//------------------------------//
// Battle of Haven Tower 
// Story: The Coalition of Unique and Unusual Ponies and Griffons 
// by Prisoner 24601 
//------------------------------//

	Aistius led the TSAs onto the carriers, heading to Neighagra Falls. Their goal was simple: invade Haven tower, take no prisoners, and cave in the entire chasm. They had an entire package of D12 explosive, the most powerful explosive known to man; at least ten times as powerful as C4 per square inch. They planned to enter through the caverns, plant charges on the bottom dome, housing levels, and all across the roof of the cave, which led to a huge lake on the other side. Once detonated, the cave will flood, and even if anypony or Griffon survived in the storm shelter, they'd have to swim out of complete darkness to escape. He was going to lead the infiltation and charges, Magmus will lead the defense, Aquos would lead the frontal attack of Haven Tower, and Eartcon would lead the patrol afterwards to kill any prisoners. Dargon would have been in charge of the execution of the executives, but his carrier went off course, into the west. (This is important to the story later on)

"What do you mean we have to use the military reserve? Can't there be some other way? You'll doom us all!" such things were said by the executives the instant they heard the news. None of them were happy about the use of something meant mostly for show and security; never before had they had to use the controversal division.
Even with all the shouting, one voice rose above the others, and that was of Bloodrage, saying, "NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!" everyone else in the room shut their mouths in both fear and respect for the brute. After he was sure he had everyone's attention, he continued to ask the leader with a tone that never changed: angry, "Why do we even have to use the military reserve? What are you keeping from us? Haven tower is imervious to any attack."
"Or so you think," said Arthur with an undertone of urgency, "You see, I have recieved word from another mutant like James, who goes by the name 'Shade', that the human Doctor Damian Been has made an army." Simply the mention of Beens name made Knotmane angry. He was miserable ever since that *CENSORED* ran those tests on him, and now him coming up in conversation was so enraging, that Knotmane was about to volunteer for the defense of the tower himself. But Arthur kept going, "And this army is aimed straight at Haven Tower. We have at least 30 minutes before they arrive."
"But father," said Drake. Twilight could tell by the sound of his voice that Drake Greybeak was just like any billionaire's son: a spoiled, cocky know-it-all that can never be denied of anything he wants. He continued by saying, "We've never even seen the troops in training. How do we know if they're ready?"
"We don't," Said Arthur, in a half sigh, "But we have to take our chances and hope for the best." his voice went from unsure to serious, "Techbeak. Get me Toxic on the communicator. Bloodrage, get inside the tower now! And Raincast..."
"Yes, Arthur?" said Raincast, waking from his rest. While everyone else was making a huge deal out of nothing, Raincast took the chance to catch up on his sleep. Yep, truly like his mother.
"Quit your sleeping and get over here. We need everyone's help."
"On it boss." said Raincast. He did say something else afterwards, but the noise was drowned out by the sound of his takeoff.
"Sir," said Techbeak to Arthur. His voice remained the same: a slightly robotic almost recording, kind of like that steering whell in Wall-E. "I have Toxic's signal."
"Then bring him up!" shoted Arthur with a new tone: one that implied that under his urgency, was slivers of fear.
Soon, the huge moniter in the center of the wall lit up, and there was the purple pony who was obviously the gatekeeper. "What is it, Mr. Greybeak?" his voice symbolised a true follower: loyal, without a trace of doubt at his master's plans, and ready to do almost anything needed to help the general welfare.
"Toxic, I need you to lock the blast doors and perpare for battle, we're getting company."
"Y-yes,sir, "He said almost like a little boy. He quickly swallowed his words, cleared his throat, and said, "I'll protect this tower, or die trying."
"Very good. Dismissed." In a few moments the screen went blank, and Arthur turned to the rest of the group. "I want you all to blow the elavator, and hold down on the dome level. If all else fails, don't let them reach the students. Techbeak, I need general Overcast."
"Right away sir." Techbeak pressed a few more buttons on his wrist, and soon Overcast, Raincast's father, and renowned war hero, appeared on the screen.
"Overcast, activate the military reserve. This isn't a drill. We have company."
"Yes, sir." Overcast turned away, and the screen went blank.
Everyone was gone, and only Arthur and Curcuitclaw were left. "Sir," the cyborg asked after contemplating the consequences of asking his question, "What now?"
"Now..." Said Arthur. He knew it made no differance what they did. So many good ponies and Griffons would lose their lives today, and with the army Been has, the Tower will be short lived. "Now, we wait to die."
"What about the others?"
"They'll die, too."
"But-"
"Don't you understand, Fiercestrike!" Arthur covered his metal beak. He hadn't called Techbeak by his name since the war, but his temper got the best of him. He couldn't appear afraid, he had to continue, with a fake raised voice, "We are going to die here today! It doesn't matter how many defences we've put in place, it doesn't matter how many ponies and griffons we put in the field, and it doesn't matter how long we hold them off. They are going to break in, and they are going to kill us."
"How do you know?"
"Because," He said, wondering if he should release such information to Techbeak. It didn't matter, since they were doomed. "I didn't tell them the entire story about Shade. You see, right before I closed communications with him, the humans found him, and tore him limb from limb. With that strength, we don't stand a chance." He let that be the final words as he turned his back on Techbeak, and walked towards the elavator. Once inside, a scanner scanned his eye, and allowed him down one level: to the secret escape. But he wasn't down here to be a coward, he was down here to be the opposite. he kicked a support beam over the cave ahead of him. the cave became unsettled, and collapsed, trapping everyone inside.
******
Toxic held his ground as Aistius blew through the blast doors with D12. The gatekeeper stood at the ready to fight. the first human in was a drone. he ventured forward, only to be attacked from a crevice by Toxic. He wrestled the enemy to the ground, summoned a huge stalagmite through his chest, and stole his gun. He then turned to the still smoking entrance, and fired aimlessly through the blindness. At least seven drones were killed by the barrage before he ran out of bullets, and threw the gun aside. He waited to see how the humans would react. They pulled out their guns, and began shooting at the pony. With amazing reaction time, Toxic brought a stone wall up out of the ground, and the bullets  bumbed off of it. He then pushed this wall through the earth back at them. since the entrance to the cave is behind a waterfall, every drone in front of the doorway was pushed off, and into the rocky basin below. As the smoke cleared, Toxic realised that more drones would just take their place. This series of events continued for a while, until a rocket drone appeared. He fired a rocket, which shattered the rock shilde, and threw Toxic to the ground a few feet away. He stood again, and pulled bullet sized rocks form the walls. He propelled them at the enemy with the speed of a bullet, and more drones were killed, and strewn over the edge. But more kept coming. Toxic was worn out, and his reaction time was not quick enough the last time to avoid death, and the gatekeeper was pelted with plasma bullets. He fell to the ground, finally defeated in combat, and Aistius entered the cavern. He had the power to punch straight through the thin main door, and ripped it apart from the inside.
Aistius and his men stood aside as Aquos' men prepared for the frontal assualt. as they stood on the grate bridge, only three or four troops wide, Overcast and the military reserve stood on the balcony leading in. The drones started marching, only to be intercepted by Bloodrage, who chose this exact moment to return to the tower. He ripped through the enemy lines, tossing these limbs and that drone over the edge, antil Aquos delivered a few well placed shots to the Griffon, and he himself tumbled over the side of the bridge. "FIRE!" Shouted Overcast to his troops. All four lines of soldiers fired their weapons at the drones, dropping row after row. When the massive reload came, the humans offered their rebuttle, cutting down squads of troops this way and that. So much death was to much of a sight for a few light-hearted ponies, who pushed themselves over the edges. Soon it was just Overcast the old war hero left, but he was the most determined not to die. Doing quite the opposite, he pulled out his pistol, and started firing at the drones, while slowly walking towards their marching lines. Aquos stood above the others, on top of a discarded drone corpse, and pointed at the general. Every drone aiemed their guns at him, and he started shooting Aquos saying, "Die you son of a- AUGH!" he grunted as he gripped his bullet wounds, which forced him over the edge. "NOOOOooooooooooo-" and like that, the war hero was lost to the abyss forever.Aquos didn't even flinch as he directed his men towards the huge corridor.

Twilight and the others couldn't help looking up, as they saw the swarms of blue androids fill the tower, heartlessly slaughtering every mutant they came by. Some could put up a fight, and managed to kill a few enemies before being riddled with bullets. A few discarded corpses were thrown out windows, to break through the dome's glass cieling. There was no arguement: the battle of Haven Tower was over, and now the Haven Tower massacre had begun. Room after room, floor after floor was devoid of life as the killers continued. Eventually, Aquos stepped into the elevator on the 15th floor. He rode it down to the dome level, where he jumped out to fight the executives. "So," he began, swaying as hhe walked. With this one, along with all the Tech-commandos, there was a real human inside. "This is the board of executives. I'm so scared.
" he said sarcastically. "Now come on, put 'em up so I can hurry up and kill you."
Drake teleported behind Aquos, who saw it coming, and spun around to grab Drakes leg, holding him upside down. "So," he began again, "I see you have another teleporter. Let me tell you, that wimp Shade sure didn't go painlessly. Turns out, as long as I hold you, you cant go anywhere." He shot off one of his glove fingers, and held Drake in place against a wall. As he was doing this, Knotmane mimiced Aquos, and started pelting him with bullets. "Really?" he said turning. "You're gonna get me while I'm gloating? That's just low, dude. Oh, well. I don't care. This suit's impervious to any attacks. Go ahead and try. Twilight fired beam after beam of magic at him, only for it to be deflected by his suit. Blowtorch even tried igniting him, or exploding him, but nothing worked. "Hehe. Now it's my turn." He pulled out his gun, and fired shot after shot at them, but no one was hurt. Twilight got an idea, however. One part of his body was unprotected, so she fired a bolt of magic at his hand, where his finger shelling was gone. His finger was gone, so he dropped to the floor, and gripped the bloody stub. Twilight used levitation to bring the finger shelling off of Drake just long enough so that he could drop to the floor, and teleport to the rest of them. Above the executives, two bridges criss-crossing the walls of the Tower detonated on the edges and in the center. They began falling as Drake grapped every mutant and teleported to the elevator shaft. They broke through the elevator and onto the bottom level. Arthur was waiting for them. As they entered, part of the roof caved in with the impact of the bridge pieces. they were still 50 yards from the blast doors, which were closing rappidly. As Drake fell behind the rest, a hand reached out of the rubble, and grasped his ankle. Aquos stood up from the dust, and said, "Oh, no you don't! You're not getting out of here alive." He put his plasma pistol to Drake's head, and shouted to Arthur, behing the closing doors, "This place is set to blow in thirty seconds. Where i'm standing is safe from the blast, but so is where you're standing, so here's my proposition: You come out here, survive the blast, and get taken prisoner by me and the human army, or you stay behind closed doors, and watch your son die. Either way, you survive, but he" he said pushing the gun into Drake's left temple, "Dies. That is, if you stay there. So what's it gonna be, Greybeak? All your lives? Or all your lives, minus one."
Arthur looked at his son, as if telling him telepathically what to do. As if he heeded the warning, Drake kicked Aquos in the leg, so he loosened his grip enough for Drake to break out. But Aquos wasn't letting him get away that easy. As Drake was teleporting into the room, Aquos fired a plasma bullet. As Drake disappeared, Aquos noticed a lack of impact marks, meaning he had done it. Drake teleported into the blast room, and fell to the floor in a heap, grunting with pain, Arthur ran to his sone, layed him on his back, and removed his claws from his stomach, covered in blood. He was shot. Arthur knew the wound was fatal, and only looked at his son. Drake looked back, and wearily asked, "Dad... Will I..." a hacking cough interrupted his sentence.
Arthur put his claw over his son's mouth and said, "No... no, you'll survive. Just rest for a while." He almost couldn't hold back the tears as he knew that when Drake went to sleep, he wouldn't wake up. Drake closed his eyes, and that was the end of it. Some say, that that was the day a fire started in his heart, and the calm-mannered, classy gentle man Arthur Greybeak, became a rutheless human fighter. That was the day it began. That was the day that the resistancewas formed.