Better Than Bottle Rockets
"Well, wow. That looks different." Jason said matter of factly, staring down at the griffin city. Part of it had been set on fire, attesting to the level of chaos that was present.
"Eravel, Do you know anything about where only soldiers would be located?" He asked, scanning the buildings for specific signs.
"Uh," He heard a clang in the background. "There should be a number of fairly well disguised watch towers, go for those. What are you doing, exactly?"
"If you're not busy, you may want to look towards the center of town." He looked on the screen, lining it up with one of the towers. It beeped a few times, letting on to the fact that it was unable to preform a successful lock on. A message popped up on the screen. "Larger heat signature required, great."
"Jason, just aim at the other one, that's partially up in flames."
"Oh yeah. Good call. What I want to know is what the hell they're burning to get it that hot."
"Probably some sort of refined whale oil, they use it to smelt weapons, so it's got to be pretty high heat. Now come on, I don't have that much time to spare." Eravel said quickly.
"Yeah, here goes." He looked towards the rest of the ponies present, at least those that had gotten ready in time. "You all might want to watch this, you may only see it once." Jason chuckled and aimed again, hearing the beeps turn to a faster frequency before he pulled the trigger and watched the missile sail out a ways before it's engine fired. It gelt like a train had slammed into his shoulder, way worse than the worst case scenario he'd been expecting.
But at least he could enjoy the 'ooh' that the ponies let out as the missile soared upwards and became quieter, nearly disappearing into a clear blue piece of sky before reappearing a second or so later as it returned to earth. The target foolishly stood strong, and as soon as the missile hit it converted into a fiery explosion of stone and wood, blowing all over the surrounding town.
Jason set down the missile launcher, pining his ears back as the sound reached them, a far off but still easily audible rumbling sound that seemed to rattle Jason down to his bones. At least, it definitely resonated with the chitin in his shoulder, now that it was cracked. And it definitely wasn't a pleasurable feeling.
"Wow, that was awesome!" Evening yelled. "It was all like pssssssss bang!" She fell over. "So cool!"
Shining chuckled at the mare's antics and walked over, laying a hoof on Jason's shoulder. "Remember what you said, unconditional surrender."
"I'll try." Jason replied, putting the headset over his head and testing it out. He gave Shining a brief salute before turning to the rest of the ponies. "Remember, we have friendlies in this battle, that's why we're attacking this part of the city first. But that doesn't mean you won't have to use discretion. Now come on everyone, let's move out!" There was a cheer as they took off down the rest of the hill.
The army slowly spread out, a tactic Jason had used to hit as much of the city at once as they could, at least while keeping the individual groups relatively safe. Simply flying ponies in was too much of a gamble, besides the fact that that only worked with just over a third of the army.
Jason looked forward and took off, buzzing over a low fence and landing on the other side. He bucked backwards, and the fence exploded into a cloud of splinters. He felt a slight pain in his hoof, but nothing that was anywhere near what he'd felt before. Sure, he was still wearing the hoof pad, but at least that was definite improvement. Tank and the rest of the team trotted through and Jason felt a pang of sadness over the fact that they were currently only six strong. At this point, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to replace Archer, let alone deal with recruiting another pony.
When he jogged himself out of his thoughts, Dash had already kicked down a door and moved inside, and as Jason followed inside he watched a griffin get slammed up against the wall, his talons already above his head.
"You pony scum, I thought we'd have more time to be rid of you. No matter." He smacked his talon against the wall, digging it in and ripping out a sizable chunk of drywall with a string attached. Jason was the first to turn around, watching as an axe sailed through from another room, before he caught it in his magic. Tank took one look at the axe before turning and punching the griffin, watching him slump to the floor.
"Do we kill him?" He asked. "He's definitely not friendly."
Jason shrugged. "He's part of the government, I assume. So tie him up and gag him, and we'll send someone through to get him later. Get some water in a bowl though, I don't want him to die, just in case."
"Couldn't he just kill himself?" Morning asked as she pulled a knot tight.
"Uh..." Jason pulled the griffin's mouth open, looking behind his molars for any hint of a pill or vial. He didn't find anything, and quickly looked over the room to make sure that there weren't any sharp objects that the griffin could use to escape or commit suicide with. He threw out a few large splinters and the piece of drywall outside, and gave the rest of the team a nod.
"So the rest of the ponies should be through this first group of houses, hopefully." He pressed talk on the walkie talkie. "Eravel, how far is it to you?"
"We're moving north, along the eastern side of the city. We're still getting closer to the center though, so if you're going to meet up we'll probably be around there."
"Alright, stay safe."
"Heh, I'll try." Jason let his hoof back to the ground, before investigating the source of the axe.
"Where did that come from?" He muttered to himself, walking into the other room. The source was fairly obvious, considering the mouse trap like spring mechanism protruding from the floor.
"They better not all be like this." Dash said. "An axe is one thing, booby traps everywhere is another."
"You forget you're talking to the master of booby traps." He said, putting a hoof to his chest and attempting to look important.
"So what did Eravel say?" She asked, ignoring his reply.
"Uh, he's towards the center of the city, which is where we're going, so..."
"Yeah, I was wrong, closer to the side now. Trying to avoid heavy resistance." Eravel said, breathing heavily.
"Okay, the side of the city. Anyway, let's move out." He walked to the door and reared up to buck it down before deciding against it and simply turning the doorknob.
"Well that was anticlimactic. Morning Rain said, drawing a chuckle from the group."
"There could be something friendly on the other side." He replied shortly, trotting across the cobblestone street.
"Hey Jason." Tank started.
"Yeah?"
"That flying grenade thing...can you see the possibility or reverse engineering something like that?"
"Uh, not really I guess. Maybe an unguided missile. But that thing guides itself to the target, has a computer way stronger than the only one Celestia has created, and...yeah I think it's out of our league. I'm not saying we can't move stuff forward around here faster than it would normally, but that seems to be pushing it."
"Why's it so quiet around here?" Dash asked, watching as Jason kicked in another door.
"Eravel said that between his side of the city and whatever the fuck's going on in the square, most of the troops are already occupied. So even though my plan didn't actually come through all the way, the same idea's still in place." He trotted into another room with his gun at the ready, swiveling it around carefully.
"Clear!" He yelled.
"Clear!" Came Hunter's voice from the other room.
"You're right." Jason said as he walked back in. "This does seem a little too empty."
"You think they evacuated?" Dash asked, kicking a ball across the floor.
"No, this all happened within a couple hours, I doubt they could've done anything large scale like that." He rubbed his chin, looking around. "We're missing something, they must still be here." The group spread out, digging through closets, looking in places that just seemed ridiculous.
"Wait, I have an idea." Jason said. "Shove all that stuff back and move the rugs." Tank grinned, catching onto the idea quickly as he pulled a heavy fur rug away from the middle of the foyer.
"We got something here." He said, pointing at a square in the wood that clearly outlined a trapdoor. He bumped a hoof into the edge a few times, unsuccessful at getting a grip. "Jason, you wanna get this?"
"Yeah." The floor wrapped in his dark green aura as the floor panel opened, showing off it's cargo of a few freaked out griffins. Jason stared at them for a moment, watching as the four, two adults and two children, tried to slink away. "Friendlies, false alarm."
"You sure? What if it's a bluff?" Hunter asked, raking the bottom of his hoof along the tip of his spear.
"I guess we can't know for sure..." Jason sighed, "But we'll have to use our best judgement. We're leaving them, as far as I'm concerned they're no threat." He heard a quiet sigh from the family. "So listen, we're covering this back up, and someone'll be by to give the all clear. Hopefully that won't be long, but don't come out of there for at least a couple hours." One of them nodded and he let the trap door fall slowly back into place. "Guess we better get a move on, we'd be behind schedule if we had one." A few chuckles circulated as they exited the building and moved into the next street.
"Griffins!" Steve yelled, pointing down the street to a small patrol that was clearly not wearing royal guard-esque armor. The two groups stared as they spread out along the sides of the street, and Jason couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding, that the griffins hadn't acted like the rest of their army so far.
"Fuck this." Jason said, pulling the AUG from his back and aiming at the first griffin.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
The shots echoed around between the buildings as two griffins fell. Jason slung the weapon again and charged forward, sticking one of the griffins in the side of the neck before he could react. He ducked to the ground as a spear whistled through the air, and swiveled to watch Steve broadside the griffin. The soldier stumbled sideways, before Dash blurred into his form, nearly decapitating him. The last griffin stared, mouth agape, before taking a few steps back and bumping against a wall.
"C-can I-I g-give up?" He asked, slipping on a tin can and falling flat on the ground. "I d-don't w-w-want to go out l-like that."
"How can we be sure you won't turn back against us?" The griffin tried to push himself back further.
"I-I don't know."
"Why did the rebellion start?" Jason asked after a long silence.
"T-they killed Yodern." He said, sighing. "Just stuck him out there and hung him, just like that."
"Who?"
"Uh, he was an old general, a long time ago, back when this country was unrivaled in strength. H-he ended up as an advisor to the king after the whole takeover, and no mat-ter how b-bad things got, he was always kinda looking out for the common griffin." He paused, looking at a talon forlornly. "I- I never cared much for the guy, but it looks like a lot of griffins did. Listen, I'm part of the inner guard, I was just for show, unlike some of the other guys."
"What's your name?" Jason asked.
"Sartos. Sartos Grensk." The griffin replied, sitting back up.
"So why do you surrender?" Jason asked. "Isn't there almost a code of conduct with you, fight strong, to the last soldier, all that stuff?"
"That only works when you have a cause you want to fight for. That was all well and g-good, since we were at war with ponies. But we have orders to kill our own people! I can't do that, I knew some of those guys."
"Did anyone else refuse to fight?"
"Well technically I didn't refuse, I just made sure I wasn't in the right place. The ones that refused were probably killed."
"Oh god..." Morning mumbled, putting a hoof to her mouth.
"You didn't hear about that?" Dash asked.
"No, I guess not."
"So anyway, you probably know your way around right?" Jason asked, trying to pull conversation back.
"Yeah, y-you want me to be some sort of g-guide?" Sartos asked, pulling himself to shaky feet. "S-sorry about this, you just kinda freaked me out."
"No problem. Adrenaline, right?"
"I dunno, what's that?"
"It doesn't matter. But listen, if I, or anyone else for that matter, gets any wind that you're not acting the way you say you are, we will not hesitate to kill you."
"P-point taken." Jason grabbed a spear and thrust it into the griffin's chest.
"I better not see this facing towards any of us either. It's fine if you don't want to kill griffins, but if you have the chance of saving one of these ponies' lives by your actions, you better take that chance." Sartos nodded and gulped, clutching the spear tightly enough to dig grooves into it with his talons.
Jason gestured to the rest of the group and moved across the street, through a door that was already ajar. "We need to end up east of city center, what's the best way there?"
"Uh, just keep moving forward here, we'll get to a larger street, then we can just move outward. The city's like a wheel, with kinda spoke like streets."
"Clear!" Tank yelled from another room, and they quickly moved out the other side. Speed wasn't that much of an issue, but the more time he spent looking for Eravel was just more time he had to worry that things would go wrong.
Another house went by without any problems, and as they exited Jason immediately knew what the Satos had meant when he said a large street. His jaw started to drop as he looked around at the huge expanse of cobble. The sides of the road were covered in stalls, complete with some griffins that were either cowering or standing their ground. Mostly the latter, in fact. Jason could see out the side of the city one way, and all the way to the fortress of a castle in the center. This was way bigger than Canterlot.
"Friendlies!" Dash yelled, tapping a hoof back to her holster, probably to check that she still had her pistol. The group formed a somewhat circular formation as they traveled down the street, trying to keep an eye on griffins that had the possibility of ending up hostile. One was moving a few weapons, and pulled out a spear in specific, balancing it on across his forearm before leaning it against his stall. It was that kind of thing that put Jason on edge, the same reason that they usually tried to do things while most civilians were asleep.
"How much farther Sartos?" Jason asked, keeping a wary eye on the blacksmith.
"Go through that alley there!" He yelled, before they curved off and trotted between a few more stalls, as the shopkeepers and patrons stared silently, at least a few with hatred in their eyes. But that was to be expected, there was bound to be a large amount of propaganda this close to the king.
The alleyway wasn't too long, although Jason could almost feel the stares of some of the homeless burning into his neck as they silently passed by. Jason broke into a sprint and left the formation, throwing an elbow under a guard's chin and sending him into a nearby wall. The griffin didn't move, and Jason waited for the group before he kept moving. Tank walked by and made a quick swipe of the griffin's neck with his machete.
"Might as well not take chances." He said, sheathing the blade on his back after Jason nodded back.
"Eravel, where are you?"
"Moving into a warehouse now, black roof." Eravel replied. "It's the only one like that around, looks like."
"Yeah, I see it." Jason threw a wave back to the other ponies before galloping off, a few blocks towards the side of the city.
"I got contact just outside, how far are you?"
"Close." Dash galloped up alongside him, looking around in case of some sort of ambush.
"It's too quiet, why aren't there more griffins here?" She asked.
"I don't know." Jason replied, shaking his head. "This is the capitol, there should be more troops than what's diverted to the riots, no matter how big they are."
"But wasn't this attack a surprise?"
"Yeah, but there should still be more resistance." They crossed under an arch in a small wall as the city suddenly became much more run down.
"Well this was sudden." Dash noted, slowing her gallop to mimic Jason and looking around.
"Yeah, I think Eravel's been through here."
"How can you tell?"
"These griffins, they aren't looking at us the same way." Jason swiveled his head. "And it looks like most of the males are gone. Probably part of the riot." Jason looked back up, before moving a door on rollers aside and revealing the inside of a warehouse.
"Eravel, how's it going?" Jason asked, slightly miffed at the griffin's no-show.
"Crappy, but we're moving there now. Just a couple seconds." Jason heard some clanging of weapons and splintering of wood as another door slid open out of sight. He broke into a gallop, running to a door across the room that led into another part of the warehouse.
Eravel backed past the door, spear raised, as a griffin pounced on him, pushing him behind the other side of the door. One of the griffins raised a spear and hurled it down as a yell echoed through the air.
"Noooooooooo!" Jason yelled, speeding up his pace as a few dozen griffins rushed towards them, coming in a seemingly endless stream from the door. He slid under a griffin and knocked him over, stabbing another as he popped back up. He turned and jammed a knife into a griffin's neck, dealing a heavy kick to the face of a griffin behind him. Jason saw signs of fighting in the other room, but that didn't mean they would last long.
They couldn't get there in time, he couldn't--this was his idea, and look where it'd got him. No, he wasn't letting it end this way.
Jason's vision darkened as a spear whooshed over his head and his horn flared, small bolts of electricity lancing out as the unassigned magic bubbled out. Half a second later griffins were flying backwards, hitting the wall in a series of heavy thumps. His thought processes slowed, and a feeling of calm washed over him as he looked up at the first griffin, watching his head twist violently. His body twitched a few times before Jason let it drop, moving down the line quickly before something on his cheek started to bring him out of whatever state he was in.
He turned his head, watching as Tank disappeared into the back room where Eravel'd been stabbed, and a new wave of anger washed over him towards these worthless excuses for life for-
His head was turned as his view shifted again towards Dash, who was yelling something at him as tears slid down her face. Jason's ears turned to pick up her yelling, but he was only picking up the faintest of noises over the ambient ringing. She put her hooves around his neck and hugged him as the sounds started to return, starting with the thumps of the remaining griffins as they fell to the floor. He placed his hooves around Dash as his own tears started to surface, and he took no time burying his face in her shoulder.
"I'm sorry-" He wept into her shoulder. "So sorry. I just- sorry Dash." He felt a few pats on his back, but they didn't allay the sure fact that she was probably afraid of him after that whole display. He'd just gone down a line and murdered soldiers that couldn't fight back, how could she look at him the same way?
"It's okay." She said, a tear slipping onto one of his wings. "You got angry, it happens." She took a ragged breath, and Jason's heart sank at what he assumed was about to come. "But it scared me, Jason. You were so unresponsive and numb, I've never seen you like that before."
"Y-you're not freaked out by all that?" He asked, not removing his head form her shoulder.
"It's still you, Jason. It's not like you did that for fun, and the fact that you're like this pretty much goes to prove that." She replied calmly, stroking a hoof around his lower back. "Now come on, you're the medic." She pulled him to his feet and broke into a gallop, entering the other room just in front of him. Jason stopped as soon as he got in, looking around for Eravel. He'd fallen in the corner, but all there was was a small pool of blood.
He followed the slight trail back out the front, as the distance between drips widened slightly. Tank and Sartos were a ways ahead, presumably tracking the same trail. But as Jason caught up they had already spread out, looking around the nearby streets and buildings.
"Jason." Tank said as he walked up. "The trail's gone dead."
"This doesn't look fatal." Sartos continued. "But around here, with this place like it is...that doesn't mean much."
"Well then." Jason replied, wiping his face with a hoof and trying to dry it off. "An eye for an eye, right?"
"Depends." Dash started as she walked up. "Who's eye?"
"For Eravel? I'd say there's only one." He paused, his face darkening as worry for Eravel set in. They didn't have the time or the manpower to search for him across a hostile city. But it brought in the calmness he'd felt before, the need to avenge his friend that Hunter must've felt for Archer.
"The king's." He smirked, watching as the others started to catch on. "And luckily for us, prime hunting grounds are right over there."