If Po Survived (ST3 AU)

Chapter 28: The Machine

"Alright, we're here." Miles finally breathed. "It's time we begin making an end for this war." He said as the helicopter landed.

Ron looked back. "Be careful, guys. This place is surrounded with New Borns. One, because it makes them, and two because it makes them."

Everyone nodded before grabbing their weapons and slowly walking inside the factory. It was pitch black, to the point where Po almost thought it was the black void that Shadow met her in. "It's so dark in here." She whispered.

"Everyone, light up a flare." Miles commanded.

Everyone obeyed and then grabbed their flares and then lit them, slightly lighting up the place to where they could see. Anne set hers on the ground, and Po did as well.

Anne loaded her gun before facing Walten. "I'll stay here and check for any New Borns."

Walten nodded and then he and Po went over to where Miles was before Po let out a 'whoa' at the sight of the machine. It was huge and parts of it were glowing pink, showing the infected custard (Shadow's essence) flowing through it.

"It's huge...Definitely not a beautiful sight though." Walten said simply.

Miles nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait until we destroy it." He then turned to Walten and Po. "Remember, our mission is to destroy this damn thing before it does any more damage."

The red and white tubby nodded.

"Although we're gonna need to know how to do it. Jumping this fence would get all of our legs broken without some kinda rope to slide down." Walten said.

Miles thought for a moment before coming up with a solution. "There were two hallways near the entrance. Maybe there's one that shows an easier way to the machine."

"Or we could always shoot it." Po suggested.

"No, the metal is bullet proof according to Wes' scanners." Walten explained.

"Oh." Po then took watch with Miles, just in case any New Borns with actual arms could climb up after being born from the machine. So Walten went down one of the hallways, since one seemed to be blocked off by a gate that he couldn't pick. He started walking down the long hallway, looking from side to side before hearing guns dropping. He turned around. "Po? Miles? Anne?"

No response.

He went to turn back to go and check on them, but only to see that the gate, along with the entire entrance was gone! There was just a black void. He stepped back. "Impossible..How did this happen?!"

"ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE." A voice cackled.

Walten turned, but was suddenly scratched in the face by black and bloody claws and then grabbed by the neck. He opened his eyes and then saw the horrifying face of The Tubby Devil himself, Shadow.

Shadow growled before turning his arm into a giant spike. "I'VE WAITED HALF A YEAR FOR THIS!!!"

Walten screamed before kicking Shadow in the gut, but his foot went through the demon and somehow got stuck. He tried pulling his foot out, but then, the black substance that covered his body seemed to grab ahold of him and started to drag him inside.

"NO! NO! NO-"

"WALTEN!!!" Po screamed.

Walten awoke and then punched the air, just barely missing Po. "Wait...I'm...What happened...?"

"That's what I'm asking you! You just passed out!" Po exclaimed, rushing over to him.
"I...I did?" He asked. "I...Shadow isn't here, is he?"

"No. No, he's not." Po said. "Did you see him?"

"I did, but the gate was gone and I was in that black void. He attacked me and started to drag me into his gooey body, like he was the portal to Hell. It felt so...cold and dark. It was probably just me hallucinating."

"I hope it is. I care about you, Guardian." Po said, kissing his nose. "I think that learning Shadow was created by humans is getting to your head."

"Maybe." The Guardian said. "I'm honestly not sure. Anyway, I don't think there's anything down here."

"Are you sure?"

The Guardian then walked deeper, using his flare as a torch to reveal a dead end with nothing but a shelf. He felt around the wall for any possible hidden passages, but felt nothing. He then walked back over to Po. "Yup."

"Damn." Po said before they both walked over to the other gate. She thought for a moment before getting an idea and taking out a knife and starting to pick the lock, but after nothing happened, she faced The Guardian. "I have NO idea what I'm doing."

The Guardian chuckled before grabbing the knife and picking the lock and then opening the chain that was around the door. "This might take a while..."

"Oh, fuck it." Miles said as he walked over and then literally kicked the door down. "Thanks for roughing it up."

As the sergeant walked down the hallway, Walten whistled. "Guess Anne wasn't kidding about the punching bag incidents."

"Nope." Anne walked over, having seen the whole thing with a smirk. "I wasn't."

Po and Walten followed soon after, eventually catching up with Miles. They all walked down the steps for what seemed like forever. Miles tried to use his flare to light up more of the end, but there was only black.

"What the hell is going on?"

Just then, all of them froze and heard a low growl. Po turned around and then suddenly saw Shadow lunging at them before disappearing. Terrified, she shot at what wasn't there, breathing heavily.

"Did I just see Shadow?! TELL ME I DIDN'T SEE HIM!!"

"NOPE, I SAW HIM." Anne said before seeing that all of them could now see the end of the stairs. "I think we're all going crazy..."

"Together and all seeing the same thing?" Miles asked. "I don't think so. Shadow's trying to get in our heads, so we better destroy this damn machine right now."

They all walked down and Walten grabbed his chainsaw and revved it up. "It's time we destroy this damn thing. I don't even care if it means destroying our history."

"Kinda caused this, eh?" Miles asked as he lifted an axe.

Po and Anne stood back and then watched the two began chopping and slicing away into the machine. It began to spark before everything inside it began to shut down. But then, alarms began to sound.

"SHIT!" Miles screamed before he heard an ear piercing screech and turned around to see New Borns breaking out of their glass containers.

Anne quickly got in front of them and shot them all down, killing them before they could even fully awake.

Walten then sliced into the machine, one last time, destroying it until the alarms went louder and a speaker spoke up. "WARNING! MACHINE HAS RECEIVED CRITICAL DAMAGE! EXPLOSION IS IMMINENT!"

"OH, CRAP." Po cried out before everyone began sprinting up the stairs and then out the entrance of the factory before they all saw Ron's helicopter nearby and they all hopped into it.

"FRIGGIN' FLY!!!" Miles cried out. Ron obeyed and then flew into the air as the machine and the factory as a whole exploded. The sergeant sighed in relief before grabbing his two way radio. "This is Sergeant Miles. The mission was a success. We're heading back."

"Copy that, big brother." Fiona said before Miles put it away.

Walten sighed in relief as he sat back. "I'm so glad that place is ash now."

"Me too...Hey, do you think Shadow getting into our heads just told us where we were?"

"I doubt it, Po. Shadow was only there for a few seconds, and logically, he would need more time to dig through our memories to find the location of the base or what we just did."

Po sighed before giggling. "Although I do wanna see the look on his face when he sees we blew up his resource for making New Borns."

Anne looked back and giggled. "I wouldn't mind seeing that as well. He says he's making this world a hell for us, but we're fighting through it."