To Run Away...

Chapter 25

   Perry watched from above, only instead of hanging around like before. He stood back on the floor for safekeeping.

Growl!

"Madame Doofenshmirtz, looks like the little girl was able to find out what operates the damn thing."

"What the hell?"

Growl!

"She's Subject freaking A1, Madame, now where the hell are those reinforcements?!"

"On the way!"

Growl!

"By the way..." He looked into his binocular, looking over Wesley's motionless boy.

Growl!

"Wesley's hurt."

"What!?"

*Click!

  At the sound of the phone hanging up, he nodded with a hint of laughter.

"Oh Vanessa, Wesley's controlling you, and neither of you both even know it."

  The four just looked at the baby, knowing that it was time.

"So..." Ivan spoke, looking at the saddened little girl. "Judging by the look, you're saying that we need to do extract the Gabe out of her... right?"

  She nodded again before getting the syringe out of her backpack and hand it over to him. "Just... do it... p-put 'em... out of it's m-mis-sery."

  Ivan walked over to the baby and pierced it through the baby's delicate skin, making more tears burst out of her little eyes.

"But, can we save 'em?" Haystack asked, not wanting to see the poor baby die in front of him.

  Ivan just sighed, feeling a tad of self-pity from his procedure. "Sorry, the baby will die anyways if we spare it... remember?"

"B-but can't it, like, spend a little more time-"

"It's better that the kid doesn't die a slow one." He pushed the needle deeper into the skin, but this baby didn't sob. It was as quiet as a sheep going down the same road.

"Wh'ah isn't it cr'ahin'?" He thought, mentally shaking in shock. "The other one cried, but not this one."

  Then a voice jumped in. "Because this one was bred to fight... the one in the house was bred to live a 'Normal' life."

"Huh?" He looked down, finding that Maribelle was looking back at him.

  He placed his hoof over his forehead, looking away and trembling. "What the hay is goin' on?"

  By then, all of the baby's Gabe was gone... and so was the glow in her eyes.

"Whoa." He said, awestruck by the short spectacle... and by short, it meant that the baby would combust into a flood of blue flames. This time, he didn't bask in the unusual sight. "Jeez."

  In only eight seconds, the newborn would turn into nothing but ash in the capsule. The only things they got out of it, was Gabe, and a tape recorder within the capsule. He picked up the tape recorder before standing up and injecting himself with half of the bright red liquid. With every cold drop being shot into his veins, he felt his heart pounding like a large drumstick over a gong. He then hand it over to Haystack, in which he instantly injected into him like a hungry dog.

"Uh, Haystack." Ivan asked, concerned at the way he acquired it. "Are you alright?"

  The moment he finished, he released the needle from her fur. "What?"

"You charged at that needle like jackasses on Black Friday, I mean-"

"What's Black Friday?"

   He pretty needed to remind himself about what's in Equestria and what isn't. "Oh, right, Anyways, why did you do that?"

"Oh, uh, It's that." He looked past the smoke, to find that a fresh new wave  of reinforcements were heading their way. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

  The others were surprised at the turn of events. Without wasting time, they ran away from the scene, and into a large two story building across the street. Inside, was a small but empty waiting room, but that didn't change the fact that they were hiding here. Ivan shut the door in a flash, and regrouped with the squad.

"So, where are we-"

"Look underneath your feet." said Pierre.

  Doing so, he found a logo painted on the floor. It was a shall we say peculiar one, with a dove over a red cross which lied over a cyan circle.

"A hospital?" was Ivan's first guess.

"No, a clinic, before 'ze revolution." The spy then took a walk around, "When Danville and its neighbors first seceded from 'ze Union, this would become 'ze capital's hospital."

  Ivan took every piece of information well, but had a question in return. "So, why is it empty?"

"Doofenshmirtz had it abandoned. He said that it was a blight to 'ze new Utopia, and since 'ze economy was near dead, he chose to leave it there until they can demolish it without killing anyone in 'ze who altercation."

"So why couldn't they just blow it up with RPG's, choppers or-."

"I told you 'ze economy was near-"

"HEY!!!"

  The sudden yell made them tremble briefly before turning to their source. The one who yelled that was Haystack, who looked irritated from their rather brief conversation.

"Whoa, man!" said Ivan.

"Yes, calm down."

  Maribelle said nothing but gesture them to the door. She didn't have anything to say, neither through facial expression or speech.

"Let's just get in." murmured Ivan, concerned of Haystack, especially since he was looking at the two with impatient eyes.

  Pierre nodded in approval. The two then walked through the door, which led them to a narrow corridor. Maribelle then ran past them and told them to follow her with her hands.

  Running down the corridor, they found themselves at a staircase in the end. They then followed her up, where she led them to the top floor of the building. During the walk, Ivan chose to play the Hienz recording from last night, in order to ease the tension. While the speech played, Haystack's angry demeanor slowly faded into that of condolence once the recording ended.

"So, you humans never learn, do you?" said he. "You keep thinking that it should be nothing but conform."

"Hmmph." Ivan simpered slightly. "You're right... but that doesn't mean that you're not doing the same."

"Hey, Celestia is a benevolent Princess, don't speak against her."

  Ivan had enough of his flag-waving ramble. "Erh, look, I'm no Lunarist or anything. Just don't act like we humans and ponies don't have anything in common... Don't get it? Then think of why you're here in the first place."

  Haystack just looked up and chose not to think about, for his safety and his safety only. "She did the r'aght thing, you know."

  Ivan wanted to punch that pony, but didn't have the guts to do so.

  By the time that mini-conversation ended, they noticed that their little guide had led them to a black vending in the middle of the hallway.

  Maribelle then reached into her pocket and handed them another note to read. This time, Ivan was the one reading. "Remember when I told you that those plastic coins don't matter? ... Yes? Then buy up... Maribelle."

  Feeling flabbergasted by her writing, he looked over to the little girl, who was smiling back at him with appreciation. "Uh.. okay then."

  It was all he could say before walking over to the machine and letting it do its work.

"Hello there, sir or Madame!" said the male voice with his sunshine and rainbow feeling. "Welcome to the mini-store of power! The place where you can upgrade your strengths and abilities to new and better levels!"

"Huh, I thought that I can upgrade my combat and medical abilities."

  Pierre had to remind of him of why. "You must've confronted an older model, Tell me, did it look like a slot machine."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Place your hand on the scanner to see what you can buy, my friend!"

"Alright." muttered he, before placing his right hand on the flat gray square. Pressing it, the number appeared on the screen like a timer on a stopwatch. The number was,

580

                                                                                       [center-GABE-

"Well I'll be, mister, you sure are fighting for the state!" The machine said with amazement, "That's enough to buy these products!"

  They appeared in list form, and divided into three categories; ammo, body-builders, and DICE.

"Huh, I have plenty of ammo to spare... let's head to the dice." He touched the red slot, making a small list appear in blue ones. Unfortunately, the touch didn't send him to the category. A message would pop up in the center screen saying:

                                                                                                                                                                  (X)

I'm sorry, you don't have the Gabe required to enterthis category.

"Damn, I was sure looking forward to that." He exited out the message and went over to the Body builders section to see if he could afford anything there. To his advantage, he managed to find some sweet ones at even sweeter deals; and there was this one that got his attention. It was called "Point and click", and the title was enough to interest him. Even with the log for it to his right, which was of a crosshair and three droplets of blood in the center. Plus, it cost One hundred and fifty Gabe. Grinning, he made the purchase.

"Wise choice, my soldier friend!"

The screen then read...

Processing...

  ... for about a dozen seconds before the sound of exhausting steam was heard, along with a series of thuds. Then, came out the product via a small door sizable enough for a medium sized dog to go through.

"Anything else my friend?" The voice asked with the choices on screen.

(Yes) (No)

  He thought about it, but preferred to consult his French tour guide for help, "Are there more of these in the city."

"Yeah." The guy replied with the modesty of a tour guide, "In fact they are all over the country. You just have to find them."

  Knowing that he has to save the liquid for future purchases, he tapped the 'No' option. And instantly, the voice said his good-byes, "Thank you sir, thank you for shopping with us!!"

  Then a little National themed jingle played afterwards as if there was parade out in the streets.

"Okay, your turn Haystack." He stepped out of the way for his four-legged friend to buy.

  The pony then placed his hoof over the scanner... and it had no problem in reading it. His Gabe amount read,

987-GABE-

"Whoa, my little pony! You're not so little after all!" The voice shouted with awe. "Looks like you'll be needing products like these!!"

  The categories appeared as usual.

  Ivan whispered his concerns to Pierre, "Huh, the machine didn't say anything about the fact that he's a pony."

"Let's not question Heinz's intentions towards this." Pierre said.

"I guess we shouldn't."

  The sound of steam and thuds were heard.

"Anything else my friend?"

  A few seconds passed.

"Thank you, thank you for shopping with us!"

  Hearing that, Ivan walked up to him and asked politely. "So, what did you buy?"

  Maribelle then told them to follow her down the hallway once the purchases were done, in which they happily complied.

"Oh, extra ammo for m'ah, sniper rifle, and that's about it." said he, while carrying a small wooden crate on his back with the words "SR ammo" written in black permanent marker. "Ah'd rather save that stuff for future purchases than waste it all in one shot."

  He then tossed it into his saddlebag for safekeeping.

"Hmm..." He felt considerate about the fact that he had the same thing in mind. "... Good, anyways how much did it cost you?"

"A hundred Gabe for twenty fah've bullets."

"Christ, that's a lot."

"Who's Christ?"

  Another face palm was imminent, but he stood his ground, muttering. "Right."

  Maribelle lead them down a door, where a small flight of stairs were on the other side. They then followed her up them, and towards another door at the top. Outside, was the rooftop of the clinic.

"Now..." she said silently. "Y-you know... you know w-what t-to do."

  She pointed at the buildings, implying that they need to parkour their way back to Lillian's.

"Alright then." said Pierre.

"Hop on, then." Haystack bent over, allowing her to climb on.

  The group then ran off the building and onto the next one, and the next one, and the next one...

"Pierre?" asked Ivan through, managing to muster through his panting breath and blowing breeze.

"Yes?"

"So, who was Delilah?"

  Impulsively, he answered. "Delilah was a woman... and that's all I'm going to disclose, so don't bring it up again."

"Oh, sorry."

  They jumped over another alleyway. "It's alright."

  Back in Lillian's, they sat there in front of her laptop waiting for the USB to download.

"So, found anything?" Troy said through the phone.

"Still haven't found it, the USB is still downloading." Ivan replied.

  Meanwhile, to pass the time, Haystack chose to play Ivan's newly acquired tape recording.

"Erin... you... w-were s-something... s-special to me." The woman, clearly sounding ill stuttered. "*Cough* *Cough* ... b-but... you have... to go... I-I c-can't... t-take c-care of you... a-anymore... I-I... was... s-sent h-here b-because... Th-they... accused... that I was b-becoming one of th-them *Cough* *Cough*... and n-now... I h-had t-to s-suffer along s-side... th-these b-bastards *Cough* *Cough*!"

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"Hurry up in there, you 'crazy'!"

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

"I'M COMING, YOU-" Her throat tied into knots, causing her to choke. "*Cough!* *Cough!*J-just g-go... s-serve th-the s-state w-with Pride... I-I love you... I love you... I love you."

CRASH!!!

"Give us the Damn baby!"

  There was nothing but sobbing after hearing that.

"Thank you Madame."

Tap! Tap!

"Hey, lady what the hell are ya-"

BLAM!

  It was silent for a few seconds before the soldier let out a depressing sigh, "I-I'm... sorry Madame... It just had to be done."

Tap!

  It was quiet after that footstep.

Click!

  Then the recording ended.

  Since everyone heard it, opinions on it were pretty much the same.

"We have to be careful." Lillian said Candidly. "Because like 'she' said, Here and outside this nation, all we're doing is surviving... there's no such thing as living."

  They knew what they meant by 'she', and they still kept that in mind.

"I-I found something." the little girl said.

  The four went over to the computer to see what she found. It was a photo of a skyline with the sun rising up from it."

"Huh, that's peculiar." said Ivan.

  He then went over to other files, which were blocked, and required a password in order to access.

"How the hell is that even possible?" said Troy.

"Don't know, the state denies 'ze people internet anyways."

"Look, if that's the case, then-."

  Maribelle then scrolled down to the bottom of the second file, which read. "If you want to acquire the password for this file, you must head to the city of Aegnus."

"So, head to Aegnus, open that file up, and more intel will be given, right?" asked Haystack.

  Maribelle just nodded.

"So, is this where you took him to?"

"Yes, siree." Troy moaned. "So just go and complete your mission. That's all I want now. By the way, I won't be able to contact you while you're out of the city... and before you say anything else... take the girl with you. She'll be a bit useful..."

"Like she already has." Ivan muttered in extremely low volume, "Does a better job than you."

"... By the way, I have to go now, we're moving to another location, Bye-"

Click!

Beeeeeeeeep...

"Damn, that was quick. Must've been in a hurry."

"So, you'll be leaving then." Lillian sat on her chair, not feeling anything from Troy's recent orders.

  The group turned around, and softly, Haystack said to her. "Ah- Ah guess so."

  Ivan sighed, "Besides, we have debts to pay."

  She then looked down at her hands, which were over her lap. "I see."

  The goodbyes were as quick as their greetings yesterday; and in a moment's notice, they were gone. They would reach the end of town and carjack a lone Humvee in the middle of the suburbs, only to realize that disguise was futile due to Haystack's presence. So instead, they used the Humvee to ram through the gateway and kill as many soldiers as they could before making a clean getaway. The enemy wouldn't follow after the incident, and just like that, they were on their way to the city of Aegnus. Ivan knew that everything from their goodbyes to now went so fast, but he decided to tell others if they felt the same; because as we all know, time slips away like a hawk diving towards its prey.