To Run Away...

Chapter 23

"Good morning, gentlemen." announced Vanessa.

"Good morning, Madame." The Generals would shout in a united fashion.

"At ease."

  The people in the caucus sat down and commenced.

  Vanessa frowned, ready to give his comrades the bad news. "Last night, the two infiltrators struck again... this time, our museum... Wesley, the projector."

"Y-yes Madame." The commander pressed the button and the silver screen would appear behind her with a slide upwards.

  Vanessa would take care of the rest. She got out a remote, and pressed the button for the first slide. The first picture was of soldiers in tarps as they lied dead on the streets. "At least thirty resistance fighters, or if you will, 'fighters for the 'Sacra fructum', along with those two infiltrators, and the BLU spy, were able to kill more than Eighty of our men. Which is the platoon that was staking outside the museum, plus the reinforcements, and all of squadron Bravo of the fifth battalion Forty third Star fox regiment."

  The generals took notes on the situation while their leader continued.

"After the altercation, my apprentice, Commander Wesley, have managed to deploy another round of reinforcements on the scene without any resistance. Arriving there, we've noticed that all thirty resistance fighters have been killed, and so were the people responsible for taking the museum hostage!" She then stood silent and went to the next slide, showing a line full of corpses from the hostage takers. "These are the men responsible for starting all this... they were foolish enough to think that we weren't going to use that sacred place anymore... However, upon further investigation, we were able to discover something that these men are affiliated with our business partner, RED."

  Everyone in the room was in complete surprise. The company they relied on was now attacking them. Some of the Generals were passive about this, but most of them dreaded the fact that they may have to deal with two enemies on the front lines.

"Settle down Comrades, settle down." Once the room was calm, she continued. "Now, I'd like to make myself perfectly clear on the following."

  She then cut to the next slide, the slide was of a dove with the seal of Doofania and the RED logo next to it. "None of us were expecting Redmond to command such an order. I told him that he was in command of finding intel on their package... but I can't believe that they're gonna go this far to acquire it."

  She went to the next slide, which was of a photo of Blythe, "Fortunately, out of all this, we have managed to find one of our most wanted, dead."

"Wait, they've killed Blythe Baxter?" asked one of the Generals from a city named Aegnus.

"Yes, General Palacio." She nodded. "As you all may have noticed, she's been a major crime lord throughout these parts. After her boyfriend, 'Josh' died of my uncles deadly concoctions, She's been operating alone throughout the time, going against both us and the resistance in order to achieve her personal needs."

"So, how was she able to accomplish that?"

  The question made her facepalm upon hearing that. "Simple, you idiots. She sabotaged us! Turned our weapons against us!"

  Everyone in the congregation was wondering how though, but they chose not to ask.

"Anyways, we were able to salvage some surveillance footage from the whole ordeal and have found out that she's affiliated with RED."

  She then showed them the footage. "And we've also noticed that they were able to capture subject A1."

  Once more, the room fell into concern.

"The little girl's been on the run for two years now, and this is the second time we lost her." She curled her hands into fists. "Grrr, she's much of a threat to our country as the Sacra Fructum and those Infiltrators, and RED decides to put that out the way so that that 'fashionista' gets her Gabe!"

  She cooled down, placed her hand on the desk, breathed in and out, and proceeded to speak, "Anyways, our Starfox commandos attempted to acquire intelligence from the quartet, but failed. Now I question what the hell will RED do now."

  The silence was broken when a general from Jepsen Town spoke. "Madame... I suggest that we cancel our partnership with them."

   The congregation went into an uproar at the man's suggestion. They shouted criticisms and insults in order to nail some sense into him. One of them were,

"General Lang, that's an absurd suggestion!" The general from Aegnus yelled. "We rely on them in order to make sure our great nation stays afloat!"

"He's right Lang." says Vanessa. "But at the same time, Po's right, Palacio."

"What?!" He shrieked. "But Madame, our fatherland is still in grave danger, we won't be-"

"Shut your mouth, Palacio!" Vanessa screamed.

  The generals and their apprentices bounced up and quickly focused their eyes on their leader.

"Please... let, me, speak!" She sat back down on her chair. "Like I said, both of you are right. We've been isolated from the world since the day this city and its neighbors united to form a nation. But my father and my uncle should've foreseen what was coming... that's why I went against their will to make sure we live... Unfortunately, RED violated our terms again. And with these infiltrators on the loose, they could determine whether we stick with them, or let them collect money somewhere else."

  General Lang stood up and from his seat and begged softly. "Madame, do not let those bastards determine your stance on the issue... I regret what I said earlier, but-"

  Vanessa stopped him with her hand. "Please... don't be... all that matters is that you made your statement."

  She then smile gently at his face, "And I'm proud of you... All of you should follow by his example. Don't be afraid to speak out."

  Standing up, she gave them a salute. "Don't be afraid to stand up for your country."

  The generals got on their feet and saluted back with patriotism bolstering in their heads. "Hail. Hail Doofania!!"

"Comrades, appreciate that you are one of the lucky ones that can speak for our Utopia... Now, you are all dismissed! Don't forget that tonight that-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ...

  Every man and woman in the room looked around, questioning what the hell was going on.

SLAM!

  A small figure entered the room and marched towards the leader with his webbed feet. His demeanor was credible enough for everyone to conclude that the situation was dire.

"Ah, Perry the Platy-borg. What's the status on your Starfox regiment."

  The armored blue-green Platypus opened his mouth, only to growl with his closed teeth.  However, a voice box located on his chest was able to cover for him. It said monotonously. "The infiltrators have attacked the department of security."

  Vanessa was only left speechless at the news... wondering what to do. It was another prized building  that was being attacked by these strangers and their most wanted companions. However, she had more issues to focus on. So, she made her decision in a snap.

"Commander Wesley..." She turned to face her apprentice, "You know what to do when this happens."

  The man nodded hastily before running off to complete with her command.

"Go get 'em, tiger." She whispered lustfully.

  The platypus growled. "You're not fooling anyone, you know."

  Vanessa snapped out of her dream state and looked at his four-legged agent. "Just get over to the department."

  Saying nothing, the platypus saluted before sprinting out the door.

== EARLIER ==

"Gentlemen..." Redmond announced happily, "The package's intel is in our hands."

  The members in the board said and did nothing about the news.

"Good." one of them smiled.

"Huh, none of you aren't that enthusiastic about it, aren't ya?"

  They all frowned with honesty pouring into the scene.

"Yeah... I thought so." The haggard man stood up and began to pace across the room. "You may have also noticed that one of our board members isn't even here."

  The sting of shame struck them even more as they looked at the alienated seat that made the who meeting feel out of place.

"That 'Subject A1' had managed to put her in a hospital... but that didn't stop her from helping us achieve what we needed." She went over to the seventy inch plasma screen TV and pressed the 'On/off' button. When it was on, the screen revealed surveillance footage of Alice lying on her hospital bed, with a trembling Blythe standing next to her. A RED soldier was restraining the crazy as she grinned uncontrollably through her dark hood. "I'm just so glad that she was able to get that poor Blythe Baxter to join our side in an exchange for her precious juices... no pun intended."

"Agreed sir." One of them giggled.

"Shut up, Misses Jonesworth, or I'll have you demoted to head Janitor of this hub!"

  The woman closed her mouth and dissolved her smile, knowing that Redmond never bluffs.

"So, because of Alice's strategy and Blythe's determination, the mission was a complete success." He shut off the TV.

  But one of them begged to differ. "But how sir? She's dead, the agents are dead, the scoutbots she deployed are now scrap metal. All we did was lose men and now put our reputation with-"

"Ah, ah, ah." Redmond interrupted with mirth, waving his index finger in disapproval. "Remember why we're here, my friend."

Uncomfortable with his own answer, the man said reluctantly,"To profit from their desperation?"

"That, and... Well, just that." He walked towards the window. "My brother and I have been at war with each other for one hundred and eighty three years... It started with sabotages on factories by a small amount of hired mercenaries, then it changed to street warfare with mobs of them... all the way to total war with a massive army of them in the Midwest."

   He tapped his cane against the carpet, using it as a tool to pass the time. "The more money we milk from Doofania, the more funds we have to bring the war to a quicker end."

"But sir, that mission exploited your tactics to the state. They'll be questioning our attack to the point where they'll be looking somewhere else for their survival."

  Misses Jonesworth hopped into the argument to further justify her friend's. "He's right, Redmond. I further declare that the acquirement of their package's intellegence at the expense of your men, and your relations with Doofania wasn't worth it."

  The old man stopped tapping and stood there for a couple seconds.

  Everyone in the room was questioning his next move, and the fact that he was looking out the window with a sour toned face made it more nerve-racking.

  Finally, after two minutes of muteness, the  man walked back over to his seat and sat down. He then reached into his pocket and took out a tan colored cigar and clenched it with his teeth. After that, he took out a box of matches and got out one from it.

Scratch!

  The small stick now had a flame on the tip. Not saving any time, he tapped the flame onto the cigar and let it burn. While it sizzled, he inhaled the harmful smoke before setting it free.

  Letting the cigar dangle in between his fingers, he stated his opinion. "That's the plan, you know."

  The boardroom was surprised at their boss's disclosure. So they let him explain.

"We've grown tired of this country not meeting up with our demands." He then took another inhale of smoke. "So Alice came up with an idea to make sure the deluded people of this wretched place have a good reason to want us gone."

  They all remembered that. For the past few years, the country was in deep debt with them, and have been unable to pay. So now it was time to move on from them and go for someone else.

"So, do you think it was a success?" Misses Jonesworth asked, uncertain of his answer.

  She was correct on the fact that she wasn't certain on Redmond's response. The man only sat there for half a second gazing at his cigar as it chewing through the tobacco like beavers' teeth to wood.

"I don't know... When you point your rifle at an Nazi at long range, you don't expect that bullet to fly directly at him, you hope it does. When you deploy an army of planes to parachute troops onto Equestrian soil, you don't expect for every soldier to make it out alive, you hope they do... When you fire a canon at Japanese ships, you don't expect the missile to strike directly at the ship's kisser, you hope it does." He then got up and retraced his steps in order to kill time as he spoke, "When you snipe down a BLU engineer, you hope that the wind won't carry the bullet away... when you fire a rocket, you hope that it won't swerve to the far off distance and hit nothing... What I'm saying, is, is that war is all about luck. America and Canada was lucky when their planes were able to parachute as much soldiers as they could onto the west coast of Equestria, avoiding their magic and acquired AA guns at all costs; and that was one of the many reasons why they defected to the allies in mid 1943! It was luck that managed to drive the missile towards the destroyer in Midway, blowing it to bits!"

  After pacing for that little moment, he sat back down. "We are lucky enough for this company to stay alive. We are lucky enough to be funded by this dying dystopia... Now, luck will have to guide us into breaking up with them."

  The board was silent as the morning sunlight shone over them with its blazing eye.

RRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!

  Redmond answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Mister Mann, I-"

"You direct me as Redmond sir!" He corrected with such vitriol, annoyed at  the fact that he keeps calling him 'Mister Mann'.

"Oh, sorry sir... Anyways, looks like your targets are at it again. They're attacking the department of security this time."

"Ugh, dispatch RED soldiers to the scene, now... I'll deal with this later."

"Yes sir." The man said before hanging up.

  Putting the phone away, he looked up to face his subordinates. "Let's just let them do their best to deal with them."

  He inhaled yet more smoke before saying more, "Besides, it's all about luck."

== THREE HOURS EARLIER ==

  The sound of trumpets burst through the radio's speakers, kicking Haystack and Maribelle out of their slumber.

"Good morning comrades." An announcer's voice was what followed. "My name is Helene MacSinoh with your morning news..."

  Haystack went over to Maribelle to see what she was doing. He found her curled up into a ball as she covered her ears with her stubby little hands. Unhappy to see her like this, he gave her a pat on the back to assure her that it'll be okay.

"In local news, we've-." It was quiet for a moment, which gave the stallion time to speak to her.

"It'll be okay sweetie." He said gently, smiling at the fear filled girl. All she did was lunge at him with open arms, using his vest (along with her fingers) as earplugs.

"... oh... oh.... thank you." The announcer whispered, but she raised her voice soon after. "In world news today, Canadian troops in Baffin Island have managed to seize an unknown merchant ship that was smuggling Celestianist bibles into the country..."

  The news didn't raise Haystack's eyebrows. It was a particular news story when fundamentalist Celestianists go on dangerous treks to spread the word of Princess Celestia to the many people of the world. Hell, even the bigots loyal to nightmare moon would do the same.

"Wh'ah do they keep doin' that?" Haystack thought, holding Maribelle close.

"... They were able to capture Eight Equestrian citizens and four members of the CHM, or 'Celestia's hoof on man'. Officials say that the ponies were be deported back to Equestria in no time. Princess Celestia hasn't commented on this situation."

  The bedroom door then opened.

"*Yawn* Morning Haystack, how did you-"

  Ivan said no further as he looked at the sight in front of him. He then walked over to the radio and turned the volume down.

"Uh, thanks, Ah'van." Haystack said, doing his best to free himself from the girl's tight hug.

"No prob'." Ivan continued to listen to the news reports, eager to know what was going on.

"... In other news, Canadian forces mounted a major offensive into the borders of Vancouver republic, breaking the two year stalemate between the two nations. Fighting now continues in the city of Winnipeg." The reporter was silent for a little while before returning to the mic, "... And that's this morning's news flash."

"Wow, that was fast." Ivan muttered.

"Remember comrades, todays another work day. Expect clear blue skies, and temperatures of at least ninety degrees... this is Helene, signing off."

Click!

  At that sound, the radio was silent.

"Well, that was short. So Haystack how'd ya-" Turning around, he saw Haystack doing his best to break free from the little one's hold.

"Don't-Nmh-worry-Grr-Maribelle." Haystack said in between grunts. "It's g-gonna be-Nmh-alr'aght."

  Not letting his comrade struggle on his own, he went onto the other side of the bed and placed his hands on her hips and heaved. However, the girl was as strong as an ox, which was as precocious as every other impressive stunt she pulled yesterday; but her resistance would soon grow futile with one last tug. She was sent soaring towards Ivan's stomach, sending him smashing into the wall.

"Ow." Ivan groaned, rubbing his head while watching Maribelle run back to Haystack; but the earth pony was quick to stop her.

"Calm down Maribelle." He said with a raised voice. "Everything's f'ahne. Ya don't need to worry."

  She looked up at him as her heavy breathing began to slow down.

  He looked back at her with similar feelings and began to ease her. Softly, he spoke whatever he could at her. "It's alr'aght. There's no more noise, It'll be okay."

  The girl stood on the bed without saying anything. All she desired was to be by Haystack for safety, but he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Just let it go."

  The girl didn't want to see the pony annoyed by the fact that sudden loud noises scare her... even though they did. Her face changed to one of courage, knowing that she'll do his best to make him happy. She charged past his hoof and briefly hugged him before running out of the room.

  Ivan, watching the event unfold, got up and said. "God, that was a bit... odd."

  Haystack was looked down morosely as his human buddy approached him.

  After sighing at the sight, Ivan gave his opinion on the situation. "Look, just stop questioning why Maribelle acts like this... It'll only make the situation worse.."

  He took a few steps back and headed for the door. Wanting to say a little more, he stopped and looked back like a cowboy leaving a town, "I'm as concerned as you are, you know."

  He then exited the room and towards the kitchen.

  Still looking down, Haystack resisted the urge to ask. He didn't know why this is happening, but the concern was to get that package delivered and not wonder why there is a Symbiotic relationship between a human girl and a Earth pony stallion. Still, his affection towards her was something he held dearly since then. So he wasn't going to let it go. Looking into her eyes earlier, he noticed the loyalty she had within her. It was something that made him feel more comfortable than ever to know that even in her child form, the girl will have his back; and he should've seen that awhile back.  So, Head high, and pride filled, he walked out the room, vowing to do the same for her.

  On the counter, the three sat on stools as they were being served a bowl of 'Chex mix' cereal.

"I'm sorry you guys, this is all I can serve you." Lillian apologized. "The state told us that the rations don't come out until Sunday."

"Meh, don't be, Madame. Besides it's fortunate that they're going to give you what you deserved." After eating a spoonful of the honey glazed cereal, Ivan looked around and realized that Pierre wasn't around. In question, Ivan asked. "Hey, where's Pierre?"

"Uh, yeah, Troy called, he assigned him to get Maribelle's backpack from the museum."

  The news made Maribelle's heart sink. "Uh.. I'm...  sorry."

  But the others couldn't make out what she said.

"I'm sorry sweetie, what was that?" Lillian asked.

  In the sound of a puppy's cry she repeated her statement. "I-I'm... sorry."

"Hmm?"

"Uh..." Tears of shame flowed out of his eyes. "I'm... I'm."

  Suddenly, she saw a hoof land on her knee. Then her feelings changed automatically at the sight. The pony had her back. With him, she could say anything. In that moment, she looked at Haystack with the same feeling that they had now, confidence. She then turned to Lillian and told her apology. "I'm sorry... sorry for getting Pierre to-."

"Oh, it's okay sweetie. He'll be alright." She then proceeded to pat her on the head to raise her self-esteem, and that worked; but when she turned around, she only frowned at the two and mouthed. "Take good care of her."

  They did nothing but nod.

  Pierre hid against a wall, distancing himself from the sniper in the room. The pink backpack was sitting on one of the corpses, specifically Blythe's. He can't believe that they actually forgot about that. He also can't believe that none of the soldiers even recognized the backpack. But, that doesn't matter now, he was just inches away from getting what he needed and getting the out of there.

  Disguised now, Pierre went into the room and headed for the package.

Clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop

  Hearing the shoe steps, the sniper turned around. "Ah, Jared, how's it goin' buddy?"

"Um, great my man." Pierre said in the disguise's voice, "How's the day been to you?"

  The two gave each other a high five. "Good, very good.... So, what brings you here?"

"Oh, just picking that backpack up."

"Ha, Well, I don't think you should be doing that, you know that that's subject A1's backpack, right?"

  Stunned, he tilted his head. "Oh?"

"What, you didn't here? The great leader told us to be careful with her, because for a girl that looks like a toddler, she sure can kill."

  Pierre didn't know that they're putting her on the most wanted list now. Looks like her rampage has caused Vanessa to inform every soldier on who she was, "Well, looks like I've been living under a rock."

"Looks like you were, plus the leader said that all files of Silver Fox will be deleted as of today down at the department of security; in order to prevent the infiltratorsof knowing any more about her."

  He held back his urge to gasp at that and said. "Yeah... anyways, I have to take this back to the department of security for further investiga-"

"What are ya talkin' about? You're not a CSI."

"Oh..." He felt a bit nervous on what to say next, but he got it. "Ha, j-just... kidding?"

  The sniper looked at him with glaring eyes.

"Yeah," The spy thought. "He knows."

  He then took out his revolver.

BLAM!!

For the past couple of minutes now, the four ate peacefully... well, sort of. For those couple minutes, Maribelle has been humming a little tune as she ate. Lillian found it nice, Ivan found it both nice and annoying, and Haystack found it... well, odd. Why, odd? Because it's being hummed in the exact same tune as the lullaby he sung to her last night.

"But she's in her chah'ld form." He thought. "How does she remember?"

"Psst, Haystack." Ivan whispered, with no response to follow. "Haystack.!"

"Hmm?" The pony snapped out of his thought to tend to his comrade's needs.

"Would you kindly tell her to shut up?"

"No!"

"Huh?"

  They now faced a frustrated Maribelle, for the command simply bothered her into humming even more... loud.

  So she cannot hear her, Ivan used the little he knew of sign language. He pointed at Maribelle, and used his right hand to act like he's slashing his own throat.

  Understanding what he was getting at, he proceeded to give the order verbally, "Maribelle."

"Hmmph?" She said through her cereal filled mouth.

"Can you be quiet?" He said gently, "We're all tr'ahin' to eat."

  She looked down in self-pity for annoying him, "Oh, okay... sorry."

  He placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's alr'aght. Don't feel bad."

  She nodded understandably.

"Huh, Maribelle seems very obedient to you." Lillian pointed out.

"Mmm Hmm." His eyes were still fixed on her as he watched in empathy. He detached his hoof from her and continued to eat the remnants of his cereal.

  Knowing that he didn't want to continue, she then went over to Ivan for a talk. "So Ivan, where are ya from?"

  The boy realized that she never asked that, but since everyone in the kitchen was now looking at him in curiosity, he had no choice but to place attach a chain in his inner door, and open up. "Ugh... Chicago."

"Chicago?" Lillian had the urge to frown at his little disclosure, but she gave in in three seconds. "Heard there were terrible things going on there."

"Yep." Ivan took the bowl and drank the last of milk that was in it.

"Uh, aren't you a bit worried."

  Once it was empty, he put the bowl down and responded. "Nope... things have been bad since the day I was born. So I'm used to it."

  He then remembered something. "Hey, Haystack, what part of Equestria are you-"

"Ponyville." He swiftly answered, knowing that he was bound to ask sometime.

  Again, Lillian was first to reply. "Ponyville?'

"Yeah, a city that was established in Nineteen sixty-one. " Ivan lectured. "In fact the city's location, or any territory south of Canterlot for that matter wasn't even Equestrian territory until Celestia allied with the Nazis. Huh, what an idiot."

  Haystack dropped his spoon and walked over to Ivan in a fit of anger. "She didn't know that Hitler was an awful human bein'!"

"Haystack!!"

  He turned around to notice that it was Maribelle who cried for him. In discipline, she pointed at his seat; which was interpreted as an order to sit down.

  To not disappoint her, he obeyed such command.

"Phew." Ivan thought, before returning to educate Lillian about the little town. "Anyways, the country annexed the land from Denmark in Nineteen forty-five, and the first settlements didn't start until Nineteen Fifty-eight when settlers found Ponyville and established it as such three years from then."

  The sunlight began to shine over them.

"Well, nice history Ivan."

  Haystack added a little sarcasm into his compliment. "Yeah, n'ahce."

  Ivan didn't react to any of them, he just nodded softly and said his thanks.

  With that out of the way, the room was quiet again, so Lillian chose to continue the conversation. "So, now that you both told us where you guys are from, how about tell me about why you both are-"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

  The knocking interrupted her suggestion. She then went to go open the door. On the other side was Pierre, panting incessantly as he waited for the door to open. When it did, he rushed in with an urgent message.

"Ivan..."

"... We have to attack the Department of security?" Ivan asked.

"Mmm Hmm." Pierre replied, speeding the recently stolen squad car down town.

"So why did you rush us out of the house without letting us at least say thank-"

"It's because they're going to delete all intelligence on Silver Fox."

"Oh, that's bad... But wait a minute why can't-"

"A direct assault works. Covert missions have always failed."

"Can you at least tell me why-"

"No!"

"Ugh, fine."

  In the back seat, the little girl kept encouraging Haystack to apologize after that short outburst back in Lillian's house. She could tell by his face that he really felt bad. So, after a couple seconds, he gave in.

"Ah'van?"

"Yes Haystack."

"Ah'm, Ah'm...." He struggled to say it, but Maribelle had his back. "Ah'm sorry f'er that little-"

"It's all good, Haystack." He smirked. "No harm was done. Mainly because I know how you ponies get at times."

He then realized that.  "Oh."

"Yeah, people, and ponies, will do anything to defend their country... even though there siding with a totally lost cause. In the end, the people end up going up against that cause in order to find what they want, liberty. Kind of like here." He then told him a story, "I remember reading about two siblings who stood against Nazi Germany. They believed in freedom, and they wanted to spread its word. They had some success, but were eventually caught... and executed."

  Haystack felt sorry for those two, they fought for a better world. Even if they lived under a power-hungry leader, a leader that Princess Celestia failed to recognize before it was too late. He then refocused on Ivan's words.

"And here, I guess they're doing the same, only with guns instead of words. What I'm saying is, don't be a blind patriot... or for that matter, don't be a patriot at all." He then turned around, 'Look, I don't know if Princess Celestia is like the leaders in our race, but I recommend that you don't look at her as a goddess among-"

  That statement offended the young pony. "Hey, Celestia is a goddess, ya Jackass!"

  Calmly, Ivan replied, "And that's the problem. Just because she lived for a thousand years, doesn't make her-"

Schreeeaaach!!

"We're here." Pierre said before getting out of the car and running up the steps.

  This didn't give the others a time to look, they just followed a long with him with the weapons that they had The quartet walked in to notice a large number of soldiers standing in the massive lobby. Stunned, they pulled out their weapons and lined up their shot.

"Pierre, what now?" asked Ivan.

"Frags out?"

"I knew you'd say that."

The four took out their grenades, armed them, and tossed them. The explosion was enough to break the glass of the entrances and cover the lobby in heavy smoke.

"Wow!" Ivan shouted amidst gunfire. "That was unexpected!"