Chapters "Chief! Chief wake up!" John instantly snapped awake. Cortana was not one to sound this frightened, so whatever was going on must have been serious. He quickly turned on the lights attached to his helmet, and kicked open the door to his pod.
"John!" Cortana shouted as he floated over to her.
"I'm here. What's wrong?" He asked. Just then, an explosion went off, sending a piece of the ship flying right towards Cortana. With haste, John got her into his head and pushed off. The debris crashed into the station, completely destroying it.
"As I was saying, what's wrong?" He asks as he nonchalantly floats down and touches the ground.
"There's a black hole right in front of us, and we've already been pulled into it's gravity field!" She says. John hops and floats over to a small canister and punches it, triggering an alarm. He pulls out his magnum, and slides out it's clip. It's fully loaded, just like he left it.
"Any thrusters online?" He asked as he slammed his fist into the bulb sending forth a red light, causing it to shatter. The glass floats around as he launches off again towards the pilot's seat. He grabs the seat and sits himself down, then turns off the auto pilot and checks on the key systems.
"All our thrusters were destroyed by a meteor that got pulled in with us. We don't have anything to get away." John nods as he inspects the engine report. The hologram flashes and twists quickly to a certain area, then glows red. An alarm goes off, signaling damage. They're trapped.
"Well, if we stay on the ship, we're going to die. We abandon it, we could make it out alive." He says as he sets the ship to self destruct.
"Don't you think that's a little risky?" Cortana asks as he rips open another, larger canister. This one contains the Battle Rifle that he had stowed away, along with it's extra magazines. He grabs it quickly as the ship warns him of the time remaining until self-destruct. Two minutes, more than enough time.
"No less risky than using that bomb to destroy the covenant ships." He says as he launches off of the control panel. More explosions go off, sending more pieces of the ship spiraling towards him. He flips and dodges one of the pieces, afterwards performing a barrel roll to evade another piece of debris. Slamming down onto the hangar doors, another alarm goes off, shouting the word 'warning' over and over again. John looks to his right, and instantly shoves his fist through yet another canister, triggering another alarm. He pulls out his arm, revealing blasting caps. The warning tells John that the ship will explode in one minute.
"Hold on tight." He says as he activates the caps, throwing them against the door. He throws himself out the door as the explosion goes off, and an inner suit warning goes off, telling him that his shields are now down. Instantly he feels himself being pulled deep into the black hole, but turns around and activates his jetpack, slowing his decent. With haste, he also activates his boots, slowing him down even more. He watches as the ship falls into the black hole, engulfed by small explosions. His inner warning stops, and he hears a small humming noise. His shields are back online.
"What's the rest of your plan John?" He hears Cortana ask as the Chief disables his jetpack and boots. The ship explodes, and he evades the fiery burst. He barrel rolls away from the large amounts of debris, and forces himself downward, in a face first dive into the black hole.
"John... Wake up."
"Never fell asleep." John says as he opens his eyes. The impact had gone well. Nothing had gone wrong. At least, not right now. He looks up and sees a distorted sky, unusual, but not something to worry about. He flips over to his front, and places his arms underneath him. He pushes up and brings himself to his feet, and looks around. The area seems to be made of rainbows, or at least the atmosphere does. Whatever was happening, it couldn't be good. He would have to put a stop to it. He looks to his right, and sees his magnum resting on the ground, as well as burn marks along the grass. Must have been one heck of a crash landing.
"Cortana, can you find out wherever we are?" He asks as he walks over and grabs his pistol. He inspects it, and aside from some scratches, it's mostly unscathed. He gives it a slight spin and places it to his side, right along side his knife. He can still feel his battle rifle on his back, so he takes that and inspects it. It is also undamaged, much to John's delight.
"Uh... John? I don't think we're in the right sector... I'm not getting any readings." He hears Cortana say. The Chief nonchalantly looks up to the sky, Battle Rifle in his hands.
"Then we just take it one step at a time." He says as he takes a step from the valley. He steps over a small boulder and places the Battle Rifle on his shoulder.
John looked up, feeling the strange leaves in his hand. They still felt like regular leaves, but they had a strange animated quality to their appearance. He took his knife and cut the leaves away, after which they floated to the ground just like a regular leaf would. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he would get to the bottom of it. He pushed himself through the wall of leaves, and found himself in a maze. Just like the leaves, everything in the maze had an animated quality.
"Well this doesn't look promising." Cortana says. John looks to his right and hears foot steps.
"Try to keep positive Cortana. Something is bound to go right eventually." He said as he placed his knife back to his side and brought out his Battle Rifle. He comes to a fork in the maze and looks to his right, then the left. Neither side looks like a dead end, but mazes always had something like this. It didn't bother him, not many things did. Once again, he hears footsteps, which are very close. He backs up, and prepares his weapon. The sounds of the steps gradually get closer, and he prepares himself.
"Maybe it's friendly?" Cortana suggests.
"Not likely. We'll find out in a minute." John says. The sounds are just to the side of him now, and he launches himself out, aiming down his sights at the direction of the sound. What he sees is somewhat surprising. A pegasus, and a yellow one at that. It's rather small, and it's face is constructed more like a humans, save for the ears. It stares at him, tears forming in it's eyes. He lowers his rifle slightly and inspects the creature. It has a long pink mane and tail, and what looks like a tattoo of butterflies on it's rear. It's eyes are blue, and are sparkling with tears. It begins to breathe heavily and back away.
"Maybe you were right Cortana. I doubt this thing is hostile." He says as he lowers his rifle to his side and walks closer. The pegasus gasps, much to the Chief's surprise. He wasn't surprised he was running into this, after all, he'd seen stranger. The pegasus begins to let tears fall as it breaths evenly more heavily. John comes to the conclusion that he's scaring it. He places his hands up, in a surrendering position, in order to try and calm it down. This causes it to scream, and it runs away. John watches it for a while until it vanishes along a turn in the maze.
"Well that was interesting..." Cortana says as the Chief places his rifle onto his shoulder once more. He waits a few minutes, then decides to get moving. He comes to a turn, and looks behind him quickly, checking for any more of these strange creatures.
"EAT THIS FREAK!" He hears from the side. Turning, he sees a rainbow colored dash rushing towards him. He ducks and reaches his arm out, closing his hand. He feels something, and slams it down on the ground. It gives a groan of pain and tries to get up, but John grabs it's neck gently, and picks it up. It's another pegasus, a female one judging from the voice. He brings it close to his face, and inspects it. It has an angry and determined look in it's magenta colored eyes. In addition, it has a rainbow colored mane and tail, along with blue fur. It also has a tattoo on it's rear, but this one is a cloud with a rainbow colored lighting bolt.
"Let me go! You don't know who you're messing with!" It shouts as it thrashes. Underneath his helmet, John rolls his eyes and lets the pegasus go as he checks his wrist. The pegasus tries to attack again, but John stops it by grabbing it's neck before it gets too close.
"That's not going to work." He says. The pegasus stares at him, seeming to be shocked he could speak. John lets it go again and looks to the ground, where his Battle Rifle was. He crouched down and picked it up, inspecting it. It was still alright, good. No telling when it could come in handy.
"Cortana, you there?'
"I'm still here John. Need something?"
"I need you to track out progress, I'm going to need a map for this place."
"Working on it."
"What are you? Why can you talk? And who are you talking too?" The pegasus asks. John turns to the pegasus, who has a confused and frightened look on her face. He reaches to his helmet and grabs Cortana.
"I'm Master Chief, Spartan of the UNSC. Genetically engineered human." He said. He brought out Cortana to his palm, and lets her show.
"This is my partner, Cortana." He said as he observed Cortana appear. She looked up to him and gave him a strange look, afterwards turning to the pegasus. The pegasus was wide eyed, seeming to be astonished by what was going on. John placed Cortana back in his head, and brought his Battle Rifle back into his hands. Looking slightly behind the blue pegasus, he saw the eyes of the yellow one, and walked closer. The blue pegasus seemed to know what he was thinking and flew in front of him, blocking his path.
"Oh no you don't buster! You're not going anywhere near her!" She shouted. The yellow pegasus slowly rounded the corner and revealed herself, scraping her hoof on the ground. John calmly places his battle rifle on his back and told them he meant no harm. The pegasi talked for a while, then told him to follow them. They seemed harmless enough, so the Chief agreed.
Fluttershy nervously looked behind her, back to the strange creature, who was still following them. She shuddered and turned around. This creature scared her. The thing that it held when it first saw her looked really scary, not to mention dangerous. It had seemed nice enough, but it was still strange.
"You wait out here." She said, her tone very hostile. Regardless, John nodded and looked over to a stair. He calmly walked over to it and sat. Looking up to the sky, he noticed it still had the strange rainbow like atmosphere as when he first showed up. He didn't know why, but he could feel that this wasn't natural, even for a world as strange as this. It was almost like Earth or Reach. Except that it was strangely animated.
"You know they don't trust you right?" Cortana asked. John looked down to his pistol and inspected it, turning it to see each feature.
"I've noticed." He said as he placed the weapon back to his side, and places his arms on his legs, looking up into the sky.
"Princess!" Rainbow said as she gave a quick bow, then jumped right up. Her tone was one of worry, and fear. Rainbow Dash? Scared?
"Calm down, Rainbow, what's wrong? Did you find the elements?" She asked. Rainbow shook her head. Looking over to Fluttershy, she could see her telling something to Twilight, who simply nodded and seemed to be trying to calm her friend down. She looked back over to Rainbow, who had uncertainty in her eyes.
"Well... We found somepony, or... Something... Actually..."
"Excuse me... sir?" He hears. Looking back, he can see the yellow pegasus from before. He looks at it, waiting for her to continue. It rubs it's foreleg and looks around, obviously nervous. John turns back around and looks to the sky again.
"Sir?" He hears again. Looking behind him, he can still see the yellow pegasus.
"Yea?" He asks. The pegasus looks down, it's ears growing flat, then back up again. She looks up again, and mumbles something.
"Speak up." He says. The pegasus backs away slightly, whimpering. It looks toward him, then away again.
"Can you come in? I mean... If that's okay with you..." It says shyly. John nods, and places his hands on his knees. He pushes himself up, then walks up the stairs. He passes her, and she backs away slightly. He opens the door, and finds himself in front of a strange mix of unicorns, pegasi, and an Alicorn. He stands there, just looking at them. The Alicorn's eyes grow wide, as does those of a purple unicorn. Three other 'ponies' from the looks of it, are all wide eyed and have their mouths agape. The blue one from earlier just looks at him. He turns his attention to the Alicorn, who has a mane of blue, pink, and green, which seems to be blowing despite their being no wind. She has a white coat, as well as a crown on her head. She also has a purplish shade of eye color. Her rear has a tattoo like the others, only this one is a sun.
"A human..." It says. John looks around the castle and crosses his arms, waiting for anything that they might ask. A white unicorn with a tattoo of three diamonds, a purple mane, and blue eyes turns to the Alicorn, asking what a human is. It seems to have an English accent.
"It's a mythical creature... Or... It's supposed to be..." The purple one replied. John looked over to it, seeing a dark purple mane with a stripe of pink in it. It has a star like tattoo on it's rear, and purple eyes. An orange one, seeming to be normal, has a tattoo of three apples, green eyes, and a blonde mane. Strangely enough, it has a cowboy hat on it's head.
"Just who are you feller?" It asks in a hushed whisper. Definitely female, and has a southern accent. John turns to it.
"Master Chief." He says. All the ponies except the purple one and Alicorn jump back.
"IT TALKS?" A pink one with a cloud like pink mane asks. It darts towards him, inspecting him. It has a pink coat, as well as light blue eyes. Just like the others, it has a tattoo on it's rear, only this one is of three balloons.
"He." John says calmly. The pony gives a long gasp and starts shouting thing after thing. John turns to it calmly.
"Would you mind shutting up?" He asks. The pony stops in midair, though John can't see how, and drops slowly to the ground. Her mouth is agape, and she is almost like a statue. Turing back to the Alicorn, he sees it shake it's head to get itself to focus. John looks over to the yellow pegasus, who still appears frightened.
"Who are you really? Where did you come from?" He hears an authoritative voice say. Looking back, he sees that her astonished look is now one of intimidation. John wanted to laugh, these things thought they could intimidate him? John uncrosses his arms.
"I'm Master Chief, Spartan of the UNSC. I'm from the planet that is known as Reach, but it was destroyed. Ever since then, I've been living on a planet know as Earth, where I was originally born." John says calmly. The Alicorn raises an eyebrow.
"Your name is Master Chief?" It asks. John shakes his head.
"No, but I never tell my real name. Master Chief is my rank. You can call me Chief." He says as he re crosses his arms. The Alicorn squints, seeming to try and read him.
"Remove your helmet." She says. John just stands there, unwavering. The Alicorn scowls and tells him to remove his helmet again.
"No." He says calmly. The ponies behind the Alicorn gasp, and the blue one rushes forward, clearly angry.
"Hey buster! I don't know who you think you are, but you better show Princess Celestia some respect!" She shouts. John just watches it float in front of him, not moving. Looking back over to the Alicorn, he can see an irritated look on her face. That must have been Princess Celestia. From what he knew, she was probably the ruler, despite only being a princess. Lots of sectors ran that way. He un folds his arms and walks forward. Celestia glares at him.
"Why won't you remove your helmet?" She asks. John stands there calmly, not showing any emotion.
"It is part of me. Not physically, but you want me, you get the armor. No exceptions." He says calmly. The blue pegasus flew back up to him.
"And just who said we wanted you punk?" It asks, trying to sound intimidating. John turns towards it and stares down at it. It falls back and grows fearful.
"Easy John..." Cortana warns. John backs away, listening to her. He turns back to Celestia, waiting for more questions.
"How did you get here?" The Princess asked. John explained what had happened with his ship. The Princess nodded, and looked to the purple unicorn. It gulped and stepped forward slightly.
"Are those... Guns you have with you?" It asks. John almost laughed. Their mythology must have been pretty detailed. He nodded as he brought out his battle rifle. The pony gave a short shriek and backed away, and John rested it in his hands. He looked over to the Princess, who was frowning. Trying to lighten the atmosphere, he placed the gun back onto his back, and backed away. He placed his arms behind him, and stood respectfully. The Princess rose an eyebrow, and asked if he was alone. John stood for a moment, unsure of whether or not to reveal Cortana.
"Cortana?" He asked.
"Go ahead." She replied. He nods and grabs her. The ponies and Princess appear confused, and are about to speak, when he reveals Cortana.
"Meet my partner. Cortana." He says calmly. In his palm, Cortana gives a slight bow.
"Princess." She says. The ponies stare wide eyed, until the Princess shakes her head and looks at him. She questions about Cortana.
"It's a long story." She says. The Princess nods and looks over to the ponies, who shake their heads and try to figure out what was going on. John puts Cortana back into his head, and puts his attention back onto the Princess.
"May I ask your names?" John says. The ponies seem a bit hesitant at first, but they each give a name. The purple unicorn is named Twilight Sparkle, and is apparently the student of the Princess. The white one is named Rarity, a fashion designer. The orange one with a cowboy hat is named Applejack, and runs a successful apple business with her family. The pink one is named Pinkie Pie, a party thrower. The yellow pegasus he first met was Fluttershy, who was good with animals. The blue pegasus was named Rainbow Dash, who called herself the 'best young flier'. With introductions out of the way, John moved onto what he was really interested in.
"Is this world naturally like this? Distorted skies and such?" He asks. The Princess shook her head.
"No, but the balance of Equestria has been shifting, and strange occurrences have been happening." She explains. John nods. He then asks why Rainbow and Fluttershy were in the maze.
"They were searching for the Elements of Harmony, a group of five traits that represent friendship and harmony. They have vanished." She said. John brought his hand to his chin.
"How long ago did they disappear?" He asks.
"Five hours ago." The Princess replies. Ten hours? That was about how long it had been since his arrival here... Just then, a strange stallion came up, saying that the Elements were not on world, and they were spread across several worlds and times. The ponies began to panic, and the Princess was troubled. John placed his hand to his chin, and thought for a while. He was used to space travel, and had even been the volunteer of time travel once. Perhaps if he could gain their trust, and regain these elements, he could find a way home.
"I know what you're thinking..." Cortana says. John lowers his hand and observes the ponies, they are talking with fear and panic in their voices, and each doesn't know what to do.
"And?" He asks.
"It's a good idea, just be careful John." Cortana says. John nods and steps forward, offering his help. The Princess glares at him, trying to read him. She wouldn't be able to.
"How do we know you won't betray us? According to legend, humans change their attitudes quickly. How can we be sure you will stay on our side?"
"I have nothing to gain from double crossing you." He says. The Princess thinks for a while, then asks each of the ponies what they think. John listens to each one hesitantly say yes, although all still are cautious of their choice. With a sigh, the Princess turns to John.
"Very well Master Chief. We will require your services."
Author's Note
From now on, once a week guys, once a week.
12 Hours Later...
John stood outside, looking up into the strangely colored sky. No events on Earth had ever caused such a reaction from the atmosphere, not even the invasion of the flood. Something just didn't seem right about all of this. Reach's skies had only been blue, and a dark shade of brown, filled with dirt and dust as a result of the Covenant's actions. Sighing, he could still remember seeing that one lone soldier, who refused to leave, giving the rest of them precious time. Spartans weren't supposed to be soft, and he by no means was. Still, he felt sorry for that lone Spartan, even if it was by choice.
"There was nothing you could have done John. They would have killed you too." Cortana told him. There was obvious care in her voice, and John found it somewhat calming. The fact the Cortana actually knew him as a person, not a war machine or a soldier, sometimes helped him remember that he was indeed a human, not the weapon that most people believed him to be.
"I know." He said as he observed the pistol in his hands. It still maintained it's silver sheen shining brightly in the mid day sun. Looking up, he watched as the ponies in front of him talked in a hushed tone, no doubt talking of the events occurring. Looking back up, he remembered back to that day, when he got onto the Pillar of Autumn, leaving that soldier to his fate. Unbeknownst to anyone but him, when he left that Spartan behind, he was leaving his little brother to die.
Planet Reach... 2552...
Six was dead. He knew it. The Elite had thrown the Energy Sword right between his ribs, and into his heart. It was only a matter of time before his body gave out. Even a Spartan couldn't survive a stabbing wound to the heart. The pain was unbearable, but still, he felt at peace. The new artificial intelligence had made it off world, and there were still Spartans alive and well. Including his big brother, John. Separated at birth, they had only just met five years ago. He desperately breathed in, trying to suck in oxygen, which he already knew would never make it to his brain. Never to be distributed across his body. The Elite in front of him growled in satisfaction, twisting the blade. Six began to close his eyes, not giving the Elite the satisfaction of a pain filled cry of agony. In his mind, he tried to relay the last facts he could remember, before dying. I am a Spartan of the UNSC... My Squad is dead... My brother... John... Is alive... My name is... Is...
Present Day...
John looked down to his pistol, wondering what Six may have been thinking during his last moments. Had he been thinking about Cortana? The planet itself? He wished he could ask him himself, but he would never get the chance now. Despite what many thought, he could still remember small bits about his family. Only things they had said, except for Six. He remembered what he looked like, and even what his personality was like. Six had been the only person of flesh and blood he had ever opened up too. Six had been the same way. Six, of course, wasn't his real name, but he couldn't remember it. And John, having not met him until the five years before the war, had no memory of his name either. Still, he had cared about him, and Six had cared for him. Just before Six had been transferred to the Noble Team, John told him that he would always be there if he needed him. What a lie... He had left him to die. Simple as that. He hadn't wanted to, but he had no choice. Orders were orders, and he had to follow them. But then again, why had Six stayed behind? He had disobeyed orders, simply because he wanted the others to get off of Reach safely. Or was it that he didn't want to give up the planet without a fight?
"John, stop. You know that he gave himself up like that because he knew you were alive. He wouldn't have wanted you there." Cortana told the chief. John shook his head, trying to get thoughts of Six out of his head. He had a mission to complete. These strange ponies had required his help, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He slung his Battle Rifle from over his shoulders, and marched over to the ponies.
"Have you found out where the first one is?" He asked bluntly. One of them gave a startled shout, while the others simply jumped. The blue one, Rainbow Dash, stared at him angrily, telling him that it was none of his business. The purple one, Twilight Sparkle, scowled at her friend and nodded.
"We managed to put our heads together, and the most talented unicorns in Equestria gathered to put their skills together. It wasn't easy, but we managed to find out where the Element of Loyalty is." She said.
"Where?" John asked.
"That planet you called Earth, but it's in a different year... 2015. We aren't entirely sure why, but the Elements seem to be in certain areas, in certain time periods, so..."
"Then let's get going."
John watched as the unicorns readied the portal, that would send them to the year of 2016. The ponies had made an error, and the so called "Element of Harmony" seemed to be traveling through the years. This would make tracking them down harder, not to mention John had no idea what he was looking for.
"Tell me, what do these things look like?" He asks as he rests his Battle Rifle on his shoulder. Going back to such ancient times would probably mean he would run out of ammo, so he would have to pick up weapons from that era in order to stay alive. He had done research on the weapons of that time, and if he had to choose, he would probably choose something American. Those guns were known for accuracy and range, which were his strong suits.
"They're necklaces with gems in them, the one we're going after has a ruby shaped like a lightning bolt." The purple one said. John had memorized their names, but wasn't willing to call them by name yet. They would have to earn his trust first. It seemed ridiculous waiting for the trust of what looked like harmless creatures, but John knew all to well that the most harmless looking things were deadly. Grunts in case point, the strange aliens did look harmless, but would stop at nothing to fill your guts with plasma.
"Necklaces huh? Not gonna be easy to find one necklace in a world full of em'." Cortana says. John stares forward as the portal grows steadily larger, emanating a strange blue light.
"That's what makes it interesting." John says as the portal makes a whirring noise. It shoots open, giving a brilliant white shine, while it gives off a strange angelic noise. If there was one thing he knew about 2016 though, it's that it was anything but peaceful. World War III was going on then, so he would probably find himself in one of the numerous battles that made up the war.
"Princess, are you sure we can trust this thing?" A stallion beside him asked. It had a purple helmet on, along with matching armor. His mane, or at least what John could see of it, was a mix of various shades of blue. His eyes were blue, and his flank was covered by his armor. John shook his head and turned back to the portal.
"We don't have much of a choice right now Shining Armor. If he's telling the truth, his knowledge on fighting could save the girls' lives." He heard the Princess say. The purple unicorn walked over to "Armor" guy, and said goodbye. He warned her to be careful, and she promised that she would. Must have been siblings. He looked away, remembering back to his own parting with his family, only to never see him again.
"Let's go." He said calmly, trying to get his mind off of Six. He brought his Battle Rifle to his front, and marched into the portal. He heard a whistling as he felt his body being compressed, and vanished into a puff of white light.
Planet Earth, Prague... October 11th, 2016...
"It's almost time Yuri. The meeting'll be on the second floor." Soap said. Yuri nodded as Soap brought his RSASS around to his front, aiming it towards the building. Yuri quickly followed suit, placing the magazine into his weapon and crouching down. He rests the rifle against the stone that was cut away from the building, steadying it.
"This is the day we take him down..." Yuri thinks to himself as he places his eye to the scope. Through his scope, he can see Makarov's convoy begin to arrive, with one armored truck, two armored limos, and one more armored truck. The glass was no doubt bullet proof, so they would have to wait for a better shot.
"Makarov's convoy just showed up." Price said through his radio. Yuri adjusted his scope, trying to zoom in on the first vehicle. The scope clicked slightly as it moved forward, towards the vehicle. The first jeep contained nothing but a driver and one armed gunman. The same was true was the second, except this one had windows that were impossible to see through. The convoy comes to a stop, and Yuri checks the first limo.
"Yuri, third vehicle." Soap says with a whisper. Yuri nods and adjusts his sights to the limo directly behind the one he first checked. Sure enough, his old friend was right there. The man who had cost the lives of so many innocents in Zakhaev International Airport. The man he thought would make Russia a better place, who he now knew was a heartless madman. His finger twitched as his mind and soul begged him to pull the trigger, but he knew that the glass was probably bullet proof. This would just give them away. Makarov adjusted his head, and appeared to be looking right at the two men, making Yuri flinch.
"I don't like how he's just looking at us..." He says nervously. Looking over, he sees Soap shake his head and sigh.
"Neither do I mate. Gives me the creeps." Soap says. Yuri shakes his head as Price tells them to sit tight. The convoy pulls into a garage, and Yuri adjusts his sights to a pigeon on a power line. Price tells Kamarov to move, but the radio is silent. Yuri looks up for a moment, somewhat concerned. He had only met Kamarov a few weeks ago, but he didn't seem like the person to ignore someone. Something had to be up. Was it possible that Makarov knew?
"Probably forgot to switch it on..." He hears Soap mutter under his breath. Yuri considers this, and decides that this probably is the case. Shaking his head, he places his eye back to the scope, watching two guards patrol a balcony on the second floor. A curtain was behind the guards, as though the things behind them were confidential.
"Yuri find Price on your scope. He's at the top of the hotel." Soap says as he nudges his shoulder. Yuri adjusts his scope, and looks around for a while, trying to find Price. As though he knew he couldn't find him, Price uses something to create a flare that Yuri is able to see, and Yuri zooms in on him.
"I see him. We're ready my friend." He says as he looks over to Soap and nods. Soap nods and confirms to Price they have a visual. Price prepares his gear and slowly begins to rappel down onto the balcony. Suddenly, a bright light appears from below the Captain, causing him to cover his eyes.
"What in the bloody heck is that?" Soap shouts into the radio, speaking for everyone at the moment. Adjusting his scope, Yuri sees what looks like a whirlwind of light, almost like a spiral. The guards on the balcony loosen their holds on their weapons and hold out their arms, blocking the light. Yuri stands, and looks over to Soap, who is also standing.
"What is happening?" Yuri shouts as an audible howling of the wind reaches the tower. Soap shakes his head, trying to find Price amongst the growing light.
"Price! Can you hear us?" Soap shouts desperately as Yuri lifts his arm to block his eyes from the light.
"I'm here! I don't know what's going on, but we need to get the heck out of here! Soap, Yuri, get your ass out of there!"
John stood, looking around him. The ponies had all made it through the warp safely. They appeared dizzy, but they would live. John looked around and found himself on what looked like a second floor balcony. The stone making up the railing had chipped away, and looked severely weathered. To his right, a soldier stood with a surprised expression. John turned to face him, and merely looked at him. The soldier had grey camo gear on, as well as what looked like a Kevlar helmet. Kevlar... How long had it been since THAT was used on the front lines? The soldier shakily took his gun and pointed it at the chief, saying something. Russian. He didn't know Russian. He had been taught Spanish, English, and German, but not Russian. John calmly turned away from the soldier, looking over to the ponies. The yellow one had just started to get up, and was rubbing her forehead.
"Ouch..." She said with a soft tone. John shook his head as the others began to come to their senses, and observed their surroundings. Looking back to the soldier, John noticed his eyes grow wide. He tilted his head to look to the side of John, looking behind him No doubt trying to figure out what was going on with the ponies.
"Who's in charge here?" He asked bluntly. The Russian jumped back and screamed something as he turned and pointed toward the others.
"American!" One shouted. John took a step back, raising his arm. The soldiers have mistaken him for an American, even though he wasn't actually even born on Earth. This was most likely due to the fact he had an American accent and spoke English. The soldiers prepared their weapons and shouted at him, but John just stood there. The soldiers grew angry and got the first bullet into their chambers, and John pulled out his magnum. He fired one round through the top of the first one's head and pistol whipped the next one on his cranium. Two more soldiers opened fire, but John's shields protected him. Quickly, he turned and shot, killing one of the soldiers and injuring the other.
"John, you need to get out of there! This building has a bomb in it!" Cortana shouted. John nods and grabs the white unicorn by her hind leg.
"Ugh! Unhand me you ruffian!" She shouts as she thrashes uncontrollably. John places one hand on the railing of the balcony and jumps, telling the ponies to follow him. The yellow one screamed and jumped using her wings to control her descent. The blue one growled and chased after him, no doubt trying to get her friend. The others leaped without much trouble, but just as they did, the building exploded, sending shrapnel flying from the area. John used his arm to block flying stones from hitting the unicorn in his hand, and flipped as he slammed into the ground on his feet. He quickly turned the unicorn and set her down, where she gave him a disgusted look.
"I have never felt so violated!" She shouted as she crossed her forelegs. The pink one giggled as she watched the flames, bouncing up and down. The purple one looked to him and gave him a questioning stare.
"How did you know that building was going to explode? And why did you kill those people?" She asked. John brought out his battle rifle as the blue pegasus and orange horse walked over to the yellow one, who was crying. He pulled back the release lever, bringing the first bullet into the chamber. Another explosion sounded, and John turned, seeing a clock tower burst into a fiery heap. The shockwave of the blast caused the building to crumble, as he watched pigeons fly away, terrified by the loud sound. John brought his rifle forward and pointed it as more soldiers advanced.
"No time to explain. We gotta get out of here."
Soap dived out of the doorway, watching as the clock tower burst. Beside him, Yuri has tripped over a knocked over lamppost.
"Yuri move!" He shouts as he scrambles to his feet. He looks up, backing away. A large foundation of stone is breaking apart, and heading right for them. Soap curses and shouts for Yuri to hurry. He picks up his RSASS and sprints, nearly tripping. He gasps and throws his hands out, trying to balance himself. Regaining his footing, he takes off, trying to get radio contact.
"Price! Price can you hear me?" He shouts. Looking behind him, he sees a part of the tower about to land on him, and grunts as he dives out of the way. His body makes solid contact with the stones making up the street as he hears a crashing sound. He throws his arm over his eyes as dust is thrown into the air from the impact of the tower. The bricks making up the tower crumbled, forming into more pieces of debris. He scrambles to his feet once more, trying to get away from the quickly failing building.
"Run!" He shouts as he shoves Yuri along. The duo sprint away, as more stones crumble from the shockwave of the blast. Soap dives to a park, and throws his arms over his head, trying to shield himself from any debris. He hears a loud rumbling, and feels several pieces of debris strike his arms before he lifts his head. The familiar sound of gunfire rings in his ears, although it is distant.
"Uh... Soap... You may want to take a look at this..." Yuri says as he hands over a detached sniper scope. Soap raises and eyebrow as he lifts himself up off the ground, taking the scope. He places the scope to his eye, and is instantly baffled by what he sees. Some guy in a ridiculous get up is firing at the Russians, and taking no damage from their bullets. Upon closer inspection, he can see the man has some sort of yellow aura around him, that seems to be destroying the bullets on contact.
"Now what in the bloody heck is this?" Soap mutters to himself as he looks behind the man. He jerks his head back slightly, not sure what to think of this next sight. Ponies, animated to look like humans, are cowering away. Except a blue one with a rainbow colored mane, who is fighting against the others to get into the fight the man is caught up in.
"Okay... Now that's just weird." Soap says as he shakes his head and passes the scope back to Yuri.
"Soap! Can you hear me?" He heard from his radio. Soap quickly responds, saying that he and Yuri are alright.
"Makarov's men are mobilizing! I don't know what's got them riled up but..." Price tries to say, but Soap interrupts him.
"I do. There's some sort of guy with a strange armor that's attacking them. I'm lookin' at him right now." Soap says as he brings out his RSASS and looks over to his right. BTRs are arriving from the street. Soap quickly reacts to the situation, and looks over to Yuri.
"Say again Soap?" He hears Price say from the radio. Soap quickly darts off to the soldier, trying to stop the BTR from killing him. Soap wasn't like Price, who needed time to trust someone. If he saw someone under attack, he took time out of his way to help them, even if he didn't know if they were friendly.
"Price! I can explain later, a BTR just showed up and is targeting the soldier! Yuri and I are Oscar Mike to help him out! Meet us at the front of the hotel!" Soap shouts as he reaches into his side and pulls out a flare. He quickly lights it and throws it over to the front of the hotel, trying to confuse the Russians. Instead, it intrigues the ponies that he spotted, and a giddy pink one bounces over to it. Soap shoves Yuri along and rushes over to the hotel.
...
"Pink, stay back." John says as he drops another hostile. These Russians had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
"Don't be cocky John." Cortana reminded him. John ducked behind a pillar as he heard the warning in his suit go off, indicating that his shields needed to recharge.
"Cortana, you know me better than that." John said. He gave the rifle a quick jerk, dropping the empty clip from the gun. With haste, he slammed another one into his gun as he heard a short whirring noise. His shields are up again. A bullet whizzes past his face, but in the wrong direction. It's going toward the Russians, not coming from them. Confused, he looks behind him, and sees two familiar men coming from the right. One had a Mohawk and stubble on his chin, while the other was almost bald. That's when it hit him. He had learned about these men from history.
"Figured you could use our help, got yerself into a little predicament eh?" The one with the Mohawk says as he fires again. John froze for a moment, baffled. The man with the Mohawk had a Scottish accent, exactly what he had been believed to have had. Had he really been sent back to that time? Was he actually seeing these war heroes alive?
"Cortana, do a check." He says calmly as he turns from the pillar and fires again. An explosion from a grenade goes off, and John blocks his face. He feels someone tap his shoulder, and looks behind him. The bald one is trying to talk to him.
"My friend, you may want to get off the street! A BTR is headed straight for us!" He shouts. John looks over him, and sure enough, sees the vehicle moving toward the group. He hears someone else, and looks behind the ponies.
"John... It's them..." Cortana says as John turns his gun back, firing. Unbelievable... He was really fighting along side them? What an honor... John throws this thought out of his head. He had to stay focused. There was time to be amazed later. With haste, he look over to Price, and asked what they were doing here. Although he already knew what they had been trying to do. Price explains, and tells him to follow. The Chief nods and throws a frag grenade over the barrier. An explosion throws stone at him as he grabs the pink pony's leg.
"WEEEEE!" She shouts as she somehow dances in midair. John ignores this, knowing that more important matters are at hand. He watches as Prices slides to a halt and rushes down an alley, bringing what looks like an M4A1 to his front. MacTavish follows, who is quickly tailed by Yuri. John turns and watches as the yellow pegasus desperately tries to keep up. A piece of debris slams down in front of her, and she screams. John lays down the pink one and rushes over as an explosion causes more debris to scatter, all of it hitting him. He hears an inner suit warning, but ignores it. He had to save that pony, or he wouldn't gain the trust of the others. Not to mention she was just a civilian, and therefore had importance.
"Got ya." He says as he scoops her up, taking her in both arms. He quickly jogs as he feels shrapnel fly into his armor, which doesn't harm him, but prevents his shield from repairing. Quickly, he turns and rushes down the alley, where he sees Price.
"Are you daft? Get the heck in here you cheeky son of a gun!" He shouts. Well, the history books were right, he was definitely hot headed. John quickly runs inside a door that Price has kicked open, and sets the pony down with her friends. They instantly swarm her and start crying, as Price slams the door. The Captain turns and eyes the Spartan, to which John returns the favor.
"We'll be alright here, we can wait until they pass." He hears Soap say as he lays his weapon down on a table, a sniper rifle. John is speechless. From the looks of it, he was in Prague, the exact same place that MacTavish was supposed to die. The history books said that his death fueled Price to finish the war, and kill Makarov. John looked over Price once more, who has a harsh, unforgiving look. John tosses his gun aside, and Price watches every move.
"Looks like I got some explaining to do."
"Bloody right you do." Price said to the strange man. Soap watched as the soldier looked back at him. His helmet had a golden visor, but the rest of his armor was green. Save for what looked like black under armor. The soldier stared back at Captain Price, clearly not intimidated by the old man. This was not something that you saw very often, almost anyone who stared right at the captain would break under his unforgiving gaze. This soldier, however, seemed to not have any problems with staring him down.
"What do you want to know?" He asks calmly. Price uncrossed his arms and stepped closer. He observed the soldier's armor, carefully inspecting each feature of it. Looking up, he stared right through his visor, trying to intimidate the man, who still somehow managed to hold out against Price's glare. Soap crossed his arms and looked over to the strange ponies that had accompanied the soldier. One of them, a yellow one, was trembling, appearing to be on the verge of crying. An orange one was hugging her and trying to shush her. All the while, a blue one stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Who are you, and why in the heck are you here?" Price asked. Looking back over to Price, Soap saw the soldier look down, as though pondering his thoughts. The soldier looked over to him. Although there was he had a helmet on, his stance was more honoring when facing him than it was for Price. It was almost like the soldier respected him right away, as where he didn't respect Price yet. Soap nodded at the soldier. Despite what Price probably thought, this soldier didn't seem to be a threat. He fought against Makarov after all. When he looked back at Price, Yuri nudged Soap on his arm, and he looked over to him.
"Are you as confused as I am?" He asked as he watched a white pony wipe dirt off of her foreleg, while she gave disgusted groans.
"If not more." Soap said. The soldier stood straight, and looked Price in the eye.
"Master Chief. UNSC. I'm here to help these ponies... Captain Price." He said. Soap's eyes widened as he nearly gasped in shock. This man... Knew Price? But... He had never even seen this guy before! Price quickly grew wide eyed and pulled out his pistol. He rammed it against the chin of the soldier, who still stood still, not giving any indication of fear.
"HOW... IN BLOODY HECK... DO YOU KNOW ME?" Price shouted, bringing his face within inches of the soldier's. Soap couldn't stop staring, his arms had come uncrossed, and were now suspended in front of his body.
...
John calmly watched as Price glared at him. His face was defined by hatred and anger, but if his knowledge of psychological reactions were correct, he knew that Price probably also had feelings of uncertainty, and probably fear. Although not much of the latter. History books said Price was tough as nails, and the only time he showed emotion was when an ally died.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said. Price growled and shoved the barrel of his weapon further into his chin. It looked like a Desert Eagle, which John knew fired 50 caliber rounds. This weapon was considered honorable, and was only allowed to be kept by longtime veterans of at least twenty years. Although they were heavy, it was able to penetrate Spartan armor including it's shields with a mere 4 shots at close range. However, with how close Price was, it could probably penetrate right now, and while it wouldn't kill, it would destroy several vital nerves and cause severe pain.
"TELL ME!" Price shouts. John thinks for a moment. How likely was it that Price would believe he was from the future? Let alone that in his time, Price was considered a war hero?
"You have nothing to lose John. We both know that you can prove it." Cortana said assuringly. Her voice was filled with an unusual wave of concern, which she only used when she was scared or John was conflicted. In this case, John was concerned that Price, being the hothead he was, wouldn't believe him and pull the trigger. But Cortana was right, he could prove it. With a breath, he spoke.
"I'm from a time over 500 years into the future. And you, are a war hero that inspires many of our soldiers." John said. Price rose his eyebrow, and loosened the pistol. Looking over, John saw MacTavish and Yuri also questioning this. John looked back to Price, who was still conflicted, but seemed to still be holding out. He shoved the pistol back into his chin, gritting his teeth. John calmly stared him in the eye as he heard one of the ponies gasp.
"Prove it, or I'll do what the marijuana couldn't and make sure your eyes never open!" Price said with a growl in his voice. John almost chuckled. Price thought he was abusing a drug that was no longer grown? Then again, it was still popular in this time, so it wasn't surprising that Price would think that he was delusional. John nodded and looked over to MacTavish.
"That man over there is Captain John "Soap" MacTavish. He joined your SAS team in 2011, and since then you two have become like a father and a son. He even sent you a father's day card last year, when you stood up for him in front of his real dad, who abused him as a child. Saying that you were like a real father, and jokingly called you "Old Man"." John said. MacTavish widened his eyes.
"H... How in the heck could you know that?" He asked, clearly confused and frightened by John's accuracy. Looking back to Price, he noticed that there was no longer a look of mistrust in his eyes, and his pistol now pointed at his gut rather than his chin. John continued.
"The man next to him is Yuri. A former Spetsnaz operative who served for six years. He was also once an ultranationalist, who served beside one Vladimir Makarov..." John began. At this, Price grew outraged, and threw John aside.
"WHAT?" He shouted as he marched over to Yuri, who was backing away into a corner. MacTavish looked over to Yuri as well, clearly shocked. Price was about to strike at Yuri, but MacTavish used his hand to stop him.
"Price, relax. I'm sure there's an explanation for this." He said as he looked over to Yuri with an angry expression.
"Or at least there had better be..." He said barely above a whisper. The pink mare excitedly bounced up and down, raising her front hoof high into the air, while exclaiming happily. The two Task Force members rose eyebrows and looked over to the pony, while John just crossed his arms and observed her.
"What's an ultranaturelist? Is it a pony who does things that aren't supposed to happen? You know, ultra natural?" Just then she gasped, levitating in the air.
"No! Maybe it's a pony who takes something natural and..." She tried to say, but the orange mare placed a hoof on her mouth, causing her to only give muffled cries of confusion.
"Hon, he done said ultraNATIONALists, not ultranaturelists." She said with a bored expression. The pink mare gave and acknowledged nod and giggled.
"Oops! Silly me! So, what's an ultranationalist?" She asked as she continued to bounce. The blue mare gave an audible groan as she planted her hoof on her face. MacTavish pointed at the pony, and was about to speak before John interrupted.
"No, I don't know how they are able to talk." Price glared angrily at Yuri, who was beginning to sweat profoundly.
"A terrorist who murders innocents just for fun." He says with grit teeth. Pink's smile vanishes and she gives an audible noise of disgust.
"Well they don't sound very nice or fun at all!" She says as she crosses her forelegs. Yuri raises his arms, begging for a chance to explain.
"No need. I can." John said with crossed arms. Price turned back to him, as did MacTavish. Yuri also looked at him, clearly frightened with what was occurring. John took a step forward and began to explain.
"Yuri was just a man who made sure the ultranationalist got weapons for their cause. He never actual did any of the terrorist actions, nor did he even know it was occurring. The first time that he even knew was ten years ago, when Makarov, his best friend at the time, recruited him to help him bomb a bus stop. He thought it was full of corrupted politicians planning on destroying Russia. He only noticed after the bomb, when he saw a group of families in the train station. He never forgave himself for this, and vowed to stop these attacks. When Yuri became Makarov's right hand man, and witnessed a nuke kill 30,000 marines, and felt unbelievable guilt and hurt over this. He stopped a nuclear launch that was supposed to be sent to America in the year of 2014, and prevented a massacre in England. 2 years later, he tried to rat Makarov out, before he could commit a massacre at an airport, but he was discovered, shot, and left for dead. He still tried to use a security guard's pistol to kill him, but he was too badly hurt. His life was saved by a medic in the airport, and since then, he vowed vengeance for the lives lost under Makarov's lead in the ultranationalists." He said. Price's face loosened, and he looked back over to Yuri, who was both shocked, and nodding his head rapidly. Price sighed and walked away from Yuri, who sighed in relief.
"What day is it?" John asked. Price rose an eyebrow at this question, but answered nonetheless. October 11th, 2016. Just as John suspected. He crossed his arms and leaned against a wall.
"Looks like I just changed history." He said. Price stepped back in confusion, and MacTavish cocked his head to the side. Both of them were obviously not sure what to make of John's statement,
"What in the devil are you talking about mate?" MacTavish asked. Just as John was about to speak, the purple unicorn walked up to MacTavish and tapped his leg. The Captain gave a quick shout and jumped, giving an annoyed groan when he saw the pony.
"Excuse me, sir? I'm Twilight Sparkle, and if you want, I can show you what he means. I can show you what was supposed to happen had he not come." She said. MacTavish backed away slightly, and gave an exaggerated sigh as he nodded. The purple unicorn closed her eyes as her horn began to glow an eerie white color, making the soldiers around him somewhat creped out. John was used to it since he saw plenty more use magic before. The scenery around them began to shift violently into shades of orange, where shapes of humans formed. One dived, and an explosion trailed it. A faint outline of Price was seen carrying MacTavish while Yuri provided cover. Gunfire rang in John's ears as he watched the scenario play out in front of him.
"Hang in there Soap!" Could be heard from the illusion. It shifted, and the scene of Price glaring down at Yuri appeared. Price slowly walked down the stairs as blood flowed from an open injury in Yuri's head, who was staring at the captain with fear in his eyes.
"Soap trusted you..." Was heard as Price readied a pistol and pointed it at Yuri. Quickly the image shifted again, and this time, it showed a badly injured MacTavish lying on a table with Price right next to him. MacTavish was bleeding very badly, and appeared to be barely conscious.
"Price... Yuri..." Escaped from the illusion's mouth, and the image shifted again. As it did, cries of agony and sorrow could be heard, Price's. He begged and cried for MacTavish to stay with him, as the image finally faded to one final picture. This was one where Price had his head bowed in respect and placing a pistol on MacTavish's chest. MacTavish had ceased to move, and his entire body had gone limp. Yuri was standing to the side, his mouth agape as a single tear rolled down his face.
"I'm sorry..." He heard as the image faded away, returning to the original scenery.
...
Soap stared with his mouth agape at the wall on the far side, breathing heavily. To his side, Price had his mouth agape as well, and was looking over to Soap. Yuri was just standing there, a stunned look on his face, not sure what to say. Soap looked down to the ground as a wave of emotions flooded over him.
"I... I was supposed to die?" He asked, barely above a whisper. He felt a hand against his shoulder, and turned. Price had his hand on his shoulder, and stared at him sympathetically. The pony called Twilight nodded, and looked over to the Chief.
"He saved your life." She said calmly. Soap looked over to the soldier, who nodded. Just as he was about to speak, an explosion sounded, and the building rumbled.
"Makarov's guys are moving in, we gotta go." The chief said as he pulled a weapon from his back. Price gave Soap one final pat on the back, then told him to lead the way.
Author's Note
After this chapter, i'm gonna have a little break so please be patient
Chapter 7
John placed his back against the wall, right beside the stairwell. With caution, he peeks his head from behind the cover, and examines the stairs. While they surely are not in as good of shape as the used to be, they definitely can support the weight of the soldiers. Looking back to Price, he nods, and brings his Battle Rifle forward. Just as he is about to step forward, Price shoves his way past him. He glares at the officer for a minute, then raises his weapon and proceeds up the stairs.
"Nothing personal mate, Price just likes to lead." MacTavish says as he walks past him. The Captain carefully walks up the stairs, following Price's lead. Behind him, the orange pony sticks her head out, looking at the door. The door is not moving, but John can understand why she is being cautious. He looks back to Yuri, who has an AK-47 trained on the door.
"You go my friend, I'll keep this area secure until everyone else moves up." He says as he closes one eye. John looks back over to the ponies, where the yellow one still appears to be having trouble breathing. Must have been a reaction to the violence she was seeing around her. John wasn't an expert on these things, but he could guess that they probably didn't have very many wars back where they came from, if any. John didn't really feel sorry for it, but he knew that it was out of it's element. And that, he understood.
"Let's go, get moving." He said, looking over the purple pony. The unicorn nodded and told her friends to follow her. Each one slowly ascended up the stairs, with the purple one in the front. The rest went up in the order of blue, pink, white, orange, yellow. The last one was shivering as she went up the stairs, and kept telling herself to 'just put one hoof in front of the other'. John shook his head as he brought the back of his rifle to his shoulder, pointing his rifle down towards the stairs. The stairs creaked under John's weight, probably due to his armor. Still, he wasn't that worried about falling through them.
"Second floor is clear." He hears from above. The first pony gets up the stairs, and looks around. She's followed up by the rest of them, and John eventually manages to get past them. He looks around, and sees MacTavish checking every inch of the room with his sniper rifle. The scope has been removed, and replaced with a red dot sight. Meanwhile, Price was looking out a window, seeming to be checking for any ways to get out of the building. John looked behind him, seeing Yuri get up the stairs, and instinctively bring his gun forward. He carefully rose his own gun, keeping it more towards a downward position. Seeing Price carefully open a doorway to a balcony, he watches as he motions for MacTavish to make his way over there. The Captain complies and moves over to him.
"Soap, I need you to get these... things to the checkpoint. Whatever they are they're still innocents, and have priority." He said as he lowered his M4, now only holding it in one hand.
"What about you?" MacTavish asks as he holds his gun across his chest and gut.
"I have to finish the mission, I'm not going to let Makarov get another shot at killin' you." He says as he begins to walk away. John steps forward.
"I wouldn't do that. There are way too many of Makarov's men around here, you'd just get yourself killed." He said as he stepped over the yellow pony. She gives a whimper and backs away slowly, while the blue one rushes over and places a leg on her shoulder. She stares at John with a hateful expression, but he just ignores it. Price and MacTavish look over to him, with Price giving a questioning glare.
"You have to wait, he knows you're here, and has everything available hunting you down. You'll have to wait to kill him another day." He says. Price gives an annoyed growl. He places his weapon back to his front, and mumbles that he's already been alive too long as it is. John just shook his head and followed him. Outside the window, there was a large drop, with several hostile soldiers below. John backed away slightly, placing his Battle Rifle on his back. Looking around, he found a small balcony that led across to another building. This would be a good escape route. He backed up and prepared himself to run, as Price gave him a questioning look.
"What the heck are you doing?" He asked. John brushed this aside, and quickly launched himself from the ground. He sprinted as quickly as he could, trying to get as much speed as he could before leaping. When he got to the edge of the balcony, he used all of his strength to push himself off the ledge, and head to the other side. The wind howled in his ears as someone stepped out, clearly wondering what he was doing. John flailed his arms in the air slightly, and grabbed hold of the railing of the other balcony. Looking below him, he sees several Russians walking underneath him, with their guns pointed forward, checking left and right. Fortunately, they have not looked up, giving John a couple of seconds to pull himself up. Giving a quick grunt, he reached his other hand to the rail and pulled himself up. Turning around, he sees the ponies with their mouths agape, while Price just gives him a look that says; 'what the heck was that?'.
"Come on, let's go." He says as he pulls his Battle Rifle off of his back. Looking over the railing, he sees that one of the Russians have stopped and looked up, but not in his direction. He hears chatter, with what sounds like shouting. He looks back over to Price, and sees him looking down at the Russians as well. The Captain looks up to John, and moves his arm forward, telling him to move back. John nods and steps back, making sure to give him plenty of space for his jump.
...
Price rears back, setting his weight on his back foot. Keeping a firm grip on his gun, he readied himself, getting himself into a good starting position.
"Be careful old man." Soap says from the side. Price scoffs. If this misfit tinman could make that kind of a jump, it couldn't be that difficult. He slows his breathing, and makes sure to keep his pacing even. With one last breath to remove his anxiety, he sprints forward. He gives a quiet grunt as he launches himself off of the railing of the balcony, flying through the air. He holds his breath for a moment, as the air blows against his face. He lets go of his rifle, allowing it to dangle from it's harness on his side. He grunts he lands on the railing, but isn't able to grab it. He gives a short grunt of panic as he scrambles to grab onto something, as he begins to slide away from the rail. He throws his arm out, and grabs hold of the very edge of the balcony, just under the railing. A few loose pebbles fall from the balcony, creating a soft rumble. Price gives an exasperated gasp, and looks up to the railing. Standing over him is the soldier, sticking his hand out.
"Need a hand?" He asks. Price growls and throws his hand up to the railing. Using his strength he lifts his other arm onto the balcony, placing the foremost part of his arm onto the railing. He looks back to the soldier, and his hand is still out. Price smacks it away and mumbles to himself. Using his forearms, he lifts his right leg over the railing, planting it on the surface of the balcony. He lifts his other leg onto the balcony, and looks over to the other side of the jump. One of the ponies seem to be suppressing a laugh, the blue one. Price growls and brings his rifle to his front as he watches Soap begin to rear back for the jump.
...
Price had his back planted against the back of a wall, his finger readily around the trigger of his weapon. Soap is on the other side, with his sniper at the ready. The ponies look nervously around, as Yuri gently closes a door behind them. Price looks out of one of the windows, and sees a hostile patrol. He looks over to the soldier, who has his back planted on the wall besides another window. Looking back over to Soap, he sees him checking the chamber of his weapon.
"Anxious?" He asks. Soap shrugs.
"I just wanna make sure history stays changed." He says as he rubs one hand through his Mohawk. Price places a hand on his shoulder, and looks at him sympathetically.
"It will. I'm making sure of it son." He says with a reassuring nod. There was no way he was letting these monsters get to Soap, not after all they had been through. Soap was a hard man to kill, and he wasn't going to let Makarov ruin that reputation. Looking back out the window, he sees a patrol stop, and check the building to the right of them.
"Get down!' He whispers as he crouches below the window. Soap responds quickly, allowing himself to go into a prone position. The soldier also crouches, with his weapon pointing up towards the ceiling. Price shifts uncomfortably against the wall, where pieces of the wall scrape against his arm. A light shines through the window, and he can hear one of the ponies begin to cry.
"Shut up!" He whispers harshly. The pony does quiet down, but when he looks behind him, he sees that she is terrified, as she begins trembling. It's the yellow one, and Price instantly regrets his words. He could already tell that that one was the most out of her nature, and was clearly scared to death. He shakes his head, and looks over to a door.
"Shh..." He says as he gently goes into a prone position and begins to crawl over to the door. The floor is rough, and is covered in cracks. It's in poor condition, and creaks when he shifts his weight. He pauses for a moment, and holds his breath. Outside, he can hear the Russians conversing, but they don't sound alarmed. With haste, he crawls along the ground, making sure to keep the floor as quiet as he can until he reaches the door. He rises up, and grabs the handle of the door. He wiggles it a moment, and sees that it isn't locked. He looks behind him, and sees Soap with his weapon trained on the door. He nods, and Price places his rifle forward. He carefully opens the door, which leads to a large stairwell that leads to a tunnel. The escape route.
"This is it, move."
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Twilight glanced around to her friends, watching each of them. Rainbow impatiently tapped her hoof on the ground, while Applejack paced across the small room. The humans were going out again, on something Master Chief had said was something they couldn't be a part of. Instead, they were to stay at the safe house with Nikolai. Rainbow had initially been insulted by the claim it was too dangerous for her, but Twilight and Applejack had been able to hold her back. Right now, all of her friends were simply walking around, looking, or exploring the room. Nikolai was in the room with the laptops, doing something he said was classified. Twilight had learned quite a bit about humans in her short time studying them, but why they liked to keep so many secrets confused her. What was so important that only a few humans were allowed to see it? Still, it wasn't her business to pry. She was here to retrieve the Element of Harmony, which still hadn't shown up.
"Ugh! I can't take it anymore!" Rainbow shouted angrily as she leapt up from where she was sitting. A couple of papers flew up in the air with a crinkling noise as the wind from her launch sent them into the air, causing Fluttershy to flinch. Rainbow was about to rush over to the door again when Applejack bit her tail. Twilight sighed and walked over as the farm mare pulled the irritated pegasus to the ground. Rainbow growled when she came in contact with the ground, unhappily resting her head on her front hooves.
"I hate just being locked up in here! It's so stupid!" She shouted angrily.
"Rainbow, we have to stay in here. Do you know what it would be like if we showed ourselves outside?" Twilight asked calmly. Rainbow looked up to her friend and glared unforgivingly.
"I don't need to hear the same speech twice Twilight." She said with a bored expression.
"Well stop poutin' so dang much and yah won't 'ave to." Applejack said with a stern voice. As Rainbow turned her attention to Applejack, Twilight decided to leave them alone. The last thing she wanted was to get involved in an argument between those two. They were her best friends and all, but the mares never seemed to see eye to eye unless it was a very big situation. Looking over to Pinkie, Twilight noticed the hyper pony leaping throughout the room, looking into each corner intently. She gave one corner a few sniffs, and then reared her head back in disgust.
"Ew!" She shrieked, shaking her head. Twilight rose an eyebrow, about to go over and see what was going on. Pinkie quickly regained her smile and gave a light giggle. With a snort, she began hopping over to the next corner, despite it probably being the same. Twilight never could figure out what Pinkie was doing, and she had stopped trying a long time ago. Sighing, she walked away from Pinkie, watching as Rarity seemed to be fighting to go on the in the corner. The bed was somewhat old, and seemed to have some dust on it.
"You tired or something?" Twilight asked as she came closer. Rarity turned to face her, a disgusted look on her face. Twilight sighed mentally and prepared for the worst.
"How can they be so filthy? I would never be able to sleep on such a mediocre excuse for a bed, it's just unsanitary!" She said with disgust in her voice. Twilight shook her head and smiled.
"Rarity, you don't have to sleep on that you know. There's plenty of spots on the floor that aren't..." Before Twilight could finish her sentence, Rarity gasped and rushed over to her, her face inches from Twilight's. Twilight continued to smile, but nervously as she backed her head away from Rarity's.
"THE FLOOR? Have you completely lost your mind? I will never stoop to such... DEMEANING levels! That thought alone is just... UGH!" She said. Twilight chuckled nervously and backed away slowly.
"Will you ponies shut up in there?" She heard Nikolai shout from the other room. Just then, Twilight heard a scream. A very familiar, quiet one. Looking to her left, she saw Fluttershy crunched up in a ball, right next to the window. She frowned. Ever since the group had gotten here, Fluttershy had been in an almost traumatized state. It made Twilight sad to see her friend so terrified.
"What's wrong Fluttershy?" She asked with a soothing tone as she got closer. Fluttershy looked up, trembling with fright.
"The... The..." She tried to say. Twilight kneeled down, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's. She tried to explain that everything was okay, but her friend kept shaking her head and pointing at the window. The more Twilight tried to calm her down, the more terrified Fluttershy became. That was when she heard a strange noise. The noise was a soft, but audible thudding noise that could easily be heard from throughout the room. All the ponies stopped what they were doing, each looking at each other.
"What is that?" Rainbow asked as she stepped up to the window. Just as she was about to look out, an alarm sounded, while a flashing red light lit up the room around the ponies. Twilight backed away, suddenly overcome with fear. Fluttershy began crying, rocking herself back and forth, trying to calm herself down. Twilight had never seen anything like this. Didn't things like this only happen in books? The door leading to Nikolai suddenly flew open, Nikolai speeding out of the room with one of the guns in his hands.
"Makarov and his men have found us! We need to get out of here!" He shouted over the alarm. That's when the glass suddenly shattered, small yellow lines flying to the wall...
...
John watched as Price flipped Makarov's guy over his shoulder. With one swift movement, he fired his weapon, killing the soldier before he had a chance to react. With him in the elevator was Price, MacTavish, Grinch, Truck, Sandman, and one unnamed Delta operator. Frost's broken arm from Sandman landing on him in Berlin prevented him from accompanying his team. Thanks to John's warning, Delta was able to get the girl before Makarov's forces knew what was going on. Now, John had revealed the diamond mine, where Makarov had been hiding the Russian president.
"Ready?" Sandman asked everyone. As he said that, the elevator slowly began it's descent, moving to a lower floor. This experience was almost surreal for him, fighting alongside so many historical figures was humbling, not that he was one to be proud any way. Grinch looked over to him as the others loaded their weapons, preparing for the final assault.
"Why's this guy here again?" He asked. The Delta team had been somewhat cautious when Price and the others brought him along, and even after the explanation of him being from the future (Which they didn't believe at first), they still felt like he could have just been an informant giving them info. John couldn't even imagine himself as one of those, just sitting in some room with computers and microphones. That just wasn't him. He was a soldier on the front lines, simple as that.
"This lad ain't that bad of a fighter. Besides, he knows everything that's gonna happen from this point on." MacTavish said as he kneeled down, aiming his weapon at the elevator door. With a soft screeching noise, the elevator came to a halt, and softly began to open. Sandman ordered everyone to be ready, as John pointed his rifle forward. With a soft grinding, the doors opened to reveal several Russian troops, all of which with their backs turned.
"Now!" Price shouted. With that, everyone in the elevator began to fire, eliminating hostiles before they could figure out what was going on.
...
Nikolai instantly hit the floor, watching as the bullets whizzed over his head. All around him, the walls of the room chipped, sending dust everywhere. With a grunt, he looked forward, seeing one of the ponies, Flutter-something, rocking back and forth as she started crying. The orange and blue mares were locked in an embrace, both of them carrying genuine terror on their faces.
"What's going on?" The purple mare asked. Nikolai began to crawl to the edge of the window, standing once her made it to the outmost part. Gunfire continued to ring in his ears as he waited, trying to hold out. He didn't stand a chance alone, and there was no chance of Price or Soap arriving to save him this time. Like it or not, it was just him, and six completely useless ponies. They were civilians, not fighters, and he hated to downgrade anyone.
"We must get out of here! There is an escape route, but we must hurry!" Nikolai shouted as he hurried over to the purple mare. She was standing completely stiff, seemingly frozen in fear. Waiting for a moment, Nikolai tried to keep away from the windows, watching as the bullets continued to fly through them.
"Where's the escape?" He heard from the side. Looking over to direction he heard it from, he saw the purple mare with her arms... forelegs... whatever they were over her head, trying to protect her cranium from taking any damage.
"Back there! It's underneath the bed!" Nikolai shouted as the gunfire steadily ended. With a quick breath, he popped up, and fired his weapon. Until another bullet flew and hit him in his shoulder...
...
John saw more dirt fly across the room as a grenade exploded right in front of the fork lift he was hiding behind. A bullet crashed onto his arm, quickly shot away by his shields.
"Hostiles! 12 o'clock!" MacTavish shouted as he fired more rounds at the hostiles on the high balcony. To the side, Price moved along with Yuri to flank them from the right, while Delta moved in from the left. As a bullet whizzed by his face, John popped out from the other side, firing his weapon. The screams of pain from his enemies confirmed his hits. Going back behind the forklift, he dropped his empty magazine, instantly going for a fresh one. As he gave the magazine a solid slam, a bullet landed right to the side of his feet, nearly hitting them. Their aim was getting better, he'd give them that.
"Price! We got heavy activity on the balcony! Could really use some M203s about now!" MacTavish shouted as he ducked back down to reload. John watched as another enemy RPG sailed over head, connecting with the cave wall right behind him. The heat was strong enough to make him sweat, even if he was used to the heat.
"Roger that, we'll thin em' out!" Price said into the radio. John fired a few more rounds, making sure to keep too many bullets from hitting him at once.
...
Twilight watched in horror as Nikolai fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder as blood poured out of it.
"Gah! Son of a... GAH!" He shouted as he laid his head on the ground, gritting his teeth and muttering out curses under his breath. She had always seen these guys make it through their conflicts without getting hurt, seeing this happen was... horrifying.
"Are you okay?" She shouted over a large explosion. Just then, a part of the wall blew pieces of destroyed brick at them, stinging as they collided with Twilight's flesh. She gave a quick grunt of pain, backing away slightly.
"Don't worry, I've taken worse, this is nothing!" Nikolai shouted as he pushed himself up with his good arm. He used his gun as a crutch to get himself up, and growled in pain with every movement of his bad arm. Twilight ducked down again, looking over to Fluttershy, who was screaming loudly for the first time since Rainbow's rainboom. She quickly rushed over to her traumatized friend wrapping a foreleg around her.
"Don't worry! It's okay!" She shouted. Behind her, Nikolai fired a few more shots, before ducking down again and releasing a groan of pain. Twilight panted heavily, panicking as she tried to figure out what to do. Another explosion rocked the building, throwing Nikolai off of his feet. Come on, get over yourself! Twilight thought to herself. She was the one who was supposed to be watching out for her friends, and instead, she was hiding away too. She looked over to the bed, which Rarity was now hiding under. Looking over to the right, Twilight noticed Rainbow and Applejack no longer in a distressed state, merely trying to keep their heads covered. And Pinkie was throwing bullets out the window, seeming to think they would do something.
"Rainbow, AJ! Are you two okay?" She shouted over the roar of the gunfire.
"This is insane! What the hay'r we supposed ta' do now?" Applejack shouted as she removed a foreleg from her head. Right next to her left eye was a small cut that was slowly oozing blood, although not serious. A piece of the broken bricks must have hit her. Twilight shook her head, trying to get back into focus.
"Guys! I need you to move that bed! Nikolai says there's an escape under it!" She shouted.
"Rarity's frozen solid under that thing Sherlock! There's no way we're getting her out from under there!" Rainbow shouted with a hateful tone, just as another explosion sent even more debris flying. Nikolai screamed in pain, falling once again as he covered the left part of his chest. Twilight let out a quick scream, watching as blood slowly seeped from below his hand, dripping down onto the rest of his body.
"JUST TRY!" Nikolai shouted as he slammed his fist into the ground several times. He let loose a roar of agony, giving Applejack and Rainbow the motivation they needed to get moving on the bed.
...
John dove behind a large grouping of crates, making sure to avoid the dead corpse to his side. Another explosion destroyed a helicopter attempting to bring in reinforcements for Makarov's men. The predator UAV was making mincemeat of these hostiles.
"Contact by the building!" He heard Grinch shout. Looking over, he observed a large group of Russian forces firing away at their position. Ducking back behind cover, he watched as an RPG fired over his head, and detonated right next to a Delta operator. The soldier had half of his face blown off, falling to the side before he had a chance to even scream.
"MacTavish, there's a group of RPG's by the tunnels on the side, take em' out with the predator." John said, looking over to the man. A bullet hit the top of the crate, throwing some of the wood at John. He threw his arm up, absorbing the sharp wood with his shields.
"The UAV's still reloading! There's not much I can do right now!" MacTavish shouted as he fired a few more shots before ducking down again. Popping back up, he fired more rounds down the construction yard as John ducked behind the crate again, making sure not to get hit.
...
Twilight grunted as she helped push the bed away from it's resting spot, trying to get to whatever it was that was going to help them escape. Fluttershy was still crying in a corner, although she was closer to the bed now. Rainbow and Applejack pulled and pushed with all their might, with the bed moving a few inches every time.
"Almost got it!" Rainbow said through clenched teeth, clearly growing more and more frustrated as the bed refused to move. A bullet whizzed past them, hitting the wall right above the bed. Fluttershy gave another squeal as Pinkie shouted out to leave them alone. To the side, Rarity was tapping her hooves anxiously, waiting to get away from the scenario in front of her. Finally, the bed was all but removed from where it once was, revealing a small latch in the center of it's place.
"There it is!" Applejack shouted after spitting a bar out of her mouth. The latch was made of rope, which gave the impression that it was made rather hastily. Still, it was better than nothing. Twilight took the rope with her magic, and pulled, levitating the door in the air. The passage way was dark, but still had enough light to be able to see. Several cobwebs had formed on the sides of the tunnel wall, giving the impression that it had been a while since it had been used.
"Everypony get going!" She shouted. Rarity instantly rushed down, panting as she did. Pinkie stayed at the window, continuing to throw bullets at who ever was attacking them.
"Pinkie! Come on!" Rainbow shouted as she flew in front and started to push her. Pinkie threw a fit, trying to tell her to stop. Despite all of her protesting, Rainbow kept pushing her friend until both of them had made it down the steps.
"Fluttershy come on you too!" Twilight said as she looked over to her trembling friend. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide, looking down the tunnel with terror.
"Y... You mean into that... D-D-Dark tunnel? I..." She began to say, but another explosion cut her off. Screaming, she raced down the stares, not slowing down at least once.
"An' leave you here?" She questioned.
"I'll be down in a minute, just go!" Twilight demanded. Applejack hesitated for a moment, then nodded and followed Twilight's orders. As she disappeared from view, she looked back to Nikolai, who was still trying to hold off their attackers. He had already taken two bullets, and he didn't need any more.
"Nikolai come on!"
"Just g-" He began to say. Suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence, his head jerking back violently as a red mist formed at the very tip. Twilight gasped in horror, watching as his body made contact with the floor, making a loud thud. Blood slowly poured onto the floor as Nikolai's fingers twitched violently for a few seconds, then ceased to move. Twilight stared in horror at the scene before her, terrified by the corpse that now occupied the room. She heard voices from the outside, in some language she couldn't understand. She began to hyperventilate, and quickly slammed down the hatch, leaving her in darkness.
"Oh Celestia..." She said between her gasps. Her stomach felt nauseous, and her stomach started to churn. Looking back up to the hatch, she continued to hear the voices, although muffled now. Breathing heavily, she ran as fast as she could, desperate to get away from what she had just witnessed.
Author's Note
Longer chapter
18 Hours Later...
John simply stood there as Price glared at him angrily. To his right, MacTavish was standing with his arms crossed, clearly not sure what to think of the scene that had been presented to him. Behind them, Yuri observed the stone dead Nikolai, who was sprawled across the ground with a hole in the middle of his head. A bed that had been in the corner of the safe house had been moved, revealing a hidden latch that probably lead to a passage way. Yuri placed his hands at the tip of Nikolai's eyes and gently pushed them down with his fingertips, afterwards giving his chest a soft pat, probably to say goodbye.
"You don't think that this MIGHT have been important to tell us?" Price growled as he pointed at Nikolai's corpse. John had been just as surprised to find Nikolai dead as Price and the others, he wasn't supposed to die. And Makarov was definitely not supposed to find their safe house. Aside from a dead Nikolai, the safe house contained wrecked laptops, destroyed intelligence, pools of blood, bullet casings, and a lack of six ponies. John looked around the room with disbelief, unable to think of how this happened. It didn't make any sense. The history books had clearly stated that there was no attack on Price's hideout, and that Price and Nikolai were the ones that survived the events of World War III and the attack on Makarov.
"This isn't what happened. According to history your base was never discovered, and Makarov never launched an attack against it." John looked over to Nikolai. To think that only a few short hours ago, Nikolai had been giving them information, tracking down Makarov's location, and just been alive. Now he was dead. This wasn't supposed to happen. Price shook his head and walked away, calling John's history garbage.
"Price, calm down, there has to be some sort of explanation for this." MacTavish said as he looked to his leader. Despite having just recently gotten their original ranks back, and preventing the loss of Sandman, this had not been a good day for the 141. John could only imagine what kind of pain they were feeling right now. He hadn't known Nikolai very well, but it was clear that these men had seen Nikolai as an equal, and as a good friend. MacTavish looked back over to John, keeping his arms crossed as he gave him what looked like a forced, and unconvincing look of understanding. Despite his efforts, John could tell that he was angry.
"Of Price, Yuri, Nikolai and I, who originally survived this?" He asked. To this, Yuri and Price both pivoted their bodies to look at John, who was still standing near the doorway, as though he were afraid to see what would happen should he take any more steps inside. Looking MacTavish in the eye, John provided his answer.
"Price, and Nikolai." MacTavish nodded his head, and brough his hand to his chin as he took the information in. Price seemed to be thinking about something, while Yuri stared at him in disbelief. MacTavish suddenly grew wide eyed, as did Price.
"Soap didn't die... but Nikolai did... which means..." Price began. Before he could finish, MacTavish picked up his sentence where he left off.
"If one of us doesn't die, that means another one of us will. In my case... Either me or Nikolai... and that means..." The three Johns turned to face Yuri, who was only just now starting to understand what they were saying. With his voice trembling, he said what was on the mind of everyone in the room.
"One more of us has to die... And it will either be Price... or me..." John crossed his arms and sighed mentally, somewhat aggravated at what he had just discovered. By saving MacTavish, he had indirectly caused the death of another war hero. For the first time in a while, he actually was somewhat angry.
"John, don't worry about it. You did what you thought was right. There was no way you could have known." Cortana said with a soothing voice. John shook his head and looked toward the escape latch. Chances are those ponies made their way down there, with Nikolai giving them cover. That was his guess anyway.
"Let's try not to think about that. For now... What's our move? Our funding is back, so we won't be limited by cost anymore." MacTavish said as he picked up Nikolai's dropped AK-47. Checking the chamber, a bullet popped out, meaning it was still loaded. John looked over to Price, knowing what he would do. So instead of allowing protest, he provided information.
"Makarov is held up in Hotel Oasis in the Arabian Peninsula." He said with no emotion in his voice. "Upon the mention of Makarov's name, Price instantly stepped forward, and clenched his fist. "He's using a cover name so no one will know it's him who's there. His men are disguised as guests, but they are armed and ready to fight. I'd recommend gaining some armor of some sort before you go in there."
"You're sure that's where he is? No more unexpected surprises?" He asked with a stiff tone. John nodded.
"You only said us, where will you be in all of this?" Yuri asked. John looked over to the latch.
"Getting a few ponies back."
...
Applejack spoke calmly to Twilight as she continued to breathe heavily. She had been hyperventilating for a while, but some breathing control had taken care of that. But she still had a horrified look in her eye. The passage had led to a small room, with a floor made almost completely of stone, along with the walls. There were three sleeping bags, and a few jugs of water and a few packs of food. Although it was by no means enough to last for too long.
"Twilight, it's alright, okay? Everythin's fine." Applejack said to her anxious friend. The only one attempting to help Applejack was Rarity, with Fluttershy sitting next to a wall rocking herself with her hooves over her head. Pinkie Pie was simply bouncing on a large rock she had found down there, while Rainbow just comforted Fluttershy, trying to get her to stop crying.
"He... He died right in front of me... I... I..." Twilight stuttered as another tear trailed down her face. Rarity frowned and placed a hoof on Twilight's, as Applejack just nodded and tried to calm her down.
"Twilight, you must remain calm, it's not healthy for you to be so worried." Rarity said with a concerned tone. Applejack nodded.
"She's right Twi. Just calm down, and talk ta' us." She said calmly. Just then, a soft, distant thudding sounded, causing Twilight to jerk her head to the direction of the sound. She started breathing heavily again, with Applejack looking in the same direction. Rainbow took note of the sound as well, instantly snapping up to her hooves. She growled, as though trying to frighten whoever was coming. Fluttershy seemed to stop breathing for a minute, while Pinkie stopped bouncing. Rarity backed away fearfully, while Applejack stepped forward cautiously. Something spoke in a strange way, as though it were just making some sort of random noise. Applejack had never heard anything like it, and it confused her slightly.
"It's them... It's the ones that tried to kill us... They followed us..." Twilight said fearfully as her voice grew shaky. Looking back to her friend, Applejack could see her place her hooves over her head, with tears strolling down her face. Rarity tried to calm her down, while Applejack stood in front, ready to guard her friends. She didn't know what these guys were doing, but they weren't going to touch her friends. She felt a gust of wind from her side, and looked to her right. Rainbow had flown to her side, taking a stand beside her.
"These guys will be sorry they messed with Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow said with grit teeth. Applejack nodded and adjusted her hat, giving her the best possible view of the passage that was possible. She spit to the side, and grit her teeth with a fierce determination. Planting her hoof solidly in the ground, she readied herself to fight, even though she would probably lose the fight. That didn't mean she wouldn't try though. Looking to her friend, she nodded, to which Rainbow nodded back. Before they could launch off to meet whoever was coming after them though, they heard cries of confusion, along with the all too familiar sound of gunfire.
"What the hay..." Applejack wondered aloud. Standing upright, she looked over to Rainbow, who was equally confused. From the passage, they could see movement, it appeared to be running, as though trying to get away from something. Applejack quickly got back down, ready to fight. Rainbow followed suit. The figure came into view, which was a man in a green shirt and black pants, with some sort of black vest on. Applejack shouted in determination, and leapt forward with Rainbow Dash. Just as they ran forward, another sound, that of a gun, sounded. The running figure's chest gained a red splat, and the man came to a skidding halt as he slid the hooves of the girls.
"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted as she came to a skidding halt, nearly tripping over the fresh corpse. Applejack managed to stop before her, ending up a little behind her friend. Standing a little further in the tunnel, a bright light shined in the darkness, steadily growing brighter. As it came closer, it revealed Master Chief, with his smaller gun pointed forward, and a light on the side of his helmet activated.
...
John lowered his weapon upon sighting the girls. The Ultranationalists had not provided a very good fight, and he dispatched of them rather quickly. It was a good thing they weren't real Russian forces, otherwise he might have had some difficulty. Not much, but some. As he walked closer, the first response he received was not a thank you, but rather the blue pegasus flying up to him with an angry expression.
"Why didn't you tell us that would happen?" She shouted angrily, pressing her face against the visor of his helmet. John casually pushed her away, not caring to deal with her attitude.
"Simple. That wasn't supposed to happen." He said as he calmly holstered his magnum. As the orange pony stepped closer, he couldn't help but take notice of the look of confusion in her eye. John walked forward, past the first two girls to find the rest of them either being spoken to, or bouncing randomly. The blue pegasus quickly rushed past him, making her way to the one he was pretty sure they called Fluttershy. John had deduced that the timid, quivering pegasus was not dangerous, or any sort of threat, and so decided he could use her name. As for the blue one, probably not.
"Did anyone see what happened?" He asked as he looked around the makeshift hideout. It was by no means on par with the other one, with only a single laptop in the corner on a crate for intelligence. To the side, the white unicorn was trying to calm down the purple unicorn, who was Something Sparkle. He sort of trusted her.
"Twilight did, she's pretty freaked out about it." The orange pony said as she walked up to him.
"Now... What didya' mean when ya' said it wasn't supposed to happen?" She asked as she leaned her head forward, as though afraid she wouldn't hear him.
"Just that. My actions has messed up how these events happened. So instead of MacTavish dying, Nikolai did." John said as he walked over to the laptop. The orange pony shook her head, trying to take in what John had told her. John pressed a few keys on the laptop, watching as it flickered to life slowly. It was definitely low tech, lower than he had ever dealt with in the past. As he looked through the laptop, the ponies behind him tried to console each other.
"John, what are you looking for?" Cortana asked quizzically. John pulled up a file on military intelligence, which brought a dossier of Makarov. It stated his name, his information, a list of terrorist acts, and several accounts of evasion of the military and CIA alike. Along with that was a list of several of his followers, with some of his most trusted ones listed in red. Jackpot.
"Getting an Ace in the hole. Sandman lived, which means two more people are going to die, not just one. And I intend on making it one of Makarov's trusted henchmen, not Price AND Yuri." John said as he downloaded the information, instantly going into Cortana's memory systems.
"You're doing that thing I like again." Cortana said with a chuckle.
"Which is?"
"Being crazy."
Washington
Twilight awoke with a panicked cry, breathing heavily as sweat slowly trickled down her forehead. She had another nightmare about Nikolai's death, which continued to haunt her to her very core. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her mind was traveling thousands of miles an hour in hundreds of different directions at once. From the people who killed him busting into her room, to seeing each of her friends die, her psyche was bombarded with dreadful thoughts at every waking moments. Sniffing, she began to cry softly as she curled into a ball and rock herself gently back and forth.
"I want to go home..." She said to herself, her eyes now blurry with tears. Only her crying broke through the silence of the grey walled room she resided in. Sniffing, she wiped the tears from her eyes, and looked at the door on the other side of the room. Looking back down at her forelegs, she gently pulled them apart from their crossed position and placed them on the bed. It wasn't exactly luxury treatment, but it was a bed nonetheless. Sighing, she hopped out of the bed and walked toward the door slowly. She didn't want to be alone right now. She needed to be with someone right now. Maybe Applejack or Rarity were still awake.
Just as she was about to open the door, it burst open, the loud thwack of the door causing Twilight to scream. Terrified, she leap back and got on the ground, covering her head with her forelegs. Had they been found? Did those men from before come for them? Twilight began crying again as she heard footsteps get gradually closer to her, her entire body shivering in fright...
...
John looked down at Sparkle with the necklace at his side, pondering what she was doing. These ponies were strange, but this didn't make sense. Walking slightly closer, the unicorn flinched and gave a sad squeak as tears fell down her face.
"What are you doing?" He asked. At this, the pony slowly, shakily looked up, opening one eye, slowly followed by her other eye. Her breathing began to slow down as she looked down at the ground, removing her hooves from her head.
"I... I thought you were... One of them..." She said in a soft voice, barely audible. That's when it clicked. She was still freaked out about seeing Nikolai die right in front of her. Now that he thought about it, he was surprised he hadn't figured that out right away, she was just an innocent girl after all.
"As you can see, I'm friendly. Anyway, is this the necklace you were looking for?" He asked as he extended the necklace towards her. She looked up slowly, and her sad expression seemed to brighten for a moment.
"You... You found it?" She asked slowly. John nodded, and crouched down as he handed her the necklace. She took if softly, looking at it very carefully in her hooves. It was almost like she was afraid it was a fake. John had considered that possibility, but ruled it out due to what he had seen when he was interrogating Alexi. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely what these ponies were looking for. The purple pony never smiled as she observed it, but only looked back at him and nodded.
"Yeah... This is it..." She said softly. Her voice was almost as quiet as Fluttershy's, which caught John slightly off guard. Usually, her volume was in a moderate tone, easily identifiable thanks to the rest of her company being either loud, quiet, or having an accent. She was clearly hurting.
"John... You need to say something... Anything..." Cortana said from inside his head. Looking at the pony, John couldn't agree more. Usually, he opted for staying silent, since he never really had much to say anyway. But in this case, it was clear that Sparkle needed to hear something reassuring.
"Look... Sparkle, if you're worried about those men, don't be." He said with a solid tone. The young mare looked up at him as another tear fell down her eye. John continued.
"As long as my mission is to get these elements, you're my responsibility. And as long as you're my responsibility, nothing will happen to you. Or your friends." He said with a nod. Looking down, Sparkle nodded and sniffed. One of her tears began to slowly stroll downward, forming a small drop on the tip of her chin.
"Please... Call me Twilight..." She said softly. If her eyes weren't closed, she would be looking at the floor. John simply watched her, not wanting to interrupt in case she wasn't finished talking.
"All my friends call me Twilight... And... I'd feel safer knowing a friend was watching over me." She said. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, which were glowing red slightly thanks to her crying. John looked away for a moment, considering this. He did trust her, and he did know what it was like to be watched out for someone you considered a friend. If he had any other AI with him than Cortana, he wouldn't feel nearly as safe as he did now. Looking back over to the purple pony, he noticed she was now looking at him with her sad eyes. Nodding, he offered out his hand for a handshake.
"Fair enough." He said calmly. Suddenly, Twilight threw her forelegs around him, causing him to throw his arms out in shock. Before he could react, he heard her crying again, softly. Not knowing how to handle this he gently lowered one of his arms, carefully using the other to pat her back.
...
Arkham City, 2011
Batman observed the numerous buildings that dominated the ruined streets of Arkham, trying to decide whether to take Oracle's advice to get Rā's blood to Freeze, or to go after Strange's unsung partner. Mayor Sharp's statements made him very suspicious to what the doctor was up to behind closed doors. But, he had to admit, he wasn't feeling good at all. That was probably an understatement, but he still had a choice. Something was going on with Strange, but was it worth his life? Deciding against it, Batman opened his cape and glided across the open air. The whoosh of the cape briefly drowned out the sound of the air, but quickly gave way to it's sound.
Just as he began to get to the lab, a small white spark came into the side of his vision. Looking to his right, he could see a small spark on top of the toy factory. Squinting, Batman turned into that direction and made his way over there. The spark slowly died down as the Dark Knight landed on top of the roof, and slowly stood as he made his way over to the spark.
"Bruce? What are you doing? You need to get to Freeze, now! Your suit's bio readings are off the charts!" He heard Barbra say. His main focus was turned to the spot the spark had been however, as it was something that just... Didn't seem right. In it's place was a necklace, a golden one with what looked like an orange apple made of a diamond in it's center. Crouching down, Batman picked it up and observed it. Two things stood out about this necklace, first, it had some sort of strange, animated quality to it, almost as though it had been taken straight out of a cartoon. Second, the diamond was giving off a soft, but still clear glow, bathing his hand and forearm in orange.
"Oracle... I've found some sort of artifact, I'm sending a video feed now." He said as the glow grew slightly brighter, now making it's way up to the upper parts of his forearm. Turning it a bit, he observed the shining light from within the diamond, curious as to what it was he was holding. This clearly was no ordinary necklace... But what was it?
Later That Day...
Soap loaded the magazines onto his kit, quickly followed by another frag grenade. The Master Chief had informed them that he would be leaving with the ponies soon, returning to where ever it was they had come from. The Chief seemed to be able to handle himself well in combat, but if this was only a sign of what he was going to be doing, then he would need some help. And since the Chief had saved his life, Soap felt it was his responsibility to come along and help him with his mission. Already he had packed an MP5 with a suppressor, red dot sight, and six magazines, two fragmentation grenades, and a G36C with an ACOG scope and six magazines. Placing the thirtieth bullet into the magazine, Soap inspected the assault rifle's magazine momentarily, then loaded the bullet inside of the weapon. A modest click sound confirmed it locking into place.
"Soap... What are you doing?" He heard from the left. Looking that way, he could see Price, standing there with a cast around his hand, gauss wrapped around his leg, and mid section. Soap sighed mentally, and looked back down at the table, still containing the MP5 and a few stray bullets he had yet to place in a magazine to it's right. Attempting to ignore Price's presence, Soap picked up the MP5's magazine as he counted how many bullets he had put in.
"Soap... Answer me." Price persisted. Soap shook his head, counting the twenty-sixth bullet he placed in the magazine.
"We're the same rank old man. We can take orders from each other or we can leave em'." Soap said back, never taking his eyes off of the magazine. A soft click sounded as he placed the final bullet into the magazine. Picking up the MP5, Soap placed the magazine inside of the weapon, once again gaining a clicking noise confirming it's lock into place. Soap heard approaching footsteps and placed the sub-machine gun onto the table. He took another frag grenade and placed it in a small pocket in which he could carry it.
"Soap, cut the crap. I know you're preparing to go somewhere. We have no orders, and we're not loose cannons anymore. Now... What are you doing?" Price asked. Soap sighed and looked up for a moment. He could tell Price wasn't going to let him be, he was determined to get Soap to answer, and when Price set his mind to something, he wasn't going to stop.
"I'm going with the Chief." He said. He heard Price snort as he placed a strap on the G36C, then slung it over his shoulders.
"That walking tin can asked you to come along with him?" Price asked with a slight chuckle in his voice.
"No." Soap said as he tightened the strap, so that it hung on his back. Despite the fact that he couldn't see him, Soap knew that Price's face had formed a frown, and the air in the room seemed to grow colder just by saying that one word. Soap placed his hands on the table a moment, then let out an audible sigh.
"Price, he saved my life. I owe him everything." Soap said, looking over to his mentor. Price's face carried a heavy frown, seeming to appear very collected. Soap knew him better than that though. He knew what he really felt, he'd known him for too long to think otherwise. Soap knew what he was really feeling. Sadness, anger, pain, confusion, amongst others.
"Soap, you don't owe him anything. Your life has been saved numerous times, this isn't the first time your bloody hind has been in debt, I think you can live with one favor gone unreturned." Price said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"But all those times I wasn't supposed to die. Back there in that bell tower was supposed to be my last few hours alive. But they weren't, because he intervened. He prevented what was supposed to happen. Not what could have... What was supposed to." Soap said. Price rose his hand to his head and turned away, murmuring something to himself. Turning back to Soap, he slammed his fist onto the table, causing some of the stray bullets to bounce.
"Because of him, Nikolai is dead!" He shouted. Soap made no response, still staring blankly at Price.
"Our intelligence operator, our transport, our friend for crying out loud! Because of that man, he is DEAD!" Price continued. Soap shook his head.
"You think I don't know that? We lost a good man, but none of us knew it would happen. We didn't know because he didn't know. It wasn't his fault." Soap said back. Price growled in aggravation, and Soap picked up the MP5, and made sure the safety was on before turning away from the table.
"Soap, you don't know what you might be getting yourself into. He landed in the middle of Makarov's hideout, and was attacked! How do you know something like that won't happen to you?" Price asked in a demanding tone. Soap froze for a moment, though not out of hesitation, out of sympathy. He knew Price was just trying to keep him safe. With how many times he had nearly died, and the knowledge that he was supposed to die not long ago, he couldn't blame him. Still, Soap was confident in himself, he was a 141 member, an elite soldier. He could handle being betrayed, he could handle life threatening injuries, and he could handle nearly impossible odds. He could handle this too. Turning back to Price, he nodded his head.
"I don't. But I'm ready for it." He said. Price's face twisted, turning to one of shock, sadness, and disbelief. Soap turned away.
"So that's it? You're just going to go without question?" Price said. Soap noticed something in his voice, but he refused to acknowledge it.
"Yes. Whether you want me to or not." Soap said as he walked away. Before he reached the door leading out of the room, he felt Price's hand fall onto his shoulder. Looking behind him, Soap stood before his mentor, a look of utter defeat outlining his face. With a sigh of defeat, he reached behind himself.
"Well then... You'd better take this." Pulling his hand back, Price brought out the battered, war-torn, but still usable M1911. Over the years it had become more than just a pistol, it had become a symbol. Not only of the two friends, but of their determination, their will to fight, and the oath of brotherhood. Soap stood for a moment, watching as Price adjusted the gun, so the worn brown hilt pointed out towards him, waiting to be taken by him. Looking back up to him, Soap saw a single tear falling down Price's eye. Back down at the gun, it still remained where it was, hanging there, waiting.
Soap slowly reached out, and took the gun in his hand. The hilt felt rough as Price released the weapon. The gun was more than a symbol now. It was promise. One that Soap would try his hardest to keep.
"I'll be back old man. I promise you." He said as he placed the gun into a pocket in his uniform. Price nodded.
"You'd better." He said. Soap held out his hand, which Price slowly accepted. After sharing one fast man hug, Soap turned away. Chuckling, Soap promised to pay for drinks when he got back. Price smiled.
Deep underneath one of the 141's underground bases, John stood straight, as the six ponies in front of him came together, the red necklace now slung around the blue one's neck. Twilight and Fluttershy stood close beside one another, seeming to comfort one another. Twilight said that with the power of an element, they would be able to harness it's power to get them home. He hoped they were right. Travel without a craft of some sort still seemed dangerous to him, not that it bothered him. He'd dealt with much worse. Still, the ponies weren't used to danger, and that was why he was questioning this method.
"Hold it." He heard from behind. Looking back, he could see Captain MacTavish walking up to him. Turning to face him, John watched as he halted in front of him. Looking at him, he knew what he was thinking. Two fully armed weapons, grenades, and a pistol near the outside of his uniform. He wanted to come with them.
"You're going to need some help gathering those things. And I'm going to be the one to help you out." He said. Having noticed him, the ponies stopped whatever it was they were doing, and walked over to the two men.
"He's coming with us?" The orange one asked. John gave no response, instead focusing on MacTavish. Was it really wise to let such a war hero travel with him? This was only a taste of what was to come. Chances were that they would end up somewhere even more dangerous at some point down the road. It was almost inevitable, in fact.
"You know what the risks are, right?" He asked. MacTavish nodded almost instantly, as though he had rehearsed it.
"I've given it thought. And this is what I'm deciding to do with my life that wasn't supposed to be. I have to help the man who saved me from what was supposed to happen. I'm in your debt, and I have to pay it back." MacTavish said with a solid tone. Looking down to the ponies, John asked what they thought. Only Twilight gave a response.
"This is going to keep getting worse and worse, we need all the help we can get. I say let him come." She said in a quiet voice. Looking back up, he noticed Soap walking closer.
"Price already tried talking me out of it. I'm going with you. And that's final." He said. John continued to ponder this, still unsure of whether or not to allow this.
"His mind is set on this John. You don't have much choice." Cortana said in his mind. John hesitated a moment, then nodded.
"Looks like Price wore off on you sir. Welcome aboard."
Arkham City, 2011
"Impressive, Batman. I doubted you would actually return." Fries said as he turned to face the Dark Knight. Batman placed Rā's blood on a nearby table.
"I'm a man of my word Victor. You should know that by now." He said as Fries picked up the tube containing the blood and walked back over to the terminal he was using. Batman heard a strange noise from behind, and could tell that it was the necklace. Whatever this thing was, it reacted to the truth. Not wanting Fries to notice, he backed away slightly as he placed the tube inside of some sort of machine, and began typing away at the keyboard. Within seconds, two tubes with a new blue substance inside came up beside the terminal, the cure. Fries picked up the holder for the tubes as he walked towards a safe, taking one of the tubes out before locking the other inside.
"The formula is complete, bonding process appears to have been successful." He said as he walked slowly towards the Dark Knight. Batman left relief wash over him, knowing that this would not be his final hours. Though he did not fear death, he wanted to make sure Gotham would be watched over, and so far, he was the best at doing that. Fries tilted his head slightly, observing Batman closely.
"How are you feeling? You look unwell..." He said slowly. Batman frowned, knowing where this could be going.
"Give it to me."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that Batman..." Fries said as he held out the cure in front of him. "You have given me your last order." He said as he crushed the tube, glass flying from his hands as the cure fell to the floor. Batman glared angrily at the man before him. Fries was a desperate man, but right now, Batman was more desperate. And Fries had made a very poor decision.
"This is NOT a time for negotiation." Batman warned him.
"I think it is... The clown has my wife. Bring her back to me." Fries said. Irritated with Fries, Batman turned towards the safe, deciding he would get the cure himself. Before he could reach it, a beam of ice shot towards the safe, and Batman was knocked back. Recovering, Batman landed on his hand as he angrily glared at the mad scientist in front of him.
"You don't want to do this Fries..." He said with a growl in his voice. Fries' walked forwards as his suit made clicking and sliding noises.
"Oh... I believe I do. You will bring me Nora, or you will... die." He said, his voice growing deeper and deeper as his sentence continued. The visor to his helmet slid down in front of him, and he pointed his blaster at Batman. The Dark Knight evaded a blast as he could hear the strange noise growing louder, and louder...
Several Days Later...
Price held onto a safety bar as the van shook violently as they pulled up near the hotel. Across from him, Soap sat with a light machine gun leaning against his leg. In his hands was a helmet for the bomb defusal suits they had been issued. These, of course, would function as juggernaut suits.
"Well, I guess stealth's out of the question." Soap said as he placed the helmet on his head, patting it to make sure it was on well. The helmet restricted his vision slightly, but it was worth it if it would get him out of this in one piece. The sound of bullets hitting the van steadily grew louder, not that it would do any good. The van was bullet-proof, and there was no way anything was getting through it.
"It doesn't matter. Makarov's dead either way." Price said as he pulled back the bolt on his LMG, bringing the first bullet into the chamber.
"Captain, Makarov's forces are moving in on you now. They're just outside the van." Ramon said from the radio. Ramon was their new radio and intelligence operator, appointed to the 141 by the vote of Yuri and Soap. She was alright, but she was no Nikolai. Price had an angry scowl under his helmet, looking to the door as the van came to a halt.
"This is it! We're here!" Yuri shouted from the driver's seat. Price stood from his former position, his finger placed on the trigger of his weapon. The metallic banging of the bullets continued to ring in Price's ears as Soap came up next to him, his weapon grasped firmly in his hands.
"For Nikolai." Price said just before Soap burst down the door...
Prague
John rested his battle rifle on his shoulder, taking in the base around him. Alexi, Makarov's right hand man, was still set up here, even with his boss in the hotel Oasis. In his history, even after Price and Yuri's attack on this place, Alexi got away. After Makarov's death, Alexi would take over the Ultranationalists, and would lead the mission that would lead to the death of hundreds of Americans in an attack on New York. But John knew that would happen. This monster was going to die. He was on the same caliber of importance of history as Price, and that meant that if he was dead, MacTavish would still have one old friend from the old days left. Whether it would be Price or Yuri, he couldn't be sure. But he wasn't letting both of them die. The ponies had been hidden away in the Task Force's new HQ in Washington, although it was kept secret from civilians.
"What am I up against?" John asked as he watched a helicopter fly towards the main section of the compound. It didn't matter to him what they sent in at him. He had dealt with numerous things in the past, the ultranationalists wouldn't pose a problem.
"There's a lot of risk here John, you sure you know what you're doing?" Cortana asked.
"You know me well enough to answer that." John said as he placed the upper part of his weapon into his palm, slowly beginning to jog into battle. On top of one of the security look outs, a solider turned and saw him, although he seemed to be in shock of what he was seeing. John quickened his pace, gradually increasing into a sprint.
"I'm not worried about the ultranationalists, there's a massive energy reading inside the compound." Cortana said. John leaped up, activating his boots to give him an extra boost onto the wall. As he landed on top, he slammed the butt of his rifle into the skull of a panicking guard, knocking him out cold. Another guard quickly realized what was happening, and ran off to sound the alarm. John quickly disposed of him by placing three bullets into his head.
"I should be okay. I have you after all." He said as a group of soldiers on the other side began to look over towards his position. John quickly jumped off the wall, using his jetpack to slow his decent and touch down on the ground. The sound of his feet hitting the ground nearly completely coincided with the first gunshots.
Hotel Oasis
Price turned to his left, opening fire on a group of ultranationalists hiding behind an escalator. To his right, Soap laid fire down on an SUV that contained a minigun on the top, while Yuri focused on hostiles on the upper floor. Price made a mental note to never wear a juggernaut suit again. It was bloody hot in these things. An explosion turned his attention to his front, where hostiles wielding RPGs were hiding behind overturned carrying carts.
"Price, Makarov knows you're there, his security detail is extracting him to the rooftops." Ramon said as the heat from the blast of an RPG made Price feel as though he was being cooked. Raising his weapon, Price fired more rounds at the hostiles in front of him, not even giving them a chance to breathe. Small yellow lines rushed all around them as Makarov's men continued to hold their ground, but were constantly pushed back.
"Keep on him! He does not leaving here alive! Take control of the lifts to prevent his escape!" Price shouted into his radio as he turned his attention to Soap.
"Makarov's not on this floor, we need to move higher up!" He shouted to him. Behind them, Yuri took a hostile and flipped him over his shoulder, instantly proceeding to put a bullet in between his eyes.
"You got it Price! Moving up!" Soap shouted back as he threw a grenade at the top of the escalators. Price jogged as quickly as his suit would allow up the escalators as Makarov's men continued to pour out on them.
Prague
John fired his magnum with pinpoint accuracy, landing a headshot on an armed hostile from a distance. A nearby grenade explosion sent wooden shrapnel from a nearby crate flying across the area, with John blocking most of it with his wrist. Ducking behind a crane, he slipped his empty magazine out of his weapon, quickly replacing it with a fresh one. Coming out of cover, he fired three bursts that effectively eliminated three hostiles, with numerous more pouring out of the doorway leading into the cells, undoubtedly where an ambush would be prepared for him.
"Chief! To the left!" Cortana shouted. Turning that way, John saw an ultranationalist aiming a rocket launcher right at him. Before he could fire, John fired another burst that sent the soldier crashing to the ground, as more bullets slammed into his shields and armor. His inner suit warning indicated that his shields were dangerously low, and he took cover behind another group of crates. A stray bullet splintered his cover, sending more shrapnel onto his wrists, effectively eliminating what was left of his shields.
"And I thought the Covenant were stubborn." He said to no one in particular.
Hotel Oasis
Price covered his face with his arm, blocking out the light of the explosion that went off next to him. Focusing back on his front, four ultranationalists were backing away from the approaching men, firing as though they were mad men. Soap made quick work of them with his weapon, while civilians screamed and ran as fast as they could to escape the building.
"This floor is clear, still no sign of Makarov. Ramon, what's the status on the lifts?" Price asked as an elevator opened in front of them. A group of screaming civilians quickly made their way past the approaching 141 members.
"The lifts are ours Captain. I just sent one down to pick you guys up." She replied. Price stepped inside the elevator as Yuri made sure no more mercenaries were behind them, and Soap turned to face Price again.
"What's the status on Makarov?" He asked as Yuri stepped inside the elevator. Slamming the close button, Soap began reloading his weapon, while Yuri pointed his weapon out towards the exposed area of the lift.
"Makarov's making his way through the atrium. If you hurry you can still catch him." Ramon said into the radio as the lift began to move upwards. Looking out the window, Price could see two white helicopters going upward, probably to the roof.
"Ramon... The helicopters?" Price asked as one of them made their way higher and higher up, although the other one was remaining relatively close to the team's elevator. Soap looked out the side of the elevator, watching as the helicopter gradually made it's way up.
"It's headed for the roof. No doubt going after that piece of crap Makarov." He said as the second helicopter turned to completely face Price and the others. Suddenly, the vehicle began to fire on them, sending pieces of glass flying throughout the interior of the elevator.
"Shoot it down!" Price shouted as he raised his weapon and opened fire. Soap quickly followed suit, and Yuri not long after him. Nikolai would have noticed those helicopters... Price was already sick of Ramon.
Prague
John stabbed an ultranationalist with his knife, throwing him aside as he ducked behind a pillar in the holding cells. The sound of gunfire on concrete was unmistakable, and the sounds of the distressed prisoners also rang in John's ears. He slid an empty clip out of his magnum, wasting no time in replacing it with a fresh one. Peaking out from behind the pillar, he made mental notes of what currently faced him. Five hostiles, all crouching behind cover, all using automatics. Hiding behind his cover, he pulled back the tip of his magnum, bringing the first round into the firing chamber.
"John, something's going on, the energy signature gets stronger the closer you get to Alexi." Cortana said as John once again cam out of cover, this time firing two shots at the first hostile he saw. The shot hit it's mark, and the hostile dropped dead onto the floor. One of his comrades ran over to retrieve his body, still firing at John as he did. John reacted quickly and fired two more shots at him, causing the Russian to collapse to the floor. Moving back behind cover, John waited for a halt in firing while any of the remaining three started to reload.
"Track it. It could be important." John said as he once again popped out from behind the pillar, this time walking towards the hostiles slowly. Taking aim, John fired a single round through the head of another ultranationalist. The remaining two backed away fearfully, with the one closest to the exit running to the nearest door. John fired his remaining three rounds into the last remaining hostile, then slid the empty clip out of the weapon. After reloading it, he reached behind his back and brought his battle rifle back out and sprinting out. Now he had to reasons to get to Alexi. To save one of the two 141 members at risk, and to figure out what Alexi was carrying.
Hotel Oasis
Price ducked behind the table for defense, making sure to keep his head down. The juggernaut armor had been shredded thanks to the helicopter attack, and Soap barely managed to make the jump onto the new lift. As if that hadn't been bad enough, Makarov was closer to the evac than Ramon had thought, at best they only had three minutes. To his right, Soap popped up and fired a few rounds from an AK he had picked up. Yuri on the other hand was hiding behind overturned luggage.
"Ramon try alerting us to enemy positions! We're taking fire from every direction and it's pinning us down!" He heard Soap shout. Peeking over the table, Price noticed several mercenaries moving towards the restaurant, flipping over luggage and tables as they began to set up there.
"They're digging in at the restaurant! Makarov must be there!" Price shouted as he opened fire on the hostiles. Two dropped as a result of his actions. To his right, Yuri leaped over the luggage and fired at the mercenaries, keeping them pinned.
"What are we waiting for? We almost have him!" He shouted as he continued to fire. Soap looked over to Price, a determined look defining his features.
"Come on old man! Let's show these yanks what happens when you mess with the 141!" He shouted as he too leaped over the debris. Yuri was now hiding behind another overturned table, though he was now readying a grenade. Price took a deep breath, and charged from his cover as well, taking out any mercenaries trying to get a shot at Soap. Makarov was almost in their hands.
Prague
"What are you doing? Stop him! Alexi shouted as he took off running away from him, with his guards staying behind and firing at John. Quickly, he fired a burst at one of them, which nearly hit Alexi thanks to the bullets going through him. John made short work of the other two hostiles, and began sprinting as fast as he could after the ultranationalist leader.
"John, did you see what Alexi was holding in his hands?" Cortana asked.
"No." He said bluntly as another ultranationalist tried to attack him. John merely took the terrorist and slammed him against the gate to his side, and bashed his head in with his weapon. Looking back up, he could see Alexi running towards a room and making a sharp left turn into it. John wasted no time in giving chase.
"Whatever it was is the energy source, I don't know what it is, but it can't be good." Cortana said as John turned a corner. Alexi was now sprinting across a bridge, desperate to get to anywhere that would get him away from John. Taking a shot, John fired and managed to hit one of his legs, although he stumbled behind the door of the bridge before he could finish him off.
"Let's see what it is then."
Hotel Oasis
"THERE HE IS!" Price shouted as he witnessed Makarov running up a flight of stairs near the restaurant. He felt all of his anger rushed into his brain, pumping his body with adrenaline. They were going to take down Makarov. Rushing forward, he completely missed the sight of a little bird coming towards him, preparing to fire on him.
"PRICE!" Yuri shouted. Looking to the windows, Price could see the helicopter fire it's missiles, headed right in front of him. Feeling someone grab his arm, he was pulled away from the window, just as the explosion came into contact with the back of the wall. The ground shook as chairs, tables, and the 141 members flew across the room. John felt himself smack against the ground as the ground began to fail, falling into a downward slope. He could see Yuri rolling down, while Soap clawed at the floor, desperately searching for something to grab onto. Price cursed and kicked at the floor as he too began to slide, the helicopter now flying away from them.
The edge was approaching fast, and Price knew he had to act quickly. Forcing himself to focus, he blocked out the sound of the crumbling building behind him, and saw what could be a possible lifeline. A steel reinforcement pole. Reaching out, he grabbed onto it just as he's about to fall, and can see Yuri continuing to fall. But unlike with Price, there is nothing to save him.
"Yuri!" Price shouted as he now tumbled out of the building. Stretching out his hand, Price called out for him to grab hold, and Yuri was barely able to grab hold. The sudden weight put enormous strain onto Price's arm, causing him to groan in pain. Yuri was weighing him down, and he could feel his hand start to slip off of the rod.
"Hang on!" Price shouted as he regained his grip on the rod, managing to keep himself up. Looking right, he could see Soap also clinging to a steel rod, although his was much further from the edge, and it would take some time for him to get up.
"Price, you have to go!" Yuri shouted as he felt his grip being to loosen. Price looked down at Yuri, seeing him being to hold his arm with less force now. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"Yuri don't you dare let go!" He shouted as he continued to feel Yuri's grip loosen.
"If you don't go now Makarov will escape!" Yuri shouted back, no longer holding onto Price. The only thing that kept him from plummeting was Price's grip, and that was beginning to slip. Price groaned as he tried to hold onto Yuri's arm, determined to get him out of there.
"Forget it! I'm not letting you fall!" He shouted back. Once again his grip on the steel rod loosened, and Price focused his strength into keeping hold of it. But by doing this, he had loosened his grip on Yuri, and was now only holding onto his wrist. Price growled as he looked from the ledge, where Makarov was getting up from the explosion. He must have been caught in the blast and lost his balance. Makarov breathed heavily and smiled at Price, making him even angrier.
"Price... It's the only way." Yuri said with a pang of pain in his voice.
"Price no! Don't let him go!" Price heard Soap shout from the side, stilling trying to climb up the steel rod he had attached himself to. Price closed his eyes and grit his teeth, feeling Yuri slip from his grasp. He couldn't hold on to him. Looking down, he could see that he was only holding Yuri by his fingers now, and the Russian was making no attempt to hide his fear.
"I'm sorry Price." Yuri said. With that, he slipped from his grasp, screaming as he began to plummet to the earth.
"YURI!" Price shouted as he reached out, trying to grab him again. But he was just too far out of reach. For a few seconds, all Price could do was watch Yuri fall, shocked by what had happened. But his shock quickly gave way to anger, as he pulled himself up back onto the ledge, and crawled up the ledge.
"Soap! Are you going to be alright?" He shouted. No reply.
"SOAP!" Price shouted.
"I'm fine! Don't let Yuri die in vain!" He shouted as Price pulled reached down to his thigh. His fingers locked tightly around the handle of his M1911, still fully loaded and ready. Price roared in anger and sprinted up the stairs, turning quickly as he made his way up. The stairs gave way to a rooftop, and at the very end was Makarov stepping into a helicopter. Turning, he could see Price, and shouted something in Russian. The pilot began to pull out his weapon, but Price shot first. The pilot dropped dead as Price continued to fire, now killing the co pilot as well, and turned to Makarov. But before he could shoot, Makarov had fired a shot at him. And it hit Price right next to his gut.
Prague
John held Alexi against a wall, both of them surrounded by the dead ultranationalists that had been assigned to protect him. In John's other hand was his magnum, pressed tightly against Alexi's skull. The terrorist had a strange necklace clutched firmly in his hand, which had a red crystal in it's center. John eyed him, and the man stared back at him fearfully.
"What's so special about the necklace?" He asked as he pressed the gun harder against his head. Alexi groaned slightly, and stared back at John with a hateful glare.
"I will tell you nothing!" He shouted. Just then, the gem in the center of the necklace began to glow, radiating a red light across both men. John momentarily looked at it, noticing that the glowing gem was in the shape of a lightning bolt. Guess he knew why Alexi was holding onto it.
"You don't have to." John said. With that, he pulled the trigger of his magnum, sending the contents of Alexi's head against the wall. With his main goal accomplished, John tossed him aside, now focusing on the necklace. The gem in it's center continued to shine brightly, as John gently picked it up. Now that he had a better look at it, he noticed that it looked animated.
"Isn't that this the.." He began to ask, Cortana finished his sentence for him.
"...Necklace the ponies described. Yes, it is. We found it."
Hotel Oasis
Price panted heavily as Makarov continued to crush his hand, keeping the pistol in his hands trained on his head.
"You just won't die... Will you..." Makarov said with shake of his head. Price glared at him angrily, the burning sensations in his gut, his leg, and his hand causing him unbelievable pain.
...
"NOOO!" Soap shouted as he tackled Makarov away from Price, and slamming him against the glass roof. He had just seen one of his teammates, his allies, his friends die, and he was not going to let Makarov kill the other. Growling in anger, he launched his fist into Makarov's jaw, afterwards feeling a knee in his gut. Backing away, he held his midsection as he coughed slightly, recovering from Makarov's blow. Fortunately, he had dropped his weapon when Soap tackled him, meaning he was just as unarmed as he was.
"You were supposed to die in that bell tower..." Makarov said as he reached behind him.
"You should know by now that I'm impossible to kill..." Soap said back as Price began to call to him. Soap ignored this however, keeping his focus on Makarov.
"We'll see..." Makarov said back. Pulling his hand back, Soap saw a knife clutched firmly, while Price groaned to the side of him. Looking over to him, Soap could see Price gritting his teeth in agony as he desperately tried to close his hand back around his pistol, but his fingers refused to respond.
Makarov charged at Soap knife first, which Soap smacked away, instantly responding with a punch to the jaw. Makarov coughed as Soap landed another blow to his gut, and another to face. Makarov dropped his knife, but managed to catch Soap's next blow. He followed up by kneeing Soap in his gut, and then slamming his elbow down on his back. Soap collapsed to the ground, where Makarov stomped on his back. Soap exclaimed in pain, and looked up, seeing Makarov breathing heavily as blood trickled down his lip. Makarov rose his foot again, but Soap rolled out of the way, now only hitting the glass, causing it to crack.
Soap quickly attacked again, throwing his fist at Makarov's face, though he was able to catch it. Before Makarov could land a blow on Soap, he twisted his wrist, causing him to scream and release him. Panting heavily now, Soap could hear Price calling out to him. Turning that direction, he could see Price mouthing something. Before he could figure out what, he felt Makarov slam his fist into his eye, causing him to back away. The Russian sent two more punches into his opponent, then kicked him away.
Soap slid across the glass slightly before coming to a halt. Groaning, he did his best to stand, and could see Makarov walking back to get his gun. Looking over to Price, he could see him mouthing the words again, this time realizing what they meant.
"Get the gun." With that, Price slid the M1911 over to him, but it didn't have enough power to make it. Soap instantly rushed over to it, groaning as his body burned in pain from what he had just endured. Picking up the gun, he rose it up to Makarov, only to see that he had also picked up his weapon, pointing it at Soap.
Neither man moved, merely staring at each other. Makarov had a cut along his forehead, and his lower lips and chin were covered in blood. Soap himself was sporting a throbbing black eye, along with a cut along with two cuts along his jaw. Both men stood, waiting for the other to make a mistake.
"Drop your weapon." Makarov said. Soap glared at him angrily, shaking his head. He was not about to let Makarov get the upper hand. Makarov angrily glared at him, and moved his pistol to be aimed at Price. Soap stepped forward and grit his teeth.
"Do it, or Price dies." Makarov said. Soap looked from Price to Makarov, studying both. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't just leave himself wide open to Makarov, but he couldn't let him kill Price either. Looking to Price, he tried to figure out what to do. That's when Price motioned towards Makarov's leg. At first, Soap didn't know what he was trying to say, but Price moved his leg slightly, and motioned to it again. Soap gulped slightly as Price gave him a nod.
With reluctance, Soap began to put his hands up, the pistol now facing the sky. Makarov smiled and pointed his gun back at Soap, and was just about to fire when Price kicked him in the leg. The Russian groaned as he looked back down at Price. Soap took this distraction to shoot Makarov in his left chest, knocking him down to the ground.
" Good night you son of a gun." Soap said through gritted teeth. With that, he pulled the trigger, sending his final bullet into Makarov's head. Blood splattered against the glass, leaving Makarov laying in his own pool. Breathing heavily, Soap bent over and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
"Nice shot son." He heard Price say from behind him. After recovering, Soap stood up, and stared mutely at the body before him. It was done. Makarov was dead. The man that was supposed to end his life was now sprawled across the roof in front of him. Ironic. He was supposed to die by Makarov's hand, but instead, Makarov was dead by HIS hand. Looking away, he slowly made his way over to Price, a small smile forming on his face as sirens began to ring in his ears.
"I could still teach you a thing or two old man." He said as he threw his arm out. Price chuckled and threw out his good arm, grasping it tightly. With a soft groan, Soap pulled him to his feet, placing his arm around his neck to support him.
"Guess first rounds are on me tonight." Price said as they slowly began to make their way over to the stairs. Soap chuckled.
"Bloody right they are."
Author's Note
Well, not too much ponies stuff there, sorry for that
