Marcus' P.O.V
Marcus looked at the giant eggs, which looked more like the green plants they saw everywhere back in the underground pyramid, only it contained a small Cryptid inside. He then saw Rainbow slowly trot up to the thing, and just stared at it. Then, the inside of the egg started moving slowly, making a swish-like sound.
"Rainbow! Get away from the egg!" He shouted just as the egg exploded, spreading green goo everywhere, and showing a Scout Cryptid setting its sights at Rainbow, who was also covered in a bit of goo. The Cryptid screeched and pounced towards her. Rainbow tried to pull of some sot of karate kick on it, but the Cryptid was faster, and pinned her on the floor.
"Kill you all.." Marcus heard a female voice in his head. He looked at Rainbow again, but his mind flashed a memory of Jamie on the floor, being pinned by a Cryptid, and screaming as it dug its claws onto her sides.
Without thinking, he ran up to the Cryptid, lifted it off her, and threw it to the wall behind him like the Cryptid was nothing but a ragdoll. He slowly walked up to it while un-seathing his combat knife, then lifted the Cryptid up from the ground, and slammed it to the wall, pinning it.
He looked at, grinning manically as he slowly slid the knife into its neck. Orange blood squirted everywhere as the Cryptid choked in its own blood. He kept sliding in the knife excruciatingly slowly until all that was visible was the grip of the knife.
"Don't. Touch. Jamie." Letting out a dark chuckle, he then sliced its neck with ease, letting it slide down to the floor as more blood spurted out. The Cryptid then slowly died and lost its color beneath Marcus' feet. He then put the knife back into its seath, and smiled.
His mind then slowly turned to normal as he turned to Rainbow, who was on the floor, covered in a bit of goo, claw marks on her wings, and was looking at Marcus with a look of worry and shock. Before he could do anything, he noticed that his left hand was shaking uncontrollably.
"Fuck.." He said as he grabbed his hand to try to control the shaking as Thompson and Kayla ran to Rainbow to clean and patch her up.
"Rainbow? You good?" Kayla asked as he wiped the goo off of her fur. Rainbow kept staring at Marcus as he took of his helmet and sat down on a steel crate, holding his shaking hand. She then shook her head and nodded silently, wincing a pit as Thompson treated her wounds.
"Um.. why did Marcus call me 'Jamie'?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't know, but it might have something to do with his PTSD.. has he told you about Jamie?" Kayla asked her.
Rainbow shook her head. "No, only when Twilight asked him questions. Did.. did he really care about her that much?"
"He never told us the full story.. but yes. He did. From the looks of it." Kayla said, pondering. Then, she chuckled silently. "Y'know. I remember when we got back from a mission in Afghanistan, the first thing he did, was he jumped his ass out of the Humvee, ran straight for his laptop, and Skype'd her. They didn't stop talking for hours."
"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.." Rainbow thought as she got back on her hooves. Applejack then ran up to her with a worried look.
"Rainbow! Are ya okay! I was with Jackson on the other room, and ah heard screechin'!" She said, looking at her slightly bandaged wing.
"Don't worry about it, AJ. I'm fine. How about you and Jackson?" Rainbow asked as they both walked out of the room, leaving the Marines to finish whatever they were gonna do inside there.
"Ah didn't see anything, but he just went into the rooms and turned on the lights inside. Ah also saw.." Applejack's voice floated away as she seemed distant, but cleared her throat and kept speaking. "Ah saw a lot of bodies of.. well.. yeah. But none of those.. well, things." She said, pointing a hoof at the Cryptid inside the room.
"Yo, Marcus, you okay, man?" Jackson asked as he picked up the Cryptid's body and laid it on a metal observation table.
Marcus was still getting his bearings as he stood up, his hand was no longer shaking as he got up and pulled out his Honey Badger from his back. "Y-yeah.. I'm fine, Jackson. Let's just clean this place up and take out anything else that tries to fuck with us."
"Alright, man. What you got in mind for the other egg?" Jackson asked as he pointed at the other egg stem, which was a bit smaller than the other one, but it was moving a bit.
"Just walk out of the room and go with the girls. It's gonna get a bit gooey in here.." Marcus said. Jackson nodded as he went to Kayla and Thompson and told them to go out of the room. They all walked out of the room and shut the door, then they and the girls watched from a distance as Marcus aimed the underbarrel 12-gauge shotgun at the egg, pumped it, and shot it. Rainbow and Applejack shivered a bit as the egg exploded, covering Marcus and the entire room in green goo, and showing the unborn body of another Scout Cryptid tumble onto the floor. He then opened the door and walked into the hallway.
"The janitor's gonna have a helluva mess to clean up while we're here.." He said, chuckling to lighten the mood. His squad chuckled, but the girls didn't find too much humor in his comment.
"Alright, let's just clear out the rest of the rooms and get out of here." Marcus said. The squad nodded as they walked down the hallway. The girls stayed behind as the Vulture drone flew over their heads, making a slight buzzing sound.
"Nothing in here.." Thompson said, shining his flashlight inside one of the rooms. He was surprised that it was intact, and that the room was not even scratched or covered in blood. "That's a first..."
Jackson was about to speak up, but he double checked a room, and saw a Scout Cryptid chewing on the foreleg of a scientist's corpse. He then rose his M1014 to fire at it, but then he heard the sounds of footsteps running on metal above him. He looked up, only to see a Hunter Cryptid fall down towards him, digging its claws into is shoulders.
"Jackson!" Thompson shouted as he raised his M4 Carbine, and shot off five rounds at the Hunter. Two of the bullets hit its armor plating on its head, but the other three found its eyes, penetrating its cranium and killing it instantly. He then lowered his M4 and ran up to Jackson to help him up, but then the Scout Cryptid from inside the room crashed through the glass and pounced on Thompson, biting at his chest, but not hitting his flesh. Thompson screamed as he tried to rip the Scout off him.
"GET IT OFF!" He screamed, slamming the Scout on the wall, making it lose its grip on Thompson for a bit. He then took this opportunity to rip it off of him and throw it on the ground. He stumbled back as Kayla raised his Remington R-5 and fired off six round into its head.
"Nice one, Kayla." Jackson said as he stood up and cracked his neck. "Let's keep moving. I'll take point." They all then followed Jackson as they cleared more rooms in case more Cryptids were around and waiting to attack them. Marcus walked alongside Rainbow and Applejack, keeping his Honey Badger up and ready. They couldn't see Marcus' eyes through his shades, but he was on the verge of tears, since memories of Jamie kept pummeling his head like the mortars back in Tel-Aviv.
They kept walking in silence. The only sounds were the sounds of their boots hitting the white floor, along with the clopping sounds of hoofsteps, and the drone's buzzing. They then walked to the left, and stopped when they saw a door covered in blood.
"I got this." Thompson said, walking to the door and taking out his Remington 870. He pumped it as he slowly opened the door, with the rest of the squad following behind and looking around. Inside was several cleaning and repair tools, and on the side of the wall, was a Royal Guard, who was breathing heavily, and using his left forehoof to cover a found on his stomach. His armor was badly scratched and bloody. The guard then looked up at the Marines with wide eyes, and whimpered.
"P-please.. don't k-kill me.." He whispered as tears started forming in his eyes, using his right forehoof to cover his eyes from the flashlight on his face.
Marcus walked up to him, put his Honey Badger on the floor, and kneel'd next to him. The guard the turned his head to the side with a look of fear, and jumped when Marcus put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. We're not gonna kill you. We're here to help. I promise." He said in a calm voice, patting the guard's shoulder, noticing that he was shaking violently. He then hesitantly turned his head towards Marcus, as his shaking subsued.
"Who.. what are you?" He asked.
"We'll explain later. We're gonna take you back up to get you some medical attention, okay?" Marcus said. The guard nodded, but then asked worriedly.
"Did y-you find anypony else a-alive?" He asked. Marcus shook his head.
"Sorry, but it seems you're the only one we found alive." The guard then lowered his head in sadness. Marcus then called for Thompson. "Hey, Thompson! Treat this guy's wounds! We're gonna go back up and let the ponies take care of this mess!"
Thompson nodded as he lifted the guard up and helped it out of the room. The guard then noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack. He tried bowing, but winced as he did so.
"No need for that, guard. You need to patch yourself up, pronto!" Rainbow said. The guard nodded as he was helped out by Thompson back to the elevator. The rest then followed behind Thompson to the elevator except for Jackson and Kayla.
"Yo! I found the generator switch!" Jackson said from inside the room.
"Then switch it on, dude!" Kayla said. After a couple of adjustments, Jackson switched on the generator. The entire floor lit up with bright white light, as a humming sound echoed through the area.
Applejack yelled loudly as she covered her eyes. "Ya could've warned us!"
Jackson chuckled as he gathered his gear and ran to the elevator and caught up with the rest at the elevator.
Twilight's P.O.V
Twilight was waiting outside the elevator doors, along with Fluttershy, several Royal Guards, and Unicorn Paramedics as they heard the elevator make a noise, telling them that the elevator was heading back up.
"I hope they're okay.." Fluttershy said quietly and worriedly.
"They'll be fine. They can handle themselves. I'm sure they can take care of Rainbow and Applejack.." Twilight said assuringly. Then, the elevator stopped making a noise. They all waited anxiously as the doors opened. Everypony's jaws dropped as they noticed the condition of the Marines, and the injured Royal Guard. Twilight then looked at Marcus, as he chuckled and spoke outloud.
"Don't worry, just another day for me and my squad."