Purple Hearts

by ShadowMere25

Off the grid

"The raven looked out into the eyes of the demon...its fiery glare piercing into its very soul..."

---

Another one?

Yes, we found him skulking around in the woods. Orders were to bring him here.

Wake him up...

Yes sir.

---

Only now had I fully regained consciousness. They threw me down from what I could only assume was the back of a truck and I landed on the ground with a thud. The past few hours had been nothing but a hazy blur...I felt the bindings constricting my wrists together and my head felt like it was in a vice. I could vaguely make out the cold concrete ground through the...

Is this a fucking potato sack on my head?

Sure as hell, there was a potato sack over my head, my hands were bound and it looks like I'm fucking screwed. I felt lighter, most likely because they removed my gear. I was left with only my olive green t-shirt, camouflage cargo pants and my combat boots. I couldn't hear my dog-tags jingling so that means they took them too.

Looks like it was the end of the line, here and now. The rebels weren't too keen on taking prisoners alive anymore. After what happened to them in the war I was surprised they didn't shoot me right then and there. I suppose I shouldn't question my good fortune.

So long as I breathe. So long as I can, I will fight...I just hope I'm not alone.

Two men on both sides of me, picked my tired body up from the ground, I felt a piece of cold steel press up against my neck through the burlap sack.

Move.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and walked forward at a brisk pace—trying hard not to fall over. The sun's light helped to illuminate what little I could see. I could make out the distinct shapes of trucks and jeeps parked in rows; a few of them pulling out and driving away. The sounds of our footsteps and distant gunfire was prevalent. Occasionally my captors would shove me or press the gun up against me whenever I slowed down. I could no longer see much of anything as I was shrouded in darkness entering a building of some sort. At least I wasn't freezing my ass out there anymore. I could hear chatter and muttering all around me but none of their conversations were of my interest. We finally exited the hallway into a room with a single incandescent light-bulb suspended by a wire on the ceiling. A single metal table with nothing on it and a chair was all there was as far as furniture went.

"On your knees," he said. I would probably have my best chances if I keep my mouth shut and do as I'm told. They hated me enough, I didn't need to give them another reason to kill me. I set myself down, resting my butt on my heels. I felt a wave of relief wash over my aching legs.

Suddenly, the knot on the sack came loose and I felt a hand yank the bag off hard. The light forced my eyes to squint as I waited for them to adjust. When my vision came to, I saw the face of my captor. To simply say he was a man just wouldn't cut it. The guy was fucking huge. He must have been around six foot-seven and three hundred and fifty pounds. No hair on his head but was sporting a short beard. He was wearing a white tank shirt and blue jeans; his incredibly muscular and burly physique fully visible. I'd imagine that if I tried something now I'd pretty much get pummeled by what was literally a bear in human form. He held a gleaming chrome revolver in his hand, I kept my head down. He knelt down—immediately pressed the barrel up against my chin and raised my head back up. He said nothing but gave me a serious glare. He made a gesture to his comrades with his pistol and the other two men stood me up on my feet. The big guy holstered his pistol and cracked his neck both ways. Here we go.

"Tell me, Victorian. What is your name?" He spat out the word 'Victorian' with disgust, emphasizing his hatred for me. He had a Slokavian accent which was rare to see back in Victoria but up here it was pretty common. There were rumors pertaining to the rebel leaders hiring Slokavian mercenaries; it seems as though said rumors were true. Slokavia was a small independent state bordering northern Victoria. Mostly mountainous regions and cold-ass climates, Slokavia made its profits primarily from the mining industry. The people there were a hardy lot just like Mr. Meat Mountain in front of me. Victoria was mostly on good terms with the Sloks but recent events have lead to our relationships deteriorating and as a result some Sloks are crying out for their state to join the rebels in their 'campaign' against Victoria. I opened my mouth to respond to baldy and give him a nice firm 'Fuck you' before I heard a groan.

"Ugh..." My head snapped to source of where it came from. I hadn't noticed the other prisoner who was in here with me. A bruised and beaten man sat on his knees, barely awake. He had dirty blonde hair and the same olive shirt and woodland pants that I wore. Actually he was just a kid, couldn't of been any older and nine-teen or twenty judging by how skinny he was. Looks like I wasn't alone after all. If this is where they were hoarding our guys that meant this was probably their headquarters. Which means—

"Argh!" The strike came quick and left me winded. Those beefy arms packed quite the punch if I do say so myself. For a moment my entire abdomen went numb and then the pain set in. I could feel a coolness gathering in my throat and that same metallic odor hung in my nose. I bent over and almost fell but the other guys holding me forced me back up.

"Please, do not look away when I am speaking to you..." He said in a calm but impatient tone. "I asked you question and I would like answer." I could see two possible options in this scenario. One: I could be the stubborn asshole that I am and just continue to cuss this guy off until he beats me to death or two: I could stay on his good side and hope that they leave me alone just long enough for me to devise a plan of escape. Seeing as though the former involves me dying I decided to go with the latter and took a deep breath and exhaled.

"First lieutenant..." Of course my voice sounded as if I had been gargling with nails this morning, the gut-punch I just got didn't help either. "...Alenko Gr—eene" He raised his eyebrows as if he almost appeared impressed. He pulled out the chair from the table and sat down in front of me, he made a downwards gesture with his hand and the men sat me back down. He leaned in forward and clasped his hands in front of his face together with his elbows on his knees, staring at me intently.

"So, lieutenant. That is bigger rank than other men we have taken captive." He withdrew a pair of shiny metal dog-tags, my dog-tags. He held them up to his eyes and inspected them for a brief moment before looking back at me.

"You are Blackjack yes?" I slowly nodded shooting back a glare of my own. "I was to believe that Blackjacks were among the best of Victorian soldiers...yet here you are, caught like rat in trap. I guess rumors of your kind being killing machine were only rumors right Hans?" He grinned and I clenched my fists behind my binds.

"Damn right." Said the man to my right known as Hans.

"If these binds were off I could prove them right..." I probably shouldn't have said that. Hans raised his arm to strike me but was stopped by Baldy giving a hearty laugh...

"Oh if only..." He stopped laughing and swayed his hand at the men. "Leave us and take him with you." Hans and the other guy hauled the other prisoner to his feet and dragged him out, closing the door behind them leaving only the two of us.

"Hans is idiot you know? He has never even fought anything more than basic soldier. I do not doubt you could kill him in a second." Uh...thanks? "I have fought Blackjack again and again before but only ever killed one. You are real soldiers...Like me but fight for different cause. You fight for country, I fight for uh...what runs country." He chuckled and paused for a moment. "But I am not here to give complement. I wish to...how you say? Negotiate." Of course...The rebel leaders probably recognized my worth and are going to use me as a bargaining chip to get what they want. Fuck...

"So? How about it? We will talk, soldier to soldier. You will contact your superiors and negotiate the unconditional withdrawal from this region and in exchange, save the lives of the hundred Victorian prisoners being kept here." Wait...What? Withdrawal? There was no way in hell a deal like that'll go down good for us. If we were to withdraw now they would regain full control of the region and be able to turn the tide to their favor...and who's to say they'll actually uphold their end of the bargain? An obvious trap if ever I saw one...

---

Victorian Countryside,

"Damn...That sounds rough." Said the man sitting next to me as we drove down the long, seemingly endless road. "So...what happened next? I-If you don't mind me asking..." My cousin Alex was only slightly younger than me. He was about my height and had brown hair and grey eyes. He was clean shaven as apposed to the little stubble I had. Alex had come to pick me up from the airport to drive me over to my parents' house. It was a beautiful day, with a cool southern breeze. Thick forests lined along the sides of the road and occasionally we passed by wheat fields, vast green pastures and farmhouses. Nothing to really hear besides my talking and the low hum of the car's engine. It was a long-ass drive to my parents' place so I told Alex the war stories he was so eager to hear. Guy was always a kid on the inside...

"Well, as you might've guessed I declined and he didn't really like that answer." Well considering he actually did beat the shit outta me that time, to say he "didn't like it" was putting it lightly. The guy broke the damn table throwing me around but I wasn't about to tell Alex that.

"Shit, how'd he take it?"

"He stood up and ordered his buddies to take me to my cell. Since I wouldn't comply I was of no use to them so they'd have me rot in a hole until I did." They didn't have enough cells for all of us so they made these little makeshift cages out of wood and scrap metal to stuff us in. "I stayed in that same cell for a good three days until help arrived. The entire 14th Cav tore through the place like a hot knife through butter. Mike and Eddie actually made it too, not like they were gonna die that easy."

This was the part where I had lied...The truth was, the 14th Cav ahead of us was mostly destroyed in the ambush and what was left only took part in freeing us after the mortars were done firing.

When...will it end...the screams...do they even know we're here!? Why are you all sitting quietly like that!? We have to get the fuck out of this cage! COME ON! ARE WE JUST GOING TO SIT HERE AND DIE!?!? Oh god...I c-can't br-breathe, ack!...

They rained fire and death on the place for a good hour, and we just sat there praying one of the shells wouldn't hit us. One actually landed somewhat close and destroyed a section of the cage killing one of the poor souls in there with us. We escaped but to a horror I'll never forget. Only mere minutes before our guys stormed the place they launched a few incendiary shells...unbeknownst to them it was a building full of their own guys. I watched dozens of them run out of the burning building, screaming and on fire. None of us could differentiate between friend and foe because all we saw were men dying in agony. I swear that one of them was the kid that was in the interrogation room with me. He didn't deserve to die an animal's death that day...none of them did.

In the destruction and chaos the rebels weren't paying attention to us and we escaped into the forest...That was when the 14th found us and like I said, my brothers were there too...I didn't say a goddamn thing, just grabbed my rifle and kept going.

"They took in all of the POWs and I resumed command of my unit. From there we just drove them right out until they surrendered." Not a complete lie, we did take what was left of their would-be HQ. The campaign came to end when the Rebel forces had negotiated their terms of surrender and the region was once again under Victorian control. Throughout that whole time, I never encountered the bald Slok ever again.

"Drove them out," He said.

"Right out. After they realized they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned we had them on the run. The following week my leave was granted and that's how I'm here." I replied.

"Damn, that was one hell of a story man." I nodded. "But why do I get the feeling you cut bits out?" I had no reason to tell him the full story. He was better off not knowing, my family doesn't need to bear my burdens on their shoulders. I simply shrugged and tried to shift our conversations to something more positive. For the rest of the trip we mostly made small talk and shared a few light-hearted stories here and there. I asked about my folks and Alex said they were doing all right. I hadn't spoken to my parents such a long time...No, not since my last deployment.

"Okay man, here we are." Alex parked the car outside a cream colored house with an old wooden bench on the porch.

"Thanks for the ride man. I'll stop by your place tomorrow and we'll get a few beers alright?" He smiled as I gave him a good, firm handshake and stepped out of the car, making my way to the back.

"Sounds good to me! Ey uh, need some help with your stuff?" He popped open the trunk and hauled out my old brown suitcase.

"Nah it's good, I got it." With a two-finger salute, I bid him goodbye and watched the bright blue car drive on out of sight. I made my way towards the front door slowly but before I set foot on the porch, the door opened. Out stepped a middle-aged man with grey hair and a short white beard...my father. He was wearing a light brown shirt and a pair of grey trousers. I awkwardly stood there and for a moment he just took a long look at me, mouth slightly opened as if in disbelief. He walked towards me and I pursed my lips into a little smile letting my bag drop to my side...

Hi dad...

He wrapped his arms around me and returned the embrace—feeling my eyes warm up but not quite to tears.

"Hi...son," He replied, patting me on the back.

For the first time in a long while...I was home.

---

Canterlot Castle, Equestria

Present Day...

Princess Celestia was pacing in her private quarters in an anxious mess. Before her was a table littered with assorted pieces of parchment and files along with pictures. It had been almost two weeks since the incident in the Crystal Empire. The investigations on the human attack was still ongoing, bringing back less than optimal results. The situation had been critical following the days of the attack, ponies all across Equestria were crying out for their leaders to take action...Truth was, they were scared; afraid of what the humans were capable of. The citizens in Equestria had little knowledge of what goes on in the Victorian Continent and to them the humans were all the same. Most say monsters and barbarians, some say misunderstood, others just want nothing to do with them. Some were even spreading rumors about supposed human "super-weapons" that were planning on using on Equestria and experiments they were doing on themselves to improve their fighting prowess.

The regal princess stopped for a moment in front of the mahogany table, overlooking the documents once more. Her mane was slightly disheveled and her eyes had bags under as a result of multitudes of sleepless nights. She raised a beige colored letter bearing the Victorian seal, an eagle spreading it's wings overlapping Equis or Earth as they referred to it, with a spear in one talon and a scroll in the other. Underneath the seal, the words, Primo Victoria were embedded. It was rather impressive for a mere insignia, for it showed the might and intelligence that was prevalent in the humans. There were times when Celestia had saw the humans in the same light as everyone else but soon she began to set aside her personal feelings towards them and instead looked at the astounding things that they had accomplished. The car, the airplane, ships that don't need sails, television, radio, the computer...all these were part of the many great breakthroughs a race, once considered inferior, had achieved.

But now...after her own family was taken from her by the very ones she had sought to build a friendship with, she didn't know what to feel.

Hatred only brews more hatred...it all just feeds on itself, she thought. Only a great hatred would drive them to do something like this, the reasons however still alluded her and everyone else this catastrophe had affected. The princess sighed and opened the letter, levitating it in front of her. She had received a letter stating that Victoria had not orchestrated the Crystal Empire raid in no less than nine days ago but they hadn't bothered to respond to her own until now.

Victorian Federal Government
Department of Foreign Affairs
47th Byzantine Street
City of Oured

To the Royal Sisters of Canterlot, Equestria.

I sincerely apologize for the late response Princess, the department has had their time constrained handling the more pressing matters.

'He was reffering to the civil war no doubt. It seems that they cannot even find peace amongst themselves.'

I wish to assure you once more that the Victorian government is doing everything they can to provide aid in this hour of crisis. Again on behalf of the Victorian people I offer my deepest condolences to all those affected. We have prepared our recommended tactical options and I will personally be arriving at Canterlot to discuss a possible solution, courtesy of Colonel Nielson. I trust that you will understand that this is an enemy that you will need our intellegince in order to combat. Our latest findings indicate that these "terrorists" were in possession of military vehicles and ordnance far beyond black market grade weapons, including modified high explosive, incendiary charges. We have confirmed that these were utilized in the destruction of the Crystal Empire. As to how they have acquired such weaponry we have yet to discover. This is an enemy that even we know very little of, only that they harbor a hostility towards Equestria in particular. Attempts at contact have been fruitless and the their exact location remains unknown. As of now the Victorian Defense committee has denied any proposals for a direct military intervention.

'Why am I not surprised?' She said to herself as she skimmed over to the bottom of the letter.

Resources are stretched thin and the civil conflict is being dealt with as I write this. I apologize for the vagueness of this letter but I deem it would be for the best if we were to discuss the details of this matter in person.

—With sincerest regards,

Alvin Korsinski, Ambassador to Victoria.

She slid the paper back into its envelope, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. Humans seldom visit Equestria's borders let alone the capital itself, she hoped that they could get through this day without coming to blows. That never solves anything. As she set the letter down Celestia's thoughts were cut short as the door creaked open and in walked an equally fatigued Princess Luna.

"Sister...how have you been?" She asked wearily.

"Not good Lulu, another sleepless night after another. All this time and our efforts have barely yielded results." Luna nodded. "But for the most part, I'll be fine. How about you?"

"Although I cannot say that I have not had better days but I have been mostly well." Luna trotted over next to her sister and looked over the mess on the table. "On a more positive note, Princess Twilight's friends have been able to console their friend to come out of her room."

Celestia frowned. Among all those whom had been affected, Twilight took it the worst. She has been a complete wreck ever since hearing the news and refused to talk to anyone. Celestia did not blame her one bit but she needed her, they needed her to be strong for her brother and sister-in-law. If they were going to get to the bottom of this, it would be when they stand strong together. However this was the first good news she had received in days. Celestia could always count on the elements for anything. As long as their friendship remained true, Equestria was in good hooves.

"One more thing...The human ambassador has also arrived. I asked him to wait for us." Luna did not like the idea of a human being allowed in the palace any more than the common folk but she knew this was necessary. "I do not trust him Tia, nor any of them for that matter."

"I understand Luna, but what he writes to us is true, we do need their help. The Victorians have shown us that they are not responsible and even if they were lying, why would they be willing to help us?"

"Human trickery is cunning enough to rival even Discord's, and that is saying something. Whatever it may be, I will tolerate his presence however I do not think the elements would be so accepting."

The Princess sighed. "Than we'll have to deal with any problems as they arise. We're out of options and possibly out of time, the Humans know their own kind a lot more than we do. If we have any hope of recovering what was taken from us we need to work together." Luna nodded once more in agreement. There wasn't much else to say, they were far to exhausted for pleasantries and now they had to deal with the Ambassador. Luna led her sister out into the entrance hall, the various guards and servants giving their respectful greetings. As the two made their way down the grand staircase they spotted a man sitting in the only chair that would fit him. The man was only slightly shorter than Celestia herself. The guards standing by the entrance eyed him angrily, ready to pounce given the chance. His medium brown hair was combed upwards neatly and he was dressed in a fine navy blue suit with a white shirt and black tie. Blue eyes and clean shaven face, this man would be considered rather handsome by human standards. At his side was a black combination briefcase. He picked a small glass of water from the coffee table in front of him and took a sip. As he placed it back down he gave the princesses a lopsided smile.

"A good morning to you, princesses." He said in as friendly a way as he could manage.

"Likewise Mr. Korsinski, I trust the journey was pleasant enough." Celestia did the talking as Luna wanted to roll her eyes just looking at the man.

"As pleasant as it can be in August I suppose, I will say it's a lot cooler here than in Victoria, we're having one heck of a summer." The guards didn't like how the human remained seated in the presence of their princess, even though the man had no reason to bow before the Princesses.

"Your letter specified that you would be here to discuss a possible solution to our...predicament so may I ask that we see this 'solution' of yours?" said Luna, wanting to get past the niceties.

"Straight to point hmm? I guess that's fair." The man hoisted the case up from his side and placed on his lap. "The solution...Is right. In. Here princess..." he said patting the case with each point.

Author's Note:

A man in suit with a briefcase, here to tend to ALL your wartime needs! Just sign here, here and here and the Orbital strike should be called in on your enemies momentarily. It's THAT easy! :D

It's been way too long since I've updated. For that I apologize but I am trying my bestest to get a chapter out as quickly as my time allows. But for now have this pic of a velociraptor riding a shark...That is all

Comments

[The Serpent Mage]

Just sign here, here and here and the Orbital strike should be called in on your enemies momentarily.

Orbital strike

Rods from God motherfucker...

[grievousrommel]

But I ordered the Damocles.

[Lord Legion]

I like your choice in coverart. Nothing instills a war torn setting like concept art for Far Cry 2. A great game might I add.

[ShadowMere25]

5541468 I was browsing through different pictures and came across that one and it was just perfect. I based Alenko's appearance on Far Cry 2's protag. Didn't think anyone would notice but I forgot this is Fimfiction

[Lord Legion]

5542799 Oh yeah. I am a big fan of the Far Cry series. I saw the cover art for your story and thought that was one of the selectable characters from Far Cry 2.

[Fading Soul]

That feeling when you read a great fic, but you realize it hasn't been updated in months.

[Earthpatriot117]

Good story. Would love to read more!

[ComicBookAction]

Can you do more please?

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

Are you gonna Update soon?

Also, I know you said it's not a "Humans are Bastards" Story. Thank God! BUT, it doesn't help that Luna, Especially the Pony Guards are acting F****** RACIST/XENOPHOBIC against the Guy that is trying to solve their F***** Crisis!!!!! 😡