//------------------------------// // 54. Stone Garden Zone Act 4: Ambition // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// Gero scowled, watching the footage of the fight between the Doctor’s mechanical soldiers and the Spider. He turned towards the Doctor and stared, trying to see his reaction to the fight. Not being able to see his reaction, he decided to speak up. “Seems like the Spider made short work of those Badniks of yours.” The Doctor stood silent, staring intently at the screen in front of them. The expression of his face was completely serious, there wasn’t a single hint of emotion on him. Frowning, Gero decided to try again. “That weapon of his is rather odd don’t you think? Never seen anything quite like it.” Glancing at the screen, he watched the hero cut down a “Slicer” Badnik with his oddly shaped sword. “Though the design is odd, it’s pretty effective, even against the Slicer’s blades.” The Doctor continued to ignore him, simply grabbing the remote and fast forwarding the recording. He let the video continue playing normally once the Egg Breaker appeared on screen. Giving up on trying to see the Doctor’s reaction, he decided to go back to watching the fight. As the fight played out, Gero couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the Spider’s friends falling one by one from the mech’s attacks. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for the Doctor to make his upgrades similar to the Egg Breaker’s weapons and armor. Heck just having a mech to ride into battle would be enough for him. Just as he was about to ask the Doctor about the upgrades, he was cut off by a high pitched shriek coming out of the recording. The cyborg couldn’t help but jump back when he heard it, being caught completely off guard by it. “Celestia! What in Tartarus’ name was that?!” The Doctor leaned forward, pausing the video. As he took a closer look, the Doctor couldn’t help but smile widely at what he was seeing. “That, my friend, is a very good question.” Playing the video, the two watched as the bonded pair’s new form tore apart the Egg Breaker. Gero gritted his teeth at what he was seeing. “Just when he’s on the verge of defeat he pulls out some new trick!” He clenched his mechanical hands. “It's infuriating!” “Yes, but this is a good thing!” The Doctor exclaimed, confusing the coal furred cyborg. “Use your head Gero.” He said, tapping his head. “This is a good thing because now we have more data! We now know more about the Spider’s capabilities compared to before!” He turned back to the computer monitor, his grin slowly getting wider. “And it's not just data on the Spider we have, but on his friends and the rogue symbiote now as well. With this, we now have a better idea at what exactly we are up against!” He turned away from the monitor, taking a few steps closer to the large table in the middle of the room. Laying on top of the table was the EggRobo. The badnik ignored its master as it continued to watch the screen, its hand clenched as it seemingly ‘glared’ at the monitor. The badnik commander was pulled out of its thoughts when the Doctor blocked its view of the screen. The Doctor smiled widely at his creation. Spreading his arms, he laughed. “Excellent work EggRobo. Without your sacrifice, I would’ve never been able to gather up so much data!” The badnik leaned back, seemingly confused. “Doctor?” He questioned. “I failed to retrieve the emeralds, and the Spider was able to destroy an entire horde of Badniks, not to mention the Egg Breaker is now lost.” Robotnik scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. “Such a minor loss compared to the data we retrieved.” He turned away and walked back up to his monitor. “Besides, all of the emeralds will be in my possession in due time. We simply must have patience.” “What about the fact that the Spider knows about you now?” Gero brought up, folding his arms. “He seemed to recognize the EggRobo, and even called you Eggman.” Robotnik frowned, he hummed while pulling his mustache. “While this isn’t exactly how I wanted to reveal myself, it's not really a set back.” He chuckled, giving the pony a grin. “Besides what exactly can he even do about it? Warn the Princesses?” He laughed. “Like they’re able to do anything to me! And those so called “guards” are a complete joke compared to my Badniks!” Settling down, he gave the video his full attention again. “So no Gero, I’m not worried that my existence was revealed. If anything, it will certainly make the game much more interesting.” He chuckled. “Game?” Gero questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Yes Gero, the game.” He answered, turning his head to look at the pony, flashing him one of his signature smiles. His smile was stretched widely across his face, Gero couldn’t help but feel unnerved by seeing it. “As you are likely aware, the Spider and I are not from this world. However, despite being the same species, we aren't from the same world. He comes from a world known as Earth, I come from a planet called Mobius. It is in Mobius where I had my first game.” The Doctor stared up to the ceiling, a nostalgic look on his face. “In Mobius I was an emperor, the ruler of the entire planet! The world fell to me so quickly, so easily, that I had nothing to do. So I allowed a group of children to exist so that I could entertain myself in battles against their petty resistance.” He smirked. “I will concede that they have won my little war games more often than not. But so what? Mobius was never free from my influence, and the rest of the world knew that I still owned them.” He turned his body towards Gero, taking a few steps towards him. “Gero, I can take over this world anytime I want. It wouldn’t be difficult.” He said seriously, as if he was just stating a fact. “Magic can be easily negated once you know how it works, and those Princesses? They aren’t anything special. Mobius had dragons too, and they fell to my empire. But do you know why I haven’t done anything yet?” The pony only shook his head. “Because then I would be left with the same problem I had when I was in Mobius, I would be bored. With not a single thing to do but run my empire.” He answered, giving Gero a smile. Turning away from the pony, he spread out his arms and cried out in glee, “So why not have some fun with it?! Just like I did in Mobius! I will give the heroes a fighting chance! I will let them have their victories so they can grow from them and gain confidence! It doesn’t matter in the end, because I can end it all anytime I want. And it will only make my final victory all the more satisfying.” Walking towards his monitor, he paused the video as soon as Dark was on the screen. “And this Spider character is just what I needed for my game!” Gero tilted his head in confusion, behind him, the EggRobo turned its head towards the Doctor. “What do you mean?” “For my game to be any fun, I need someone with courage, determination, someone with a true heroic heart to be my opposition.” He pointed at the hero and grinned. “And he’s it! He’s the type of person to never give up, no matter what. Someone with a strict, inflexible, moral code. And he has the strength to back up his beliefs. Someone like this is the perfect obstacle for me to overcome in my quest to rule the world. It's always the true hero type that are the hardest, but the most satisfying to break.” “What about the others?” Gero said, nodding his head towards the monitor. “Any of them fit the bill for your game?” Robotnik hummed, pressing a few buttons on his remote. The image of the Spider then disappeared, only to be replaced by the images of the other participants of the fight. “The hedgehog has some potential, but it's all wasted. Someone like her is easy to work around, and easy to predict.” He tsked. “Nothing like the rascal I know about. She doesn’t provide anything but muscle for the team. A shame really. Despite her eccentricities, Miss Rose was quite a worthy foe.” Turning towards the monitor, Gero spotted the pink hedgehog the Doctor was talking about. “Who exactly is “Miss Rose”? And why did EggRobo call her that? According to Hydra’s files, that hedgehog is the Spider’s sister. I believe her name is Cece.” Robotnik smiled. “My friend that is Miss Rose.” He said, pointing at Cece. “But at the same time… she isn’t.” He answered cryptically. “Anyways, Miss Rose was an adversary of mine back in Mobius. She was a mystic, precognition, dowsing, magic, she could do it all.” He grinned. “While Amy Rose did provide her little militia some much needed muscle, her true strength lies within her leadership skills. She was a natural born leader and an excellent tactician!” He suddenly frowned, humming to himself in thought. “I wonder though… could Miss Rose actually be in there? It took me a while before I finally became aware…” He mumbled to himself before giving a grin. “Well if she is in there it would certainly make things more interesting.” Robotnik chuckled. “Now as for the others…” Pressing another button on his remote, he took out the image of Cece and focused on the other three participants. Zooming in on the image of the rainbow haired pegasus, he hummed. “Now this one is certainly an interesting case. Fast, overconfident in her abilities, cocky, and arrogant.” The Doctor laughed. “Why she’s practically just like Sonic! If it wasn’t for the Spider’s determination and much more fascinating abilities, this pegasus would have surely been my main opposition.” Playing some footage of the pegasus mare in a fight, he hummed. “Her hydro and cryokinetic abilities are incredibly fascinating though…” He frowned and turned his attention towards the earth pony. “It is to my knowledge that earth and pegasi ponies can’t use any magic, so how is it that this pegasus is able to use these strange powers?” Gero closed his eyes, trying to recall the information he received relating to the pony’s strange powers. “From the reports I’ve read, her hydrokinesis comes from a rare and strange gene found only a small portion of the population. I believe they call it the conduit gene. Not much data on it since the only way we got the info was someone eavesdropping on her and someone else on it.” “Interesting.” Making a mental note of that, he removed Rainbow Dash’s image from the screen. Enlarging the images of the last two fighters, he frowned, not being able to recall any Equestrian or mobian creatures matching the description of the two animals. Turning to his organic lackey, he pointed at the creature’s images. “Does Hydra have any information on these animals?” Gero frowned as he stared at the pictures. “Not really. Only on their basic abilities, nothing on their origins or what they really are.” He scowled and crossed his arms. “The Spider was also seen with another strange creature, a blue and black jackal, probably a pet.” Gero than clenched one of his arms. "It was with him when we first "met"." Robotnik frowned. “What about you EggRobo? Did you get any clues as to their origins?” The Badnik shook his head. “Forgive me Doctor. I do not have any information regarding their origins. All I do know is that they both displayed incredible power over two of the natural elements.” The scientist tsked, turning back towards the screen and glaring. Behind the three of them another robot flew into the room, carrying a tray on his hands. “Excuse me sir.” The orb shaped robot called out to them, gaining their attention. “The refreshments have arrived.” It said, bowing its head. Behind the red robot, Cubot floated in, carrying another tray in his hands. “Yeah, and the drinks you ordered are here too!” Cubot flew towards the earth pony, handing him his drink. Floating to his master, the red robot tilted his head at the human’s frustrated expression. “What’s the matter, sir? Did I get the wrong drink?” Taking the drink from the tray, he shook his head. “No, lucky for you.” He grumbled, pausing to take a sip of his drink. Turning to the screen, the badnik squinted his bright blue eyes as he hummed. “Is it a new variable? I would’ve thought you’d be excited to see something new.”  “Normally yes, but there’s so little data on these animals!” He threw his hands up in the air. “I know they can’t be native to Equestria or any of the regions outside this country, otherwise I would’ve had some data on them!” The Doctor yelled, placing his drink down on the table. “And they can’t be from Mobius either, they didn’t have any wildlife like these two here!” Orbot hummed again, taking a moment to think of an answer. “Have you tried looking in the… Other’s memories?” He asked. “Perhaps you can find the information you seek there.” Robotnik looked down at the small robot at his side, frowning. “You may be onto something there Orbot.” He said, a smile forming on his face. “It's about time we make use of that parasite! If he plans to stay in my body, then he should at the very least make himself useful.” He said, ignoring Gero’s confused look.  ““Other”, sir?” Gero asked.  Robotnik glanced at the cybernetic pony and hummed. “When I first woke up in Equis I noticed something off about myself. A whole new set of memories laid there in my mind. Ones I have never experienced before, and those memories were a treasure trove of useful information about Mobius, Equestria, and countless other realities that I was unaware of before that day.” The human smirked. “And after a couple weeks of some mental preparations I was finally able to put that information to use in my plans for global conquest.”  Gero narrowed his eyes as he processed that information. “Global conquest…” He whispered to himself. Looking around the lab, he took in all of the pieces of technology and deactivated Badniks that laid around. “Doctor,” He began. “All of this tech, why is it that I’ve never seen it in the hands of Hydra before? From what I know, you’re Hydra’s chief scientist, I would’ve thought that you’d be equipping all of the grunts with these weapons instead of keeping it to yourself.” “And what would be the point in doing that?” Robotnik asked, turning away from the pony as he looked back at the screen. “Hydra is doomed to fall. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will fall eventually.” He answered, shocking the pony. “Their plan to take over Equestria is laughable, and while they may be able to conquer it, their rule will never last. Their “great empire” will fall, and crumble to dust, and with time, be forgotten.” Gero narrowed his eyes, “What makes you say that? Do we not have enough power to accomplish our goals?” He questioned. “To defeat the Princesses and those plucky heroes? Perhaps. But to have enough power to keep the kingdom, to quell rebellions, to protect yourselves from any and all neighboring kingdoms seeking to conquer a weakened nation? No.” Robotnik answered, minimizing the images of the two creatures on the screen. “Hydra does not have the power to keep Equestria. Not to mention that even if they do win, there is the issue of finding a way to raise and lower the moon without the sisters’ help.”  “But what about your inventions?” The pony brought up, waving his hand to all of the technology in the room. “With all of this, would Hydra have a chance?” Robotnik grinned. “Why of course. With my genius and creations, Hydra would have all the power necessary to keep the Equestria under their control for a very long time.” The answer only served to confuse the pony even more. “But then, if you’re with Hydra, why not share all of these weapons?” “Because Gero I’m not with Hydra.” The Doctor answered, zooming on a few other images. “Hydra is merely a means to an end. Hydra provides me with all the resources I need for my machines, and all I have to do toss them one my old inventions every once in a while to keep them satisfied.” He smirked. “It's certainly much easier to work for them and get what I need when asked than having to look for resources myself.” Putting down the remote, Robotnik turned to Gero and frowned. “Speaking of Hydra, why did you join?” “Why did I join?” He repeated, confused by the sudden change in topic. “For power I guess… the pay was good too, much better than what they paid me back in the Royal Guards. With Hydra, I’ve gained the freedom to do whatever I wanted, I wasn’t bound by a strict code. And with the rank I possessed, I wasn’t forced to follow the orders of some honor bound fools.” Robotnik hummed. “Yes, I’ve read about your disagreements with your former comrade in your files… Gallant Heart was it?” Gero nodded. “He was next in line to lead the Royal Guards after Shining Armor left.” He scowled, clenching his mechanical fist. “Just thinking how Armor was going to give him the promotion instead of me still makes me angry.” He sighed, unclenching his fist as he relaxed. “And even though he came close to discovering Hydra, I couldn’t help but feel delighted. He gave me the perfect excuse I needed to off him.” “So it's power that motivates you?” Robotnik said, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Power and the need to control?” The human smiled widely, walking up to the confused pony. “My boy, if that's all you want, then why are you wasting your time with Hydra?” “What do you mean?” Gero asked, taking a step back from the advancing scientist.  “I told you didn’t I? Hydra is doomed to fail, and Archer is far too petty and foolish to lead them to victory.” He said, his smile taking up half of his face. “And don’t forget how quickly the old bat was willing to throw you away. Why if it wasn’t for me, you’d be out in the streets begging or throwing your lot with some gang.” He continued upon seeing his stunned look. “Gero, if it's power you want, then join me.” He said, offering his hand. “I know you agreed before, but that was when you were under the assumption that I was working for Hydra. You’ve seen what my machines can do, the Spider and his allies were at the brink of defeat, if it wasn’t for that new transformation, we would’ve won. And don’t forget it was my cybernetics that almost led you to victory in your fight against the Spider. And tell me, honestly, do you really believe Hydra can give you the power I offer?” Gero stared at the offered hand, the scene before him seemed familiar, and he was instantly reminded of his first meeting with the Doctor. “Just what exactly are you planning?” He asked. “Global domination.” Robotnik answered, his smile never leaving. “With the resources Hydra is providing me, I’m planning to create everything I need to declare war against the world.”  Gero’s eyes widened. “That’s…” He shook his head in disbelief, “Just how exactly do you plan to accomplish that?! You want to go up against the entire world? I don’t think even your machines can stand up against the whole world!” Robotnik threw his head back and laughed. “That’s where you’re wrong. I told you before, I was a conqueror in Mobius, and with these new memories, conquering Equis will be much easier!” Twirling his mustache, the Doctor reached over and placed an arm over Gero’s shoulders, pulling him in closer. “Gero, an opportunity like this doesn’t come everyday you know? When I’m off declaring war on the Dragon Lands, I’m going to need someone I can trust to lead Equestria in my absence.” He whispered to his ear. “Just think of it, you can be the first of my Egg Bosses, while I rule the world, you will govern Equestria, and as long as you know who’s in charge, you can rule this country as you see fit.” Letting go of the pony, Robotnik patted the stunned cyborg in the back before walking away from him. “Just something to think about, you don’t have to give me an answer now, but it's best if you do it quick! Offers like this don’t last forever now.” Walking towards the console, he started pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, changing the image displayed on the monitor.  “Now, I have a new mission for you Gero. It's a way for you to test out your new cybernetics and get something done for me as well.” Robotnik began, pulling up several blurry images. Each of the photos contained images of several blurry or pixelated figures. Gero noticed that in all of the newer images, the number of blurred figures in the photos began to decrease, until the most recent picture only showed three pixelated figures, the censorship made it almost impossible to tell what or who they were.  “Lately some of my warehouses have been attacked by this group of unknowns. Unfortunately something keeps interfering with the security cameras, corrupting the footage and images taken of the perpetrators. These are the best images I have of the offenders. I want you to take a team of Badniks, and find out who and what they are. These attacks aren’t random, whoever they are, they know what they’re doing, and they know who I am.” Robotnik scowled. “They wouldn’t be targeting my bases like this if they didn’t know who I am, I want to know how they know, and what they know. This is your assignment for now, you may leave. I will send you a more detailed file on everything I have on these unknowns as soon as I can.” The Doctor said, dismissing the pony with a small wave. Gero nodded, choosing to remain silent. Turning away from the Doctor, the charcoal furred pony quickly exited the lab, wanting to get away from the human as fast as he could. The Doctor had given him a lot to think about. While he liked the freedom and power that came with being a member of Hydra, he couldn’t help but admit that the Doctor’s offer had been much more tempting. Gero debated if he should warn Archer about the Doctor’s treachery, the pony thought about how it could win him a new promotion, earn him more freedom and power within the organization. He looked down at his cybernetic arms and smirked, a small chuckle escaping from his lips. “Yeah right… as if Hydra could give me anything like the Doctor can…” Looking up, he came to a decision. “Well so long as the upgrades keep coming, I guess I don’t mind working for the Doc. I doubt Archer even has anything that can stand up against the Doctor anyways.” Orbot stared at the door Gero stepped through and hummed, turning his head slowly towards his creator. “Are you sure it was wise to tell him all that? He could be heading to warn Archer right now.” Robotnik scoffed, dismissing his worries. “Even if he did, it would already be too late for Archer to do anything about me. Besides, Gero is smarter than that, I’m sure he will make the right decision.” He walked past the small red robot and made his way towards the EggRobo. “Now, let us pick up where we left off.” He said, catching the badnik’s attention. “During the first phase of the fight, what did you notice?” The EggRobo wasted no time responding to his creator. “Throughout the beginning of the fight I had notice that compared to most Badnik models, the Motobugs were most effective against the Spider. They outspeed him and made effective use of their hit and run tactics. While the Caterkillers were able to surprise him, they weren’t able to do much. Slicers on the other hand had the power to be able to keep him busy for a short time before being cut down. In conclusion, the Spider’s reflexes are not able to keep up with fast opponents, however Motobugs alone are not strong enough to bring him down. We would need something with the perfect blend of speed and power.” “Speed and power?” Robotnik grinned, an idea forming in his head. “Well I suppose it would be for the best if I brought him along. After all, things just don’t feel the same without him around.” “Doctor?” EggRobo questioned. “Don’t you worry EggRobo, the next time you go out in the field, it won’t matter what new power those heroes pull out.” He chuckled, grabbing the discarded control and opening a new file on the screen. “None of them will be able to come close to even touching my greatest creation. The perfect blend of speed and power! And another Badnik from the exact same series of Badniks you are from, my dear commander. The Metal Series.”