”

Dave looked towards Sketch, then sighed. “Me and my student, Weatherrust, were having a relationship. It’s the end of the universe as far as I’m concerned, so I’m not going to lie. She was eighteen, and we hadn’t done anything besides enjoy each other’s company for the previous two years. There, it’s out.”

“Sketch, there’s no need for that. Put the weapon down calmly” Broker added.

Sketch lowered his gun, “All you had to say was that she was of age. I see nothing wrong with it, she was an adult, she could decide for herself.”

Cheerilee looked at Sketch sourly. “It’s illegal, that’s what’s wrong with it! He shouldn’t have-”

“I don’t care, I’m tired of waiting, what do we do now? After getting Broker a suit of course.” CD interrupted, wanting to speed things along before anyone got eaten or worse.

“I agree with CD. How about me and him go shop? Sketch, can you keep those two under control without trying harass and insult them? It would be greatly appreciated.” Broker added.

“Why are you telling me to stay? I’m not going out there again, you and CD are going to get your suit, I’m staying here to; A, protect the students, and B, keep Cheerilee from killing Dave.”

“Good. Come on, CD. I don’t want to get caught in an ambush by the Necromorphs.” Broker declared, standing up and looking at his companion.

“Do you even know the way?” CD rolled his eyes, heading out the door.

“Lead the way, young chap!” Broker said while following behind CD, readying his weapon also.

“By the way, if you see a dead mare cut in half, yeah, just ignore it. And blame Sketch, it was his mine.” CD said, not mentioning the fact how the mare really died.

“There’s mines? I didn’t know you could get mines here. Hopefully my merchant access will open up the wares. Maybe I could stop using this pea shooter and have something like Sketch has.”

“Merchant clearance? Buddy, are you dense? AutoStores are public use idiot. And I’m only offering money for you to buy a suit if you need more cash, I’m not buying you lethal weapons.” CD said, quickly tiring of Broker’s naivete.

“I meant to get stuff for merchants from the AutoStore, plus I should have enough for weapons.”

“I’m only providing money for a suit if you don’t have enough money, I’m not buying it for you. If you don’t have enough, you’re not getting anything but the suit.” CD informed. “And watch the gym floor, don’t step in the acid.”

“Acid? How did acid get in there? The monsters? I honestly thought it wouldn’t be that bad. Now we have the normal ones and ones that spit acid? Just perfect. Well... glad I’m getting the suit. Thank you for the generosity by the way, but I don’t think I’ll need it.”

“Well, we’ll see.” CD kept moving. “And there are no normal necromorphs, just ones with claws, some with magic, some who barf acid all over Sketch, and Celestia knows what other kinds there are. Just try to play it safe.”

“Will do. Let’s just hope the way to the AutoStore is clear since you and Sketch just came from it.” Broker looked towards CD. “Do you think there’s a way to stop them?”

“Yes. Kill them. That stops just about anything.” CD walked into the gym. Inside, a few heavily-damaged necromorphs shambled around, piling bodies slowly into the center. Thick streamers of necrotic jelly flowed from the vents, pulsing like a series of major veins and arteries.

One of the slashers looked over at the two ponies, then looked away and went back to piling bodies.

“H.. how could it just look away like that? I- it looked at us right in the eye...” Broker quietly whispered to CD, not moving a single muscle but his mouth.

“They obviously have a much larger priority, and that’s not good. We should probably do something about that blob.” CD said, thinking out a plan as fast as he could, trying to rule out ones that could result in death. As he spoke, the tendrils of corruption finally grew far enough to reach the bodies, its speed of growth tripling.

“What about those tendrils? They’re growing. A-and where’s the AutoStore? I think we should get out of this place before something demonic happens since that... thing is doing something with the bodies.” Broker said in a quivering voice as he watched the fat trails of slime grow.

CD’s eyes twitched, then he grinned like a madman. “I have an idea. Broker, I suggest you run as fast as you can.” CD then started shooting at the blob thing, eliciting a squealing noise. All the pairs of eyes in the room shifted towards him and Broker.

“Now, run.” CD said, doing just that, moving as fast as he could.

“What is wrong with you!?” Broker shouted as he ran along with CD, aiming his gun backwards and firing towards the horde.

“Everything.” CD said, making an effort to take a path with the most directional changes. “Didn’t I make that clear?”

“You did now! What’s this brilliant plan of yours!?” Broker yelled the words as he and CD sprinted for the far door, the two ‘brilliant’ ponies ducking a few globules of acidic spit and sliding under a few of the larger slashers in a truly remarkable show of athletic ability, especially on the part of Broker, who was noticeably panting and wheezing as they barely reached those double doors on the other side of the gym.

CD ran through the doors, and then informed Broker of the next part of his ‘brilliant’ plan. “Now we hide and try to lose them, or we run down a bunch of halls, they’ll lose interest if they can’t see us for a while.”

The two ponies continued to run down the halls at full-tilt, turning at each hall as sharply as possible, trying to evade the necromorph horde as they went. Oddly, though, the horde stayed on their tails, something that disturbed CD greatly, until he caught a glimpse of a chunk of the gooey corruption oozing from a vent.

Finally reaching the teacher’s lounge, CD keyed the door and slid in, Broker a mere moment behind, panting and gasping as he ducked into the room. The two ponies immediately ducked behind the barricade, looking around frantically to make sure none of the corruption had creeped into the room. Taking a moment to catch their

“T- this part of your brilliant plan? W... we’re hiding now. W- what’s the next step?” Broker asked through deep, raspy, breaths that he attempted to keep silent.

“I’m doing what I’ve always done, make shit up as I go along. Just make yourself as small as possible and don’t move. If they don’t break through that door in ten minutes, I’d say we lost them.”

Broker glared at CD, but sighed and nodded. “Hope this doesn’t get us killed.” Closing his eyes, Broker went into a ball, trying to compact into a tiny fragment of nothing.

Minutes pass, with CD watching the door through a thin crack in the barricade, patient as he stood still. Eventually, he let out the breath he’d found himself holding. His suit’s watch had ticked over twelve minutes of elapsed time, and he felt a bit better.

“Okay, now we get some stuff from the store. I trust you know how it works?” CD said walking toward the device.

“They’re common use here on the station, everyone uses them.” broker stated matter-of-factly, before sparing a glance at the door. “And those things better not be patrolling the area.” Broker added walking past CD, then entering into the holographic kiosk. “Okay, let’s see what you have in store for me.” Broker said before tapping at a virtual button.

“That joke was terrible and you should feel terrible.” CD stated.

“I didn’t even notice I made one. Silly me.” Broker grinned before turning his attention back to the blue display.

“You didn’t make a joke, jokes are funny.” CD pointed out. “That was just pathetic. So what is available?”

“Uh, let’s see here.” Broker checked his files, and saw, first off, that several of his book orders had come in, and were sitting in one of the shipping wharves. Besides that, he saw that the first suit he saw was something labeled a ‘Vintage Suit’, and that it was labeled to only be 10k credits.

“Okay, old fashioned isn’t so bad, and it should be in a price I can afford. I’ll take it!” Broker said in glee.

Tapping the buttons to purchase, Broker stepped into the changing booth, a bit more at ease about the mechanical assistance thanks to the time he’d spent changing into formal wear with the aid of the AutoStores near his shop. Wincing as the machines wrapped him in the layers of cushioning material, the heavy metallio-ceramic shell being quickly set into place around him as the rest of his clothes were whisked away by the arcanotech matrices in the booth.

Finally, he stepped out, the heavy, powerful suit giving him a sense a strength he wasn’t used to, and the heavy shell concealed his mild girth. The bell-like helm covered his head completely, the barely pony-shaped headpiece leaving a series of slotted eyeholes as the only indicator it wasn’t a robot inside. His Divet had been been re-mounted to a side-holder, the mechanical appendage gripping the firearm firmly and its aim following his gaze.

Looking back at the AutoStore’s inventory, Broker saw that the Divet’s rounds were available, and that the rounds seemed to be only 90 credits for a stack of ten.

“Hm. Could fill up on ammunition too. What I want to know however, is if there are any weapons available. The Divet is fine, but not exactly the best for what we’re facing. Come on store. Give me some weapons!” Broker rapped on the panel, a bit surprised to find that he was hitting it with more force than usual.

“People with attitudes like that typically misuse the weapons and end up hurting themselves or their friends.” CD warned.

“Grr. Fine. Let’s see, I think I’ll have twelve clips. Maybe I could get better luck next time.” Broker announced at the machine.

“I didn’t say you shouldn’t get a better weapon, I said not to be so eager.” CD said. “So what is available?”

“All that’s showing up is Divet rounds. I just want something with a little more punch.” Broker said.

“Really? How long did you look? Keep searching, I’m sure there’s more stuff than just ammo for your handgun.”

Broker looked again at the panel, looking hard, until he saw that the Autostore was, for some odd reason, set to only show ammo. Hitting the toggle, he saw that there was also MediGel containers, and even something called a ‘Javelin Gun’.

Broker looked over it, tapping the select button to look at its price “Ooh, a Javelin Gun. How much do you cost? Oh and CD? Do we need anymore medigel?” He saw that it was 9900

“A Javelin Gun. Seriously? Slow fire rate, six shots, and only hits one thing at a time unless you somehow shishkabob them. Genius. Besides, I’m only here to pay for the suit if you needed more money, which you don’t. You want it, it’s your wallet, pal.”

“Hey, this will be a lot better than this pea-shooter here. Though, I could use it for emergencies only. Still taking it.” Broker tapped a few holographic buttons to confirm his purchase.

“Fine, just remember to aim it at a group, hitting them in a weak spot. Mess up and you’re screwed.” CD advised. “I wouldn’t make it your primary weapon, so keep the Divet, but don’t just spread bullets everywhere, the ammo seems cheap, but gets expensive if wasted.”

“Just make sure you don’t alert the whole horde next time and I won’t. I don’t plan to use this as my primary, like I said, for emergencies only. Now just how much does the ammo cost?” Broker said, tapping more buttons to see if ammo for his new weapon was available, Smiling when he found it was. It cost 360 for a pack of two, but it would probably work out.

“Alright, Sketch has a bunch of MediGel, I’ve got some and unless there’s anything else you need badly, we’re heading out.”

“That should be it. Javelin will be used tactically and hopefully I’ll have more credits the next time we come across an Autostore. Let’s go.” Broker said backing out of the kiosk.

“Wait, I wanna try something, I’ve gotta figure out how this helmet works exactly, so I’m gonna try getting a hold of Sketch.” CD said, hoping he could talk to others without having to be next to them, it would make asking for help much easier at the very least.

Fiddling with the helmet, CD tapped and poked his suit until he found the proper commands. Unfortunately, he realized that he needed the RIG ID for Sketch to call him, like a phone number.

“Dang, why do I always get so close, then reality has to bitch-slap me at the last second? Life sure has a twisted, sick sense of humor. Hey Broker, by any chance would you have Sketch’s ID?”

“ID? Sure, me and him have been friends for a few years now. He gave it to me a while ago. Should be...” Broker took the moment to connect to CD’s RIGlink, and sent him the ID code. “There.”

“Perfect.” CD tried calling Sketch up, knowing exactly what to say first. Unfortunately, all he got was static and a message saying ‘Transmission Disconnected’.

“Well, that sucks, we can’t get a hold of him. Oh well, ready to go?”

“Yes, hopefully the area is clear or the Necromorphs are busy... doing whatever it is scary, flesh eating monsters do.“ Broker announced.

“They don’t eat them, as far as I can tell, they assimilate the bodies.” CD said, walking to the door. “So that’s probably what that blob-thing was doing.”

“And they’ll just keep assimilating until we find a way to stop them. There has to be something. Maybe a large fire? Or maybe there’s a source to it all, like a beacon?”

“Who knows. I do however know a way to completely remove them from the entire school.” CD said matter-of-factly, yet slightly grinning.

“And what would that be? It wouldn’t be like your last plan, right?” Broker said, smirking in his helmet.

“Of course not.” CD said, now grinning crazily behind his helmet. “We blow the entire place up, a giant explosion could probably get rid of them really fast!”

“If that were to happen, we would have to ensure there are no more survivors in this place. Plus we would need to find a large enough explosive to pull it off. At least then, we could have a better plan, or a chance of finding the source.”

“I just like blowing stuff up... Oh come on Summer, explosions are fun...” Broker stared at the babbling earth pony with an eyebrow quirked behind his faceplate. “I wasn’t being serious, when did I say everybody would still be in the school when it blew up? That would certainly be messy though...” CD was gesturing animated at the air, before his ears went flat. “Okay, fine, no explosives.”

“We could set the whole place on fire if we found enough flammable liquid. That would certainly be a lot less messy than blowing this place into space, literally.” Broker returned his idea. “Let’s get back to the others and discuss this.”

The two ponies nodded to one another, then turned towards the door. As if sensing they were ready, a necromorph dropped into the room via a ceiling vent.

CD aimed his cutter at the thing and shot. “Broker, get ready in case there are more.” CD put another Cutter shot into the Necromorph to be sure, slicing off a talon. Another one, this one necrotic, stinking and covered in slick black skin laced with lesions, dropped into the room. This one landed on its feet, its eyes glowing a sickly yellow.

“Broker, pay attention!” CD said quickly, trying to get the new beast before it tried anything. “Help me!”

“Well, jeez, you took the first one out!” Broker shouted as his suit-mounted Divet aimed at the creature’s. Thanks to the fantastic technology of the future (a little blue laser pointer) the Divet was rather easily aimed to blow away the creature’s knees before it could charge. The rubbery black skin and disgusting, rank odor of the mutilated flesh from the bullet wounds was everywhere, as the creature fell to its knees. With a gurgling roar, it began stalking forward menacingly fast on its two talon-like limbs.

CD aimed his cutter and shot at it, trying to remove its talons. “Come on, we gotta get back to Sketch.” The beast was creeping forward on one limb, doggedly trying for them.

“No doubt, there. Come on, let’s move before more come out.”

“That’s the idea.” CD didn’t bother rolling his eyes as he ran for the door, leaving the room, and Broker, behind. The halls were much worse for the wear, tendrils of the corrupted flesh branching out from several vents and ducts, like creepers or vines growing on an ancient stone building.

The pulsing red-and-purple veins visible beneath the transparent outer flesh of the mat was sickly trembling at his approach, the sound of two more gunshots resounding before Broker stepped out of the room. The entire corrupted mass twitched slightly as they stepped out, and the sounds of incoming creatures met their ears.

CD, counting off the possibilities, came to the conclusion that the most immediate chances they had was in the three of them just sprinting for the classroom and bailing like sailors. To turn a phrase, they would need to make like bakers, and move their buns.

“So option one, we run. Option two, we get killed. Let’s make like hockey players and get the puck out of here.” CD said, running off towards the classroom for the second time that day.

“Don’t these things track by sound?” Broker added to himself before running behind CD, his armor clanking on the floor.

“Don’t mumble, move.” CD said, trying to keep his pace so he wouldn’t leave Broker behind, but still speeding up. “I have a feeling that the further we get away from those tentacle things, the better.”

Broker stayed silent as he continued to run, surprisingly unaffected by the armor he was now wearing and dashing like he normally would, albeit a little more loudly. The two sped along, until they turned the last corner before the Gym. In front of it was a crowd of monstrosities, including one of the smaller warlock-creatures. The thing’s twisted, split-open horn was shining a sickly reddish-yellow.

“Alright, we’ve got to get past them, I’ll aim for their legs, you shoot them in the arms, I’m also gonna try taking off that unicorn-thing’s head. Ready?” CD didn’t wait for a response, shooting a horizontal shot at the creature’s neck. The creature’s head snapped back in response, before a veiny trail of magic, in blood red, poured from the gnarled horn, forming a woven-looking bubble around it and the other necromorphs. Said necromorphs promptly charged through said bubble, the membrane stretching and flowing over them as they charged the ponies.

Broker wasted no time readying his aim before unloading his Divet into the oncoming horde, aiming at the arms of the foul beasts as CD kept shooting at the closest ones, trying to take off their legs. Broker stopped to quickly reload his weapon, going as fast as his magic would allow without fumbling, and CD did the same a moment later, his mechanical fingers slotting in the new cartridge a second or two after ejecting the old.

CD suddenly got an idea. “Broker, can you use magic to shove one into the others? It should only take a second, try messing up that unicorn-thing.”

With a force of will, Broker concentrated on trying to push one of the monstrous beasts into the warlock nymph, nearly stumbling in place when he felt some sort of presence latch onto his magic, draining it away and leaving him momentarily dizzy.

“S- something’s blocking it out. L- like some sort of parasite.” Broker shook his head to get his vision back into focus before resuming his suppressive fire on the Necromorphs.

“Well, so much for that, try your Javelin gun, pin a few to the far wall.” CD said quickly, still doing his best on the beasts that were closest to them. As he fired at the crowd, he saw they were retreating towards the red bubble... no, wait, the bubble was advancing towards them! Inside of its protective cocoon, the vestigial warlock continued its five-legged shamble forward, the fleshy pseudopods growing from its ‘shoulders’ waving menacingly inside the barrier.

CD got a good look at what the actual properties of the bubble were rather shortly after this realization, as he missed with a shot and it glanced off the shield, bouncing into a wall and scorching a hole into the material.

“The thing’s impenetrable! This is bad. How do we take that thing out?” Broker said in panic, looking for any weak spot.

“It’s not impenetrable, it’s reflecting energy, shoot it in the head, physical ammo might be able to get through, we gotta keep that thing from using magic.” CD said quickly, shifting his attention back to the closest monsters and removing legs as best he could. Unfortunately, he quickly ran out of targets as the encroaching bubble crept over them, ever so slightly faster than their own lunging pace towards CD and Broker.

Broker switched over to his Javelin Gun, and pointed it towards the advancing warlock, praying he would hit...

Meanwhile, back at the classroom, Sketch was being stared over by both of the teachers, a small crowd children piled around him from the stress and tension evident in the room. Dave had sat himself against one wall, arms crossed, and Cheerilee was against the other, and both of them had locked gazed with glares that were half an ounce of angry away from being nuclear.

“Can you two calm down, you’re scaring the children, and don’t fight, I will stop it.”

“I’m perfectly calm. I’m just keeping an eye on the potential danger to my students.”

“As if, you’re just upset you couldn’t get any, even from someone your own age.”

“Dave, that was out of line, don’t make comments like that. Cheerilee, you have my word that if he tries anything I’ll dispose of him. For now though, he is just trying to survive, but if he keeps talking about that mare like she was just a booty call-”

“What?! Weatherrust was my life! I loved her! I-” Dave was interrupted by Cheerilee cutting in. “You thought you could get with her because she was young and impressionable, you bastard!”

“If you did love her then stop being so immature towards Cheerilee, I don’t think anyone likes you acting like a child. Cheerilee, remember he’s on a one strike system, one strike and no more Dave, so calm down.”

“We never had sex! That’s all you animals in the rest of the faculty believed, but all we needed was each other’s company!” Dave practically roared the words, the ears of every pony in the room, even Sketch’s, going down from the volume. Tears had built back up in his eyes, and he looked absolutely furious, and damned near to snapping.

“That sounds better, so Dave can you please calm down and not yell? I get it you two were never intimate and you genuinely liked her so there will be nothing done about it. Cheerilee, don’t nag him on about it, and don’t insult the dead.” Sketch said, preparing some traps, getting the wires, metal panelling, and desks. Looking down at the young engineer, he asked for the one thing every builder of any caliber needs. “You wouldn’t happen to have any duct tape on hoof, would you?”

Broker centered the dot right where the thing’s heart would be, if it weren’t a twisted, hideous abomination. The javelin flew out, impaling the creature through the bubble, the barbed sides of it catching the relatively light creature and spearing it to a wall. The shield, with its creator so violently thrown, unspooled like a massive knit shirt, the magical trails dissipating into the environment. The creature writhed on the end of the javelin, tentacles and stumpy legs thrashing and writhing.

Looking at the Javelin gun, he saw a little button labeled ‘galvanize’ and pressed it, not knowing what it would do, but assuming it would do something. A flash of white light erupted from the creature as electricity from the on-board battery fried the creature, shorting out the magical resonance of the thing’s horn. The glowing orb of magic inside of the tangled cage of ivory on its forehead pulsed once, twice... then, it went nova.

Sketch had set up a couple of snares hooked over the ceiling tiles. They were very obvious, but the necromorphs were not particularly bright, and he was gambling that they were probably color blind. Rotting eyes and all.

As he prepared the last snare-trap, a loud, reverberating explosion rocked the entire school, causing him to slip and get caught by his own trap, leading to him being hoisted in the air by one forehoof.

“Goddamnit Broker, just... Damn it all...” Sketch sighed as he tried to wriggle free of his snare, using his new finger to get himself out.

Across the gym from there, Broker and CD had been launched backwards, both blinded by the red blast of light and force. CD was very thankful for his suit, as he could feel several aches, pains, and a sharp, stabbing sensation in his chest. Breathing was difficult, but he didn’t seem to have broken anything that wouldn’t heal, or at least nothing that would hinder his movement.

Broker, on the other hoof, was still wondering exactly what had just happened. The light had nearly blinded him until the heavy shell-like armor suit had clamped over his eyes, protecting them from burnout. He’d barely felt the impact on the wall behind him. As the plates shifted back into their open configuration, he realized it had also protected his ears from the pressure wave.

Sitting up, he saw the still-dazed and somewhat injured CD laying next to him, legs in the air as he tried to get up in his engineering suit. As the electrician rolled over, the RIG on his back was blinking a sedate, dull red. On top of that, the pain in his movements was very evident.

“D-dude, does anyone have some, I dunno, extra extra strength aspirin? My head is totally killing me, and who painted the inside of my helmet green? Did they explode too, or am I seeing stuff again?”

“I... I think it blew up. Y- you look like you need something more than aspirin. Your R- RIG status is in the red. You ha- have some gel right?” Broker asked, still dazed slightly.

“Wait, it did blow up? Damn, and me without my camera. Yeah I got some gel, Summer, you okay?” The earth pony reacted as if the mare had been miraculously spared the explosion, and he heard her voice telling him to use the medigel, to stay whole.

“Yeah, staying in one piece would be a good idea, losing a limb would suck.” CD chuckled weakly, using one of his medium medigel capsules. He groaned as the medical gel went to work, and he felt the suit pierce a section of his chest, probably to fix whatever was causing his chest pain. The suit then dispersed the leftover gel a tad more efficiently, soothing the overall ache, though his vision still hadn’t returned yet.

From Broker’s point of view, he saw the bars on CD’s back rise and shift from red to orange, orange to yellow, and from yellow into the mid-green. It was an impressive jump for a single medigel short of a large.

“That will have to do, CD. Let’s see what I did to this place now that we’re up.” Broker said to his companion.

“Sure, why not. So are you the green, blob-shaped thing, or the other green, blob-shaped things.” CD asked, dazedly. “This is trippy. I like it... kinda.”

“This one, the one that’s waving!” Broker sighed. “We should probably clean your eyes when we get back to the classroom if they have the facilities.”

“Everything is waving. Or spinning. Or floating. Screw it, I’m just gonna follow your voice. If you run me into a wall, I’m gonna smack you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just follow my incredibly awesome voice. I promise not to run you into walls or into a horde of Necromorphs.” Broker chuckled lightly.

Broker looked around the hallway, and saw that it was devastated. The walls had been scorched black, and the plastic-covered stone of the corridor was rippled, bubbly, and warped. Ridges and wavy ripples of the recycled plastic looked like a photograph of a shockwave bouncing off the walls, frozen in physical reality. A large crater of twisted, half-molten metal and shattered stone sat at the far end of the hall, a large hole into the gymnasium formed of crystalline edges.

Where the magic had gone totally wild, there was a patch of brilliant pink grass growing on a pile of fish, each of them blinking slowly as they lay there. Growing from this was a single white flower, looking almost unnaturally normal amidst the chaotic mess. The bottom-most layer of fish had started to sizzle from the heat of the floor they sat on, the sound petering out as the heat died away.

“Jeez, this place looks ridiculous. Did I cause all of this by pressing that button? Remind me to never do that again.” Broker said, looking shocked at the chaos one button caused.

“Okay, anything else I should remember?” CD asked, sort of swooning as he stood, his mind not entirely there. At least, of the parts that were there in the first place.

“Uh, I don’t think so other than that. Let’s just get to that classroom before another one of those things pops up. That would be horrible if another one did.” Broker added while he began walking towards the classroom again. “How are you holding up, CD?”

“With my hooves, duh.”

“I meant is anything broken?”

“Probably the gym.”

“No... I meant inside your body? Any bones?”

“Yep, I got plenty of bones in my body.” CD seemed to only somewhat be doing this on purpose.

Broker just facehoofed at the reactions he was getting from CD. “Okay, new question. How far are we from the classroom from here? The way things are, I think we might have to find a new route if the original one blew up.”

“I don’t know. I just know that it’s amazing how your senses get messed up when your eyes do. Did you know you can taste your own tongue?” CD was obviously not entirely focused.

“Yeah, I did. Taste great by the way.” Broker smirked. “Did you know you could taste food too?”

“Well, duh. I’m not stupid. Wait, which of those blobby things was you again? Ah nevermind, this is weird, what did you do?”

“I think I blew up the necromorph-unicorn thing by hitting the alternate fire. I’m not sure, but that sounds about right. Now this place is melted.” Broker turned his head to look around. For the most part, the edges of the metal had stopped glowing, so it was possible it was safe to cross, what with their protective suits. “Where did we come from again?”

“The teacher’s lounge.”

“But which direction... Ah never mind, you see everything in blobs apparently.”

“Uhm, we needed to cross the Gym, remember? We hadn’t done that yet, I think. Maybe.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Broker said, starting to make his way across it, being careful where he stepped however. Remembering to call out to CD about dangers in the path, the two ponies made their way to the gym, and stepped past the slagged doors and into the actual room. Inside the blast had been mostly contained and funneled back around, like a blast furnace. The result had burned the pile of bodies and the necromorphs inside to a crisp, leaving piles of ashes and caked-on, crumbly black stuff everywhere.

Trying not to gag, the two ponies had to hold their breath for most of the journey across the gym, before CD spoke up.

“As nasty as this is, I’ve smelled way worse stuff.”

“What in the world have you smelt that’s worse than this?” Broker replied, a little disgusted.

“Important life tip: Never microwave spinach. That stuff is toxic. Especially canned. I figured it could be used for lethal weaponry.”

Broker looked confusedly at CD “Let me get this straight. You tried cooking food to try and make it into a lethal weapon by putting it and heating it in a microwave?” Broker raised an eyebrow at his friend. “How do you even think that?”

“Of course not, I just said that it could be used as a weapon, that wasn’t the original intent. Although I can say that a potato takes exactly three minutes and thirty-two seconds to explode in a microwave that has been slightly tampered with. Now that was fun.” CD had the dumbest grin on his face, despite still not being able to see anything at all.

“I... I really have no idea how to respond to that, CD. You’re one crazy pony. Glad you’re on our side. Maybe you could cook a food that somehow poisons all the necromorphs.”

“I never, okay I rarely made stuff poisonous, I blew it up with extreme pressure and temperature. Huge difference.”

“Still, maybe you could make it again, but for the necromorphs, you crazy pony.” Broker said while he gave his friend a smile.

“No, not like that. A potato explodes automatically inside the microwave, and if you open the microwave, the potato won’t burst. Grapes on the other hand... Well, mom never bought grapes after my first try, so I don’t have exact results on all controlled variables.”

Broker just shook his head and pressed on forward towards the classroom. “You’re one interesting pony, Copy.Data. One interesting pony.”

“That’s what my mom said. And everypony else.” CD’s grin still wide. “I’ve also been told that I’m very influential.”

“That one still has to be proven, but I wouldn’t doubt it if it was crazy and smart enough to work.” Broker looked at his hooves that were metallic now. “Wish I had a much more... interesting brain like yours. Probably would have stopped me from making so many dumb choices.”

“Yeah, you’d make totally different dumb choices. Heck, back home, I was an official nutcase, They locked me in an asylum, but that was my idea in the first place.” CD said. “Although I wouldn’t say I’m crazy, I’m just really, really different, but being crazy sounds a lot more fun.”

“Now you’re thinking in the right terms. Come on, let’s-” Broker looked up to see that they’d walked all the way back to the classroom while chatting. “Never mind, we’re here already.”

“Great, so what do we do about my eyes. It’s kinda fun, but not very useful. Kinda like a paddle-ball. Well actually, I can think of a few ways to kill a guy with one of those. Eh, live and learn I guess.”

“I have no idea how to fix that little problem. Only thing I can think of is a little bit of sleep, but even that might not work. I’m not a doctor.”

“So are we going in, or standing outside the classroom all day? Where’s that flippin’ door? Actually, everything is flipping but I digress...”

“Just follow my voice, CD.” Broker said while approaching the classroom’s entrance.

The two ponies made their way to the door itself, opening it and walking in to see Sketch hanging by all four limbs from an improvised snare, with the two armored fillies trying to get him down as Cheerilee and Dave argued with each other.

“What... What’s going on in here, Sketch? How did you get up there?” Broker asked as he examined the chaotic people in the room.

“I was teaching children how to build traps and they set it off on me by mistake, you?”

“Blew up some big necromorph that scorched the gym and got a new weapon. What about those two?” Broker asked pointing towards Dave and Cheerilee.

“By the sound of it, either Cheerilee and Dave are arguing, or they’re assaulting each other with rodents or something. I got no idea.” CD offered.

“Arguing, and making no progress whatsoever, Cheerilee being overly aggressive, Dave being defensive, and I’m the moderator seeing as I have the only gun. Well, before you two returned.”

“Yeah. One guy is upside-down, one is surrounded by wavy blobby shapes, and the other has a nuke-in-a-can.” CD said. “We’re so impressive.”

Broker chuckled slightly. “Let’s fix this mess. How can I get you down, Sketch?”

“Use your magic to undo the snares on my hooves, and a cure for this pandemic would be nice.”

“Ah, mister Sketch, we mighta been tryin’ ta stabalize the snare supports an’ kinda-sorta.... welded them.”

CD then offered his idea. “Or we could tickle him.”

For the first time since putting on the suit, Sweetie spoke in her normal voice, the faceplate of the armor sliding away as she beamed with the most innocent, kind grin to ever bring terror to Sketch’s heart and mind.

“I like that plan!”

“Raise your hoof if you want Sketch to get tickled!” CD yelled to the class of children. All the children except Alex (who was still unconscious) and Big Heart raised their foremost appendages, then ran forward in a shrieking, giggling mass.

“Raise your hooves if you don’t want me to try and cut myself down, possibly blowing something up in the process.”

“You can really blow stuff up if you’re tickled? Awesooome! Get him!” One of the little boys from the back of the riot called out, the 2nd-to-4th graders surging forward to try tickling him through the quarter-inch armored suit.

“I’d prefer not to take this class with me in the explosion. Last warning.” Sketch pulls out his Line Gun.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Sketch. I’ll cut you free. Then the class can tickle you.” Broker smirked in his helmet, then his magic began to glow, focussing on the snares to try and cut them loose.

“And you can’t blow stuff up, you cut things in half. You wouldn’t want to do that to these kids, now would you?” CD grinned in what he guessed was Sketch’s direction. Unfortunately, he was about a foot off, staring instead at a poster on the wall. He was starting to be able to discern shapes again, so at least he was starting to be able to tell the difference between pony-shaped, human-shaped, and wall-shaped green blobs.

Before Sketch could reply, Broker yanked the wrong thing and pulled the welded support out. While the snare was still securely attached to the support, the support was no longer attached to anything. Sketch’s fall was broken by a large group of children immediately carrying him off like a group of cannibal warriors heading to the pot.

“Okay kids! Tickle him now!” Broker announced in joy, keeping a close eye on Sketch to make sure he didn’t pull out his weapon again.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with tickling Sketch? Do you have a rule against smiling and laughing?” CD asked, the mass of children looking like a giant, giggling, amoeba.

“No, I just don’t see the point of them tickling me through a thick metal suit when I could be preparing the traps, why don’t they tickle Cheerilee?”

“Because Ms. Cheerilee would make us go to the corner!”

“Because she’s no fun.” CD replied. “Come on, what’s wrong with trying to enjoy ourselves, Mr. Pessimist?”

“I’m not ticklish, sorry.” The entire group of kids ‘aww’d, looking really disappointed.

“Fine, fine, okay kids, enough. We need to get out of here anyway, so we have to let Captain Killjoy go.” CD said. “We don’t want to be here when the Necromorphs come back.”

That sentence alone caught Cheerilee’s attention, and Dave’s as well. The two teachers looked to CD worriedly, and they immediately began to get into action. Cheerilee started to talk to CD, before Dave ushered her towards her students.

The older man turned towards CD, and asked him, “What exactly do you mean by that, and how long do you think we have?” something about his gaze held CD’s eyes, in spite of him not being able to see them as anything more than dull spots in his vision.

“I mean, when they get here, they’re going to kill everyone.” CD said quietly so as not to scare Cheerilee any further. “And who knows, maybe we have an hour, maybe two minutes.”

Dave looked down, and CD blinked for the first time since Dave had stared him in the eyes. “Fine, let’s get the children moving. Can you find the way to the trams? I think Cheerilee or myself could get it moving to the next stop along the way, if it’s the one I’m thinking of.”

“Whether it is or not, I could do the same, as for where it is, I know the way, but I can’t take you there, the blast screwed up my eyes, so I need some time for them to get focused.”

“Alright. That explains why you sat and stared at the poster for two minutes straight when you came in.” Dave sighed. “I’ll tell Cheerilee. Even if we... don’t see eye to eye on a few subjects, the least we can agree on is that the children need to be our first priority.”

“So how do we get the entire class to the trams all at once as quickly as possible? What about-”

“I think,” Dave interrupted, “our best bet lies with the young engineer, and her friend. If I remember, though, it was their leader, the one who skipped a couple of grades, who had mapped the entire ventilation system.”

“Scootaloo, right? I know a bit more than I want to about her, but that’s irrelevant, where is she?”

“I- I don’t really know. Me and Weatherrust, we were spending some quality time together, just having some fun learning about planetary hostile geographies, her favorite class. I didn’t see any of this start, just that when we realized we should have been at the assembly, monsters had started attacking. That one scientist, Rich or something, helped us set up the barricade, then ran off to draw the monsters away. We saw Scootaloo exactly once during that, and she only stopped in to see if her friends were in there with us.”

“Dang, not much to go on. Well if anyone knows where she is, her friends will probably have the best guess. Guess I’ll ask and hope for the best.” Dave nodded, and CD walked over to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. After asking them if they knew, they looked to one another, and ‘Bloom looked up to CD.

“Well... she could be at tha’ clubhouse. Ah built it from an ol’ storage closet that you c’n only get into through the vents. They’re proper regulation-size, too, so you could get there as well.”

“Alright, so we just need you two to guide us there, wait a sec, how far away is it from here?”

“Not too far, ‘bout three minutes of getting through tha’ ducts. Most of ‘em are sealed, too, so none of that gunk we saw would get in. Ah had ta’ route a separate set of ventilation micro-ducts just for the Crusader’s Travel Ducts.”

“Kid, you’re way smarter than I thought. I like you. So now we need to get someone to volunteer...” CD said the last part out loud, loud enough for the rest of the adults to hear.

“I’ll do it. I have the freshest armor and this weapon that can blow up a room apparently, so I’ll do it.” Broker declared.

“Despite not knowing what the heck he volunteered to do.” CD mumbled. “He’s not the brightest guy around, but he’s brave and his heart’s in the right place...” CD then walked over to Broker and gave him a pat on the back. “Good luck pal, seriously.”

Author's Notes:

So, this is chapter twelve, and we're going strong.
Please remember to vote for your favorite/least favorite characters! Voting for folks leads to those characters getting penalties and bonuses according to their 'fame' scores, and anyone can vote once per chapter.

Thanks to the following for contributing to the story so far:
Itsmyfuneral, starring as Sketch
Hunterz263, starring as Broker Wordsmith
Rosethorn, starring as Victoria Frost
SomeGuy, co-starring as Johan Allegro
The Pieman, as Copy.Data