To Run Away...

Chapter 20

   Two guards were sniping from the museum's rooftop, detecting the three through their scopes.

"Madame, we've managed to locate them. They're heading this way." radioed one of them.

"Good, take them out." a woman called back while accompanied by muffled screaming. "We can't let them have her."

"Of course Madame." After hanging up, he proceeded to line up their shots. "You ready?"

"Of course." said his comrade as he did the same.

  After their shots were lined up, they waited for the signal for about five seconds. When those five seconds were up, the guard whispered, "Fire."

Pfft!

  Pfft!

  The bullets raced across the street and towards their unintended target.

Snap!

  Snap!

"Whoa!" Ivan and Pierre shouted as the rope snapped and dropped them from the building.

  Immediately, Haystack used his Air-grabber to fall along side them. During their decent. he managed to grab them and use the gadget to safely land them on the ground. After the successful procedure, he managed to real the Air-grabber in as if it were measuring tape.

"Thanks man."

"You're Welco- Whoa!" Haystack shouted as the rope kicked him back. "*Ahem* You're welcome."

  The three would then run to the nearest row of bushes and hide.

"So, do you think they spotted us?" asked Ivan.

"No, most of ze lights in ze city, excluding ze street lights', are turned off. But I don't think it was them that shot us down." He looked into the binoculars and located the two snipers. "Damn, since when were they there?"

"What is it?"

"Two snipers on top of ze building, sound suppressors on their rifles, and I don't think the troops outside know it... Ivan, you have that liquid that Lillian gave you?"

"Hmm?" Ivan wondered what he meant, but he managed to remember it in light speed. "Oh, that."

  He reached into his satchel and took it out. "This one?"

  Pierre nodded.

"Oh." He looked at the bottle and read the label, which had a yellow shield as its logo. "Huh, is this a shield?"

"Yes, it's a necessary element in your mission. So, we're going to drink it between the three of us." He reached into his pocket and got out three plastic cups.

"Uh, Pierre? Since when did you have those?"

  Pierre gave them the cups as Haystack asked that question. "It's something that I do in any battleground, including here. Just to make sure my comrades are alright by giving them something to drink"

"Hmm... wait, don't you have canteens?" asked Ivan.

"BLU's budget, and so as RED's is more focused on weapons and training rather than the care of their own troops." He opened the bottle and poured the drink into them. "Sure they have medics, but they're very few. They say that if you want to drink, buy a canteen or cup, because we're not providing them."

  Once the cups were filled, Pierre detached the Vita from the bottle, then sighed, "So, I took my own plastic cup. And then decided to take more... in case if someone else couldn't drink; and It turns out that it wasn't a few who couldn't."

"Hmm..." Ivan thought. Deciding not to waste anymore time, he then said. "... Ok then, bottom's up."

  The other two agreed and they poured the lemon flavored liquid into their mouths. The taste would indulge them into swallowing more of it without breaks; And in no time, their cups were empty. After separating them from their lips, they felt their bodies grow numb for at least two seconds before seeing yellow cracks flash in their vision. Then, all was well.

"Whoa!" Ivan mumbled.

"Huh." said Pierre. "Now let's see ze additional information behind this drink."

  He turned on the Vita and they all huddled to watch it.

'Spring' played again as the title, 'SHINING ARMOR' appeared in the grey background. It then cut to the soldier freaking out as bullets were flying towards him. The woman would then talk once it cut to that. "Protect yourself from the enemy onslaught. Use this dice to help you fight on the front lines."

  The screening then cut to the bullets deflecting off the now highfalutin soldier as he smiled and had his hands on his hips.

"Warning: Relentless damage will cause the shield to break. On the bright side, shield will replenish if not being hit."

  The soldier did his usual smile and thumbs up in the next slide.

"Have fun. comrade." said the lady while the 'THANK YOU, RED INDUSTRIES' slide appeared.

  After the vita turned off, Pierre tossed it to the side.

"So, we have regenerating health now?"

"Yep, you put it like that, so yes."

"Okay then, what do we do now?"

"We're going in stealthily. There is no point in fighting them. It's an in and out operation. We rescue ze girl, and we get ze hell out of there... Before ze Doofanian forces get to us."

"Of course."

"Now, on my le-."

  Their radios began to vibrate as static was released from the speakers.

"Huh?" They wondered. They then took them out, and dropped them on the ground once they couldn't take the vibrating anymore.

"Hello, infiltrators." A female voice said in a disdainful tone.

"Uh, who is this?" Ivan said nervously.

"The bitch that's going to take you out."

"No, seriously, who is it?" Pierre intervened.

  There was short pause before the lady spoke. "Remember me Pierre?"

"Uh..." He regained focus after the revelation shocked him to the bone. "B-Blythe?"

"Yeah, you're old friend."

"Wait, you mean Blythe Baxter?"

"Mmm Hmm, thought I was dead?"

"Pierre, I thought you barely knew-."

"Yeah, but outside ze country..." He sighed. "... It was a whole different story."

"That's right tell 'em. Tell 'em after I send you three to hell! ... or heaven, I don't know."

POP!

  A loud fizzing sound was heard above them. Looking up, they noticed that a blue flair was hovering over them, beaming a ray of light. It was enough to catch the oncoming troops' attention; it called off their plans to halt and caused them to automatically open fire.

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at...

"Ah, son of a gun!" Ivan muttered. before firing a blast of nitrogen towards the nearest soldier. "Go! Go! Go!"

  They exited out from behind the bushes and ran. Ivan would hop onto Haystack's back and fire while on top.

"Here! Mmph!" He yelled, a bullet deflecting off his arm. "Use this!"

  The pony would hand him his air-grabber to ensure that they reach their destination as a group.

"Thanks!" Pierre shouted back. "It'll, Ow, be useful!"

  Ivan reloaded his M16 before firing an extra set of rounds at the enemy. After shooting around eight bullets, he began to load a grenade into its grenade launcher and prepared to fire.

  Suddenly, a bullet sped towards him, and hit him right in between his eyes. The impact knocked him back and made him shoot for the glacier.

"Ah'van, what the hay did ya-" He stopped once he noticed that he was knocked back and dizzy.

  In Ivan's mind, all he could see was another memory being presented towards his sight.

*  -  *

  *  -  *

"Mom, dad?" He said, looking at the stone floor beneath him.

"Yes, sweetie" asked his mom.

"I'm going to join."

"What?!" His father gasped.

  His mother, as well as his father's jaw dropped as she dropped her glass cup of tea.

"I-I'm going to get rid of our-."

"Son, you don't have to do this!" The father approached his son, holding onto his shoulders.

"I-I'm joining the-"

"No son!"

"B-but I wanna-"

"Don't do it!" a younger voice said from a distance.

  Tears began to stream down his cheeks. "I'm going to-"

"Don't do it!" They yelled repetitively. "Don't go!"

  The voices echoed in his head before he witnessed everything in front of him turn into dust... grey, pearl white dust.

"Ah'van!! Wake up!" His companion yelled as he injected him with a tad bit of the liquid from one of his syringes.

"Whoa, what the-." Ivan sat up. "The hell happened?!"

"A bullet must've hit you in the head!" He turned around to mount his rifle over the beheaded ice.

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at!

  He returned to cover and sat beside him, continuing with his report, "Thank Celestia that that shield witchcraft stopped them from ripping through yer brain. And thank Celestia that this syringe worked. Ah didn't know that it could actually-"

  Realizing that Ivan was now waiting for orders, the pony handed him his rifle. "Now, go get 'em!"

  Ivan nodded, grabbing the rifle and making his move on the oncoming troops.

"Ignis!" He fired another ball of fire at them. The blast would incinerate three troops before Ivan shot them down like ducks in the sky.

"Ivan! Haystack!" Pierre shouted from his cover.

"What?!" They shouted back.

"I'm going into enemy lines to cripple their defenses! I recommend that you move up, now!" He used his watch to turn invisible and then he would do as he promised.

"Dang." Ivan mumbled. "Let's see what he can do."

Rat-at-at-at!

  The bullets hammered through the last soldier's chest, making him shriek in pain.

"Huh, last one." Haystack said. "Let's go then."

"Mmm Hmm." Ivan nodded.

  The two ran across the street before another wave of reinforcements came into view.

"Son of a bitch they have another Humvee." said Ivan. surprised by the sight. Quickly, he lined up the shot through his iron sight and prepared to shoot before the soldier did.

Rat-at-click!

"Crap!" He thought. When he heard the click, he prayed to god that the bullets could hit him. It was two bullets versus one HMG armed soldier. He began to reload as the bullets soared towards in it's intended direction.

Thwap!

"Umph!" The soldier groaned, the bullets hitting him on the forehead.

"Ah." He sighed. "Success."

  They ran towards the Humvee and shot down anyone who was adjacent to it.

"Haystack!" Ivan commanded. "Man that HMG and cover me!"

"Got it!" Haystack patted him on the arm before galloping towards the vehicle's interior and heading towards the ring mount.

  In the meantime, Ivan got out of cover and ran towards one of the street corners nearby.

Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at!

  Haystack was able to fire at the remaining troops in front.

Twang!

"Ah!" Ivan grunted, an HMG bullet deflecting off his arm. "Watch it Haystack!"

"Got it! Sorry!" He apologized.

  Ivan then managed to reach to his reason. A small sandbag levee was sitting there. The only occupants it had was a soldier's corpse and extra ammunition. Peeking over the petite fortress, he noticed that the difficulty level was increasing. One row of seven EOD suited troops marching in their direction.

"Son of a bitch!" Ivan thought.

"This is commander Fitzwallace! The infiltrators are on the attack, reasons are unknown at this hour!" The commander called, "Madame, do you respond!?"

"Yes I do sir." Vanessa replied, returning the call via her phone, "I want you to hold the line until and see if you can flank them."

"Will do Madame!" He then turned to his second in command. "Montenegro, go and flank the enemy by taking two squadrons to-"

  The soldier watched as the EOD soldiers slipped on the thin ice trap Ivan set, before replying with, "Oh shut up Fitzwallace, I don't think that'll be necessary."

  Taken aback by his response, he shouted. "What did you say, boy?"

  He grinned, and aimed his rifle towards his head in a snap.

Rat-at-at!

  The bullet blew his brains out, knocking him back. Pierre would go on to do the same with any troops that stood close by, gunning them all down like a ninja. After that, he ran towards the nearest building and used the check-out counter as cover.

  The enemy fire pounded on the counter. However, that didn't stop him from completing his objective. Taking out s C4 detonator, he mumbled, "I pity you guys."

Click!

  BOOM!!

  Both Humvees in that street detonated. The explosion killed anyone who was within the range of the blast, and causing even more panic as more laid wounded.

  On the other end of the line, all Vanessa heard was static. She put the phone back to where it was and sighed, "Wesley?"

"Uh, yes Madame?" He saluted, feeling the urge to tremble.

"You know who to deploy."

"Yes, yes Madame." He turned around and headed out the door.

  Vanessa was now left to watch as his fellow apprentice left. Whispering to herself in a lustfully. "Why are you afraid of me, Wesley?"

"Aaargh!!" The last EOD soldier choked before a bullet was knocked through his skull.

  Ivan, looking away from his execution, then focused his fire on the scattering soldiers in front of him. He signaled Haystack to move up while he armed the grenade launcher.

"Got it!" He hopped off the ring mount and galloped towards his side.

Ka-thwop!

BOOM!

  Three soldiers were killed in the blast while Haystack gave them suppressing fire.

  Ivan grabbed the M249, and fired at the retreating forces.

"Flank them!" Yelled another commander. "Go around the block and shoot their asses!"

  Half of the platoon separated into two squads consisting of two Humvees and twenty soldiers each. They went into opposite directions and expected to use the element of surprise. However, they were the ones that were the element's target.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! ...

  Thwap!

"Umph!" A bullet hit one of the flanking soldier's in the shoulder. Looking up, he located a pistol armed rebel firing downwards at them. "Fire!"

  He and five others counter-attacked, and that only waked up the beast that was hiding inside the mansion. More pistol armed rebels appeared on both rooftops on both buildings.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! ...

"Counter-attack! They're poorly armed!"

  The troops opened fire. Laying down their barrage as they suffered far less casualties than the rebels.

  The rebel forces went prone as they witnessed their comrades get shot by the well-equipped enemy.

"Where the hell are the RPG's!" yelled one of them, before muttering. "Erm... why the hell didn't we resupply?"

"Because the rifles are for us." answered his friend who was on the other end of the rooftop, where the non-flanking troops were located below.

"Sir, troops have experienced rebel forces attacking their positions." said a sergeant to the commander.

"Damn it." He stomped his foot. "Order in an attack chopper, we're not going to let these bastards ruin our-"

  After turning around, he noticed that another one of his comrades was back. "Uh, Commander Fitzwallace, I thought you-."

Rat-at-at!

  The gunshot revealed Pierre. It was unfortunate that that commander wasn't able to see it, because he was his first victim.

Rat-at-at!

  The sergeant was next.

"Spy!!" One of them yelled, before the group went after him.

  Without feeling any form of fear, he took out the detonator and walkie talkie and said, "Do it."

"Got it." said the man on the other side.

BOOM!!

  All Humvees in all positions, were blown to smithereens as the other rebels made their move.

Pierre, politely got out a cigarette and smoked it, before cloaking into invisibility once again.

"Jackson." said Blythe. "Status report."

"The enemy stakeout's been crippled... and the rebels are aiding them."

  She got her cup of wine and began to drink. After taking a sip from it, she put the glass down and said calmly, "Fine, get the group on the outer deck and rooftop to clear the bastards docked outside the museum entrance... I want a one on one fight."

"Yes sir."

Static!

  The man then began to contact all units in the designated areas. "All infantrymen in the rooftop and exterior areas, take out the state soldiers in front of you, leave none standing."

"Yes sir!" They all chanted before obeying the command.

  The assault from both factions brought the skirmish to a much needed end as every enemy soldier dropped to the floor like dominoes. Then, they both stopped shooting and were now at ease. All that was left now was smoke and flames as the trio approached the stairway that led to the building.

"Pierre, you sure about this?" asked one of the rebels. "I mean, won't you need our-."

"Yes, I mean, No, I mean-Damn, anyways we can handle this on our own." He answered. "Now, I managed to call for more reinforcements to arrive at your position. I expect for you all to garrison into ze buildings and cover us."

"But sir, you don't know what the hell you'll be-"

"It doesn't matter, just get ready to defend at all cost.." Pierre shouted, annoyed at his questioning.

"Oh, ok-k-kay-s-sir..." Static took over their communications, before Blythe's voice returned to the airwaves.

"Well, Well, Pierre." She grinned. "Looks like you and your buddies chose to go at it alone then. Pfft, how sad. Even after they helped you kick the state's ass in order to get here."

"Hmm, but-" He was then interrupted.

"Listen...uh... Blythe." Haystack demanded. "Don't you dare hurt Maribelle! Or else, I'll show you how a pony's-"

"Ah, it's fun to see a pony from the 'Magical' land of Equestria defend a little human girl." she said playfully, "Primarily because he doesn't know why. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

  The remark hit him in the heart. All this time, he kept wondering why she had such affections towards him and vice versa. How was it possible, they were both of different species and... then he remembered that there was no time to feel sorry for not knowing. He had to get her back before that demented bitch did anything to her... or at least he assumed that she was demented.

"Shut up!" He shouted. "You... you..."

"That's right, because it's the truth isn't it."

  His few streams tears caught the attention of the others, and they weren't going to let that slide. Ivan walked over to him and commanded him to look him in the face.

"Damn it Haystack." Ivan whispered, trying to find a way to calm him down. "Stop crying... uh... or you'll be... uh...-"

"Huh, Now that I've crippled a piece of your morale, I might as well shoot you guys."

"Blythe, we're not here to fight you!" Pierre said. "We are only here to retrieve ze girl with-."

"I don't think that's necessary." She then sang gleefully. "Sniping time!"

"Damn, ze girl's gotten-"

"Oh shut up! Well, whatever you were going to say, It's best that you keep it to yourself. Anyways, take out the boy with the black hair!"

"You mean me?" Ivan squeaked.

BLAM!

"Umph!" Another bullet hit him in between the eyes. Only now, he was knocked down the steps of the building and well... it knocked him out yet again.

"Ah'van!" cried Haystack. All before the enemy opened fire.

"Commander Wesley. Status report on the stakeout." Vanessa ordered.

"According to scout reports, the entire platoon's been whipped out; and rebels have garrisoned into the buildings outside the museum."

  She drank her glass of whine before saying gently. "Wesley, Bring in the generals of our army for a meeting tomorrow... I think it's time that we discuss about our lack of drone deployment with them."

"Right Madame." He was approaching the door when...

"Wesley?"

"Yes Madame?" again with the urge to shiver.

"Have they been deployed."

"Absolutely Madame." He nodded. "Another platoon, as well as they, are on the way."

"Attaboy!" She smiled while tossing a paper ball at his buttocks.

"Eek." He flinched before walking out the door with the feels to faint in panic.