//------------------------------// // 37. Hatching An Enhancement // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------//     “No.”         It was just one word, one simple word that caused the world around him to come to a sudden stop. He felt sick, his hand went immediately to scratch his bandaged arm, but he stopped himself last minute and forced himself to look at his boss in the eyes. “N-no? But sir please-!” “I said no!” The thestral across from him glared with a scowl on his face. “I’m not going to waste any time or resources to help you in your quest for revenge!” The stallion’s scowl went away as he picked up one of the papers in front of him, though his glare stayed focused on him. “You’re useless to me now. I called you to take care of him because I thought you could handle it.” His scowl returned. “Clearly I was mistaken. You’re dismissed, get out of my office.” He turned his chair around to face the office window, taking in the view of city below him. His throat went dry, the protest dying in his mouth. “A-are you firing me?” The thestral didn’t even turn to face him. “No, but if you keep bothering me I might just do it.” He answered simply, continuing to look at the view. “You know too much, and have never failed me before, until now.” He waved an arm and shooed him away. “Get your arm fixed up and then we can talk. You’re only half the pony you are without both of your arms, Gero.” His leader’s words cut through him, and he was tempted to leap over the desk and strangle the stallion that insulted him. But he knew his place, and gave a short bow. “Y-yes sir.” He gritted out, clenching his fist. Turning away from his boss, he walked out of the room and carefully closed the door shut. Gero tried his best to calm himself down, but his boss’s last words kept repeating themselves in his head. “Only half the pony am I? Asshole… I’ll show you what half a pony can do.” He stormed off, making his way to the infirmary. “Those eggheads better have something that can fix my arm.” Gero muttered to himself, trying to keep himself from scratching his bandaged arm again. His arm was driving him crazy, just begging to be scratched. Gero glanced down at the wrapped up piece of mangled flesh, glaring angrily at it. “If it wasn’t for that stupid Spider ape wolf thing, I wouldn’t even be in this mess…” The itch came back, only fiercer than before. Gero’s hand shot towards it to scratch it, only for it to stop as he realized what he was doing. “Bucking arm… I’m not weak… You don’t bucking control me!” He yelled out loud, causing a few nearby ponies to glance at him. “If only I didn’t have this useless sack of flesh I could’ve been out there by now hunting down the dipshit that did this!” The staring audience immediately turned away, a bit startled and concerned at the fact that he was talking to himself. Gero shook his head and looked around, noticing that he was in the middle of a split hallway. Glancing at the right side of the hallway, he growled and immediately turned to his left. “The hay's the infirmary at?” He looked at the walls hoping for some sort of guide only for him to find nothing. “Buck it! Right it is!” He quickly turned towards the right side of the hallway and stormed off towards it. “Where the hay am I?!”     Gero took several heavy breathes, his face red from both anger and exhaustion. He tried his best to ignore the faint echo of his yelling bouncing off the walls of the hallway, but everytime he heard his own words his anger only grew. He looked around the room he was in, looking for something to take his frustration off on. Spotting a lone bucket filled with water, he ran up to it and kicked it with all his might, causing the bucket to fly off towards the other side of the hall. Gero couldn’t help but smirk when he saw how far the bucket flew, feeling much calmer now that he had vented some of his anger. “Knew I took the wrong way… It must’ve been left…” Just as he was turning around, a loud clunk echoed off the hallway followed by a short, but loud yell.     The charcoal furred earth pony grimaced when he heard the yell. “Buuuck. The last thing I need is another complaint against me. Don’t want the boss getting any ideas…” Sighing, he ran his hand across his orange mane and walked towards the source of the yell, intending to apologize and hopefully get some directions. “At least I finally ran into someone.” Finally reaching the end of the hallway, Gero froze, his eyes wide with shock and confusion at the…thing…in front of him. “The hay…?”     The headless thing in front of him had a yellow body in the shape of a cube, a thin grey tube connected the body to its arms and black lower body. Where its lower body would be was just what appeared a black square lower body with a black ball fused onto the inside, a tube extended outwards connecting itself to the yellow cube body. The headless thing in front of him floated around helplessly, its big yellow gloves trying to grab at everything around it in a quest to find its lost head.     “Oh! Excuse me!”     Gero jumped back, being taken completely by surprise. His head darted around the area, trying to find the source of the voice that had spoken out.     “Down here mister!”     Gero looked down and frowned when he saw that it was a disembodied head speaking to him. The head was shaped like a black square with a flatten, yet wider yellow square cap on top and a larger black square on the bottom, the latter which resembles a jaw. Its mouth was parted slightly, allowing him to see a blue cover resembling a row of teeth. The head also had two grey-framed and pupil-less light blue eyes squinting at him. The head’s lower jaw shifted, slowly moving up and down as it talked. “Boy am I glad to see you!” The head exclaimed, its squinting eyes opening up a bit more. “I thought for sure that I was gonna be stuck here… Think you can help me out?”     Gero’s eyes darted from the head to the body for a few seconds before slowly nodding, “Alright… but I have a few questions first...”     The head bounced up from its position, as if it was happy. “Oh sure! Anything you want!”     “What exactly are you?” He asked.     “Me? Well I’m Cubot!” The head answered happily, the thing’s head suddenly sagged to the left and hummed. “Though if you want my number, it's IDI-07.”     Gero frowned, “I-D-I dash 07? Why numbers?”     Cubot hummed in thought, before answering. “I guess it's so that the Doctor can tell us all apart more easily. There are so many of us he makes, it must be hard to keep track of who’s who when so many of us look the same.”     ‘Golems?' Gero thought to himself. Based on what Cubot said, it sounded like he was one, and was just one of many, and that just one pony was making them all.     Cubot called out to him again, stealing Gero’s attention. “Do you think you can take me to the Doctor? Don’t think anyone else here can fix me…”     Gero narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit hesitant to agree. Sighing, he went over and picked up both of Cubot’s head and body. “You wouldn’t be here if the boss didn’t already know about you, so I guess there isn’t much to worry about.” Being sure to avoid putting Cubot on his broken arm, he looked around the hallway before turning towards the disembodied head. “You know where to go?”     “Oh yeah, definitely!” The machine’s eyes quickly shifted around at the three hallways before finally settling at the one behind him. “I was facing that way, so the Doc’s lab must be over there!”     Turning towards the direction he was provided, Gero let out a deep sigh. “You better be right about this.”     Gero frowned at the sight of the metal door, looking to his right he saw a blue glowing screen. Walking in front of the screen, he turned towards the metal head in his arms. “Hey, you do know the password for this door right?”     Cubot bounced forward to glance at the screen, “Password…?” He hummed, not answering Gero right away. “Oh yeah! I remember! Just be sure to keep it a secret okay? I’m not supposed to tell anyone.” He said the last bit with a whisper.     Gero rolled his eyes. “Yeah don’t worry I won’t say anything.”     “Great!” Cubot cried out happily, “Now… it's E.”     “E.” The pony repeated, pessing the letter on the screen.     “Now G.” A beep. “G again, then put M-A-N.”     “Eggman?” Gero said out loud in confusion. “Stupid name, and password. Though I guess it works. Wouldn’t have really guessed what it was.” The metal door hissed open, allowing for the two to step inside.     Upon stepping into the room Gero’s attention was immediately caught by the row of what looked like empty suits of armors hanging limply on a rack. Looking towards his left, he saw a table full of machinery with what appeared to be the head of a large mantis. Next to the head was the mantis’ metal body, cut open with multiple wires and bits of metal sticking out of it.     Taking a few steps closer to the table, he took a closer look at the mantis like machine in front of him. Glancing to the machine's right, he picked up what appeared to be a blueprint of the mantis in front of him, detailing exactly how it works and what it's supposed to do. “Metal golems…” He whispered to himself, his suspicions now being confirmed. “Seems a bit advanced for it to just be golems though…” Looking around the table again, he spotted a lone folder at the edge of the table. Flipping it upon, he grabbed the latest document on the folder.     “After reviewing the data we have on the subjects, we can only come to the conclusion that creatures are in fact intelligent, or at least are able to display basic level of thought that animals are capable of. It was through continuous observation that we were able to see hints of personality in them. After reviewing the data, Doctor Ivo believes that the personalities of the creatures could in fact come from the source of the creature’s DNA. As of now we are unsure of what exact personality traits they may have inherited. For the past few days LS-002 has been displaying erratic behavior that is not seen in the other two experiments and it is likely that he may have inherited all of the source’s aggression. To find out why exactly LS-002 displays such different behavior, it has been decided that 002 should stay behind with Ivo while the other two are transported to a new facility in a few days. Hopefully LS-002’s behavior can be corrected, or at least managed and controlled.”     Before Gero could fully take in what he was seeing, the sound of yelling stole his attention. Hearing that the yelling was coming from deeper within the lab, he slowly walked towards it and quickly hid behind one of the large pieces of machinery. Taking a peek from behind the large machine he glanced at the creature yelling at the large screen in front of him, discovering that the loud creature was no pony. In fact it reminded him of the photo he saw of the Spider without his costume, though the one in front of him was much larger and rounder. The creature wore a red coat sporting two square metal buttons on both sides of the chest in gold, the coat also had a zipper lining down on the middle. The bald creature wore a pair of black pants, along with a pair of matching boots. On the creature’s hands were a pair of white gloves. From the back, all Gero could see of its head was the grey goggles he kept on top of his bald head, and what appeared to be a large brown colored mustache extending over each side of his face. The red coated creature’s gloved fist raised up to the air and slammed down at the desk in front of him. “What do you mean the emerald wasn’t there?!” He yelled at the large monitor in front of him. Gero glanced up at the monitor, wanting to see who he was yelling at exactly. Behind the monitor was a grey metal golem, with a hole in where its eyes would be, for two large orange eyes to poking out of said hole. Gero was only able to see the upper half of the golems body, but even then he could still see a bit of red from under the dome shaped head. The golem bowed its head in apology. “Forgive us Doctor. We’ve scanned the area multiple times and had our scouts search the jungle more times than was necessary. The emerald isn’t here.” It said, its voice sounding artificial, cold, and carried an echoey tone. “Then at least tell me you have an idea of where it could be?!” He slammed his fist down at his desk again, causing some of the machinery on his desk to fall onto the floor. “The scanners detected a large amount of chaos energy at that location and those ponies have no idea what the emeralds are capable of! So if it isn’t there, where is it?!” “As of now, we have no leads.” The golem answered, unfazed at the creature’s anger. “However, I do suspect that it was taken by the locals. After all, they do have an attraction towards shiny objects.” It immediately raised a gloved hand, an attempt to calm the angry creature. “Do not worry master. If the ponies do have the emerald, we will get it back. By force, if necessary.” Gero heard the creature sigh. “Fine. Do not fail me again.” “We won’t, Doctor.” The monitor shut off, the image of the golem disappearing. Gero waited a few moments until the creature turned towards the objects on the floor and began picking them up. Seeing his opportunity, Gero turned back towards the exit of the lab. He knew the conversation that just took place wasn’t something he was meant to hear, and he didn’t want to ‘disappear’ if he was caught. He only took a few steps forward when he bumped into one of the suits of armor that was hanging from the rack. Gero took a step backwards, his eyes wide as he stared at the armor’s glowing red eye. The armor’s right arm shot towards his neck and grabbed onto it tightly, Gero dropped Cubot on the floor and immediately tried to claw the armor’s hand. The suit ignored his attempts to get away and began stomping towards the bald creature, Gero’s attempt to escape escalated when he began kicking the suit, only for it to ignore him. ‘Buck! This thing must be a golem too!’ Gero thought to himself, his eyes wide with terror as the golem finally reached its master. “Doctor.” The golem called out, catching the creature’s attention. Finally getting a view of his face, Gero saw that covering the creature’s eyes were a pair of thick blue glasses, and instead of a snout there was a long pink nose, and a very long and thick mustache growing under said nose. Just like the back of his head, the creature’s face possessed no fur besides the moustache, and again brought the Spider’s picture to mind. ‘The two must be part of the same species.’ The Doctor scowled when he saw Gero hanging from the golem’s hand. “Where did you come from?!” He yelled, before he shook his head. “No, better question: how did you get in here?” It was then that the other occupant of the room made itself known. “Oh that was me boss!” Cubot called out, his head being carried by his body. “My head fell off and this guy helped bring me here for repairs.” The Doctor’s scowl deepened. Taking a step forward he kicked Cubot with all of his might, sending the small golem away. “YOU IDIOT!” The golem holding Gero, ignoring its master’s display of anger, said, “Doctor, shall I exterminate the intruder?” Gero’s eyes bugged out in terror. He began flailing as he tried to get away from the emotionless being in front of him. “N-no! Wait! Please!” He begged. “I’ll stay quiet, I swear!” The Doctor scoffed, waving away his attempts. “As if I’d trust you to keep quiet. Second I let you go, you’ll go straight to the old bat.” He turned his back and began focusing on the machinery in front of him. “SWATBot, get rid of him, but don’t leave a mess.”     The golem nodded and turned his attention to Gero. Raising its other arm, the SWATBot began to choke the pony, ignoring all of his attempts to break free.     Gero flailed wildly, terror gripping his heart as he fought for survival. He gasped for air as he fought back, his thoughts slowly beginning to drift back to the convention, the feeling of terror that overwhelmed him when the Spider turned into a wolf and destroyed his arm, the feeling of despair that filled him when he was dismissed by the boss, all of it came to him at once. Slowly those feelings began to be replaced by anger, anger at the Spider for crippling him, anger at his boss for dismissing him as useless, anger at the golem for trying to kill him. ‘No… Buck this! I’m not gonna die like this! I still need to get that Spider back for doing this to me! I’ve got to show that bucker that I don’t need his support to take him down!’     Letting go of the metal arms trying to strangle him, Gero reached down towards his belt, trying to find something, anything, that can help him escape. Feeling his baton, he grabbed it and raised it over his head, intending to smash the golem. Already he could feel himself slowly losing consciousness, his vision already being blurred. Determined to live, Gero swung the baton down at the golems head, catching it off guard and causing it to stumble backwards and letting him go. Gero coughed violently as he was finally able to breathe again. Glancing upwards at the SWATBot, he gripped his baton tightly and sprinted towards it. The SWATBot’s eye glowed brightly as it reached to grab the baton from him. Gero crouched down to dodge the arm and jumped forward, impaling the machine’s eye with his baton. The SWATBot to let out a metallic groan and collapsed, falling backwards with a loud thud. The Doctor sighed. “How troublesome.” Suddenly from the racks above them, three more of the SWATBots fell out of them, landing on the floor with a thud. The machines’ red eyes glowed brightly as one by one they all picked themselves off the floor and immediately started stomping towards him. Gero turned towards the first SWATBot and yanked his baton out of the machine’s head, slowly walking away backwards from the machines, pointing his baton at them. “You think I’m scared?! Come on then! I’ll take you all out! And once I’m done with you that bucking Spider-ape is next!” The Doctor raised an eyebrow, “Spider-Ape?” He chuckled, “You really think you of all people can take on the Spider that the bat is obsessed with?” The bots moved closer, two of them moving to Gero’s side, hoping to corner him. “Look at you! You’ve got no powers, no gadgets, you only have one arm, and you were almost killed by a single SWATBot.” The Doctor smiled widely, unnerving the pony in front of him. “Even if you weren’t half a pony, you still wouldn’t be able to touch him.” Gero could feel his blood boil at the creature’s words. “I’m not invalid!” Gero shouted, his face turning red from anger, “I survived my bout with that bucking freak! I’ll survive this too! I’ll get stronger! I don’t care if the boss tries to stop me! I’m going to be the one kill that freak!” The Doctor stared at Gero, his smile slowly growing wider until it stretched across his face. Raising a single hand, he snapped his fingers, causing the trio of SWATBots to stop. “You’ve met this Spider?” He questioned, moving his arms to his back, leaning forward with great interest. Gero could only raise an eyebrow in confusion at the sudden change. “I did.” He raised his bandaged arm, “He’s the bucker who did this to me.” “He broke your arm?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. Gero frowned, recalling the events of the convention. “It's more like he tried to rip the damn thing off, I was lucky he didn’t. Not like I expected being bitten...” “He bit you?” The Doctor leaned away with a frown, seeming to be confused. “He transformed into a wolf and used my arm as a chew toy.” Gero scowled. “Transformed?” The Doctor hummed, rubbing his chin in thought. “How interesting... None of my data says he has that ability. Where did this happen?” “At the Daring Do convention the other day…” He answered slowly, “Outside the hotel, near Blackwood Forest.” The Doctor stiffened, his frown turning into a scowl. “Blackwood Forest?!” Suddenly with a yell, he turned around sweeping his arm across the table, scattering all of the papers and machinery across the floor. “Of course he was the one who found it! There’s just always some blue “hero” who gets in my way no matter where I go!” He yelled slamming his fist on the table. The Doctor took a few deep breaths to calm himself, before slowly he turning towards the pony again, flashing him small smile. “You said you wanted power didn’t you? Power to kill the Spider?” Gero nodded slowly, not trusting himself to speak. The Doctor’s smile grew as he walked closer to him. “What if I said I can grant you that power?” Gero stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. “It’d be easy for me to do it, and I can continue to give you more power, everything you need to pay him back.” Gero gulped, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What’s the catch? You were trying to kill me a minute ago, why should I trust you?” The Doctor suddenly laughed, he reached over his shoulder and pat the pony on the back. “My boy, why should you trust me?” He repeated his question and laughed harder, before turning to look at Gero in the eyes, the pony could see his reflection stare back at him. “Because I’m the only one who’s willing to give you the time of day.” He stepped back. “Look at you? You think anyone else will help you? You said you faced off against the Spider before and you came back with nothing to show for it but a broken arm.” He leaned forward again, his smile wide. “I’m the only chance you have, because I know Archer. And I know that to him, you’re washed up. Old news. Useless.” Standing up straight, he offered Gero a hand. “But I can make you better, better than him, better than the Spider, better than you could ever be without my help. And all I ask for? Is your loyalty.” Gero stared at the offered hand, his throat dry, rendering him unable to speak. He thought back onto his words, thought back to the conversation he had with his boss. Did he think the Doctor was manipulating him? Yes. But he also knew that it was the truth. The boss said so himself, he was useless. Gero’s hand moved forward on its own, but he didn’t try to stop it, the power he promised already had him hooked. Gero grasped the Doctor’s hand and he shook it. For some reason, he couldn’t help but feel like he just sold his soul. “Excellent!” The Doctor exclaimed, letting go of his hand and putting his arm around the pony’s shoulder. “You’ve made the right choice my friend! Come now, we have much work to do.” He said while pushing him towards his desk, he glanced at the arm and looked back at the desk, taking out a blank piece of paper. “Now let’s see what we can do about that your arm.” “Alright…” Gero said, feeling a bit lightheaded. Thinking back to how he got into this situation, he couldn’t but feel the need to satisfy his curiosity. “By the way, why Eggman?” The Doctor looked briefly surprised before giving a small chuckle, “Oh right the password. You see my friend, that’s because I am the Eggman.” He chuckled as if laughing at a joke. “But you can call me Dr. Ivo Robotnik.”