//------------------------------//
// Level 1: Containment 
// Story: Resident Pon-Evil -  Operation: Equestrian Downfall 
// by Delta 727 
//------------------------------//


(Harrow's End Corporation Laboratories) - In the Harrow's End Equestrian facility, a betrayer collects the last of his life's work. His name is Dr. William Buck and he plans to sell the Harrow Virus to the Royal Palace Government. Harrow's End Security Service (H.S.S.) has been sent in to neutralize the threat.

  
*Begin Transmission*
 

It was time. The mission had begun. A voice came over the radio.

"This is Delta Team. We're in position."

"... Copy that." A large stallion, codenamed Chaos, covered from head to hoof in armor including a full-faced red lens gas mask and bowl-shaped helmet, stood behind a door as he drew his knife from his shoulder. "Get ready." He charged through the door in between two guards that never saw him coming. As he bucked the first away, he stabbed his knife through the other's chest, and pulled it out just in time to grab the remaining guard to snap his neck with a sickening CRACK!!

As he left the bodies to lay limply on the floor, he walked slowly over to a control panel and pressed a button that read, "Hatch release".

Another nearby door slid open. There stood three stallions and a mare. These were the members of Delta Team - Harmony's Elements (Named after the Elements of Harmony, the team was named as a limerick of their missions to keep peace and order).

The armored stallion who opened the door was the first to speak. "You must be the new Delta Team. Report."

First stood the mare. She was wearing a thin, black body suit with a zipper down the middle and armored padding at her knees and hooves, and a biohazard anti-material mask over her muzzle, showing only the upper half of her head. "Call me Acid. At your service." Acid had a grey coat with a long black mane, but deep green eyes that reflected her name. She carried a small Canterlot Corporation sidearm and had a few suspicious looking vials in her belt. Developing an unhealthy obsession with science since she was a filly, Acid specialized in virology. She was so deeply focused on her work, that she had little interest in anything else, including the feelings, or lives, of other ponies. Studious and detailed, she always wanted to know more about a given situation.

Next was a stallion with another full body suit that fit over his entire body and over his head, and night-vision thermal goggles strapped over his eyes. He wore a gas-proof respirator over his muzzle. "This is X-Ray... All set..." A veteran of war between the races of the Ponies and the Zebras, he was a former spy when he was moved from Harrow's End Equestrian Wing for unknown reasons. The premier surveillance expert of the H.S.S., he was transferred to Harmony's Elements when the upper echelon of Harrow's End management realized his skills had greatly benefited them. When he was only a colt, X-Ray had been shot in the neck. Ever since, he had worn a respirator and always struggled with speech, pausing mid-sentence and rarely speaking much. He carried an automatic Hammer assault rifle equipped with a targeting laser sight under the barrel itself.

After him was another stallion wearing a lightly armored suit with a hood, a single respirator nozzle and a pair of recon goggles fit into a full-face mask. "Blade here. Good to see you again, sir." Blade was a recon specialist and hightly stealthy in his art, and was a former apprentice of Chaos. Blade's file remained largely confidential, his true identity hidden. Training at Canterlot Island, he developed his lethal martial art ability and elite skill for recon and stealth activities. As a covert operative, his achievements in-the-field are only matched by his former mentor. His weapon of choice was a Vector sub machine gun, but he mostly relied on his knife to do his killing in stealth, cloaked by his hex-design hood.

Finally stood a rather large stallion covered entirely in thick body armor including a surrounding helmet and oxygen tubes leading from a hefty collar around his neck, as well as he was covered in explosive rounds that resembled a suicide bomber. "Name's Chainlink. Nice to meet you, 'Mr. Death' " Chainlink was an elite demolition expert that was discharged from the Royal Guard Corporation of Engineers. Not much was known about the incident other than the addition of his prosthetic hind leg. His dedication to his craft was beyond question, while his joy for blowing things up was always visible. He had been armed with a Ravager Riot Gun largely known for its high caliber and undoubted destrucion methods.

Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, they did have cutie marks. Acid's cutie mark was, well, a vial of green acid. X-Ray had a pair of night-vision goggles, Blade a dagger shrouded in a black mist, and Chainlink a grenade with the pin already pulled.

"Command, I've rendezvoud with Delta Team."

"Roger. You have your orders. Find Buck and secure those samples. Failure is NOT an option."

"Copy. Let's move."

Chaos opened a nearby elevator, and the team stepped in. As the doors slid shut, he briefed the team on their current mission.

"We're entering the lab of Doctor William Buck. A Harrow's End scientist attempting to sell classified samples of a weaponized virus strain to the Royal Palace Government."

"You mean the biohazard P-Virus?" Acid said.

"No. This is a gene-altering compound called the Harrow's virus invented by Dr. Buck. It's significantly more powerful, and he is in possession of the only known samples. There is a detatchment of Harrow's End Biohazard services on site. They will likely try to protect him. They are however unaware of this operation, and are considered expendable." Chaos seemed to live up to his violent and careless nature as much as anypony covered with that much armour...

"Aren't we on the same team...?" X-Ray spoke. "Shouldn't we just... Pick up the phone and call...?"

"The containment teams are just mercenaries. They can be bought. We can't assume their loyalty to the company."

"So what is the objective...?"

"Intercept Buck and secure the Harrow Virus samples."

The elevator doors slid open, and a small corridor with a reception desk was spread out in front of them. The lights flickered on, and a voice spoke over the loudspeakers. "Welcome to Harrow's End Research Labs." The team advanced to a nearby door, and Chaos began to enter a code, his hoof pressing into a series of buttons on a large keypad. "Alright. Weapons live. You'd better be ready for action. Let's go!"

The door opened, and a small walkway led down to a platform with three or four tanks with suspicios, reptile-like creatures inside.

"Ugh." Chainlink said. "Those are some of the ugliest little buckers I'd ever seen since my ex-marefriend."

"They aren't the prettiest specimens, are they? Let's keep moving." Acid said.

As the team advanced across the platform, a large spotlight shined through the room, revealing catwalks and long floorways being patrolled by...

"Buck's SpecOps teams! Take cover!" Chaos ordered.

As the team dove behind a large sheet metal stairway blockade, bullets began flying all over the compound's room.

Delta Team and Chaos opened fire. During the firefight, a catwalk had collapsed from gunfire as the supports gave out, sending every SpecOps on it down to the floor, crushing a few others under the debris. As the team emerged at the end of the room, all that was left was a floor full of bodies and wreckage. The Elements advanced into Buck's office.

"Delta, stay out here and cover the entrance. Do not let anypony in." Chaos said. He looked at a member of his own team and said, "You. Come with me."

"So, you've finally come..." Buck said as Chaos entered.

"It's over, Buck. We're here for the Harrow Virus samples." The door slid shut.

"Sorry, but I'm not about to just give up my life's work...."

Gunfire. Buck screaming. "Careful!" Chaos said. "You'll damage the samples!"

Soon after, Delta was blown backward as the door from the other room in front of them exploded. SpecOps flooded into the room. As the team returned to their hooves, a bloody firefight broke out. SpecOps dropping at the shot of bullets. Ponies diving from cover to cover. Even Blade managed to slash up a soldier or two. As they ended through the hall, they entered a supply room.

"Guess we'd better resupply." Chainlink said, picking up a small gunbox magazine in his armored hoof. "While we can. I have a bad feeling we'll need it soon..."

"But... What about... Buck...?" X-Ray questioned. He was right. Buck was dead, but what about the samples?


--- 


Two Alpha team stallions ran down the hall. One carrying a briefcase with the Harrow's End symbol on it. Just as they were about to exit the corridor, one of the soldiers was sent flying across the room. The other turned, and a large pipe struck him in the head. The samples crashed across the floor, one rolling into one of the downed soldiers. He looked up in time to see a large, grotesque figure walking through the steam of downed air pipes.

Delta had been positioned around the corner. They dashed across the hall and into a nearby room, Acid sealing the door behind them. Her green eyes were troubled.

"Was that... Buck?" she asked, clearly disturbed by the monster that they had just left behind.

"I'm going to have to assume, 'Yes'." Blade said back. "Buck wasn't dead. He must have used the virus to his advantage."

Delta advanced down the hall to rendezvous with Chaos and to hopefully escape the mutated Doctor. But as the team rounded a corner, a huge figure busted through the wall, knocking them to the ground. It struck out at them with a large pipe, and the team galloped further up the corridor, giving them a good look at the creature.

It stood up on its hind legs, a large pipe in one hoof, and a grotesquely large and functional eye in its right shoulder. Its mane was a golden brown, but its body lacked its hair coat, as it was shed from the grey, rotting skin covered over by a shredded white lab coat. It was no longer Buck. It was an abomination.

"RUN!!" Chainlink yelled. The team turned tail and dashed as fast as they could. After the destruction caused by Buck, the hallway had been set into a blaze. Dodging streams of fire and debris, Delta managed to meet up with Chaos.

"Get out of here! Buck injected himself with the Harrow Virus!" He grabbed Acid by the shoulder, pushing her through the door. Chainlink and X-Ray followed, but Blade stopped in the entrance.

"What about you, sir?" Blade said, knowing it would probably be the last time he would ever see his mentor.

"I lost the sample." Chaos said. "I'm going back for it." He pushed Blade through the door, and turned to face Buck, firing straight at the creature as it continued to advance.



*Transmission Ended*