To Run Away...

Chapter 10

  "This is 'News Flash' with Zelda Thorenstein." A male voice announced as rock music played on the radio.

  "Hello Fellow comrades." A woman in a monotone voice said after the music stopped. "This is 'News Flash'. Today, I am happy to report that our troops were able to capture the two scumbags that dared infiltrate our great country. They are responsible for the death of at least sixty troops..."

  "Because they shot at us first." Ivan muttered as he faced the metal bars in front of them.

  "Fortunately, they were captured while trying to escape from one of our marvelous creations. That'll show the bastards in Washington and Canterlot that they shouldn't mess with the dear fatherland. Our dear successor, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, was nice enough to let them cherish what time they have left before execution. They're now in a prison cell in one of our finest police stations across the city. Did you spot them?"

   There was brief silence. "In other news, our troops raided the home, or at least you can call it that, of Davey Westbrook. He is a traitor who has been raising a child that's not his..."

  "Hmm, we failed him." He muttered again, not knowing if he should feel bad or just let it slide.

  "... And for his actions, he has been executed on the spot, and the child will be sent to the department of labor for her new job."

  "Sssss, Oooh."

  "Remember comrades, raising children that aren't yours is a crime in our great nation, and will not be tolerated..."

   Ivan let out a sigh.

  "Sad, isn't it?" A man in another cell next to theirs asked.

  "You're talking about the guy that got shot for taking care of a little girl that wasn't his?'

  "Ugh, Just listen to the next story."

  "In other news, riots continue all over the world as gas prices continue to increase to an all time high..."

  "That the world is going through some tough times?"

   Then he heard snoring.

  "Damn, that guy must be drunk or something."

   Then, he heard a shout to his left, "No!!"

  "Oh, so you're finally awake." Ivan said, standing upright. "Looks like you've been having some sort of night-"

  "Huh?' He gasped before facing Ivan with a distraught look. "Oh, it's you."

   He then faced the jail bars in sadness. "Uh, what tah'me is it?"'

  "Eight fifty-seven PM. You were knocked out for quite a long time."

  "And how do ya know that?"

  "They let me keep the watch."

  "And wh'ah didn't ya wake me up?"

  "One, you were knocked cold. Two, what part of 'they let me keep the watch' didn't you understand?"

  "Hmm, so what now?"

  "We're going to be executed of course." He said it as if it was all fine and dandy.

   Haystack put his head back down and used his hooves to cover his tearful face.

  "Uh, are you crying?" He asked.

   He nodded.

  "Why?"

  "'Ah-Ah need the m-money. 'Ah have a -ffamily and a fillyfriend t-to take care of."

  "Ugh." He rolled his eyes.

  "... The Soviets continue to deny Equestria's allegations, saying that they had no part in the Italian coup and do not wish to expand into western Europe. Tensions between the SSRIR and the west continue to worsen with this new threat hitting the alliance. Celestia continues to demand that NATO increases border and naval protections across the German and Nordic borders to 'Protect what little peace you humans have'... This has been 'News Flash'. I'm Zelda Thorenstein, signing out."

   Then, music began to play. Ivan implied that it was the country's national anthem, for he heard the sound of string and brass instruments playing harmoniously in f major. After that, he checked his watch and noticed that it was nine.

  "Alright, they'll be coming now." Ivan advised. "Stop crying, wipe away your tears, and get ready to beat the crap out of some guards."

  "Huh?"

   They heard the door to their left unlock before sliding open. Entering, were three soldiers armed with Mp5 Sub-machine guns, walking in a triangular formation.

  "Alright, you two..." The soldier in front said. ".. It's time."

   The soldier then noticed that Haystack was still weeping. "Yeah, I know, but you shouldn't have been here in the first place. May Celestia have mercy on your soul."

   He began to weep even more after that last sentence was said coldly.

  "Ugh, guess I'm on my own then." Ivan muttered as he took two steps forward, preparing to make his move.

   The soldier began to unlock the cell door.

BLAM!

   The soldier in the back fell as a bullet tore through the side of his head.

  "Huh?" Ivan muttered as the two were taken aback by what was happening.

  "What the-"

BLAM!

   The soldier in front sat lifelessly against the bars after another bullet ended his life.

  "Ahem, gentlemen?" They heard a voice say in a French accent.

   What was in front of them now, was a man in a blue tuxedo, ski mask, dress pants, and black dress shoes.

  "Uh, who are you?" Ivan asked.

  "'Ze name's Pierre."

   The man then unlocked the door and let them out. Ivan was still shocked by how the man was able to disguise himself, but he decided to not to ask about that and went on to introduce himself.

  "Uh, thanks Pierre, nice to meet you. The name's Ivan and this is Haystack."

  "N'ahce to meet you sir." Haystack lauded, shaking his hand with his hoof. "Oh thank you for savin' us."

   Pierre then looked back at Ivan with a weird look.

  "Yeah, he's happy to be alive."

  "Alright, good."

  "Anyways, Troy sent you to rescue us, didn't he?"

  "Oui, my friend!"

  "Oh good, so can I talk to him?"

  "Sorry." He replied while loading his pistol with more bullets. "Long distance calling not possible in night hours."

  "Oh. Well, that's disappointing."

  "Yep. Anyways, he says that you must complete your mission from here."

  "Of course, because-"

  "We need the money sir." Haystack interrupted.

   Ivan questioned why.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ...

   A red light started flashing over them as a loud beeping sound alerted the deceased soldiers' comrades about the situation.

  "Crap." Ivan muttered.

  "Don't worry." Pierre calmed them before running up to the door, slamming it shut, and locking it.

Knock, knock, knock, knock!

  "Come out of there you blokes!"

  "Oh, and here you go Ivan." Pierre then handed him a syringe filled with crystal blue liquid.

  "What's this?" He asked.

  "'Ze dice they drained out of you. You're gonna need it, of course."

  "Oh, thanks."

   He then rolled his sleeve up and injected himself with the liquid. Within seconds, the chill returned to his hands before dissolving.

  "I also enhanced it with another body-builder pill. It allows you to drink only one water bottle in order to recharge it at full power."

  "Good, drink too much bottled water and you feel like you're gonna drown."

  "Oui."

  "Hmm, I wonder why they didn't use it?"

  "It already has your DNA, making it useless to them."

  "Swell." He changed topic. "So, do you know where the package's at?"

  "In an office down 'ze hall. Fortunately, the satchel carrying it hasn't been open yet, so your mission continues."

  "Good. Now let's get the hell out of here. C'mon Haystack, grab a weapon."

   The pony nodded to his command. The two then grabbed the Mp5's and looted the bodies for ammo, money, and grenades. Pierre in the meantime just stood and waited.

  "If you don't come out, we come in!"

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock!

  "Hurry up." He advised.

  "We're ready." Ivan said.

   The two stood up, armed and ready to attack.

  "So how are we goin' to get out?" Haystack asked.

   He got out a grenade and stood against the wall. "Simple."

   After that move, Haystack followed in suit and stood behind him.

  "Open the door, please." Ivan ordered Pierre to do.

  "Yes sir." He then went up to it and used the key to unlock it.

  "Get ready." Ivan whispered.

  "Move in." One of the soldiers whispered as the door opened slowly.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

   The bullets pounded onto his chest, knocking him back with every shot. Ivan then bit the grenade's blade off and tossed it into the hallway.

BOOM!

   As the explosion ensued, they heard cries of pain from the soldiers. This gave Ivan a chance to make his next move. He got up and blind fired multiple rounds through the smoke.

  "Go! Go! Go!" Ivan ordered as the smoke dissolved.

   Haystack did just that. He ran past him and dive rolled into the hallway, shooting down two soldiers to the right. Behind him, five soldiers were heading down the stairs that lead to the hall. Fortunately, Ivan had it covered. He came out, and upon spotting them, he fired a blast of nitrogen, freezing them and creating a glacier that covered from wall to wall.

  "Oh son of a bitch." Ivan muttered.

  "Why 'ze hell did you do that?!" Pierre asked, shocked by the sight.

  "Look, it was either freeze them or shoot them and get hurt in the process." Ivan tried to reason with him. "Also, we can use the grenades to blow it up."

  "Ugh, very well."

  "Good, so where's the office?"

  "This way."

   The trio then ran the other way until they reached a corner at the end of the hallway.

Rat-at-at-at-at!

BLAM!

  "Yikes!" Ivan shrieked as the three dodged the enemy fire and used the wall as cover.

   Suddenly, there heard the sound of a snapping blade.

  "Uh Oh." Ivan muttered.

   Then there was a clanking sound, making him guess that it was a grenade. Then, once he saw it fly towards them, he was right. Fortunately, he was able to grab it in time and throw it back.

  "Son of a-"

BOOM!

   Smoke began to spread across the hall as more cries of troops were heard.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r...

D-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r...

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

   Then, there was silence. When the smoke faded, all they could see was the corpses of three soldiers lying dead on the floor.

  "Clear." Ivan proclaimed. "So where's the-"

   Pierre then pointed at a windowed door to their right.

  "Oh, there it is."

    After walking up to it, and letting Pierre use some sort of device to decode the lock system, they went into an office where the satchel was placed on top of the desk. Ivan then unzipped it to find that both the package and the money was still inside.

  "Oh good," He sighed in relief, before noticing something that was next to it. "Huh, Another dice."

  "For 'ze best that you drink it, so it doesn't get into 'ze wrong hands." Pierre suggested.

  "Whah can't ah drink it?" asked Haystack, thinking about the powers he'll get.

  "Hmm..." Pierre began to think.

  "I'm not risking it, sir. He's a pony and I don't know what will this do to him."

  "Ah'van, 'Ah just ate that pill." Haystack pointed out.

  "Yeah, that's just a pill." Ivan rebutted. "I'm talking about a drink like this, a drink that can kill you."

  "And possibly kill you too?"

   Ivan was left speechless.

  "Make your choice Ivan. We don't have zat much time left." Pierre forewarned.

  "All right."

   Ivan knew that there wasn't time, so he thought it over as quickly as possible. However, he knew that both decisions are risky.

  "I'm drinking it, Haystack." He announced.

  "Darn." Haystack muttered, stomping his hoof on the floor.

   Ivan then lifted the glowing red bottle and turned it around to see what it was labeled.

  "Pyro's fantasy." It read in bold text. Over that, was a black gas mask on top of a ball of fire. With that, he now had a firm guess on what powers he'll get. He loosened the bottle cap and took it off, before placing the bottle on his lips and lift it up. Within nanoseconds, the cherry flavored drink was already flowing over his tongue and heading down his throat.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! ...

   It took a couple of seconds for him to empty the entire bottle, before feeling a little dizzy. He let out a sigh to calm himself down as the two watched in nervousness.

  "Ok." He started to hallucinate, "It'll wear off soon."

    Then, he began to see sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows scatter all over his vision. All while faint male screams , and a distorted version of the song, "Do you believe in magic" was heard. He looked at his hands to find out that there were flames igniting from his numb fingertips. After a couple of seconds, the hallucinations ceased.

  "Now, where's the Vita?" He asked.

  "Excuse me?"

  "The thing that is used to tell me how to use this thing?"

  "Oh right." The two began to rummage the desk to find it.

  "Found it." Haystack said, for he found it on the floor, he then grabbed it with his teeth. "Here ya go."

   He then tossed it over to him.

  "Thanks." He said with a smirk as he placed the satchel's strap on his shoulder.

  "Good, now let's go before they blow the glacier up first."

   They nodded before exiting the office and running down the hall. While doing so, Ivan pressed the 'on' button on the Vita. The grey screen reappeared and the logo on the bottle accompanied it. The theme song from 'The Simpsons' played as the female announcer returned with the instructions.

  "Wield the power of fire, with pyro's fantasy.." She said as the screen cut to the soldier looking helpless as three rebels had him at gunpoint.

  "Haystack, was it?" Pierre asked him, in which Haystack nodded in return. "Blow that ice-"

  "Wait!" Ivan told them, preventing Haystack from getting out a grenade.

  "... Say 'Ignis!' in your mind while thrusting your hand forward. Doing so, you can ignite enemies or melt ice!"

   It then cut to the soldier setting the rebels on fire, smiling as they screamed in pain.

  "Warning: Fire spreads! Second Warning: Requires a bottle of alcohol to recharge."

  "What?" Ivan thought as her eyes widened in shock.

  "Have fun, comrade!" She said as it cut to the soldier giving a smile and a thumbs up while the rebels turned into a pile of ash. 'Thank you, RED industries' then appeared before the Vita turned completely off.

  "Hmm, looks like I'll be drinking booze then." He muttered before dropping the Vita on the floor and telling them. "Anyways, I got a plan. Haystack, get ready to use the grenade once the ice melts."

  "Ok?" Haystack said preparing to bite grenade's blade off as Ivan headed over to the ice.

  "Good, now stand back."

   And so they did. Ivan lifted his hand up and faced it towards the ice. Then, with the magic word, he thrust his hand forward, unleashing a fireball towards it.

BOOM!!

   Within seconds the heat enveloped the coolness, thus, the ice began to melt.

  "Now Haystack!"

  "Alright." He bit the blade off and tossed it over the shrinking glacier.

  "Crap! Grenade!" An officer yelled as the grenade bounced its way up the stairs.

BOOM!

  "We must move!" Pierre ordered, the water wetting their shoes/boots/hooves.

   The three went up the stairs before finding themselves in an office where three soldiers in bright red dress uniforms and black berets lied dead on the floor.

  "Huh, nice throw." Ivan complemented.

  "Thanks." He replied with a flattering smile.

   The trio got to cover while the enemy did the same.

Click!

  "Damn." Ivan mumbled, for the magazine ran out of ammo. Now it was the officer's turn.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

  "Yikes!" He shouted before hiding behind the desk and started to reload his Mk-5.

   D-r-r-r-r!

  "Ai!" The soldier shrieked after one of Haystack's bullets shot him in the stomach while trying to shoot him first.

   By then, Ivan finished reloading. He went to the side and shot a soldier that was trying to vault over a desk.

BLAM! BLAM!

   Pierre shot another soldier in the chest.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r!

   The soldier yelled in pain while firing random rounds, making Pierre hide back behind cover. After that, they couldn't here anything. It made Haystack peek around the desktop and see if there was anymore troops.

  "Clear." Haystack proclaimed, making the two get up and advance.

   Then there was yell. "Die you foreign scum!!!"

  "Get down!" Pierre yelled as the soldier got out from the desk and fired as many rounds as he could.

BLAM!!

   The soldier fell back after Pierre shot him in his forehead.

  "Now, it's clear." He said with confidence.

   They ran up to the front window and peeked past the curtain. On the street, were three police cars in front of two Humvees. And those two Humvees were in front of a Lenco Bearcat.

  "Son of a bitch." Ivan muttered, "Do we really have to fight these people?"

  "This place doesn't have a backdoor, so yes."

  "Great." He moaned.

  "This is Sparta six to Tom Tom five, do you copy?" An officer asked through a corpse's radio. "Come in Tom Tom five!"

  "Crap, let's go." Ivan said before pushing the door open and fired from the hip.

  "It's them, fire!"

   Ivan then unleashed another blast of nitrogen at three soldiers that were standing in front of the second police car for unknown reasons.

   The trio ran down the stairs and were able to use that glacier as cover. And so, the firefight has begun, and it started off with the trio being pinned down by enemy fire.

  "We got you now, punks!" A soldier yelled through a megaphone, or did they?

D-r-r-r-r-r!

  "Ulgh!" A soldier groaned after Ivan shot him in the face while trying to shoot them from the far end of the third car's hood.

  "Better go cover that." Ivan said before going prone and crawling his way over there.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r!

   Another soldier was shot while shooting from the back of the middle police car.

  "Pierre, use the first car as cover!"

  "On it!" He replied to Ivan's order.

  "Ah'van, what do 'ah do?

   BLAM! BLAM!

   Then Ivan activated his invisibility.

   A soldier behind the first car fell back after a bullet hit his throat. Pierre then cloaked himself before running towards his objective.

   By that time, Ivan was able to reach the third car's hood. He uncloaked himself as he sat next to the front bumper.

   D-r-r-r-r-r!

   He blind fired a few more shots into the chest of another soldier.

   He then got out of cover and ran towards the Humvee's front bumper. He fired from the hip and shot the soldier firing the HMG while he wasn't looking.

  "Wow, didn't see me coming."

  "He's over there!" One of them cried.

  "Aw crap."

   Bullets began to fly past him, so he had to blind fire more shots.

D-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-Click!

   He was out of ammo, giving the soldiers an advantage while he was reloading.

  "Crap!" He shrieked after a soldier was at his side, ready to shoot.

   And so he rolled forward, causing the enemy bullets to miss. He then got up and grabbed the man's FN FAL rifle by the muzzle. After ripping it from his hands, he kicked him in the chin, knocking him into unconsciousness. Now that he was dealt with, he dive rolled towards the enemy troops and decided to deal with them the quickest way possible.

    He unleashed another fireball at them, igniting all three in flames before spraying them with bullets.

  "Nice." Ivan smirked at what his new power is capable of.

  "Ay!" A soldier next to the front bumper of the other Humvee cried after a bullet tore through his head.

  "Looks like Pierre did the same thing." Ivan muttered as he watched Pierre appear in front of him.

D-r-r-r-r!

   Haystack in the meantime, managed to deal with the last soldier in front of him. Once there was silence, he jumped over the trunk and met up with the two.

  "So Ah'van, what now?" Haystack asked.

  "Ugh, we get the hell out of here, of course!" He retorted with an eye roll. "Now let's get in one of those squad cars, now!"

   They ran over to the police car and went inside.

  "So, wh'ah are ya dr'ahvin'?" asked Haystack.

  "Because one, Pierre didn't say anything. Two, I remember where the subway station is at."

  "'Ze subway is closed, and I don't think that grenades will be able to blow through 'ze steel shutter."

  "Great. So how do we get to the labor department?"

  "There's a bridge we can go through."

  "So what are ya waitin' f'er, let's go." Haystack hurried.

   He managed to drive in the direction they were supposed to go.

  "Hey, wh'ah are the streets empty?" asked Haystack as he looked at the quiet, dark, and empty suburbs.

  "Curfew." Pierre answered calmly.

  "Oh, what's that?"

   Ivan and Pierre rolled their eyes.

  "It's when 'ze government says 'zat no one should be out of 'ze house after a certain time and until a certain time. Does Equestria even have curfews?"

  "No, 'ah don't think we have."

  "Looks like they truly didn't give a damn about Princess Luna, didn't they?" Ivan muttered.

  "Pierre?" Ivan asked, for he was now a few blocks away from the bridge.

  "Yeah?"

  "You should've told me that the bridge was filled with troops."

  "Didn't know." He replied in a terse manner.