//------------------------------// // Missing section from chapter 76 // Story: Wake up. See this. What do? - Part 2: Raise the Flag (comment driven story) // by RazortheAwesome //------------------------------// The following is a section from Grey Rebl's section of the side story that he asked me to help him write, but I forgot to include in the chapter itself because................ To be honest I really don't have a reason. I sincerely apologize for the incompetence on my part. The least I can say now is this part will get the attention it deserves because it has its own chapter, but that does not excuse me from forgetting to include it in chapter 76, where it was meant to be shown. Again, I apologize for the my incompetence. You have my assurance that the actual RazortheAwesome and not just the bold text on the page that you are reading now will pay for his crimes.... WAIT WHA- -Canterlot, one day ago- "None of it was even true!" protested the colt. The AIA? Well, he couldn't let that one go. Like he planned on doing from the beginning, with a slam made with gusto, he did his dramatic entrance. Surprised, the CIA operative didn't have the time to draw out his gun before Clustershine tackled him to the floor and knocked him out with a swift punch to the face, and then one more uppercut to the jaw. Instinctively, Clustershine grabbed the guard's gun from his body, then quickly turned around and pointed it at the colt that the guard was threatening. He was young, very young. So young that he looked like he was fresh from the academy. He probably hadn't even been in a field situation. At this point Clustershine wasn't sure whether to call that good or ill fortune for the young stallion. "You AIA?" Clustershine asked the young stallion, the barrel of the guard's gun only a few inches from his muzzle. "Uhh.... Uhh....." was all the young stallion was able to reply. Clustershine was right, this colt never had been in a field situation before. While that was happening, without even looking Clustershine reached down and grabbed the security guard's radio. "ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!!!" Clustershine shouted at him as he pressed the barrel of the gun right up into his muzzle. "YES! YES I'M AIA!" The colt practically shouted in terror. Inwardly, Clustershine wanted to slap him for shouting that out for the world to hear like that, especially given the situation. Thankfully for the colt, he refrained from doing so. All around them, the few passengers who were still in the car just watched in terror. Clustershine didn't pay them any mind, until his attention was drawn to the door to he next car as his sensitive ears heard something coming in it's direction. Instinctively, Clustershine checked his pockets, only to find one more smoke bomb, it was his last one. At that he then drew his attention back to the young AIA stallion, who still looked just as terrified as the other passengers. 'S***!' Clustershine inwardly screamed at himself as he pulled the smoke bomb out of his pocket. The literal instant he did, the door to the next car was kicked down by at least four guards, four guards who weren't regular train security, all with guns. "Come with me if you want to live," Clustershine said to the AIA colt right as he threw the smoke bomb at his hooves. A cloud of smoke immediately filled the room three shots were fired towards the ceiling. The strange, loud noise made everybody on the train cry havoc as all Tartarus broke loose. The guards tried to advance forward through the train, but the combination of the smoke and the panicking passengers made it almost impossible for them to get more than a few feet. When they couldn't move they all drew their guns, only to realize that not only were there too many civilians in the way, but their target was nowhere to be seen. In the car behind them, the sixth car that Clustershine had run through before he ran into the one he had been in previously, which was the seventh for him, Clustershine and the AIA colt ran like the wonderbolts straight through the train car until they reached the coupling between the sixth car and the fifth. There, they stopped, and right before they entered the fifth car again, Clustershine pointed downwards with his gun and shot the coupling, detaching the rest of the cars from the train. That done, Clustershine and the AIA colt headed into the fifth train car and without stopping, walked right through it towards the fourth. "What's going on here!?" The AIA colt asked. "Who are you!? Wha-" "There are no more birds in the nest," Clustershine replied to the colt before he could even ask another question. It was an old code sure, but many still remembered it. It was a shorthoof phrase for when an agency had been compromised, and Clustershine was at least somewhat certain that they still taught it at the academy, so this young colt would know it, and even if they didn't, he'd know the signs. Upon hearing that phrase, the colt's eyes widened a little bit before he shut up. Without slowing down Clustershine and the AIA colt made their way from the fifth car to the fourth. As they walked through the fourth car, Clustershine reloaded the gun by switched around the magazine with the other one that was taped to it. Whoever this guard was, he was apparently smart enough to tape two magazines together. It was amazing what one could do with duct tape. When they got the end of the fourth car, before they moved on back to the third, Clustershine turned back around and fired a few shots up into the ceiling. "EVERYPONY GET TO THE BACK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as the remaining passengers screamed bloody murder and frantically tried to make their way away from them into the firth car, which was what he wanted. The colt just watched on a mixture of horror and confusion as Clustershine walked around him right into the third car without saying a word. The two of them then made their way through the third car, only for Clustershine to turn around and fire into the ceiling like he did before, and like before everypony panicked and ran into the car behind them. The then repeated the process in the second car, and before long, they were back into the first, the last car until they were back at the engine. This time, Clustershine didn't even wait until they were all the way through the car before he raised his rifle to the ceiling and fired off a few rounds, again scaring the passengers. "All of you, get out of here!" he shouted at them right as he reached the half way mark through the train. While there were fewer passengers on this car than the others, the few that were there panicked just as easily as the others had and ran out to the second car away from them. One of them accidentally bumped into Clustershine's injured wing, which he still kept hidden beneath his jacket, as she tried to nudge around him, making him wince in pain, but it was a just a nudge, it was nothing. He could handle it. The moment all of the passengers were behind them, Clustershine turned around to face the AIA colt. "Here, take this," Clustershine said to him authoritatively as he shoved the gun into his hooves. Reluctantly, the colt took it, but his only reaction to it was to look at it with confusion for a moment before looking back up at Clustershine. "You see anything move that isn't me. Shoot it." As he said that he started walking towards the front of the car back towards the engine. "WHAT!?" The AIA colt shouted, confused as he looked back down at the gun, which to him was still a strange, unknown device. "I don't even know what this thing is. How do you-" The AIA colt never finished that sentence because the moment Clustershine reached the front door of the car, the moment he reached out his hoof to grab the door handle, another pony, this one an orange earth pony stallion with a brown stripe under his right eye, suddenly dropped down from the roof from the outside, kicked the door in, and then shot at both Clustershine and the AIA colt with a different type of gun than the one the guards had. This one, while still fully automatic, was smaller, as he was able to hold it in a single hoof, but at the cost of being a lot less accurate. One thing was for certain though, this pony, whoever he was, he wasn't a guard. Clustershine vs Agent Tiger The Apartment by John Powell The orange pony kept his hoof on the trigger and didn't let got as he shot up the whole train car. Before he could hit either Clustershine or the AIA colt, Clustershine quickly ducked to his right behind the door while the AIA colt quickly leapt behind one of the benches and got as low as he could. Bullets past him and several tore through the wooden benches as he hugged the ground and held onto the gun that Clustershine gave him for dear life. The second the orange pony's hooves hit the floor of the car, Clustershine leapt out at him, grabbed his gun, and then kicked him in his back left leg, causing to two of them to fall backwards to the ground as the orange pony kept his hooves on the trigger and fired up into the ceiling. Clustershine bit his teeth in pain as he landed right on his injured wing, but he fought through it. After a few moments, the orange pony's clip ran out, and the moment it did, Clustershine elbowed him in the face before knocking the gun out of his hooves and in between two of the benches. Before Clustershine could make a dive for the gun, the orange pony reached up and grabbed Clustershine in a headlock. Clustershine struggled to get free, but it was no use. As he tried to stand back up, the orange pony stood up with him and shifted his position so that he got behind him and was now crushing his windpipe. Clustershine quickly jumped up and hit the orange pony with a knee to the face before quickly following with an elbow to his mid-section, effectively making the orange pony let go of him. Clustershine then quickly turned around and tried to hit the orange pony with another elbow to the face, but the orange pony blocked it and threw his own punch. Clustershine quickly ducked his head to the side to dodge it and threw his own punch, but the orange pony dodged it and punched Clustershine right in his side, though more specifically, right in his injured wing. Clustershine winced in pain as his wing was hit, giving the orange pony the opening he needed as he got up, spun around, and kicked Clustershine right in the chest with his rear right hoof, which knocked him back several feet. Clustershine landed on his back and slid for a few feet, thankfully he didn't land on his injured wing this time. The AIA colt could only watch in terror as he saw the tip of Clustershine's head poke out into his field of vision. As much as he wanted to though, he couldn't bring himself to move. Clustershine wasn't on the ground for long though, as within a moment he was back up on his hooves. As he stood up he got a good look at the orange pony that tried to gun him down, and the moment he saw him, his eyes went wide and his breath nearly left his body. He didn't look to special from other ponies aside from the brown stripe underneath his right eye. His dark orange coat, green eyes, and lightish brown mane wasn't much to draw attention, but it was the stripe under the eye that got Clustershine's attention. He didn't see his cutie mark, as the pony was wearing agency clothes, which further cemented to Clustershine who this pony was, as he didn't need to see his cutie mark. He knew this pony, he was an operative of the CIA, he trained this pony, he vetted this pony. "Tiger?" Clustershine said in an almost weak tone. "Sorry," Tiger responded with a smirk as he started walking towards him. That was it for Clustershine, he didn't need to hear anything else. Whoever this pony was, it wasn't the pony he trained. His eyes went wide as he stood back up and walked towards him. Clustershine didn't even waste a second as the moment he reached Tiger he threw a punch right at him. Tiger however, quickly ducked his head to the right and threw his own punch, which Clustershine blocked before he threw his own again. The two of them traded blows one after the other as Tiger forced Clustershine backwards through the car, neither one seemed to be able to hit the other. As they fought, the AIA pony lifted his head up from the benches and watched them fight, the gun still clutched tightly to his chest. Neither Clustershine nor Tiger paid any attention to him. Tiger then swung his left hoof at Clustershine, but Clustershine ducked under it, stepped around Tiger, hit him with a backhoof to the head, and then kicked him in the back of his knee again, making him fall to the ground. Clustershine then raised his right hoof and punched down on Tiger. Before he could hit him though, Tiger rolled down the hallway of the train away from Clustershine, making Clustserhine's hoof hit the floor. Right as Tiger rolled back up onto his hooves, he pulled out a knife with his right hoof. "Look out!" The AIA pony shouted at Clustershine as he saw it. Clustershine just walked towards Tiger, but right as he reached him, Tiger jumped back up and kicked Clustershine. Clustershine deflected the kick, but then Tiger quickly threw a punch with his left hoof, which Clustershine deflected, then another one, which he also deflected, then at that Tiger thrust the knife forward right at Clustershine. Clustershine quickly leaned back to avoid the knife and grabbed Tiger's hoof with both of his own forehooves. He then twisted tiger's hoof around to make him drop the knife, but he held onto it. Quickly, Tiger then threw another downward punch with his left hoof, which made Clustershine lean back again to avoid it and freeing his right hoof. With his right hoof free, Tiger swung the knife at Clustershine's throat, but Clustershine stepped back to avoid it and punched Tiger in the face again right as he tried to take a step forwards him. Clustershine then took a few steps away from Tiger, but he followed him and quickly closed the distance with another thrust of the knife. Clustershine just leaned back again to avoid the knife, but then Tiger took another swing with it. Before he could pull his hoof back, Clustershine quickly rushed close to him and grabbed his hoof. Tiger quickly responded by kneeing Clustershine right in his mid-section, barely hitting his injured wing, and making him wince in pain for a moment. With that, Tiger then swung his left hoof downwards and knocked Clustershine's hooves away from his. He then spun around and tried to swing the knife at Clustershine's neck again, but Clustershine quickly stepped forward again, grabbed Tiger's hoof, pulled him towards him, and then hit him with another punch to the face, which made Tiger stumble backwards a little bit. Clustershine stayed still and kept his guard up, Tiger was only dazed for a moment before he stepped forward again and swung the knife downwards at Clustershine. Clustershine however, saw that coming and grabbed Tiger's hoof before he could even complete the swing. With that, Clustershine then punched Tiger in the ribs with his other hoof, then spun around Tiger's hoof and held onto it by the elbow. From there, he tried to wrestle the knife away from Tiger's hoof, but like before, he held firm. Tiger, seeing his situation, quickly threw a punch with his left hoof right in Clustershine's side, and hit his broken wing. "AGH!!!" Clustershine screamed, but still held on. He then tried to hit Tiger with an elbow to the face, but Tiger blocked it tripped Clustershine back onto his back again, thus freeing his right hoof, and by extension his knife, from Clustershine. He then turned around, but before he could do anything, Clustershine kicked upwards with both of his read hooves and bucked Tiger with in the chest, knocking him a few feet away from him. Quickly, Clustershine got back onto his hooves and frantically looked around the train car. Close to him, just a row or two away from him on his right, he saw an open window. An open window that was open because there was no longer a window there, presumably because a stray bullet had hit it when Tiger shot up the car. Quickly, Clustershine dashed to the nearest bench on his right right as Tiger got back to his hooves. He then jumped to the next one, and then at the third, he then quickly crawled out of the open window, grabbed the edge of the train, and climbed up onto the top. Tiger just looked at this and smirked again before he ran to the front of the car and through the crashed open door back outside. On the top of the train, Clustershine had just pulled himself up and was now on top of the train. Once he was up there, he winced in pain again and fell to his knees as his injured wing reminded him that it was in fact, there. When he looked back up again, the only he thing he could see was Tiger rushing him. Before he could even do anything else, Tiger tackled him to the top of the train and held him there for a moment. Tiger just kept that smirk on his face as he looked down at Clustershine, his knife now held firmly in his teeth. With Clustershine pinned to the ground, Tiger lifted up his right hoof and retrieved his knife. Right before he could stab down on Clustershine though, Clustershine quickly kneed him in the side before reaching up and punching him right he the neck. Tiger stumbled for a moment at that as Clustershine slipped out from under him and got back to his hooves. Clustershine then tried to throw another punch, but before he could, Tiger stood back up and swung the knife upward at Clustershine, which made him lean back again to avoid it. Tiger then swing the knife again, and again, but again Clustershine kept leaning back to avoid it. Thankfully here on top of the train, without all of the benches in the way he had much more room to maneuver around him. Eventually, after Tiger's seventh swing of the knife, Clustershine ducked, dropped to his belly, and rolled right under Tiger, making him fall flat on his stomach and making him drop the knife. Tiger tried to make a break for it, but before he could get anywhere, Clustershine grabbed him, put his hooves around his neck, and placed him in a choke hold. Tiger tried to get back up, but Clustershine stood up with him and tightened his hold. Clustershine held firm for several moments, with Tiger doing little but tried to pry Clustershine's hooves away from him, but Clustershine held firm. He wasn't letting go, not now, not to him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tiger reached up and punched Clustershine right in his injured wing. Clustershine screamed in pain as he lost his grip on Tiger. Now free, Tiger got back to his hooves, punched Clustershine in the face, then tackled him onto his back and got on top of him. He then put his hooves around Clustershine's neck and started squeezing for all he was worth as he did what he could to keep some pressure on Clustershine's injured wing, which was now bleeding through his jacket. "Don't worry," Tiger said to Clustershine as he continued to choke him. "Maybe you'll see your friend Tiger in the next life." Clustershine did what he could to fight against Tiger's hold on him, but then he looked straight ahead. At that, he suddenly dropped his hooves and lay flat against his back. Confused, Tiger looked up, only to be met with the top of a tunnel, right to his face. Tiger's body was pulled away from Clustershine with such force that it almost pulled him up too. It happened to fast and so quickly that Clustershine didn't even see or feel the explosion of blood and guts that he knew must have happened when Tiger slammed face first into a wall at close to a hundred miles per hour. As he law low and let the tunnel pass over him, he took in a few deep breaths, which slowly became a laugh as he got farther and farther through the tunnel. By the time he had left the tunnel, what started as a little laugh had escalated into full on hysteria as he laughed for all he was worth, as if he were somehow the element of laughter herself. "Amateur. You lost in one of the most cliché of ways," Clustershine hoarsed, in reaction to the CIA operative's death. -One few second rest and then a quick trip back to the engine later- After that fiasco, the batpony hastily disconnected the pulling engine from the carts and made a few bluffs and threats in the radio he found on the floor during the beginning of the scuffle to the chasing guards. He said that the carts left behind has an armed bomb onboard, forcing the them to stop to try and find it. Not like he would do so for real. Hopefully, having been inside the gunpowder room and using the surprise smoke bomb used in the chase, they would take the threats as legit. "You know, that guy was only doing his job," said the colt. Clustershine only nodded. Sometimes, things like this happen. Still, that amateur knew what he signed up, and he paid the ultimate price for it. "Oh, and, um, are who are you? You look terrible." "Clustershine, former second seat of the CIA. Anyways why are you here?" The colt's eyes widened and saluted. "S-sir! I, uh, was sent here to deliver a letter to the CIA! Which was... in that one CIA agent's person..." He looked up at him. "But I know that it involves the Changelings that are infiltrating the AIA, as from what I've been told..." "...what?"