Chapter 4: Special forces ( soft M/M you have been warned)

Chapter 4: Special Forces

Isaac took the last sip of his drink and put the cup down on the table, slowly rubbing his injured leg.

"So, the most likely option would be that the creatures lived in the asteroid itself and got into the facility through the mine-shafts!" Spike sat down in his seat as Twilight explained her thoughts on where the creatures they had encountered came from. Isaac sighed and moved his cup away from where he sat and put some small bags on the table the crew were sitting around.

"Luckily we won't have to go back there and do any research, let’s leave that to the investigators of the UAC, and speaking of the UAC, they are happy that they got their data and we got our pay. We got 160.000 galactic credits, which means we all got 20.000 each. Here are your payments."

He tossed a bag over to each one of them, and they opened them, smiling now that they had gotten their hard earned money.

"Remember, if we keep doing our job well we will get even better paying jobs." Isaac continued. He groaned as he stood up.

"Reputation spreads fast among contractors, but I think we'll wait a bit with our next contract. I need to get a tiny bit healthier now don't I?" He chuckled as he walked through the meeting hall, intending to go to the medical bay.

"Ilsa?" He spoke to the ships AI.

" Yes, captain?"

"Can you please ready a Bacta tank bath for me in the medical bay please."

"Will do, how long do you intend to stay in?" Isaac stopped at the door of the meeting hall and looked over at Fluttershy. "That depends on the diagnose from our medical expert."

Fluttershy smiled and stood up, walking over to Isaac. "I'll go with you and look at your wounds, and then we'll see how much time you need in the Bacta tank"

They walked out of the room and headed towards the medical bay, leaving the others to could their credits, chat and do their own things.

…

Spike sat and counted his credits. it was a lovely lump of money, he could definitely get used to the work if the pay were this good all the time.

A speaker in the roof sparked to life and Estens voice was heard from the speakers in the room.

"Spike, I have something for you in the cockpit, if you could come here for a minute?" Spike put his credits in his pocket and sighed.

" All right then, I'll be over in a bit."When he got to the cockpit he saw Esten walking around, pressing buttons and looking at monitors.

"Hey, Esten. What was it that you had for me?" Esten turned around, stopping whatever he was doing at the monitor he were standing at.

"Oh, lovely! You're here! I were thinking about your choice of weaponry, and don’t get me wrong, your taste in my weaponry is exquisite, BUT!", he walked over to a locker on the other side of the room and opened it. "Carrying a big flamethrower around is very heavy, and might be very dangerous to say the least, in situations that require speed and agility,. so I have been working on this."

He took out a medium sized rifle from the locker, compared to the lazer blasters the others had this looked more like it was of human design. From what he could see it had some a cartridge slot on the side and on the top were something that looked like a tiny tank filled with some sort of liquid. On the front was the same thing that his flamethrower had in the front, the thin barrel that emitted a small flame when the safety is turned off.

"This is my latest creation, the Hellrazer! It is a hybrid of an automatic rifle and a flamethrower." ,He started to explain, exalted and proud over his invention, "The rifle part fires incendiary bullets"

"Incendiary bullets?" Spike asked, interrupting him. He had never heard that word before.

"Yes, easily explained the flame in the front ignites the bullets as they fly out of the barrel, and once they hit the enemy, the bullets break and the flammable liquids inside turns the enemy to flames. The tank on the top is for the secondary fire, which is basically a flamethrower. This is also usable to keep your enemies at bay as you reload the rifle."

Spike nodded, it seemed like a very good gun indeed.

Esten continued. "But I still have some flaws I need to buff out, the bullets exploding as soon as the flame ignites them and such.But I think I might have it ready in time for your next mission." Esten looked over at Spike, looking a bit guilty now. "But, sadly I HAVE to charge for it, you know, making these sort of things cost and I have to cover expenses. But I can make a deal with you. If you give me your old flamethrower and ten thousand credits I will throw in a pair of my special goggles for you."

"Special goggles, you say?" Spike crossed his arms, if this was good enough he would go with it, he wouldn't just agree to anything without getting out on top, figuratively speaking.

"Yes, they are special in many ways, the design is made so that you have two latches that are wrapped around your head, then fastened behind it, sitting tight and in place. The goggles themselves can be changed to see night vision and heat signatures. In bright light they moderate the light intake so that in even the brightest lights you can see everything like normal, which is well in use if your enemy have flashbang grenades, just stay away from the grenade blasts, they can still hurt you if you are too close."

Esten looked at him, still hoping that he would take the deal.

Spike finally nodded. "All right, I'll take the deal. I just hope that this, Hellrazer, and the goggles are worth my flamethrower and the money."

"Dont you worry" Esten assured him. "You will not regret this, I will work my butt off with this gun."
…

Back in the medical bay Isaac was in the middle of undressing, and as he did, Fluttershy were carefully taking off the bandages she had wrapped around his injuries. She gasped once she took off the bandage on his leg. The large wound had started to turn to a blue-ish and green colour, indicating an infection.

"Oh my goodness!" She gasped, causing Isaac to look down at the injury.

"Damn, that looks really nasty. But the Bacta tank will take care of that for sure."

"No it will not." Fluttershy stated with a stern and medically professional voice. "You'll need some anti-infective medicine before you go into the tank." She stood up and looked around, looking at the cabinets, and then sighed, not knowing where she would look first, she didn’t know if they even had any medical supplies, though she doubted that Isaac wouldn’t think of having any.

"Just ask Ilsa if there's anything specific you need. She usually knows where everything is in here." Isaac said, standing in place. Fluttershy hadn't commented on him being naked, or maybe she just didn't realize it. Anyway, Isaac felt happy about this, since he wanted the gang to be comfortable in any position, and especially Fluttershy, since she's the medic, and he didn't want her to be afraid of seeing some skin, or coat.

"Ilsa?" She asked, feeling a bit stupid speaking out to the the room itself.

"Yes doctor?" The robotic voice answered her, as on queue.

"Uhm... I need some anti-infection medicine and some cleaning solvents, Isaac's wound has gotten infected. I need something that works fast and efficient, can you find some thing that might get in effect while he's in the Bacta tank?"

"There is an anti-infection vial in the third cabinet to the right, on the bottom shelf. The medicine is also an anti-coagulant so that blood won’t cause the wound to swell. In the cabinet beside it to the left are some clean syringes" Fluttershy grabbed the medicines, solvents and a syringe, then walked over to Isaac, kneeling down to get closer to the wound. She put on rubber gloves and carefully rubbed the wound to see if there would be any pus coming out of it. Luckily there was none, so she put the syringe into a vein close to the wound, which made Isaac groan, and finished her job.

"There we go" she stood up and smiled at him, taking off the rubber gloves and throwing them into a bin on the floor.

"I'll leave you to your Bacta bath and I'll come back in three hours. Is that allright?", Ilsas voice were heard in the room. "I can address you when he comes to, doctor."

"Thank you very much, that will be all."

With this, Fluttershy exited the medical bay, leaving Isaac to enter the Bacta tank. He entered the tank and closed the door behind him and put on the breathing mask inside. He closed his eyes and sighed as the warm Bacta filled the tank, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

…

Isaac stumbled out of the Bacta tank, now cold and empty since the three hours were over. As he blinked, trying to get a clear view, he heard Ilsas voice echo from outside the door. She was letting Fluttershy know that he had woken up. He looked down on his body to inspect his wounds. It seemed that they had healed, but from what he could feel as he ran his hands over them, the skin where the wounds had grown back together was very thin. It was enough to keep the wound together to heal further, but if he were hit in the same place again they would open, and the leg might not be able to save a second time. The sickly colour had faded away almost completely and the only thing left of is were small gray spots on the edges of the healed wound, they would soon disappear.

The door opened and Fluttershy walked in, now dressed in her normal clothes, a white doctors coat with a green shirt and a skirt, she were followed by Spike who also had changed into casual clothes, a white tank-top and blue slacks. Spike averted his gaze as he noticed the naked Isaac, but Fluttershy didn’t pay any attention to it and walked over to him.

"Did you have a nice nap?" She asked, handing him a towel that hung next to the Bacta tank. Isaac nodded and wrapped the towel around his waist, covering himself up.

"How does your leg look? " Fluttershy looked down at his leg, but she waited until Isaac showed her the injury himself before examining it. She didn’t want to unwrap the towel, that would just be rude.

Isaac put his right leg in front of himself and moved the towel so that the whole leg was revealed. Fluttershy looked at wound and noticed the tiny grey specks that Isaac also noticed earlier. She carefully poked the gray spots and nodded to herself. She then looked at and felt on the other injuries, humming to herself and nodding, acknowledging her own thoughts.

She stood up, allowing Isaac to cover himself up again and started to give him the verdict. "It all checks out, these small spots will disappear, they are harmless now. If they had grown larger, allowing the bacteria to grow stronger, they would have made your leg rot from the inside. You’re in luck, just don't do anything crazy for a day and you'll be allright."

"Yeah.. I'll... " Isaac started, talking slow and sounding very tired. "I'll do my best. Im sorry if I'm... Slow. The Bacta bath... I need to get things going you know."

Fluttershy smiled, it was nice having her there as a doctor, she knew what she was doing. " I'll leave you to it, take care!”

"I will."

She walked out of the door, heading down the hallway toward the bunks, possibly going to get some sleep herself.

Isaac walked over to his clothes and started to dress himself. Once done he turned around to Spike, who still were in the room, his head still turned away.

"You can look now, I'm dressed." Isaac told him, smiling at how respectful Spike were even though he wanted him to be like Fluttershy, not thinking about it. Might be that he is a male, Fluttershy is a female and it's only natural that she would have been with a naked male sometime, plus she is a doctor so it might have been easier for her, since it’s a part of her profession.

Spike turned his head and uncrossed his arms, giving him a small smile."All good now eh? The others are going to get some sleep, how about you?"

Isaac rubbed his head, the dizzyness and the feeling of being lost inside his own head slowly disappearing.

"I wont need any sleep, three hours of sleep isn’t that much, but the Bacta have given me an excess of energy... I will be fiddling with my weapons and speak to Esten if he stays awake."

"Speaking of Esten." Spike remembered the deal he had made with the rodian. " Esten offered a deal with me, that I accepted, but i’m not sure that it's a good one..."

Isaac chuckled and patted Spikes back, leading him out of the medical bay. "Esten wouldn't stiff you, he is a honest man. But please, do tell me about this deal of his."

Spike told him all the details about the new gun and the goggles, at hearing this Isaac seemed pleased and nodded, it seemed to be in order with him.

"Of course you doing this deal will push him to make the gun to perfection, and with perfecting a first prototype he can sell more of them and earn lots and lots of credits, but he will not trick you. And the goggles are very good to have, my eye is working the same way. I would happily recommend them."

Then everything was allright, Spike didn't need to worry. That Isaac would recommend both the flamethrower and the goggles made him feel more secure about the whole thing.

"That makes me less worried, not that I thought he would give me a bad deal, but I don’t know him, you know?"

" I understand, don’t worry about it, if you trust him he will do his best to keep that trust."

Spike yawned and stretched, the scales on his back itching slightly.

" well i-aaaaaahhh.... I'll just get to my bed. You have a good time doing whatever you plan to do."

Isaac coughed and sat down on a chair.

" I'll do my best, g'night."

Spike headed toward his room, his steps felt heavier even though they never got heavier, the things a tired brain can do to you. He moved into his room and closed the door behind him, he yawned again and undressed. The bed wasn't much but it was something you could sleep on, and that was enough for him.

He sighed and smiled as he rested his head on the pillow, and with a last though of Isaac, he fell asleep.

…

One by one the gang woke up and went to get some breakfast. Ilsa had prepared food for them that they could get out of a machine. At first they thought they'd get processed food, but Ilsa had actually used proper kitchen equipment to make the food, the machine they pressed to get it from were only for proper portions.

After breakfast Isaac sat down with them again in the meeting hall and showed them the new contract they have gotten, and he had chosen the one that gave the highest pay, since mercenaries work for the highest bidder.

"The United leaders of the planet Gaolbreak have assigned us to take care of a rebel base on the south side of the planet." Isaac explained the mission to them. "Their soldiers haven't been able to get inside the base, but they have found out some of the installations existing in the base thanks to scouting and long range scopes.. We are to sneak inside, plant a bomb on a assembly of tanks containing fuel for their vehicles."

He turned off the monitor and turned back around and looked at his crew.

"Hopefully this will blow the crap out of the whole base and once that is done, the Gaolbreak army will take care of the leftovers, any questions?"

Rainbow dash put her hooves on the table and leaned back.

" How will we sneak in? And if we can sneak in, then why don't that army of theirs send in some special forces of their own instead?"

This was a good question, and Isaac had at first wondered this himself and asked Ilsa if she had any additional information on this and got his answer.

"They heard about how fearless we are. The rumours of how you went in to a mining facility full of mutated monsters to save me had its impression on them. They're determined to have people that won't chicken out, which we won't since we have a pay of 1,000,000 credits to split if we succeed."

This made Rainbow dash move her hooves from the table and sit straight."One million credits? Damn!"

Isaac smirked, to be their second mission it sure were a lot of credits.

"But be ready for a hell of a challenge. This wont be a walk in the park, so you guys be on your best toes, allright?"

"Yes captain!"

"Speaking of how we will get in, there is a 'back door' to the base. The base is surrounded by a jungle, and the second entrance is less guarded. If we deal with the guards quietly, then we got a way in."

…

Spike was wearing his gear, the black gear he wore on their last mission. He looked just as badass as he did then, atleast that is what he thought. He were heading towards Estens little workshop to get his new Hellrazer. He walked in and were greeted with a smile from the rodian.

"I was waiting for you, and I knew you'd come because you want to get the benefits from our deal, and lucky for you, the gun is done."

Esten walked over to the table, and there were the Hellrazer, it looked different from the first one that Esten had shown him. The tank that had the flammable liquid in it were nowhere to be seen, but the clip with the bullets were in the standard place, in front of the trigger.

"Let me just explain some things, so that you use it correctly.” Esten held up the gun and statred to do a tutorial. ”First, the problem with the bullets exploding was because of the liquid I used, but I changed some components of the liquid and now the flame has a bright green colour and the bullets do not explode until impact on your target."

He used his thumb to press a button next to the handle, which opened a small hatch on top of the rifle. Inside of it were a small cylider shaped container.

"This is where you insert the liquid containers. It doesnt’ look that big but the liquid itself is very durable so you wont need much of it."

Esten handed Spike a small pouch, filled with these cylider containers and another pouch filled with the bullets that he needed to use. He placed the ammunition in different pouches he had around his waist and across his chest.

"What about the goggles? You didn't forget those right?" Spike gave Esten a stern look.

Esten faked being hurt by this question." Oh, how dare you even suggest I would forget even the smallest detail in a business proposal!?"

He chuckled as he handed the goggles to Spike. "The red button here..." He pointed at a small red coloured button that were placed on the side of one of the straps."...Is to chance between regular vision, night-heat vision."

"So it shows both nightvision and heat signatures at the same time?"

"It does indeed, now put them on."

Spike wrapped the latches over his head and fastened them behind it. It was true, everything looked like normal, the light, shapes and forms. But when he pushed the button to change the vision everything became a bright green colour and Estens figure were turned into red, yellow and orange colours. That was the hybrid, night-heat vision mode. He turned it off and looked over at Esten again. "Everything seems allright."

"I better hope it is, and look at this" The rodian walked over to the light control and turned it so that the light were on maximum power. The light caused Esten to close his eyes it was so bright. But Spike didn't really notice anything other than that Esten stood there with his eyes closed.

"Did you turn up the light?"

"Yes I did, can you tell?" Esten answered in a groan, the bright light were really bugging him.

"No, I cant tell at all! This is amazing!"

Esten turned down the lights again and sighed as he were able to open his eyes again. "There you go. I wish you and the others good luck at your next mission."

"So do i. I am expecting this one to be a real sucker..."

Esten smirked and crossed his arms. “Like the last mission?”

Spike chuckled, realising how stupid he just sounded. “The monsters might have killed us and eaten us, but they wouldn’t torture us for hours if they caught us.”

…

Isaac, Spike and the girls moved as quickly and quiet as they could through the undergrowth. The planet of Gaolbreak were covered with jungles that stretched for miles. But the jungle around the rebel base was not growing as thick, which made it easy for them to sneak about. It was night on this side of the planet and they moved stealthily through the darkness, like they had been doing this for years.

One by one they moved in a line, moving on a small path between the trees and bushes. they got closer and closer to the gates leading into the base. They stopped and Isaac signalled them to divide into two small groups on each side of the path.

Spike, Pinkie pie, Fluttershy and Rarity quickly moved over to the other side of the path. looking at the guards standing there.

Spike looked at the gate and the guards that patrolled the area and conveyed what he saw to the others through his communicator. " can see two guards by the gate, and a third one on top of the wall."

"Ee'll have to take the two by the gate out without the third one noticing." Rainbow dash answered with a voice that basically said
. "That or we can do it reversed.” She continued. ”I still have my tazer old gun, I can take out the one on the wall without making too much noise, but we have to take care of the other two."

"I know!" Pinkie pie pointed towards the edge of the bushes near the gate.

"I can make some noise over there, and hopefully they'll walk over to me, then someone take one of them from behind and I'll get the other one."

Isaac nodded.

"Rainbow, move out. once you taze the one on the wall, make him fall down on the outside. Pinkie, you make the noise loud enough to cover up his fall. I'll get one of the guards, and you'll get the other one when he gets close enough."

"Allright, lets go!"

Spike pointed ahead, and they headed out, getting their plan to work, hopefully being successful in killing the guards.

Rainbow dash moved fast and without sound through the edge of the jungle and hid below the wall, staying unseen in the shadows. She turned her head to look at Pinkie pie, but she were nowhere to be seen.

She uttered a silent swear. "Damn, I guess I'll just have to rely on that she can see when the guard falls down..."

She looked up and aimed her tazer gun at the guard above her. She fired, and the guard started convulsing, he dropped his rifle and started to stumble. Rainbow dash tugged, making the thin electric cable that connected her gun to the guard stretch, sending the guard toppling over the edge.

Just before he hit the ground, a loud rustling came from the bushes in front of Rainbow dash. She stepped back into the shadows in case the sound didn't cover the guards fall. She held her breath, hoping that everything had gone according to plan.

The shadows of two human males came towards her.

"Shit, they heard it!" She thought to herself and readied her knife.

But they hadn't heard it. As they came into view, they walked toward the bushes where the sound had came from, where Pinkie pie hid.

" I don't know what it was" one of the guards said to the other. "It might just be an animal, still, we wouldn’t want them so close to the gates."

Isaac were crouching, sneaking towards the tguard duo. He held a large knife in his right hand. Rainbow saw the look on his face, like one you see on a stone cold murderer, and for a moment she didn’t dare to draw another breath.

Isaac lunged forward, swinging his arm around the head of the guard standing closest to him, covering his mouth as he slit his throat. At the same time, another knife came flying out from the bushes, and buried itself into the other guards forehead, killing him instantly. The two bodies fell to the ground with dull thuds.

Spike, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity came towards them. Rarity fiddled with her backpack, taking out the same computer device she used at their last mission in the Myrath mine facility. She walked up to the gate and plugged it into the computer interface next to it.

" Give me a minute, make yourselves ready." She told the others and got to work at getting them inside.

Spike and Rainbow dash proceeded to hide the bodies in the bushy canopy in case there were more guards patrolling the area.

Rarity turned around and waved at them, putting her hacking device back into her backpack. The gates opened and they moved in. It seemed that they were in luck, there were no guards in sight. Isaac made some signs with his right hand and they split up, covering behind different objects to stay out of sight.

Isaac tapped Spikes shoulder and nodded towards the huge fuel tanks. He turned around and waved to Rarity, who lobbed a pipe-bomb towards them, which Spike caught without problem. The two of them headed over towards the tanks. Spike kneeled down and started to enter the time-code. Isaac looked around, keeping guard.

Rainbow dash looked around and noticed something that looked like big thick metal pipes inside a fenced area.

" What the hell is that?" She said to herself.

She sneaked over to the pipes, making sure that she stayed in the dark places. When she got over to the pipes she noticed they had some sort of plates on the bottom to keep them steady and were very tall. She followed the pipes up with her eyes and when she got to the end of them, she grew a wide smile on her face.

"Awesome!"

…

"Done!" Spike whispered as he rolled the bomb in under the tanks and stood up.

"Captain!" Rainbow dash's voice came into his ear through the communicator.

"What’s up RD?" He answered in a low voice.

"I found some sort of war machine.Requesting permission to use it."

Isaac blinked, not knowing what to say. "Can you get it to work?"

Suddenly a sound echoed through the rebel base. As the tripod started up it let out a sound that shook the foundations under them.

" ULLAH!"

All of a sudden an alarm went off and rebel soldiers started to flow out from the buildings, shouting, wielding weapons.

" Fuck! They know we're here now. Open fire!" Isaac shouted.

He and Spike lept for cover as the girls started shooting. These rebels didn't seem to be too organized, or maybe it was because it was in the middle of the night and they were not ready for intruders. In any case they ran around like chaosed ants, only some of them answering the gunfire provided by the girls.

Rainbow dash fiddled with the controls in the tripod, trying to steer it properly. The tripod stumbled forward and its big metal feet breaking through the metal fence that had contained it. The machine let out its loud roar once again.

As she controlled the tripod she used it to walk around, trampling small objects and rebel soldiers that were crushed under the large metal feet. She looked out of the cockpit, down at all the soldiers running around below.

"There must be a weapon in this thing! Would be wonderful it it turns out this is the cooks food tray machine!" she exclaimed whilst looking around. As she turned the large machine around she felt a trigger on the backside of the steering controls.

She pressed it and a bright glare came from the machine. A lazer ray shot out from the front of the machine, Igniting buildings and soldiers. Rainbow dash grinned and aimed towards a group of rebel soldiers. Once again there was a bright glare, as they all burst into a living flame, waving their arms and screaming in agony before they were burned to crisps.

…

Spike were running from cover to cover, shooting the enemies close to him. His rifle engulfing them in bright green fire. He turned around to find the others, a few meters away he saw Fluttershy, she kneed a soldier in the groin and as he got down to his knees in pain, grasping his crotch, she blew his head off, the blood splattering the ground beneath her.

"Nice job!" Spike shouted as he aimed and opened fire again, causing a few rebel soldiers to throw themselves on the ground for cover.

"Thanks!" she answered, killing another soldier that were running straight for her with a large knife. Her shot hit him in the chest, causing him to fall forward, toppling over and smashing his head on the ground. “Oh goodness! I hope that didn’t hurt... what am i saying? i don’t care!”

Applejack were standing upright behind a low concrete wall, her lazer rifle rapidly firing bright red lazer blasts at her targets, whilst doing this she let out a loud "Yeeeehaaaw!" and said “ I bet y’all didn’t know a girl could handle a gun better than you!” Next to her were Isaac who had his left foot up on the wall to steady himself as he to were on a killing spree, the round blue plasma balls shooting out from his plasma rifle.

"32!" He shouted with a large grin on his face, which was followed by a laugh from Applejack.

"You ain't gonna win over this cowgirl, sugarcube! 35!"

Rarity and Twilight were under heavy fire, they had turned over a large metal container in which they were hiding, the lazer blasts hitting the container sent sparks everywhere.

"Oh dear, i think we're trapped!" Rarity said as she tried to peek out of the cover to get a chance to shoot back, but she quickly went back as a lazer shot flew right by her head.¨

"Don't worry, it's not over yet!" Twilight smiled and threw a grenade at the soldiers keeping them pinned down. Some panicked shouts were heard just before the grenade exploded, turning them and their gear into bits and pieces.

Suddenly there was a loud, high pitched beeping that came from the fuel tanks. The bomb were going to explode. Close to a second after that, Isaacs voice came through their communicators.

" TAKE COVER!"

Fluttershy leapt towards a large metal bin that had fallen to the ground and Spike started to run after her, but he didn't get there in time.

The explosion that followed was so powerful that it threw Spike all the way across the large courtyard they were in. His body flipped limply in the air until he crashed against the ground, landing in a heap amongst metal scarps and bins. The large explosion lit the whole base up in a bright glare, and the debree that were flung everywhere caused even more fires and damage as it rained down on the base. Not to mention the shockwave that went through the base, shaking its foundations.

This was the signal that the Gaolbreak army and its officers had waited for. Helicopters, tanks, soldiers, suddenly swarmed the rebel base as they went in to take care of what was left of the resistance.

Isaac, Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie pie, Rarity and Applejack were running around amongst the debris in the courtyard, looking for Spike. Rainbow dash jumped out of the tripod and ran over to help them in the search. She had felt her heart drop when she saw that Spike was caught by the explosion and thrown threw the air. They all gasped as they finally found him. His body was smoking,and he were laying there limply, not showing any signs of being alive. He had been standing too close to the bomb without noticing, and it might have costed him his life. Isaac shook him, hoping he was still alive.

As Isaac shook him, Spike let out a scream of pain. His body felt like everything was broken. He wreathed and shook as the pain grew worse. When he rolled arouns in pain, they could see that he had lost his left arm. Where his left arm had been were now a burnt stump.

Isaac grabbed him and lift him up, making him wrap his arm and legs around him, even though this caused Spike to scream even louder from the pain. He started to walk out from the base, contacting Esten on the communicator.

" Esten, Spike is badly wounded, I need you to get us back to ship, NOW!"He turned his head and looked at Spike. He sighed in sympathy, wrapping his arms carefully tighter around Spike and whispered. "You'll be allright, i promise to take care of you okay? It’ll all be okay, you’ll be fine!" He held his fallen comrade tight in his grip and placed a quick kiss on Spikes cheek.

…

Spike were laying on a hospital bed in the medical bay on the Nordin. He was awake, and the medicine numbed his pain, but it felt that nothing could ever cure the depression he had fallen into. He just laid there with a down look on his face, occationally trying to move his left hand as if it was still there, but every time he tried his stump just wiggled pathetically where he lay. The others weren't in the medical bay, they thought he looked like he wanted to be alone, so they did just that, left him alone. But that wasn't what Spike really wanted, of course, he didn’t want to admit it, but he wanted to talk with the. He wanted to be able to talk about this, but he didn't know how. He sighed and sat up.

" fuck... everything" He sighed and rubbed his cheek.

Was this it? Was this the end of him working as a mercenary? He didn't want it to end, he had enjoyed working with his friends. They worked as a unit, and they wouldn't leave anyone behind without dying themselves.

The door to the medical bay opened and Isaac peeked in. "How are you feeling?" He asked, slowly walking up to him.

Spike shrugged, making his wrapped stump move up and down. " Im not sure... I just lost an arm, and I guess no one feels good at the moment" Spike said plainly.

Isaac sat down on the edge of the medical bed. He leaned forward and hugged his friend.

"It'll be allright Spike. You’ll get going again. ANd before i forget it, I have something to tell you."

"Is it about giving me that kiss?" Spike asked, no angry or any specific tone in his voice, just the tone he always had while talking normally.

"Well..." Isaac started, feeling a bit caught off guard. "That wasn't what I wanted to tell you, but sure. What do you want to ask about it?"

Spike shifted were he sat and layed down on his side. "Why did you kiss me? would be the simplest question"

Isaac cleared his throat. "I think that it was so emotional seeing you like that. Something just happened inside me." Isaac started to explain. "And... We've had so much fun and we've all grown closer. When I saw you in that condition, screaming in pain and that you had lost your arm, I wanted to protect you, to be there for you. I don’t know really, it just happened."

Spike didn't answer at first, but then he nodded slowly. " I think I understand, it's allright Isaac. I've had fun with you too, and we're good friends right?"

" Yeah, we are." He answered and smiled. "Now to the other thing I wanted to tell you." Isaac continued.

" Rainbow dash managed to keep some tripod war machine in one piece when she took it in the rebel base on Gaolbreak. She used it to tear the rebel soldiers to pieces and apparently it was a prototype of a machine they were going to use against the leaders of Gaolbreak."

Spike sat up, interested in this information.

"Our contractors have paid all of us now, and your share is waiting for you in the meeting hall. They also heard about your injury and the tripod Rainbow dash used, since it’s still in one piece, our contractors will use the prototype to create more, better tripods for their own use, and as a thank you they want to give you a bionic arm that they will attach to you surgically."

Spike didn't say anything, he just looked back at Isaac with a blank stare, not sure how to answer.

"We will fly you to the Capitol of Gaolbreak tomorrow. I know it's not the same as a real arm, and it will feel very weird having something mechanic in your body, I mean, just look at me." Isaac chuckled as he went on."
elieve me, soon that arm will become a part of you, quite literally."

Spike sighed and nodded. "Yeah,I guess that it'll be allright."

"There we go" Isaac smiled. He stood up again and gave Spikes cheek a kiss and started to walk away.

Spike looked at him, a bit shocked. "What was that about?"

Isaac turned around and smiled at him. "You only asked why I kissed you last time, you didn't ask me to stop it."

Spike chuckled, and Isaac walked out of the medical bay with a warm smile on his face.

…

The gang were waiting outside an operation hall, sitting on chairs around the room. They were in a small military base on the edge of the Gaolbreak capitol, named Pilkington.

They were all anxious for Spike. He was just getting a bionic arm surgically attached to him, so there weren’t any lethal danger with the surgery. But they still kept thinking that something would go wrong and that Spike would die.

They had been sitting there for hours, waiting until Spike walked out from the surgical room. Two doctors was following him out and made sure that he wouldn't fall over, the drugs and painkillers he had received caused his balance to be inaccurate.

He held his up his left arm and looked at the bionic, metal arm that were now attached to it. He clenched it to a fist and moved his fingers around, testing it to the best ability he could in his current state. He didn't say anything, his pupils were widened and he seemed very confused. The doctors had put a black leather glove to cover up the machinery, and together with the rest of Spikes gear, no-one would be able to notice any difference.

Isaac walked forward and took Spikes new arm under his own to help him walk. " I know you can't understand everything properly right now, but you're doing okay."

The girls nodded and gave Spike a group hug. Fluttershy smiled at him, very relieved that the procedure had gone without problems. "Let's go back to the ship. you need a long, good rest."