The mercenaries prepared for the second robot wave. The Engie pulled Applejack aside with the robot hand, the Gunslinger.
"Alrighty, then. Time to add a little more firepower." The Engineer chuckled.
"Uh... how exactly is that going to fit onto me?" Applejack asked, unsure if a robot hand would help in addition to the two she has.
"Well, we might have to do a little trimming. Perhaps Doc can help us. We do call him 'Sawbones' for a reason." The Engie said, not looking up from the Gunslinger.
Applejack's eyes widened and clenched her wrist. "Are you suggestin' ah cut off mah hand!?" She yelled, taking a step back.
The Engineer heard AJ's distress, and looked up. She clearly wasn't on board with that idea. He looked back to the Gunslinger, and got an idea. Taking his wrench, he tapped and spun the various gears and bolts. He pulled out a few wires and servos, flattening the 'palm' of the device. He shifted the wrist cuff out, and attached metal rings to the inside of the fingers. Now, the Gunslinger looked more like a metal hand brace rather than a prosthetic hand. "This look any better?" The Engie asked, passing it to Applejack.
The girl eyed it cautiously, and slipped it over her hand, like a mechanical glove. She flexed her fingers, hearing the miniature gears whir as he moved her hand around. "Well, ah'll be..." she muttered.
The Engineer chuckled. "Alright. Take these and take a spot a little closer to the path." He said, passing Applejack his pistol and a smaller metal box. She took both and scouted ahead, setting the case down. Sure enough, the box unfolded, and opened up to reveal a smaller sentry turret. The miniature gun was smaller than the level 1 sentry, and had a small flashing light duct taped on the top. It beeped, and scanned the area, ready to fulfill its task.
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The Sniper looked through his scope, watching the gate intently. Twilight sat at his side, watching with a pair of binoculars.
"Are you sure you can make the shot? It's kinda far..." Twilight muttered.
"No worries. I can handle it." The Sniper responded. His teammates shouted in the distance, but from the Sniper's position, he couldn't really hear them. Soon, the gate creaked open, and a giant THUD shook the ground. Then another. As the robot stepped into the light, revealing itself to be a giant robot heavy carrying the bomb. And 'giant' is not an understatement. It was at least three times bigger than the flesh-and-blood Heavy, who opened fire while the Medic activated the Übercharge.
The robot Heavy also had some help. Three mecha-Medics, each one quickly restoring the robot as rockets, bullets, fire and explosions chipped away at it.
"Easy pickin's." The Sniper muttered, blasting a hole in the first mecha-Medic's head. It crumbled to the ground without the other robots noticing.
Twilight scanned the area, keeping an eye out for anything new or dangerous. "Uh... what exactly do you call yourself again?" She asked, sounding a little worried.
"A Sniper?"
"Yeah. I think one's looking this way."
The Sniper adjusted his scope on the robot. "Not anymore." He said, blasting the robot's head clean off. "See? Never doubt a profe-" Was the last word he spoke before a bullet returned fire, and hit the Sniper while he was reloading.
Twilight flinched as the Sniper's body hit the floor, dropping his rifle. She leaned close to him, looking for a heartbeat. Nothing. He was undeniably dead. Twilight peered through her binoculars, and saw the cause. Another robot Sniper that just waved, almost tauntingly.
"Come on, Twilight. You can do this." She muttered to herself, picking up the rifle. It was rather heavy for her, but managed to use her magic to aid her. She focused the sights on the nearest Mecha-Medic, and pulled the trigger. The bullet bore straight through the Medic's robot head, leaving one left on the Robo-Heavy. The other mercenaries easily killed the last Medic, but the robot was still strong. It tore through the Demoman and Spy making Spike, Derpy, and Zecora duck for cover.
The Heavy and Medic kept the giant's attention while the sentries riddled it with more bullets. As the giant grew overwhelmed, it began to fall apart, leaving a pile of scrap metal.
The Administrator spoke through the intercom overhead. "Alert! An Engineer-bot has entered the area!"
Sure enough, a metal Engineer appeared and set down the metal box, unfolding into a level 3 sentry almost instantly and blasted the Pyro and Soldier to pieces.
Rainbow Dash kept out of the line of fire, firing her pistol at the sentry, only to have the Engineer-bot repair it on the spot. The robot was shocked however, as the sentry emitted sparks by a wired device sapping the energy from the machine. It turned to repair it, only to have Rarity, hiding part of her face with a paper mask of a robot Pyro, and pointing the revolver at it's face.
"Surprise." she mused, pulling the trigger.
A horde of Scouts darted from the gates, and Zecora lept into action. She charged forward, deflecting the bullets with her shield. Her impact ran into the first Scout, the collision knocking it off balance so she could swing her sword downward, cleaving the robots head. She then spun to her right, slicing two more Scout heads clean off. As the other robots retreated from the sword-wielding girl, it was pretty obvious why. Zecora's eyes were glowing with an orange glare, and a malicious grin took over her face.
"With you, I am not done! You see, there can be only one!" She yelled, chasing after the robots. However, this lead them right into Applejack's mini-sentry, making them topple over. Pinkie Pie held Zecora back, pinning her arms to stop the sword from swinging.
"Zecora! Calm down!" She yelled, as the glow faded from Zecora's eyes. The rhyming warrior took a few deep breaths, returning to a calmer state. "I'm truly sorry, Pinkie Pie. I felt so strong, and I didn't know why."
Fluttershy looked around. The robots were nowhere to be seen, since the Scouts were blasted by the sentry. But something felt off. She heard a voice behind her and felt a hand on her shoulder. "Fluttershy?" Panicing, she turned, and rammed the Übersaw through the chest off whoever was behind her.
Her fear turned to horror and dispair, as she saw the saw piercing through Derpy Hooves' chest. Her eyes were still and her mouth agape. Fluttershy pulled the saw out, and caught her body as it grew limp and cold. "NO! Derpy! I'm sorry! Please... don't hate me..." she sobbed, letting tears flow from her eyes.
As she held her friend tight, something else happened. She heard one more sound, and could smell smoke irritate her nose. The soft body of Derpy was replaced with a cold, rigid form. Fluttershy opened her red puffy eyes, and wiped the tears. She felt a surge of surprise to see it was not Derpy she killed, but a blue robot Spy. It spasmed and its LED eyes darkened.
The real Derpy appeared at her side. "Fluttershy? What's wrong? Why would I hate you?" she asked, as her innocent voice gave no hint of distress.
"One Spy-bot remains. Take it out and we'll win!" The Administrator announced.
"Uh... no reason. We should go." Fluttershy said, wiping her face.
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Twilight peered the scope of the Sniper's rifle, looking for any sign of the last Spy-bot. Nothing. She saw her friends race around. Any of them could be the Spy. But why risk it?
She pulled away from the scope to see the Scout and Rainbow Dash make their way up the perch.
"Look, there's one up here! Cough it up, girl! Are you the Spy?!" The Scout said, pointing his scattergun at her.
"Woah! You can't be serious! This is Twilight we're talking about! We can trust her." Rainbow Dash pleaded, pointing the barrel of the gun downward.
Twilight was breathing hard, and looked down toward the ground. She saw a winged girl race around her hair colored... like a rainbow. "Yo! Scout! Where are you?!" She yelled. Twilight then realized the horrible truth.
"Down there! It's the Spy!" The purple girl yelled, turning back to the Scout. But she grew even more shocked. The Rainbow Dash standing behind the Scout quickly pulled a sharp knife out, and swiftly jammed it between the Scout's shoulder blades. The mercenarie's eyes rolled back into his eyes, and dropped to the ground, exposing a bloody gash on his back.
"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, stepping back. She tripped, sitting up at the monster before her.
In place of Rainbow Dash, was another mechanical Spy. It's bloody knife was ready in it's hands. For the first time, she heard one of the robots speak.
"I'm going to gut you like a Cornish game hen. ALL HAIL GRAY MANN!" The Spy shouted, bringing the knife down for another attack.
Luckily, Twilight pulled an odd shield that lay at her side in front of her. It was a wooden oval shape, that blocked the knife as the tip of the blade protruded from the other side. The Spy robot was then shocked with a jolt of electricity, from a pattern of wires and batteries resting in the middle of the shield. In her small window of opportunity, Twilight looked behind her, seeing the Sniper's kukri rest on the floor. She grabbed it, and sliced at the Spy's hand, sending the knife flying out the window. With a strong backhand swipe, Twilight cleaved the Spy's head.
The robot dropped, the electric hum dying down and Twilight's own heart beating rapidly.
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After Twilight's impressive encounter, the Administrator smirked, and grabbed the microphone. "All robots destroyed. Well done." She said, then pressed a large red button on her chair's armrest. The RESPAWN switch. The lost mercenaries returned at the base, catching up with the rest. A second screen showed the Heavy dropping the bomb down another hole, 'disposing' of it 'properly'.
"Take another note, Miss Pauling." She said, taking another puff from her cigarette.
Her assistant quickly grabbed the pen resting on her ear, and readied her clipboard.
"I want to see the full potential of our new guests..." The Administrator chuckled, the light of the computer screens glaring in her malevolent eyes.