Predators

CHAPTER 12: PREDATORS

Adam sat outside a metal door in the bunker with his back against the wall. Lu had a tiny green wool blanket that covered her as she breathed softly while laying her head on Adam. He had his head cocked towards the door so he could hear what was happening inside. Though the only noise that he heard was the faint humming from the walls of the bunker and the mummers and muffles coming from behind the door.

"Neo, use your blade here to cut the bandage. Allie help me get her cleaned up. We need to hurry!" Lavender shouted.

Neo was sweating as he helped cut and wrap bandages around the injured mare. The room was dark, minus a small lamp that sat on a metal nightstand. It served as the only form of light in the room as the three operated.

Lavender had her tongue sticking out as she carefully placed the last badge on the mares forehead.

She wiped the the sweat from her brow and looked at Neo and Allie with a relieved expression. "Well everypony, she looks like she's gonna live. I'm glad we got to fix her up as fast as we did, another ten minutes and she would have been gone."

Allie sighed and cleaned off her hooves with a rag. "You're pretty good with your medical stuff, even the doctor in Maneton isn't that good when it comes to emergency surgery."

Lavender looked up at her. "When your home is the only stopping point within ten miles, injured ponies come here all the time. A few traders taught me how to bandage ponies, even with real deep wounds."

Neo patted her on the back gently and looked at the resting mare in the bed. "I wonder what kind of monster did this. To think it's just roaming out there picking these poor souls off gets to me."

Lavender stretched and yawned loudly. "Well, ponies say it has a black round shape, and it flashes orange before teleporting to a pony with a white blade. Or at least that's what survivors tell us anyway."

"Based on that this thing sounds more like a murder rather than some monster."

Lavender gave him a grim look. "I know but it's... never mind... I just want to drop it."

The door clanked open as Adam and Lu poked their heads through the doorway. Lu was rubbing her tired eyes as she still tried to wake up, the blanket hanging loosely at her side. "Big brother, is she okay?"

Adam ruffled her mane playfully with a smile. "I think so Lu."

Neo turned to them with a calm look in his eyes. "Yeah she'll be fine, though I don't know how she's gonna act when she wakes up."

Adam and Lu calmly went up to the three and looked at the resting mare who had barely survived the fabled monster. "Wha-What is going on here?" A low shallow voice said from behind.

Once again everypony in the room turned to see the professor standing there with the same tired look in his eyes. "Dad we helped somepony who was attacked by the monster." She put a hoof to her chest in a boasting type manner, "and I think we did a pretty good job fixing her up too."

"G-good, I'm glad to see you helping ponies... I just came up to see what was a-a-all going on." He turned away but was stopped by Adam.

"Professor, were you in your office this whole time?"

He gave him a soulless glare. "Y-yes, and the cor-correct t-t-term is laboratory." He stuttered almost negatively.

And with that he turned back around and went back down the hallway. Lavender hopped off the stool she was on and yawned once more. She smacked her dry mouth as she slowly trotted out of the room. "Well I'm off to sleep, it's been a long night and I want to at least sleep for a bit before day comes."

Neo hopped off his stool and rubbed his eyes. "A bit of sleep does sound good right about now."

Adam yawned even louder then Lavender as he shook himself a bit. "Yeah I've been up most of the night, and sleep is the one thing I need."

Allie chuckled and made her way out of the room, "Come on Neo, let's get back to sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow."

Neo's face drooped. "Yeah... a long day... uhg."

Lu looked at him tiredly. "Big brother you're funny."

Neo patted her twice on the head. "I try."

Everypony was in the kitchen and Adam was helping Lavender make beans. Though they had had beans once before they didn't look forward to eating them for the majority of their stay at the bunker. The beans boiled in the steel pot as Lavender levitated the wooden spoon in the pot and stirred the warming food. She faintly hummed as Adam got the plates and bowls.

Neo had his duster off his body and folded on his back so Lu could use it as a saddle. He walked around the kitchen as Lu sat on his back pretending to blast aliens like the pony in the Cosmic Muffin comics she read every now and again.

"Big brother watch out for the space monkeys!" She yelled pointing out to Lavender and Adam as he approached them.

Neo turned left and heroically avoided disaster with Adam and Lavender, or the space monkeys. Allie laughed a bit as Neo made spaceship noises as he walked around the eating area, and even though he did feel a little embarrassed doing such a childish thing around Allie he found a sense of joy out of it.

"Get your blasters ready Lu the space monkeys are back!" He would call as he passed Adam and Lavender again.

Adam set the bowls on the table and turned to his big brother and the filly on his back. "Brother the foods ready." He said warmly to them.

Lu hopped off Neo's back with a sad look on her face. "Aw... but I wanted to go to the muffin planet."

Neo took a seat at the table and helped her get up on the seat. "Don't worry Lu maybe later we can both go to the muffin planet." He couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

Lu's sad face turned happy at those words, and just like that she was back to her happy usual self. "We're having beans for breakfast... again." Lavender said as she levitated the pot and spoon while giving each pony their own portion of the meal.

Lu frowned as she stared at the food in front of her. "But why do we eat beans all the time big sis, why can't we ever have muffins?"

Lavender put the pot on the counter and went over to her seat on the table. "Because Lu the traders stopped coming through and without the traders we can't get new food."

Adam smiled at Lu with his mouth full, "Just pretend it's mashed sweet carrots. That's what I do to take my mind off the flavor."

"Okie dokey loki..." Lu said unsure look as she slowly started to eat the 170 year old food.

Neo was halfway through eating his meal as he looked around the kitchen curiously. "Lavender, isn't your dad going to join us?"

Adam perked up his ears and nodded at him. "Yeah we hardly see him around."

Lavender waited briefly to finish the food that was already in her mouth before answering Neo. She swallowed and looked down at Lu as she poked at her food curiously, as if it were alive.

"Ever since mom and my other sisters died he works non stop in his laboratory. He only comes up once in a while to talk to us and spend a few hours with us every now and again, but other than that he stays down there for the majority of his time."

"What about food? He has to eat doesn't he?" Adam added.

"He wakes up early before everypony else and gets something light to eat before going back down to his work... sometimes I wonder what he does down there so much..."

"You said he makes potions right? Well how many does he make?" Neo said before hopping down from his seat and putting on his duster and dew rag on.

Lavender looked up at him but before she could get a word out Lu stood up in her seat and stretched her forehooves out to both sides. "He makes this many!"

Lavender and Allie chuckled at her briefly before she sat back down. "Sometimes I've counted hundreds. Though his shipments aren't frequent."

Neo and Adams eyes widened at the thought. "Wow, and he makes them all on his-" He stopped suddenly as he and the others felt the bunker shake. The shake had merely lasted a second but everyone had still felt it and wondered what it could have been.

The professor suddenly stumbled through the kitchen doorway, coughing and clearing his eyes as soot and small puffs of black smoke rolled off his body.

Neo went over to him with his hooves ready to catch him in case he fell. "Professor what happened?"

"Daddy are you okay?" Yelled Lu as she rushed down to hug her father's leg.

Allie helped Neo get him to a chair to sit before he spoke to them, and after a few more hacking coughs he answered them. "M-my memory transistor just blew out... I needed it to finish this b-batch of potions, but the old thing just gave out on m-" he let out a few more coughs before continuing. "Blast it! If only I could get another..."

Adam butted in with a rather perky look about him. "You mean a 23 millimeter quantum memory transistor?"

Everypony looked at him oddly like he had spoke some kind of foreign language. "I-I have to say Adam I quite surprised. I didn't expect y-you to know about it."

He shrugged modestly. "Brother's old terminal had the same component, I usually had a few laying around in my room just in case something like this happened to his terminal."

He lowered his head and gazed grimly at the cold metal floor. "Y-yes well it doesn't matter anyway, my work is over..."

Allie patted him on the back. "Don't you have a spare somewhere you can use? I'm sure there's one somewhere around here."

He shook his head and continued to look towards the ground. "N-no, I-I'm afraid there isn't a spare in the bunker... It's hopeless the Coalition won't continue to support me and my children then we'll be forced out into the wastes..."

Neo slammed his hoof on the ground in anger."Don't talk like that! There must be something we can do to help, because I won't let you go out into that hell hole because of stupid terminal piece!" Neo yelled with determination in his eyes.

He lifted his head up and brushed his rugged mane to the side. "T-there is one way you could get it... though the risk is high... N-n-no! I won't let you do it." He said while faintly shaking his head.

Adam put his hoof on the professors shoulder, "We're willing to do whatever you need to get the transistor."

A dark look in his eyes followed by a faint, almost unnoticeable grin followed. "Fine then.... about two miles to the east is the ruins of a small town. In that town is a factory with hundreds of unnaturally large terminals, each one has a transistor. All you need to do is find one of them, and get it for me..."

Allie nodded confidently at him. "Sounds easy enough, where do we-"

"But, that's not all..." He interjected.

"Like I said before, there's a risk..."

"And?" Adam asked.

"Before the bombs dropped that town was home to a series of new robotic weapons. Traders give them the name Predators."

A small hint of fear and death lingered around the word Predators as he spoke about them. "And what is worse is they guard the town and kill any and all regardless of who you are."

Neo gulped and imagined what the horrifying creatures might look like. In his mind all he could picture were large scaly metal monsters with fire blazing out of their mouths. Though, with a lot of confidence and a deep breath he agreed to go and get the transistor still regardless of the risk. "I'm doing this for Lu Neo, and for the ponies who come through here." He thought to himself.

“I’ll do it.”

The professors tired shadowy eyes looked oddly at him."I'm shocked Neo, to say the least. Most do- I mean, I'm surprised you jumped in so fast to make the decision."

He gave him a cocky look. "It doesn't sound that hard, and who knows that damn thing that's killing these ponies might be there too."

Lu leaped in the air while punching rapidly. "Yeah and we'll beat that meanie thing!"

Adam patted her gently to calm her down. "I'm sorry Lu but it's too dangerous for a little filly, heck even I'm scared a bit."

"But I'm not scared of anything! And neither are you big brother." She said while looking up at him with her large eyes.

Lavender stepped in with and gave the little one a stern look. "Lu, only the big ponies get to go, you have to stay here with me till they get back."

She folded her ears down and kicked the floor with one of her hooves. "But I wanted to help too..."

Lavender scooted her close to her and wrapped an arm around her. "You can Lu, by staying here you help them by throwing them a party when they get back."

She continued to mope to herself. "Okay big sis...."

The professor stood up and patted Neo and Adam on the backs. "Then it's decided, I'll give you the coordinates to you on your Pipbucks and give you the things you'll need to survive out there incase you get stuck for the night."

Adam nodded at him. "We won't let you down professor!"

Lavender looked at Adam with worry in her eyes, "Just be safe okay?"

"Don't worry Lavender, we'll be okay."

Neo butted in confidently with the same cocky look on his face. "Hey it can't be that long of a way away and besides you have the Ironhoof Champions doing this, so how hard could it be?"

Allie, Neo, and Adam walked slowly through the plain empty world. A fair wind blew at their backs and both Neo and Adams duster flapped calmly in the wind. Adam wore his goggles to protect his eyes from the bits of sand and dirt that would occasionally fly at his eyes. Neo and Allie, on the other hoof, didn't have the same benefit of protection as Adam did.

"Why did I think this would be easy!" Neo shouted as they walked along the side of an old highway.

"Brother you need to understand that you like to think a lot of things are easy..."

"Yeah well he said two miles!"

"We've only walked one."

"I know Adam, but it feels more like eighteen! And Celestia knows what Lucy put in my bag to make it this heavy!" He shout while looking at the rather large bump in his bag.

Allie trotted next to him with her bandana over her face. "Why don't we check, see if we can lighten the load a bit."

Neo nodded to her and called for Adam to stop. Once they had all stopped Allie went over to Neo's right bag and just before she was about to open it Lu sprung out and attacked Adam who stood right next to Allie.

“Rawr!” She shouted as she leaped out of the bag, "I gotcha big brother!"

"Lu what in the world were you doing in my bag! We told you not to come, so why did you?"

Allie helped Adam up as Lu bounced around playfully with the happy feeling that she had just surprised Adam. "I came to help you."

Allie stepped in with a angry glare. "We know that Lu, but we told you not to come."

Lu stopped her hopping and looked at them with her big eyes and red bow on her head. "I know, but pleeeeeease let me stay. I'll be a good pony promise!"

Neo sighed with frustration. "We've already come this far, and as much as I hate to have her come we're already all the way out here."

A giant grin found its way to her face. "So I get to come with you big brother."

Neo sighed again, hanging his head low. "Yes."

She jumped up in the air joyfully. "Yay! I get to come!"

"Just stay quiet Lu remember about the monsters your dad talked about." Adam said giving her a hoof across his mouth showing her to zip her lip.

She made herself get low in an almost laying down position and whispered. "Okay big brother, I'll be quiet."

With that they continued their way down the road, on the way they would pass by an old cart which they inspected to see if there was anything of value inside. Though they found nothing it made Lu happy to help look for useful stuff inside the vehicle.

Soon the flat world turned into a hilly landscape with dead trees and weeds swaying in the distance. In front of them was a large green sign with white lettering on it: Welcome to Shanesgrove! Home to the Ironhoof Robotics center, and world's largest cheese ball!

Below the welcoming was the population which was 3,456 ponies. Though the group was sure that number had shrunk significantly throughout the years.

Down the road was what looked like the main street of the town, small stone buildings that looked like old businesses lined the street up and down. Some of the old shops had collapsed or caved in on some parts of the buildings. Like before, skeletons could be found hugging each other as they braced for the end, and wagons were found melted into the old road. Some posters, though dirty, old, and worn were still readable on the walls of some buildings.

"War is not the answer! Join the Ironhoof ministry of peace district today and help prevent the end today!"

Below that was a rude rebellious type poster with a crudely drawn pony hitting Luna with a bat. "Help knock some sense into the damn mare!" the poster read.

Lu giggled at the poster, to her it looked goofy and silly. Neo remembered what the recordings on his Pipbuck said about how the ponies of the province felt about Equestria and the way Luna ran it. It was made clear that whatever Luna had done all those years ago it seemed to have pissed them off.

As they continued down the main street of the town, while staying close to the buildings on the side. They came up to a large hangar like building that seemed to connect to a building that resembled a factory.

Both Neo and Adam brought out their Pipbucks and checked their EFS to see if this was the building they needed to enter. And just like they thought the small orange marker that pointed where they needed to go was flashing towards a rusted metal door near the factory building.

Most of the windows had been blasted out and the stone the building was made of was chipped and fractured by the elements. Three large smoke pipes towered high into the sky and loomed hauntingly before them. A large sign near a ruined parking lot for the factory was tilted down as if it had been knocked down by a large force. It was covered in graffiti and large scratches. The old sign that seemed to have advertise the robotics center had a message of it's own, but the graffiti and scratches covered the old message, replacing it with warnings.

Turn back! Leave before it's too late, This is a tomb, and many more were just a few of the messages they could see.

The door of the factory was a pale red and it stood on a small patio that would naturally have security guards or robots guarding the facility.

Lu stared up at the large factory from the door and marveled at it. "It sure is big..."

"Yeah, it's very big." Neo said with a chuckle as he approached the door.

He wiggled the knob a bit and to his surprise it was locked. "Dang, and here I thought it might have been easier."

"Here let me get it." Allie said pulling a bobby pin and a screwdriver from her bag.

As she started to work on the lock Neo leaned in closer and watched her work on it. She stopped for a moment and looked at him oddly. "Um, what are you doing Neo?"

"Observing."

"Um, yeah it's a little freaky..."

Neo backed away a bit with a faint blush in his cheeks, "Yeah sorry, I just want to see how you do it is all..."

She gave him a playful smile. "If that's all then here I'll teach you."

Neo leaned forward again to see how she picked locks. "See this? It's the pressure point, when I place the pin here you activate it. The you want to-"

Adam and Lu sat down on the patio and waited for Allie to finish teaching Neo how to pick locks. Lu would sit there and count the different kinds of wagons she saw in the street and make a game out of it. Adam joined in and helped her find wagons that had a blue tint to them and see how many they could find.

"And then you turn the screwdriver around like this and..." the lock clicked open. "There we are, one door ready for opening."

Neo was amazed, he had always thought lock picking was some kind of complex matter with pistons and complex inner workings. Though the lesson Allie had just gave him proved otherwise.

"Thanks Allie, it'll come in handy if I need to do it myself."

She blushed faintly at him. "No problem... no problem at all."

"Are you two done yet, we have monsters to fight!" Lu said while trying to do a kick in mid air.

Neo and Adam chuckled a bit at her enthusiasm. "Lu we're not here to fight monsters, we're here for the transistor."

"Trans-what?" She said while scratching her mane.

"Never mind, I'll tell you later okay Lu?" Neo said ruffling her mane she had just scratched.

"Okie doky loki big brother."

The door swung slowly open as the dim light from the outside flooded the inside of the factory. Old desks and cabinets lined the walls and bits of trash and debris covered the old tile floor. A faint cloud of dust and dirt could be seen as the wind from the outside gently blew inside.

Neo was the first to step inside, from his bag he pulled out the combat shotgun Lucy had repaired for him and readied it. Neo looked through his bag real quick and found a 10mm pistol that had a full clip of ammunition and gave it to Allie. She levitated it close to her as she too cautiously walked inside. Adam had his magical laser pistol which he had found got from the first raiders he and Neo had met on their first day outside the stable.

Neo turned to Lu and whispered to her. "Lu stay close to me and don't wander off."

She shook a little as the frightening place creaked and echoed the wind that blew outside giving a feeling the building was breathing. She nodded at him as she huddled close to him, "This place scares me... Is-is this where the monsters live."

Neo and Adam both turned on their Pipbuck lights which illuminated the the area around them. "Yes Lu, this is where they live."

Adam did the same as his brother and turned his own light on. After he did so he looked at his EFS to see where they needed to go.

"Brother, it says we need to go over there." He whispered as he pointed to a large red door with the words, Factory Offices on it.

He nodded at him but before they left the room they checked each desk, cabinet, and box that was in the room. Though the only things that were of any value was some bottle caps, a few 10mm bullets, and a shotgun shell. It seemed to puzzle them as to why ponies kept ammo and bottle caps in cabinets and desks, but then again it was just good to have them and not question why a pony would put them there.

In the next room there were several small dividing walls that separated the many small work spaces in the room. Chairs were flung over and desks were turned upside down or damaged in one way or another. Posters of different kinds were on the walls and pictures of the founding ponies of the robotics center hung crooked and burnt on the peeling old wall. Light calmly came in from the two broken windows on one side of the room, which left the other side completely dark.

Allie motioned for them to split up and cover the room for anything that might be valuable, and since the room wasn't too large nopony could get lost. Allie had done this kind of things many times before, and as such the looting was mainly handled by her. Adam searched a few desks but found nothing. Allie did the same, and like Adam she had no luck finding anything. Neo and Lu looked at a few desks along the wall, and to their surprise one terminal on one of the desks was still operational.

"Does it still work?" Lu asked as she eyed the terminal.

Neo went up to it and started to look at the home screen. "Looks like it Lu, I wonder if there is anything worth looking at..."

On the screen was three options, one was office files, the other was purchase records, and the last was recordings. Neo didn't really care about the rest and went straight to recordings. Lu watched as he chose the first recording on the terminal, to keep things quiet Neo had an ear bloom which he kept in a compartment on his Pipbuck. Adam had made little compartments on their Pipbucks so they could keep things like spare parts and their ear blooms inside them. He put the ear bloom into the side of the terminal he gave one to Lu so she could listen too, and started the first recording.

"This is Lead robotics Programer Marshmallow Twist. Today we started research for the Equestrian military, hell, only three months till the war started and they already have us making weapons. The chief is telling me that I need to work on programing something the board calls a 'Predator', though I have no clue as to what the design is or what I'm really supposed to do. I mean sure I need to program this thing but I don't have a clue as to what it is they want as far as intelligence, attack protocol, and mortality. I'll have to ask him later and see if he can tell what exactly this thing is."

The recording ended with a beep.

Below the recording was a box with image files and another recording attached to them. Curious, Neo went to the first image file as he opened it, as he opened it the message started to play automatically.

The image on the screen was the blueprints for the Predator and how it was to be built. Lu looked at it oddly, and with a puzzled expression she poked Neo.

"Big brother what is it?"

Neo stared at the picture for some time before answering. "I don't know Lu..."

The robot itself was a massive cat like machine, a long spike like spine ran down its back and a sharp edged metal frame covered the different parts of the monsters body. The plates looked more like armor then anything else, and the sharp edging only added to the feeling that these were tools of death. It's legs had synthetic mussel, and claws that were razor sharp and nearly five inches long. The tail was a long black tube that looked just like the mussel that supported the legs. At the tails tip was four barbs with sharp ends, and in the center was a long thick syringe.

From the tip of it's plated steel head to the artificial mussel neck was rows of diamond tipped teeth, and it's eyes were like that of a lifeless demon. Only red dots were in the place of where real eyes should be. Pointy cat like ears were also on its head, and according to the design they were meant to really hear.

"This is- You know what? To heck with it. I couldn't sleep last night. About a month ago I was told to program these things and when they showed me the blueprints for them... I lost it, and it got worse when they told me what they wanted them to do. Dear sweet Celestia... at first I found it easy, but... but then when I took the program I had made and gave it to the board I thought it was over, that I had contributed my most to this project. No... No, they invited me to the demonstration of the first prototype. I went to demo grounds and sat in the bleachers where we watched the weapon perform. Okay... one moment... I-I can't believe I made these things work... to think these will actually kill, and they'll die horribly because of my programs... Get ahold of yourself Twist... you're fine. Okay, where was I.... Oh yeah the demonstration.

I sat there and when they brought it out it prowled like a monster, like from an old Daring Doo novel. At first it bowed to the audience which comprised of the lead developers, then when we sent out test dummies... this is where I lost it. The thing hacked, slashed, and maimed them. But that’s not the worst of it, you see these things once they're done killing their prey, they-"

The recording ended.

Neo backed up and looked for anymore recordings, unfortunately there were no more. "Dang it." Neo said taking his ear bloom back.

Lu looked at the picture a bit longer. "Are those the monsters?"

"Yes Lu, and we better move quickly before the monsters find us."

"Neo?" Allie said poking her head around the corner of a dividing wall across from them. "I didn't find anything, and Adam hasn't had much luck either."

Neo sighed and turned off the terminal. "Really? Not even one thing?"

"Nope." Adam said trotting in from behind them.

Allie came out and stood next to Lu and Neo, now all eyes were on Adam. Adam pointed to a door at the far end of the room. "We go through there and then we go up stairs and across the hallway over into the factory. From there we go up a flight of stairs and there should be a room with a control terminal there. Hopefully the transistor is there."

Neo calmly asked. "Is that what your Pipbuck says?"

Adam nodded, "Yep, and it tells me we have a 78% chance of finding it there too."

They walked over to the door and into a large room with a high ceiling. Inside was a pad where tests were done to robots, as such robot limbs and pieces were scattered throughout the room. Skeletons lay back against the walls with large claw marks behind them. Along the side was a staircase which lead to a control room near the top of the ceiling. Ignoring the bones, the four made their way up to the control room, and minus some shaking on the unstable stairs they each made it up to the room in one piece.

In there was several control panels with two skeletons sitting at the chairs. At the end of the slender control room was a door, which was flashing continuously on both Adam and Neo's EFS.

"No red lights so far, that's a good sign." Adam thought to himself as they entered through the door and went across the walkway that divided the Factory and the office buildings.

The factory itself consisted of several lines of conveyer belts and robotic building arms. The windows in the main factory level they were on were blown out which allowed small beams of orange light to seep in. Around the area was a catwalk that seemed to go just about everywhere on the factory level. Adam pointed out the path that took them to the main control center, and just like the other catwalk they were on this one was just as unstable.

Treading lightly up to the main area was difficult because Lu found it fun every time the walkway shook. So to keep her from knocking them all down Neo put her on his back so she wouldn't break the only way up to their destination.

Just like in the other building the control room looked the same, only there were no skeletons in the chairs, and instead of a basic control pad a large terminal replaced where it should have been.

"Bingo." Adam said cheerfully as he took open the bottom and started to work to get the transistor from it.

Neo stood by the door with his combat shotgun ready and Lu and Allie watched Adam work on getting the transistor inside. Adam pushed wires and cords out of the way till he found the transistor laying there in the center of the inner workings.

"Now all I need to do is get this thing loose..." He muttered as he levitate his screwdriver out of his saddle bag. "Okay one more screw... and..." The component was now loosely dangling in the mess of wires.

"Now to get it out." Adam wrapped his hoof around it and tugged on it gently, but it wouldn't move.

"What the?" He pulled a little harder, still no luck. "Okay Adam one more time." He thought to himself putting both hooves on it. And with a little force a string holding it in place snapped which sent him falling back onto his back with the transistor in his hooves.

"Well... I got it." Adam said getting up and putting the small thing in his bag.

Neo looked over to him and lowered his shotgun. "Then we can go now?"

Adam nodded at him with a calm smile. "Yep and I can't wait to get-"

A loud raspy barking sound cried out throughout the empty factory. Then the loud cry called out three more times as the last one echoed through the emptiness.

Lu tugged on Neo's duster. "Big brother what was that?"

Neo gently put his hoof on Lu's mouth and motioned everypony to be quiet. For the moment all was silent, and all they did was listen.

All four had one ear twitch as they heard a faint, but slow screeching and tapping sound come up every now and again. It, in a way almost sounded like something was walking. Slowly the noise got louder and louder, till the very sound started to loudly echo through the whole building. Sweat started to gently drip down Neo's forehead, and Adam and Allies hearts bounded like crazy as they breathed heavily. Then the sound was gone.

It vanished and the silence came back and all was as it was before, quiet.

All four sighed with relief, "Maybe it's gone." Allie whispered.

Neo nodded to her. "Yeah I think it's gone. Let's just hope we don-"

The window next to him was attacked by a large steel monster with blood red glowing eyes. Biting and Clawing at the frame of the window to get inside.

Lu and Adam screamed as they jumped out of the way, Neo pulled his shotgun up and let off two rounds at the monster's face as it tried to get in. Sparks flew from the creatures face as the bullets hit it, but to their surprise it did little to nothing to stop it from destroying the window.

"Hurry we need to get down stairs now!" Neo called out.

Quickly they all tried to get downstairs without causing the catwalk to collapse, but just as they reached the bottom the metallic monster stood at the doorway looking at them with its lifeless red eyes. They all stared up at it for a moment, Neo took the second and went into SATS which highlighted the monster. Every limb was at 100% strength and the Pipbuck marked as a Predator.

Neo got out of SATS and urged Adam to pull out his laser pistol. Adam did so and shot at it as it leaped from catwalk to catwalk as it made it's way down to them, hissing and shrieking as it came closer to them.

Even in SATS Adam barely hit the fast moving target. It was now only fifty feet away from them, and out of common sense they decided to fall back. Running for their lives they made a left near the bottom to the only other door in the room besides the one they had come from.

Allie and Lu had managed to push it open for Neo and Adam as the thing leaped on the walls to get to them faster. Adam leaped through the door and made way for his brother to jump in, with the murderous beast only five feet away from Neo he jumped for dear life. As soon as Neo was fully in Allie, Adam, and Lu shut the door and put their backs to it.

They were in a long industrial like hallway that seemed to branch off to another hallway. Pipes and vents covered the ceiling along with rusted old lights that dangled from above. Everypony was panting heavily with their backs to the door. All of their hearts were racing, even this seemed more frightening then the battle they had had with the manticore back in the city.

Lu was scared and on the verge of crying. "I don't want to fight the monsters anymore... I... I want to go home." She sniffled.

Neo took her and hugged her gently, "It's okay, I don't think it can get us from here." He cooed softly to her.

Adam got up and put his eye to the keyhole on the door to see if the Predator was there. All he saw was the monster sitting on the ground watching the door carefully, its tail swaying back and forth slowly as it waited.

"Were those the things the Professor was talking about? Or are those something else entirely?" Allie said levitating her pistol close to her head.

"Those were them all right. What I want to know is how it found out we were there."

Adam sat back down and put his back to the door again. "Maybe there's somepony else here and they came here to hide and it just found us looking for them."

Neo got up and got his shotgun ready, "Well it doesn't matter now I guess, the thing we need to worry about now is getting out of here alive."

Everyone nodded at him and backed away from the door slowly trying not to make any noise as they left the door behind them. Together they turned around and looked down the hallway that branched off into two ways. One way went right another when left.

"So which way then?" Allie asked looking down both ways.

Neo looked at Allie and started to discuss which way they should go, as they talked Adam's ear twitched. It was as if he could hear something, he looked at the vent next to him on the wall that was awfully large for a normal vent. Lu looked at Adam as he leaned close to see if he could hear something.

Neo gave her a nod, "Yeah that sounds good, left should take us outside... or at least it should." But before he turned around to Adam he noticed how he was listening to the vent.

He raised an eyebrow and leaned closer in to hear as well. "What is it?"

"I think I hear a voice..."

Neo gave him a weird look. "A voice?"

"Yeah..."

Faintly Neo could hear the sound of metal gently tapping echo down the vent. But the longer he listen the louder it grew, and it kept growing getting louder with each passing second. That's when he realised, it wasn't a voice or a pony for that matter.

He reeled back, "Get back from the ven-!" A large metallic paw with dagger like claws shot out of the vent and started swipping randomly at the group.

Neo wasn't fast enough to back up and two of the claws cut huge scars across his chest. He yelped in pain as he put a hoof to his chest to hold the stinging pain.

"Run! Hurry to the left!" He yelled as the four dashed to the left.

But one by one vents everywhere sprung open as claws reached out to slash at their targets. As they ran they continuously got beat and cut by the swarm of claws.

Adam felt several sharp pains run down his side and back legs as they ran to the end, Allie's legs were swiped at viciously as she too was scarred all over her lower legs. Lu had managed to dodge most of the claws but one that had managed to get her clear across her cheek.

She screamed in pain, she had never been cut that badly before and she couldn't hold back her tears as she ran for her life.

The door at the end of the Hallway was a large oval shaped metal door with pistons and large locks on it. On the side of the door was an orange glowing button which had a large O imprinted on it. Below it was a large yellow button with a large C on it.

Once they were at the door Neo went straight for the buttons on the one side of the door. The metal creatures swiped fiercely as they tore away at bits of the ventilation shafts that were holding them in. The door the group was standing at opened with a clank as it fell down to the ground through the floor.

Without hesitation they each hurried through the door and closed it behind them. Out of pure instinct Adam took his laser pistol and shot the pad that opened and closed the door. They all sat down and tried to catch their breaths from the dodging and running they had to do.

The several scratches they had received stung horribly, and the fact that their hearts were racing didn't help the faint throbbing in their injuries.

"Thank the goddesses that's over." Neo sighed before looking around the room they were in.

Lu had small tears roll down her eyes as she sobbed quietly putting her hoof to the small cut on her cheek.

Adam noticed her sobs and went over to her with a calming smile. For him each one of his scars stung as he walked over to her, but the only thing at the moment he could do was fight the pain and help Lu.

"Lu what's the problem?"

"My cheek hurts..." She sobbed.

Adam took a better look at her face and the small cut she had wasn't bad but it did look like she was in pain. "Here," he said taking a small canteen and rag from his bag. He put a bit of water on it and helped clean her face up.

"Ow! It hurts!" She yelped as he tried to clean her face.

"Lu I know it hurts but it'll make it heal faster."

She gave him an unsure look with her ears folded down. "...If you say so big brother..."

"Thank you Lu."

Neo looked all over the large, dark room. The ceiling was high and only a few windows with faint beams of yellow light came in through the broken windows overhead. Though most of the room was covered in large metal crates baring some old worn out symbol on each crate. One of the most notable features was the odd looking machines in each corner in the room. On his EFS it showed them as friendly, though the dark metal and large red spot in the middle of it seemed to give off a rather hostile feeling.

Neo turned to the group and motioned in hoof forward. "Come on, we better keep moving."

Adam put his things away and nodded at him. "Lets just be careful and hope there aren't any of those things in here."

The four slowly made their way into the sea of metal crates, as they went they all had their weapons ready in case more decided to come out of the vents again. Though deep in their heads they knew that the weapons they had did little to these things, because how could you kill a tool of death? That was the question that floated around in their minds and pecked at their confidence.

About halfway through the crates they heard a loud hissing noise, like that of metal being cut by a blowtorch. Neo put his hoof up and looked behind him. Though he couldn't see the door from where he was at he could hear the sound clearly from behind several of the crates they had passed.

He turned to Adam and Allie. "Here, if you help boost me up I'll go see what they're doing to the door."

They gave him a quick nod and positioned themselves next to a crate so he could climb up. Neo quietly climbed up on top of them and pulled himself up to the crate. Once on top he looked over at the door, from where he was he could see a glowing red light with sparks flying from it draw a circle that looked big enough for a large pony. It was almost complete when he saw it.

"Dear Celestia." He whimpered to himself his eyes wide with terror.

He jumped down from the crate with a thud. Instantly he shouted, "RUN!" At that very moment a large clank echoed through the large room. The loud screams and murderous cries from the beasts rang out from the end of the room.

They ran through the complex maze of crates trying to get as much distance from the predators as possible. All the while the predators would leap on top of the crates and with their bright red lights coming from their eyes, they searched for the group. Finally the four had made it to a small clearing with a control pad against the wall. Adam looked at it curiously, wondering what it could be for.

Neo stopped and took him by the shoulders. "Adam we need to go! They're coming for us!"

He shook him off and made his way to the controls. "Adam what the hell are you doing!"

To be honest with himself he wasn't sure either, but something was calling him to that control panel. Whether it be his gut, or some higher power, he needed to use it.

Neo and the others followed him as he chased after Adam. Adam looked at the many buttons and knobs on the panel, on the top was a label which read, Security turret controls.

He turned on the controls and pressed several buttons next to four glowing markers. Then several flashes and loud gunshots could be heard as the monsters cried out. Neo and the group stopped to hear what was happening, whatever Adam had done, it seemed to have helped.

Then large flashes of red shot out from the top of the crates, each turret that was in the room burst into flames and crashed down to the floor in a smoking fiery heap.

"Great..." Neo sighed before getting everyone together and continued to run from the predators.

They made several sharp turns as that pathway the stacked crates made got smaller and smaller to where they had to run in single file to get through. Finally they saw the end where a large metal door was and hopefully a way out of the nightmare.

They ran with a hopeful spirit guiding them as they bolted to the only way out, and just as they all got out of the sea of crates a bright red light shown on them.

Within an instant a large metal creature had pounced from above them on everypony but Lu. She got knocked back by the creature's tail into an opened crate with several sledge hammers.

The monster sinked it's long dagger like claws into Allie and Adams back which went straight through Adams levitation saddle. The jaw of the monster though was focused on Neo. It went under him and bit on his leg right leg with its long devilish teeth. They all cried out in pain as blood splashed out across the floor and cries of agony could be heard.

It started to shake Neo around, keeping its claws on the other two. With every jerk it made Neo cry out in gut wrenching agony. He couldn't turn around to stab at it with his arm knife, and Allie and Adam were pinned as they watched and waited for the creature to finish with Neo.

The monster dragged him closer and let go of his leg as its head reeled back to bite his neck and end his life. "I'm sorry everypony, I tried." He whispered tears coming down from his eyes as he prepared to meet his fate.

Just the monster lunged its head forward a huge sledgehammer covered in a faint pink aura slammed right in its face making it stagger backwards.

Its hold on Allie and Adam was broken, they got up shaking as their blood ran down their backs, and the pain from the claws could still be felt in their backs.

The hammer came slamming down as Lu stood up with a serious angry face. "Don't hurt my big brothers!" She shouted at it.

Once the monster had shaken its metal head it looked at her with rage burning in its soulless eyes. She stepped back and looked back at it terrified as it crouched down to pounce on her. It had totally forgotten about its previous prey, because now it just wanted Lu.

"Big brothers, help me!" She screamed as it jumped at her.

"Lu no!" Everypony else shouted in unison.

Then a loud crack followed by a bright flash of blue light sent the monsters chest ablaze as it collapsed on the floor, lifeless. Two more predators came up from the crates and like the one before they stared at them from above with their red glowing eyes.

But like the first one both seemed to have exploded into a blazing heap of steel and purple goo. Neo tried to roll around but his torn up leg wouldn't let him.

"Hurry, get him up! Before more show up!" A fuzzy looking dark figure shouted as Neo's vision and hearing became blurred and distorted.

"Is big brother going to be okay?" He could hear Lu say as his vision became more blurred.

Neo’s breathing got slow as his body became limp. Adam noticed this and went to his brother putting his head in his hooves.

"Brother?" He said in a mournful tone with tears building in his eyes. He too felt light headed and woozy but his brother wasn't moving, and the only thing that was was his chest that slowly rose and lowered.

"Brother! Wake up!" He shouted.

"Neo get up!" Allie joined in.

"Shut the hell up you two!" Called a pony with a long dark trench coat and a gas mask covering his face. At his side was a large odd looking rifle that was connected to a saddle he was wearing on his back.

"My brother’s not moving... we need to help him!"

"If you don't help me with him he won't get any help!"

Adam, though tired and in pain helped the stranger get him on his back as the five ponies walked over to the metal door at the end of the room.

As the door clanked open Adam held some of his wounds with one hoof. "Why are you helping us, and just who are you?"

"My reasons are my own, you'd do best to remember that. As for who am I, I'm nobody."

Adam glared at him angrily but if he was willing to help them why turn down a helping hoof. Though he told himself to keep his wits about him, even if a pony looks nice it wasn’t smart to just jump in and trust him.

The door clanked open and the five ponies walked up the small flight of stairs that was on the other side of the door. Adam watched as Neo’s blood dripped from the strangers back as he carried him up.

This whole scene reminded him of when his brother helped him at the raider shack. And just like how Neo did what he could to save him he wasn’t going to let him die. Because he was his older brother, and the only thing he had in this new world.

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Wub wub your friends: Whenever a friendly in your group is injured your healing on them is 20% more effective.

Foot Note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes<

No

New Perk: Quick thinking: During combat if you repair a weapon or piece of equipment that weapon or piece of gear gains 25% more damage or durability until you repair it again.

Side Note: Lu leveled up

New Perk: Lu the monster hunter: Although you might be cute you pack a mean punch! When you attack a critter or robot you gain a 20% damage bonus.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Wayofthepen

LyonAzakura

(AN: I felt it almost necessary to give Lu a perk. Just this once, cause I think she deserves it. I mean I like Allie and she is a main character but Lu needs the perk. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! Comment at the bottom what you thought, and tell me what you liked about this chapter!)