To Run Away...

Chapter 30

  While searching for the files, Ivan found another tape recorder on the mayor's desk and chose to play it before getting back to his task.

"June fifth, Twenty-thirty-two." said the man in the recording. "Scientists have just made a brilliant breakthrough in the children born from the Crazies..."

"Wow, why keep a tape that old here?" Ivan muttered.

"... It's been confirmed that these... things have a unique ability that make them precocious in any skill chosen for them. For example, the first one, in which we named Subject A1 has some sort of fondness towards moonlight. When exposed it to it, she can not only speak coherently, but she can also run, fight, and shoot like a Starfox commando... Sadly, uh, about that. The little girl must've used her skills to her advantage. Last night, she escaped from the research facility, killing twenty guards in five minutes. Damn bitch was armed with just a revolver. Pfft, and had twenty rounds with her... Huh, twenty rounds, twenty heads, four soldiers dead every minute, one dead every fifteen seconds.... Huh, glad I'm the mayor of this town. So I don't have to fear about dealing with rabid little monsters like her. At least subjects A2 onward will be put to good use by the state. All that matters now is that A1 joins them.... Damn it, and I hope that General Eckler has a plan to do so."

  The recording ended.

"Well, good luck with that." Ivan continued quietly.

"Ivan, does Silver Fox even know what file is it?" asked Pierre, annoyed that he wasn't able to find the intel they were looking for.

"Nope, she wasn't specific on where it-." His response was cut short wen he found a file that read, 'To the infiltrator' on the tab. "Oh, there it is."

"Are you sure that's the one?"

"Let's see." He opened it up, to reveal a letter that read,

Dear Mercenary contracted for this operation,

                                            If you have managed to find this file, I'll tell you what the next password...

  He skimmed through the rest of the letter until he found the...

- Silver Fox

  ... at the bottom.

"Yep, this is it." He put the folder inside the satchel. "Now let's get the hell-"

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

  The three hid behind the desk in a flash before any of the bullets could touch them.

"Stop, In the name of the great leader!" The person on the other side shouted. "You're surrounded! Now surrender to the state or you'll be cut down!"

  Ivan rolled his eyes, "Oh boy, he knows what's coming."

  He got out of cover and thrust his hand forward, releasing a ball of fire out the door (And eliminated his disguise.).

BOOM![

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" The man cried in agony.

"Go! Go! Go!" Ivan shouted.

  The duo ran towards the door and got ready to make their next move. By peeking into the hallway and looking through his iron sight.

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

  A line of five soldiers were his first victims. Pierre would follow and fire at the troops on the other side (Also loosing his disguise.). They then exited out the room and ran down the way they came.

"How the hell did they find us?!" Pierre shouted.

"Maybe the Isabella chick forgot to hide the bodies!"

"How do you know that?"

"Those Personnel carriers passing us should've been a sign for you!"

Outside, the three could hear nothing but gunfire coming from the city hall.

Still having her hand over her face, Isabella continued to blame herself, "Why the hell didn't I hide them? Now they're going to-"

"Calm down, Isabella." said Haystack. "They'll pull through. Usually, they've got the fire power to do-"

"But damn it, it could've been a much-"

"It wasn't your fault." He turned to look at her. "We were in a rush, so we had to... Uh, are ya cr'ahin'?"

"Uh..." She knew that the hiccups and the tear on her cheek was a dead giveaway, but she had to deny it. Fortunately, she had the advantage. The rain could easily cover it up.  "N-no... I'm fine."

  The tan earth pony knew that she was lying. But he didn't have the courage to tell her that. He just left her to cry by looking back into the scope of his rifle.

"Um..." His little companion squeaked, standing in between them as she ignored the rain falling over her. "I-it's okay. You can tell us."

  She looked up, facing the captain with reassuring eyes. "D-don't be afraid... if you want, I can tell you of what I'm scared of."

  Isabella lowered her hand, revealing her watery eyes that were shielded by both the hand and beret.

"Um... I-I'm afraid of thunder." A loud clap of one shook through the sky. Making her bounce up and tremble at the sound. "Y-yeah... th-that's what I'm afraid of."

  So, to not disappoint her, Isabella sucked it up and revealed her fear. "It's just th-that... that..."

  She turned to the enemy troops that were guarding the outside, gesturing them. "This!"

  Maribelle didn't get it. "Um... You're afraid to fight them? ... I thought..."

"No, Sweetie... It's something personal. I-I don't want to talk about it."

  Haystack felt empathy for her, but he knew that at any time she'll have to tell them.

"But you should, I already-"

  He placed a hoof on the little girl's shoulder. "Let it go, Maribelle. If she doesn't want to talk about it, she doesn't have to."

  They watched as Isabella sat against the wall, watching as she tried to hide more tears with her hand.

"But Haystack, she's sad-"

"Whatever she's sad about, she'll get over it."

BOOM!!

  There was an explosion coming from city hall, causing them to snap out of their issue and refocus on their mission. They searched for the explosion, before finding it outside the entrance. The blast was then followed by shooting.

Static!

"Haystack, we're going to need your help!" Ivan called.

"Yeah, yeah, cover you guys as-"

"Good, but be careful, those Personnel carriers are probably heading over to reinforce them!"

"Hmm, let's just be quick, and maybe we won't have to deal with them."

"Alright!"

  He turned the communication off and fired his rifle at three enemy soldiers using a police squad car as their protection.

  Thanks to the sound-suppressors they were given, and Haystack's keen marksmanship, the five were able to shoot down as many soldiers as they could. This gave Ivan and Pierre a chance to move onto the halfway mark of the heavily enforced enemy line without any lemons given to them.

Blam ,blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam,...

  Their successes were then challenged though, a bullets began to rip through both the rooftop and wall of the house. Not only there, but it also affected Ivan and Pierre as well.

"Son of a bitch!" Ivan muttered as he took cover behind an empty Humvee, the APC's bullets pounding against it.

"Damn it!" Isabella shouted. "The Personnel carriers are here! You two, go and find another place to snipe those bastards down! I'll deal with the carriers!"

"Yes, Madame!" He replied, with Maribelle giving her a little salute. "C'mon, Maribelle!"

  She obeyed the command and wrapped her arms around Haystack's neck. After that, Haystack aimed the Air-grabber towards city hall before pulling the trigger.

Tw-wch!

  They were now flying over enemy lines undetected, reaching City hall.

"Okay Maribelle." said Haystack while going prone and looking through the scope. "Stay here. Ah've got business to handle."

  However, she wasn't listening, for she was hearing something from a distance. Cringing in fear, she got up and ran back.

"What the..." Feeling that, Haystack had to stop her. "Maribelle, what're ya-"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

"Aii!" Yelped the first soldier.

"Umph!" Grunted the second soldier.

"ARRRGH!!" Screamed the last soldier.

B-b-b-b-b-b-beep!

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

  Maribelle back flipped from every shot while hitting the hovering drone before it dropped down with a boom. After dealing with the petite amount of reinforcements, she turned to the Jaw-dropped pony, and shouted. "Go, and help them out!! I'll help you!"

  Knowing that she had his back as before, he smiled, and replied with a simply, "Okay!"

  She nodded daintily before switching to her M16 and awaiting for the enemy to arrive...

  Yeah, they had each other's back... always.

  Meanwhile, below, Ivan and Pierre were still pinned down behind enemy lines. The APC's continued to move forward as they kept their suppressing barrage going.

"Dag 'nammit!" Ivan muttered before shouting to his comrade. "How long do you think...."

  However, he was nowhere to be found.

"Ugh, right. I forgot.... Why didn't he warn me?"

Twang!

  A bullet missed him by a few inches before he came up with a plan to advance. He loaded a grenade into the launcher and prepared to head to the Lenco Bearcat located passed the Humvee.

"Okay..." He whispered to himself. "Three, two, one, Go!"

  He vaulted over the hood and aimed his grenade launcher towards one of the four-legged drones.

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

  Bullets began to strike against his chest before he was able to fire the grenade at the turret, obliterating it completely. However, it didn't stop Ivan from getting hit even more. The primary reason being that the APC was still around; thus, a bullet was able to puncture through his right lung before he could even get to cover.

  Gasping for air, he used this opportunity to use his 'Point and Click' Body-builder to take out five troops to his left while he healed up.

Rat-at-at!

  The bullets pounded against one soldier's face, to the point where you can't tell if it is one now.

Rat-at-at!

  The next batch hit the second soldier in the heart, obliterating it completely.

Rat-at-at!

  The third soldier was hit in the head while shooting from the back of the squad car, nothing more. Seeing that that was clear, he turned to the other side and fired at the two soldiers.

Rat-at-at!

  A soldier charging towards him had his neck cut through.

Rat-at-at!

  His comrade felt the bullets hit his stomach, making him fire wildly. Fortunately, none of the bullets hit Ivan. More good news came, as he was able to inject himself with the vaccine. His lung was now completely healed, both the pain and asphyxiation gone. Unfortunately, bad news came to give him this.

  One, he was now out of the healing vaccine.

"Damn, that was my last one." He mumbled.

  And two, the four-legged drone still had his frontal machine guns, so it was going to use them... only if fate let him to.

CLANG!

BOOM!

  The drone detonated into pieces... brought to you by Haystack's sniping skills.

"You're welcome." The pony muttered, while he reloaded.

  Ivan just sat against the vehicles door, blowing a sigh of relief. "I truly hate this job."

  Isabella in the meantime, remained pinned on the rooftop of a building two blocks from the convoy. To make things worse, they happened to have four-legged drones inside them, rather than more infantry.

"Damn, and I only have two rockets with me." She pouted, feeling the urge to tremble. "God, why didn't I...why didn't I... crap."

ZzzzzZzzzzZzzzz!

"Huh?" She peeked past the roof to find that the drones stopped shooting, and were being overrun by static. They were being sapped by a soldier who was hoping over each of them.

"Spy's sapping our drones!!" One of the five troops below shouted. "Kill 'em!"

  Sadly for them, they stupid decision sealed their fate; for the drones would explode around them.

  Twang!

  A bullet flew in front of her, coming from the APC. "Good, now it's my turn."

  She stood up and ran towards the convoy, aiming at the back APC.

Ssshhhwooooomm!!!

BOOM!

  The turret was hit, creating a chain reaction in the vehicle; blowing it to pieces.

  Across the street, the soldier was right beside her parkouring his way to the two remaining vehicles. Knowing that it was him, she gave a thumbs up and loaded the last rocket. The bullets from the HMG soared past them as they prepared to finish them off. When reaching their expected positions, they leaped over the APC's. Isabella took the front one, and Pierre the second one. Once they were over the turrets, they aimed downwards.

Ssshhhwooooomm!!! Ssshhhwooooomm!!!

BOOM! BOOM!

  The explosions was a sign that the enemy's defense was now crippled.

  Ivan heard this, and after drinking a bottle of beer, he got out of his position and rushed over to the destruction. While doing that, he was able to shoot and scorch any state soldier that stood in his way.

  Watching from City hall's rooftop, Haystack switched to his Air-grabber, and called for Maribelle. "C'mon, Maribelle! We have to go!"

BOOM!!

  She landed on the ground as if she was a Ninja while an Attack chopper fell in flames right behind her, "Yes sir!"

BOOM!

  This left the pony Jaw-dropped again as the little girl held onto him. But he shook it off, and flew their way towards their comrades below.

   While that was going on, Isabelle looked at the destruction she and her partner made, who was now undisguised and in his blue attire.

"Wow..." She was speechless. "That... that was... good."

  On the other rooftop, all Pierre did was frown at her reaction. She missed him so, that was true. It kind of reminded him of Delilah for a moment... but he had to shake it off. One, because of psychological reasons; and two, because Ivan, Haystack, and Maribelle had already arrived.

"Oh, good. You've made it." Pierre grinned. "Let's go, Isabella!!"

  The call stopped her regression to the past, fortunately, "Oh, alright!"

"Sheesh." Ivan said. "Don't tell me that that whole Phineas dying thing's really getting to her."

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it." Pierre said empathically.

  The five were now fleeing from the authorities, and it seemed for a little while, that they were going to do so smoothly. Unfortunately, the celebration in their heads was cut short by an army of scoutbots jumping into the air like... well, ninjas in the forest before landing in front of them, blocking their path. In a moment's notice, they were now surrounding them with their shotguns pointed directly at them.

"Uh... Haystack..." Ivan asked, trying to contain his sanity. "Can you Air-grab us out of here?"

"Um, I don't think they'll let us." said Isabella, watching as the other Scoutbots landed on the rooftops of the buildings. "Also, one Air-grabber can't carry more than two people."