A/N - Sorry it's been a minute. I've had kind of a migraine thing going on. And I've been getting ready for the Vermont Sci-fi Fantasy Expo where I'm going to be a panelist this weekend. Hope you enjoy the update!

Wish me luck! ~ J

The lab had every conceivable piece of tech known to man. Mac took in every shiny surface, every label, every cabinet and drawer, looking for something - anything - even slightly out of place from what he'd memorized.

Jack, clearly a nervous wreck about the fact that they were in a bio-research lab full of robots, was right on his elbow. "Maybe we shouldn't have left Nikki in the van," he whispered, side-stepping a robot on wheels carrying a tray of centrifuge vials.

"Why not?" Mac asked absently, leaning over to look at one of the computer displays running information.

"Look at all this stuff! She's our tech expert."

"You just want someone else between you and zombie germs." Mac snickered and shook his head. "She's our computer analyst. She doesn't have any more interest or expertise in this kind of lab tech than you do, pal."

Over the comms, Nikki's wry voice broke in. "Did you just compare my skill set to Jack's?" she asked with mock offense.

Mac only half heard her. He was frowning at an inventory sheet. "Mmmmm," was all he said.

"Mac!" Nikki prodded when he didn't respond as she expected.

"Well, you don't," he replied, not really paying attention. Jack stepped closer when he saw how Mac's frown was deepening.

"Neither do you, Mr. C in Biology," she huffed.

Mac grinned but didn't look up from what he was doing. "Just because I'm not interested in dissecting eyeballs or fetal animals doesn't mean I wasn't good a fixing lab equipment. My friend Frankie was a biology major and always said I was the best lab partner even though we didn't take any of the same classes other than organic chem at MIT. Because I could fix all the equipment."

"Yeah, well, if Frankie had ever seen you go all squeamy over reruns of House, he probably wouldn't have let you anywhere near his stuff."

Jack noticed Mac looking a little uncomfortable but didn't say anything. Mac replied stiffy, "Maybe. And you're brilliant at software, Nikki. I'm not trying to knock your skills. But they still don't make you any more expert than Dalton with this stuff."

She huffed loudly over the comms and Mac shook his head, smiling a little, and Jack thought he was looking like he thought he'd just dodged a bullet. Jack didn't say anything. If there was something Mac was keeping from Nikki Jack was more than willing to support that. He liked her alright but something about Nikki always made his spidey senses tingle a little.

Nikki interrupted his thoughts and Mac's. "At least I have the consolation of knowing you think my ass is cuter than his," she said, the edge of flirtation quite clear.

"That I do," Mac agreed absently. He made a face. It was one Jack had already come to think of as the uh oh face.

"What's wrong?"

He leaned against the counter. "Couple things. One, there's stuff on this inventory list that I haven't seen anywhere in the building."

"Maybe it got used up already," Jack our in hopefully.

"It's not consumable stuff. It's equipment."

"Oh, that's probably not good."

"Probably not," Mac agreed. "Also this run report right here." He indicated a scrolling spreadsheet sort of arrangement on the monitor in front of them. "It doesn't appear to go with any of the experiments here."

"What's it go with? It's zombies isn't it? It's zombies and you just don't want to say it out loud."

"I think it's safe to say no one is cooking the solanum virus here, Jack. But it doesn't go with anything. It's just randomly spitting out amino acid chains that don't actually go together."

"What do you think it means?"

Nikki chimes in over the comms. "Either somebody's up to something and they don't think the techs who pass through are going to notice the data doesn't mean anything or … there's a serious malfunction in all this automation."

"Exactly," Mac agreed. "Either way, given what Terminus handles regularly, it's not good."

"What exactly do they handle again, kid?"

Mac sent something to the printer and headed over to grab it as soon as it as ready. "Well, for one thing they handle identification and disposal for intelligence agencies when they stumble on suspected bio weapons or chemical nerve agents."

"Great," Jack said sarcastically.

Mac grinned. "Don't worry, Jack. I won't let the robots turn you into a zombie." He paused, letting his face look suddenly serious. "What'll they call it if the robopocalypse and the zombie apocalypse start simultaneously?"

Jack smacked him in the arm, pretty damn hard actually, "You're not funny!"

Mac rubbing his arm but cracked up anyway as Nikki laughed raucously over the comms. "He's definitely funny!" she supplied.

"See?" Mac grinned. "Nikki thinks I'm funny."

Mac had clearly noticed something else on a subconscious level even before his exceptionally nimble mind caught up, because he'd started moving again before his expression even changed. Once all of him was on the same page, his expression morphed into the creased forehead of intense problem solving.

He was typing something into another one of the computers and saying, "Hey, Nikki, can you pull up the building blueprints alongside the wiring schematic and send it to my tablet. Something's bugging me." One of the automated equipment transport robots bumped into him hard, almost knocking him off his feet. "Ow!"

He backed up against the counter as the robot shifted directions, reminding him of a very expensive Roomba. Jack eyed the retreating device warily. "I told you those things've got something against humans. Not so funny now that you're gonna have a big ole bruise to show for laughin' about it, is it?"

Mac, who had been absently massaging his leg where the thing bumped into him, stopped and shook his head. "I hate to admit it, pal, but those robots are actually what's bugging me at the moment."

"Now you're just pickin' on me again," Jack grumped.

Mac heard his tablet beep a split second before Nikki confirmed she'd gotten him what he asked for. He shouldered around Jack to get a look at it, remaking seriously. "Not teasing even a little." As he squinted at the tablet, he added. "How many of those little square guys giving you hives did you notice when we came in?"

"There's eight of 'em."

"Correction, there were eight of them. Count again."

Jack turned and started doing exactly as Mac asked, looking for all the world like he was playing eeny meeny miney mo. "Well, shit … Maybe I counted wrong we we came in," he hedged.

"I don't think so, cause I made eight, too. And now there's only seven."

"Maybe we both counted wrong. None of them have gone in or out of the door and it's the only one. Plus that security lock is louder than a pushed off ex."

"We didn't count wrong. They're going somewhere, and they're not doing it by the main door. That's why I'm … Look! Here it is."

Mac set his tablet down on the counter and pointed at the wiring schematic. Jack stared at it like he actually thought that might help him see whatever it was that Mac had stumbled on. After a minute he gave up. "Do me a favor, kid, and just tell me what I'm lookin' at."

Used to having to fill Jack in on where his head was, especially with this kind of thing. "So the blue print shows the whole lab, all the square footage and capacity and outlets and all that right?"

"Yeah?"

"The the electrical schematic shows wiring and breaker boxes and all the power stuff. Still with me?"

"Sure."

"How come for a place this size with all this efficient equipment, there are extra breakers along that wall? And what looks like an active wiring job is just cut off on these plans?"

Jack frowned. "So … Too much electricity disappeared a robot?"

Mac smirked, just a little. "Kinda. I think the robot disappeared to wherever that power is actually going. And I'm pretty sure it's on that wall. Both of our backs were to it this whole time."

"A hidden room in the zombopocalypse lab? Great. Awesome. So glad your ginormous brain got us tapped for the mission, Mac."

Mac grinned at him. "Zombopocalypse, huh?"

Jack shrugged and tentatively smiled back. "Well, what else am I gonna call it? I didn't realize bein' your Overwatch meant I'd need to know the plural of apocalypse!"

Mac headed toward the suspect wall, clapping Jack on the shoulder on his way by. "Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this … You know, before we get past one apocalypse at a time territory."

Jack has to chuckle at that. Nothin' rattles that, kid. Well, not nothin'. He was pretty rattled when we had to repel down off that damned mountain in Afghanistan. 'Course he was also bleedin' so I don't know if that counts. Even bein' actually afraid of something doesn't slow him down much though.

He caught up to Mac who was crouched down sliding his fingers along seams in the stark white paneling and mumbling to himself. "Whatcha doin', kid?"

"Looking for where that other robot disappeared to. I'm betting it's behind this wall."

Jack nodded. It made as much sense as anything else. "What can I do to help? Poke around the wall, too?"

"Um … maybe, yeah." Something gave under his fingers. "Wait … no … help me with this." He indicated the panel he'd been exploring under one of the lab tables.

Jack groaned as he squatted down next to Mac and started trying to get his fingers under the edge of the panel Mac was focused on. After a couple of frustrating minutes and Jack nearly jumping out of his skin twice as robots rolled by them, Mac gave up trying to do things the hard way and remembered his pocket knife.

He was starting to get a little frustrated when the panel finally gave way and slid aside like an automatic elevator door. "Yes!" Mac leaned into the opening, ducking his head further to avoid bumping it on the lab table and the opening. Jack heard him grumble a half articulated curse.

"What's wrong, Mac. Were you wrong?"

Mac backed up and indicated that Jack could have a look. "Not exactly."

Jack crawled forward with some difficulty in the cramped space. He stuck his head into the hole in the wall and understood Mac's cussing. The dimly lit space revealed an access shaft. There was a square of light below the revealed the shaft at least went somewhere, and there were cables that suggested some sort of elevator or dumbwaiter type arrangement that was probably down at the bottom.

Which was roughly sixty feet below them.

"Oh, Mac, man. Sorry, but it looks like we're in for another rappelling adventure." He backed out so he could check in with Mac.

His young partner was already digging around in drawers and cabinets, looking for a way to get them down the shaft. "Um … yeah. Shouldn't be too hard. We've got some decent anchoring points and … yeah. I think I can go get the firehose from the other side of the lab to get us down there."

Jack stood and raised an eyebrow at him. "Here I thought you'd be worried about the climb, kid. You were usin' your Dalton vocab under that table. If it ain't the heights, what's eatin' you, Mac?"

Mac started to go after the hose, but he glanced over his shoulder at Jack. "Well, I'm not psyched about it, but I'm more concerned you might be right."

"Huh?"

"I don't like zombopocalypse … Does Zoboticgedon work for you?"

Nikki chimed in again, reminding them that they had a new team member listening to their comfortable banter.

"Okay, Jack is right. You are not funny, MacGyver."