//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 An Act of Piracy // Story: Just Rumble // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 6: An Act of Piracy Despite the terrible attack, Rumble had slept pretty well. He yawned as Giovanni and Dimah brought him breakfast. “Good morning, Rumble, we made you breakfast.” The rebel was carrying a tray with a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of juice. “Thanks. And thank you for saving me yesterday. I thought I would die. But I feel sorry for the other people.” He said while eating, sounding sad. “No need. And the town is still under our control and we saved it.” Dimah explained. “That’s good news. Can I ask you something, Dimah?” “Sure.” “You said you are a scientist. What do you study?” He asked with innocence. “Bavarium. It’s a very explosive and weirdly magnetic, very light mineral. They look like blue rocks. The mineral is completely unique to the islands of Medici. It can be used as energy but also as a weapon. The general had no idea how useful it could be at first. Bavarium can be refined into powerful explosive or almost unlimited fuel source. This is also why I got the burns on my face.” She explained, causing him to look at her in sympathy. “Sorry to hear that. Giovanni, why did you join the rebels?” Giovanni scratched his back. “Well, the general restricted outside companies from forming on the island, so that only military service was left. Like my brother, I wanted to make our father proud, but I found out that he was killed by his own men, as he refused to execute captured rebels. They told us that rebels killed him. I joined the Rebellion to avenge my father. Our mother died a few years ago of cancer. I don’t know what will happen when this is over, but at least I’m busy." “Sorry to hear that. My parents died when I was just an infant. I don’t know why but as I’m like a son for your brother and his wife and they care for me like parents, they like parents for me.” Rumble smiled weakly. “We know. And let me tell you something: You got the Rebellion on your side and you will return safe and sound.” Marco’s brother promised with an honest expression. “Do you want to see why lab?” The woman asked the colt. “Sure why not, Dimah.” It was interesting and fascinating for him. After a while, a man stormed in, wearing a hat and glasses, having a white beard, looking not happy. “Dimah! You tricked me again!” You-“ Dimah put a finger on his mouth as Giovanni leaded Rumble out. “It’s better if we leave them alone.” Hey buddy, how’s going?” “Good Rico!” Rumble replied happily as Rico and Mario returned from a mission. “Glad to hear it. I stay here with him, Rico.” Giovanni offered. “Ok, protect him while I and Dimah are at the command center.” Rico, Mario and Dimah left. “Where are they going?” The Pegasus wondered. “Cima Leon CentCom. We got reports that the general is about to start a massive attack on the region.” Rumble jumped as he heard explosions. They looked outside. Anti-aircraft fire, planes and helicopters filled the sky. “It’s already started. The entire region is at war! The general must be mad!” Giovanni couldn’t believe it. “But are we safe here?” His young friend asked with worry. “Of course. I’ll stay with you. Promised, Fratre.” “Rumble smiled at Giovanni’s words. “Aren’t you concerned about your brother?” “Yes, but I have faith that he survives.” The rebel never expected that he would meet his brother again, very soon. Marco and Luca were called to aid in the battle but it was over before they could reach it, so they were sent home. “We lost the battle but this is only the beginning.” Luca was sure of it. Yes but I’m still worried about Rumble. What if he was caught in the crossfire?” Marco didn't want to think about it. “I appreciate your father instinct for him, but I’m sure that the rebels brought him to a safe place when the battle began.” The soldiers talked in the kitchen as Vittoria with Rumble’s friends walked in. “Did you hear what happened?” Greta asked. “Yes but I’m sure he’s safe,” Marco replied as the doorbell rang. Vittoria opened the door. A man with grey hair, a cowboy hat, blue eyes and a blue shirt was outside. “Yes, can I help you?” “Howdy Ma’am, I’m Tom Sheldon. I heard you’re missing your son, so I thought I help you.” “Thanks but how did you know?” She was suspicious, Rumble’s friends too. “Why should we trust you?” The kids asked, raising their eyebrows. “Let’s just say, I have my sources. He’s on the way to Babica with your brother to a party of the rebels. I can show it if you like.” He led them to an Urga Hrom D in Rebellion colors. “Hey Crashie, can you take us to Babica?” He asked a man wearing a cap with headset. “Sure thing, Tom.” They all got in. The two soldiers had the same thought: If Tom lied, he will regret it. Giovanni was driving with Rumble to a vineyard in a rebel Weimaraner. “What’s up, Mario?” “Ah, Giovanni, perfect timing!” “Why?” The child wondered. “Just watch, Rumble.” He pointed to Ancient ruins just north of Cima Leon: Centcom that was about a kilometer away. “Mario! I’m here. What’s so important? Mario! Where are you?” They heard Rico through a walkie-talkie. “Mooooo…” Mario imitated a cow. “Oh, no…” Rico complained. “I’ve been turned into a cow. Only the kiss of a prince will set Mooo-rio free…” “Lucky for me, I’m not a prince!” Rico countered. “C’mon, kiss my cow face!” “No.” “Moo, Rico.” “No!” “Mooooo!” “Where are you? Tell me where are you are, so I can kill you.” “Only your kiss will unlock the truth…” “I’m going to kill you.” Rico kissed the cow. “Ahh! He kissed the cow! Aha, hey guys, Rico kissed the cow!” Mario cheered and even Rumble and Giovanni had to laugh. “You, are no longer my best friend,” Rico announced. “Don’t be mad! We’re down by the vineyard that used to be for Di-moooo-vello’s special stock.” “ANYTHING for Moorio!” Rico said joking. “I will escort him.” The colt opened his wings. “Do that Rumble, just be careful, okay?” “Si, Giovanni.” Rumble flapped his wings and took off to intercept Rico who used his wingsuit. They met about 500 meters away from the vineyard. “Hey Rico, may I escort you?” “Si, amico.” The young pony was gliding next to Rico as suddenly about 300 meters away from the vineyard; Rumble got a cramp in his wing. He was about to fall, but Rico noticed it and grabbed him. “Thanks.” “Just hold in tight.” Rumble enjoyed the wind brushing against his body. Above the vineyard, Rico opened his parachute. “Rico! Right there! There’s a truck loaded with the General’s private reserve” Mario got into a Stria Obrero loaded with 10 wooden barrels of wine, while Giovanni and Rumble followed them in the SUV. “What’s in the barrels?” “High-quality wine from the general. We have a party in Babica.” The rebel told the foal. “You know that I’m too young to drink that?” Rumble raised an eyebrow. “Of course, of course, but you can still party with us.” They followed the truck along the gravel road. “That was so cool when he was riding the missile!” Rumble exclaimed. “Yeah, I wish I could do that. I must admit, the general has good taste in wine.” Along the way, they'll had to pass a multi-vehicle crash and some vehicles exploded. “That was close.” Rumble looked into the mirror after they had passed it. “We liberated Insula Fonte and with 400 gallons of wine, we have enough to celebrate it!” Giovanni explained. “That is about… 1514 liters. I never liked mathematics but it has paid off today!” The boy exclaimed proudly. “Exactly my little friend.” As they drove through Babica, Rumble yelled, “W-w-wait, that truck is on fire! Aaahhh!” as another Stria Obrero drove out from behind a street corner and crashed into a building and exploded. Yet they reached the party. As they got out, 2 red Weimaraner arrived. A man wearing a cowboy hat got out of the first SUV. “Tom! What are you doing here?” Rico asked surprised. “Reuniting a family, my friend,” Tom replied as the colt smiled happily upon seeing the other passengers as they got out. “Rumble!” “Madre!” Rumble hugged his parents and friends. The rebels smiled as it was heart melting. “Guess what? Your brother took care of me!” Giovanni blushed as the boy had said this. Marco smiled warmly at him. “Hey brother, long time no see. I, my wife, Luca and Rumble’s friends are very grateful that you helped him. Frankly, I missed you.” “Me too, Fratre.” The two brothers hugged each either with tears of joy. “Guess we have another reason to celebrate.” Rico also smiled. While neither Marco, his wife or friends were drinking alcohol to be role models for the children, they still enjoyed the wine, while the kids danced to the music. The band played the same music as the street bands. “Sorry about that in Costa Del Porto. We just wanted to protect him. Guess my protector instinct took full control of me.” The private apologized, embarrassed about what had happened to him. “Never mind, Marco. You acted like any father would. On Rumble!” Rico said a toast and he, Mario, Luca, Tom, Giovanni, Elisa, Federico, Marco, and Vittoria clink glasses as they enjoyed the wine, the party and the beautiful night. Rumble woke up in the bed. He heard screaming. Storming outside, he saw that Vittoria was helpless on the ground as an Aegis trooper held her at gunpoint. “Get up, now!” He kicked and beat her with his rifle. “Move or die, your choice.” “Leave her alone!” Rumble yelled but it was too late. The mercenary shot her in the head, then held the boy at gunpoint. Fear took over him. “No, please, don’t do it…” The colt begged before he awoke in cold sweat. Panting heavily, he came to a conclusion. “They’re better without me.” He got out and trotted to their bedroom. Seeing them sleeping peacefully, he whispered. “Thank you for everything but I’m sorry.” He left with tears in his eyes. It was raining, oddly enough; no citizens or soldiers were on the streets. It was like a ghost town as he took off the ground, flying aimlessly through Insula Striate. Rumble was unaware that he flew near forbidden space until out of nowhere, black explosive clouds were next to him. They missed but as he saw them, he panicked and lost control. He crashed into a tree near the base. His vision was blurry. “Alert! Alert! There is a trespasser in the area. He must be seized at once!” a speaker ringed in his ears. The last thing he saw before everything went black was the headlights of a Weimaraner W3 and an Urga Szturm 63A. “Destination reached. Get out.” The driver of the Weimaraner, a black hand said to two other troopers, as a male and female soldier stepped out of the Urga Szturm. “That’s the intruder?” the female soldier asked confused. “Yes, and he must be neutralized.” The leader of the Black Hand raised his rifle but the soldier lowered it and yelled, “Wait! He’s still a child! Besides, isn’t that the boy that bumped you saw in the capital?” “Affirmative. In that case, he must be brought to the general.” “At least let me take him in so he isn’t freezing and let me take of his wound!” the female soldier protested as blood was running down from Rumble’s head. “Granted.” The Black Hand replied. “We have you fixed up in no time!” the woman gently took the colt up and placed a blanket over him while he was brought to the infirmary. Rumble slowly regained consciousness. “Where am I?” He looked around. He was in an infirmary in a bed with a warm blanket covering him. “Ah, you’re awake.” A female voice said relieved. He turned his head. “Hey, you’re the paramedic who took care of me back in Vista Dracon.” “Yes, more precisely, I used to be as I was drafted into the army shortly after that. I made you a hot chocolate.” She putted the cup on the night stand. “Thanks.” She could see that he enjoyed it. “My name is Alice by the way. Are you lost my dear?” Rumble’s heart was beating faster as the monitor showed. “I-I had a nightmare where Marco and Vittoria were k-killed because of me. To prevent it from happening I ran away.” Alice hugged him to calm him down. “Shh, it’s alright. Nothing bad will happen to you.” As she said this, two Black Hand commanders walked in. “Is he alright?” One of them asked, showing no sign of emotion. “Yes, but he’s still needs to rest. He almost cracked his head open.” The paramedic replied with concern about the child’s medical condition. “For the general, this is enough.” The commander shoved her out of the way and came closer to Rumble who trembled in fear. “Wait!” she yelled before she and he were knocked out. The colt woke up in a cell. “The general wants to have a chat with you.” The two Black Hand troopers grabbed and restrained him. He was too scared to resist. They brought him into a courtyard of a palace and sat him on a chair with a table. The rain had stopped. “You must be Rumble.” A man in a white general uniform walked to the table. He had brown hair, blue eyes and a mustache. “I am General Di Ravello, the Leader of Medici. After my men talked of you, I thought I see for myself, and I’m fascinated.” While being scared, Rumble managed to gather some courage. “I...I-I'm not afraid of you.” The General smirked. “Heh...I think we both know that is not true. Besides, I have heard reports you were seen with members of that pitiful Rebellion, and as you’re new here, I wanted to personally talk with you about it.” He sounded slightly threating, his face cold, unemotional. At this point, the young colt couldn’t control his fear anymore, not wanting to die or end up in prison for the rest of his life. “I-I’m no member of the rebels, it’s a misunderstanding, g-general…I don’t… to…” He gulped, „die…” He feared the leader of Medici would hurt or kill him, trembling at the thought, given what he had seen at the attack on costa de Porto. With an expression of sympathy, Di Ravello said, “Why should I? I am a just and loving leader and a religious person. I care for my people. And as I heard, you we’re kidnapped by them but…” He got closer to Rumble. “...trespassing on a military base… that is an administrative offense that must not go unpunished.” “P-please, it was not intentional, I was lost. P-please not like this.” “Normally, people would be executed or sentenced to forced labor for trespassing, but your punishment will be mild. Floggings maybe but I think this should do it.” He plucked one of Rumble’s feathers. “Ow.” The colt flinched in pain. “I have eyes across Medici, even in that cove you were. There is nothing…” He burned the feather in his fire pedestal made out of stone. “…that my flames cannot touch, Rumble. But now, let’s talk about the Rebellion.” He sat down. A commander of the military brought a plate with meat, olives with dip and cheese and a second with salad. “Years in the making.” Di Ravello ate one of the olives and enjoyed it smiling. “The salad is for you. Consider it as an apology for what happened to you.” He gave the Black Hand a sign to untie the colt. “Thank you, Mr. Ravello.” Rumble calmed a bit down as he ate the salad with manners, trying to be respectful toward the general. “It pleases me that you enjoy it. The best salad in whole Medici. I also thought you could help me with a problem.” “A-and this is?” Rumble didn’t like where this was going. “The Rebellion. They managed to liberate Insula Dracon and I need someone who spies for me. I already have a spy there but two are better than one. For this, I assure that no one of my men harms you, your ‘parents’ or friends. Deal?” “Why me?” The child asked confused. “Simple. A spy always lives in danger to get his cover blown, but, the rebels would never suspect a child to be a spy.” It made sense for the young colt but still, he would never betray his friends. “I understand your point, but I can’t betray my friends, I just can’t.” The boy replied honest, a hint of fear in his voice. “Friends…I have learned that even the best friend can betray you. I had once a friend that was a general like me. After a small…incident, he started a Rebellion against the previous leader, leaving me with no choice but to crush it. If people find that that your ‘father’s’ brother is a rebel, they will come after you all.” The general explained. “Only by acting fast, we can prevent this from happening.” He added. Again, Rumble didn’t wanted to betray his friends, neither did he wanted that they would get hurt, or worse, killed. So he made a decision. “I’ll do it.” “Good. Gentleman, escort him out.” This time the Black Hand members were not rude but gentle. After he was escorted out, he thought about going home, but it was in the middle of the night and he had no key for the door. Got it! He thought and flew towards the rebel base. Fatigue slowly took over. Rumble tried his best to stay awake but his eyes slowly closed. Yet he managed to land before he fell exhausted and tired to the ground. “Who have we here?” Rico spotted the sleeping colt in an alleyway in Soliana after liberating it. He gently picked him up and brought him to Grotta Contrabandero, putting him into a bed. “Sweet dreams.” He saw the missing feather. Ravello will pay for what he did to him! He thought angry before leaving to liberate Corda Dracon: Centcom, the regional central command base. Vittoria awoke and stretched herself. Her head ached a little from the wine. That wine was really good. He has really something. It was sunny outside. Beautiful. I should look after my sweet son. She gasped once she saw the empty bed. “Oh, no. Marco, Rumble is gone!” He was on full alert. “What?! I hope he wasn’t kidnapped or worse killed.” The radio turned on. “Hello there, citizens of Medici. There was a fuel leak somewhere near Corda Dracon so they’re torn the whole thing down for safety’s sake. Um, if you think you’re noticed more of these announcements of late, you’re wrong, and you’re should probably keep it to yourself. Vive Medici!” Luca knocked on the door. “Luca, have you seen Rumble? He’s gone!” The woman exclaimed in panic. “No Vittoria, but Alice has. She was recruited a few days ago and deployed at Falco Maxime. She found Rumble outside. Apparently, he had a nightmare where you got killed because of him and ran away to prevent it from happening. Still, the Black Hand got him and he was brought to Di Ravello. As far as I know, he let him go for some reason. Also, we to have been ordered to escort an Imperator Bavarium Tank.” “Okay, I just hope that Rumble is alright.” Marco said goodbye to his wife and left. “We must be vigilant. We got reports that the rebels will try to steal it.” Luca said as the convoy passed Ponere. Marco was driving ahead in his SUV. “I think the rebels are here.” He said to his friend as Rico jumped out of a plane above them, landed on the turret of the tank and hijacked it before the driver could activate the shield. “A Bavarium tank has been stolen! All units, retrieve the Bavarium tank from the rebel!” the commander ordered. Rico activated the shield and took every military vehicle out; he saw except for the car that Marco was driving. He and Luca chased him until Marco stopped at a bridge, as Rico blew it up with the tank, preventing the soldiers from continuing their pursuit. Rico still aimed at them but missed on purpose, only to make them to evade it. “Reminds me of that one scene where the A-team stole a tank and missed on purpose to shake their pursuers.” Luca commented. Rumble looked with great interest at the tank Rico had stolen from the military. He wanted to go home but Giovanni said it was better that he should stay here for the moment. It was also fascinating for Dimah, as Bavarium was infused directly into the armor, making it immune to all weapons. “So, the tank has a force field that protects him from everything?” Yes, but it can only be activated for a limited amount of time to let some coils cool. But with its coaxial main gun, it is the military’s most powerful land vehicle.” Giovanni explained. “Reminds me some shield spells some unicorns are able to cast. It also can protect for a limited amount of time as it is very exhausting. Only a few, like Princess Twilight or her brother who is Captain of the royal guard, are cable of performing it for a long time.” He heard how Rico, Dimah, another man with a woman planned their next move. As far as he knew, the man was called Teo, the woman Annika. When Annika first saw him, she almost hugged him to dead like Elisa did back then. “…Well, we do know many parts of this tank are manufactured at a nearby refinery.” Teo explained. “Okay. Dimah, let’s check it out-“ Rico tried to say but Dimah interrupted, “Oh, no, no! Too dangerous. Teo can hack those systems.” “Oh-oh, no no no! Teo is gonna fix this tank and then we are selling it!” Annika protested but Teo putted a hand on her shoulder. “Having both the disease and the cure could be worth far more.” He replied to her. “Oh – you’re thinking of developing a new weapon…” “That settles it – the three of us in a smash and grab job!” Rico liked it. “Okay. We’ll create a distraction, you take out the reinforcements, and then together, we’ll hit the refinery.” Annika suggested. “Sounds like a plan.” Rico said before Dimah warned Zeno, a deflector and also scientist, “No no no, don’t touch that!” “Ah!” It was too late as Zeno got shocked and shook his hands. “Have fun, you lunatic…” Rico gave the resting Mario a high five. He was injured in a fight shortly after Insula Fonte was liberated. Rumble wished Mario a good recovery and reported with Zeno who was the first spy via radio to the general. Rumble knew it wasn’t right, but he had no other chance. This must be how Sweetie Belle must have felt when she was forced to act as spy. He thought with worry and guilt about his rebel friends.