“You want me to do what?”
The shocked expression the guard had when had almost been matched by this new development. It’s not like the guard station of every town has a group of ponies come in with a pair of unconscious aliens. It wasn’t exactly a situation he had been trained for.
“Just keep them in a cell until the princess can arrive,” Twilight asked. “It should be pretty easy.”
“What in Equestria makes you think that!?” the guard yelled. “Do you have any idea what these aliens can do? They could destroy this entire town!”
“Not if they’re unconscious,” Twilight retorted.
“And what happens when they wake up? Knocking them out could just make them angrier!”
“Well, what would you do if these two things just appeared in front of you?”
The guard thought for a minute, running through a list of scenarios; each ending badly.
“I don’t know! But, not this!” he said.
“Don’t worry, they seem pretty harmless,” Twilight said, trying to calm him down. “All you have to do is watch them.”
The guard finally relented and led them from the entrance, through the heavily guarded cement building, and up to its second floor, which was basically a long hallway with empty cells lining both sides; each with nothing more than a small, hard bunk bed. He opened one up and the two humans were levitating onto the beds; though, the beds were only able to hold up half of the large creatures.
“All I have to do is watch, huh?” the guard asked rhetorically, sliding the bar doors closed. “Well, that’s easy for you to say.”
“I’m sure the princess will be here as soon as she can,” Twilight assured him. “In the meantime, if they do wake up, just please try to treat them well. And…tell them I’m sorry for knocking them out; that was kind of a bad move on my part.”
Twilight and the others walked back downstairs and left. The guard stayed there for a minute, examining the creatures. Both looked rather tough, even while sleeping. It didn’t take much to understand that these things were anything but harmless.
“Treat them well,” the guard scoffed, going downstairs to inform the others. “No way am I taking a chance on these things.”
Sergeant ‘Sam’ Houston’s first name wasn’t really ‘Sam’; his mother had actually named him after an uncle of his, Mortimer. He’d gone by that up until his basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. They must have thought a name like Mortimer Houston wasn’t very frightening for a future Ranger, so they bestowed the nickname ‘Sam’ upon him; and he’d carried it proudly ever since.
That was one of the many things he had picked at Fort Jackson. One the other, more important things was a hefty amount of patience. Sitting in the tree line with his sniper rifle, that reserve was being used up as he waited for Chavez and the rest of the team.
The forest was elevated slightly; not exactly a hill, but it was more gradual. It also gave a nice overwatch position of the town. From the tree line to the village, it was about half a mile of open field. The only closed spot was far to his left, where the woods extended a bit and were met by a small cottage, built a short ways away from the rest of the town.
The village itself was much larger, and ‘Sam’ couldn’t see all of it, but he did catch where Rainbow Six and Five had been taken. The building was tucked away in a secluded part of town, where the housing became a bit crowded. Two stories high, made of concrete, and perfectly rectangular except for a small, square part of the first floor that stuck outwards on the right; it looked somewhat like a police station. He also noticed what looked like soldiers going in and out, as well as guarding the building and a few areas around town.
“Sam.”
Houston cranked his head around and saw Chavez, along with the rest of Team two.
“Guys, good to see you’re all ok,” he said. “And I thought you’d forgotten about me, Ding. You weren’t talking on the radio, much.”
“Forget, no. Lost, once or twice,” the soldier admitted. “Good news is that both teams are ok. The radios seem to have gotten a little buggy from…whatever happened, but they seem fine, now.”
“Where’s Covington?”
“Him and the rest of Team 1 are setting up a little camp inside the forest; trying to get shelter and supplies. Who know how long we’ll be here.”
“Alright, then,” Houston said, taking a deep breath. “I was kind of in the mood for a camping trip anyways.”
“You been keeping an eye on things while I was gone?” Ding asked.
“Yes sir,” Houston said. “And I know where they’re keeping our guys.”
“Where?”
“See that big concrete rectangle? The one in that cluster of housing?”
Ding took out a small pair of binoculars and scanned the town.
“Yea, I got it,” he confirmed. “We aren’t walking right in from the looks of it. You gathered anything on any armed forces they might have?”
“Nothing other than those in the gold armor,” Houston said.
“Gold armor?” Steve Lincoln asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “It sounds rather…ostentatious.”
“Come and see for your selves,” Ding said.
The rest of the team went to take a look at their opposition. Some, after seeing them, took their eyes off and shook their heads. Most just watched in silence, with Homer Johnston being first to speak.
“I didn’t really believe you when you told us horses, Ding,” he said, watching through the scope of his rifle.
“I still can’t believe it,” Chavez admitted.
“Well, what do we do?”
Chavez stared at the building again, mentally noting its layout, guards, and position. He then scanned over the rest of the town slowly; his head moving left to right and back left three or four times. Lastly, he peered over left to scan where the distance between the forest and town was at its least.
“Alright, gather round,” he said, with the men forming a circle while Ding drew a basic picture in the dirt with a stick.
“We’re going to keep this as quiet as possible. We’ll move into town from this part of the woods, where the distance is least. The closest thing to us is this cottage, but we aren’t going to stop there. We move into town and stay undetected. The target building is in a highly urban area, so we should be able to use the alleys and housing to get close without being noticed.”
“I’m guessing we won’t be sneaking into the building, as well,” McTyler said, in his thick Scottish accent.
“I don’t see how we can,” Chavez observed. “We’ll try a two-part attack. Eddie.”
Price, the former SAS trooper, looked up to face him.
“There’s a small part of the first floor that’s sticking out to the left. You take Pierce and Louis and move in through there. I don’t see a door to it, but there’s a window on each of its three sides that looks big enough to crawl through.”
“Right, Ding.”
“Everyone else is going to move with me on the front entrance. Those doors look like they’re made of some heavy metal, so we’ll have to blast them down. Paddy, you still got some primacord?”
“Plenty,” Paddy Connolly answered.
“That’s more than likely gonna gain the attention of the whole neighborhood. So, we’ll have to move fast. Kill the bad guys, rescue Five and Six, and get the hell out before they know what’s going down. Meet back up and retreat through the same way we came in.”
“Sir, I think we should wait until nighttime,” Houston suggested. “There’s a lot of civilian activity down there right now, and the night will help conceal movement.”
“You read my mind Sam,” he said. “Johnston, Weber, you two stay with Houston in the tree line. I doubt you’ll be able to support us, but keep us updated on what you see. Everyone else, follow me and we’ll get in position.”
“Got it.”
The two Team Two snipers moved left and right, finding good spots of their own to support from. Houston returned to his original position; lying down in between two trees and scouting the town again. The other men got up and followed Chavez down the left.
“Oh, Sam,” Ding called, turning around to face him. “Franklin’s going to be coming up to help, too. Let him know the situation when he does get here.”
“Got it,” the sniper said, rather happy that the other Team One sniper would be joining them.
As time passed, Houston began to watch how the civilians in town acted. They seemed surprisingly human, for some reason. Of course the lack of technology and the inclusion of magic and flight took away form that; it was more in how they acted. Take away the magic, flying, and fact that they’re horses, and this would just be another happy, backwards town in the middle of nowhere.
Unlike his first awakening, this one was sudden. Clark’s eye’s shot open, and he quickly tried to sit up. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize he was on the top bunk of a very small bed. Jerking a bit, he fell off and landed on his shoulder on the hard floor.
“Ah, damn!” he swore, waking Stanley up.
“John, you alright?”
“Yea, I’m fine,” he said. “You know where we are now?”
“Looks like prison.”
“I can tell. I‘m guessing you don’t know how we got here, right?”
“Last thing I remember were those horses putting me under,” Stanley recounted. “You think that was just a dream?”
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a large, metal door being opened at the end of the hall. Looking through the iron bars, John spotted another one horse, this one clad in golden armor and a pure white. Unlike what he remembered, this one didn’t have any wings or horns. He, too, noticed that his guests were awake.
“I’d have to say no,” John said.
“You’re awake, I see,” the guard discerned. “Do you eat bread?”
“Yea, can we get some?”
“One loaf each, no more,” he said, passing them through the bars before turning around to leave.
“Hey, can we get some help here?”
The guard sighed and turned around again to meet them.
“With what,” he asked, obviously annoyed.
“Would you mind telling us where we are?” Clark asked. “Or maybe why we’re here?”
“You are to stay here until the Princess comes to interrogate you.”
The word ‘interrogate’ did not settle well in John’s mind.
“Interrogate? Look, I think there’s a misunder-”
“Quiet!” the guard snapped. “You will stay here until further notice! Keep quiet and don’t cause any trouble, or I’ll be forced to discipline you!”
“Look pal, I don’t think you get who you’re messing with,” Clark commented. “I don’t know what kind of ‘disciplining’ you do here, but if it’s a fight you want, I’ll happily lay you out.”
“I’ve got better things to do than beat up some lousy alien,” the guard said pompously. “Now, stay here and shut up!”
And with that he left, slamming the door behind him. Clark tossed the second loaf of bread to Stanley, who immediately began to eat. John picked at this a little, starring out of the small cell window.
“What are you thinkin’, John?” the SAS asked through a mouthful of bread.
“We obviously can’t stay here,” John said. “I’ll come up with something.”
“A jailbreak, eh?” he replied, swallowing his food. “You and I are always on the same page, John.”
“That’s why you’re Rainbow XO.”
“So, what were you thinking? Force our way out, or sneak our way out.”
John took this opportunity to look over what they had. Most of what they had before was still with them; even their pistols. Whether these guys were amateurs, or didn’t have firearms in this world, he was happy all the same. Their radios, unfortunately, had been taken; which meant they were on their own, if any other Rainbow soldiers were here to begin with.
“A little of both, but we’ll have to wait ‘till nighttime. We’ve got a better chance of evasion in the dark.”
“Agreed. Care to let me in on your plan?”
John sat next to Stanley and whispered out the details of his escape plan. Until the darkness fell, all they could do was sit and wait for an opportunity. Waiting was always tedious.
“Ready?” Chavez asked.
The men nodded their heads silently.
“Alright, keep it quiet and don’t get spotted. We’d stick out like a sore thumb in these parks.”
The black-clad men moved as a group through the forest, which began to clear as they went. Jogging out of it, they didn’t see anything that could possibly blow their cover. The first building they came to was a cottage, but saw nothing that could threaten them; they bypassed it and made their way into the city.
The troops moved through the streets, with their rubber-soled boots making little noise in the way of footsteps. A couple times they had to stop immediately and hit the dirt as a resident would trot sleepily by, too tired to bother looking closely. The last open area they crossed was the large, open marketplace before moving into the tightly packed urban area.
This area was easier, being able to move through the alleys to get into position. Almost there, Price and two others peeled off and headed to the left while the others gathered at the end of an alley. Across from them was the target building.
Ding saw two guards in golden armor, not too terribly far away, guarding the entrance. Motioning for McTyler to move up and join him, the two took aim with their suppressed MP-10s. With Chavez’s word of ‘shoot’, the two separate bursts flew forward.
Chavez’s burst to the right guard hit him in the mouth; three bullets entered, passed through the mouth, and exited through the neck. McTylers shots hit the other square in the throat. The group hustled up to the door, McTyler noticed he was still alive, squirming in pain on the ground, and fired another, single-shot burst to end his suffering. Checking quickly, none had noticed the two guards go down .
“Stack up on the door,” Chavez whispered. “Paddy, get the Primacord in place.”
“On it,” the explosives expert acknowledged, working the long rope of explosives on the steel doors.
“Price, you guys in position?” Chavez called over the radio.
“We’re in position at the windows, Ding,” Price answered. “Looks like a break room, they look like they’re eating and relaxing.”
“Don’t take a chance, Price. Shoot ‘em down.”
“Of course.”
“Ding we’re set,” Connolly announced.
“Ok, stack up. Flash and clear out once the door is down. Price, same with you. All together, guys; and keep an eye out for Mr. C and Stanley. On my mark.”
“Ready, Al?” Clark asked.
“Whenever you are, Six.”
Clark lied down on the cell floor, curling into a fetal position. He began to moan and grunt, which became louder, longer, and more dramatic as time passed. Eventually, another guard entered, this one with a totally black coat.
“What’s going on?”
“I think that bread made him nauseas,” Stanley said.
“How do you feel?”
“Bad,” Clark slurred out from the floor.
“How bad?” the guard asked.
“Fucking bad!” Clark half-yelled, half-slurred.
“Whoa, alright,” he replied. “Just relax, I’ll get a bucket.”
This one was much kinder than the previous one, which was good for Clark and Stanley.
“You got a bathroom?” Clark asked, rolling over to face him.
“Well, I’m not about to let you out.”
“Look, mate; this guy’s in sorry shape,” Stanley explained. “And I’m not sure if you’ve got any of our kind here, but you’ll need a big bucket. Bigger than any bucket I’ve ever seen.”
The guards eyes widened at this. He obviously didn’t know what these aliens were like when they were sick, and he didn’t want to find out. Cleaning up alien vomit wasn’t exactly what he signed up to do in the RG.
“Uh…ok, just hang on.”
He walked back out in a hurry.
“You think this’ll work?” Stanley asked.
“Let’s pray to God it does,” Clark said from his position on the floor. “But, I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”
The black guard re-entered, followed by the white one from before, this time carrying a set of keys.
“Hmph, not so tough now, huh?” the white one taunted.
“Uuuuuugh. Just get me to a toilet jackass!”
“Fine,” he said, opening the door to the cell.
John tried to get up, but stumbled and landed next to him. The guard grunted angrily as Clark threw his arm around his neck and tried to stand up. Failing to do so, the guard had to stand on his hind legs, pulling Clark up with him. He began to help him to the door as the black guard began to slide the bars closed again.
“I don’t know what you are, but you aliens have a bigger mouth than anything,” the guard commented as they reached the door. “I don’t see how you could be a threat to any-”
The guard’s words were cut off as John’s arm quickly tightened around his throat. Pulling him into a chokehold, John’s left hand went for the loaded M1911 in his jacket. Soon, he was holding the guard captive with a gun against his head. The second guard had just finished shutting the cell door when he saw them, and jumped to the middle of the hall. Taking out what looked like a crossbow, he aimed it at the two.
“Drop it or you friend dies!” Clark yelled.
“H-how?” the guard asked.
“With this,” Clark said, waving the pistol a bit.
“What?”
“Just open the door!”
“Y-you let him go first!”
“Want to play that way, huh?” Clark asked him. “Alright, I’ll oblige, right Alistair?”
“Certainly,” he said from the cell.
“Wh-what?” the guard stuttered.
John shuffled a little to the right, causing him to instinctively go left.
“How do you think you can get out of this?” John asked the white guard he was holding.
“I’ll figure it out,” the guard said, sounding like a scared child.
“You aren’t so tough now asshole,” John stated.
John continued right, and the black guard kept moving left. This continued until the black guard was, once again, in front of the cell. He was also close enough for Stanley to reach through the bars and put him into a hold of his own. The two men applied more force, and the guards were passed out in no time.
“Guess we’ve still got it,” Clark said, retrieving the keys form the unconscious guard and opening the door.
“Right, I’m thinking that getting out isn’t going to be as easy,” Stanley said, taking out his Browning Hi-Power.
Before John could answer, there was an explosion that rocked the building.
“The bloody hell was that?”
“That might be our chance to get out of here,” Clark said. “Let’s go.”
The troopers lined the walls, with Chavez on one side and Lincoln on the other, both with flashbangs in their hands.
“3…2…1…Mark!”
The door was blown back from the explosions, the noise rattling the town. Two guards standing at attention on the other side near the door were killed instantly. Not wasting time, Lincoln and Chavez tossed the stun grenades in and entered after hearing them go off. The other Rainbow operatives followed, fanning out to clear the room.
There were some five guards in total spread around the open room, each with some form of weapon. Chaves shot one that was standing behind a welcome desk, then fired a burst into the side of one stumbling around nearby. Lincoln saw a small, brown one with a spear that was a little too close for him, shooting three bullets into his side and through his lungs. The second and third were standing next to each other, making it easy for McTyler to dispatch both. It all lasted about three seconds.
On the other end of the building, Price and his team smashed the windows with their guns before tossing three flashbangs in and peeking over to fire. There were eight guards in this small, confined room; none expected what happened. Firing through the windows, Price, Louis, and Pierce killed them quickly. They then crawled through the windows and into the room, wary of any other contacts.
“Alright, people,” Domingo said. “Eyes open for the good guys and the bad guys. It shouldn’t be too tough to distinguish.”
The men spread out, weapons at the ready. Chavez opened the door to a hallway and spotted a unicorn a short ways away. Before he could fire, the guard’s horn lit up and shot a laser in his direction. Ding fell backwards and stumbled onto his back on the floor, the laser barely missing him and instead blasting a hole in the wall. The assailant was quickly taken down by three Rainbow operatives.
“Maltido,” Chavez grunted as Connolly helped him up.
“We’ll have to watch out for those buggers,” he replied.
“Damn straight,” Domingo said, walking down the hall. “Guys, check these doors.”
“Ding, this is Price, we’re coming out on the far side of the hall. Watch your fire.”
“Roger,”
Price and his group walked out from the end of the hall, meeting Ding there.
“You find anything yet?”
“No, but we’ll keep looking.”
“Maybe we should start calling their name-”
Another hostile jumped out from a doorway next to the group, aiming a crossbow at them.
“Shit!” Ding yelled.
Before either could react, the guard’s forehead exploded outward, his body falling to the ground.
“Who took that shot?”
“Me,” Clark said, stepping over the body.
“Six! Damn it’s good to see you!” Ding exclaimed.
“That’s double for us,” Stanley said. “You weren’t locked up in prison.”
“Well, we’ll save the reunion for later.”
“Agreed,” Clark said. “Let’s get going.”
“Rifle Two-One, we’ve got the prisoners. We’re about to move out. What can you see, Homer?”
“Ding, you’ve got a large force moving on your position!”
“Damn, we have to go now!” Domingo yelled.
“Ding, they’re almost on top of you. You’ll have to do some more shooting.”
“How much?” Ding asked.
“Keep an eye on your ammo level.”