I Prefer the Term Freelancer

by One of the Crowd

It's your fault

Author's Note:

So here is another chapter for all you lovely people and you not so lovely people. This chapter is going to go back into Some of Isaac's backstory and by that I mean why he tries so hard to be a nice guy warning though the reason is a bit dark so remember Pinkie it might be a little bit worse I don't know I come up with everything as I write. Anyway I finally know how I'm going to get the characters to the ending I have in mind so yay but don't worry it'll be a few more chapters for ya'll

Chapter 7: Its' your fault

***Inside a cave somewhere***

"YOU FUCKING LET THAT THING TAKE HIM!" Luca yelled at Twilight who had her ears pressed tightly to her skull. She could of saved him if only she hadn't gotten grabbed by that thing it wouldn't of noticed Isaac.

"I'm sorry I tried to help him" she tried offering a simple apology which served only to infuriate the changeling.

"YOU'RE FUCKING SORRY, THE DAY AFTER YOU SHOW UP THAT THING SWALLOWS HIM. YOU DON'T GET TO BE FUCKING SORRY" The other ponies attempted to get involved in the argument earlier but Sombra had kept them from intervening. He told them that Luca needed to vent and that she'd be ok after awhile, he lied but they didn't need to know that. "EVERY TIME YOU WERE AROUND HIM HE GOT HURT." Applejack had enough of this changeling berating her friend for not being able to help Isaac.

"Now hold on a minute, Twilight tried to help him. You saw her throwing out them spells, why do you care anyway. You probably saw him as food anyway" Luca's head snapped toward the apple farmer and barred her fangs before she started to rush toward her. Flim, Flam, and Silver all had to hold her back from harming the pony.

"HE MEANT A LOT MORE TO ME THAN YOU THINK BITCH!"

"Luca, calm down" Sombra said in a cool collected voice.

"Why, those two hate him for no reason and both Purple and Pink there tried killing him. So tell me Sombra why should I FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Luca began to struggle more against the three restraining her.

"Because Isaac wouldn't want you to hurt them over him" Luca stopped her flailing at that and thought for a moment. She remembered yesterday when the six first came into camp while she was disguised as Isaac. When she told him about them showing up he said to keep her temper in check and that he'd deal with everything. letting out a sigh Luca looked up at the orange pony:

"I never used Isaac like that, because he was there when nopony else was" The apple farmer looked Luca in the eyes before saying,

"Why should I believe anything you have to say"

"Because If I really was using Isaac for food, why would I still follow a rule he gave me?" Applejack didn't know how to respond to that because it was a good question with only one logical answer. Silver was now making various motions with fluttershy when the Pegasus started to speak.

"Silver says that we have a small window to help Isaac"

"What do you mean by save Isaac, that cloud consumed him" Twilight said looking toward the zebra who made more motions with her hooves toward fluttershy.

"Silver says that it didn't kill Isaac, it's um... can you repeat that last motion" Silver repeated a few gestures, " oh right, it's slowly possessing him"

"But the only way to save someone from that would mean-" Sombra quickly cut in before twilight could finish,

"Normally you'd be right, however this is the same thing that possessed me as you may recall. It takes over the mind, not the body so we just have to go into Isaac's head to help him"

"He'd have to be near us and willing to let us in, I doubt that thing would just let us help him" Luca's ears perked up at the mention helping Isaac and she had been forming a plan since to get what they needed when finally,

"We need Isaac's necklace"

"Why I don't mind having more jewelry I don't see how that is going to help"Rarity said wondering exactly where this was going

"That necklace was something Isaac found when we first met Sombra, It's how he is able to get into dreams that aren't his. It's also how we originally saved Sombra"

"Well it's not like we can just walk up and ask for it" Rainbow added with which Luca said,

"Maybe we can."

***Back at the cloud***

Isaac slowly walked back out of the cloud with random bits of metal adorning his usual clothing as well as him holding a cracked crossbow. His eyes were now red surrounded by a sickly green color. A trail of Smoke like darkness followed him as he started walking toward the cave that the ponies ran to, It's old home.

"It's good to be back" he said in his and somebody elses voice.

***Inside Isaac's Head***

Isaac was running as fast as he could through his entire mind and all the weird fucked up shit he could think of was laid out before him as he went further and further. When he was dragged into the darkness he knew what that thing would try to pull on him so right when he arrived he summoned up random objects and people he could think of to slow it down so it couldn't capture him. It almost captured Isaac too if it hadn't bee for the bro of bros Timmy the T-rex who ran into the creature that was attempting to capture Isaac at that moment.

"Why do you run, I can offer you anything if you'd just comply" A voice echoed throughout the world Isaac was currently in.

"Yeah, would you kindly get out of my head"

"There you are" It said with an evil hiss.

"Not a Bioshock fan, are ya" Isaac said as he opened up a door that lead into an underwater city straight from hell. Running through hallways that were filled with leeks Isaac kept making random enemies from the game appear to help slow down whatever the creature had in store for him next. Since this was all in his head Isaac could run for eternity and do whatever he wanted but his influence here was slowly dissipating the more he messed with everything. Finally Isaac was about to reach the next door when one of the enemies he conjured up grabbed him. A figure slowly started to appear in the mist that had been chasing Isaac the entire time and it slowly walked toward him.

"You were rather difficult to catch, but you didn't really think you could best me did you. After all your mind was easy to manipulate against you" Slowly the figure emerged from the fog to show another Isaac with red eyes and random bits of metal on it.

"What is with me being evil in these hallucinations so often"

"That is simple Isaac, it's because you are evil"

"Yeah trying to save lives makes me evil, I deserve to be beheaded"

"You try to mask yourself, but you know deep down that you cause more problems than you could ever solve"

"That's bullshit and you know it"

"Is it now, let's just see about that" The evil Isaac opened up a window into what appeared to be one of Isaac's memories.

*** 3 years ago***

This was the tenth time the phone had rang when Isaac finally answered the phone to an extremely panicked feminine voice.

"Isaac, are you there"

"Yeah Jessica, what do you need this is the tenth time you've called me in the past five minutes, whats up"

"Steve is crazy, I need you to-"

"I think you're over reacting Steve isn't-"

"Isaac, he thinks I'm cheating on him, with you"

"So, tell him we aren't a thing he'll understand"

"Isaac I don't think-" The phone cut off before Jessica could finish. Steve was crazy in the funny sense he wouldn't hurt anyone right, at least that was what Isaac thought. He decided however that it'd be a good Idea to check up on Jessica anyway just to be safe. Isaac began to think as he drove toward Jessica's that Steve had been acting off lately around them almost as if they did some unspoken crime against him. When Isaac finally arrived at Jessica's he saw Steve's car was parked out front and the door to Jessica's house was kicked in.

"Oh shit, Steve I swear" Isaac got out of his car and popped his trunk open where he kept a baseball bat in case of emergency. Isaac than rushed into the house calling out Jessica and Steve's names hoping to get a response. Steve slowly crept around the corner with a kitchen knife covered in blood. "Steve the fuck did you do"

"I was just talking to MY girlfriend"

"Steve put the knife down"

"Before I do that, I think we should talk" Steve then started walking over to Isaac.

"Steve, don't you do it"

"Isaac, FUCK YOU" Steve rushed toward Isaac swinging the knife wildly around trying to hit Isaac anywhere that he could. Isaac however had a longer reach than Steve because of the bat, but Isaac didn't want to have to use it when he first came in here. Survival was priority here however and after dodging a few slashes Isaac slammed the bat into Steve's head with everything he had. It killed Steve instantly and left Isaac the only one left to explain what happened to the police. After that day Isaac changed in someway, no one could put there finger on it but he seemed to become more worried about others people after that. When someone asked him he's say it was because he liked helping people, when someone asked his friends they'd say he would say he is trying to fill the hole left in him by the incident.

***Back to now***

Steve had now taken the place of the evil Isaac with a bit of his head smashed in.

"You killed one of you're only friends, you monster" Isaac was still staring at the window into the memory with tears streaming down his face. He was a monster, he deserved to be punished for his mistakes against those he cared for. Isaac was ready to just give up when Steve continued. "At least I didn't feel anything the same can't be said for Silver who you know hates you" Another window opened up into a different memory. However before he could pull Isaac into the memory an echo was sounded throughout their world.

"Excuse me, but can I have that"

***Out in the Badlands***

The ponies were all praying to their various gods for their plan to work. Pinkie was supposed to be a distraction and attempt to see if Isaac still had any control by asking for the necklace. Luca would fly in and snatch it if pinkie couldn't get it out of him which from his expression seemed to be what would be required. Isaac lifted up his crossbow, but before he could pull the trigger he was thrown to the ground by a magical force.

"Oh Sombra, Nice to see my old servant still here, I thought you'd die without my power"

"I'm not your servant, and I don't need your power"

"That's not how I recall it, a thousand or so years ago you begged me to save your pitiful kingdom" While Sombra spoke to Isaac who clearly wasn't Isaac anymore Luca started sneaking behind the man in an attempt to grab the necklace while pinkie went back toward everyone else. "What do you think you're doing welp" The creature that stole Isaac's body then slapped Luca away with his back hand when his eyes flickered back to normal for a split second.

"Isaac you have to fight this thing" Luca pleaded with the man inside this monster. The man shot a bolt over into Sombra leaving him in pain. Slowly Isaac walked over to Luca who was looking up at him with tears in her eyes before she said "You always said you're not a monster unless you choose to be" Isaac's eyes flickered back to normal again before going back to their red green thing. He pulled back the bolt and aimed between Luca's eyes, and she didn't move. The bolt was released and went beside Luca's head instead of through it as his eyes returned to normal without switching back.

"I wont hurt Luca" Isaac said in his normal voice before tossing his crossbow away. His eyes started to flicker back to green already when he realized this. "You have to run, before he takes me back"

"We need you're necklace though, we wont abandon you" His eyes flickered again and his expression startd to change back into one of anger.

"Fine, but you are not the one who goes in" Isaac took of his necklace and handed it to Luca just before his eyes returned to being that of the other creature.

"Now you die first" The repossessed Isaac said as it grabbed for Luca when he was whacked in the head by a staff. Silver was making various motions toward fluttershy who said

"Silver says it's time to run"

Comments

[The A I]

It gets more interesting every chapter.
more please!

[One of the Crowd]

6195958 you actually think that? I don't know what to say except I'm happy you're enjoying this. Every time I write a chapter I get worried that it will ruin the story, but I guess that I haven't yet, eh. Anyway thank you for taking the time to read and I hope to keep this story interesting for you.

[The A I]

6196369 i look forward to it! Keep up the good work. And dont worry if it might ruin the story. If is sounds right to you, then it will not ruin it.