Death is no Excuse

[A/N: Think of the worthless chapter I posted as non-canon with the fic. It is not part of the storyline, as I have created a better one. Next chapter will be up soon!]

Spike sat sadly on the edge of his bed, looking at a small picture of his group of friends. They were all there: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and last, but not least, Rarity. Oh, sweet Rarity. Torn from her friends from that dastardly human!

Spike angrily slammed his fist on the bed post, before shaking his hand out in pain. The love of his life was missing, and Twilight was preventing him from going out and looking for her! He was even beginning to think that Twilight didn’t even care about the kidnapping of Rarity. It was all about the human at this point. She wouldn’t even let her friends go out and try and find her.

“Too risky, too dangerous. What has happened, has happened. We’ll have to wait it out.”

“Wait it out my tail. I may never see my love again!” Cried Spike, falling to the floor melodramatically.

“Spiiiiiike! Where are those books I asked for!?” Shouted Twilight, somewhat annoyed.

“Get them yourself, Twilight! I’m going on strike until Rarity gets back!” Shouted Spike, and Twilight swore under her breath, as she moved around the library.

“Spike, I don’t understand why you’re so annoyed!” Shouted Twilight, grabbing various books from the shelf. “We have guards out looking for her!”

“Because! You could care less about Rarity, and more about the human!” Spike ran over to the railing of the upstairs area of the library, so he could shout down at Twilight. “Aren’t your friends more important than a stupid human!”

“As much as my friends mean to me, they aren’t going to secure my future!” Twilight shouted up. “Princess Celestia wants me to keep a watchful eye over this human! I can’t have him slipping in between our fingers again!”

Spike frustratedly ran downstairs, to look Twilight in the eye. Sure, he was only 13 as compared to her being 22, so he was a good foot shorter than her, about 3” 9’. He gave her his most pouty look, and she sighed.

“Spike, sometimes, there are things more important than friendship. LIKE MY FUTURE!” she angrily said, frost evident in her voice.

“Twilight, I don’t get it. Friendship is everything to you, and now you’re throwing it away for this?” Spike held his stubby arms high. “It’s not natural.”

“Spike, this is a human. This thing is the most destructive sentient being we know of. Celestia will want to have control over it! I can’t allow it to escape!” Twilight said anxiously, looking through her numerous shelves.

“Fine. If you aren’t going to look for Rarity, then I am!” shouted Spike, as he made his way towards the door.

“Spike, you will do no such thing. Leave it to the guard, they’ll find her,” Said Twilight. “Besides, you’ll never find her. She’s in the everfree.”

Spike gaped at what Twilight just said, and stormed out of the house, trudging towards the town hall. Twilight just shook her head, and muttered a few swears, looking through her books on how to magically bind a human.

Jack angrily tugged at the chain around his neck, looking around the dark room. Heavy rain poured down outside, and a few leaks made their way into the dank, dark room. The humans eyes have long since adjusted to the darkness, and his anger has also brewed. He never did anything to these ponies. In fact, he had probably done more good for them than bad. Now they were imprisoning him in some dark room underground. Jack tugs at the chain again, and sits down.

“Fuck man... just...fuck,” Jack says to himself, massaging his temples. He stands up once more, looking at the chain that connects him to the wall. He stares at it for an agonizingly long time, before the human hears a door creaking open in the basement.

“You got 5 minutes, Shy. Make it quick,” Said a gruff voice. Small tapping sounds came from the inside of the basement, until a tall pegasus stopped in front of Jack’s cell, her soft face barely illuminated by the small fluorescent light above Jack.

“Jack?” asked the familiar, honeylike voice of Fluttershy. Jack looked up, and walked towards her, reaching out, held back by the chain attached to his neck.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy. Shouldn’t have gotten you into this shit,” The human said, and Fluttershy gave him a sad smile.

“It’s not your fault, Jack. I’m so sorry...” She said, her voice trembling, showing how close she is to the brink of tears.

“Didja find your friend?” Asked Jack, standing as close as he possibly could to Fluttershy.

“No. The other human got away with her. The guards are searching for her, but to no avail.”

“You mean you aren’t out there looking for her? Why not?”

Fluttershy sighed, and shook her head, her eyes watering now. “Twi says its too dangerous... That we might get hurt.”

Jack turned around, running his hands through his wet brown hair. He turned back to Fluttershy, who was still staring at the ground, small droplets of tears hitting the cobble floor.

“Thats a load of shit. She just doesn’t want to have to deal with more missing ponies. I can get your friend... whatever her name is,” Jack said, pulling at his collar.

“Rarity... Her name is Rarity...” Said Fluttershy, before a pounding on the door disrupted their talk.

“I have to go Jack. Stay safe, okay?” Said Fluttershy, and Jack smiled, scratching his beard.

“Don’t worry kiddo, I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“Well, well, well. Ain’t this a surprise,” Said Bear, standing over a human figure, bloody and battered. “Two of my old squadmates are here, on this fucking planet! Small world, ain’t it!”

The two men were in a small, wooden shack that had been erected overnight, much like many of the buildings in the small community of guns-for-hire were now living in. They had dubbed this small room the “Executioners Block”, due to the fact that Bear had already killed five of his guys inside there. This would be his sixth, but the merc really didn’t see the man before him as a man. More like a kid.

The human sat up, showing his face up to Bear. The brutalized man sneered, only getting another brass-knuckled blow to the face.

“You’ve got a lot of guts coming here, Jackal.” Bear pulled out his M1911, pulling the hammer back. “You always were the stupid one.”

“Obviously not as stupid as you,” Jackal said, sitting up again. The slender brit cracked his neck, slowly getting to his feet. “You still think you can overpower me.”

Jackal was the last operative of Predator Squad working full time for the C.I.A. The youngest member, as well. He wasn’t even old enough to drink yet, though apparently old enough to commit war crimes for his country because some politician told him too. The California boy was named after his first hunting kill, a golden Jackal he had killed in north Africa after nearly biting Eagle’s dick off.

The kid had been on a C.I.A. sponsored mission to hunt down each of the remaining members of the Predator squad, so that they wouldn’t have any problems with having the ghosts of old members, brainwashed by some terrorist organization, coming in and killing off new agents. As always, this was just another way to get a loose end tied up. The CIA blew his cover with a single phone call, and now he was stuck in a room, one on one with Bear.

So you could say things were going well.

“They don’t call me Bear for nothin’, kiddo,” Bear said, putting the muzzle to Jackal’s head. “I’ve always been stronger than everyone in the squad.”

“Strong isn’t always good,” Jackal said, grabbing a knife from the back of his boot, and keeping his hand behind his back. “Sometimes it pays to be fast.”

Bear laughed, rearing his head backwards. Jackal took the moment to slap the gun from Bear’s hand, and slice at the large mans throat. Lightning fast, Bear grabbed Jackal’s hand, twisted it, and brought his elbow down on the kid’s back. Jackal yelped in pain, before rolling out of Bear’s grip, throwing him on the ground. The younger man stomped on the grip of the M1911, propelling it upward into his hand. Almost immediately, he blindly starting popping off rounds at Bear, who was rolling around in an attempt to dodge bullets.

“I’ve already been shot once this week, kid! I don’t intend on doing it again!” Shouted Bear, as Jackal finished emptying the clip at Bear. No hits, whatsoever.

Bear jumped to his feet, pulling out a machete from the back of his bulletproof vest. Jackal’s tank top and sweat pants would be cut through like butter with that thing. Bear licked the blade of the black-steel sword, smiling hungrily at Jackal.

“You know, the way you lick those blades, sooner or later somebody is going to get the idea you’re sexually attracted to them.” Jackal laughed at his own joke, giving Bear the chance he needed to strike.

Bear jumped forward, swinging a blow that would have cut through Jackal’s bone as if it were paper, if Jackal hadn’t rolled out of the way. Bear made a quick recovery, stabbing at Jackal this time. The young man kicked at Bear’s hand, knocking the machete out of his hand, then proceeded to do a flying lotus kick, knocking Bear on his ass.

“You want some more, old man?” Asked Jackal, running in place and throwing some fake punches.

“You know kid, you’ve got some balls, I’ll give you that.” Bear got on his feet, wiping the blood from his lip. “But you’re stupid as shit.”

Jackal raised an eyebrow, as he heard a loud click from behind him. A soldier had leveled an FN FAL at Jackal’s head, and was now about 3 pounds of pressure on his pointer finger from carving a 7.62mm hole through the kid's head.

“Escort Mr. Harper out to the edge of the camp, and put a bullet in his head,” Bear said, picking up his machete from the ground. “And make it snappy, grunt! I don’t want this prick to be a thorn in my side any longer!”

“Yes sir!” Shouted the soldier, nudging Jackal with the barrel of the gun.

Jackal and the soldier made their way outside the shack, immediately being hit with the massive rainfall that had been pouring outside both days they had been there. The camp was busy with construction, as well as the new arrivals of more well armed para-troopers from Earth. Weapons were being amassed, as Hernando wanted to invade the near-by town as soon as possible.

“Too bad you’re gonna miss out on all the fun, Ben. Shoulda just worked with us in the first place,” Said the Soldier with the gun, making his way along the camp, his boots sloshing through the mud.

“Fuck off, Mink. You’re probably gonna die anyway,” Jackal retorted, before being hit in the back of the head with the butt of the rifle.

“You’re a cheeky peice of shit, Ben. I’ll make sure to prolong your suffering.” Jackal and the soldier made their way to the edge of the camp more slowly now, the kids head now pulsing with pain.

The forest at the edges of the new community was thick, not only with trees, but with shrubbery and mud. The few bodies of the dead mercenaries were all piled up in a trench that Bear had made himself. The smell of decomposing flesh and fresh rain was not a pleasant mixture.

“Welcome to your final resting place, kid,” The Soldier said, slapping the safety off of the Belgian made Assault Rifle.

“Wonderful. How much does the burial cost?” Asked Jackal, looking into the ditch, filled with the bodies.

“Fifty cents.” Said the soldier, dropping his FAL and pulling out his Five-Seven handgun. He pulled back the slide quickly, flipping the safety off.

“What do you mean about that?” Jackal said, slowly pulling a knife from his pants.

“About the cost of a round for a Five-Seven,” Said the Soldier, putting the barrel up the the back of the younger man's head.

Jackal spun, kicking the soldiers legs out from under him. A single gunshot sounded off as the man hit the ground. Jackal pounced him, slamming the short knife-blade into his throat. The man gargled, his eyes expanding as he died.

“So much for my funeral,” Jackal said, grabbing the mans Five-Seven, and shoving it into his thigh holster. He stomped on the wooden stock of the FAL, launching it into the air. Jackal grabbed the Belgian Assault Rifle by the barrel, and sprinted into the forest.

As he sprinted through the thick brush, he heard shouts behind him, signaling that the rest of the camp was now aware that he had killed one of their own and was escaping. Soon, there would be 7.62mm rounds flinging past him, and if he wasn’t lucky, one would hit its mark.

As if on mark, bullets starting flying past the young man, each one smashing against the ground in front of him or the trees around Jackal. Mud splattered against Jackal’s skin, now covered in sweat, as he sprinted as fast as his legs could take him through the everfree.

Then came the mortars.

The first one smashed not ten feet away from Jackal, completely obliterating the tree that protected the young CIA agent from the blast. The second one was a little farther away, as well as the third one. The explosive shells seemed to follow Jackal relentlessly, spitting up mud, rock, and silt with every touchdown.

Suddenly, Jackal was thrown into the air, a piercing hot pain shooting up his back. He slammed into some mud, as a tree fell down upon his left leg.

“Fuck!” Shouted Jackal, desperately trying to pull his leg from the tree. No avail. Now its was fight or die.

Jackal grabbed his nearby FAL, slapped the action on it, and sat up, already aiming down the sights. Almost immediately, he saw targets running out of the brush, running towards the blast crater of the mortar that had sent him careening through the air.

“Lock and load, motherfuckers.” Jackal pulled the trigger once, releasing a single burst of ammunition at an unlucky soldier, getting hit in the neck with all three shots.

The other soldiers quickly realized that they were under attack, but it was too late. Within seconds, they were hit with a wall of lead, tearing them apart. More soldiers sprinted through the forest, returning fire at the general area of Jackal. The pinned man kept on firing off bursts, but to no avail. The rifle ran out of ammo quickly, and the return fire shot up both bark, mud, and silt, making it not only impossible to see, but also making it rather impossible to even have the nerve to pop off a correct shot.

“You think he’s dead?” Asked one of the soldiers, as the shooting wound down.

“Yeah. You see all that mucky shit? I’m sure some of that is blood.”

“You don’t fuckin’ say Sanchez. It’s dark brown, and the rest of the mud is light brown. There is obviously some blood in there.”

I can see why these guys were sent in first. They’ve got about the intelligence of caddle. Jackal thought to himself, as he slid farther under the tree.

“Let’s get out of here, then. I don’t like being stuck out in the forest, we might get raped by one of those monsters or something.” The sound of sloshing mud slowly fading away marked the dismissal of Jackal’s enemies.

With one clean push, Jackal shoved himself into the mud beneath the tree, and swiftly out the other side. Sure, he was now covered in bark, mud, and a bit of blood, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

“Sir, theres a human!” Shouted a voice, and Jackal spun around.

As if he didn’t have enough troubles, in front of him stood a whole squad of short, anthropomorphic pony looking things, all with spears and bows pointed at him. Sure, Jackal still had his Five-Seven, but a well placed arrow could kill just as easily as a bullet could. He would just have to hide it, and hope for the best.

“Shine! Hit him with a sleep spell!” Shouted what seemed like the leader, and one of the bow-ponies horns glowed bright red, and Jackal’s vision blacked out.

“Good, we got another one for Twilight.” The leader walked over to Jackal, who was now sprawled on the floor.

“Sir, what about the other humans, and the explosions?” Asked Shine, and the leader waved off the question.

“We’d be killed in an instant. We need to focus on picking off the stragglers,” The captain said, grabbing the human by the shirt, and lifting him onto his back. “Let’s get back to base. I guess Jack has a new roommate.”

“Wake up, Jack. You got some company.” A booming voice sounded, making Jack immediately jerk awake. Inside his cell were two large ponies, holding a man in between them. They were adorned with golden armor, and were holding spears. While Jack could probably still take them out in hand to hand combat, it would be a very, very brutal fight. Not one without a few stabbing wounds.

“Got ya a new friend. Looks like one of them damn soldiers, but he was shooting at them. Not sure what this guys story is, but we’ll interrogate both of you when he wakes up.” The one who looked like the leader dropped the human in the middle of the room, then left. The other pony grabbed the chain from the wall, and attached it to the other humans neck, before leaving himself.

Jack was just about to doze off to sleep again, when the human bolted up, turgging at his chain harshly. He swiftly pulled out a knife to cut through the lock, but the blade was not reinforced enough to cut through the smelted iron. He began stabbing at it with an alarming pace, so Jack just sat back, and closed his eyes again.

“Well, aren’t you going to do something?” Said the other human, his voice mildly familiar.

“No point.” Jack scratched the back of his head, before leaning back onto the cobble wall again.

“I have the tools to get out of here!” Shouted the other human, and Jack just scoffed.

“Yeah? And how are you going to get past the guards? Unless you got a gun, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“That’s exactly what I got.”

Jack opened his eyes, and looked over at his new roomate. In his hand was a Fabrique Nationale Five-Seven handgun, something Jack was very familiar with.

“Now how the fuck did you manage to smuggle that thing in here?” Asked Jack, looking around the cell.

“I guess they don’t check crotches, eh?” The human shoved the gun into his pants again, and continued to stab at the collar.

“Thats never going to work, you know.”

The other human looked at him puzzledly, then shoved his knife into his boot. He tugged at the chain once more, then leaned back.

“So, how long you been here?” Asked the other human, and Jack shrugged.

“I don’t really know. Maybe six, seven hours?”

The other human nodded, then scratched his short, blonde hair. “Name’s Ben Harper.”

Jack sighed, wondering where else he had heard that name. “I’m Jack Ross. Nice to meet you, Ben.”

“I feel like we’ve met before.”

Jack nodded in agreement, staring up at the small white light which illuminated the dank room.

“So, any idea on how we’re gonna get out of here, Jack?” Asked Ben, and Jack smiled.

“I have an idea.”

Spike was in deep shit. He knew it was stupid to go into the forest alone, yet he did it anyway. Now, he was surrounded by humans, all with their boom-sticks pointing at him.

“What the fuck is this thing?” Asked one of them, poking Spike with their weapon.

“Looks like a dragon or some shit.”

“No! That’s not what they look like on Game of Thrones.”

“Shut your fuckin’ mouth, Samuels.”

“Nigga, shut your fucking mouth. Samuels is right!”

“You shut your fucking mouth, you fuckin’ white-trash.”

Half of the words they were saying Spike couldn’t decipher, but he somehow he knew that nothing good could come of this.

“Oi! What in sweet-FUCK is going on over here?” Shouted a voice, and all the men backed off of Spike, their guns still fixed on him.

“Sir! We found a dragon lookin’ thing!” Said one of the soldiers.

Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot, and the man who had said the last sentence fell down, a huge flower of blood blossoming out of his skull.

“I told you not to fucking CALL ME SIR!” shouted the man who had killed him, who seemed like the leader of the humans. He fired more boom-stick shots into the dead human, from a much smaller boom stick.

“Alright, first we got this pony-thing-shit in the workshop, then we got a dragon. What’s next?” Asked the leader, throwing his small boomstick onto the dead body.

“I’m not really sure, Bear. What do we do?” Asked another soldier, and Bear smiled.

“I know exactly what we do with it.” The massive human picked up Spike, a smile on his face.

“Wake up!” Shouted an angry voice, as both humans were hit with a mass of cold water.

Jack shot up randomly throwing punches. Ben drew his knife instinctively, only to get it torn away by some telekinetic force. The cell door was swung open, to a very angry looking purple Anthro. Her eyes were red with rage, as well as her hair all out of place. She brushed right past Jack, and lifted Ben into the air with her magic, slamming him into the wall.

“Where is your camp!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

“What?” Asked Ben, only to get his throat clenched by the magic.

“YOUR CAMP!” She screamed, sending spit into Ben’s face.

“Woah, woah! Calm the fuck down Twilight! What the hell is wrong?” Asked Jack, and Twilight looked at the other human with a twitch in her eye.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, letting Ben down from her grip. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Jack! I just got a little letter from the humans who have made their little camp up in the mountains, saying they have Spike, and Rarity!”

“Well no shit. Rarity has been with them since I tried saving her.”

Jack was slammed into the wall, and Twilight went face to face with him. “He’s like my brother! She’s like my sister! And I neglected to realize the danger she was in, so he went looking for her. Now they’re both missing!”

“My question is, how the fuck did they even get a letter to you?” Asked Ben, only to get launched against the wall again.

“So, what’re you going to do, Twilight? Waltz right in there and ask for them back? They’ll kill you, or worse.” Jack put his hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“So what I do then? Hope they feel happy enough to hand them back over?” Asked Twilight, and Ben scoffed.

“As if. Bear’s a hardheaded motherfucker.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, looking Ben over. “You know Bear?”

“Yeah. I served with him in the CIA for about 4 years, Ever since I dropped out of high school.”

“No shit.” Jack decided that it would be better if he were to keep his own past with Bear to himself. Two members of Predator squad was a coincidence, but three marked that something definitely fishy was going on.

“Can you guys stop talking as if I’m not here?” Screamed Twilight angrily.

There was something more in her eyes than just rage and hate. There was desperation. Fear. Sadness. Something that told Jack that she wasn’t doing this for her. That she was doing this for them.

“Look, whats-your-face, we can help.”

Jack and Twilight looked over to Bem, who was wiping a line of blood from his lip. “I’m sure Jack, if you give him back all his equipment, can fit in as a high level PMC. He sneaks in, wrecks the place, gets your friends out, and everything will be all good. I mean, if his story checks out, and he actually did come down here with a bullet-proof vest and an M1911, he should have no problem.”

“Easier said than done,” Jack said, sitting back down. “One. How the hell am I going to sneak in. They probably got that place under lockdown, and Bear’ll notice me easily. Two: There is no guarantee they are even held there. Finally, I have no weapons, no ammo, and I’m rather crippled due to some wounds going untreated.”

“Then I’ll go.”

“Thats an even worse idea. They know who you are.”

Twilight watched as the two men argued, angrily boiling with rage. How could these two humans argue at a time like this? While she was fearing for the life of her friends, whom she had so idiotically neglected to realize they were in danger, they were bickering about plans.

“ENOUGH!” Screamed Twilight, tears nearly falling from her eyes. Jack and Ben both shut up immediately. “I’ll release both of you, if you get Rarity and Spike back. It doesn’t matter how, just get them back.”

Jack and Ben looked at one another once more, then back at Twilight.

“So, you’re just going to let us go?” Asked Ben, and Twilight nodded, falling to the floor, and burying her face in her knees.

“What choice do I have?”