Horror Beneath the Sea
A Bioshock inspired Vogonverse Story
Chapter 1: First Days
The large charcoal gray Earth Pony put the digital recorder on the workbench in front of him. His body armor had taken a direct hit, and while it saved him, he knew that repairing it was out of the question. In a way, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t really meant for the horrors he’d seen down here. This was worse than the Changelings, worse than when he had to help divert an Ursa Minor from a small town, this… This was insanity. But Pri… No, she was still Princess Celestia to him. Perhaps other ponies called her by her new title, but he joined as a royal guard under Princess Celestia, Princess Celestia had personally awarded him a medal for bravery before. She was his Princess, and he would serve her every decision. He pressed the button on the digital recorder, turned it to face him, and looked at the now unblinking camera.
“Sergeant Ironhoof, third battalion, ballistics expert, recording my report for my direct superiors, and for my commander in chief. New Rapture holds advancements we simply do not have above the waves, and while several, including myself, believe there are still some of the original inhabitants alive, somewhere, most of what we’ve discovered have been a mixture of some kind of guardian drone, and beasts, beasts that would take a Manticore, rip its tail off, and sodomize it with its tail,” he shook his head, “I ask that my superiors please ignore that last comment, however true and relevant it may be, the comment was out of line. Regardless, we have been inside of New Rapture for less than twenty-four hours and already two members of my team are badly wounded. Mr. Phillips, our medical expert, and Tarte Sucrée our technology expert were both caught in some kind of odd crossfire. It seems that one of those beasts has the ability to create and discharge electricity.”
He laughed for a moment, “If I hadn’t seen it myself I would have believed somepony was telling me stories. But it’s the truth. This creature could create lightning, but it seemed to take quite a bit out of it when it did. It’s not magic, I know that, I understand that, but it is most certainly something that I’ve never come across before.”
The door opened, and he looked toward it before looking back, “For now, this is Sergeant Ironhoof, signing off.”
The navy blue coated, royal blue maned, Pegasus stallion walked into the room and gave a sheepish grin. There was a sack in his hand, and he lifted it up to the workbench. Instantly, from the sounds of it, Ironhoof knew that it was nothing they had brought.
“What is it?”
“Souvenirs,” he said before he opened it.
The mess of golden coins that looked like bits came spilling out. Ironhoof touched one, feeling the smoothness of it, with the exception of the number one being printed on one side. He looked to see something else that Fast Hooves was holding. It was an older model, obviously a lever action, but it was the parts to a rifle.
“Anymore weapons?”
Fast Hooves shook his head, “Nope, just this. Well, this and all those bits.”
Ironhoof looked at the glowing machine in the corner. He’d barely paid it any attention before, but now he walked toward it. Taking a single coin he put it into the machine and suddenly the top of it lit up showing a brilliant, and radiant, red heart. Down the sides of the machine miniature crosses appeared until it finally reached the bottom.
“Welcome friends to Jack Sneed’s All in One Medical Shop! Everything is treated, including enhancements! Step Right up, don’t be shy, try our Ironman to be a popular guy! Maybe you need some pep! Just select some Zepp, drink it, and enjoy boundless energy!”
The stallion raised an eyebrow at the mysterious machine. For one, he never heard of a Jack Sneed; two: because a coin operated medical shop didn’t exactly seem like a sound practice to him. Though, no one knew what happened this far down into the sea, so anything was possible. He had to learn that the hard way, but not as hard as his two teammates.
Climbing out of his thoughts, Ironhoof noticed a coin in Fast’s hand. He didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that pegasus had in mind and Ironhoof wouldn’t have any of it.
“Soldier! What in Celestia’s name are you doing?” Iron question, stepping forward and snatching the coin away, “After what we’ve been through, you think it’s a good idea to go messing with these contraptions?”
“Well, in my defense, I am thirsty and parched. Some Zepp sounds wonderful at the moment.” Fast replied.
“Are you insane?!”
“On the contrary, I would call him a genius. At least a dude who has a decent head on his shoulders,” spoke a female with a spanish accent, “Aren’t we down here to collect information amongst other things. This is part of the mission. Besides, if I heard right, the voice said “medical shop”. Seeing as our doctor is in bad shape. We have to do this.”
Iron let out a huff of air from his snout as he examined the woman who now had her long-range rifle on her back and a hand on her hip. Her name is Jessica Johnson. The team’s sharpshooter. He didn’t know much about her past. What he did know was that she was a hitman who liked to stay far away from her target. Though, she was known to get personal from time to time. He also knew that when she was finally caught, her record was expunged since the military has use for her. Plus, he guessed she managed to sweet talk her way out of multiple life sentences.
Thinking on her words, he knew she was somewhat right. If not for the gathering information, for the medical issues at hand. He had some medical training, but not enough to treat what was going on. To think, he had to rely on a vending machine for help.
“Okay, we will do this...I will do this.”
Iron looked at the machine, the various in stock merchandise was currently being illuminated, each one had a number beside it, and there was a simple looking keypad located under the coin collector. He studied the various elixirs, until his eyes found one that looked promising. It was a promised restorative, and it seemed to be indicating that it could, and would, heal everything from a simple scratch to a near fatal wound. He checked it again, and then he saw the rest of the promise.
“Dr. Feelgood’s Restorative Tonic, completely restores, and then improves. Thanks to the power of Nanotechnology, Dr. Feelgood’s Tonic increases vitality, strengthens muscle and bone, making a body far more durable than what the body was before,” he read.
He closed his eyes, cursing softly that there wasn’t a choice, and slipped the coin into the slot. He punched in the number.
“Sorry Pal, that one costs one hundred! Come on back when you’ve got more money!”
He looked at Fast Hooves who began bringing over more of the coins. Once a hundred of the coins, or bits as both Ironhoof and Fast Hooves were calling them, Iron retried the number for the restorative tonic and after a moment a bottle of softly glowing blue liquid tumbled down into the bottom of the machine.
“Thanks for the purchase Pal! Be sure to come on back, and next time, try some Pep!”
Ironhoof carried the bottle over to Dr. Phillips. He didn’t want to use this unknown medicine on either member of his team, but there was little choice in the matter. He removed the sealed lid and the smell of fresh blueberries filled the air. He helped Dr. Phillips to sit up, hearing him suck in a pained breath through his teeth, and then lifted the bottle to his lips.
Dr. Phillips took a drink, then drank half of the bottle quickly enough. Ironhoof was about to pull it away, but his human teammate grabbed the bottle and finished it. In the next few moments several things happened all at once. The first was that Dr. Phillips screamed out as his eyes opened. His eyes, which seemed perfectly normal before now glowed a brilliant blue. Before his very eyes Ironhoof watched as the Doctor’s leg, which had been broken, suddenly mended itself.
Cuts, deep wounds caused by shrapnel, were disappearing as if they never existed in the first place. The screaming stopped, and the doctor began to breathe normally. His eyes frantically looked around, and his clothes, which had fit comfortably, now seemed tighter as if he had gained more muscle mass.
“I… I thought that I was dead. I felt near dead! What happened?!”
“Fast Hooves, we need another bottle.”
The light blue Unicorn was in nearly the same shape as his human teammate had been. He silently hoped that there would be no issues with giving this to her, and a moment later she was doing much the same as Dr. Phillips had. She screamed, her legs kicked into the air, her horn ignited and a surge of magic exploded out from her causing the wall behind them to change colors. Ironhoof watched as a metallic gray wall became a bright pink. She opened her eyes, and much like his human teammate’s her eyes had turned a brilliant blue as well. She breathed out, her breaths no longer pained and short, but long and relaxed. Much like Dr. Phillips her clothes seemed to have gotten tighter, and around her bust one button had already popped off.
“Looks like we might need to find a clothing store,” the former hitwoman said from where she was standing.
Ironhoof took in what he had seen, and considered it. That tonic had effectively done what only a highly trained medical unicorn could have done, and it even went a step further in making their muscle mass greater, but at the same time he wondered what the drawbacks would be. Could this comeback to bite them at some point ? He was frightened to even think about it.
Dr. Phillips studied the bottle of the tonic and then looked at the machine, “We need to purchase a few more of these.”
Everyone looked at him, and he got up, he seemed surprised, but didn’t speak over it, “Think about it. It seems obvious that we will end up needing medical care again, perhaps more than I could give with my medical training. This tonic,” he said as he made quotation marks, “brought us back from the brink of death. It did it in seconds, not months, weeks, days, or even hours, but seconds. Besides that we’re going to need to take evidence of what we’ve found. If this can be reproduced up top think of the millions of people, Equestrians, and other beings we could save with it.”
Ironhoof nodded, “Ten more, no more than that. We need to save some of the bits Fast Hooves found for other situations that we might run into.”
Watching them go over to the vending machine Ironhoof thought back to the beginning of this mission, and how things took a turn for the worse.
Port Of Los Angeles - three days ago
President Celestia smiled warmly at her fellow citizens. It had been a change to not refer to them as subjects, after all she had been a Princess far longer than she had been a President, but regardless of the minor differences the position was still the same. Ensure the safety of those under her, promote peace and prosperity, and ensure that all had a chance to truly live a life secure in a world without war.
Getting there had been difficult, but she had learned, and now, now she was about to solve another problem. A city that was built below the waves of the very ocean before them had been out of contact with the mainland for over fifteen years. It hurt her so badly to know that there was individuals under the waves that possibly needed their assistance, and yet no attempt had been made to aid them.
So, she looked now at the response, rescue, and research team before her. Ironhoof, one of her top guards from Equestria, and now a Marine that she would trust her very life with. Tarte Sucrée, an Unicorn, formerly of Canterlot Nobility, who was a technical genius, and seemingly one of the first Unicorns, besides Twilight Sparkle, that had learned to combine technology with magic. From her understanding after their visitor from an alternate universe, one where Equestria had went to war and suffered devastating losses, Tarte Sucrée had created a wrist worn device that allowed a ponies’ Digital Assistant to monitor their health, activate targeting sensory for those who needed it, and allowed even non medically trained individuals to examine and see if a pony, human, or other being was hurt, would be hurt, or could be hurt in any specific place.
It truly was an advancement that worked wonders. She then looked at Dr. J’onn Phillips. A human that had studied medicine all of his life, and he wasn’t limited to humans as patients. She had learned that he knew the ins and outs of every sapient being on the planet. That left the other two. She had to be convinced that this was a good idea. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in second chances, but she wasn’t sure it was the brightest idea to send two former criminals into an unknown world where they may face too much temptation.
The human mare, a bronzed skinned, dark haired, and green eyed woman that had seen much trouble in her life. Celestia had personally looked over her file. Ms. Jessica Johnson had come from an abusive home. Her father was a bully and a fiend. She learned that Jessica’s father was the sheriff of a dying rural town. One of the lasts to exist before her Pegasi began to bring them back to life with the much needed rain.
Ms. Johnson’s father had often physically abused her, and her mother, until her mother hung herself. After her mother’s death… Celestia had balked at what she learned. Her father, the stallion that should have taken care of her, seen to her protection, her happiness, her joy and life, had began to sexually abuse her. Psychological profiles and reports indicated that it began when she was thirteen and continued until she was seventeen.
She freely admitted that her time with her father taught her something, something valuable that she doubted she’d ever learn anywhere else. It taught her to disassociate herself from her surroundings. She was able to wait, in the freezing cold, in the freezing rain, with a rifle while her father stepped outside to call for her. She was able to wait until he he drunkenly stepped into the clearing, and then she was able to end his life.
She explained how she had made casts that fit a frame bigger than herself, added weight to make it seem like somepony else had been waiting, and even carried the extra weight on her back in a backpack to make it look like someone with more bulk had walked out to do this deed. She had went through the immense trouble of ensuring her father’s demise, and she had done so in order to not be caught.
In the end it became something of a moot point. She had been captured, but not for her father’s murder. Had they lived in Equestria, had she had found out about her father’s actions through various channels, the dungeons would have gained a new addition. She didn’t want to believe that death was the best possible solution, but at the same time she wasn’t sure she was the right pony to judge Ms. Jessica Johnson.
Next on her list was, Fast Hooves: a pegasus thief. Or rather “Cat burglar” has he liked being called. Celestia had heard rumors and reports of his deeds back in Equestria. Unfortunately, no matter what the local enforcement did, they were unable to apprehend him. Even when she would send her own royal investigators, they would ultimately fail to lay a hoof on that pony. All they could bring back would be last moment photos, loose feathers from his wings, or finding his calling card instead of the precious items he’d stolen.
She had once see him with her own eyes since he found his way into the castle. Ironically, he didn’t take once thing. Which she found weird because everything in the castle walls was worth a truckload of bits. It seemed the thrill of entering the castle just to see if he could was enough to satisfy the former thief.
Of course, this concerned Celestia. What if he turned his back on his team for something that caught his? Trick them for his own gains? Worry began to chill her, but she was quick to realize that Fast was hired as a Security Expert for the Vanguard and has proven to focus on the job till completion...despite his carefree attitude. Worry released its grasp on her, and she nodded to herself. She shouldn’t have much to worry about. Discord managed to turn a new leaf, so why not this stallion.
Standing from her desk and walking to the nearest window, Celestia stared off to the horizon. She had no doubt the team was capable of doing the task that had been handed to them. Their skills reassured that. It was just she had a feeling that beneath the depth...a place she didn’t know much about...a place her influence couldn’t reach...horrors awaited the team and she was powerless to help.
New Rapture- Present Time
The sight of the clothing store was oddly welcoming. Ironhoof wasn’t going to sit and say that he was completely for the idea of finding new clothing for Dr. Phillips and Tarte Sucrée, but being that Tarte’s blouse was practically ruined as per her own words, and since Dr. Phillip’s movements were indeed hindered by the way his clothes hung on him it only made sense to find different clothing.
“It appears that this shop specialized in period clothing. I believe that most of this is replicas of the types of clothing from the twentieth century, right around the 1960s,” Dr. Phillip said as he examined a white shirt, black slacks, and smoking jacket, “These look a might bigger than my old clothes, I’ll find a place to try them on.”
“Cocktail dresses? Seriously?”
Ironhoof looked toward Tarte Sucrée to see her eyeing a few of the dresses that didn’t have bullet holes, tears, or were lying in a puddle of Celestia only knew what.
“This is so humiliating.”
“Find something quickly.”
She glared at him, but Ironhoof didn’t budge on his suggestion, “Find something. We don’t know if there will be another… creature in this area or not.”
She nodded, apparently deciding that it would be best to at least find something, and that something came in the form of a little black dress. It meant going braless, but she’d survive. She grabbed the dress, and looked toward the broken doors to the fitting rooms. She was stuck changing in front of her teammates, and that bothered her. It felt wrong to even consider changing in front of other ponies.
“Jessica, would you mind ever so much to perhaps go with me to another room so I can change away from… possible prying eyes?”
“Of course, “Jessica replied, pulling her attention from a discount rack and following Tarte, “ Could you males turn around a watch the door? You know, defend us ladies from any approaching harm...and no peeking.”
“We are highly trained agents. We don’t peek,” Iron replied, turning around and preparing for anything.
Fast laughed going to a nearby mannequin and said, “Speak for yourself…”
Tarte Sucrée sighed, relieved that at least there was no pony watching her, and she shed her blouse, bra, boots - which Jessica noted that boots made for an Equestrian were odd at best - and her pants. Jessica had lived her life in a way that meant being free. Sometimes that meant doing things, questionable things, in order to get by. Having a very open mind when it came to sexuality helped in that arena, and right now she was looking at a very attractive mare.
Tarte wasn’t the most beautiful woman, or mare, she’d ever seen. No, that title went to President Celestia. She’d seen the President’s husband, and honestly all she could think was that the man was blessed. He’d obviously seen that goddess nude before , and that had to be a sight to behold. Tarte wasn’t a slouch though. She wasn’t buff, her body bordering more on those cute girls that were thin simply because they were active enough to be thin, but inactive enough to keep that cute little belly.
Her hips had certainly widened, and she noticed how she had filled out after drinking the potion. It wasn’t like she suddenly went from stick figure to bombshell, but she had easily grown a cup size, and her hips had widened a bit. She almost laughed to herself, the princess had basically wanted to be protected from prying eyes, and here she was checking out all the goods that she had to offer.
Tarte hadn’t noticed her prying eyes. Even if she did, Jessica wouldn’t have stopped looking. She abandoned her shame long ago and wasn’t afraid to do or get what she wanted. Besides, any punishment was worth looking at this mare for just a moment or longer if she wanted.
Deciding to give Tarte just a moment away from her eyes, Jessica turned away to survey the room. Nothing seemed off about the room. Well, except Fast climbing on the counter for a look and the Doctor using a well placed mirror to take a look too. The only one not looking would be stiff-neck Ironhoof whose eyes were focused straight towards the door they entered and not above him.
Before Jessica could say a word, Fast shushed her in a low blow of air. He too noticed a pair of eyes looking down towards the marine. He also its unblinking eyes and how they clinged to a target. He knew anyone,especially Ironhoof would move suddenly, it would attack.
Fast then whispered, “Iron, I’m going to need you to slowly and nonchalantly move from where you are. No sudden movements and for the love of Celestia, no questions. Just do it.”
Giving Fast a sideways glance the Marine turned, began walking inward, and that’s when the screech came. It was loud, angry, full of hunger, and directly behind Ironhoof. He turned and saw what was before him. At one time the creature might have been a human, but that would have been long ago. No, what stood there was a deformed creature that had human like skin covering a more insect looking face. Its mouth opened to reveal not sharp teeth, but rather two mandibles and a long needle like tongue. It lunged toward Ironhoof who grabbed a metal rack and slammed it as hard as he could against the creature knocking it toward the wall. If it was hurt it showed no signs of it.
Instead it screamed again, jumping up its clawed fingers dug easily into the false wood that made up the walls, and seemed to head directly for the ceiling. Ironhoof held a piece of the rack that was left, little more than a long piece of aluminum tubing that had a jagged end to it. It growled at them, and then dropped toward Tarte Sucrée. It was obvious that the creature was looking for an easy meal, that it wanted something that wouldn’t fight back, and at the same time be able to get away quickly.
Apparently the creature didn’t know about Unicorns and magic. As it dropped Tarte screamed in fear, her horn ignited in a pink aura right before the same color aura covered the creature and threw it away from her. It landed, obviously confused, but not confused enough to realize that all of the prey in this room was potentially dangerous. It hissed at them, and it was the sound of a rifle erupting that caught everyone’s attention.
The lever action 30-30 Fast Hooves had found spat a shell out toward the creature, and even with his less than stellar aiming skills he managed to hit its shoulder. The creature howled in pain, it seemed to grab something from it’s belly, and Fast Hooves watched as the something looked like a white cord. It threw it, and he ducked only to see it sticking to the wall behind him. The creature pulled it, causing some of the plaster to fall, hitting him, trapping him, and then it howled in anger again before jumping up to the ceiling and disappearing into a hole that seemed to turn dark.
“Everypony, check in,” Ironhoof said.
“Not a pony, but I’m alive,” Dr. Phillips said as he got up, “I dare say that we’ve found another warm welcome.”
Tarte Sucrée gave him a glare before clearing her throat, “I am quite alive thank you, and I believe that I have stressed this before, but we really should have brought an entire league of guards, or soldiers, or whatever you brutes call yourselves here.”
“I’m fine, but I could use a drink.” Jessica replied.
“I need a little help,” Fast Hooves replied from behind the counter.
Ironhoof walked over and saw the Pegasus pinned under a thick section of plaster. He grasped it, pulled up, and felt the weight of it shifting. He knew that without a doubt it was going to break apart at any moment.
“Move soldier, right now!”
Fast Hooves shot forward, and barely missed a section of the plaster falling back down where it had been. Ironhoof dropped the section he was holding, and then he noticed the safe below the counter.
“Fast Hooves, check in this area for anything useful, bits, weapons, ammunition, anything that may be of some use to us,” he then looked at Dr. Phillips, “Doctor, what can you tell us about that creature?”
Dr. Phillips gave him a slight glare, “Anything I can say is little more than speculation until I can find some documents or files over what has happened, but if I was to hazard a guess I would say we witnessed a genetically spliced individual. The webbing indicates that he, or it rather, was spliced with spider D.N.A. I suppose we could call it a Spider Splicer for the lack of a better term.
“Yeah, that going in the official report?” Jessica asked.
Dr. Phillips looked toward her, “For now, yes it is,” he deadpanned, “Until I can find the actual term given by whoever did the splicing. In fact, as a general term we could just say Splicer.”
Ironhoof nodded, “Fine, we do not split up unless there is no other choice. Everything we do has to be done together.”
“Yeah, look, I really don’t think that I want to have you guys in the next stall over when I’m taking care of business,” Jessica replied.
“Get over it. This is a military operation, you are working under the guidelines of Her… Of the President’s orders, and you will follow them.”
Jessica glared at him. She trusted Ironhoof, she really did. He was one of the few ponies that had proven he will do exactly what he said he would do. She knew he could be an asshole, but regardless she knew she could trust him. If he said they would be doing everything together then he meant it.
Her eyes went to the two obviously weakest links in their chain. Dr. Phillips and Tarte Sucrée were neither trained military, or came from criminal elements. Dr. Phillips was one of those bleeding hearts that believed he could help the entire world. She knew the type, and while she was certain he was a good man there was little doubt that he would end up causing them some kind of trouble.
Tarte Sucrée on the other hand was the average Pretty Little Princess. She laughed to herself as she thought about it. Every horror movie had at least one of them. It was almost a standard to have that kind of girl in the classic horror movies, and this was shaping up to be a horror movie. Which meant that at some point Tarte was going to knock boots with another member of their group, or a resident of this place, and shortly after something was going to kill or infect her. Surprisingly she found the thought a little more off putting than she wanted to believe she would.
It wasn’t like her to feel connected to any individuals, and maybe, just maybe, it was because they had helped to protect her earlier. If that was the case then she simply had to ensure that she helped clear that ledger. She needed to ensure there was no red in her personal ledger, and once it was clear, then, then she could easily let them to their own devices.
“Yo, Ironhoof,” Fast Hooves called out, “I found the motherload.”
The group as a whole converged on Fast Hooves and the bounty that he found. It wasn’t Ironhoof who saw the safe; the cat burglaring Pegasus saw it, too and had picked the combination in a thrice. And, from the looks of the mess behind the counter where the plaster had fallen, there was a hidden cache there, too.
“Haha,” Fast Hooves giggled, “we got ammo, some syringes of that orange stuff from before, plenty of them coins but in larger denominations. Bet you ain’t seen a 100 bit coin before, huh? Got more than enough of those to go around for each of us evenly, there was a pistol and this shotgun looking thing… And a key.”
“A key?” Ironhoof asked, “What’s it for?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me, IH,” Fast Hooves, “it’s for unlocking locks, duh!”
Author's Note
(AN: Whelp here we go again! Okay, L0rd0f7hund3r, MoltenXKid, and myself are the authors of this story. Of course it's Bioshock inspired, but we're going to be taking some major liberties with the Splicers in the city itself. So, it's off to another grand adventure!)
Horror Beneath the Sea
A Bioshock inspired Vogonverse Story
Chapter 2: Retail Therapy
New Rapture - Shopping Center - three hours later
Making headway through the section of New Rapture they were currently in seemed to be problematic at best. The wrist worn terminals that Tarte had created still was able to monitor their health, well those still wearing them, but unfortunately the digital assistants couldn’t access any of the systems in New Rapture. Apparently the entire system had been created by ponies, or people rather, that had no desire to let anyone access their networks, computers, or terminals without permission. Which in the end called for a need for Fast Hooves previous experiences.
The first door they opened revealed the need for being careful when a figure moved and they had to bolt behind the walls to avoid a string of bullets coming from an unmanned turret. After a moment the bullets stopped and the device seemed to sound as it was moving back and forth.
“Booby traps? Seriously? This place has booby traps? Oh fuck me with a barbed wire covered dildo!” Jessica shouted as she hit the wall she was standing against.
“Did you notice the camera?”
Everyone looked at Dr. Phillips. He shook his head, “behind the turret, it looks like there’s a security camera, and I’m willing to bet it’s what controls our unmanned friend in there. If we could disable it, or something we might be able to get past that turret.”
“You mean destroy it?”
He shook his head again, “No, I mean disable it for a few moments. We don’t know if there are more of those creatures following us. I would certainly feel better knowing that they had to face an unmanned, heavily armed, and unbiased machine gun trap if they tried to follow us.”
“Fast Hooves?”
The Pegasus rolled his eyes, “I might be fast enough to slip in, but we’re talking about a complex computer controlled trap. Like it or not we need somepony that knows technology.”
Tarte looked around, seeing a sign for timed public network access. She sat down next to it, opened a port on the portable device on her arm, and stretched a small wire out. She connected it to the connection port, and a moment later her Digital Assistant, a cute little animated cat showed that there was internet connectivity.
“Welcome to Sal’s Network Cafe!”
Lights came over revealing the room around them. It had been dark, so nopony really stopped to look, but there was blood stains on the floor, the walls, deep gashes where something had obviously struck several individuals down.
“Please deposit ten dollars for the next fifteen minutes! And remember to try our Nettastic Drinks! We have Pep, we have Dash, and of course we carry Gene enhancers! Kids, remember to ask your parents before trying to get those new cool superpowers!”
She looked at Fast Hooves who dug out ten of the bits and handed them to her. She deposited them.
“Thank you, you have fifteen minutes of New Rapture’s Network time! Remember, the safety and security of your information is our top priority!”
“Ms Muffin, are you in?”
The virtual cat meowed and held up a thumbs up sign.
“Find the access information about the security systems, see if there’s a panel nearby that I can use to reprogram it.”
Again it displayed a thumbs up sign, and then the virtual cat was gone. Moments later a holographic display appeared and she could see the room, and near the counter was a keypad. She looked over to see it present, but covered in blood.
“Thank you Ms Muffin.”
She made her way over, slowly, and looked at the keypad. It wasn’t much, similar to the vender keypad from that medical vending machine earlier, but there was three numbers that looked really worn, or she hoped that they were. She looked around and ontop of the counter was a small sticky note.
“Matt, Mr. Lucus has went and fucked the pooch again. So, the old bastard thought that it would be a good idea to get one of those Automatic sentries. Well, after setting it up he realized that his memory sucks, and to be honest I don’t have time. So the access code for the Sentry is 052377#. Yeah, the release date like that movie you keep raving about. Anyway, that’ll let you in and let you change the settings. Just select new personnel, hit enter, and have everyone that’s working in the store walk in front of the camera and smile. Make sure that it gets done in a minute or less because whatever half assed genius came up with this put it on a timer.
Thanks,
Josh.”
She punched in the code, pressed the pound key, and walked toward the door. When the turret didn’t fire she looked at everypony else.
“Walk in behind me, look at the camera, smile, and keep going!”
The group nodded and followed the directions given. Of course, they were anxious as they eyed the camera;any moment a hailstorm of bullets could turn them into swiss cheese. Seeing as Tarte made it through with no problem, the group eased for a moment. Ever so slightly.
First, Fast made his way through seeing as he was closer to Tarte. He made sure his footsteps were light and nimble, for he didn’t know if he’d have to jump or not. Next, Ironhoof walked, keeping his facial expression neutral and then let out an awkward smile as he passed the camera. After him Jessica rushed through. She smiled up at the camera, and then finally Dr. Phillips walked, smiled, and no sooner had he done then a red light formed under the camera. It seemed trained on him for a moment before the light turned back to green.
Breathing out he move around it, toward where they were before they heard a snarling sound. Turning around Dr. Phillips saw the creature from before, or one similar to it, standing near the doorway. It moved toward them, at first there was nothing and then the turret, which had become silent, unleashed another string of bullets riddling the creature with holes, and causing it to fall to the ground. It thrashed around for a moment while the turret continued to follow its path to the ground, still shooting it until it no longer drew a breath.
Seeing it dead Dr. Phillips moved, cautiously, toward it, and touched the body. Seeing the camera not regard it at all he pulled it behind the turret and looked at it again. It wasn’t the same creature. The other appeared to have caucasian skin stretched over more insect like features, but this had bronze colored skin that was similarly done. He felt something in the pocket of the creature, making sure to be careful, he pulled it out to reveal a digital recorder.
Looking at the others he neared them, and pressed play. The recorder projected a picture against the flat surface of the wall showing a handsome bronze skinned man as he smiled in a mirror.
“So, Julie asked me to accompany her tonight to Retail Row, you know the shopping center. Normally, I don’t have any reason to go to work after work, but this is Julie Thompson, Dr. Julie Thompson we’re talking about here. She’s the reason they created the term M.I.L.F. So, naturally I want to look my best. Arm’s itching a little though. I guess that trying to impress Rebecca with taking the wall crawling genetic tonic wasn’t the best idea. Still, the worst that’s happened so far has been being able to basically crawl up a wall and hide out on the ceiling. Not bad, not really, especially when Mr. Lucus is being a complete and total ass. Damn, it’s almost time. Okay, remember buddy, if it happens, it’s getting recorded for future record, it not… Then just erase this.”
“A tonic?” Tarte asked.
He looked at the body again, “We need to find some kind of documentation, or a medical center that isn’t run by a vending machine. If we do maybe they will have some samples to study, and I might be able to figure out what’s going on.”
“Great...more aimlessly searching in this godless places,” Jessica spoke sarcastically, “More fun and time to meet new friends…”
IronHoof walked towards her, glaring right into her eyes. Part of him though they she'd look away, yet she stared right back, “You know what you signed up for…”
“I didn't sign up for this shit…” replied Jessica step around the massive stallion in front her, “Well if we gotta stay down here, let's at least find a map. No need to walk in the dark and get ourselves killed.”
“Funny you should say that…”Tarte said, a small smirk on her face, “A little digging in the network and I found the-”
“We’re sorry, but unfortunately your time is up. Please deposit ten dollars for more time. And don’t forget to try our amazing products: Nettastic Drinks, Pep, Dash, and of course we carry Gene enhancers!
Fast searched his bag for the right amount before inserting it in. Once the machine counted and accepted the money, Tarte was back online a finding a digital map of New Rapture. Within moments she had it and downloaded the file to her arm device. After a couple of taps on her device, she pointed it to the ground and brought up a 3d replica of New Rapture.
“Okay...so we are here,” Tarted pointed towards a small point on the map. She then moved her finger a small distance away to an underwater hospital, “Fortunately, what the Doctor needs isn’t too far away. It’s just in this massive hospital...I think it’s the main one down here.”
“Why can’t you just gather the information while you’re in the system?” Asked Iron, trying to limit anything troublesome.
“Anything medical related to what we are looking for...isn’t here or in New Rapture servers. The hospital must have a separate network that I have to connect to directly from in the walls.”
Fast let out a small chuckle before speaking,“Easy. We jump in, and jump out. Nothing to worry about.”
“”Oh, but there is, Fast…Think about it...this didn’t happen all at once. There had to be symptoms or signs of this happening. So, where do you go when you’re sick?” Doctor Phillips explained. He noticed the grim expressions growing on his team’s faces. He knew he didn’t have to say the words that were going to come out his mouth, but went ahead anyway, “My friends, that hospital we are venturing into will be crawling with things we can only imagine.”
New Rapture - Pneumatic Transport Junction
Ironhoof looked at the now lit up platform. There was a long tube like train that seemed to sit mainly unused. He nickered silently as he looked at the map showing the location of the Medical Pavilion. The idea of getting into this train and going through a tube that was surrounded by water, and this train being completely powered by a vacuum was a bit much. His eyes turned toward Tarte who was hooked into the terminal with her portable wrist worn device. After a few minutes she looked at them.
“We can’t get straight to the Medical Pavilion. The tube between here and there is broken and the hatches are sealed, but we can go to the Center for the Arts, cross over to Atrium, and then head directly over to Medical Pavilion from there. From what I’m reading here the Atrium is mainly responsible for the bulk amount of oxygen down here.”
“The Arts? Do we get on at the same platform?” Fast Hooves asked.
She shook her head, “We’ll have to travel across it to the south Junction. From there we should be able to hit to Atrium, and then we head to the west junction at the Atrium to get to the Medical Pavilion.”
“Wow,” Fast Hooves commented, “and I thought the Manehattan subway system was convoluted.”
When the majority of the team’s eyes fell on him, he explained, “Hey, I have taken the subway every now and then. It beats flying and it usually has a minimal police presence. Well, maybe not now. Last time I was in New York, the pigs were everywhere; it was a regular ham sandwich.”
Realizing that he would be riding this, or trains like this several times while they were here, and in spite of Fast Hooves thoughts on police, Ironhoof resided himself to getting on board. The others followed suit, and finally it was Tarte who got on after activating the controls and then ran to the train, got in before the doors closed. She took a seat, strapped in, like the others, and suddenly the tube’s main door closed.
“Thank you for taking New Rapture’s Pneumatic Transport system. Each person riding will be expected to pay five dollars at the next terminal. Please refrain from smoking, and remember strap in for safety.”
Once the recording finished a light came on above them and the train shot forward. The speed was certainly faster than most of the other trains anyone had been on. The car itself seemed to maintain in a mostly upright position, with the exceptions of going around corners, and in less than five minutes they were entering the Center for the Arts. The train stopped, the doors opened, and there was a small ding.
“Welcome to the Center for Arts! Artists are not bullied by the censors, but instead are encouraged to create, create the masterpieces that live inside of their hearts and heads!”
Fast Hooves passed five individual bits to everyone, and once they made it outside there was a small turnstyle. It took the bits and spit out receipts for each of them. Once they were past it the the lights for the Center of the Arts began to come on. Broken bits of sculptures, ruined furniture, and dried blood seemed to litter the floor.
As they walked the sound of a soft melody began to float around them. Something from a bygone era that was relaxing, almost comforting.
“Ah, I see that I have guests! Guests to witness my genius! Welcome! Welcome to my domain!” A loosely hanging monitor sparked to life showing a shadowy figure, “Hello my dears, and welcome to my Art studio. I’ve been very busy trying to cultivate some higher culture here, but unfortunately I don’t have much to work with… However, you’ve each presented me with brand new canvas to work on. So, without further ado, I invite you into my world!”
There was a loud clicking noise and the main doors leading into the Center opened.
“Come in! Come in says the Spider to the Flies!”
“Yeah, that’s a trap,” Fast Hooves says, “I kinda wanna spring it.”
“So certain of this, are you?” Jessica retorted.
“Yep,” Fast Hooves replied, “but I’m not so stupid as to do so. Hey, Toots!”
“The name is Succre Tartes,” the unicorn mare answered, “not toots, featherbrain.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Fast Hooves said, “quick favor, Toots, can you send me a copy of the map you downloaded? I’m going to need it for a bit.”
“And just what are you planning on doing with a map, Fast Hooves?” Dr. Phillips asked.
“Well, Doc,” Fast Hooves answered, “this Justin guy seems like a handful. I don’t what he brings to the table in terms of threat but if all my years as Equestria’s premier thief have taught me anything, is that you never go into a hostile situation unprepared. We have, all total, one rifle, which I’m keeping now that I have some rounds for it, one pistol and one shotgun. I don’t think Jessica is going to be absconding with her rifle so damn soon, so I’m going to do two things.
“The first, is give you the pistol and two boxes of ammo for it, because I don’t know how good a shot you are. I’m thinking precision aim is going to be needed from here on out; I’m going to give Sergeant Ironhoof here the shotgun. I bet he could make good use of that.
“The second, is see if I can track down the ‘spider-slicer’ we saw earlier. I think he may have something we could use. I didn’t get the best glimpse of him, but I could have sworn he has my tactical kit. I kinda want that back; it has all my stuff.”
After handing out the proscribed armaments, Ironhoof asked, “And why is the kit so important that you feel the need to splinter off?”
With a smile, Fast hooves answers, “Because.”
“That’s not really an answer,” Jessica growled, “what is so damned important about your kit?”
Sighing, Fast Hooves answered, “Because, it was a gift from a friend and I have too few of those as is. After the Fall of Equus, I was assured most, if not all, of my former associates would not be alive. The new friends I made here are precious to me, especially since they’ve taught me skills to survive here,” a pause, and then, “plus, my kit has Primacord in it. That could be useful.”
“This is not a wise decision.”
Fast Hooves looked at Ironhoof.
“Splitting up is not a good idea. You will have no one to watch your back. You will be alone surrounded by hostiles, and even with your ability to fly, based on what we’ve seen and read, it will not be enough to get you away from those hostiles. If you are needing the kit that badly we can all head back to track down the…” he stopped as the tube for the Pneumonic Train closed and the train sped off, “Go with you… What in Tartarus just happened?!”
“No no, my new little canvases, you can’t leave, not yet. I have so many new ways to improve you. But it would be unfair of me to not allow you the chance paint and express yourself.”
There was a howling scream coming from above them. The body dropped showing a spider-splicer, limbs bound, and on his back was a pack.
“Inside you will find the needed tools for any artist to create. Welcome, welcome to the Center for the Arts, welcome to culture, welcome to sophistication, welcome to my New Rapture!”
“When I find him, I’m going to put a bullet in his brain,” Jessica deadpanned.
Ironhoof took the cord from the spider-splicer, finding that it was actually a very strong, actually as strong as steel, but more pliable rope, and rolled it up for future use. He then removed the pack. Opening it revealed a wealth of ammo, a camera, film, and something else. It looked like a handle to a broken knife, until Ironhoof touched the button. When he did a seven inch long thin blade made of electrified plasma appeared.
He touched it to a piece of the brass railing and almost instantly it cut through it like butter. Looking at the blade, and then at Fast Hooves he handed it over.
“I’ve read your file, you might be more comfortable with this.”
The speakers crackled again, “You’re making me wait, and I get angry when I wait… So angry! Fine! Become part of my new lobby art!”
There was a roar, something loud, something large, and then they saw it strike a door at the end of the hall. The sound was of huge, something easily bigger than any of them were. It struck again and this time the steel door went flying revealing a hulking beast. Like the spider-splicers it was obviously once human, but the human skin had ripped, showing muscle under it. Muscle that had hardened into being able to stop some small arms fire.
Its face looked almost like a Rhino, a long horn coming of his forehead, and the creature growled at them before charging. Every member of the team sprinted away in differing directions to avoid the charge; the beast slammed into a piece of statuary that crumbled into millions of pieces upon impact. No one was hurt, but the Rhino was less than phased by striking the statute itself. It spun around and charged after them once more.
“I could really use that Primacord right now!” Fast Hooves whined.
Dr. Phillips wasn’t so paralyzed by panic and let three rounds spray from the automatic Fast Hooves gave him. For the effect it did, the good doctor may as well have hit it with a BB gun. The armored hide of the Rhino shrugged off the .44 Magnum rounds like they were nothing and continued charging. Once again, everyone scrambled out of the path of the rampaging mutant.
“We need a plan!” Ironhoof shouted as he used the shot against the beast. The pellets went in, yet did little more than anger the creature,” And we need one fast.”
“I say we run,” suggested Tarte. She brought up the map to figure out an escape route.
As she looked, the doors around the lobby began to close and seal. Soon, they had nowhere to run. They were trapped with the beast. It would come down to them defeating the enemy or dying below the sea.
“Oh no, my little artists, running just will not do. How else am I supposed to see your creativity if you run? Anyone can do that...but it takes a certain amount of...how you say passion, fury, and sophistication to figure this situa-”
Just before the words finished, one loud explosion of a sound filled the room and the intercom was destroyed. When everyone turned to the source, they saw Jessica aiming her rifle towards it; the muzzle still smoking.
“I was getting tired of his voice…” She explained. Then with a swift motion, she aimed towards the beast, who now was facing the Doctor and Ironhoof. The markman held her breath to shoot. Then, another explosion from her gun sent a projectile flying towards the beast, hitting it in the knee.
“You missed the head!” Fast screamed “You must be a terrible shot…”
“I'm not trying to kill it. I want to immobilize it. Besides, on a beast like that, dontcha think the head would be one of the strongest points?!”
The creature fell, the knee giving out when it tried to sprint toward Tarte. Breathing a sigh of relief the mare looked toward the brutish creature only to see it lifting itself up on its arms, and then using its good leg in the back. The result was a creature that wasn’t quite a fast, but still as mobile as before.
It rushed toward them, its angry howls filling the lobby, and there was precious little to separate themselves from the monster. Another shot had slowed it, causing it to slam into the wall, and Fast Hooves looked at the downed thing. It wasn’t until he felt something drop that he looked and saw the blade Ironhoof had tossed him before. He flicked it on, seeing the six inch blade come to life.
Getting close to that monster meant death, and he had things he wanted to do before he shuffled off his mortal coil. One of them was the Unicorn Mare in the group, but first he had to ensure that all of them would survive. He took aim, tossed the blade toward the creature, aiming for its broad neck, and like the brass rail earlier it sliced easily into its hide, past it, and out the other side. The creature thrashed around, trying desperately to breathe despite the airway being separated. Slowly it began to stop, and finally there was no movement at all. The creature was still. Ironhoof walked toward it, not trusting to touch it himself he grasped part of the now broken, and disfigured, brass rail and poked the creature with it. Seeing it no longer move he looked at the others.
“It’s dead.”
Fast Hooves neared it, feeling the pockets and pulled out two things. One was a syringe of purplish looking medicine, and the other was another digital recorder. He pressed play and it projected a scene against the wall. The man looking back at them was dark skinned, well built, and looked stressed.
“Ain’t life just fuckin’ grand? So, I get hired to come down here to New Rapture because I happen to be good at security, or rather I own a security company. Naturally, since there’s no official government involvement everything has to be privatized. That means that I had to bring over half of my guys down here with the promise of being able to return home after six months,” he laughed and shook his head, “Mr. Jefferson, the head developer and practically owner of New Rapture, just pissed all over my promise. ‘Nobody gets to leave until we have order!’ My boys are tired, We’ve been down here for a year now. One of them… Jesus, Billy was the nicest guy that ever worked security… I don’t know what happened, but he flipped! I found a gene tonic syringe on him, I’m guessing that maybe that was it. All I know is that Ellis, Katherine… She’s not right after what happened. How does someone crush another person’s hip when they’re fucking? How the fuck does that happen?! Shit… If that’s not bad enough then I’ve got problems with Justin Longman.”
He walked around a bit and shook his head, “Justin, the self proclaimed Artistic Genius, Longman has stated that Tattooing is the perfect form of artistic expression, except he wants to pay people to have the medical pavilion remove sections of their skin for him to tattoo on. This is a level of shit that I’m not being paid enough for. I need a drink, or maybe something stronger.”
The device switched off and they looked at one another.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Fast Hooves commented, “but this is one seriously fucked up dude. If I ever meet this asshole, I’m stuffing his piehole with Primacord and then setting it off with extreme prejudice.”
“From a safe distance, I hope,” Ironhoof said, “I’ve seen what Primacord can do.”
“As have I,” Fast Hooves replied, “another reason why I wanna be in the room when it goes off. I think I can deal with a little blindness and deafness to see this motherfucker buy a farm.”
“Still thinking of going after your pack?” The good doctor asked.
“Hell yeah,” Fast Hooves exclaimed, “But first, I better get that knife. Might come in handy later.”
“And how exactly are you going to find your pack,” Tarte asked, “when we don’t even know if that ‘spider-splicer’ is here?”
“He followed us,” Fast Hooves said, removing the knife from the concrete it was embedded in, “I just saw him scamper into another part of the Arts Center.”
Ironhoof loaded his shot before placing it back on his back. He then walked towards his fellow stallion to speak, “Well, if you know where it is, you can take point. Just look over the map to make a path.”
As if on que, the door that had been closed, opened revealing a room filled with art. The art one would usually see in ,museums or exhibits. Yet as the group entered and continued to walk, they saw the masterpieces evolve. They went from normal everyday paintings to eccentric paintings. They expected this since New Rapture was essentially a new culture that would change on its on. What the group didn’t expect were the paintings to change so drastically.
Depictions of vulgar scenes spread throughout around group. Theft, murder, and rape were painted multiple times around them. Human skeletons shaped into household items loomed in one corner with a blinking light casting a low light onto it. Animals...or what were once animals, were plastered against the wall, their innards displayed with full glory. On the back wall, were pieces of skin, all different shades with tatoos on them. Further down, the group heard sparks and saw twitching. They approached cautiously until they found monstrosities. Body parts were sewn together, not genetically modified to be that way. Parts from animals, humans, etc were thrown together in a Frankenstien.
They twitched as electricity went through them, but no more. Every body part was dead on it’s own. Until they heard breathing. It was coming from one of the sewed monsters. A man; a tired looking man slowly raised his head. Parched he was and the ribs of his original torso were showing. Unfortunately, everything else was new. With a cough, he spoke in a weak voice, “I don’t who you all are. I truly don’t care. Just know, it was a mistake to come down here. People...humans go mad when there are no limitations, “the man coughed before continuing, “Hell, I’m living proof of that. Anyway...do me a favor: kill me.”
Tarte was silent; not being able to bear the sight of the man, she buried her face into the Doctor’s shoulders (making Fast slightly envious.) Ironhoof and Jessica looked at the displays, never removing their eyes. Even though they lived different lives, both have seen horrible things in their time. Things they wish they’d never done or saw, but this was now part of them. This was just another item to add to the list.
“Yes, my artist! I see you have discovered my latest work. It struck me, humanity is but a grouping of higher animals, ones that nature has patchworked together, what better homage to nature herself than to copy her in creating an even more perfect series of specimen! Behold, homosuperior!”
The light flashed, and they looked at not only the ones they’d passed, but at least another eight hanging up, similar in their design, but only the man hanging up was alive, or rather truly alive. Jessica looked at the man hanging there. She didn’t know if there was any saving him, but most likely there wouldn’t be. She walked toward him, and the moment she got close enough an electrical field tossed her back. She shook uncontrollably for several seconds while she lay there.
“Ah, my aspiring artists wish to improve upon my work, but dare I say it… I believe there may be a way for you to do so. The camera I’ve given you, yes, yes, surely one of you have been bitten by the shutterbug. There are three… former aspiring artists running around in here, two women, and a man, that once shared my vision, but have abandoned all I have aspired to. They are worthless as artists now, but they could become art, art painted in their own blood,” he giggled, “Find them for me, take that picture, that most wonderful picture, of their very last moment. I shall do something for you that you won’t be able to do otherwise. I will grant you passage through my studio to the other station.”
Author's Note
(AN: And second chapter down. Again, big thanks to L0rd0f7hund3r and MoltenXKid for the help. Any mistakes, please let us know.)
