//------------------------------// // Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, // Story: A Para-military Paranoid in Equestria 2 // by The Last Renegade //------------------------------// Russian translations are in brackets. ( ) * January 14. 2014 * I was infiltrating a base to capture hostile intelligence, along with a fellow veteran of nine years. The man was a 2nd Lieutenant who had been transferred from the navy a year back. " In position command." I said over the radio. " Roger Stranger 0-1. Stand by for visual." A voice replied. A few minutes went by before we heard command again. " Stranger squad, we have a problem. Delta squad has been captured. Save them if you can, but the intel is top priority." I looked at my teammate, John, and told him to stay here. " Stay here on overwatch. I need to get Delta out." he nodded. I began moving to the prison and some tons of guards. 'Shit. You guys need to make a challenge for me.' I thought. I took out my throwing hatchet and threw it at one of them, hitting him in the head. " Контакты! Пожар на цель! " They yelled out. (Contact! Fire on the target!) I smiled as I took them out silently, little did I know, they had raised the alarm. " Jack! Multiple foot mobiles moving towards you!" 'Fuck!' I yelled in my head. I stopped firing and started running to Delta, grabbing the key on the way in. An AK-47 stock swung at me and I was out cold. I woke up around an hour later next to Delta team and John. "Fuck..." I mouthed to myself. The room was about 20 by 20 feet, made of steel, and had no way out. " Shit. They got you too?" I asked John. He nodded. He looked like he had been tortured half to death. " I tried to radio you, and they found me. Put me in a chamber and tortured me. Looks like you got hit good to huh? You got a gash on your eye." He said to me. I touched my eye and felt blood as a Delta team medic crawled over to me, and helped me out. "Ahhh... Fuck. I can't see out of it." I said as I tried to get up, but just fell on my back. " Don't try to walk mate. You're hurt real bad." The medic told me. He had an australian accent. Four hours past before a soldier walked in. " Что вы хотите? " I asked him. ( What do you want?) He shushed me. " Shh. I'm an ally. " The man said, with a french accent. He helped us up and came up with a plan. " I can get you guys out of here. I can tell the guards I'm transferring you to another base, but really help you escape. Sound like a plan?" He asked. " Allons-y" I said. Delta stared at me. I threw my hands in the air. " What? I speak multiple languages. I need to." One man sighed as we walked out of the building. " Damn you Russia. It's freezeing out here." John stated. We walked out of the base chained together. A Russian soldier stopped us. "У меня есть грузовик готов передать этих людей." ( I have a truck ready to transfer these men.) " Где?" (Where to?) " Воркута." (Vorkuta.) Vorkuta opened back up on August 29, 2013 as a prison camp for the Russian military. Brutal place. We hopped into an army truck with some weaponry in it. " Oh fuck yes!" I yelled out, grabbing an Israeli Desert Eagle, the same one I have today. " Don't worry. I'm a good shot. I can hit a hummingbird from one-hundred meters while sprinting." I told them. * Russian command base. * Spetsnaz Soldier Viktor Moskvina " Что вы подразумеваете они сбежали!?" The commander screamed at the Spetsnaz troops. ( What do you mean they escaped?!) He stared at us in disappointment. " Виктор. Вы находитесь в заряда. Убейте их. " (Viktor. You're in charge. Kill them.) I nodded at my commander. " Хорошо. Следуйте за мной. Захватите свои винтовки." (Okay. Follow me. Grab your rifles.) We hopped in a jeep and sped off to intercept, who commander called " Morgunov ". We wanted to kill him. We needed to kill him. * Some road in Russia. * Back to Jack " Hey. I have a safe house in Ukraine. Right here." I told the driver, pointing to a spot on a map. " You have guns and food?" He asked. I nodded. " We'll be safe there." A long six hour drive and we arrived at my safe house to find dead men everywhere. " Dammit! AMBUSH!" I yelled out as a rocket blew up near us. " Out of the truck! GO GO GO!" I screamed as another rocket blew up the truck. " Holy shit! AC-130! Identify yourself!" I yelled in my radio. " We are Russian Rebels! We are not hostile!" They yelled back at us. " Mind helping us out?!" I asked them. A Howitzer round came screaming down, exploding around a hundred feet away. " Tangos! 10 o' clock!" A Delta member yelled. " They're all around!" " I need to get to my armory!" I blurted out, firing into the Russians. " Go! We'll cover you!" The French man told me. I ran over to the steel door, and punched in the pass-code and sprinted downstairs to the armory. Luckily they didn't find out the code. "Shit!" I yelled out as I looked around, seeing destroyed weaponry all around. Thank fuck I have a hidden backup armory. I grabbed as many weapons as I could hold and sprinted outside. " I got th-" I stopped dead in my tracks. Dead. Dead everywhere. Bodies blown in half. People missing heads. The most alive person was John. I ran over to him and dropped the weapons. "What happened?!" I asked him, half-panicking. " That... AC-130... Is... inaccurate as.. fuck...They shot...a howitzer... blew up everything..." " Son of a-" I cut myself off, grabbing a Anti-tank Rifle and aiming at the plane. " Fuck you." I said over the radio, firing the Rifle, blowing a hole in the wing. " We are going down! I repeat we a-" The radio cut off. There was an explosion and I went to check it out. I found a living man. " You the gunner?" I asked. " Y-yes..." He coughed up. " This is something I wanted to do for a long time." I told him, pulling out a hatchet. " N-no! Please!" He begged as I raised the hatchet. I swung it and struck him in the arm, almost chopping it off. I swung repeatedly, mutilating him. I didn't care that I was covered in blood. I had done this before. Twenty bounty hunters. Twenty murders. I was a troubled man. * A bar in Nevada. * 2 A.M. " Hey asshole. You took my seat." A biker said to me. I turned around. " I don't care." I told him. He tried to hit me. It didn't work, as I grabbed his fist. I saw rage in his eyes. I had no expression. He pulled a knife on me. I pulled a bigger knife. He pulled a gun. I pulled my fists. " Your gun, versus my hands." I swiftly disarmed the biker, taking his gun. He pulled his knife out again. " You don't fuck with a man who escaped military prison, nearly got blown to smithereens, and shot down a military gunship." I saw terror in his eyes. " He-he's joking! He's acting like a tough guy!" " No. I've seen shit you couldn't DREAM OF!" I yelled in his face. " I Cut apart the bastard who killed my squad. Cut him into pieces," I started, pulling out the bloodied hatchet. " With this axe." I saw Pure terror in his eyes. " And I can do. It. Again." By this time, I think he shit his pants, as he was out the door in three seconds flat. I sat back down. " Vodka." I said to bartender, who was frozen in place. " Y-you didn't really do all that did you?" He asked. I looked around. I saw terror in peoples eyes. "I did. Fourteen years in the marines. Takes away your life." I told him. " You look like..." He thought. " The man that single-handedly took down a base with no support. Because I am." I saw fear in his eyes. I can tell what people are thinking just by looking into there eyes. The bartender handed me a large glass filled with Vodka. One of those huge ones. I chugged it down, seeing my good eye in the reflection. I saw depression in my eye. I sighed. " I never had a family. Grew up on the streets, getting food from a garbage can." " My mother died giving birth to me. My dad abandoned me." I had a tear in my eye. " One guy from the marines, Kyle Johnson. He was a brother to me even though he's a spy, working for Korea." I saw loneliness, in my eye. " Plus I can't see out of my left eye." He examined the gash. " Must've hurt." A voice came from behind. " Spetsnaz Soldier Viktor Moskvina. Do not worry. I am here to help you." He said to me. "Though, I was sent out to kill you." He added. "Why don't you?" I asked. " Because. I can help you." He stated. "Bullshit." I told him. "There are Spetsnaz soldiers surrounding us right now. I can get you out. You and me, we are not so different." I just kept looking down, the tear in my eye dropping into the glass. " You were abandon by society. I was abandoned by Moscow." " There's a large difference between those two." I stated. Suddenly, a bullet ripped through the window. Every person in the bar, including Viktor, dropped to the ground. I stayed sitting. " It takes strength to do that." He said, I guess trying to cheer me up. " Do what?" I asked. " To not even flinch when a bullet goes by your head." He said. I laughed a bit. " I thought that was a fly." " I can tell you are sad." He got up. " I can tell you have seen some shit." He added. I saw anger, in my eye. I saw fear in their eyes. I slammed my hand on the bar. " Meet me behind here, in the alleyway. We can talk there." I told him, slapping a hundred dollar bill on the bar. We met behind the bar ten minutes later. " What do you want?" I asked him. " I want you to come and live with me in Ukraine. How do you say... No homo. I want you to have a life. I have a wife and two kids." He looked at me, almost like a brother would. Not that I know what that's like. " I'm a wanted man. The Russian Government wants me dead." I looked back at him. Anger in my eye. " No. That's what you think. They want to leave you alone. What do you say? Housemates?" He held out his hand. I stared at him. " I'll tell them to go away." I saw worry in his eyes. I shook his hand, but he pulled me into a hug. " I'm going to have to adapt." I Said as I broke off the awkward hug. " To?" He asked. " Everything. Life, society, Russia." ' I... I have a family?' I thought. 'I have... a family. They're not really my family but... Fuck it.'