To Run Away...

Chapter 7

  "So it's-"

  "Shhh." Davey hushed before pointing at what Ivan was about to disrupt with his voice.

  "Oh, sorry." Ivan whispered. "Anyways, it's simple, burn the files, and they'll give us the Intel, correct?"

  "You do realize that you just reiterated what he just said, right?"

  "Ugh." Ivan groaned. "Just be happy that your foster child as well as others is going to have her entire past erased."

   He was right, but they recognized that it still wouldn't benefit her due to the country's strict guidelines. So they also knew what that meant. With a sigh, he said. "I'll try to be."

  Ivan looked outside to find the alley as empty as it was when they went inside. "Are you sure your plan to get us out of here will work?"

   He then looked at three red shaped pills that were in his hand.

  "I guarantee you, it will." Davey said in a trustful manner.

  "Alright then. It was nice knowing you, by the way."

  "It was nice knowing you too. Good luck out there, for the Sacra fructum."

  "Excuse me?"

  "It's the name of our resistance group."

  "Oh." He tilted his head to the right, looking past Davey to face his comrade. "C'mon Haystack."

   The tan pony was looking rather somber as he gazed at the slumbering Maribelle.

  "Haystack?"

   There was no response.

  "Haystack!" He raised his whispering tone, snapping him out of his daze.

  "Uh, wha-" He stuttered as his eyes blinked

  "Shhh!" Davey hushed again.

  "Oh, sorry." He defected to whispering in an instant. "What was that, Ah'van?"

  "Let's go."

  "Oh, ok." He nodded.

  "Also, take this." Davey got out another Playstation Vita and handed him over to him. "It's about the pills."

  "Huh, i'll take that into consideration."

   Quietly, Davey unlocked the window before sliding it open, letting a cold blast of air in. He then let Ivan go right through it. Once outside, Ivan turned his entire body around and grabbed onto the head jamb above. After letting his feet dangle in the air, he used all his might to lunge his left hand towards the roof's edges. Upon success, he lunged his right hand upwards and let the arm land on the edge before using both (Including his feet) to climb onto the rooftop.

  "Your turn Haystack." Davey told Haystack once he noticed that Ivan was on the roof.

   And so, the pony did the same, and in no time, both of them were side by side.

  "Nice, good thing you didn't need to sing a song in order to encourage you."

  "Whaddaya mean, song?" Haystack asked in a suspicious manner.

  "Meh." Ivan shrugged. "Just a common joke in the US."

   He then placed the Vita in front of him. "Alright, let's see what the pills do before choppers catch us."

   After pressing the on button, the first thing that appeared (Other than the grey screen) was a black outline of a man, while French accordion music played. On the screen, the word, "CLOAKING" appeared underneath the man in the usual Georgia font.

   The feminine voice returned, as the next slide showed the soldier hiding behind a brick wall as three rebels were on the other side, waiting for him to come out.

  "Drink your cloaking pill in order to sneak past the enemy."

   The soldier began to swallow the pill with water as one of the rebels yelled (Through a speech bubble), "We're coming for you in three..."

  "Once you drink the pills, say 'Invisibilitatem' in your mind. And you will be completely invisible to the naked and mechanical eye. To uncloak, just say, 'Visibilitas'."

   The next slide showed the rebels on the other side, but the soldier was nowhere to be found. Question marks would hover over them to express their confusion.

  "Warning: Pill wears off after three minutes. To conserve that energy, do not cloak for that long. Second warning: Firearms and melee weapons are useless during cloaking."

   The soldier appeared on the other side, running away while simultaneously smiling and giving a thumbs up.

  "Have fun, comrade."

    The usual, "Thank you, RED industries" tagline appeared on the last slide before the Vita turned completely off.

  "Well, there goes another one." Ivan said before tossing the device off the building and onto the alleyway below. "So, let's do what the Vita told us."

  "Yes sir."

   And so, they got out the pills Davey gave them, and dropped them into their gaping mouths. After doing that, they got out their bottled water and let it flow right in. Suddenly, they began to feel something tingly in their brains, making them feel dizzy. Their vision began to see red and black lines fly all over the place while their ears began to ring.

  "Ah'van?" Haystack asked Dizzily.

  "What?"

  "Do ya see what 'ah see?"

   Then in a flash, their hallucination was gone.

  "Not anymore, my friend." Ivan said in a coolheaded manner. "Do you?"

  "Nope." He nodded.

  "Excellent. So, do you know parkour?" He asked as he looked to the right, facing the building that was a story higher than the one they were on.

  "Duh, I was taught that in training camp."

  "Alright then, let's go." He bolted towards the edge before jumping off. He flew over the alleyway before reaching the other building, making his hands cling onto the edge before climbing up. Haystack would follow in order to do the same thing.

   From there, it was rinse and repeat for the next twenty five buildings since there was nothing on them but flat rooftops.

  "Haystack?" Ivan called through the earpiece while they were on their fifth building.

  "Yeah?"

  "Why were you feeling uncomfortable in Mari-"

   He suddenly remembered the deal as they jumped over another alley.

  "Because it remahned me of whah am ah here." He said, remembering about the dream he had.

  "Oh. But I don't need to know."

   They jumped over to the next building.

  "Ok. But can 'ah ask you a question."

  "Is it the question from when we were underwater?"

  "Yes, it is."

   He remembered what he said to him back there, but he knew that it's for the best that they get to know each other, even though he was reluctant to do so. "Fine, I'll let you ask."

  "So that means the deal is over?" He said with a hint of confidence.

  "No, but I'll let you ask this one time."

  "Ok." He agreed, his tone then changed to one of seriousness. "Do humans have to pay in order to w'ahpe away a sin?"

   The answer was simple for Ivan. "No, we're just told to repent."

  "Huh."

  "Does that go for every sin back in Equestria?"

   They jumped over another alleyway.

  "No, just the one ah've committed."

   Ivan didn't say anything after that, he just took his response into consideration.

   They were now prone on the last building near the beach, looking at the enemy below with binoculars, observing their positions.

  "Ugh, should've known that this would happen." Ivan groaned. "'The great successor' would obviously be paranoid about this."

  "So, how do you expect us to get across?"

   Ivan found an occupied charcoal colored motorboat just sitting on the shore. It consisted of two soldiers. One was holding onto the HMG upfront, the other was on the driver's seat, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle while it was mounted on the steering wheel.

  "By cloaking ourselves and getting on that boat over there." He pointed at it to show Haystack.

  "Good Idea." Haystack complemented as he looked at it. "It's better than parkourin' our way 'round the lake."

  "Invisibilitatem!" They thought.

   And in a moment's notice, their bodies began to lose their visibility., revealing a burgundy silhouette of themselves.

  "Alright. Let's go."

   They got up and leaped from the building from the building, landing onto the streets below. Getting up from the land, they ran across the street, their footsteps inaudible to the advancing troops.

   Arriving near the boat, they climbed aboard.

  "Ok, take the man with the HMG out." Ivan ordered with a whisper once they were on the deck. "I'll take out the driver."

  "Yes sir." Haystack replied in the same whisper, but nervously.

   They split up to take out their guarded prey. Upon arriving behind the enemy's position, they quickly thought, "Visibilitas!"

   And with a wind-like sound, they began to see their knife carrying hand/hoof appear along with the rest of their bodies. Unfortunately for Ivan, it didn't go unnoticed. The soldier quickly left his sniping position before springing towards Ivan with a machete. Haystack on the other hand, was lucky enough to wrap his hooves around his target before pulling it back.

   Ivan's target on the other hand, swung his machete downward as hard as he could. Ivan was able to dodge that strike with ease, giving him an advantage. He threw the knife directly onto the enemy's back like a dart. With that, the soldier collapsed onto the floor without screaming in pain. In fact, he just laid there, eyes and mouth open wide, and a pool of blood underneath.

  "Yep, he's dead." Ivan muttered before looting the body for sniper rifle ammo. "And I'm taking this rifle."

   Haystack in the meantime, slid his knife's blade through his helpless prey's throat. The sight spooked him a little as he laid him gently on the deck.

  "Ah'm sorry sir." He mumbled with sympathy in his voice before holding onto the HMG triggers.

  "Haystack, you're good?"

  "Yes sir."

  "Good, I recommend that you take the guy's M16 and the ammo for it. You might need it." He suggested as he replaced the M4 ammo with the sniper rifle's.

  "Mmm Hmm." And so he obeyed the order while Ivan began to start the boat's engine.

   Once he saw that Haystack was ready to go, he pulled the lever onto reverse before pushing the gas pedal with his right foot. He then turned the steering wheel to the right, causing the boat to turn its aft to the left.

Static!

  "Jack, where are you going?" a soldier asked through the slain driver's radio.

  "Uh oh." Ivan pulled the lever up to drive before steering to the left.

  "Jack, Get back- Aw Crap! It's the infiltrators! Get them!"

  "Son of a bitch!" Ivan muttered before contacting Haystack. "Haystack, get ready to fire that HMG! We're gonna have company!"

   The stallion gulped in anxiousness before looking through the HMG's iron sight, 'C-copy that!"

  "Here they come!" Ivan announced as two other PT boats raced towards their position.

   Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at-at-at...

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!" Haystack yelled while firing multiple rounds at one of the boats beside them. He was able to shoot down the HMG wielding soldier with two bullets to the chest.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

   One of Ivan's bullets was lucky enough to hit the driver in the face.

  "Whoa, Haystack!" Ivan said, annoyed by his yelling, "This isn't Vietnam!"

  "Ah know! Ah'm just nervous!"

  "Well, uh, try not to be!"

  "Yes sir!"

Rat-at-at-at-at!

Twang...

   Ivan crouched down, still holding onto the wheel and gas pedal.

... Twang! Twang! Twang! Whoosh!

  "Haystack!"

  "On it!" Haystack turned the HMG to the other side, firing at least five rounds at the soldier before shooting him in the head.

   While his head was down, Ivan found an M79 grenade launcher on the floor.

  "Huh, how come I didn't notice that before?"

  "Ai!" The driver grunted as a bullet sunk into his chest.

  "Tango down!" Haystack yelled as he watched the boat slow down.

  "Perfect!" Ivan shouted.

   Then, there was the sound of choppers.

  "Ah'van?"

  "Yeah?" He pressed a blue auto-drive button located on the steering wheel while loading the M79 with the grenades found.

   Haystack let out another gulp. "We're screwed!"

   Rat-at-at-at-at-at-at...

   The bullets splashed onto the water before some of them would pound on the deck. By then, the grenade launcher was filled up and ready to use.

   Haystack in the meantime, wasted no time and pointed the HMG upwards, opening fire at the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter..

  "Arrgh!" the soldier manning the left turret groaned in pain.

   Then, Haystack focused his fire on the chopper's back, shooting the tail boom to the point where thick black smoke was seeping out.

  "This is Orca nine!' The pilot of that chopper called urgently as systems were showing red. "We're retreating, the chopper's heavily-"

BOOM!

   The tail exploded, sending the chopper into a wild spin towards the water below.

Splash!

  "Good luck gettin' out pal." Haystack muttered.

Tw-twang!

   Two bullets nearly hit his hind hooves.

Tw-tw-twang!

   Three bullets hit the left metal panel.

  "Crap!" He turned the turret to the boat's starboard.

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

   He returned fire while more bullets from the enemy HMG kept hitting the panels.

BOOM!

  "Whoa!" Haystack shouted as he watched an explosion overwhelm the boat.

   The M79's muzzle was oozing with smoke as Ivan held onto it from the hip.

  "Hmm, I should take this with me." Ivan said, impressed by the grenade launcher's performance.

  "Ah'van, did you do that?"

  "Duh."

BOOM! SPLASH!

  "What the-"

  "Huh?" said Haystack as he shook in fear from the blast.

   They turned around to find a large blast of water arising from the lake. It nearly made their jaws drop from the shock and awe.

BOOM! SPLASH!

   Another explosion of water occurred, sending water hurdling towards the boat, drenching Haystack.

  "Aw hell!" The wet pony shouted as he was pushed towards the deck by the water's force.

BOOM! SPLASH!

   Suddenly, the boat felt weightless as it tilted forward, sending the two flying into the air.

  "AAAAAHHHH!!!!" They screamed before the deck met the water.

   Once the duo met it, they quickly held their breaths and swam away while they put on their oxygen masks and goggles.

BOOM!

  "Crap!" Ivan briefly looked back, witnessing the overturned boat explode.

  "Looks lah'ke they had enough." Haystack said.

  "Let's just swim to shore before they find out that we're not dead."

  "Ugh, obviously."

Beep!

  "Ivan, you and your pony buddy alright?" Troy contacted.

  "Yes sir. And how are you talking to me? We're underwater and the walkie tal-"

  "No time for that. One of my resistance buddies have offered you refuge until the evening."

   Ivan was happy about the news. "Oh good."

   "Yeah." Then Troy's tone changed, revealing a catch to it. "About that."

   And Ivan could tell. "Ugh, what is it?"

  "You know the M198's that have been shooting at you?"

  "You mean the artillery shells that just bashed our boat ride?"

  "Yeah, you're going to have to fight your way past it."

   Ivan rolled his eyes. "No we're not."

  "Whaddaya mean?"

  "We're going to cloak our way past it, obviously."

  *Static*

  "Aw great! Either this guy's being a douche or they cut us off again."

  "So, there's something good and we need to fight our way to it."

  "Yep, you're right." He nodded.

   It would be quiet before Haystack chose to ask an irrelevant question. "Hmm. Hey, did you notice that Roger said Soviet Union instead of Soviet Empire?"

   Ivan went along with the irrelevant comment. "Yeah, but they were called the Soviet Union before and during World war two."

  "Oh, 'ah didn't know that."

  "Well, everyone makes mistakes, and some mistakes are redeemable."

   Haystack nodded in agreement, and from there they continued to swim until they reached the shore.