To Run Away...

Chapter 27

   It's been at least one minute since the standoff began. The quartet stood perfectly still as the shotgun barrels stood against their necks. Neither side moved, but both were expecting the other to do so.

  But despite the eagerness, Ivan was thinking about how he could reason with them without the beheading of one of... no, anyone in the premise. Slowly, he opened his mouth to say a word. Unfortunately, the women were smart enough to catch that. Quickly, the woman pushed the barrel forward.

"Don't even think about it, Jackass." She snarled, clinching onto a straw of hay in between her teeth.

"I was just going to say something." He explained.

"Not gonna happen." She said. "Not until Isabella arrives."

"Well, fun fact, the state troops will soon find us if we keep standing here."

"We've been around here many times." She debunked as soon as Ivan's theory was stated. "Even as sitting ducks, we were able to stay away from unwanted trouble."

"She's right, you know." A voice said in the distance.

  The Firestorm troopers settled their guns down as soon as they heard that voice.

"Captain Isabella." The squad softly chanted.

  The woman entered into the scene. Her hair was raven black and reached onto her lower back. Over her hair, was the usual beret, only with a bow that was slightly darker than that.

"At ease, girls." She said calmly. "So, what's the status, Addison?"

"Captain, we were able to capture these spies that were about to cross into Aegnus."

"Oh really?" She took her sunglasses off, revealing her navy blue eyes. But to the quartet's surprise, she was starting to take a silenced pistol out. In an instant, she would look through the iron sight, and point it at Ivan.

  His eyes flew wide open. "Wait, hold-"

Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!

  All three bullets deflected off him like rubber balls.

  He sighed. "Oh, right."

  She then aimed it at Pierre, which had the same effect. Then onto Haystack... same effect. Then onto Maribelle, but Haystack wasn't going to allow that. Rapidly, he stood right in front of her, glaring daggers at the eccentric woman.

"Don't you dare." He said coldly.

"Get out of the way, or the others get it." She demanded, nodding at her comrades to prepare if resistance was ever present; and it seemed that her command would come into fruition, because the equine wasn't going to back down.

"Aw damn it, Haystack. Just let it go." Ivan muttered.

  Suddenly, he felt the little girl tug his saddle. Turning around, he found her pointing to her left. He looked in that direction to find nothing.

"There's nothing there, Maribelle." He said. "Everything is-"

  The girl briefly crossed her arms and pouted her lips, a little annoyed at his misinterpretation of her gesture. So, she made another one, which was her hand waving back and forth. And quickly, he was able to get it.

"Huh? B-but... Maribelle... I-I can't-."

  She rolled her eyes and handed him another message, which read.

Haystack, ... um,

                                                          While I'm in my child phase, I recommend

                                                        that you let her be when she needs to. It's for the best

                                                   that you give me/her my/her independence. That's

                                                                parenting 101, my friend.

                                                                                                      - Maribelle

                                                                                                                PS: Love isn't reciprocal.

  He was shocked to find what Ivan said was written on there.

  Softly, she spoke. "J-just... let me."

  He stood silent, unconvinced to let the woman shoot at her. But despite that, he remembered how capable she was. Remembering the phrase, he stood back and let her do her thing.

"Nice that the little girl was able to talk you into it." Isabella smirked.

  Maribelle just stood still, watching as she lined up the shot.

Thwap!

  The bullet flew towards her head, but she managed to duck back before the bullet could even hit her eye.

"Hmm." She lined the shot up again.

Thwap!

  The next one aimed for her stomach; but she managed to turn to the right, letting the bullet pass like someone going through a door.

Thwap!

  The last one aimed for her leg; but Maribelle jumped high in the air and took her sword out. She then landed on Isabella's breasts, pushing her to the ground.

  Her comrades quickly aimed their shotguns at the little girl while she planted her feet on the ground and aimed the blade at her throat.

"Wow, impressive." She chuckled, surprised at her skill. "At ease, ladies. They're apart of us."

  The others stood down, wiping the mercenaries' slate clean. Isabella then got up and let the little girl walk back to her friends.

  Solaced by the stand down, he gave his word. "Ugh, did Troy tell you that we bought a special shield call Shining Armor?"

"Yeah." Isabella took out a strip of mint gum, and chewed it alongside her nonchalant mood. "Why?"

"Because that should've given you the sign that we weren't spies."

"Hey, we had our reasons."

"What reasons?"

"We control the inner areas of the country, everything that isn't past the barbed wire, is ours."

  Interested in the divulgence by the commandos like Ivan and the others, Haystack weighed in. So, you people have y'er own territory?"

"Pfft, yeah, where do you expect BLU to deliver their weapons without dealing with RED and the state?"

"Uh..."

"Right." She said, continuing to chew her gum in that same mood. Stopping, she explained. "If you manage to fight your way through Aegnus and past the borders, you'll be in the state of Wyoming."

"Uh... yeah.... and...." Ivan said, wondering why she was telling them this. But it was shot down when he remembered lecturing Lillian about Ponyville's history.

"Go north, and you'll find yourself in the state line between Wyoming and North Dakota."

"What's she talkin' 'bout?" Haystack whispered.

"They're US states. Did you ever pay attention during trainin-"

"They never taught me this."

"Um, Excuse me!" Isabella interrupted, with sass in her mouth. "Anyways, BLU controls Montana. And outside Interstate ninety-four, exists a long ass tunnel... that's where we get our supplies."

  The four were silent were awhile, before Pierre spoke. "Yes, so what does this have to do with your reason why you accused us of being RED spies."

"Oh, isn't it obvious, spies were able to Sapp down our defenses in one of the towns. State troops tried to take the town, but we held firm, lost a lot of good men out there, but we pulled through."

"Huh, why didn't we see any of these towns?" said Ivan.

  She sighed. "You probably went in the direction where they weren't any of them. That probably explains the abandoned state Humvee we found."

"Oh... well, that was us, by the way."

"Yeah." She said. "Should've figured."

  Isabella then climbed up the hill and looked at the lights in the distance, "Look, I'd love to explain more, but my mission was to get you both into the city."

"Wait, do why didn't you-"

"Again, the attack."

"Oh, right." But he wondered how was it going to be executed. "So, how are we going to get in?"

"Simple, we make direct attack."

"And how exactly are you goin' to do that?" asked Haystack. "You do realize that there are minefields, right?"

  She began to giggle at his reason.

"Huh, what's so funny?"

"Ha ha, you don't know how we roll, don't you pony?"

"Grr, the name's-."

  His retort was interrupted by her whistling, grabbing the troops' attention. "May I have your attention, ladies?"

  Saying nothing, the girls put their shotguns at their hips and turned to face their captain with honor.

  Isabella then took out a grenade from one of her pockets, which caused the others to do so as well.

  The squad then walked past her and stood behind. It made Ivan count the number of Firestorm girls, in which he found that there were fifteen of them, plus Isabella, making sixteen.

"Okay Girls." she said. "You know what to do!"

"Yes Captain!" They all shouted before awaiting her next order.

  When it was given, it was a simple. "Frags out!"

  The women then bit the blades off and tossed them into the sky like archers with their bows and arrows. The grenades then hurdled over the hill and landed on the other side. What followed, were not a large group of explosions, but a massive blast. Blasts that made them feel like they were in front of the water fountains of the Las Vegas casinos.

  Pierre whistled in surprise. "Well I'll be."

  Dirt and debris landed on their heads, which gave the Firestorm girls their cue.

"Go! Go! Go!" Isabella shouted as they proceeded with the raid past the borders.

  The four would follow while she loaded her RPG with a rocket. She then aimed it at the fence.

Phsssheeewwww!

BOOM!!!

  The wooden fence ripped open, giving them a gateway inside.

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

  Bullets started to chase them as they successfully crossed the borders into the small base.

  Isabella then gave her comrades their next set of orders. "Okay girls, as usual, take the guard towers!"

"Eye-ay captain!!" One of the girls replied before nodding to the others beside her.

  The one and the other two turned to the right and headed for that guard tower. In the meantime, three others did the same for the one on the left... and the troops were stupid enough to keep focus on the main squadron instead of the three charging enemies who were about to use the towers' support beams as ladders.

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

Thwsh!

  A bullet hit one of the soldiers in the head

"Arrgh!" The soldier groaned.

"John!!" His friend shouted. The man turned to the source of the shot, to find that it was mercenary who was responsible. "Urrggghhh!!! Die!"

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

"Damn it!" He turned away to retrieve more ammot, only to find oneheir enemies jumping over them with her shotgun at him. "Crap!"

BLAM!!

  The man was thrown back as the fragments from the shell ended his life.

"The towers have been taken, Captain!" The woman radioed while using the railing as cover.

"Alright, Gretchen!" Isabella replied. "Now see if you girls can help us with unpinning us!"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Looks like the state and RED decided to beef up security! They have more drones now!"

BLAM!!

Beep!

BOOM!!

"We'll see what we can do, Gretchen out!!"

Static!

  On the other end, Isabella and the others were using the buildings as cover while more bullets flew both past and over them.

"Gretchen, hurry the hell up!!"

"We're trying Izzy!!" She shouted back. "But they've got us pinned down as well!  Looks like you're right on them beefing up security!"

"Damn." She muttered. "So what are you doing now!"

"We're using the towers' interior shelters as foxholes and try to snipe them!"

"How?"

"Sniper rifles are in here!"

"Ugh." She put her head over her hands. "Good luck, then!"

"Alright!, Gretchen out again!!"

Static!

  She then looked at Ivan, whom he and his friends were looking back at her for further orders.

"What?" She said cynically.

"We're not going to last that long if we keep standing here." He said, "Plus, the pony and I don't know much around here, so could you tell us where to go?"

  She stood on both feet and looked at them with angry eyes, but with time, she was able to ease it off and calm herself down, "A-alright."

  The captain then walked over to the right and took out a small mirror and placed it in front of her, "Okay, now, looks like they're deploying another set of drones.... and they have troops using the windows of the buildings as garrisons. It also seems that they're using wranglers to control the sentries... so, I want you to take this RPG and try and take that sentry out while the girls and I try to-."

"AAARRRGGGH!!" The soldier cried as he collapsed to the ground in agony that came from his back.

"What the hell?" She asked herself while watching electrical surges envelop the sentry gun.

"Well I'll be." Wowed Ivan calmly as he watched his covert buddy run past enemy fire, "Looks like Pierre's already taken action."

  The sentry gun would later explode.

"Sentry down!!" One of the soldiers cried. "Urrrgghh, get that spy!!"

"Move!!!" Pierre would shout.

"Oh, Okay!!!" She then turned to the others. "Go! While they're busy chasing Pierre!"

  Gretchen did her best to cover them, but she was a terrible shot with the sniper rifle. Every shot seem to miss the sentry in front of her, even while the soldier was distracted with Pierre.. Fortunately, her comrades didn't to have a problem with pushing forward, even if Gretchen's efforts were futile.

  In the meantime, Ivan was one of that ones that climbed up the building and onto the slanted rooftops with to find a suitable position to sabotage the enemy lines from behind. Seeing that the Sentry gunner was distracted by Pierre, it seemed possible... Uh, however, it seemed that the soldier wasn't that stupid in forgetting that he was supposed to pin the enemy in front of him. So, with a "Ha!" and quick turn of the Sentry, he was back to firing at them.

"Oh Columbia." Ivan muttered before a quartet of rockets hurdled towards him like baseballs, "Umph!!!"

  He was thrown back several feet, only to feel three bullets punch through him like a samurai sword through bamboo. He managed to hold on to the edge as he mounted his rifle over the rooftop.

"O-ow..." He looked down to find droplets of blood hitting the floor. The pain overrunning his entire stomach and arm. But through the pain, he was able to keep the rifle in position and fire as many rounds as possible. Then, he felt a light breeze in his head, which would soon rush into the gun wielding hand. Every shot he fired was able to hit the sentry were it hurt. Thanks to the "Point and click" body-builder, it was quick.

BOOM!

"Sentry-." A bullet would cut him off. "AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!"

  As blood spewed from his chest and stomach, the soldier would fall off the roof while Ivan climbed back on the roof to heal himself with Haystack's syringes. The rush of warmth would relieve him from the pain and gashes, making them disappear.

  After finding the energy to get back up, he managed to run to the end of the building rooftop and go prone. He leaned forward and looked at what they were up against.

"What the hell are those?" He was now facing at the row of short four legged robots. Their color, black as usual. Weapons they yield, two automated machine gun turrets mounted on the top and on the front, "Aw crap."

Whoosh!

  Suddenly, two silhouettes would jump up and briefly levitate in front of him, "Oh sweet Columbia."

  The would then land beside him, revealing their appearance.

"Ugh, you guys again." He muttered.

  The commando attempted to kick him in the stomach. But Ivan was able to jump to the side, making him miss. Swiftly, he reloaded his rifle and fired at least five rounds. However, the commandos were able to dodge every shot.

"Damn it."

BLAM!!

  The commando to his left was thrown off the roof after a shotgun blast ran through his body.

"Huh?" Ivan turned around to find one of the Firestorm girls holding the shotgun like some chick in an action movie.

Cl-click!!

"S'up, members of Starfox." She said sultrily.

BLAM!!

  A bullet tore through the man's head.

"Whoa!" She looked down, to find the pony wielding his sniper rifle. "Hmm, wow. He's a good shot."

"Hmm." Ivan smirked. "It's in his blood."

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

  Two bullets hit him in the side of his head, but deflected off.

"Oh son of a bitch."

  Two more commandos jumped onto the roof and fired more SMG rounds.

"Take care of the one in front of you!" The Firestorm girl cried as one of them charged towards her position.

BLAM!!

  Unfortunately, she hit nothing. The commando was able to jump high in time.

Cl-click!!

"Dammit." She muttered before aiming upwards.

BLAM!

  Nothing.

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

  Then she felt something hit her back and exit out from over her breasts, letting blood gush out. Choking from it, she fell on her knees and then onto the ground.

"Oh crap." He whined in panic before the commandos opened fire.

"Isabella, Addison's down." Gretchen called from the guard tower.

  All she did was sigh. "I got nothing to say... may she rest in peace. Now go over and assist Ivan before they decide to send in Air-support."

"Yes Madame, Gretchen out."

Static!

  Ivan now had to deal with both of them on his own.

Zap!

"The hell?"

  A bolt of electricity was flying towards him. Without wasting time, he ducked his head backwards and let the bolt soar above him and towards the commando behind him.

  ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz!!!

  The man shook and screamed non-stop as surges of electricity ran through his body like burrowing gophers. Then, three bullets hit his body, increasing the voltage to the point where the head exploded. And that gave Ivan chills from the past, "Th-the h-hell... w-was... th-that?!"

Zap!

ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz!!!

The surges rumbled around Ivan's body, making him feel numb as the bolts shocked him all over his body, "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

BLAM!

  The last commando standing had his head blown off by Haystack's rifle.

  The surge in Ivan only lasted for about eight seconds before it all eased down to nothing but dizziness.

"Ugh, I'm not going to repeat that question again." He said while rubbing his head, "Oh, funny. My hair's in tact."

  He then ran off to the edge of the building again, and went prone.

  Down below, all Haystack did was watch him, muttering, "You're welcome."

  Ivan loaded his grenade launcher and aimed for one of the walking drones.

Rat-at-at-at-at!

  The turret stopped firing... before pointing at Ivan's position.

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

  He fled back before any of the bullets could even touch him.

  Haystack watched everything. He knew that it was hopeless. Everyone was now pinned down by enemy fire, and it won't take long before they're lucky enough to detonate some tear gas, or a grenade, or anything to flush them all out.

"It's hopeless." He said to himself, thinking of his family back home. Again, he was in this situation... on the verge of death and questioning when will they cross the line, while he sobbed softly, he muttered. "I-I'm so sorry, Applejack... G-granny..."

"Whaddaya mean?" said Maribelle in her now deepened voice.

"Huh?" He gasped before looking up to find the full moon up in the sky. "Oh... uh..."

  She looked up as well. "Huh, third in a row... anyways, looks like we're pinned down here in Aegnus. aren't we?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I guess that explains why 'it's hopeless'."

  He nodded again.

"Or... maybe it isn't." She pointed at the door next to him.

"Now what are you talkin' 'bout." He asked.

  Saying nothing, she walked over to the door and opened it, she would soon break her own silence by uttering these two words. "Step inside."

  Trusting her, he obeyed the command.

  Maribelle turned on the light to reveal another vending machine like the ones back at the abandoned clinic.

  The sight of that made his heart pound and his mind dictate him to head over there... in which he did. The machine did its greetings, and Haystack let it scan his hoof. The machine gave him the complements and then the deals. His head kept telling him to go to the Dice like a bunch of friends when they shout 'Chug!' repeatedly while you down a large mug of beer down your throat. He picked that category and went to the only one he could afford.

  It was called. "The Emperor's strike"

  Liking the name of it, he selected it, and in no time, the Dice was in his hooves.

"Thank you, thank you for shopping with us!!" The voice said before the jingle played.

  That's when Haystack's head snapped back into reality, bobbing slowly, "Whoa, what the hell happened?"

  He looked over at Maribelle, who looked back at him with such tranquility in herself as she had her hands behind her back, "Oh, you just bought yourself some dice. It's in your hooves... By the way, if you haven't noticed, your nose is bleeding."

"What?" He placed his hoof over his nose to feel it, she was right. "Uh... uh..."

"Just drink the damn dice." She sighed.

"Oh, alr'aght master- Uh, I mean, Maribelle." Like a crazed man, he screwed the cap off and began drinking. Like Ivan, he drank it all until not a single drop remained inside.

"Good." She smiled, "Now... get ready for the-"

  He began to feel jittery in his legs, then in his arms, then his stomach, then his head. Static would swarm all around him as if he just happened to accommodate himself in a recently dried blanket... only it hurt... a lot.

"S-side affect." She mumbled, trying to hide the fact that she should've warned him from the start.

"What in Equestria is goin' on!!" He shouted at the top of his lung before all he could do now was collapse onto the floor and do his best to overcome the dreadful feeling. But as he did so, his entire body went numb and his entire sight faded to black.

*  -  *

  *  -  *

  He couldn't see anything right now, but he could hear a gentle voice whispering into his ear. Telling him with such lust, but at the same time such care, "I'll be waiting for you... no matter how long it takes... I'll stay by your side... I love you, Big Macintosh."

"Wake up, Haystack!" Another voice shouted as something sharp and pointy broke his trance. "Wake up!"

  His eyes opened wide to find Maribelle sitting beside him, injecting his medical vaccine into his right foreleg.

"Huh?" He sat up, trying to comprehend what happened. "What? .... I .... uh... what.... why..."

"Wow, that must've really done a lot to you."

  He was finally able to regain his composure. "Ugh, just give me the Vita."

"No time, I looked through it myself." she said.

"What?"

  She rolled her eyes before summarizing the instructions, "Look, just say 'Fulmen' in your head, thrust any hoof forward while doing so to any enemy, drone, machine, there. Also, you need to drink soda in order to recharge."

"Oh, alright. But-"

"C'mon we have no time to lose." She proceeded to push him out of the office.

"But..."

"Alright, now use your new powers to take out that crawler over there." She interrupted pointing at the walking drone, "Got it?"

"Uh..."

"Do you understand, pony?" she said as if he were a sergeant in boot camp.

"Uh... uh, Okay."  He said nervously, letting the way she called him slide. The pony remembered her little summary pretty well. Shaking, he placed his arms in front of him like a catcher in a baseball team and prepared to fire.

"Good, on my mark.... three, two, one, fire!!"

"Fulmen!" He thought, thrusting his hands forward.

Zap!

"Okay Pierre, use the RPG!" Isabella commanded.

"But I can't, too many bullets in the air could cause it to explode."

"Just do it!"

"Ugh fine."

  He peeked out of the office they were in, but the bullets that nearly hit made him go back.

"Damn." He mumbled, before doing the same thing again. Only this time, he found that the drone was covered in electricity, immobilized, and defenseless. "What 'ze hell?"

  But the questioning didn't make him waste time. He got out of the garrison and fired the rocket directly at the robot's turret, obliterating it to pieces.

  Ivan on the other hand, was able to find out who fired the bolt of electricity; because he happened to watch him do the whole thing.

"Did he just fire electricity from his hoof?" He said, mouth gaped.