Dead Space

Chapters

Honorable Intentions
Exit Wounds
Willing Accomplice
Leaving Traces
Lumbering Beast
Bounds and Leaps
Identity Crisis

Honorable Intentions

VANDAL was looking out of a window on the upper level of the Sprawl, listening to the news through his RIG's transmitter. She picked it up late in the broadcast, catching only one news story.

"In other news today, a terrorist on board the USG O'Bannon has been captured and put into custody today by police. Officials say that a trial will be held for a pending punishment—" she had heard enough. She was also picking up transmissions from the miners aboard the Sprawl, hearing things like, "Hurry up! I wanna go home already!", and "Well boys, just another beautiful day on the Sprawl." By this time, VANDAL had no more time to waste.

"Audiolog RIG number 438642," said VANDAL.

"I have been selected on a top secret mission by the Unitologists. I hope everything turns out well. Altman be praised."

VANDAL was headed down to the first objective programmed into her locator. Just a few moments later, she received a transmission. It was Tyler Radikov. "Alright, listen up. From now on your codename will be VANDAL. Your voice filter will help protect your identity if you run into anyone," Tyler said. "Head on down to your first objective. There should be a Plasma Saw waiting for you in one of these lockers."

There it was, the Plasma Saw in an open locker. When VANDAL picked it up, the Suit's system started to say, "The Plasma Saw is an all-around cutting tool, used for cutting through rocks and other hard materials."

"Use the Plasma Saw to cut those wires and open that door," said Tyler. Sure enough, above the door on the left side, was a power box, sealing the door shut. VANDAL took the Saw and cut through the wires, unlocking the door. She now had a new objective pop up in front of her face, Destroy the three power boxes. She destroyed the three power boxes and left the room through the way she came. Before she left though, she found some credits in the back corner of the room. "I might need these," she thought.

Next objective. Retrieve the Plasma Cutter.

VANDAL walked down the hallway to the next room. She found the Plasma Cutter in an open locker. The Suit's system went on describing the use of the Plasma Cutter.

"The 211-V Plasma Cutter is a cutting tool suited for everyday chipping and cutting tasks in the mining environment. The Plasma Cutter's secondary firing system allows it to be rotated 90 degrees for different cuts depending on the situation." He found some ammo in the corner of the room and a power node locked away in a box right on the wall.

Now I definitely know I'll need this!

VANDAL saw the power box way up out of reach. She raised his weapon, aimed, and fired. She gained access to the room.

Same thing as before, Destroy the Three Power Boxes.

Tyler came on the Suit's system. "You might have to rotate the Plasma Cutter in order to shoot some of these boxes." Only two of the power boxes were out of reach and VANDAL shot them.

By the third one, on the ground was some more ammo for the Plasma Cutter. VANDAL used the Plasma Saw to cut the wires in the last power box. She had a another objective, Retrieve The Kinesis Module.

VANDAL started walking down the hallway when Tyler said, "Your locator can be a useful tool for if you get lost. Remember, it knows this place better than anyone!" She used her locator and it layed down a thin blue transparent path from her hand to her objective. She followed it, and it slowly disappeared from sight, so as to not get in the way. She made it to the locker with the Kinesis Module and picked it up. "The Kinesis Module acts as an extension of the user's limbs, to pick up items from afar. Users should be aware of the objects weight, at all times. She left the room and continued from the way she came. There were boxes in the way. Tyler said, "Use Kinesis to clear this crap out of the way."

VANDAL used Kinesis to move the boxes, and entered the room. She had to destroy three more power boxes. She did as she needed.

Then, something happened. Out of nowhere, the Sprawl's PA said, "Quarantine lockdown initiated".

The emergency lights started flashing, the entire room turning red. What the hell is going on?

Out of nowhere from behind, came a deathly roar. VANDAL turned around and saw a monster, coming out of the vent!

It rushed towards her, on all fours, with two more limbs coming out of its back, that grew out towards the front of its body, and ended with bones, acting as knives to kill its prey. It looked like a pony, with some sort of picture on its flank.

No time to think, VANDAL raised the Plasma Cutter and fired a few rounds at it. Blood flew everywhere and the beast didn't die right away. What the Fuck was that thing!?!

On its flank was what looked like three apples. "Apples?", she thought. Another one, it looked exactly the same. VANDAL did the same thing. She noticed that the door that was locked previous to the lockdown was now open.

On the RIG's transmitter there were terrified screams of people.

"They're coming out of the walls! They're coming out of the fucking walls!" Another transmission, this time coming from the head of the Church of Unitology.

"VANDAL, this is Daina Le Guin, the head of the Church of Unitology. Listen, your actions today will not be forgotten!"

In the background, VANDAL could hear the terrified screams of many people as she spoke. She continued, "Your death will be glorious!"

"You Know What, Fuck You!"

"You need to listen to me. What you have done today will be remembered in church history forever!"

"Fuck you! I'm going to fix this, and then I'm going to tell everyone what you did!"

"What you did VANDAL."

"End of Transmission" That was it, end of conversation. But what was happening around wasn't over yet. A new objective appeared before VANDAL.

Find the Exit.

As VANDAL ran on ahead, the ponies kept coming out of the vents. Finally, she made it to the elevator that would take her out of there. She hurried inside with one of the monsters right behind her. She quickly turned around and activated the elevator, the door closing just as the monster got there. The elevator then started to go down. She realized this: I need to get out of here!

Exit Wounds

The elevator slowed as it arrived towards its destination. The door slid open, and a new objective appeared before him: Retrieve the Stasis Module. VANDAL stepped out. He looked both ways, and noticed a Node locked door to his left. When he inserted his only Power Node into the slot, the ship's systems asked him if he was sure if he wanted to spend one Node. He accepted, and the door unlocked.

When he opened the door, there were five ammo boxes in the room; four on either side and one in the back. When he opened them, he found credits in the four boxes on the side walls, and one Power Node in the box on the back wall. Then, suddenly, the lights turned off for a few seconds. When they came back on, there were bloody limbs all over the room. On the walls, VANDAL noticed that there was blood. And written on the walls in blood, he read things like Infidels and Bastards. The door was locked now, so he couldn't leave.

Then, the lights shut off again, and room returned to normal. VANDAL shook his head.

What in the World Just Happened?! As VANDAL walked down the hallway, he came to a dark area due to a broken light fixture. Out of nowhere, another monster jumped from behind the wall into a vent. Suddenly, he remembered what they were. Applejack! That's what they're called! They're a pale orangeish color with pale yellow hair, they slash up their enemies using their two appendages that grow out of their back. And those two appendages are like scythes, using them to kill their targets.

He kept walking, and one jumped from a vent in the ceiling. VANDAL remembered how many shots it took to kill the other two. What if I try immobilizing them? He shot of the two front legs, and it fell down in an instant. The arms were lying on the ground, covered in blood. One more shot to the head, and it died. His RIG went off. Incoming Transmission from Director Hans Tiedemann. "Attention RIG number 438642. We have just linked recent acts of sabotage directly to your suit! Who are you?"

"Uhh, call me VANDAL. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Those damn bastards at the church tricked me! I swear!"

"Well, I guess that doesn't matter now, does it?"

"I'll do anything, I promise!"

"Well I guess there is a chance to redeem yourself. I need you to repair the quarantine seal on Crossover Tube A. Due to your engineering skills, you should be able to fix it."

"Isn't there anyone on your end that can do it? I'm fighting for my life down here."

"Yes, but unfortunately everyone is locked in the Public Sector. And you're the only one close enough to do it."

"Alright then." That marked the end of the conversation. VANDAL kept walking. Soon, Tyler radioed in to him. "Hey VANDAL, are you alright?" Then VANDAL said, "Tyler, You Son of a Bitch! You left me for Dead!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Then tell me, what the hell happened back there?"

"I don't know. The church tricked me into doing it. I had no idea."

"I guess that makes two of us."

"Anyways, all the Crossover Tubes have been sealed, there's no way to get over to the Public Sector."

"Not exactly. The Quartine Seal on Crossover Tube A is broken. If I can get over there, I can repair it, and tell everyone what the church tricked us into doing."

"Sure thing. But for now, just focus on your objective, that Stasis Module should be nearby." A while later, VANDAL stumbled upon a malfunctioning door, opening and shutting quickly. He noticed there was a dead scientist, severed by the door. There was an unlocked door, and VANDAL walked in.

The room had a divider in the center, with windows, having two open ends. The first thing he noticed was the extreme brightness of the room. The second thing he noticed was a mirror image of himself on the other side of the room. The image mirrored exactly everything he did. He went around the divider and found an open locker with the Stasis Module. He checked two unlocked lockers, and found credits and some ammo. He picked up the Stasis Module, and the Suit's systems said, "The Stasis Module allows its user to slow the temporal flow of energy through an object. Users should be aware of using Stasis on Organisms, as it may have unforeseen consequences." Simple enough, don't use it on organisms. But this was a different matter. In this kind of situation, if you wanted to stay alive, you would want to use it on those ponies to slow them down and to kill them easily, or, you didn't and you had a higher chance of dying.

VANDAL had walked out of the room and used Stasis on the door. It slowed down, and he was able to cross through. He noticed the walls were ripped wide open by the monsters coming through, and they were covered in bloodshed. He saw something of great importance written in blood: CUT OFF THEIR LIMBS. "Well that helps me figure out why it's easier to kill them after I cut off the one pony's fore legs", VANDAL thought. After he passed through the door, he accessed his locator and it showed him to go to the right. He followed it.

As he was walking down the circular hallway, he came upon a door at the end. He entered and was in a short hallway. He entered the door right in front of him, and found himself in a small room.

He checked out the two offices closest to him, finding ammo for the Plasma Cutter, and a few credits. He then ventured into the one in the back right corner of the room, finding nothing. When he walked into the fourth office, he found ammo in the one ammo box. When he walked out, he noticed some monsters that wee actually humans against the walls with the words 'TAKE US' written above them in blood. Now they're turning humans into them!?! These were a dark, orangeish red color, their arms acting as the scythes, sprouting two tiny useless arms out of their stomachs.

They looked like they were dead. As it turned out, they weren't, as when he bumped into one, it jumped up. VANDAL jumped back and used his Plasma Saw in an effort to conserve ammo for his Plasma Cutter, but it wasn't working fast enough. He used his Plasma Cutter to cut off their legs, and he stomped on them to kill them. He killed every one of them before he saw a flash of light and found himself in the hallway, the door he had entered from the circular hallway behind him. With a nervous laugh, he said, "Whoa! What the Hell!"

The door in front of him led to the room he was trapped in before. This time, it was extremely neat, except for one of the floor panels knocked out of place, exposing some pipes and wires. There was a door on the other side of the room now, locked. He had to activate a system to open the door. When he did so, the Sprawl's PA said, "Quarantine Lockdown Initiated." Immediately, ponies started coming out of the ceiling, and VANDAL easily dispatched them by severing their limbs. When he finished, the Sprawl's PA said, "Quarantine Lockdown Lifted." He left the room behind, and found himself in a hallway, one that looked like the one he had used to escape from the ponies in the beginning. It was like a maze. He walked a few hundred feet down, and noticed a break off of the main hall to his left. He checked his locator, and it said to go straight.

VANDAL walked to his left and found a hall to his right halfway down. When he entered, he was in an office. There was an Applejack lying next to the doorway, feigning death. VANDAL was careful so as to not get it to jump up. He found a locker full of Plasma batteries, and some Power Nodes in a box on the wall and on the desk against the far wall. When he walked up to grab it, the lights went out for a moment. When they came back on, there was one of the human monsters, which he decided to call a slasher, with the arms as scythes and two tiny arms in their stomachs. He also saw two small ones that were small and looked like infants, that had three tentacles protruding from their backs. The slasher swung at him, and VANDAL instantly became standoffish, backing up and taking cover behind his arms. Instantly, the lights turned off again, and the monsters were gone.

VANDAL said, "Tyler, I'm seeing shit!" Then, Tyler said, "You're having visions?"

He turned around and decided to kill the Applejack next to the doorway, keeping his distance and making sure his Plasma Cutter was reloaded. He fired a shot at its hind legs, and it jumped up. With a deathly roar, it started walking towards him. It stood up on its hind legs, and VANDAL quickly took 'em out, making it fall to the ground. It then started crawling towards him, and he stomped on it to kill it.

VANDAL started out of the room, accessing his locator to figure out where he was going. He followed his locator to a room, one that was big and looked something like a locker room. He saw the Ripper in an open locker. When he grabbed it the computer aboard the Sprawl said, "The RC-DS Remote Control Disc Ripper is a tool that can be used to cut through hard material, that the Plasma Saw wouldn't normally be able to cut through. Its primary firing mode allows the operator to steer the Ripper's blade around the desired mining area. The Ripper's secondary firing mode sacrifices control, for speed."

Just then, Tyler said, "You can use the Ripper to dispatch these monsters quickly! You never know, it just might come in handy." VANDAL had a new objective now, Activate the systems to open the door. Sure enough, it was right against the wall right behind him. He activated it, and he was in another lockdown. He started to use his Ripper to take out ponies. Then, he heard voices over his radio. Director Tiedemann saying, "Keep that door locked down! We don't want any of them getting in here!" He also heard other anonymous voices: "We can't stop them they just keep coming!"

"Listen! Take out their limbs! It's the only to stop them!"

"We're trying, there's just too many!"

"Use your tools! That Aughta stop them!" VANDAL then heard the Sprawl's PA say, "The Plasma Cutter is an all around tool, designed to fire rapidly. You can rotate the cutting head 90 degrees for an alternate firing pattern."

VANDAL had kept taking out the ponies, throughout that whole conversation. He had finished with only minimal damage, nothing to worry about. He noticed the door that he had needed to unlock was now open. He walked into the room and had to do some new things; one of them being to gain access to the control room. He had activated the two control terminals needed to access the room, and he entered. It was another small office, two doors on either side. He opened some lockers and found some blades for the Ripper. When he activated the controls, he was in yet another lockdown, this time with new enemies: He noticed a small pony on the ceiling, deep red orange in color, with a magenta mane. He noticed how it had no mark on its flank, and how it was quite fast. He decided to dub it "Scootaloo". He also noticed that there was a Necromorph. It was a slasher.

Damnit! Now they're converging humans!?! He took them both out quickly, and had to fight another Necromorph. He had gotten up close and it jumped on him, forcing him to use his Plasma Saw and cutting off its left arm. He took off its head and it died. Then, VANDAL ran outside of the office, taking care of an Applejack, and two more Scootaloos, before the lockdown was lifted. He entered the one door he needed to go through, and he was in a Tram Station. He ignored the Bench and Store, searching for Power Nodes and Ammo. He found nothing, and got onto the Tram.

Author's Note

If you're wondering why there is excessive limb cutting, it's because it is a crossover between the video game, where you need to cut their limbs off if you want to kill them quicker and save ammo. That isn't necessary, as you can kill them just by aimlessly shooting into their body, but you use up more ammo that way. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Willing Accomplice

The Tram slowed down to stop at the Titan Shard Mines. When VANDAL left the Tram, he noticed another Store and another Bench. He also noticed some boxes on the wall, like the one that had held the Power Node back by the Plasma Cutter. One next to the bench, and one in the waiting room of the station. The first thing he did was activate the bench and upgrade his RIG and Plasma Cutter. He then went to the store and upgraded his suit to level 2 for the cost of 30,000 credits. He stepped into the store and it closed, in about three seconds, he had his level two suit. He left the Tram Station and he entered a big room, it looked like a sort of decontamination room or something. Two of the doors in the room were locked. There was one open, however.

He entered the door, and found himself inside the huge Titan Shard Mine. He entered and the door closed behind him. He was standing on a catwalk, high up above the bottom level of the mines. It was a dark area, but he was able to see with the aid of a few lights along the catwalk. He then had a new objective, Activate the Tram. He noticed as he started walking that the tram that he needed to activate was the mine elevator that would take him to the upper level. "This tram isn't working right now.", Tyler said. "You'll have to go to the worker's quarters down below in order to get it running."

VANDAL kept walking, he rounded a gentle curve in the catwalk, and came upon an intersection, up ahead, there was another elevator shaft that was working, but it wasn't up on his level. He decided to go up to the tram, and bring it up. When he walked over and hit the button to bring it up, he heard a weird sound; a moaning sound. It was coming on the tram. He backed up, so that he didn't get ambushed right away. When it reached his level, he noticed that this pony wasn't going to get him right away, because it had to go around the circle he noticed was the intersection.

This pony was white, had purple hair, and covered in dirt. The one main thing that he noticed, however, was the huge orange pustule that was one of its fore legs. It was walking on three legs, because of this. It moved pretty fast, but not fast enough. When he backed up and went around the intersection, he engaged it. When he got too close a couple times, it brought the pustule back, and VANDAL backed up, to be cautious. His instincts were right, as it attempted to swing it at him. He shot the pustule, and it exploded, killing the pony. It dropped some ammo for the Plasma Cutter, being one of the first to be carrying anything, unlike the other ones back in the government sector. He also found some more Plasma Cutter ammo on the ground.

He picked it up and he went on the tram, pressing the button to go down. He went down to the next level below him: the bottom level. He had a short walk before he reached an archway composed entirely of rock. When VANDAL walked through, his vision started to flash between him being a person and being a slasher necromorph. He started imagining himself being a slasher for a short while, and he kept walking, thinking, "What the Hell!?!" He made his way to another archway, before his vision started flashing again, and he was himself again. VANDAL screamed, "What The Fuck Is Going On!?"

He received no answer. He just continued walking, passing a locked door that appeared like there was someone waiting by it, showing the display. He found the worker's quarters, and noticed it needed two batteries to unlock. He had another goal, Gain Access To The Worker's Quarters. He turned around, seeing an open doorway to another area. He immediately heard another moan, turning to his right and seeing another pony with the pustule. He immediately shot the pustule, killing the pony and another one with the tentacles out of its back, magenta hair, and deep orange coat that he had not seen for it was hidden. He noticed that it moved quickly, and decided to call them "Scootaloos", referring to its speed.

He ran down the way he was facing and found two boxes he could stomp on, when he did, he found Ripper ammo in both. He then turned around and ran past the door down the mine until he ran into a slasher. He quickly dispatched it with the ripper by cutting off the four limbs. He continued walking and turned a corner, coming up to another archway, noticing that there was still some of the mineshaft left down the way he was walking, so he decided to keep walking. He just was making a really wide right turn around to the back of the shaft, running into a few ponies and Necromorphs every now and then. He didn't really run into the white ponies with the pustule a whole lot.

When he reached the back, he noticed another archway and one of the batteries he would need to get into the workers' quarters. He used Kinesis to lift it up, and he carried through the archway, following the short path from the workers' quarters to the back of the mine. He ran into ponies too much, and it was getting annoying, because he had to be diligent, otherwise it would shatter. He managed to make it back to the quarters and put the battery in place, hearing a sound that was like a mixture between whirring and buzzing. He ran back down to the archway, went through, took a right, ran down to the end and found the other battery sitting there. He picked it up with Kinesis and went back to put it in the proper place, hearing a different sound, now a mechanical whirring sound. When he entered he had his first objective back, Activate the Tram. When he walked down the short hallway to the first intersection, Tyler radioed in, saying, "Check the service chute. I left a little something for you."

Of course, in front of the service chute, on the floor was some credits, Plasma batteries, and Ripper blades. He picked up what he could of ammo, and then an Applejack jumped from the ceiling, letting out a deathly roar. It rushed towards him as he backed up, reloading his Plasma Cutter. He wasn't fast enough, as it wrapped its bony knives around him. He was fighting off the knives, and he grabbed his Plasma Saw, cutting off one of the appendages. It then backed up to charge at him, but he finished reloading the Plasma Cutter, taking out its front legs, killing it.

He turned around, walking down to a locker room, finding some power nodes, when he grabbed them, the lights turned off, and when they came back on, there was an Applejack, and two Scootaloos. The Applejack swung one of its blades at him and he cowered, but then the lights turned off and came back on again. He looked back up from the "protection" of his arm and noticed they weren't there, so he stepped back up.

"Tyler, I'm sick! I'm seeing things!"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine."

VANDAL then left the room and walked down to the computer systems, and then he activated the three that were off. When he did so, he had a new objective, and he walked back out of the workers' quarters and walked back to the elevator and went back up to the level he first was on and went back to the elevator he had just recently activated, walked on to it, and up he went.

When he got up, he had another objective, Activate the System and Open the Door. He went around the bend and checked his locator, pointing him to his objective, directly in the center of the intersection of the catwalks. Then he saw another person and asked with a loud tone, "Hey, who's down here?" He received no answer. He walked down to the computer system to activate it. He noticed that the person was doing exactly everything he did, so he decided to mess around with him/her, noticing that they backed up like he did, when he did, everything. He walked into the Intersection and ran into the person.

A flash of white blinded VANDAL's vision for a brief second, and then he found himself wrapped in a Slasher's hold. He did like before, and took out his Plasma Saw to cut off its arm, he quickly used his Ripper to cut off the other arm, and it died in an instant. He then activated the computer system and found himself in a quarantine lockdown, with ponies and necromorphs surrounding coming over the rails, he even ran into Lurkers, reanimated infants that attack their opponents from afar, and jump on them when they get close enough. One even jumped on him, and he had a struggle getting it off. When he did, it raised the tentacles from its back, and VANDAL used the Plasma Saw to cut them off, the he turned sideways and punted it like a football.

He also ran into two ponies with the pustules that moaned, and he took them out no problem, now he noticed that they had three gems on their flanks, thinking, "This is starting to get out of hand." He decided to call them "Rarities", being as they didn't show up a lot. He had killed enough of them that it took at least a couple minutes to finally get out of the lockdown. When he did, he accessed his locator, and it pointed towards his objective, and he followed it, coming upon a door. When he entered, there was an Applejack, and he killed it. Then he noticed a swarm of about ten small ponies that were black, with holes in their torsos, ears, and legs. They had sharp fang-like teeth, with blood stained on them. They had green eyes, and they were coming at him.

He took them out before any of them got anywhere near him. VANDAL then walked to the only door that was at the end of the hallway, locked.

"Alright VANDAL, you missed something. You're gonna have to backtrack about 300 meters and—I'm just messin' with you, here you go." Tyler said that last part with a laugh, easy to say that he meant it too, cause then the door unlocked. VANDAL opened the door and walked inside, seeing he was in the same room as when he first arrived to the mines. He entered the door that was to the right, knowing it was the one to the Tram Station for it said 'Tram Station' across the electronic banner. He entered and walked to the bench to upgrade his Plasma Cutter some more. He then turned around and walked onto the Tram.

Author's Note

Alright Lurkers are the reanimated corpses of infants, with tentacles protruding out of their backs, like the Scootaloos. A Rarity is my take on the Exploders in the original game, with the pustule and the suicide attack(swinging the pustule at enemies to attempt and kill them, exploding it and killing themselves in the process).

Leaving Traces

When VANDAL got off the tram, he heard Tyler say, "Go to the Store to upgrade your RIG. You know, a better suit means better protection." Then, right after that, his suit alerted him, "Incoming Transmission."

"VANDAL, you need to hurry! The ponies are gaining speed, and we're losing control of the Public Sector! And, you still have Water and Food Processing in between you, and the objective."

VANDAL then said, "I'm going as fast as I can. It's not exactly an open road."

He Left the tram station and had a new objective, Gain Access to The Upper Level. He walked down the catwalk and was in another huge mine shaft. He had just rounded the corner, when he saw someone and said, "Hey! Who's down here?" He received no answer from the person, and he tried again.

"Hello, who are you?"

Still no answer.

"Who the hell are you? You know what, nevermind."

VANDAL just ignored him, or her, whoever the person was, and accessed his locator, it showing him to the intersection, noticing a computer needing activation. He walked into the intersection carefully, noticing the person was doing exactly everything he did. When he reached the center of the intersection, he saw a flash of bright light, and the person was now an Applejack, with its two scythes wrapped around him. He used his Plasma Saw to cut off one of them, and then quickly killed it by cutting off its legs, then stomping it.

When he killed it, he found it had been carrying some Ripper ammo. Then, he activated the computer. "Foreign Matter Detected. He found himself completely swarmed by ponies and Necromorphs, getting hit and slashed many times. His RIG was now at its lowest level of yellow, on the brink of turning red. He was still getting swarmed, but he managed to get out. When he killed them all, and the PA said, "Quarantine Lockdown Lifted", he wasn't feeling too good. His RIG was red. It was flashing.

Damn, if I don't take a break, I'm gonna get killed. He was very careful afterwards, accessing his locator, not knowing where to go. When he knew where he was going, and got back on track, he made it to another area, having to go to the next level up. When he got there, he had a swarm of little ponies, which looked like little black ponies, with holes in their legs, ears, and bodies. They had eyes that were completely green. They were accompanied by a Rarity.

All VANDAL did was shoot the pustule with a Ripper disc using the secondary firing mode, after Tyler said, "If you use the Ripper's secondary firing mode, you can't steer the disc, but it packs a lot of kick!" When he did so, he killed all the ponies, opening the door to the next Tram Station. He went to the store and bought two Power Nodes, each costing 10000 credits. He now had 8500 credits left. He then got on the Tram and was on his way. He had to fight more ponies on top of the Tram. As Applejacks and Rarities and Scootaloos attacked him, he just kept slicing off their limbs to save ammo. "Holy Crap, where are they coming from!?", VANDAL asked himself, as he was traveling down the shaft on top of the Tram, going at least 45 miles per hour. When he finished, and they weren't coming on anymore, he went back inside the Tram. Just as he entered, the PA said, "Destination Reached."

Lumbering Beast

VANDAL stepped off of the Tram and had an objective, Reach the Water Treatment. He immediately started toward the store, in search of suits. He found one inside of a box in the waiting He then left the station, and Tyler said, "You hanging in there VANDAL? You coping?

"Yeah, I guess. It's just not how I expected today to go."

"Well, me neither. But you gotta hang in there. Just hope you make it out alive." VANDAL walked straight forward, going down a ramp in the hallway, turning a 90 degree corner. He went down another ramp and rounded another corner before encountering another swarm of black ponies. "Here comes trouble", thought VANDAL. He raised his weapon and fired a few rounds of plasma energy at them, getting most of them before three of them jumped onto him. He started smashing them, as they were tearing away from his suit. He killing them until he reached the last one, pulling it off and throwing it on the ground, then stomping on it.

He continued on, then he reached the bottom. "There should be a Line Gun in one of these lockers. Go get it", said Tyler. At the sound of that, he thought, "Yes! Another weapon! I really need this." When VANDAL grabbed the Line Gun, the systems in his suit started off, "The Line Gun can be used for mining operations, requiring more power than the Plasma Cutter can deliver. Primary firing mode fires a line of plasma energy straight forward, cutting through materials, while the secondary mode fires a timed plasma blast."

He decided to use the Line Gun, mainly because he was running out of ammo for the Plasma Cutter. VANDAL then walked towards the direction he had to go, going through a door. He noticed power boxes on the pillars that were in the center of the room, in a straight line, spaced what seemed to be about 25 feet apart. When he destroyed the power boxes, he was in a lockdown. "Maybe now will be a good time to test this Line Gun", he thought. VANDAL tried the standard mode at first, noting the amount of power it had, then trying the secondary mode. When he tried this mode, he noticed that there weren't three, but one line showing where he was firing, and when he fired, he noticed that the mines stuck to the ponies, all Applejacks and Rarities.

The mine didn't explode right away, but the gun made a sound, most likely the designers' way of letting people know the mine was planted. When he squeezed the trigger a second time after firing one mine, he was surprised as that another one didn't shoot out, but the one that was already stuck to the Applejack exploded instead, killing that pony, and two others that were behind it. He continued to slice off the ponies legs and scythes in rapid succession, until he was free of the lockdown.

When he left the room, he was in a short crossing area between this previous room, and whatever room would be up ahead. When he entered the door, however, he wasn't in a room, but he was in the water treatment section. When he did open the door, he had to go to Water Treatment A. He walked into the big area, being cautious. He accessed his locator, and it showed him to go straight over the bridge in front of him, and to take a left. He walked over the bridge, and instead, took a right, thinking, "My greed is greater than my fear."

He found some boxes, and he used kinesis to pick them up, and throw them against the boiler, breaking them open and finding credits. He then walked back towards where he was supposed to go, and asked Tyler, "Hey Tyler, you never actually told me where you're from."

Tyler then said, "Ahh, I really shouldn't-but I guess secrecy is hardly of any importance right now. I was born on Mars, couldn't wait to get off planet. What about you?"

"I was born in space. Colony ship to Borealis Colony. I've never really been to Earth or Mars, what's it like?"

"Mars…? It's a shithole. You ain't missing anything."

As VANDAL continued towards his objective, he eventually reached a door, and entered it. He turned to the right, and started walking, but he seemed to not be getting much closer to the end, so he started running. Even then, it took a long time, and the long hallway seemed to be getting longer. He eventually reached the end, and an Applejack popped out from the ceiling, and VANDAL cut off its limbs. He then opened the door and walked through, finding himself inside another crossover area. When he entered the big area, the PA said, "Quarantine Lockdown Initiated."

Since VANDAL was low on ammo for all his weapons, he had no choice but to use stasis and the Plasma Saw to kill them all. He had eventually found some boxes filled with Plasma Batteries, and he thought, "Guess I'm using the Plasma Cutter to get out alive. It didnt take long for VANDAL to learn that the Plasma Cutter was one of the more important weapons out of all the ones he had, and he should treat it as a backup weapon for when he runs out of ammo for the others.

When he ran out of ammo for it, he decided that he would use the other weapons to make the job faster. When he finally killed all the ponies, or so he thought, another one started coming out of the vents on the ground, this one was purple, with a dark blue mane with light purple streaks it looked like. The tail looked the same. He also noticed that this one had a mark on its flank which looked like a big sparkle of something, with four smaller ones surrounding it, and the scythes protruding from its back, just like the Applejacks. The most noticeable thing, however, was that the ones he was seeing right now had very swollen stomachs.

"Pregnant perhaps?", is what VANDAL thought when he saw this. His theory was soon proven, as when he accidentally shot one's stomach, it burst open, and the small black ponies that worked in a swarm started pouring out. He immediately used stasis to freeze them all, and stomped on the swarm, while cutting up the purple pony with the Plasma Saw.

When he finished, he used his locator to figure out where he was going. It pointed him towards a door, and he ran towards it. When he opened the door and walked through, he was in a small room, with a bench and a store. "Nice to know that they're in more places than just tram stations.", He said to himself. He walked through, since he had no Power Nodes, and not enough credits. When he left, he was in a big room, one with big boilers along the sides, with chimneys that went way up a long ways. VANDAL looked up to see how big the room was, but he couldn't see the ceiling. He then heard a roar, not so much deathly as it sounded weird. This still gave VANDAL chills, and at the sound of it, Tyler said, "Remember, the Line Gun is pretty damn powerful. Use it if you ever get overpowered by these things."

When he walked further down towards the door he saw at the end of the room, he heard another roar, just like the one he had just heard a bit ago. He saw a body get thrown from up above, and when he looked up, he saw a really large looking pony. It had no scythes, high but it had huge forearms, which appeared like clubs. It jumped down from the rafters that he could now see, as the roof was lower on this side of the room. When it landed, the ground shook, and there was a big sound from the impact. Tyler said, "Alright, VANDAL listen up. I already ran into one of these things. The front is covered in plating, so you gotta slow it down and cut it up from behind."

This pony was grey, with a yellow mane, and a yellow tail. It suddenly charged at him head on, no regard for its safety. Thus, VANDAL dubbed it as a 'Derpy', since it acted first, thinking second. He immediately used stasis, and ran around to the back, using his Plasma Saw to get four hits in before the stasis wore off. He had no time to back up; it turned around, and hit him with its front leg. This knocked VANDAL back, and it left him hurting badly. He couldn't lie on the ground, and got up, despite the pain. He used stasis again, and once more, went around back to use the Plasma Saw. He got four hits in again, but this time, he backed up before the stasis wore off, and was able to use his stasis once again, as it recharged right away.

This time, it didn't get anywhere. VANDAL used this method of stasis, cutting, stasis, cutting, over and over again, until it was dead. The fight left him wore out, but he couldn't rest. He picked up the Power Node the "Derpy" dropped, but did not go back to the store. He walked through the door that he had to, and continued his mission.

Author's Note

Stasis recharges in this story, so you know.

The entire backstory will be introduced in the end, describing everything that leads to this story. Hope this cheers up people.

Bounds and Leaps

"Director Tiedemann has updated your locator", is what VANDAL had heard when he walked through the door. He was still recovering from the encounter with the massive thing in the previous room. VANDAL was limping, he was sure he had broken bones. "No, not sure... I know!", he said to himself. He found it harder to breath. He was sure he had broken bones in lots of places. He was sure that they were his arm, leg, collar bone, and his right ribs. He also felt light headed, and nauseous, "I probably have a concussion.", he thought. He couldn't move, any further, so he sat down against the wall, and rested. He fell asleep.

He found himself stuck in a dark room, with dimly lit lights. He was stuck in something that he couldn't see, it was invisible. He also felt himself constricted by some sort of invisible cold dark thing, that he still couldn't see; paralyzed. He could still move his head though, and when he looked around, he saw ponies everywhere, coming towards him, but they weren't getting any closer. While he was looking around, he saw visions of someone else battling Necromorphs, and he could easily tell it was a guy. He noticed this person was surrounded by Necromrphs, they were everywhere around him. But no matter where VANDAL turned his head, he saw different visions of this person battling these people turned monsters. No matter how many he saw surrounding this guy, however, he noticed that this man was not faltering a single bit. When they got too close for comfort, he didn't shoot, or use a Plasma Saw, but swung his hands and weapon at them violently, knocking them back. And when he saw one calling towards this man, he could easily hear him curse out the Necromorph as he shoved all his body weight into this monster with his foot.

Suddenly, VANDAL heard someone talking, a sort of light, yet firm voice say, "So, it appears you ran into a problem, much like me." The owner of this voice came towards him through the darkness, and he could see his face now. He had a round face with a short haircut, and a dark scruff on his face. He was wearing an engineers' suit; dark, coarse material, and his armor plates were white, with some blood spatter.

"The only difference is, that you're dealing with something else.", he continued. They look a lot like–" "Let me guess, you were going to say ponies?"

"Exactly!" "Well, they are! Who are you?"

This person said, "I'm Isaac Clarke.", VANDAL had heard of this person. He remembered a while back before the carnage of this, he had heard secret news about a man named Isaac Clarke who had single-handedly cleared out the USG Ishimura and hurled an object known as the Red Marker back onto Aegis VII, destroying the Necromorph threat, or so everybody thought.

It turned out that Waves from the destroyed marker caused dead ponies on Earth to become reanimated, and they started killing people, growing appendages and major resistance to bullets. Scientists had no choice but to launch them off into space, in hopes that they would die from suffocation.

VANDAL then said, "I've heard about you. You're the person who completely wiped the Ishimura clean of Necromorphs, and sent a marker back to Aegis VII." "That's right, but since then, I've been locked in cryo storage, and I'm starting to forget what happened. I don't even remember why I volunteered to go there in the first place. All I know is that since then, I've been fucking going crazy, and I'm locked in my own world. Now, I believe that you haven't told me your name.", Isaac said.

"Just call me VANDAL." "By the voices what's up with the voice filter. It appears that whatever you did, you didn't want people to know who you are." VANDAL said, "Yes, I was selected by the Unitologists for a secret mission to cut off communications to certain parts of the Sprawl, but it turns out that it let the ponies loose." Isaac stood there for a moment, before saying to VANDAL, "Damn Unitologist bastards! Well, have you come into contact with a marker? They fuck your mind up! You start seeing the most fucked up shit you could never imagine." "Does it matter? What does matter is that I have been seeing shit lately! Like I was recently attacked by a Necromorph, but it disappeared out of thin air! How the fuck do you explain that?" "Well then welcome to my world." Isaac started to walk away, and he returned to the darkness where he came.

VANDAL finally was free to move, and the ponies started to advance towards him. He completely forgot they were there. The last thing he noticed was that he didn't have any of his weapons. He heard Isaac's voice in his head, saying, "Hey, VANDAL, that's it right? Listen to me, you're not armed it seems, so you'll have to take 'em out with your fists! What are you doing? Don't just stand there, kill them!" VANDAL immediatley followed his "orders", punching the ponies until they were down. He continued on with Isaac saying, "Now, stomp on them with everything you've got!" He listened, and with no less with four stomps, he killed one of the ponies on the ground. "Nice Work!"

Then, as he did the same with two other ponies, he saw lights flicker on in the room. He noticed that he was in some room that had an adjustable-tilt gurney in the middle; the one that VANDAL deduced was the one he was strapped in. He took a second to let the scenery soak in. There were bodies all over the room, covered in blood, ripped in half. What bothered him the most was the person that was behind a glass window, most likely the person running diagnostics and checking the vital signs of patients.

This person was stuck in the small room with nothing to use as a weapon. He was beating on the door, screaming in fear. VANDAL didn't know why until he noticed the Lurker in the corner, with its tentacles raised. Within a matter of seconds, the man's left hand was stuck to the door, and he screamed in agonizing pain. He continued beating on the door with his other hand, and the Lurker shot another barb into his other hand. At this time VANDAL realized that it was already too late, as the third and final barb was shot directly into the man's head. At this sight, he cringed, and he thought he even heard the man's skull crunch as it was penetrated.

Blood flew all over the room when this happened, especially on the floor and wall not far behind the man who was shot. All that VANDAL could do was watch in disgust, as he thought, "Holy shit! I never knew that they could be that fucking deadly!" Even though his vision was somewhat obscured by the blood spatter, he could see the thing crawl up the wall and into a vent, and a few moments later, he heard the sounds of it in the wall, crawling down the sides, and he followed the sound to a floor vent, when it suddenly became quiet. He stood there for a moment, and said, "Fuck, I don't have any weapons to defend myself! I'd probably be best off if I started running."

Just as he turned around, he heard the Lurker jump out of the vent, and come rushing towards him. He turned his head to see what was going on, and as he did, it stopped. "SHIT!! I better find something to defend myself, fast!" As he looked around, he noticed that there was an emergency room variant of the Plasma Cutter connected to an arm above the gurney. When he turned to run towards the center of the room, he heard the sound of something flying directly behind his head. Luckily, just as he made it to the operating platform, he had something to take cover behind. As he did so, he noticed some operating tools on the floor next to him. An idea came to mind. The plan that came up shortly thereafter was one that was great, since he had cover, and something to use as projectiles. "I'll just pop my head out of cover for a moment, and throw an operating knife at its head. If I hit it, I'll be safe for some time.", He thought.

He readied himself for the fight, fight as he lifted a kind with his kinesis. He popped his head out of cover, and threw the knife at the Lurker, missing. Take two, he lifted another knife, and threw again, this time landing a direct shot in the necromorph's eye. "Perfect" This bought him just enough time to disconnect it from the arm, and he made some modifications to the Cutter, making it viable for use in combat situations. as It was a good thing that he also had some ammo on him, so he loaded his makeshift Plasma Cutter and leaned out from behind the gurney, shooting the Lurker as it finally was over the bad hit it took. He had cut off only one tentacle, tentacles then it died. Just then, his vision started fading, and he found himself leaving the room he was in.

When VANDAL woke up, he instantly felt a sharp pain in his side. He remembered the fight he had recently had with the giant pony that nearly took him out for good. With this thought, he looked down at the diagnostic display that stuck out from the chest in his RIG. When he saw the time, he noticed that approximately five hours had passed since the encounter. "Damn, I can't believe I was out for that long.", is what he said. He got up, and noticed that he didn't hurt as much as when he fell asleep. When he ran a diagnostic of what his RIG was doing, his suit told him that he had sustained multiple injuries in his ribs and a broken collar bone, but they had healed in a very short amount of time, thanks to the new technology that had been inserted into RIGs, in order to help heal the user faster. "Well, that's great. Looks like the suit's doing its job correctly."

He continued with his mission, and accessed his locator to figure out where he was going. He turned to his right and walked down the short path, going through the door and walking down a big hallway, which had a big area to the left, which was meant for something, there were rails on the ceiling, and the floor, so he assumed that it was meant for trams. Just then, he had another objective, to navigate to the other side of the zero-g tank. "Oh great, Zero Gravity. Just what I need."

VANDAL was expecting some ponies, or necromorphs even, to be somewhere in the tank, just waiting for him. When he opened the door, a little speaker made a noise just loud enough to hear. He could easily hear this speaker say, "Warning! Now entering zero gravity area!" To his surprise, there were no enemies. He let out a sigh of relief. "Guess I'm safe for now."

He entered, and saw some stuff floating around everywhere, from debris, to boxes. VANDAL activated his suit's Zero-G feature, which set up a crosshair right in front of his eyes on the visor of his helmet. With this, the lights in the protective visor turn off, and tell LED lights turned on, one each on the side of his helmet, and the crosshair brightened up too. With this, it always let him know if the place he was aiming was safe to jump to. If it was, the crosshair would turn green. If not, red. He took a deep breath, and started breathing deeply. He thought, "Alright, let's do this."

After a few moments, he jumped, and he automatically was oriented to land on the platform safely. He ran around the band that was the walking path of the tank. At the top, he found a power node. He was lined up perfectly for his next jump. This time, he didn't hesitate, and he jumped onto the platform on the other side of the tank. He opened the door, and left the tank. He had access to the locator again. When the locator became available, the next objective came too. He had to go to Service Reservoir B.

The room he was in was like the one where he fought the giant pony. He said to himself, "Ugh, that fight was painful! I'm lucky I made it out alive!" He was feeling pain now, from his wounds. "I just want to go home." There were boilers and furnaces lined up against the walls. And the room was extremely wide, and deep. He made it to the other side with no problems, until he reached the door. "Initiating Lockdown Sequence."

"OH COME ON!" He really didn't feel like dealing with ponies right now. He had enough. And he swore to himself that if he saw another one he would- his thoughts were interrupted when he saw the necromorphs coming out. Slashers and Exploders and more Slashers. Great, now he had to deal with necromorphs. Of all the things, it had to be necromorphs.

VANDAL instantly lost it, it and he just went on a rampage slicing off arms and legs, swinging his arms violently when they were too close. While he managed to hold them off, there were still more coming out of the vents. At one point, a bat looking creature came down from above to attack him. VANDAL just raised up the Line Gun and sliced right through it with one shot. Then, a pony appeared. A pale yellow one with a pink mane, this one resembled the bat like creature. With a long appendage that had a sharp point at the end, that stuck out of its head, this jumped onto a dead body in the corner. It stuck this appendage into the head, and turned it into a necromorph. That was it, VANDAL crossed his line, and started shooting it, screaming, "DIE! YOU FUCKING MONSTER, JUST FUCKING DIE! AHHHH!" He used the Line Gun and cut off all four limbs with one shot. "NOBODY FUCKS WITH ME!" He was exhausted, and he was done, for he cleaned up the area in not even five minutes. There was blood all over the place, on VANDAL, on the floor, and against the walls. There were puddles of blood on the floor; thick, sticky, red blood. VANDAL could barely see out of his helmet, the blood covered him from head to toe.

He just walked away, nothing to say, no thoughts crossing his mind. He was empty inside. He even felt like crying, this shit was getting old. Fast. He remembered a song he heard, one that was over four centuries old. This song, he remembered, was called "From Can to Can't". He started singing the chorus:

"I know, what's wrong
God, could complicate everything
I know, you're gone, gone, gone
This is where, I will draw
The Line."

Author's Note

Here's the song that VANDAL was singing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=d2GCp8vs168

Identity Crisis

VANDAL rode the tram to another part of the mines, deeper into the Titan Shard. I can't believe this is happening! All of this happened because I did what the church told me to do. He made an Audiolog.

"Audiolog RIG number 438642. I'm beginning to question the ways of the church. After what the church did, what I did; I don't think that things will ever be the same for me, if I make it out alive." He continued thinking about what had happened since he started his mission: the encounters with the ponies, Necromorphs, the bodies missing limbs, bodies with their heads half hanging on, lots of things.

He couldn't take his mind off of what was happening all around him. He spoke to himself under his breath. "I'm beginning to think that I should have not joined the Church. I think they planned on this happening."

VANDAL was hanging on inside the tram to not get thrown in case of a sudden stop. As he was riding along, he heard the Sprawl's systems say, "Destination Reached", and the tram slowed to a stop. He let go of the handle and started to step off the tram when the door opened.