Always Running

"The mission will be easy, just a smash and grab, in and out." The merc leader said, as his Catapult moved through the mountainous terrain."
It had been a while since he had been on this planet, his home. He'd left his parents at a young age to be a mech' pilot, his father never approved.
The merc group was small, only about four, including "Wildman". His cougar was outfitted with an LRM bank, a autocannon, and a flamethrower. There were two fireflies, and the leader in his Catapult.
The Catapult would go in first, deal with the defenses, while the pair of fireflies ran interference along the flanks. His cougar was only there for support anyway.
He waited behind the crest of the hill, watching his sensors as each of the little red dots disappeared. He crested the hill, to watch the carnage himself.
The city burned, but even through the destruction, he had an odd sense of familiarity.

Of course. This was his hometown.

He stared, wide eyed, as his childhood city was torn apart. He was not going to let this happen. His family still lived here!

He kicked the Cougar to full speed, and pushed into the city, he let loose his autocannon on one of the fireflies, knocking it to the ground.
"Hey! Check your fire Wildman!"
He spun and let loose with the LRMs against the second firefly. He rushed up to the still fallen firefly and put his autocannon directly up to the cockpit.
The shot destroyed the cockpit, and killed the pilot.
"Lance, target Wildman." The cold voice of the merc leader, Renegade, came in through his helmet.
Renegade came slamming through the wall to the left of him, and let loose with all four of his medium lasers, scorching the small mech, and damaging it.
The other firefly was moving to target him as Wildman brushed past Renegade, and fired his LRM bank. The missiles struck the Catapult, the target being so close.
He cut loose with the flamethrower at close range covering the catapult in burning fuel. He pulled back, and moved around one of the buildings, putting Renegade between him and the firefly.
He smashed out from the side, taking Renegade by suprise, and fired his autocannon at the larger mechs legs, but with little effect. Renegade opened up with his medium lasers again, but the damage this time was catastrophic.

The lasers had hit his flamethrower, and cooked off the fuel, the tanks exploded, and tossed the Cougar to the ground, burning fuel covering it. The cockpit had been fractured by the explosion, and now, fire had spread into the area where he was sitting. He unbluckled, the fire climbing up his back, he let loose a terrible scream, and fell out of the cockpit, onto the dirt. Fire was spreading up his flanks, and over his back, and to his right wing. He rolled, to put it out, but the damage caused to his skin was massive. The skin, where the fur had been burned off was red, and looked like he would be wearing those scars for the rest of his life. His right wing was mangled beyond even magical repair, and both of his cutie marks had been seared off.

A voice crackled through the helmet still on his head.
"Got that dirty traitor, its a shame he got Ripcord though, should we check for the body?"
"No, nothings coming out of that." Renegade said. "Lets finish up and get out of here."

Wildman was in agony, the white hot pain that coursed through his body felt as though his veins were pumping hydrochloric acid. He crawled, into a destroyed building, laid on his stomach, and promptly blacked out from pain.

Black. No noise, no vision. Was he dead? But then, creeping into conciousness, a smell, like burned flesh. His burned flesh. Next was his sense of feeling. He immediately regretted survival , the terrible pain of the flamethrower's fuel still coursing through him, but had fallen down to a dull red ache, as opposed to a blinding white pain. He could hear.....something.
KSHHSH
KSHH
Static, did his radio even still work?
But it wasn't his radio.
"Yeah, the damage is insane, no survivors, at least one salvageable mech' out here though, so that's something." An unfamiliar voice. A mare.
"H.....help...me." His voice was a hoarse groan.
"Scratch that, we have a live one!"
The anonymous mare tried to pull him to his hooves, but his frenzied movement at her touch pushed her away.
"Oh god, you're hurt. Listen, I'm gonna' get you out of here." She turned away to talk into the squawking radio, Wildman missed what was said, but he hoped it either ment quick death, or some form of rescue.
"Fuck.....this hurts bad. Te...tell me your name."
"Marina, my....my name is marina." She was still shaken after seeing his wounds, he probably looked like a corpse.
"Can you talk, to help keep my mind off this pain?"
"W..what do you want me to talk about?"

"Anything."

The armored Chassis of the Marauder bounced and jostled across the pitted landscape, Its occupants speeding towards the slagged mechs. The driver hated being this vulnerable, but a truck was better than walking, and Riot had done enough walking to last a life-time.

"Alright colts and fillies, we`ve got one live mech pilot, bad condition. We need to get him out of their before the attackers come back around!"

A dull red LED replaced natural light as blast shields rolled over the small view ports. The sounds of battle still managed to penetrate the cabin of the armored vehicle.

"Here we are! STACK UP!"

The Marauder slid to a halt a few yards from the burning mech, an infantry pony had drug the pilot out and was hovering above him protectively. The thick rear door clicked open as the medical tech and their escort piled out and towards the downed mech.

Nova leaped out of his Vulture, to help them hoist up the young pilot. The rust colored stallion was restless. The blood barely apparent against his red coat.

"Soldier! can you here me?" Nova asked as they lifted the bloody buck in.

"Whats your name? Can you tell me your name?"

the wounded Colt turned his head and with a bloody smile responded.

"Fuck off!"

Nova was surprised by this reaction. Nova liked him immediately.

Back in his Vulture Nova signaled over to his CO.

"how does he look?" Riot asked through the comm system.

"I think he's gonna be just fine". Nova responded with a chuckle under his breath.

"Good, Med team, get that pilot on board ASAP. Don't want my ass hanging out for those clanners to take a shot at."

The medical team rushed towards the broken mech, seemed like the buck was going to be fine, he was being led to the Marauder under his own power.

The med team was almost at the Marauder, Nova had waved over to Riot, signalling that the IR beacon had been placed for salvage to come do their thing with the mech. The Infantry slowly started to disperse from the area as the trucks engines started back up. Riot called out to his back-up over the external comm.

"Alright fillies and gentlecolts! Lets re-group with the convoy and get off this bloody rock."

The pneumatic door clicked shut, the seals pressurizing as the Marauder lurched forward. The rust coloured buck spoke up over the dim of the med team and their escorts.

"What a piece of shit!"
That little pikey did NOT just insult my Marauder

"Oh I'm sorry your highness, maybe you would prefer to be tied to the hood as I lead an Infantry charge Hmm?" The rust coloured buck started to reply, but was cut off from the shrill cry of the proximity warning tag.

"Oh shit, NOVA! We got company, try and keep those blighters off us!"

The Clanner mech fell upon the group with gusto, It's pilot roaring his battle cry at his soon to be prey. A dull black and purple truck revved up its engine and ripped away from the crash site, and towards the city center. Firing a single SRM slavo, the clanner turned his attention to the Vulture that had just powered up.

As Nova fought the Clanner, the rockets slammed into the ground behind the marauder, churning the ground and lifting the 10 ton vehicle off its axles. The Marauder was sent barrel-rolling into a bombed out bank entrance, flipping end for end until it slammed past the tellers desks.

"Holy fuck! Learn to drive!" Wildman shouted to the driver, pulling his overly-fucked-up body off of the wall of the now-sideways truck.

" Oh suck my dick you fuckin pikey. OW"
Riot undid his five point harness and fell to the floor of the overturned Marauder. Pushing himself up he found the cab bathed in pale red, The rescued buck hung upside down in his harness.

"Mind letting me out bud?" wildman asked with a slight grin.
Riot leveled his gaze with the upside down buck.

"I have my team to take care of, and from now on, You will refer to me as either Sir or as Captain."

"Or else what?" Riot stopped his movements and turned his head to give the buck a hard look.

"Or else I'll shoot you."

One of the ponies on the floor started to moan as she came to, others began to stir.

"Nurse, You alright?" Riot stooped down to help up the wounded pegasus mare.

"I'm fine Captain, you may-AH!" The nurses front legs buckled under her weight.

"Somepony get that door open! I am NOT waiting for that mech to tag us with another salvo!"

Riot gripped the nurses uniform with his teeth and hefted her onto his back, while using his magic to un-holster a carbine from weapon storage, along with extra mags.

"Come on everypony, LETS MOVE OUT!"

Riot glanced over to the new recruit still hanging upside down in his harness, unable to reach the emergency release due to his injuries.

"Come on hot-shot, stop dicking around."

Magic wrapped around the clasp and clicked it open, Wildman fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Shit! Be careful with the recent burn victim if you please. Asshole." The last bit was under his breath.
Wildman limped up from his fallen position, and folded his ruined wing to his side with a wince, and a hiss of pain.
"Lets just get the fuck out of here." Wildman said with a pained groan. His vision was darkened from the onset of pain assaulting him from his injuries. One wing was mangled, his front left foreleg was broken, and the fire had nearly eaten away all the skin from his back and flanks.

The city was in ruins, the unrelenting assault of sound abseiled the small med team and their escort as they clambered out of the overturned marauder. Not one of the team had died when the rockets had flung them into the bank, but now, they had bigger problems.

"Alright bucks and mares, get your gear centered, we have to get to the convoy before they leave, or we never will!"

Riot chambered a round into his carbine, the straps of his combat helmet hung past his scruffy face, the nurse was still hitching a ride on his back. When she looked up, she saw the extent of Wildmans wounds in better lighting.

"Somepony-Ack- please give that pilot a healing poultice and a 10cc's of med-x, we can -Ohhh fuck- can't have him passing out on us."

The nurse was in obvious pain, but she fought past the spinning world of agony to take care of her patient.

Wildman choked down the healing potion, and sighed as the med-x flushed the pain away. He turned and watched the burned flesh on his back nit together, but he would probably be carrying the scars forever. His cutie marks, were definitely gone, and there was no way his wing was going to come back together fully. He gave his healthy wing a halfhearted little flap. At least his foreleg was fixed, and with that heavy dose of Med-X, he could keep on his hooves for a while. He drew a pistol from the holster of another pony, and held it in his mouth.

"Hahm Reary." With a gun in your mouth, you speak only in vowels.

Out in the Vulture Nova continued the fight against the enemy catapult. The catapult launched another barrage of SRMs at Nova's Vulture. Nova strained his controls to get out of the way. the SRMs slammed into the ground beside him. He felt the blast rattle his Mech but he was undamaged. He lurked forward and let off a quick laser strike. The catapult suddenly took its gaze away from Nova and targeted the overturned marauder.

"Piss off you Clanner fuck!" Nova yelled over the comm as the catapult let off a burst of SRMs at the crippled vehicle.

Nova wheeled around and sent a laser strike towards the inbound missiles. One by one they burst in the air above the marauder like a show of fireworks. Nova wheeled back around to engage the enemy again, but as he did a SRM hit him square in the mid section. The blast cracked his armor but nothing else. He got lucky. Angry now Nova Locked up and sent an alpha strike straight his way. The SRMs hit home, and the enemy catapult burst into a glorious explosion of metal.

"Everypony GET DOWN!!!"

The SRM's sailed towards the small group, yet emerald light intercepted most, before the group was turned to glue. Yet despite Novas best attempt, two of the missiles hit home. The first slamming hard into the nose of the Marauder, sending its flaming carcass across the lobby, the second glanced off the Marauders room, spiraling into the empty vault behind the teller desks. Any pony who hadn't been on the ground before the missiles had struck, now was.

Nurse Cherry Cola was whimpering in pain as her broken ribs and legs ensured every movement was made of agony, she almost wished she had died in the crash to escape this horrible pain. She felt the perforation of small, insignificant pieces of shrapnel needling her coat where they had stuck in from the blast. What struck her as odd, was that she couldn't hear anything. She saw her second in command; Mug Crush, lying in a pool, but he wasn't moving. He looked so peaceful, so serene. Suddenly Cherry was lifted by her shoulders, a slate grey buck was shaking her, his lips were moving but she couldn't hear him.
He's kinda cute, have I seen him around before?

The rockets had completely blown out the front of the building, The Marauder had slammed into one of the load bearing columns, which was buckled and leaning dangerously far.

"Everypony get the fuck out now!"

Riot wrapped his magic around some of the fallen medics, dragging them out the blasted side door. Merely seconds later, there was a resounding crack, as the building collapsed in on itself.

"Everypony alright?" There was a few who didn't answer but looked fine enough, Riot glanced over the still dazed Cherry Cola, hoping she'd be fine. His eyes drifted to the Buck who had almost caused the death of his charges.

"What about you ya pikey? Those rockets didn't hurt your ego did they?"

The red buck went to fire back a retort when the street was filled with the sound of churning tank treads and the heavy hoof falls of mechs. Nova was still mopping up attackers, he couldn't help them if the convoy approaching was hostile. It was likely HE would need the help.

Nova had taken down two Bushwhackers since his battle with the catapult, but he could see more Mechs approaching and his cracked armor wouldn't last much longer.

"Marauder one, this is Nova. Do you copy?"

Nova had seen the marauder be pulverized but he hopped someone had grabbed a radio.

"EQRG command, this is Nova. Enemies approaching from the east. Vulture approaching critical condition. Requesting Mech support"

Static from both comms. Must have bean knocked out by the SRM.

"Goddess dammit" Nova said under his breath. This was supposed to be a simple evac. Now he wasn't sure if they were going to make it off this rock.

"Hikey!? Huck oo a-hole." Wildman said from around the pistol clutched in his mouth. He spat the weapon onto the ground.

"Your friend needs support. There is a pilotless firefly not too far away that I had attacked, and its nearly unscathed. I can make it."

"How far off soldier?"

Riot herded everyone off the street and into what was left of a bakery, just as a treaded tank rolled past at speed.

"Regardless, ya' won't make it without back-up, not like that."

"Its not too far, just a couple of streets over, listen, I'm quick, and I'm quiet, more than me would leave too much of a footprint. This Med-X is working wonders, and will probably last me for a while. And the alternative is your friends death. would you rather your friend die here?"

"Well to be honest he's a horrible cock block and-"

The new pilot gave Riot a look of horror, but upon seeing his slight grin, gave one himself.

"Go on one you fuckin pikey, We'll try to hook up with our convoy to the west. I'm marking us with an IR pinger, so if you shoot at us, I WILL come up there and skin you alive."

Riot then levitated Nurse Cherry off the ground and signaled the other medics to move out. Turning back to Wildman;

"Good luck out there hotshot."

"You won't need to skin me, Renegade already did." Wildman said with a snort.

He moved quickly and quietly through the city streets, staying well out of the way of combat. He came up to the overturned Firefly, and scrambled into the cockpit.
The mech's cockpit was fractured from the autocannon round, but all it took was a good shove to get the body currently occupying the seat to tumble to the ground.
He brought the Firefly online, checking its systems. Everything was nominal, except for the fact that he was almost out of missiles, and that the cockpit was totally exposed.
He checked his map, and saw a small green dot surrounded by red dots. He put the mech' into full speed, and moved for the clanners.

He saw the Vulture, badly damaged, fighting off a pair of catapults. Neither of them were facing Wildman, so he could get the drop on him.

He whistled Rise of the Valkyries into his mic as he stopped, and launched an alpha strike at the nearest Catapult, it was nearly undamaged, but the triple medium lasers, and pair of missile strikes to the extremely vulnerable area took it down, the shots hitting the core sending it into meltdown, the mech exploded in a fiery flash.
He pushed the Firefly into full speed, and with the other Catapult surprised and disoriented from the lightning quick attack, was quickly brought down by the pair.

"This is Wildman, first one's free."

Nova was readying himself for the carnage to come. He knew whether or not if he would come out of this alive, that this wouldn't be pretty. Suddenly he was aware of another Mech on the battlefield. Suddenly one of the catapults he was about to engage burst into flames.

"What the hell?" Nova yelled from inside the cockpit. He swung around two see a half destroyed firefly engaging the battle along side him. He was surprised to see the young colt he had just helped lift into the marauder not long ago at its controls.
Nova hit his external comms.

"Two more bushwhackers and an atlas inbound! My frontal armor is cracked and i don't know how long my heat sinks are gonna last. You're quicker. Distract that atlas while I take out the two bushwhackers. Then we'll concentrate our fire on the atlas together. In the mean time see if those comms are up and either get us some support or an evac."

"Roger, lets get this bucket of bolts movin'!"
He put his Firefly into full speed as the Vulture meandered away to take on the Bushwhackers.
The Atlas loomed in front of him. The giant assault mech' towered over his tiny Firefly. He hit the external comms.
"Hey! Asshole! Over here!" He called into the mic, sending a volley of rockets and lasers at the behemoth.
It slowly moved to target the small mech, sending a volley of medium lasers and an autocannon round at him. They struck the ground uselessly, sending clouds of dust into the air.
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!." He called in a singsong voice, taunting the Atlas further.
"Stay still you little runt!"
The Firefly spun around and put another volley of strikes into the giant, barely chipping away at it's armor.
"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread pony motherfucker!" He called again, pulling away in another direction, sending another autocannon round uselessly into the ground.
"Dodge this you little bastard!" He fired two salvoes of missiles, one from its LRM-20 and another from its SRM-6, he had drawn a bead long enough to get a lock.
He was fast, but not that fast. He peeled away, and the missiles followed. He moved to run directly at the towering enemy.
"Not one of your best decisions, asshole." He weaved around the behemoth, taking the pair of medium laser shots to his shoulder, destroying the LRM rack. He was out of missiles anyway.
The missiles struck the Atlas with a hammerblow, causing nasty damage to its right side. It turned to hit the tiny mech again. It fired and missed. But this time, from behind it, four suits of power armor jumpjetted from behind it, coming to a rest just in front of juggernaut.

"Uhh, Nova, he brought backup. Four elementals. I can't dodge these guys!"

The depleted Uranium shell ripped past the damaged mechs, blowing the lead Elemental in half; launching its upper torso high into the air. Riot let out a whoop of angry joy, training the tanks sights on the next Elemental. Riot could taste the pilots fear as the T-300 ripped across the broken earth, heavy machine guns punching through the armor of another Elemental.

"PAY BACK YOU BLEEDIN' FUCKS!!!"

Focusing his aim towards the Atlas, Riot had the crew load up an AP shell, loaded with a touchy fusion core and the spite of one very angry Emerald Isle pony. The shot halted the tanks progress as It ripped out of the turret's muzzle with a roar, and into the Atlas' upper torso. The shot punched through the armor like it were paper, detonating its high explosive warhead deep inside the mech. The Resounding explosion ripped the mechs right arm off as pieces of armor and detritus rained down, the mech itself staggered and swayed, its cockpit ablaze with fire. The remaining ammunition supply in the Atlas went off, blowing the Assault mech into multiple pieces.

The Elemental's tried to turn tail and run, only to be torn apart by the combined forces of the two mechs and the heavy tank. A large armored convoy began to snake its way out of the ruined city behind them, VTOL's buzzed overhead as the sound of a dropship entering atmo' reverberated across the broken city outskirts.

Once the battle was won Nova let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Well that was fun. We should do that again next week". The young colt in the firefly said jokingly. Nova payed little attention to this remark. He just wanted to get his vulture home and fixed.

"Catch you on the flipside guys, thanks for the assist, but I have a cougar to get out of here. There's no way I'm keeping a flamethrower on it this time though." He finished with a chuckle. "Actually, could my mech' get a ride out of here?"

"Better ask the Colonel- actually you can ask him yourself"

A Mule VTOL had just landed, carrying an Atlas command mech.

"But way I see it kid, you don't have to worry about it.

Trucks filled destitute civilians began to file past the mechs, with various armor elements protecting their side. A large dropship landed off in the distance, kicking up a whirlwind of dust and muck.

"Time to stop running lads, Duty calls."