//------------------------------// // 24: Apex // Story: Seesaw // by MintLynx //------------------------------// Owl would get up, looking around him for a moment and grimacing in pain. He would look back up to see the weather choppers and gliders pushing clouds together to create a cloud cover over parts of the city, obscuring the sunlight and creating rain. He looked at the mare and gritted his teeth, replying to her. "We may have lost it for now, but I can at least fight the buckers who helped start it!" he would swoop up, before swooping toward her. The mare's dodge would be accompanied by a flurry of slashed, responded to with a dodge and kick to the face from Owl, responded to with a block of his next blow followed by a kick toward his head. The bat would fall and stumble along the ground, getting on his hooves and rolling away from an incoming pounce. He would growl, baring his teeth as he charged for her. Defying her expectations of a direct attack and instead moving behind her and biting into the side of her neck. Artificial blood would flow from the wound, colored a reddish purple and tasting anything other than like blood. He would bite down into where the artificial muscles connected the bionic foreleg to her shoulder, meeting flexible but tough material underneath. Miss S would stop and grimace for a moment, humming and musing to him. "Mmmm you like biting I see, good thing I am flexible with my kinks~" her bionic fingers would run along Owl's face before he growled and bit harder, tearing away at artificial blood vessels and skin to reveal the reinforced carbon fiber and metal parts underneath. Tearing the skin away he would go for the jugular, only to receive a punch to his face followed by a slash to his cheek, adding what would be new scars alongside the ones present on his other cheek. A shot would go through her side, followed by another in her back before she flipped away into cover. Owl would look to see Vision, who was prone on the ground and using an assault rifle from one of the fallen S4's. Owl would look around before withdrawing to the nearest cover. Only there he would hear a whistle from above before getting a dropkick down on his back, making him faceplant on the beneath him. Rolling away he would dodge an incoming stomp before getting to his hooves once more. A swipe would be sent to him, only this time he would be at the ready. Moving to the side his bionic limb would deflect her oncoming blow, bionic fingers springing out and gripping her blades. Before she could act further he would cry out, heaving his bionic limb to pull her along as he swung her around multiple circles. A literal steel grip would keep hold onto her blades, and the momentum would make her struggle to bring her other hoof to slash at him. Owl threw her onto the corner of the nearest cottage, the blades snapping off with the extreme force along with an almost sickening sound of joints breaking in her artificial limb. Arranging the blades now in his bionic hoof he would move back, disappearing into the nearest cover. Miss Succubus would get up, finding her bionic limb hanging from where it's joint to the shoulder broke. "Good move, good move." Getting up the cyborg would walk around, looking for the bat casually while the clotting serum implant slowed her bleeding. She would spot Vision aiming at her, and would evade his aim to move toward him quickly, kicking him in the head to knock him out. "Come on, guns are no fun to use~" Suddenly, she would feel four blades stick into her back, before slicing out the side of her back. She would turn to have her own cheek sliced as Owl's bionic hoof swung past her face before the tip was swung into her temple, knocking her over. The bat would zip away into cover, the mare getting up and saying "Hmm, seems I can't play with you casually. What a shame." she sighed, before getting up on her hind legs and readying her functional hoof. Owl would fly by her from the left side, slicing at the back of her neck swiftly, a quick retaliation sliced at the bottom of the membranes of his wings. She would pursue him around the building he went behind, looking around before getting drop-kicked from above. Getting up she would pounce at him like a cat, only to get knocked away as he swung his bionic limb at her. Stabbing the blades into her chest he would lift the mare before throwing her into the wall of a cottage. "I'm going to have to even the odds a bit~" she would say, getting up and beckoning him to come close with her functional foreleg. Aggressively he would fly at her, thrusting the blades and his bionic hoof toward her head. His hoof would glance off her head, and she would slice right into the membranes of his wings. With lift reduced rapidly on one wing he would veer off and roll along the ground in a hard and clumsy landing. Getting up he grimaced in pain as his wings opened once more to feel the cuts through them. "There we go~" she would say, beckoning him to come closer to her once more. ___________________________________________________________ Metal would suddenly find herself back in her body, brought into a call with Anomaly as she said "I have helped you now, but only just. I am going to try and fight DK online, but she has to be dealt with in person as well." a waypoint was given to Metal, and Anomaly would say "Go to this location and find her now, if you find Doctor Composite, deal with him as well." She would look ahead to where the waypoint led her, it led her right to Sugarcube Corner, a bakery from long before the industrial era converted into one of the mini-museums dedicated to the elements of harmony. Approaching the place she would mutter "No way.....this can't be...here?" pushing the door open she would walk to where an open trap door with a sign detailing the element of laughter's secret room was found. The cyborg mare would walk down, slipping on a slide and tumbling to the bottom, before getting up. A search around the place would yield nothing, until a piece of the wall started moving inward, but then moving back into place. Unbeknownst to her Anomaly was struggling to try to get that door open, hindered by DK's security measures and direct intervention. Walking up close to it the mare would wait for it to move in before grasping one side, then grasping another before finding an opening on the left side. Heaving with her strength the mare would slowly pull the wall door open, sounds of metal straining heard as she pushed it open and slipped in. A stairway and passage of concrete lit only by a few fluorescent was presented before her, leading down to a lift and another stairwell down. As she walked down, a familiar digital voice came on the intercom as DK said. "Uh oh....stop her now! Get every pony we got and stop her! Buck, I thought the virus would deal with her for good, gonna make that mare pay for this! If you survive my wrath I'll make sure your system is drenched with malware!" Two ponies would come out with shotguns, aiming at her and firing off shots. The mare would lower her head, sparks flying as artificial flesh was torn apart by the buckshot as it deflected off her reinforced skull. Running toward them she would punch one, kick the other away before disarming the first cyberculture clothed goon and breaking his nose with the gun's stock. Pulling the trigger she would end the life of the second one, looking to the first she would see them crawl back toward the wall. "What? You want mercy? Sorry, but you sealed your fate when you bucking shot me." aiming the gun at the stallion she pulled the trigger, his attempt to cover his head with his foreleg futile as the buckshot tore through both. After taking whatever shells she could the mare would walk into the stairwell, rushing down the concrete steps with the weapon in her magic. As she reached the bottom buzzing sounds could be heard as sprite drones flew toward her, small machine guns strapped to the bottom which fired at her. Aiming her weapon quickly and skillfully she downed drone after drone, walking forward down the concrete hall until she was in a large and neon-lit atrium. From the ceiling multiple sprite drones would fly down, opening fire on her and making her stagger for a moment. She would roll into cover, firing shots off at the things from her cover. From one of the doors would walk out none other than the doctor type she encountered at the old apartment complex. Doctor Composite as a name tag on his chest would show. "So you have come to try and end this all haven't you, Metal Heart. Fortunately, I have plenty of means present to deal with you, even a military cyborg such as yourself." "You look smart with that lab coat, too bad it's a deceiving look given you're working with psycho terrorists." Metal would spit back at him. "I can assure you I carry more knowledge than any of the so-called professors who run your mainstream establishment universities." "Oh, so you're some hipster? No wonder you were dumb enough to become a terrorist's tool." She would say, mercilessly taking a shot at him while she reloaded the shotgun. With an annoyed look he would not even bother to reply, instead he would tap away on his wrist computer before having two robots on treads rollout, both armed with rotary guns mounted on precise turrets. ________________________________________________ Owl would trade blows with Miss Succubus, using both his bionic and organic limbs to send punches toward her. The mare would dash away from and block his moves, though her artificial skin would be sliced up on her functioning bionic limb to reveal the black painted parts underneath. Suddenly she would take some shots to her belly, causing the digestive acids within her synthetic digestive system to start leaking out and burning away. Flipping away behind a building she would huff and moan "Come ooooon, next time I kick him I gotta make sure his neck snaps-" before Owl dashed in with a running kick, knocking her back. Running toward her the bat would notice as she readied a kick while on the ground. As he reached he would leap over the kick in a flip before stomping right down onto her face. A whimpering moan of pain would come from her as she raked at his leg, leaving a nasty gash as he stepped away. Getting up she held her nose, only to take a punch with blades to her gut as he dashed forward. Releasing the blades he would step back punching them deeper into her before watching as she fell back, grimacing. "Good thing I have a syththetic digestive system, otherwise that would have been lethal." she chuckled as Owl bared his teeth and growled. The mare would get up swinging her shoulder to make the broken bionic limb swing around, and she would smirk. Dashing at Owl she would swipe at him with the blades of her functional hoof, when blocked she would swing around, swinging her bionic limb into his head and making him stagger. A slice would come toward his side, the bat narrowly evading a disemboweling as his vest was cut. A bionic punch would be delivered to her face, knocking her back for a moment before she stepped back to avoid his next punch. Miss S would jump over him, spinning around to slap him with the limp limb twice before landing and grabbing his leg. Picking him up she would spin him around in circles, building up momentum before throwing him away toward the nearest cottage. Spreading his wings he would desperately slow his speed and hit the wall at a noninjurious speed. Getting up he would look to one of the dead S4's, spotting that they had an S-600 series pistol as well. Moving toward them he would grab as many magazines as he could before rolling away as a kick was sent toward him. "Uh-uh-uuuuh no guns in this-" she would gasp as shots were fired toward her belly rapidly, the bat quickly emptying the magazine into her. A hissing sound came as acid dripped down her belly, and down to her crotch as she screamed out. She fell on her rump and grasped her crotch, biting her lip as she teared up. "Nononononono oooow.." looking up to Owl her face would suddenly go blank, before... pew pew pew The suppressor on Owl pistol would be aimed still at Miss S's head as she fell down on her back, artificial blood pooling out before her. Vision would groan and get up, before looking to see his friend aiming the weapon. Getting up he would get a notification sound on his wrist computer, spotting a waypoint. Owl would get one as well, directing them toward Sugar Cube Corner. ___________________________________________________________ Anomaly would be engaged in yet another fight with GAI-7 and DK, struggling once more but doing better thanks to a better familiarity with their tactics. Her smoke screen and duplicates would keep her mostly safe while she took out assassin programs put on her and sent her own, along with shotguns and sniper rockets to do some damage. As she was fighting she was developing a wildcard of her own, but building it up was risky as it took much needed time away from her defense and offense. DK would form a smoke screen of her own, using her own duplicates to lay down digital firepower on Anomaly, the smoke screen being the only thing keeping her defenses from getting smashed by the oncoming sniper rockets. GAI-7 would send spy programs onto her systems, and when that didn't work would deploy turret programs to further add to the barrage. Anomaly would be forced to put her defenses back up, putting many an extra defensive wall up while she focused on her wildcard. A barrage of shotguns would then be sent to her from DK, hitting her defenses hard and forcing her to send some shotguns of her own to retaliate. For some time she would let her defenses get whittled down while working on her wild card, taking a calculated but very strong risk given what she was dealing with. Right as she was down to her last defensive wall she would finish it, now for step two. Repairing her defensive programs she would go on the offensive, deploying trap programs to be tripped up by DK and the AI, both working effectively to land hits. She would bring out a number of traps to trip up both her foes and force them to slow down the barrage. Then would come some manual cracking, delivered on GAI-7 at first. Her efforts would be split between attacking the two conventionally and manually cracking past the AI's defenses. Anomaly's smoke screen program would then take an unlucky hit, leaving her and the duplicates not taken down in the previous barrage exposed to the next attacks. She would double time her efforts in the manual cracking, trying to get past the AI's defenses stealthily. Her defensive duplicates would only last so long as the hits they attracted soon started to take them down. One by one they were downed until the only thing between Anomaly and direct hits were her own defenses, which would soon take the beating from the AI's turret programs. Finally she would be in the AI, and would prepare her wildcard for use against it. In a stroke of bad luck, she would get detected, and it would act quickly to lock her out of its systems to prevent any damage. Just in the last moment, she would manage to successfully deploy it. A familiar yet now hostile program was put into the AI, a version of the Virus modified for more conventional use. "Oooh buck that's the virus....she's using the virus against it! Clever bastard!" DK shouted to herself as she witnessed as the AI was battered from the inside and made to crash. It wasn't long before Anomaly decided to test the Virus on DK's smoke screen, causing it to go haywire and turn into a glitchy lag generating mess. "BuckbuckbuckbuckbuckbuckBUCK!" Anomaly would send shotgun programs to hit and damage the smoke screen program, worsening its effects on DK and her system. In a last-ditch effort, DK would attempt to gather and contain some of the glitchfest as it glitched and smashed her systems. Putting some of it into a spy program before barely managing to send it into Anomaly's system. Thinking her opponent unable to do such a thing she would be unprepared for when the glitched program would spread into her system as well, making things haywire for her. Both of them would struggle to try and fight against the haywire program now striking both of them like storms controlled by psychotic pegasi. The severe lag and glitch effects would take their toll on te both of them, their efforts remaining a constant struggle and race against the clock of their impending crashes. The both of them would only barely manage to get a grip on the programs invading their systems, beginning to fix up and stabilize the crazy programs enough to slow them down and make them shut down. With the program shut down, the two would cease their offensives, focusing on backing up their systems and repairing their defenses. Like wounded warriors stepping back to recuperate after wounding eachother severely. _______________________________________________ Metal would move from one set of cover to another, blasting the wings off of the next sprite drone with well-placed buckshot as it flew behind her cover and took some shots. Her clothing was torn up by countless bullet holes, her artificial skin torn in many places to reveal the armored plates underneath. The mare would grab her last shells, loading them into the weapon before pumping it. She had to move forward as she was running out of shells long before the science freak ran out of drones to throw at her, and her revolver wasn't plentiful in ammunition either. There was only one thing she could do now, take advantage of the thick steel armor that protected her internal parts and brain and charge. Jumping out from cover the mare would charge toward the door where Doctor Composite was. The scientist would step back activating the door to shut it as he let his drones deal with her. The two tread drones would roll forward, spinning up their rotary guns and opening fire with laser-guided accuracy. Metal would feel as rounds slammed into and deflected hard off her limb plates, causing dents to it and tearing up more of her clothing and artificial skin. Some shots would manage to get into the gaps of her armor plates, threatening to cause damage to her limbs. She would weave around tables filled with various scientific equipment, equipment which would end up swiftly destroyed in the hails of gunfire. Sprite drones flew after her in pursuit, opening fire with their built-in submachine guns. Desperately she charged forward, trying to get at the door before it closed. The door would shut too quickly, and she would be forced to charge forward in hopes of breaking through the door herself. Gunfire would persist on her as she approached the door, leaping onto it and ramming it with all her body's force. The metal would bend and the glass would crack, but would remain closed. She aimed the shotgun to take out a few more drones, shooting out the ammunition belts of the rotary guns to make their ammo run dry earlier. Galloping away from the door she would gain some distance, using the last of her shells on a few more drones before charging again. The sliding door would be bent enough to make for an opening, one she could squeeze through. Inside she would find Doctor composite himself, looking to her with annoyance before he said "You're riddling yourself with bullets for nothing, you've already lost." he would tap away at his wrist computer before activating a ceiling mounted projector. Images of the chaos going on throughout were played through security camera footage. She looked at the projector, grimacing and gritting her teeth before grabbing a chair and cucking it at the projector. "Nothing's lost while I am still breathing." she would say, drawing her revolver quickly and firing it at his head. The cyborg scientist would move his foreleg in front of his face to absorb the round, the self-repairing bionics slowly pushing the bullet out as he said. "You may have tough armor under that skin, but you can't self-repair yourself." Doctor composite would draw his own gun, a weapon known in the underground as a mini-dragon. A single shot breach loaded pistol chambered for the kinds of rounds normally used for anti-materiel rifles and heavy machine guns. With a single deafening shot, he would put a hole through her chest plates, making her gasp as purplish red material flowed out from the hole. She would fire another shot at the doctor, who would duck behind a desk to evade the shot, reloading his weapon. The mare would move around, going from cover to cover with her military training in mind. The doctor would aim his weapon as he went out of cover, keeping his bionic eyes peeled for any sign of the cyborg mare. As popped out she would put a shot through his neck, making him gasp and choke as his own artificial blood as he dove back into cover. Metal would hop up onto her own cover aiming down at him and putting a shot in his back. Crying out Composite would duck down, crawling along the ground and reloading his weapon. The mare would jump off her cover, before spotting him pop out to aim. They would both fire off shots at eachother, Metal moving her head and staggering as the high caliber round deflected off her reinforced skull and left a dent. Composite would stagger as his chest received a less though still powerful high caliber round. He would go prone once more, crawling under the tables and desks to let his bionic repair and push the bullets out. Metal would charge forward, vaulting a table before kicking one over pin Composite's hind legs. After swiftly reloading he would aim up, forcing her to duck behind the table as he fired. A hole was punched through it right next to her head, and in response, she aimed her revolver over the table and fired off another shot into him. He would lift the chair with his hind legs, flipping it and making Metal stumble back. Reloading his gun he moved around and put another bullet into her chest, narrowly missing her artificial heart as she fired one last shot into him before reloading her revolver. Artificial blood would slowly leak from the holes in her body's armor, staining her clothing. Similar artificial blood would also stain the lab coat of Doctor composite, only his body would begin repairing itself. "You can't kill me, I can keep repairing myself no matter how many times you shoot me. You on the other hoof.." he would aim and shoot at her as she dove for cover. "...are soon going to be bucked without any repairs." he reloaded his weapon and proceeded forward, aiming it at her cover. Metal would dive out from her cover, shooting into the joint of his hind leg to make him stumble, falling onto his face he would aim and put a round of his own into her shoulder, making her foreleg struggle to move. She would fire another shot towards his head, piercing into his eye as he stumbled and fell over a table. Getting up she would nearly fall over again as her foreleg struggled to move with the bullet lodged inside of it. Composite would crawl along the ground, crawling under tables to give his hind leg time to repair. His eye would, however, not repair itself as it did not use the materials his bionics did. She would aim towards his head, noticing the bullet push out of his leg yet his eye not repairing itself at all. Seeing her opportunity the mare immediately aimed for his other eye, the bullet deflecting off the side of his skull as he moved his head away, firing a bullet of his own right into one of her eyes. She stumbled as her depth perception was taken from her, a hole punched right through the eye and lodging in the back of her socket. The mare would dive into cover once more, Crawling along with her almost crippled limb as she waited for him to move out to shoot her. Popping out from cover Composite would aim, right for the center of her head. She would spot this, moving her head swiftly to the right as she aimed for his other eye. Two deafening shots went off simultaneously, one taking out Doctor Composite's other eye, and one lodging into the left side of Metal's skull. Composite would stumble back, while Metal's head would drop, her magic putting forth one last shot toward him. Artificial blood would run out of both their heads like rivers as the both of them dropped on the ground, weapons clattering on the ground. _______________________________________________________ Owl and Vision would head down the stairs, entering the atrium as they looked around. Soon enough they would spot the sprite drones, which would aim and fire. The bats would take cover, Vision taking flight and firing shots off from the assault rifle, taking out multiple drones. Owl would crawl along the floor, keeping hidden from the drones as he fired some suppressed shots off and took out their wings. As he crawled out from under a table he looked and gasped as he was met face to face with a rotary gun. The mechanical whining was heard as it spun up, only to just keep spinning without a single round feeding into the weapon. Sighing in relief Owl would keep crawling around, firing shots off at drones from below while Vision fired upon them from above. Soon enough the last drone would be gunned down by Vision, who would reload his assault rifle before looking to Owl. "You alright down there?" Stepping up Owl would say to Vision "I miss being able to bucking fly already." in an annoyed and displeased tone. "You'll have to make do, for now, we have a hack to smack." Vision would say, looking to the waypoint before beckoning Owl to follow him as he flew down a hall. Owl would gallop after him, heading down the hall lined with neon lights streaking down the tubular hallway like cyberculture rainbows. Owl's gun would be held in his mouth as he trotted along, keeping alert for any tricks or surprises that might come along. In time they would reach the end of the hallway, where another atrium could be seen. A cross between a computer room in a university and a VR arcade could be seen before them. Doors being seen along the walls of the atrium which remained closed, while in the very back was a wall of glass revealing a massive server room. Multiple somewhat makeshift spires of processing power could be seen through the glass, with sliding doors being the only entrance into the room. At the back of the room, DK herself could be seen, sitting back on a recliner chair of plastic and temperfoam with cyberculture graffiti surrounding the wall where she sat. Multiple fans linked to the air conditioning ducts could be seen on the ceiling, sending a constant flow of air to cool down the server room. The bats would look to DK, before opening fire toward her only to discover the glass to be bulletproof. Intercoms would be activated and the sound of her digital voice would be heard. "Well well well if it isn't the bat duo, come to try to end everything here aye? Like it's some final boss in a video game! Unfortunately, you've already failed to stop my plans, and you can't quickload to escape that fact! Sure you could potentially destroy me, but even then the damage is already largely done. Even Anomaly can't stop the freedom train! There's no breaks on the freedom train!" "We're here to deal with you, above all else." Vision would say "So you can't hurt anypony ever again, so we can maybe try to fix things without you bucking it up again." "Good luck with that." DK would say nonchalantly, emotion expressed strongly even through her digitally generated voice. "The damage we've done to the system is not likely going to be reversible, we've laid the ultimate smackdown onto it, and now it's falling apart. The veil is tearing, and the eyes of everypony are being opened. There will be panic, there will be chaos online and offline, but in the end, Equestria will pull through and evolve more free and open." "Constantly under this illusion of being some freedom fighter, thinking you're doing good for Equestria by doing this???" Owl would shout at her, his and Vision's voice picked up by the audio feed of the cameras watching them. "The time for a peaceful rebellion has long past, it's too late, it was either break the system or let it consume ponykind. If you ask me, having a pony's mind taken over and made the property of the government is a fate worse than death. In a way, the system will kill everypony! They've been coddling and manipulating society for so long, in a vain attempt to try to artificially create a utopia akin to the one existing back when Twilight Sparkle lived! All they've created is a bubble, sewn a veil over their eyes to blind them to the truth. They can't hide it forever, not unless they can control pony's minds." "Is hurting everypony going to stop that? Is it not going to make them cower and run to the system all over again??" Vision would ask, keeping his weapon aimed. "Some, but the goal of all this is to make it clear they can't protect them. Plus, when ponies know what even their princesses see fit for them, not many will still be on board. Besides, you think you alone could stop their plans? No, it requires something extreme, the system getting broken in order to stop the mental enslavement of ponykind." The intercom would be hacked into, and Anomaly would speak. "I have another solution, a fix for both the problem you are trying to solve and the one you are creating. That server room you have there will prove useful for what I have planned, along with your virus." "You ain't touching my server room! You're gonna have to go through me motherbucker!" DK would reply "You're going to have to fight me if you want control over it!" ________________________________________________ In cyberspace, Data and Cypher would be monitoring the communications after having followed Anomaly's moves for some time. They had broken away from the fight for the net with Digital Hoof and hacked into the camera and communication feeds to watch what she was up to. "She's going to try to use the Virus and that Mainframe in order to take over the system again...." Cypher would say, looking to Data "We have to stop that, we have to get Owl to destroy that server room." _________________________________________________ Owl would receive a message, coming from Data Miner that told him "Destroy that Server Room, we can't let anypony use that. We'll try to deal with the virus, but cripple that server room any way you can!" He would then be pulled into a call by Anomaly, where she told him "Don't listen to them, I'm not going to abuse this power. I'm going to use it for the betterment of Equestria, I can make use of it and the virus to try and reach everypony. We can break down Myriad's system without taking society with it." Thus he would be met with yet another crossroad, who to help and who to turn against. He would have little time to ponder and properly make this choice as DK said "Buck this! Enough chit-chat let's get to the part where I get rid of you both!" Screen images could be faintly seen in the lenses of the gas mask as two cyborg maids would walk out of one of the doors in the walls, armed with metal whips which arched electricity along their lengths. "Are maids your favorite bucking henchponies?" Asked Owl as he aimed his silenced pistol at them, opening fire as they flipped and cartwheeled around. Owl would take his gun into his mouth once more as he ran to evade the incoming electric whips. The two maids would open up bionic wings, and took flight after the both of them. Vision would take flight, darting around with the maid and opening fire toward her with his weapon. Owl, being grounded, would jump and dive around the computer desk and VR pods, narrowly missing the repeated electric whips sent towards him. The sounds of gunfire combined with cracks and sparks would echo throughout the atrium. Online Anomaly would engage in her next fight with DK, fully prepared with a smoke screen program and duplicates to start with. DK would put up her own defenses before sending a pitchfork towards Anomaly's systems. Part of the pitchfork would hit her duplicates, then part of it would get reflected right back at her by a Mirror program Anomaly put up. Taking hits to her defenses DK would swiftly form a smoke screen before sending a sniper rocket combined with a fork virus toward Anomaly, hitting her and Duplicates both hard. She would create more duplicates, sending in spy programs to try and zero in on DK. Vision would get hit with the whip, the stunning electricity making him lock up and fall, dropping his weapon before he hit the ground. Quickly getting up he would attempt to grab his gun, only to have his hoof struck with the whip before getting repeatedly whipped by the maid as she giggled. Owl would vault over a table, taking his gun and firing some shots at the maid, who took one to the side and dashed around. He would jump over another table to avoid the next whip, firing more shots before his magazine went dry. Putting the gun away he would run, sliding under a table before leaping behind a VR pod. Looking behind it the maid looked in confusion as Owl seemed to have disappeared, before looking around to try an find him. DK would cross a Shotgun with a Pitchfork, landing another solid hit on Anomaly and taking down her Smokescreen. Anomaly would act by putting up traps alongside another mirror program. As the traps set off on DK, Anomaly would send a shotgun of her own and take down DK's smoke screen. DK would put up a machine gun turret to pin Anomaly down, but in reply she would send assassin programs to hit DK directly. DK would fail to notice them, and thus would take some direct hits as she hit Anomaly with another pitchfork. That program would manage to bypass the traps but get mirrored back to her, taking out her gun turret and damaging her defenses. More direct hits would be sustained by DK as Anomaly sent two sniper rockets to hit and pierce her weakened defenses. Flying around the maid would search for Owl as Vision was repeatedly whipped, before being suddenly jumped on by Owl as he climbed on and leaped off a VR pod. His bionic limb would wrap around the maid's neck, choking her out as she repeatedly tried to strike at him. Grabbing her shoulder he would swing her around and throw her face into a computer screen, before throwing her to the ground and striking her bleeding face with his bionic hoof. Looking to Vision he would dive under tables and stalk the maid who was whipping him. The maid would simply stand there on her hind legs and keep whipping him, before feeling a tap on her shoulder. Looking behind, her face would be met with Owl's incoming bionic foreleg, knocking her out in an instant. DK would put up duplicates, alongside traps of her own to defend from Anomaly's attacks. She would send another shotgun towards Anomaly, setting off some traps which would end up hitting her duplicates. DK would follow up with assassin programs of her own to silently harm Anomaly's systems. Anomaly would put up a turret program to suppress DK's efforts, only to end up with her duplicates taken down as DK's traps were triggered. DK would look as the sliding doors into her server room were pried open by Owl. Getting up from her chair she would say "Oh buck now I'm gonna have two fights at once! Good thing I think quick!" DK would dive off in between two server stacks, while Owl and Vision hunted for her among the jungle of wires, glass, and plugs. DK would take some direct hits online from shotguns, bypassing her duplicates thanks to Anomaly's spyware. Acting quickly she would cut off the mare's spyware with another Smokescreen, before sending a pitchfork in response to Anomaly putting up more duplicates for defense. Anomaly would manage to capture the program, using it to hit DK back. DK would bob and weave around the server stacks, evading the last few shots from Vision before his weapon went dry. He would drop the gun, before taking flight above the server stacks while Owl stalked among them like a leopard seeking prey. Finding a safe place DK would send more assassin programs, which would all start to hit Anomaly hard and force her to stop her attacks to get rid of them. Anomaly would then receive a pitchfork crossed with a shotgun, taking down her duplicates and damaging her defenses. DK would then put up a sniper rocket crossed with a turret, chewing through the rest of Anomaly's defenses and doing direct hits. Looking up DK would take a running kick from Owl, making her fall back. Quickly getting up the mare would block his bionic punch easily, before headbutting him hard and punching him in the stomach. Bionic fingers would grasp his neck as DK threw him several meters away. "My whole body is bionic! While you're just eighty percent flesh!" She would say before diving off among the Server Stacks. Anomaly would struggle to put her defenses back up against the barrage of the Sniper rocket spewing turret. She would then get some unexpected assistance as Cypher and Data came in, both activating server shockwaves and taking out the smoke screen. Seeing two more foes come in DK would curse under her breath before forming offensive duplicates to deploy more sniper rocket turrets to chew at them. A kick from above would knock DK to the ground, forcing her to roll away before kicking Vision away from her. They would engage in a short exchange of blows and blocks before DK overwhelmed and punched DK repeatedly. Grabbed from behind by Owl's bionic hoof she would find herself thrown to the concrete floor, cracking her lenses. Owl would attempt to pull off the mask, only to discover it to be built into her body. He would block her next incoming blow before grasping her foreleg and swinging her into one of the server stacks. "Owl! Don't destroy the Server!" Anomaly's voice came through the intercoms. She would create a smokescreen to defend herself from the turrets, while Data and Cypher built their defenses up to protect from the incoming hits. Data would put up some traps to be triggered by the turrets, taking out the two duplicates that were using them. DK, as she was being thrown, would find and remove the assassin programs. She would create a server shockwave of her own to hit the three of her foes. Getting up she would find her lenses cracked even more, distorting her visibility on the cyberspace battlefield. Getting up DK would exchange blows with Owl, taking advantage of the fact he could only effectively use one hoof against her as she fought him up close and hit him hard. Ribs cracked on the bat as he took some hard hits, barely able to move back enough to avert getting his lung punctured. His strikes would focus on her gas mask face, making the lenses crack more until one shattered, revealing the camera inside. He would smash the other one, before grabbing and throwing her to the ground. DK would accept her defeat in hoof to hoof combat, humiliating as it was for a mare who was entirely bionic to lose against a mostly flesh stallion. She would deactivate her cameras and go into her sleeping mode, focusing her efforts on cyberspace entirely. Her systems would be taking hits from the three of her enemies, forcing her on the defensive as she built up her defenses before sending assassin programs to harm the three of them. Though they would do their work and well enough her own defenses would struggle to hold up against Anomaly's pitchfork when it was followed by a shotgun. Both Cypher and Data would deploy turrets to barrage DK, Data saying. "Yeeeea take that terrorist! Eat the wrath of justice's fist! Get wrecked!" Data would say, crashing DK's systems with a final shotgun. Owl would take the head of DK, staring into the cameras with rage and hatred. Grasping the bionic mare's head with his bionic hoof, he would start to repeatedly smash it onto the concrete floor. "Take-this-you-bucking-daughter-of-a-party-cake-whore!" Owl said, among other expletives as he kept smashing her head in with all the strength his bionic limb could muster. On Cyberspace, Cypher would open a communications line with Anomaly. "Anomaly, don't do this. We have to destroy this, the server room, the virus, everything. Nopony can be trusted with this much power! We can work together!" "I have my mind set on what I am going to do, I'm pretty sure you just want things back the way they were. With the system as it always was before the Mall incidents or Myriad's plans. I want something better, and I intend to do what it takes to make sure neither cyberterrorists nor corporate overlords can rise up again." taking out her wildcard virus she would use it, quickly spreading out onto the servers within the server room. Using both she would swiftly take over the virus, halting the chaos that was going on while spreading it throughout Everfree and Canterlot both. "Ooooh buck she's doing it! She's doing it!" Data would say, looking to Cypher. "What do we do???" "We stop her, and get Owl to smash those servers..." Cypher would say. "So we just fight her....guess that's obvious as much as it's obviously daunting!!!" Taking a deep breath Data would then say "Alright, let's do this." _____________________________________________________________________ The DJ and Tazen would look over cyberspace as the chaos on the CCS suddenly stopped. All the hostile hackers would find themselves infected with and crashed by the virus before more and more screen boards would turn white. Tazen would communicate to the DJ in a call. "She's done it, she's taken over the virus. And she's taking over the CCS...." "We're gonna stop her, no matter how many times I gotta blast her systems with the bass cannon!" the DJ would reply, readying her defenses for a fight as she messaged the others. "As good as her intentions are, we can't allow Anomaly to have control over this! Power will get to her head, and then it'll be downhill from there." Owl would pant, the head of DK dented in and crushed, concrete cracked beneath it. He would get up, looking at the server stacks as Anomaly said through intercoms. "Please, Owl...don't do it. I won't harm anypony I don't have to, I swear!" "Owl, destroy the servers, you have to!" Said a familiar voice, Night Haze's. "She could become the next Harmonize Owl, she could let her good intentions come to the detriment of everypony! You think one mare can just help everypony by having power over everything? Please Owl, help us, destroy the servers and come find us! We can work together!" Owl would look around to the servers, before looking to Vision. "I'm at a crossroads, don't know whether to leave them here and stick with Anomaly, or destroy them and help Cypher....Or destroy them and help...Haze.." Vision would look around, sighing as he said. "I don't know either, I'm almost leaning on siding with Anomaly. Seems like she's the only effective means of justice we can have, now that Harmonize has been corrupted.." The weathercoptors would start dispersing the clouds, letting the sunlight shine down once more over Everfree. Anomaly would repair and reboot the AI's systems, before looking to see the Digital Hoof ponies preparing for a fight. Sighing internally, she would say to herself "Am I really going to have to face you? I only want to help, to bring a conclusive end to all of this..."