Every breath felt heavy as it quickly came and went, my vision quickly changing between dull, saturated waves and vivid colours filling my world.
The cold, wet floor below me gave me a hard reminder of how I had fallen only to thankfully be picked back up moments later.
Slowly I began to lift my head to look into the eyes of the zebra who had dragged me to safety, a very glad smile sat upon his face as he looked back down at me.

With a glint of pride in his eyes, he proceeded to look up at the pony by my side who I had begun to take notice of once more. "He's going to be okay, right? What with that mixture you gave him and all?"

"As long as he stays still for long enough to let me bandage him up before he bleeds out, he should. He's showing signs of reacting well to the cocktail, he should be back up in about a minute. After that, we'll see how his heart handles the sudden surge."

Listening to the pair speak about me was so surreal. It wasn't uncommon for others to talk about me, I always made big impressions, but there was something different about it this time.
This time it felt strange to be watching them as they spoke about me laying on the ground, trying to figure out what Tsunami had meant about the 'surge' as she wrapped bandages around my side with her magic.

With a little help from Xander, she eventually managed to get me fully patched up and back hoisted onto my hooves, leaning me against a wall.
Panting for breath, I looked down at the ground as my vision continued to change dramatically. For some reason, the world was no longer in darker greys but now it was becoming more and more vividly coloured. My muscles felt the same, in a strange way. Where they had been tired and weak beforehand, they were now getting this upcoming wave of strength and power flow through them like a tidal wave. Lifting my head to look at the pair, I could have sworn that I had more vigour than I had before the fight even started!
Suddenly my breath became heavier with a lot more depth, making me growl without even trying. My eyes widened and my body tensed as I dusted myself off and primed my gun.

Tsunami smirked and even began to chuckle a little. "Looks like he's taken well to it. Step back Xander, he's getting the adrenaline rush of a lifetime and you don't want to be in front of him once he gives in to it."

Xander looked at me in shock before turning back to the mare behind me. "Why? What-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I had spread my wings and I was already up in the air. I needed to fly! I needed to get in there, get in close! I needed to kill! My body felt the urge for blood, the blood of others to be spilled and my revenge to be had!
Swiping my wings through the air, I began to fly faster and faster until I got to the point where I had almost never been faster in my life. Everything about my body felt perfect, like this was what it needed to be all the time.

Behind me a great call came from Freight Train's lips as he began charge from his cover. "Crimson's charging! Cover his rear, hold the flanks and give no quarter!"

At once, every other member let out a battle cry that filled me with even more confidence. "Hoo-ah!"
This day was mine! I would show those fuckers for shooting me with whatever the fuck they had! Nopony messed with The Executioner and got away with it!

The sound of their subsequent charge increased the strength of my beating heart, pushed my muscles harder as I closed the distance between myself and the enemy. With the way the drugs affected my vision, I could tell when each window became occupied, giving me the advantage and allowing to slip past the bullets that were wasted trying to hit me. The enemy had no chance as I quickly dodged and rolled through the air each time they took aim at me, pressing my natural advantage over those without wings.
Within seconds I was at the roof of the building, out of sight of the shooters.

Freight Train and the others charged into cover, taking a heavy barrage of fire in their direction as I was now out of the shooters focus. It was time to show them what I could do, time to fuck this whole scene.

"Crimson!" He called out. "We can't move, their suppressive fire is too heavy!" There was a hint of desperation in his voice as he made that statement, though it was wrapped in a much more confident layer of experience. Nopony ever lost the basic element of survival instinct, nopony without drugs flowing through their veins.

As if my body knew what I had just thought and took notice, my heart pumped harder and my breathing became much heavier, faster, more powerful. A wave of pure adrenaline washed over me and any pain I had felt before was now gone.
They needed me to break the enemies ability to concentrate fire, and that's just what I was going to do.
Taking a moment to hastily reload my shotgun and make sure my pistol was also ready, I realised I still had a single fragmentation grenade in my saddlebags. I didn't know when I had put it in, but I wasn't going to complain about it, especially with how useful it could be right now.

Taking one more breath as I looked down at my allies below, I spread me wings wide and let out a manic laughter and a grin to match. "Time for justice."

Pushing myself into the air, I swept around the roof to build up speed. For what I had planned, I would need to be faster than I would otherwise be. Taking in the rate of fire coming through the windows, I figured out which window would be the best for the grenade and which to burst through. With the constant rattling from the machine gun, I knew all I had to wait for was a lull in which the reload came, a slow process compared to the quick assault rifles.
With the pause, my time had come. Sweeping down as fast as I could, I quickly threw the grenade through the window and readied my shotgun as I passed on by, speeding past all the others before they could react to shoot me.
Doing a full turn in time for the grenade to explode, I smashed through one of the windows rear hooves first, slamming into the wall with what momentum I had.

Below me laid an unconscious pony, one I hadn't expected nor even noticed as I made my way in. She was still breathing, though badly bleeding now with a mixture of wood and glass having sliced into her face upon my impact. Taking no chances, I pressed the barrel of my weapon to her head and pulled the trigger with my tongue, spreading a red mist over my face.
I didn't care, I didn't have the time to care and even if I did, the drugs stopped me from caring. I wanted more, I wanted them all to be dead. All of them.

The only other pony in the room with me now turned to me, his gun still half hanging out of the window as he turned to look at me, knocking him off balance. Giving him no chance to correct his mistake, I rushed towards the confused buck as the realisation could be seen in the whites of his eyes. Being on top of him before he could properly react, I pulled him out from the window and stomped on his face as hard as I could. A squeal of horror and pain along with a cracking sound and the almost instant pouring of blood was my reward.
Doing the same for the buck, I placed my gun to the bottom of his chin and fired, blowing the top of his head clean off and splattering pieces of skull and brain across the room towards the doorway.

The sounds of ponies quickly making their way across towards me was alarming, I didn't want to be caught in a small room with no easy exit, so quickly I lifted the body and leant it over in the way of the door, hoping to buy myself all of a few seconds, a few critical seconds.
Rushing back to the window, a loud banging came from behind me as they tried to kick the door down. I was out before it came down, out and looking down from above the window frame, shotgun pointed directly at my target.
Hitting into S.A.T.S just as the bastards face was exposed, I lined up a single shot and fired. It wasn't enough to kill him, but from the way he recoiled and screamed I could hope I'd partially blinded him.

Making my way to the next window, the room was empty. Perfect I thought to myself. Time to go blind-side those fuckers.
Swapping out for my pistol instead, my E.F.S told me that one pony may have been on the other side of the door, with another to the right of it. That made sense in comparison to where I had shot the pony only a moment ago, so I readied myself for two more.
Opening up the door and again hitting S.A.T.S, I saw an armoured buck standing in front of me, facing the direction of his friend. This one had a flamethrower pack on his back and suddenly I was glad I had gotten out of that room.
Taking no chances, I unloaded into the pack with three shots and spent another into the face of the pony who turned to react, knocking him down to the floor dead.
Turned out his armour may have been flame retardant, but it definitely wasn't bulletproof.

The other wounded buck quickly charged me in anger, swinging a hoof with a blade attached to the end of it. His first swipe missed entirely, the second skimming off my armour but in his quick rush, the third managed to pierce into my leg.
Though I could feel the physical sensation of the slice, though I could feel my skin ripping, I felt nothing else.
Blood began to pour down me, the sensation only driving me further into my aggressive rage fuelled attack.
Dodging his fourth attack, finally, I knocked him around the head with the butt of my gun and he fell to the floor.
Just like the others, he was a sitting duck. Kicking his ribs as hard as I could to break his ability to move, I decided that this cunt deserved to die by the means he intended to kill me.

Picking Forgiveness out of its place, I knelt down next to the buck who struggled to breathe and looked him in the eyes as he stared back in fear, unable to bring himself to move. Maybe he knew it was the end, that it was pointless. Maybe he was just too winded.
Either way, it didn't matter. My knife made easy work of his throat, spilling blood across the floor with sudden urgency.
For a few seconds he gargled, though that quickly stopped as his life ended from the vital artery poured out more blood than his body could stand to lose.
Just like that, he was dead.

Taking a moment to wipe the blood off from my blade, I noticed two more enemies quickly making their way towards me. I didn't even need my E.F.S to tell how close they were this time, because I could hear them preparing to burst around the corner, talking about how they were about to fire. That was their biggest mistake.
Quickly ducking behind the most sturdy thing I could see, it turned out to be a set of cupboards that had a metal lining on one side. Exactly how long or how well it could keep me in cover for, I didn't know, but it would do.

Almost in perfect unison with when I got into cover, bullets began spraying all across the room. Quietly reloading my shotgun ready for the stand-off, that was imminent, I heard the gentle whimpers of one of the pair as they noticed what I had done to the body of their friend. "J... Jackhammer... Oh Princesses. J... Jackhammer!"
With that, a mare rushed through and crouched at the body, beginning to cry.
I put her out of her misery with a single blast to the side of the head from my shotgun, causing her to fall limply alongside 'Jackhammer'.

"He... He just shot Soft Touch dead! He killed Soft!" Somepony screamed. "T-that..."

Letting out a small laugh, I was relishing in the chaos. "The next one will be you. Come here and face your execution like the rest of them."

Instead of making it easy on me, a rush of bullets swarmed past me, barely missing my head and forcing me back into cover. "Everyone up here!" He called out, anger rising in his voice. "We're going to be making pegasus stew tonight. I'm going to make certain of it!"

The sounds of hooves making their way over to me didn't bode well. Being trapped inside a room, just like before, didn't sound like a good idea. The blood running down my leg took my focus for a moment as I realised it still hadn't stopped, indicating that it wasn't the grazing wound I had hoped it'd been.
Now I had to make a decision, trying to charge the pony in the doorway would only get me shot. Trying to swiftly get out through the window would likewise have consequence of making myself an easy target, though the reward would be that I would be good for another attack run.
The last option I had would be to bandage my wounds before they bleed too much and hope to defend myself from oncoming onslaught.

Thinking of what Cherry would have me do, I let out a little sigh and quickly dove into my saddlebags to look for a bandage. Strange as it was despite her not being next to me, she still managed to invade my mind and give me orders. Letting out a small chuckle as I wrapped myself up, I quickly came to regret not trying to book it out of the room.
Bullets pinged through my cover, bouncing off my armoured back but still hurting from the sheer impact force.
That's when it hit me... they were hurting. My leg was hurting. My side hurt from the shot earlier. My wings felt sore.
I was hurting, the drugs were wearing off and all of a sudden I noticed that my movements were beginning to become heavier again.

With a loud crash, panic ensued down below, dragging the attention of my attackers away from me and to whatever it was that caused the noise. "Silent Stoop, check out what the hell that was!"

"They're inside, they're inside!" Another called out. "They're breaking thr-" At that point, the sentence was broken by a single gunshot and the thud of a body falling down a set of stairs. More ponies scrambled to intercept the threat, but judging by my E.F.S it was too late. My squad had managed to force their way through the hail of death and were storming into the building. Now I had a little less to worry about, until another shot rang close to my head yet again.

"You're going to fucking die for this, pegasus!" My aggressor called out. "I'll fucking break your wings off!"

With that the attacker stormed closer, forcing me to move for different cover in the claustrophobic room where cover was sparse and coveted. Another series of shots rang out, but thankfully none of them came close. Preparing myself for a moments vulnerability to shoot, I swore to god that unicorns had it so much easier than any other race. It was plenty well and fine having wings until you were stuck in a situation where you couldn't fly, at least they didn't have to expose themselves to shoot around a corner!

Poking my head out, I saw him. A heavily armoured donkey, in the same type of armour that the Coalition had given to their heavy troops. This set wasn't quite like theirs however, it didn't bear the insignia nor did it look well maintained.
In fact, it resembled something closer to Titan's patchwork repaired power armour than something that would have been looked after despite it's age.
I could only be glad for that, perhaps the rust and missing plates would mean that taking down this foe wouldn't be impossible.
Letting out a series of shots, all of them hit though none of them did anything critical. Still, it was enough to stunt him for a moment as I jumped out of the way, followed by returning fire from where I had been.

His turning circle had been a lot heavier than my agile movements, though his armour obviously outclassed mine and I didn't want to be on the wrong side of his assault rifle, especially without my helmet.
Jumping out of his view, I bolted for the next piece of cover and took another shot at him from the side, pulling back away before he finished to turn and fire.
Another two bullets missed, with a third skimming past my neck leaving a grazing wound. Recoiling in the sudden shock of the force, this wasn't looking good for me at all now. Going for another shot, my shotgun revealed that it was out of ammo.

With the sound of the shotgun clicking on the empty chamber, the armoured pony threw down his rifle and laughed. "Out of ammo? Good, that makes the both of us. I'll have more fun tearing you apart with my bare hooves anyway!"

Pulling my pistol out and trying to fire, the damn thing jammed. "Fuck!" I cried out, severely worried now.
My limbs were getting heavier and heavier and the sounds of a warzone carried on strong downstairs. The Spec Ops team had killed a few without any losses so far, judging from my E.F.S, but that still left me feeling weak and trapped in a room with a donkey who now definitely had the advantage.
My unarmed attacks were no match for armour like that and I knew it. Grabbing my knife again, I would have to get lucky to take this cunt down.

Before I could prepare myself, the onslaught had come. A lot faster than I had suspected, the armoured donkey had already made his way over to me and jumped up at me, giving me barely enough time to roll out of the way. With his battle saddle thrown down to the floor, he seemed a fair amount more agile, lessening what advantage I had even further.

"Don't fucking run from me you little shitbag! It's time to die!"

Taking a deep breath as I looked at him, I screamed out my answer. "Never! Not to the filthy likes of you!"
Charging at him and attempting to swing my knife into one of his weaker spots, it proved to be a stupid, stupid mistake. He moved out of the way and managed to knock me off balance as I swung, sending me down to the floor for a moment.
Looking up at my nemesis, he laughed as he took off his helmet. With his white mane dangling down his brown, bruised face, he smiled with crooked teeth at me.

"No need for a helmet now, I want you to see my eyes as I crush you. There's nowhere to go, Wings."

Letting out a huff of anger, I picked myself back off the floor and charged at him, this time intentionally swerving out of his way at the critical moment, hoping to throw him off balance while expecting a strike. Unfortunately, the plan didn't work and he bucked at me, knocking me down to the floor again and forcing me to close my eyes as the pain rushed through my side.
The slow, heavy steps made their way over to me as I struggled to breathe properly. Before I could do a thing, he stood over me, looking down at me as I had with the others.
Perhaps he knew the face I wore when I did the same thing, perhaps it was just universal, perhaps it was just my imagination; but for a moment, I could see myself in him.

"Your luck has run out, Executioner. You should have stayed at home, back where you came from. I'm going to enjoy collecting the bounty the Coalition has on your head, right after I kill all of your friends."
Letting out a small cough turned into a coughing fit, and the donkey above me just grinned. "Oh yes, the bounty shall be oh so sweet."

"Bounty huh?" I asked weakly, hoping to throw him off focus. "How much?"

Raising an eyebrow, he looked at me suspiciously. "Huh? Oh, you're not buying me out of this one. You couldn't afford to, anyway."

"How much?" I repeated, staring him right in the eyes. I had no hope of paying him off for my own survival, but that wasn't my intention at all. The way the buck continued to look at me with uncertainty was strengthening my resolve, however. "So? How much is this bounty on my head? Alive or dead make a difference?"

Letting out a small grunt of what could have almost been called laughter, he nodded. "Sure, I'll play your game. Dead you're worth twenty-five hundred caps. Alive? Thirty-five hundred."

Looking at him in shock, the displeasure was worn across my face without any attempt to hide it. "Twenty and thirty-five hundred caps?!" He just nodded, grinning. "Is that all? Fucking... what? Seriously?"

The mules glare made me want to laugh as he choked. "Wha-what the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? You seriously want the bounty to be higher? You think you're special?"

Giving him a smug smile, I nodded as I tried to get up, only to be hit back down. Letting out of cough of agony, I began speaking again. "Y-yeah, I am something special. If they're going to put a bounty on my head, they'd best make it worth the three hundred ponies that would come to fuck shit up in revenge. Haha, fucking twenty-five hundred is foals-play in terms of caps to Four Ridges. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?"

"W-what? You know what, fuck it. Enough of your fucking mind games! Time to die, pegasus!"

Readying myself for one more swipe, a dodge or something to save my life, the moment never came. Just as the ass went to strike, a silent attack came from nowhere with the flash of white and black before me. At first I thought it may have been Deadlight, but then the armour wasn't to be seen. Instead, Xander stood above him, twisting himself around the aggressors neck and throwing himself down to the ground with the donkey in tow.
With one graceful movement Xander got back up almost as if he had practised the move a million times or more and then crushed the mules exposed head with one swift strike.
The cracking sound of his skull giving way made me shudder and sent chills down my spine, and with another attack, the donkey's limbs stopped twitching altogether.
Just like that, almost in the form of a real life deus ex machina, I had been saved by the young zebra.

Turning his head to me, the young stallion gave me a wicked smile. "You're not giving up just like that, are you? Get the fuck up, where's your guns?" He quickly asked.

"Not giving up, I was actually buying time hoping that somepony would either come save my ass or that I could catch him off guard. Seems I was wrong though, since I should be saying some zebra, hey?"

"Zebra, pony, it's the same to me. Look, others might take their heritage to the point of shooting you over it, but I don't. Fact is, we're all in this together so if you want to say somepony as a general statement, well the only difference between me and you is the fact I have stripes and you have wings. The whole reason I joined the Peoples Liberation Army was because it fights for all of Coltchester, not just for the ponies and not just for the other zebras like the Zebras United does. I'm tired of the us versus them attitude when it comes to races."

Looking at the buck, he was certainly wise beyond his years when it came to that. A smile slid across my face as I took a moment to appreciate just how insightful and mature his statement had just been, and by his sudden blush, it was obvious he could see my approval and respect for him. "Tell you what," I began. "once we're out of here, I'll buy you a drink. You deserve one. Got a favourite type?"

"I... I've never actually had a drink, but look, there's more in the building we gotta clean out first and while no-one has been severely hurt, Brick did take a bullet to his flank. He claims he's still good though, so don't worry too much. Come on."

"One sec, gotta unjam my pistol and reload the shotgun." I quickly announced, trying not to shout it too loud. The last thing I wanted was some enemy around the corner to hear that I was defenceless for a moment.
Quickly tending to the needs of my guns, Xander stood guard over the hallway with an assault rifle he had managed to pick up, a better primary weapon than the revolver we'd managed to scavenge for him earlier. Taking a quick glance at the weapon, it didn't even look to be in such bad condition, though it no doubt needed some proper maintenance and perhaps a replacement part. Still, in working order nonetheless.

With my guns primed for battle once more, I pulled myself off from the floor with steadily decreasing strength. Whether it was the wounds I had taken or the drugs wearing off and leaving my body with the shakes I couldn't be sure, but it definitely wasn't a good sign and meant that we had to work on ending the fight sooner rather than later.
Taking a look at my E.F.S, we had four contacts on our left, one on the right and another three up ahead. Pointing that out to Xander, he gave a small nod. "Got it."

As one, we broke out of the room with him moving to the right and me to the left. My shotgun out on point meant I could reliably hit more than one opponent if they were side by side while his assault rifle would make quick work of anypony at medium range. Thankfully, neither of us had to fire straight away, meaning the other was safe to go ahead in search of the remaining few.
The sounds of gunfire around us slowly began to become less frequent, the shouts of praise from one to another coming from my crew. We were going to do this, we had almost finished the job.

Just as my focus was lost for a second, a zebra who was neither Deadlight nor Xander came into my view. His mane worn in spikes and a small SMG in his mouth as he looked at me, both of us hesitating for the initial moment as we realised neither of us were friendly to one another.
A quick burst of fire hit into my chest and though like before none of the bullets managed to pierce through the metal plating of my armour, it sure as fuck hurt.
Aiming through the pain, I fired while trying my best to jump out of the way, knocking the zebra down to his hooves as my pellets caught his exposed legs.

Diving for cover from a second spray of bullets, I could hear Xander shout in sudden displeasure at almost being hit. "Fuck Crimson! Take him down will ya?! His bullets were getting awfully close to me just then!"

Climbing over the sofa I had used for momentary cover, I rushed over to the zebra as the firing stopped and kicked the gun out of his mouth as quickly as I could. He tried to get back up but the wounds on his forelegs must have hurt too much because he simply crumpled back down the floor as quickly as he had tried to push himself up.
Slinging my shotgun for a moment and unholstering the pistol, I finished the job with a clean shot through the top of the skull.
Once again my mind went to Cherry and how she had always wanted to avoid killing if she could do so, but I knew better about these types of ponies. They were gangers, looters, muggers. They didn't do what they did just enough to survive out in the wastes, they did it for domination and selfish desire.
If they wanted to live life, if they wanted a steady supply of food and water, they could have joined the PLAC or hell, even the Coalition. As much as I hated to admit it, at least it would have been a proper organisation and they would have been following orders.

Behind me, Xander began to fire. Quickly the firing stopped, making my heart beat faster as a body crashed down to the floor and dropped a gun by the sounds of things. Spinning my head around in sudden worry, he still stood confidently as he stared through a doorway, rifle in mouth. Letting out a sigh, I didn't even know why I was worried at all.
Catching a glimpse of me, he laughed before he spoke through the grip of the rifle. "What, you think I was the one to die there?"

Sheepishly, I let out a small smile. "Well I don't want you to be getting hurt before I've managed to get you to have a drink for the first time. Just checking is all."

From around a corner, another pony stepped forth. Raising my shotgun ready to fire, this one backed off slightly. "Friendly!"

Looking down the barrel, she was indeed. Tsunami had made her way over to me, medical bags hanging by her side. "I'm surprised you're still awake, most of the time patients are knocked out by the med-x long before this point. The fix is only meant to be a temporary fix long enough to stabilise and get the hell out of a sticky situation... how the hell are you still walking, let alone fighting?"

Looking at her with a small smirk and a yawn, I did have to admit that I was getting heavier even still and a little worn out, but I was more worried about the lack of med-x flowing through me than an abundance of it.
"I'm tougher than that." I pronounced proudly.

"Oh really?" She muttered in a questioning tone, pushing me onto my side with just a nudge. "Doesn't look like it to me. We need to get you out of here ASAP, get you back to the base and get you in the medical wing, by the looks of things."

"More med-x will do me fine. I swear, I'll be absolutely fine with tha-"

"No way." Tsunami quickly interrupted me, an extremely stern look on her face. "Most ponies can't handle that much med-x in their system, they go into shock, perhaps even a coma. Unless you..."

Looking up at her with a cocked eyebrow, I finished her sentence for her. "Are used to taking med-x on a regular basis and thus have built up a tolerance to it past what other ponies can handle?"

Slowly she stumbled on her words, unsure of what to say. Instead of speaking, she eventually nodded before looking at her bag. "You... you're experienced with med-x then?" She asked slowly, a hint of caution in her voice. "Do you feel that you need it or that you need it?"

Looking at her with uncertainty, I couldn't help myself for a moment. "What?"

With a look that only medics could seem to conjure, well, medics and my mother, she looked at me straight in the eyes. "Crimson, I'm asking whether you feel you need it for the injuries or whether you need it in general."

Taking a second to think about her question, now wasn't the time to admit that. She was a medic and would likely notice the signs, yes, but the last thing I needed was her questioning my ability to lead because of my choices in how to unwind and enjoy myself... even if they were tempting sometimes when it wasn't the right time.
Instead of trying to talk her into giving me another hit, I let out a sigh and gave up on the idea. "I'm injured, though you're right. I'd be better off using a healing potion. May I have one?"

With a small smile, she dug one out of her bags and floated it over to my lips, administering it for me using her magic.
Just like that the world began to seem a tiny little bit more bearable, colour saturating my vision once again, my wounded leg beginning to heal.
It didn't stop the shaking of the intense beating of my heart, however. Nor of the temptation looming in the back of my mind to pass out, to fade into darkness.
Still, beggars couldn't be choosers and feeling somewhat better was still preferable to the level of pain I had to endure with every step beforehand.

Without warning, some pony charged at us with a sword from one of the rooms down the corridor, making Tsunami and myself jump back, startled by the sudden threat. Falling down onto my ass, I scrambled for my pistol or shotgun before realising they were closer to the charging pony than I was.
Just as the pony ran past the stairwell, another pony flanked him and smashed his grey hide into the wall, bursting clean through it in a flash of green and black.

Rushing back onto my hooves and running to the sight, I noticed Iron Wall pounding his hooves into the would-be attacker, killing him in a mere three hits. I was completely surprised by the strength of all these ponies, able to kill another with seemingly such little effort. Though on the other hoof, I suppose they wouldn't have been Spec Ops if they weren't capable of such shows of true power or skill.

Looking down at the two ponies below, I had no words for what we had just been though. I was glad that we survived the battle, though it felt a lot tougher than it should have been, especially on myself. Stepping over to the frame of the broken doorway before leaning up beside it, I gradually gave in to the temptation to fall to my knees.
With my head down, laying on the cracked wooden floor, the world felt heavier. The adrenaline that was previously flooding my veins had now ceased to do any good as the fire of my anger died out.

Cautiously one of the group made their way over to me, gently putting their hoof on my shoulder. I couldn't tell who it was, but right now I didn't care anyway. It could have been any of them, it wouldn't have made a difference - all I wanted was for it to be Cherry to scoop me up onto her shoulders and drag me through back to the headquarters. Instead, I had to continue to face the fact that she wasn't here and wouldn't be by my side until I could manage to get her back.
Looking at the worried face, I now realised it was Tsunami as her blue eyes surrounded by her white face looked at me with compassion and slight urgency. "Crimson..." She whinnied. "You really don't look well. We need to get you back to the rebel base and into their medical wing ASAP. How the hell you've managed to stay awake let alone in combat all this time..."

Spluttering with a small cough, I wanted to disagree. I wanted to be the tough pony all the others were that could handle the punishment. I wanted to be the leader that charged in with their forces and made the difference on the frontline.
Instead, the fact was that I was weak. I couldn't take a shot like they did and I definitely couldn't handle myself in close quarters with the skill and power they had. I wanted to shake my head, but rather, I nodded.
There were times when I would argue or at least discuss and debate against giving in, but this time I didn't have the energy.
The prospect of laying down in a comfortable bed and being treated for my wounds was just too great.

"They're still fleeing!" Freight Train called out as he looked out of the window cautiously, considering the options but obviously knowing that his shotgun didn't have the range to hit the targets he saw.

"On it!" Shockwave called, quickly making his way over to the window. Lifting his rifle part-way out of the window, he began to fire. Suddenly his back leg twitched, catching my attention. As he went to move to the side, he began to talk with a sense of urgency in his voice. "I can see them! Three of them. Looks like our sniper friend tha-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the loud sound of a crack threw his body slamming backwards against the floor as blood and brains splattered against the wall.
Shards of his lightweight helmet exploded in all directions at the very same time, a sharp shard of his visor barely missing both myself and Tsunami as it flung itself off of my armour.

Everyone turned silent as the body lay between us, quickly smothering our hooves and my coat as we remained next to the fresh corpse. The only sound I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat and others' breathing. Looking away from Shockwave and over to Freight Train, his wide eyes slowly closed as he looked away, his breathing becoming heavy.
Iron Wall began to shake, bearing his teeth viciously before taking both the assault rifle and his own missile launcher into his magical grip and aiming both out of the window.

With a deep breath, he made one announcement before the screeching of his missile launcher erupted. "You fuckers will pay for this! Mark my fucking words!"

Quickly Freight Train jumped into him, throwing the pair down to the floor away from the body of their comrade only moments before another shot rang out, this time missing its target completely and instead hitting the exterior brickwork.
"Princesses damn it, Iron Wall! Control yourself!" Freight Train quickly shouted with as much frustration as there was worry. "We don't want to be losing you too!"

Iron Wall looked up at the light brown stallion and let out a sigh, dropping his gaze down to the floor where their friend lay. For a moment he did nothing, but then as if breaking down as the anger subsided he let out a broken sigh and clamped his eyes tightly. "Sorry Sir, anger got the best of me, Sir."

"I understand, I do." Freight Train quickly responded. "Shockwave was a good soldier, a good friend. We can't let his loss go to get more of us harmed or killed however. If we ever encounter that sniper again, we'll extract our revenge, don't worry. Until then, lets keep our heads about us. We're still deep in potentially hostile territory and judging by Crimson down on the floor over there..." With that he gave another glance at me, causing me to flush in embarrassment as I proved to be the weak link. "Well, he needs to get back to some intensive medical care. Treetop wouldn't be happy with us if we pursued those threats instead of getting him to safety, nor would it be beneficial to the mission. So, Brick, you okay with carrying Shockwave back?"

From behind me, a powerful voice agreed to the request. "Of course. He died honourably and deserves nothing less than a respectful send-off. I take it we're heading back now then?"

Looking over to me, Freight Train waited for confirmation. Looking back up in shock, I was surprised to see that he would wait for me to give such orders while I was in this condition. This was his squad, his group of stallions under his command and still he turned to me for my leadership.
It was a sign of respect I couldn't argue with, a sign of true dedication that I couldn't falter. Even after my choices had caused the loss of one of his members, his friends, he still turned to me.
Giving him a small nod with what dwindling energy reserves I had left, I agreed. "No point in staying," I croaked lightly. "If anyone wants to quickly loot, do so now. Otherwise, I want out of here just like the rest of you."

With Tsunami by my side, flanked by Xander on the other to keep me standing upright as I pulled myself off of the floor, we began to descend from the top floor. Slowly we made our way down the creaking wooden stairwell, age having taken its toll on the building around us, water leaks staining the walls brown as bits of the walls crumbled entirely with age.
It was obvious that the ponies who resided in the building had made some small repairs and maintenance for the time they had used the building, but nothing could reverse the damage done by the years of neglect that came before that.

As we got down to the bottom floor, my PipBuck began to alarm me. In the distance my E.F.S warned me that multiple hostile figures were making their way towards us from the way we came, numbering us more than two to one by far.
Letting in a gulp, I stumbled over to the window and peeked out slightly, careful not to expose myself more than I had to as I looked into the street ahead.
Sure enough, a group mixed between zebras and ponies marched in formation towards us, Coalition soldiers coming to take their prise after the battle had worn us out.

"We're screwed! There's no way we can handle all those after the fight we just had to deal with!" Xander quickly began to mutter. "We're well and truly fucked!"

One by one the rest of the squad realised the foe outside, making their way to us. There was no time for reinforcements from the Peoples Liberation Army, they wouldn't arrive in time. If Cherry had been here she would've been able to take a few out from range with her rifle, but with only Tsunami having a long barrelled gun we stood little chance.
Iron Wall was still shaken by the loss of Shockwave and Brick was over-encumbered with the body of the fallen friend.
Grinder could lay down some heavy fire, but the power of a minigun was best when it had a squad to back it up and make it so the enemies couldn't focus on a single target.

We were fucked, well and truly fucked. Considering how I felt too weak to fly, I couldn't even make any dive attacks from above. Deadlight was the only one to continue looking stony faced, neither dismay nor ferocity capable of being seen through the confident visage of emotionless consideration to the situation.
Breaking the silence, I called out his name. "Deadlight. What're you thinking? What's the plan?"

Without turning his focus away from the oncoming opposition, he spoke with determination that it seemed only a zebra could muster without a song and dance to bolster confidence. "We stand our ground, fortify ourselves in the windows as the previous defenders had and hold the others away until either their confidence breaks..." and with that, he paused for a moment before letting out a crack of a smile, beaming with confidence I couldn't quite understand. "Or they join in."

Looking at him in utter confusion, wondering what the hell he meant by 'they join in', he didn't give a verbal answer. Instead, he just nodded and pointed out towards one of the smaller buildings to the side. At first I couldn't make out what the hell he was talking about, but then as I focused my vision I saw a lone figure... no, a group of figures looking down at the marching unit from the roof of a building. From above the advancing unit, zebras waited, guns holstered.

At first it worried me even more so. The thought that the Coalition had soldiers posted on the roofs of buildings meant even less chance of holding ourselves successfully, but then he pointed out something very critical on the E.F.S markers... They were blue.
Straining my eyes even harder, I realised that indeed they weren't wearing the armour that the Coalition typically gave to zebras but instead, they had ragtag armour with green ribbons attached.

Looking back at my crew, I had a renewed sense of faith. If the Anarchists or Zebras United for Coltchester had heard of what atrocities had been carried out and were seeking revenge, they were doing it at the prime time to save my ass.
"Everyone, get ready. We're going to hold this building until we get the chance to hoof it back to base. Deadlight just pointed out a critical point that will keep us alive, we just have to wait for their attack before we can press up to break through enemy ranks and push them back or remain in the building and hope they're wiped."

With a quick nod and whinny, every member of the group quickly accepted the proposal. There wasn't anything else they could have realistically done anyway, I guessed.
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Tsunami quickly added after, an extremely worried look on her face as she looked at me.

"Right now? No, not really. I'd love for us to have another option, but we don't. So let's make the best of what we have, right? Prepare to hold this building. No surrender!"

In unison, all of the special forces members looked at one another before banging the side of their guns with a hoof and shouting out their war cry together once again. "Hoo-ah!"
Before I knew it, Grinder quickly made his way on up a floor along with Tsunami to gain an element of height while Freight Train moved on over to the front door and waved his hoof at me to follow. Iron Wall moved over to one side of the building along with Brick who put down the body of Shockwave before setting himself up.
Finally the two zebras, Deadlight and Xander, made their way over to the other side of the bottom floor, securing as many angles as we possibly could.

Between myself and Freight Train, we would block any entrance into the front of the building with our shotguns which would easily pierce through all but the absolute toughest of armour at such a close range. Tsunami and Grinder holding onto an elevated position would no doubt give suppression with extreme confidence and defiance to cover that would otherwise block them on an equal elevation.
With the others in each end of the building on the ground, it assured the security so that nothing could simply slip through and get to the side before attacking us from within the building.
Now we were set to hold off whatever could come up against us... for now.

Almost mere seconds after we were all set and ready, the opposing force finally made their way over to the outer wall of the hotel building. Low walls didn't provide for flawless cover, especially with the pockmarks exposing the soldiers behind, proving that heavy enough fire could pierce through. This was it, the siege was about to begin and we would be put to the test yet again.

"Executioner!" One called out as he stepped out into the open, confident of his superior numbers. "Hand yourself in and the others shall be unharmed! Left to walk out of Coltchester, escorted out so they are not attacked even!"

Turning my head to look at Freight Train, I let out a small smile. "Should I give myself up?"

Rolling his eyes and letting out a small snort, he looked at me as casually as he could given the moment. "Oh, totally. Best idea of the year!"

"If you should refuse our most gracious offer, however, you will find yourself crushed alongside your comrades. We will use our superior arms, training and numbers to finally put a stop to your terrorist ways! Give up now, spare the lives of those who protect you and let them go free! Is the price of yourself not worth protecting everyone else around you?"

Again, Freight Train snorted. "Superior training? Please, he's out in the open! Even when you're confident in your situation, that's too reckless. See, a single shot from a certain marksmare..."

With that, almost as if she had been listening the whole time, a repeat of what happened to Shockwave occurred. Only instead of it being to one of us, the pony who walked out into the open to make the demands dropped dead, showing the coalition the collective response from such offers.
Just as the opponents began to cry out in mixed expressions between anger and horror, a new sound took everyone's attention with the loud crashing of wooden doors busting open.

Within a second, horror turned to terror as zebras and ponies alike stormed out of the buildings where the figures stood on top, blood-lust filled cries for revenge filling the air. Before anyone could react, green smoke surrounded the Coalition soldiers and the insurgent force continued to charge, screaming their threats as they ran towards their enemy.

In utter confusion and not wishing to harm any friendly forces, not a single shot came from our building as we waited. The screams of pain and torment filled the air, though Princesses only knew which side was winning as the thick smoke completely disrupted our field of vision. For all we knew, the insurgent forces could have quickly lost the fight and now been trapped below coalition hooves as they were quickly wiped out in melee combat.
Seconds felt like hours as we waited for the fog to dissipate, for our vision to return. Finally, our ability to see into the combat filled square increased.

Indeed, the insurgent force hadn't been able to completely wipe the Coalition force, the stronger armour and training proving to be enough to hold off the skirmisher force.
With a grunt, Freight Train gave a single order. "Attack!"

A barrage of fire and death came from our building, quickly putting the Coalition force into a pincer that they couldn't escape from as they scrambled to find cover that would protect them from both sides.
Just as one group of five soldiers tried to push into our building, a single missile screamed through the air before exploding below their feet, slinging their bloodied and mutilated corpses at least ten feet into the air from the instant pressure pressed against them.
Cries of retreat called out as remaining forces fled through sustained fire, another two soldiers dropping as they ran away from the slaughter.

Looking out at the battleground outside, I really wanted to simply drop down and give up now. Yet another exhausting experience that pushed the last of my energy and made me forget how weak I was previously feeling meant I felt even worse now.
Closing my eyes, the temptation to give up was hard to resist. It was right there in front of me, to simply close my eyes and stop trying... to close my eyes and let my body collapse, but something inside of me fought back at that. Something inside of me told me that my struggle was far from over yet and to give up now would make it all pointless. All the deaths we had caused not just today, but since the very moment I stepped out of Four Ridges on this mission would all be for nothing.
Most of all however, the thoughts of Cherry and Eos and how I would fail the both of them made me slam my hoof down to the ground and open my eyes in defiance.
I would not fall here! Not like this!

Stepping out from the doorway, Freight Train quickly rushed to my side and went to question whether it was a good idea, but from one glimpse of the look in my eyes he stopped before he even began his sentence. If the insurgent force wanted to attack us, they could have. If they wanted us dead, they would have left the Coalition to do the job and then attacked after we weakened them.
Instead, they stood with their guns holstered before nodding at me as I made my way past them with what little energy I had left.
All as one they stood around, some staring at me in silence while others looked at the death that had come to friend and foe alike. The scene was horribly sombre, a grim reminder of what life in Coltchester ultimately meant for many.

Finally as I reached the middle of the square, one spoke. There in front of me stood a female zebra, green bandanna showing proudly along with many green ribbons attached to her armour. "You. You came here with a dangerous task and yet you fought without hesitation. Why? What drives you to do these things? You are no inhabitant of this city."

"You're right," I offered weakly, unable to maintain a visage of strength. "I'm not from here."

With no sense of softness to her voice, she snapped out her response again. However, it didn't seem as if she was angry, no. If she was angry, she wouldn't have been speaking. She was interested. "So, once more I ask. Why do you choose to fight a battle that is not your own?"

"Because I have little choice. Coltchester may provide me what I need to maintain freedom and security for my peoples, I intend to find out if that is so."

"So you would come here seeking spoils from our war? You would attack while we are weak perhaps? Or perhaps you instead see yourself as a mercenary, seeking reward for your actions? What is it that you seek, mercenary. What drives the executions?" Now I could feel her stare driving down deep into my eyes, trying to figure out my motivations. Maybe she was trying to discriminate if I was about to lie to her face, but I had no desire for that. There was times that manipulation through speech was appropriate, but this was not one of those times.

Drawing a slow, deep breath. I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to remain strong enough to stand, knees trembling under my own weight the entire time. "What I seek is water, clean water. I have been offered this for my services in weakening the Coalition but the executions began before I had even received that offer. I was directed here prior and upon seeing the poorest, I was offended. Judge a nation not by the wealth it amasses but by the way it treats its poorest, weakest and most vulnerable."
For a moment, nothing was said, but then I broke the silence once more. "The needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few."

My utterance was enough to change the way the zebra looked at me, her gaze seeming much softer as the weight of my words impacted her mind. Either she had seen the truth in my eyes or I must have looked pitiful, because slowly she began to smile, if only a little.
"Then if you should sacrifice your own well-being for the well-being of others, I commend you. I came to see your actions, to make sure you weren't a simple snake willing to bite into our resources with your lies only to give nothing back. You have succeeded in proving yourself... this time, Executioner."

Looking at the zebra in confusion, I couldn't understand what she was talking about. How could she have known I was going here at all? With a group large enough to fight off a unit of Coalition soldiers larger than the bandits we fought against, no less.
Over her shoulder from within one of the buildings a familiar pony strode toward me, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "A spy doesn't just work for one pony, Executioner. I have no quarrel with you and hope you have none with me for my actions here. I could not handle these bandits alone and that much is true. My allegiance is only to the betterment of Coltchester, I serve no side other than that I see as just. Zimena understands and sees my usefulness as an ally, as you seem to do also.
You have my word that causing you to fight is not within my best interests and the reason I brought her along was to make you two talk."

Looking over my shoulder, I called out to the Spec Ops team and Xander. If it was simply to talk, I didn't want Zimena to feel that I was going to be threatening her with forces ready to fire. In formation they strode from the hotel before quickly finding their place along the mess, Tsunami quick to stand by one of my sides and help me stand upright while Freight Train took place on the other side as my forces highest ranking officer. An appreciative nod came from Zimena before her smile turned sour as she noticed we too had lost a friend.

"Execution-" Neon began to say, quickly interrupted by myself.

"Crimson will do fine."

"Crimson, Executioner. What are names in times like these? Either way, I'm glad you aren't mad with me. Like I say, it's within the best interests of Coltchester that you two speak, and so it is within mine too. Please forgive me any harsh feelings."

Shaking my head wearily, I didn't hold it against him. Letting out a tired, pained sigh, I began. "I hold no ill feeling for your actions, speaking with Zimena is an honour. First of all though, may I ask what group you support? I don't seek to challenge you, purely to know."

"Likewise, I might ask you the same. I am Zimena, leader of the Zebras United for Coltchester. The name suggests we are only zebra's, though this is untrue. Instead, it's simply that our group began entirely of zebra origin and has since expanded to take what Anarchists seek organisation, despite their name. No doubt some have joined the Peoples Liberation Army, as well. But what of you? You speak of being an outsider, so why do you fight under the banner of the P.L.A.C? What is it that drives you to their cause rather than ours, for example?"

"Their leaders came to me first, told me that they could lead me in the direction of what I seek and offered me shelter and medical treatment. I'm not in Coltchester to wage war from my settlement to yours, I'm here for information and a single item that I do not intend to harm anyone by taking. If the circumstances were different, I could have ended up supporting you instead." I answered, wanting nothing more than to please Zimena and have the discussion over so I could return to the gentle nursing hooves of Eos. The thought of her tenderness in how she would treat my injuries keeping me standing as the world grew darker around the edges of my vision. My stomach began to churn in pain, though I resisted the urge to throw up the best I could.

"You speak in earnest tones, your eyes do not betray you. I believe your motives and words, the fading strength of your very own limbs only pushes you to tell the truth. Here, I have a proposition for you. For as long as you represent a part of the P.L.A the ZU promises not to oppose you in your efforts to defeat the Coalition and may very well work with you in uniting Coltchester... if you can work with us to clean the city of filth. You have proven your capability here today, now we ask you to prove your sense of responsibility and duty. Secure a peace treaty, help us when we need it as we have helped you not just today, but also in the recent battle of Northern Coltchester, and we shall not stand in your way-"
With a small sneeze and the wipe of her nose, Zimena flushed in embarrassment before continuing. "...and with that, we shall let you go. Rest up, Crimson the Executioner. Coltchester shall not be easily defeated and never shall we cease to fight until the Coalition is gone. We will call upon your services soon."

Looking back at my friends, there was nothing more to say. Our new allies all began to walk away from the scene, secure in the knowledge that peace had been brokered with us for the current time, though a part of me questioned for how long. This could be an elaborate ploy, or it could have been sincere. Either way, it didn't matter. Freight Train picked me up and threw me over his shoulders with a little help from Tsunami before carrying me back to base... to a bed and caring hooves.
Closing my eyes, I could finally let temptation take over as the sensation of being carried gently lulled me into a numbness filled with white noise.

Author's Notes:

So, so very sorry this chapter took me forever to write. It was unintentional, as always.
I could whine about how the weather has been killer (30c + me = horrible mix. 0c + me = happy, normal
& is a good mix.)
I could also whine about how I've not been feeling creative... but a lot of that is my own fault because when you stop for too long, it feels like such a monster to get back into and between that, laziness, bad shifts at work that leave me little time to do what I want and life in general and... but you know what? It's my fault.
So I'm sorry.

But it's released now! Thanks for having read it, by the way!
Looking at how I still get views every single day lifts my heart and my soul. I can't believe it, because I -still- look at myself and this story and go: why?
Why do you all put up with me and this story? Obviously you all enjoy it to some extent, but I still can't understand why you do. I know why I do, but that's different.

Anyway, you all mean a lot to me and I'm so, so very sorry I'm not always the most approachable. Some people have the worst timing for when they try to talk to me - just as I'm going to sleep or work. Others... I don't know. I don't want to be unapproachable, so please don't think I don't want to talk to you.

Anyway, yeah. Thank you again for reading my story, it will always mean a lot to me that you do. If there's any suggestions you have, let me know them! Any criticism or compliments? Share away!
Also, as a personal request: What does everyone think of Eos for example? I know a few of my fans adore her, but so many people are so quiet, so yeah, wondering what the general thoughts are.

Next chapter will be a Cherry chapter, 100% promise!
I'll write the next two chapters as quickly as I can without simply rushing out content to have new content out and then after that, I'll work on rewriting chapter three. Sound good? Hope so!
Love you all.

Many thanks to everyone who reads, who has supported me at any time or who has given me the confidence to write.
Many thanks to Kkat for being an amazing person and making Fallout Equestria 'a thing' and also to Somber for making me see that writing recursive fanfic isn't the devils work. I've not personally read chapter 59 yet, but I still appreciate that he led to me doing this.
Thank you all.