Mask

Break out.

Spike had done more with less. Or so he kept telling himself this. He had no idea how he'll break Bright Light out or how he'll escape, and this is assuming Bright Light can still stand and wasn't beaten by the dogs. His anger threatened to boil over for a moment, before he heard a noise, making him hug the wall, slowly sliding his snapper out and aiming it forward. Spike peered around, aiming his Snapper around, his knife slowly twirling in his hand. He looked back the way he came, before looking back towards the open door, slowly peeking around the corner with his weapon. He walked in, giving a soft noise as he peered down the hallway, spotting more doors.

Spike slowly pulled his mask up, flicking his tongue out, tasting the air, before sniffing loudly, snorting out smoke in annoyance. The stench of dog was heavy, it was overwhelming to him, he crinkled his nose in disgust. He sniffed again, before stopping, slowly melding into the shadows of the wall, his dark outfit helping him blend into the shadows.

Just a moment later, two guard dogs walked by, chatting about this and that, strange boomers held in their hands. One stopped and sniffed the air, before getting his shoulder bumped, distracting him, making him look away. He looked back at Spikes spot, squinting, before pushing his gun into the shadows, rummaging around a bit, before pulling back his weapon and shrugging a bit.

He wandered off, his friend joining him, tails finally leaving the view. After a few moments, Spike finally appeared; hanging from the ceiling by his claws. In another universe, he may have looked like some cartoon cat after being frightened, though such a funny image was only a passing thought in Spikes young mind.

He let go of the ceiling, dropping down and crouching, his weapon at the ready. He aimed all around, before tugging his mask off and flicking his tongue out, tasting the air again. He smiled to himself as he picked up the scent of human, then pressed onwards, flicking his tongue out every so often. He peered around another corner, seeing a dog standing in front of the door, giving loud snores as he slept, Spike giving a grin. He suddenly walked forward, putting his snapper and knife away, reaching for the door. It seems the guards were lazy and slept for much of their shift, a stroke of good luck, thought Spike.

That was until he heard growling.

Spike slowly turned towards the Diamond Dog, his lips curling back in a snarl, fangs showing. Spike wasted no time, the dogs mouth opened and Spikes hand shot forward, grabbing the poor beasts mouth and shoving him through the door. The dog yelped as he smashed through, Spike quickly jumping on top of the dazed beast, raising his fist up and smashing it into the poor creatures face.

The first punch, blood shot out of the beasts mouth, its own teeth cutting its cheek. A second punch, a fang shot out of the beasts mouth. A third and some bruising would appear. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eleventh. Sixteenth. Twentieth.

Spike raised his fist again, before stopping to see the poor creature, wheezing in pain, face heavily cut and bruised, the poor beast missing some teeth. Spike held the beast up by its shirt, then snorted a smoke filled breath out of his nostrils, dropping the beast, giving a few heavy breaths out.

A whistle caught Spikes attention, making him lift the beasts makeshift boomer and aim it at the sound, seeing some bars for the jail. He gave a confused look at the occupant inside of the cell, walking forward and seeing the woman give a flirty smile. She adjusted a bit and put her hands on the bars, chuckling a bit.

"Hey, you don't need to beat the shit out of every guy to impress me. You know that, right?"

"Storm? What are you doing here?" Spike asked, inspecting the lock for a moment as he dropped the beasts gun.

"Well, after you fell down the pit, Silver was having a freak out with some of the beasts. Next thing I knew, I was knocked out, woke up in front of some armored bitch, put the beat down on some dogs, then got thrown in here."

Spike inspected the lock, before shrugging to himself, then smashing the lock in his hand, ripping it out of the bars. He dropped it, then opened the door, looking at Storm Chaser, "What about Bright Light? You see her?"

Storm walked out, walking over to a table with her gear on it, putting on her armor, shaking her head as she put her gloves on, speaking, "No. No other prisoners from what I could tell." She looked back at the Diamond Dog on the ground, spitting on the beast before putting her mask on. "We gotta link up with the others. Got a plan, kid?"

"Well, my plan was to free Bright Light and fight our way out. Ya know, mix things up a little."

"Haha, very funny. The real plan?"

The door opened another guard walking in, holding a half eaten piece of meat in his mouth, speaking with his mouth full, "Hey, Boxer, I brought you some lunch. Hope you're hun-" he was interrupted by the sight of Spike and Storm standing over Boxer. "What the-"

Spike threw Boxers gun at the new guard, smashing it against his chest, making him lose his breath. Storm slammed her boomstick into the beasts forehead, sending it sprawling backwards, then took aim, though Spike took her barrel with his hand, shaking his head. "Always were the hero type." She growled out, making Spike smile sheepishly.

The dog was about to stand, but Spike lifted the poor beast up and headbutted the bridge of the creatures nose, making the dogs vision swim with stars. He then smashed the creatures head against the wall, knocking the beast unconscious, tossing him onto the ground. "Twilight always did have that effect me."

They turned, a howl echoing through the walls, Spike grimacing and Storm aiming down the hallway, giving Spike a cheeky smile, "Something tells me that Twilight had nothing to do with that, kid." She looked forward, seeing shadows moving down the hallway. "Friends of yours?"

Spike gave a grin, "What can I say? The people love me." He then took a deep breath, feeling a familiar warmth spread through his chest, then up his throat. He opened his jaws, boiling, glowing spit dripping out of his mouth, taking a deep breath that seemed to cool the air around them, before throwing his head forward, breathing green fire onto the ground in front of them, making Storm back up in surprise, her eyes widening at the sight of the young lad.

Spike threw his head into a circle, his flames heating up the rocks surrounding them. He finally stopped, panting, feeding his starved lungs air as the hallway around them had hot, burning rocks and green fire feeding on the few wooden things in the tunnel.

It would buy them some time.

Spike looked back, before wiping his mouth, looking back at Storm, finally saying, "Spend enough years with Twilight, you can learn a lot about what rocks are what and what hides the best gems. Eventually, you figure out what rocks are what." Spike walked over to the wall, the sound of howls getting closer, Storm backing up and aiming down the burning hallway, sparing Spike a glance. Spike moved his hands against the wall, before smiling as he pushed against the wall a bit, before digging his hands into the wall, tearing away rocks. He then kicked the wall, making it cave in, finding an opening, before glancing back at the hallway. "I would say ladies first, but...I think you want the fire breather in the front."

Storm looked back at him, before hearing the angry barks just behind the inferno. Storm could tell it wouldn't last long, so she kicked Spike in, ignoring his angry look, then clambered into the hole after him.

Silver stared at the door in front of them, his Sweeper on his side, giving the door a hard stare, as if trying to burn a hole through it with his eyes. Bright Flare and Steel looked at each other, Stone inspecting the walls. Flare walked over to Silver, clearing her throat and ready to speak, before Silver eyes turned to her, his eyes boring into her, making her back and walk to Steel. She shook her head as Silver turned back, Steel sighing as his wings fluttered a bit, watching their leader.

"Aha! Found it!" Stone wiped away a dust covered panel on the wall, smiling st the others. He tried opening it a few times, before stepping back and kicking the panel, denting it and breaking the lock. "Stupid piece of..." She mumbled as she opened it, then started tinkering inside. She pulled the lever, the door massive door groaning as it opened, grinding loudly as it kept going.

Silver ducked down, aiming around, his eyes scanning the room, before whistling a bit, the others ducking under and aiming around. Steel whistled impressively as he looked around; it seemed to be a railroad station...underground? Old train cars and mining carts, covered in dirt, stones and dust, a few skeletons dotted around of animals and, disturbingly, some diamond dog like skeletons.

Silver checked his wrist, checking the time, before nodding to himself. "Steel, check the cars for anything. Stone, I want you to find a way to keep that door open. Meteor will come through with some of our force soon, and I'd rather not have the door slam on her. Bright Flare, you're with me, we'll get the power on and light this place up." He barked out, Steel giving him a glance before going to the train car, climbing up and opening it.

He looked inside, seeing skeletons of different animals and strange markings on the wall, Steels eyes narrowing as he thumbed the flashlight on, aiming it around, taking a closer look at the markings his eyes scanning them for a few moments.

Writing?

It wasn't a language Steel knew, but to be fair, he had only known a few languages, linguistics are not his strong suit. He noticed drawings at the bottom, his eyes trailing down to them, leaning in a bit to observe the dark figures scratched in and their strange shapes. Nothing human, that was for sure.

The lights flickered on, making Steel lean back and smile a little, turning his flashlight off. He started walking deeper into the car, sewing random tools lying about, before walking forward, seeing a small door where the driver would usually go. Steel took a deep breath, before opening the door, his eyes flying every which way and that.

Nothing.

Not even a skeleton.

Steel gave a hum, before a hand touched his shoulder, making him scream in fright. He turned and glared at the now laughing Stone and gave her a frown, grabbing his own chest, trying to calm him heart down.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry, I already finished my thing and came to check up on you. You looked like you expected a zombie."

"You're gonna expect my foot up your ass if you don't get outta here!" Steel snarled at her, chasing the woman down the car and out, jumping down after her.

"Status?"

Silvers voice shot through both of them, their playful energy turned to obedience, Steel and Stone both standing at attention, "Sir, I have cleared the car, no enemies inside." Steel reported, making Silver look over at the car.

"Did it look operational?"

Stone abd Bright Flare shot each other a look, Steel giving Silver a nod, "Yes, sir. Everything looked to be working order, and it looks like it is powered out of electricity and not coal, sir."

Silver nodded a bit, then sat down on a crate, adjusting his armor, finally speaking, "Then we sit here and wait."

"Sir, what about those things? What if they come here and -" Bright Flare began, only to shut down when Silver shot her a glare. Had he glared any harder, Bright Flare would have two burning holes in place of her eyes.

"I said we stay. And you will keep first watch, private Bright Flare." Silver spoke in a cold tone, making Bright Flare nod and run to the door, peering out with a weapon shouldered. "Steel, Stone, rest. You'll need the energy if the creatures attack. Until then, we wait here for Spike, Bright Light and Storm Chaser."

Spike broke through another cave wall, panting a bit as he dragged Storm out. Storm screamed in anger as she kept stabbing a Bug, smashing her knife into it again and again, crushing its armored head in, stabbing its brain with her knife, before kicking its corpse into its friends lifeless bodies, effectively blocking the way they came in.

"I...fucking hate...bugs." Storm said inbetween inhales of breath, trying to feed her starved lungs. She looked at her armor and clothes; a little damaged, but still good, Spikes appearance just barely better as he wiped his knife clean of blood. "And...small tunnels."

"Well, at least we are out of the tunnel." Spike optimistically replied, before seeing one of the legs move in the tunnel, kicking the corpse further into the tunnel. "Nothing we can do about the bugs though."

Storm grasped onto a stalagmite and lifted herself up, Spikes inner Twilight yelling at her in his head, talking about how fragile such a process was. However, seeing as Spike was trying to spot where they were, he ignored that little voice in his brain and inspected the ground, seeing prints. He knelt down and rested the butt of his gun on the ground and held on the barrel, staring at the ground. Storm stretched out, then turned, opening her mouth to say something, only to stop when Spike was inspecting the ground. She knelt down next to him, staring at the ground with him, Spikes eyes tracking up the trail, standing up and shouldering his boomstick, walking up the path. Storm silently followed, staying behind Spike, her eyes scanning the rocks around them.

As they walked, Spike kept feeling like he was being watched, the hairs on the back of his neck rising up a bit as they continued. Spike didn't stop, simply tapping Storms arm when she walked next to him, catching her attention, he then made a few movements with his hands. Storm nodded, her eyes darting to the side, slowly pulling her boomstick up, racking a shell in.

She twirled around, seeing glowing eyes in the dark, before they disappeared, her eyes searching around the darkness, her flashlight swinging to and fro.

"Spike..."

Spike stopped, his eyes widening, Storm still searching around. He slowly turned, seeing something flash in the distance ahead. "T...Twilight?"

"Spike?"

"What was that, kid?" Storm called out, her eyes searching around. "Spike?" She dared to look back, only to see Spike staring forward, his eyes glazed over. She bumped him with her boomstick, her eyes never leaving that darkness. "Come on, wake up buddy, wake up!"

Spike, however, was not there, for his mind was far from there, another place. It was almost as if he had been turned into a statue by the Elements of Harmony. A striking ache made him scream in agony, he fell to his knees, grasping his head, his gun lying on the side, Storm stepping back a bit as she watched.

"Spike?! Talk to me, buddy! Come on! Speak to me!"

Spikes mind was a jumbled mess of pictures and sounds, too jumbled together to make sense, his mind in searing, white hot pain. His eyes were wide open, though he saw nothing, and tears started dripping on the ground. He released another scream as the images became clear, closing his eyes as if the pain would stop.

A tree, branches gently waving in the wind. A flower, a butterfly resting on it. The sound of childrens laughter and an empty playground. Singing of drunken people and a warm looking tavern in the snow. He could see an apple fall off of a tree and into a barrel, and the sounds of people talking as he saw a baby carriage.

Then, anger filled Spikes mind, gritting his fangs and giving a strangled yelp as he clawed a bit into the ground.

Bombs. He could see them, no...he could feel them. They were boiling hot, then so, so cold. He could see the snow and ice cover everything...wait...a door?

Yes, a heavy, metal door. He could see it, so clear, seeing figures trapped behind it. He was, finally, let go, the image showing Twilight reaching out, magic in her hands, and a confused, fearful feeling shot through his mind, though it was not from him. No, this feeling was alien, different, not his own, yet he understood it perfectly.

"Help...us..."

Spike was finally brought out of this strange episode, his eyes finally returning to normal. He wiped the drool from his mouth, then sat up, panting a bit, confused, but alive. Sweet, pure feelings of cool washed over him in waves as he sat there, seeing Storm staring at him with pure relief at the end of his episode. Spike rubbed his head and gave a smoke filled breath, before slowly standing up, wobbling a bit.

"You okay, Spike?"

"...No...but we can't stop. We have to go."

As they stood up and walked forward, Spike spared a glance back towards the light he had seen before, then continued on, throat a bit sore from his screaming. As they turned the corner and continued on, a hand pressed against the wall, its eyes watching them, before giving a soft noise. Another joined it, resting its hand on the first ones shoulder. Both disappear in a blink, the only proof of their existence being a handprint they left behind.