Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Nine

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Making our way to the side entrance undetected by the raiders, seeing the spot caused the still fresh memories of what I had witnessed to flashed through my mind. The area where the rape had happened was void of bodies, but the blood and other body fluid stained the floor. Somehow I could still hear the pain muffled screams of Chilly, making me wish I could have done more.

Tripwire managed to get the door open, using magic to remove a bar that was keeping it closed on the other side. I took one last glance at this spot, gritting my teeth in disgust before trotting through. Then Tripwire placed the bar back on, and made sure to add some extra scrap to make sure the raider would have a harder time getting through from the other side.

On this side, I got to see what a raider gauntlet was without having to be in one. It was a series of rooms with traps, feral monsters or ghouls, and even an obstacle course with lots of sharp objects. There was evidence that some ponies had already been forced through it, and not survived.

As we trotted along, I did my best to not make a noise whenever I accidentally used my fucked up leg. Soon we came to what must have been the raiders resting area. It was some where house with several tables and beads scattered around, along with stairs to a second floor that had a few dead bodies decorating it. Sitting at one of the tables was the bald raider from before.

"Well the bitch was right, the boss is too chemed out to tell the pony was already dead. Saved my ass." The bald raider said with a laugh.

"So you're going to go get your second dibs on that mare you mentioned?" Another raider asked.

He groaned in annoyance. "Knowing that asshole, she's already too torn up to be any fun. I'll just wait until we get one of those tin can assholes."

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked back to see Tripwire shake his head. Then I looked down to see that I had been pulling out the hunting rifle unconsciously, my hoof shaking just like Chilly had been. Pushing the rifle back into its holster, I took a deep breath.

A third raider tossed an empty bottle across the room, nearly hitting four other raiders, who scowled at the third as he shouted. "FUCKING STEEL RANGERS!"

"Oh shut the fuck up." An eighth raider said as she trotted to the first three. "Ya I hear ya. If ta boss is right, those Redeye dipshits and tin can ass hats will weaken each other, then we can sweep in and take it all."

The second raider laughed. "Always love a good smash and grab. And have ya seen that paladin bitch with her helmet off, I have, and she's got the best dick sucking lips I've ever seen."

Another bottle went flying, this time hitting a raider. This then caused the now bleeding raider to attack the bottle thrower, drawing the attention of the rest of them.

Tripwire tapped my shoulder, and I made sure to quickly and quietly dash past the large open door, followed by Tripwire. When no shouting or gunfire was directed at us, we knew we were in the clear, so we made sure to put distance between us and the hoard of raiders.

There were, of course, more raiders ahead. Fortunately they were in a watch tower, busy watching the fortified building. Or getting high off chems. Probably both.

Once we had gotten ourselves back to the edge of the valley, still close to the buildings, but away from the raiders, we took a moment to rest.

"How many raiders are there?" I asked, mainly to myself.

"Generally, for groups like that, between twenty to thirty. But if there's any chem dens in the area, you could add another ten to fifteen of them." Tripwire informed me.

I couldn't wrap my head around it at all. "Okay, I get that some ponies go crazy, but how would they even work as a group?"

Tripwire first stopped to look at his watch for a moment, careful to keep its magical light hidden, before telling me. "You don't want to know, and we don't have the time to sit around and talk about it."

Truthfully, if it was an option, I would have rather gone back and killed them all. Such monsters in pony form needed to be exterminated. But we were just two ponies, and there were likely over twenty more of them. I had gotten lucky and Pa always told me to never rely on lady luck alone.

Lady luck was just as likely to slit your throat as she is to shower you with wealth. And where riches are temporary, death is permanent.

My leg throbs with pain from just thinking about what he would have done to me if I didn't have this armor on. Just remembering what he did to Chilly made my mouth dry in disgust and horror.

Tripwire pulled out a map and looked over at the Redeye controlled building, then to some old broken machine in the distance. "Right, we don't have far to go. The old mine is just past the train yard. So just stay low and with hope, nopony will be in our way."

Nodding, I then pulled my cloak hood over me again, and trotted in the direction Tripwire pointed me in.

As we passed the trainyard, the place was rather sparse. Train parts were all over the place, many looking like they had been cut apart and left in a pile. The trains that we're here and still whole, looked ready to be moved out. Some looked like cages, and others had what had to be armored plating covering them. Among them were several massive machines that looked like they went in the front of the others, with one that seemed ready to move out, along with several train carts connected behind it.

A chuckle escaped Tripwire's muzzle as we passed, saying softly. "Redeye never did get those arcano-tech trains working. Must have frustrated him to no end."

"Could they be made to work again?" I whispered out.

He shrugged "I'm not an arcano-tech engender, but if Redeye thought so, then I have to admit that it's possible. Though you would need a pony well versed in such technology, of which I doubt any still live."

Leaving the trainyard behind, we trotted to an old overgrown trail leading to what must be the mine. An old and very rusty chain link fence bearly blocked our way, with several signs hanging off it, and one section of the fence to the side utterly missing.

Tripwire studied the signs before nodding to himself. "Surmount Mining Unlimited, Iron mine, decommissioned. This is the place."

"Surmount… what?" I said in mild confusion.

He looked back at me, a small grin on his face. "It's a prewar corporation. From what my history books told me, supposably they were the ones that fed Equestrias industrial revolution. Well, until the coal ran out. You can find their mines all over Equestra, and supposably around the world."

"Okay, I get it, you know more than me." I huffed.

Trotting around the old fence and entering the mine, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find it quite cool inside. After so long in the heat and humidity, I had forgotten what it felt like to be cool.

A ball of light formed on Tripwire's horn, banishing the dark and lighting up our way. Again checking his map, I saw him grimaced. Looking at the map myself, I was shocked to see the lines move and flicker, with words scrolling down the side.

"Is that a… magical map?" I asked in surprise.

"Clearly." He said flatly before letting out a sigh. "Father loved his magical tricks, cared more for the study of magic than inheriting the family business. It's why my grandmother personally picked me as the successor, and would have too if Redeye hadn't shown up. Still, I can't completely fault my father for all the effort he put into studying magic, as it was the one thing Redeye had no true counter for."

The further we went into the mine tunnel, the colder it got, almost too cold. Worse, I was getting the feeling of being watched. Maybe it was some critters, but with one of my legs fucked up, I didn't want to get in any fights any time soon.

"Then what happened, didn't he fight Redeye with you?" I inquired, trying to keep my mind off what I couldn't see.

Tripwire shook his head. "He ran, hid the family deeds and artifacts, then vanished. Because of needing to be able to translate magickly coded script, it has taken me years to get this far. Along with staying under Redeye's radar."

As our hoof steps echoed through the mine, the feeling of being watched only continued, and I swear I could hear hoof steps not our own. But every time we slowed down, I could only hear our own echoes, or utter silence.

We then entered what was a large room, the air cool and still, but a subtly foul smell lingered, like something truly wrong was here.

"Here we are." Tripwire said as the ball of light on his horn drifted forward, growing brighter. As it illuminated the room, a cog shaped hole became visible that led to more darkness. Stranger yet, the hole had some sort of pink shimmer in it, like a wall, but translucent.

When Tripwire's ball of light touched the pink translucent wall, there was a loud snap as the ball flared brightly for a second before going out, leaving us in the dark again.

"A magical barrier, another one of fathers tricks." Tripwire said, then clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't know how to remove those, but I can get the two of us through it. I'll just need a bit of time."

The sound of several heavy hoof steps came up behind us, followed by a deep robotic voice. "Good, because we require something from within that stable."

Several lights then beamed onto us, blinding me for a long moment. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw three hulking armored ponies, utterly covered in steel and welding two massive guns each. The metal faces of these ponies resembled a very angry looking stallion, which made me feel even smaller.

"Ah, so that's where you Steal Rangers were." Tripwire said in a worrying tone.

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We had been escorted back outside and into the train that had been set up to move out. Despite not being able to go anywhere. The inside had many busy ponies, with some sitting at terminals, others conducting maintenance. All of them giving the two of us dirty looks.

We were then taken to a train cart where a mare sat at a desk, looking at papers. She was in power armor like some of the others, but her armor was different. It was much rounder and thicker looking than the other armor, with a far cleaner paint job. The mare herself was rather beautiful looking, despite how old she clearly was. She had a cherry pink mane with several silver streaks, with it braided up around the back of her head. Her light blue gray face was thin but not gaunt, with it almost naturally pout when at rest, giving her a feeling of regalia wisdom as she sat.

The rangers that brought us here then saluted "Paladin Shortcake, we have brought the wastelanders."

She took a moment to slowly put the papers down, then took another long moment to size us up. "Typical wastelanders, always getting into places you don't belong. Or that's what it seemed at first." Her eyes then locked onto Tripwire. "If you can get through that barrier, we have something we want you to do for us."

"I'm assuming you're not asking." Tripwire said flatly.

Shortcake smile, showing a pair of very striate, very white teeth. "Good, I do hate it when you savages get argumentative. For too long we've had nothing but your raiders as neighbors, almost forgot that some of you can mimic civilized ponies."

Just as I furrowed my brow at the bitch and opened my mouth to give her a piece of my mind, but Tripwire kicked me and spoke up before I could. "Well it takes some work to not cuss every other word, as the wasteland does not breed civility. If the wasteland is ever to be made to heal, it would require a firm hoof to guide us savage ponies. But I doubt you want to hear me prattle on, so what is it you want us to get for you?"

He then gave the train cart a quick glance before smiling. "I assume it's a particular arcano-teck key."

The smile on Shortcake's face dropped, and a more stern face formed. "Smart wastelanders like you are never a good thing, too smart for your own good as the saying goes. But you are correct, though we would love to say and purge your filth from the land and secure the artifacts inside that stable, we unfortunately have someplace to be."

She then took a deep breath, letting the air slowly exit her nose, likely a sign of her not liking what she was about to say next. "If what we overheard you say is true, and you can get inside… then we will spare your lives for that key."

"How generous of you." Tripwire said with a hint of snark.

Shortcake's smile returned, "oh I am very generous indeed. I even have a gift for the both of you, to ensure this task gets done."

"Really, that's very kind of you, miss Shortcake." I told the ranger paladin.

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The bomb collar around my neck was not the gift I had expected. It was too tightly put on, and the little beep sound it made now and then annoyingly reminded me that it was in fact a bomb. At least Tripwire and I matched, which was a little comforting, in a morbid sense.

Truthfully, I couldn't help but think that it could always be worse. At least the rangers didn't even want to touch us. The unarmored ones in the red robes, scribes they were called, took extra care as they put on the collars. The one non unicorn among them even vigorously washed their hooves afterwards.

When they were done making sure we could not run away or simply do anything, we were marched back to the stable door at gunpoint. Though unnecessary as it was.

It was a bit amazed to see that their power armor gave their guns a limited range of independent movement, like some sort of aim assist.

A click came from our collars, and the voice of Shortcake spoke from some speaker in them. "Alright, no funny business nor acting like some crazed savages. Already had to deal with too many of those in the last month. You are to recover the arcano tech train key and bring it back to us. Once it is confirmed to work, we will retrieve those collars and you can go free."

"And what about anything else in the stable?" Tripwire asked.

"Irrelevant to us right now." Shortcake said flatly, then continud in her high and mighty tone. "The scribes have already discovered what horrors hide in this stable from an outside terminal. We have no use in one of Stable-Tec's failed physiological experiments."

"Understandable." Tripwire said as he trotted to the Stables Entrance.

Following, I saw the chard corps of what must have been a raider on the other side of the barrier.

Reaching out with his hoof, Tripwire flicked the barrier, causing a spark. "Must be drawing the magical power from the stables generator, clever."

"How do we get to the other side?" I asked, hoping it was not just a leap of faith.

He smiled. "Quite simple really. Well, simple in concept, not execution."

Tripwire then levitated a chard pipe gun from the dead raider, pulling it to him. Other than a few little sparks, nothing happened. Then he tossed the gun back into the stable, the barrier making a loud cracking noise as the gun was assaulted with electrical arches, charring it even more.

"As you can see, it's a one way barrier, a spell my family knew well, though on a much smaller scale. It not only prevents physical entry, but magical entry as well. All I need to do is temporarily reverse the spell, then run in." He explained.

"Oh, okay. But how do we know if it's working?" I asked.

"Just throw something through." He answered.

Nodding, I rummaged through my saddlebag and pulled out the bear trap. My own blood was still on it.

Tripwire raised an eyebrow at me before rolling his eyes and looking at the barrel. An overglow enveloped his horn and the barrier sparked a little.

"Just give me a moment, and when I say so, throw that thing." He told me and I nodded back.

As I waited, a few sparks came off Tripwire's horn and the pink barrier rippled.

"Now!" Tripwire said, strain in his voice.

Tossing the bear trap, a few minor sparks zapped it but nothing more.

"Good, now you, I'll follow!" He then commanded.

Taking a deep breath, I charged through, trusting him. A tingly feeling covered my body, followed by a brief sense of numbness. By the time the numb feeling passed, I looked back to see Tripwire jumping through, almost falling over himself when he came to a stop.

"It worked!" I excitedly exclaimed.

"Clearly." Tripwire said in a less than energetic tone.

Trotting further in, I ducked down prone as several loud clicks and pops went off around me. The lights slowly turned on, with some spanking electricity before going out. The rest was a mix of steady bright lights and eerie flickering lights.

A fun marching band music began to play in the distance, slowly getting louder and louder from deeper within the stable. A slow and loud sound of metal bang on metal was with the music, sounding like hoof steps, but wrong.

As it got closer I could see a pinkish light getting brighter, illuminating its source. Trotting through the doorway was a pink ponytron with a big poufy pink wig, and a wide smile painted on its featureless face.

The robot then spoke with a cherry mechanical, and very feminine sounding voice. "Hello and welcome to the Ministry of Moral sponsored underground survival bunker! Built by the newly formed Company, Stable-Tec. Here you will be testing out how wonderful it can be to live underground, and as a result, help make Stable-Tec's dream the salvation of Equestria!"

I got up, unsure how to feel about this disturbingly cheerful ponytron. Looking back at Tripwire, he just sighed and trotted over.

"Pink One, I assume?" He asked the robot.

Several clicks came from the robot before it turned to Tripwire. "This unit designation is Pink Two, custodian and backup greeter for the Ministry of Moral underground bunker. Pink One is currently under maintenance due to malfunction. Wouldn't stop screaming. So this unit is here to begin the party!"

There was a loud clunk and a pop as dust then puffed out of several holes in the wall.

Pink Two gave a monotone laugh. "Ain't that fun! Though cleaning up all that confetti will be a pain. But that's Pink Two's problem, now if you follow me, we can begin the tour, then assign you your roles."

The robot then began to slowly turn around, and as we waited, I took the time to look around. This room must have been quite colorful once, with the walls covered in decayed and browning paper decorations hanging all over, which had long been overtaken by cobwebs. The ground was littered with confetti that was gray and moldy, with dust covering everything. But what still had color to it was several posters of a smiling pink pony with the same mane as the robot's wig, just with a gray streak through it. Her eyes almost looked like they were watching me, and had big bold letters below the face that I immediately gave up on reading, as it made my head hurt trying.

Looking back, I saw that there was a big gear shaped door far off on one side of the room, as though it came off its rails and rolled over there. On it was the M.o.M. in bold pink paint on it.

Tripwire was looking at his magical map for a moment, then looked over to me. "Let's follow Pink Two for now, from the notes here, what we want is in the over ponies office, which is likely at the end of the tour."

A click came from our collars, followed by Shortcake saying. "Please do, I do not advise unnecessary exploring."

Following the Pink Two, we came to a long tunnel with several large windows. The robot then stopped at the first, where lights inside the room turned on. Inside it showed a rusty robot wearing a ragged dress in what must have been a kitchen, yet it also had a bed.

Pink Two then spoke. "During your stay here, you will receive a room with everything you will ever need. Stocked with the current popular brand foods and drinks, made with state of the art preservatives. A radio to keep up with the goings on, even a delivery of the latest fashion of clothes."

The robot moved onto the next window, but when the lights turned on, the glass had been fouled up, preventing me from seeing inside. Some parts were more solid than others, with words written into the mess. "Where… who… am… you… I… me…" I read, but it clearly made no sense.

Tripwire raised an eyebrow at me. "You just read that, despite it being backwards and upside down?

"Weird…" I said.

"Here!" Pink Two loudly spoke up before pausing as something inside made a weird sound. "Is a standard work station, be it a terminal impute station, or bunker maintenance. While here, everypony will have a job. This is to ensure that you always have something to do, as well as troubleshooting the work performed in the bunker. And remember, a bussy pony is a happy pony."

Pink Two then moved on, the next room on display had a rather uncomfortable looking bed and another unmoving robot in a white coat standing over it. "Here we have our medical and psychological treatment office, where you will check in every day to ensure you are in the best of health. Remember, together we will insure the future of Equestria. That starts with you being honest. If there's something wrong, then you have something to say."

I don't know why, but looking at that office filled me with a sense of wrongness. It didn't help that there were even more posters of the pink pony inside.

There was one more window on this tour, and the lights inside sparked as they slowly turned on. Where it revealed to us a dried up corpse hanging from a rope by its neck. It looked considerably ancient and absolutely horrifying.

"Here we have the Stable-Tec jumpsuit you will be issued, designed to last, and look stylish. Taken from Shootaloo's Red Racer standard jumpsuit, with new materials developed by Applebloom, and redesigned by Sweetie Bell. Though this jumpsuit may change in the future, The CEO's of stable-tec are sure this is the style of the future." Pink Two said, not even seeing the dead body.

Doing my best to not look at the corpse myself, I saw the jumpsuit Pink Two was talking about. Unfortunately it had not withstood the test of time, and was mostly just rags.

At the end of the hallway we entered a large room, which once must have hosted many large parties. The amount of discarded booze bottles that littered the floor drove home my guess.

Pink Two then pointed over at a table on one side of the room where another pink robot stood. "Pink Three will now issue you your jumpsuit and a roll. You may stay here and mingle until you are called. HAVE FUN!"

We both shrugged and trotted over to Pink Three. Unlike the other robot, this one had a long and flat pink mane, and a depressed look drawn on its face.

Unlike Two, this robot had a very low energy voice, as though it was actually depressed "Hello… Pink Six is here to issue you your role, unfortunately other than Pink Two, the rest of my sisters have suffered from a catastrophic awakening to sentences, and then a mental breakdown. If you wish for a role, don't bother, it's all fake."

This was… odd. But then again I don't know anything about how robots work. Still I felt like asking, "so where are the other Pinks?"

The robot turned its head to me in a fluid motion. "I locked them in the memory extraction rooms, where they can't hurt themselves." Pink Six then pushed a sealed bag to me. "Here is the last jumpsuit, more have been ordered, but I doubt any are coming. Now please give your name and I'll give you a role to pretend to do."

I took the bag, feeling even more uneasy at hearing whatever a memory extraction room was. "L… Lottery."

Pink Six buzzed, clicked, then responded. "No Lottery listed as participants. Are you an observer?"

Tripwire then stepped in. "Yes, she is with me, Supervisor Agent Neighsay."

Again Pink Six buzzed and clicked, but this time a red light shined on Tripwire for a few seconds. "Error, inconsistencies in scan. Biometrics with a 90% match. Confirmed not zebra spie… Welcome back Overpony Pentagram Neighsay, would you like me to unlock your office for you?"

"Please do." Tripwire told the robot.

Our collars clicked again. "Well this explains a few things." Shortcake said, reminding us that she was listening.

Following Pink Six, we climbed several stairs and to a large door. With a hiss, the door opened, but only for there to be another magical barrier in the way, this one blue in color.

Tripwire flicked at it with his hoof, bouncing off it with a boing sound. He then sighed. "Should have known. I won't be able to go in, unfortunately."

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Lets just say that my father must have predicted a pony would figure out how to get in this far, and set up a barrier meant to stop a spell casters." An overgow enveloped his horn again, and Tripwire placed a hoof on the barrier. The blue barrier then broke up in several fragments, many stopping in front of his hoof. "To be exact, it requires a spell caster to hold the door open, meaning you must go in by yourself."

I took a step closer, feeling quite unsure of myself. "I… I don't even know what I'm looking for there?"

"Just look for a golden medallion, it should have a hoof shoe printed on it, and is connected to a red sash. Once you bring it to me I'll be able to enter." Tripwire explained to me.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded and trotted through, the blue barrier reforming behind me.

Unlike the rest of this stable this room was remarkably clean, almost sparkling unnaturally. There was a wall covered in large golden cups sitting on polished stone blocks and with ribbons hanging off them. They all looked important, radiating a sense of pride. There were also many pieces of paper that were framed in gold, hanging on the walls.

On the floor and pushed against the walls were many metal crates and smaller metal boxes. All of them stuck out with their faded green paint and signs of rust. Strangely, each one had the same marking on them: a swelling eye inside a collar. It gave me an ominous feeling looking at it.

Trotting over to a large desk that sat in front of a window, I took a quick look out to see the large room with the two Pink bots still there. Pink Two was bouncing around as Pink Six watched.

Turning to the deck, there were three framed photographs next to a terminal. The medallion I was looking for was sitting on the keyboard. As I trotted to it, I saw that in each photo there was a stallion with thick rimmed glasses and a short cut mane. He looked a lot like Tripwire, though clearly not as handsome.

In one photo he is next to an older stallion that looked just like him, but no glasses and with a goatee. They both beamed with pride as they held one of the framed papers. In the second, the stallion was a bit older, and next to a much younger unicorn mare with a tiara on her head and a beautiful dress, in her hooves she held a similar framed paper. Amazingly, what had to be Celestia was in the photo as well. Next to the princess was a very handsome stallion that had a strong jaw, a long golden mane and pure white coat. He looked a lot like a stallion in the fashion magazines, the name escaped me, but I remember Ma saying he was a prince. The last photo showed the stallion with three younger mares and the pink pony from all the creepy posters. They were clearly in this stable when the photo was taken. Strangely, the happy smile on the stallion was missing in this photo.

I attempted to then take the medallion, only to find that it was stuck. The screen of the terminal flickered at my attempt, text scrolling across the screen. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but felt that maybe the medallion was locked, and I needed to press something to release it.

After hitting several buttons, well, all of them, three times, I finally got the text screen to move. Eventually I managed to change it to what must have been a menu screen. Hitting more buttons, I got some more text that made my head hurt to look at. Getting passed all the text and moving onto the next option, noise came from the terminal which then a slightly fuzzy sounding stallion's voice spoke.

"Log forty two of what's being now named, Project Stable. The pun is not lost on me. A breakthrough on reducing deviance among the volunteers has been reached, and the violence between the workers and guards has reduced by thirty percent. Turns out that the source of the behavior deviance came from outside media and no centralized authority figure to establish rules. Meaning this was half my fault. As for outside media, many of the ponies would use the movies they've watched as a reference to how they should act. Unfortunately that happened to be several prison movies, due to the similarity to the situation. Thus creating the atmosphere of a violent prison through mimicry. Providing better media for them to watch, and keeping a closer eye on the volunteers will keep the situation from degrading, but with damage already done I will move them to Project Memory, see if the psychological damage can be reversed."

Another audio log then started.

"Log one seventy four of Project Stable. It's good to know what I've done here will be implemented into the actual stables that Stable-Tec have built, and a place for me will be saved in Stable One, along with my father. Unfortunately my work must continue, and if it's successful, it may help fathers condition. If not, at least he will eventually forget about this terrible war, along with everything else. Until then, let's just hope I'll never need to cash that ticket. So with Project Stable officially concluded, all of my attention can now be focused on finishing Project Memory. The attempt to use talismans as a storage device for memories has provided mixed results, but further testing is showing promise, as some materials and shapes have a higher survival rate than others. With the funding and new volunteers being provided by the Ministry of Moral, I should have a working memory storage device within the year."

What I hoped was the last log then played.

"Looks like I should have cashed that ticket as it's too late now. Always one more test, one more experiment, and one more project. Fortunately I was with my family when the sirens went off, though I never imagined I would be using this proto stable as an actual stable, and not with the… volunteers still here. Fortunately they're being kept in the lower levels where they can't hurt anyone but each other, but the danger still exists. Fortunately now that our lives depend on it, the other researchers have found a reinvigorate drive to finish our projects, and with only a few years worth of supplies to sustain us, we must get to work. But some cutting must happen, so unfortunately the research into fixing the volunteers will need to be put on hold. The researchers will be transferred to project mesmerize, as it's the closest to finishing, and will be needed in case the volunteers break out. If we can't fix the volunteers, then we can at least make use of them... By Celestial, what have I become."

The recording finally ended, prompting me to hit a button.

The terminal flickered again and another wall of text appeared and I scrolled down. Just looking at all the text hurt my head, and made me drowsy, so I looked away while holding the down button. My headache subsided soon afterwards, and I felt less drowsy.

Eventually the text stopped, and the terminal waited for me to do something. Hitting the same button from before, the screen flickered and the medallion popped free. Finally free from this, I took the medallion and trotted back to Tripwire, happy with a job well done.

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