//------------------------------// // 8 - The Setup // Story: The Lost Connection // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// “Hey kids,” Principal Celestia greeted Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich as they opened the door to her office. “Please, sit down. I have much I want to discuss with you.” “If it’s about the cannon, I didn’t have anything to do with it!” Cheese quickly mentioned. Celestia lifted an eyebrow, but quickly returned to her smiling expression. “None of that, Cheese Sandwich. You see, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and I wanted to plan a dance for it.” “A Valentine’s Day dance?” Pinkie literally bounced up and down in her seat. “Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me! I’ll get the decorations done! I can do it!” “I was getting to that.” Celestia resisted the urge to cover her ears with her hands. “I want you, Pinkie Pie, and you, Cheese Sandwich, to set up the decorations and do up a few posters and banners for me. And not just any banners. These need to be big and bold, in order to attract as much attention as possible. Think you can do it?” “Think we can do it?” Both party planners looked at each other and smirked. “You betcha we can, Principal Celestia!” Pinkie swung an arm and widened her already large smile. “No one plans parties better than we do! We’ll have it all up in no time!” “Wait, one question though, Principal Celestia,” Cheese raised a hand. “How big do you want these banners, specifically? Maybe… large like the soccer field? Or perhaps you want one as large as the school itself?” he ended with a grin to match. “Make them as big as is reasonably practical,” Celestia smiled at both teenagers. “You’ll also find Mr. Pierce to be a big help, he’s also doing the advertising for the dance. Miss Pie and Mr. Sandwich, I trust you can also arrange the dance for me? Just give me the sit-rep once you’re done, and I’ll take care of the rest.” “Righty-o, Principalio Celestia!” Pinkie puffed out her chest and saluted. “We’ll take care of all of this, no problemo!” “Same goes for me!” Cheese looked like he was about to salute, but pulled out a rubber chicken instead and squeezed it, making it squeal a most horrible sound. “We’ve got this, Boneless! We’ll make this the best Valentine’s Day dance you’ll ever see!” Celestia nodded approvingly. “I admire your enthusiasm. You’re dismissed then.” “Gotcha, Principal Celestia!” Pinkie bounced vigorously. “Come on, Cheese! Let’s get to work!” “What? But we still have class!” the brown haired boy’s voice trailed off as Pinkie Pie dragged him out, the door slowly closing behind them, leaving Celestia by herself once more. She steepled her fingers and tapped the tips together sinisterly. “Keikaku Doori.” Pierce stalked over to a cafe nearby, dragging his injured leg behind him, at the same time, trying to look like it wasn’t an injury. The worst thing he could do now was draw unwanted attention from people that were curious about his limp. The computer teacher didn’t bother to look at the name of the establishment as he pushed the door open, nodding to the greeting staff waiting for him inside as he made for the table. Earlier, he had received a message from the only other Assassin remaining, Keila. She asked for a place to meet, so he suggested a cafe close enough for him to walk to, but far enough that Principal Celestia wouldn’t suspect anything strange. Finally reaching the seat, Pierce sighed deeply as he leaned back and stretched his injured knee out. It was already in the process of healing, but it was like he could still feel the dart in his leg and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. “May I get you something while you order, sir?” The waitress stood over him and nodded a greeting, handing him a menu. “Just a cup of coffee. Black, thanks,” he told her, accepting the piece of board. “I just need something strong for recent events I have to deal with.” “At once, sir,” she smiled and walked off to the counter. Pierce Network gazed out one of the windows and tapped his fingers on the tabletop, his brains at work, trying to figure out what to do about Mirror Match. Soon turning his eyes to his phone instead, he opened the layout of the city, looking for good spots to hold out, if it came to a fight. The last time he had challenged Mirror Match, he had found a simple junction to do combat, utilizing his traps and hacking to take her on. It failed, but he felt it did indeed wound her to an extent. He was so busy plotting his next move that he almost failed to see a brown-skinned woman sitting down across from him, ordering herself a cup of coffee. She had on a grey half top and green cargo pants, and she had long white and black hair sprouting from her head. Her description matched the person he was looking for. “You must be Keila,” Pierce said without really looking up. “And you are Pierce Network?” she figured. “I’ve had the opportunity to hear of your work, but I heard you left.” “I did.” The computer teacher nodded his head. “I put the world of Assassins and Templars behind me, and I’ve been in this city ever since. But unfortunately, my past has come back to haunt me. You remember Mirror Match, I’m sure? The infamous Witch of Manehattan. She’s far from dead.” “Didn’t she fall off a skyscraper?” Keila recalled from the news. “How in the world did she survive something like that?” “I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out,” Pierce muttered. “Makes her tricky to deal with, not knowing how much punishment she can take. But she said something to me which makes me suspect she’s not as robust as she once was. ‘I scarcely have enough healing power for myself’. Makes me think she’s still healing up from her fall, or something. Might be worth looking into.” “So why have you called me here?” Keila shifted her elbows onto the table. “Is it because of her?” “It is,” Pierce confirmed. “She needed my help to secure her old assets for her, but I fear my usefulness is almost at an end. I need your help, Keila. I know you don’t really know me, nor do you have any reason to trust my judgment, but I need all the help I can get if I want to take Mirror Match down.” Keila seemed to contemplate her options, tapping a finger on the tabletop. “I thought it was the end of it all after we stopped Sombra. I thought I could leave all this business behind me…” “It’s fine if you don’t want to help, Keila. I’m not forcing you to do it. I’m just looking for people to help me take down Mirror Match. She’s dangerous. Very dangerous. I myself have trouble taking her down and I don’t know if we can even if there are a few more of us, but I feel we have to try.” “Looks like it’s worth a try.” Keila eventually nodded her head. “I’m in. In the end, it’s not like I have much to do anyway.” Pierce gave her a firm nod, but made no attempt to smile. “That’s good. The more help, the better. I just hope it’s enough when we do try to take her on. For now, it’s just us and Morning Blade. I take it that you know her, seeing as you were with the Trottingham bureau for a long time.” “Morning Blade? Yes,” Keila answered, playing with a few strands of her white hair. “We’re the only ones left, Pierce. Everyone else is gone.” “I know. She told me. Maybe the three of us are enough, but if I can find some old contacts, maybe they would be willing to help to, but I don’t think they want to get involved with Mirror Match, nor do I think it is a good idea to get them involved. When Mirror Match has a grudge, she holds it forever, longer than you can remain alive. I don’t want to drag them into this situation when they don’t exactly know what’s going on.” “But you’re willing to drag us into this?” Keila raised an eyebrow. “It’s different with you and Morning Blade. We’re Assassins, or at least, we used to be. We’ve tangled with Mirror Match before. We know how to kill, to fight, unlike the contacts I used to have. You’ve all heard stories of the Witch of Manehattan. You know what she’s capable of, you believe what she can do. We might be the only ones who can challenge her right now.” “Didn’t she successfully fight off you and four other highly ranked Assassins? What makes you think this time will be different?” “As I’ve said, she’s weak now. She mentioned so. We might just have a chance this time. And as for the element of surprise, I think we have it this time. I’m injured and she thinks I’m alone in all this right now. There’s no reason for you or Morning Blade to help me after I left the Brotherhood that night.” “It’s a lot of assumption, Pierce Network,” Keila said quietly. “But it’s not like we have much more to go on, huh? I’m in. There isn’t much of a choice.” “Thank you, Keila.” Pierce flipped his phone in his hands. “I know you don’t really know me, but thank you for still wanting to help out. It’s trying times like this that we should all band together against our common enemy. Staying divided is what destroys us.” “...Right,” Keila said after a few seconds. “So what’s the plan?” “I’ll keep in touch,” Pierce said. Just then, the waitress returned with his cup of coffee, placing it before him. “Thank you.” “Anything you would like, ma’am?” the waitress turned to Keila. “It’s fine. I was about to leave,” the Saddle Arabian told her. “Then I’ll be waiting, Pierce.” “Will do.” The computer teacher nodded and sipped his coffee. “Alright, kids. All of you better listen up, because I'm only saying this once." Pierce said once he was sure all the students were here to listen to him. He tried his best to get up on the stage without showing his injury, but it wasn’t easy. "As you all know, Valentine's Day is coming up. Principal Celestia and I have been talking and we've decided to have a Valentine's Day dance this Friday, after school. There will be food, drinks, music... Why am I telling you all that? Of course you already know.” He watched as the students murmured amongst themselves, some having excited expressions on their faces, some more confused than ever. It was probably because he was the teacher helping to plan this event out. The students who had been around long enough all knew that Pierce wasn’t one for parties and dancing, and the man knew it himself. Those two things bored him. “Anyway, kids.” Pierce stopped their jabbering and assumptions about him. “It'll be held here at five after school, so find someone to dance with. If you can. That's it from me. You may return to your classes.” The computer teacher watched as the students began leaving out through the gym doors, sighing to himself as he thought of how bad an idea this sounded. Of course the students were going to be doubting him. He never attended school events, he never hosted any and he most certainly didn’t enjoy dancing and parties. Mirror Match must have known all that and forced him to give the speech because of that. Heading back to class, Pierce booted up his computer and prepared the lesson as the students began to file in. They were still giving him weird looks and whispering to one another, but there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, he simply had to wait for the dance day to arrive and see if the plan works. After he gave the students their assignments, he worked on hacking various social media websites, placing more advertisements for the upcoming dance all over them, replacing all the other adverts. As he worked to get people to know about the dance, Celestia made herself known, closing the door behind herself after entering his classroom. “I hope you’ve advertised this dance to the best of your abilities,” Celestia said calmly. “Hiring a plane wasn’t cheap.” “There’s only so much I’m able to do.” Pierce kept his eyes on his phone. “After what you…” He remembered the students in the classroom. “After my little accident, there’s a limit to what I can do on my own. You’ll have to live with that, because in the end, you need my help for this.” “Umm… Principal Celestia?” one of the students, Indigo Wreath, raised his hand. “Why are we advertising this dance? Isn’t it a school only event?” “Well, it kind of is,” Celestia said with a gentle smile. “Except this year I’m trying to branch out to more schools, and by advertising the dance, perhaps other schools will catch on and we can have more joint-school events in the future.” “Well, as long as Crystal Prep isn’t a part of this.” The boy rubbed his head and got back to work. “I have no idea what that is,” Celestia muttered to herself. Some of the students gave her weird looks, but she quickly turned away from them. “Mr. Pierce, I’ll see you in my office during lunch break.” And then she left the classroom. “She’s not being serious, right?” The students began chatting amongst themselves, much to Pierce’s annoyance. He slapped a palm on the table, getting his class’ attention. “Kids, back to work. Principal Celestia’s presence doesn’t allow you to side track. I gave you an assignment. Make sure you get it down this period, otherwise you’re to do it as homework tonight.” “Yes, Mr. Pierce,” the class groaned collectively. The computer teacher sat back and proceeded to work out his plan to take down Mirror Match. He had scoped out Canterlot’s area using a maps app on his phone and he found a few good spots he could place his traps, but the only problem was that the city had a decent population. He wasn’t going to get this done silently, no matter how isolated they were. At most, he might have twenty to thirty minutes to kill her before the authorities show up, if he hacked the signals in the area. But that was only his backup plan. If Mirror Match did indeed leave him alone once he finished his work for her, then he would rather avoid the risk of facing her and losing. Now the next problem was how he was going to get Mirror Match into his designated trap zone. She’d have no reason to meet him anywhere besides school or maybe Pierce’s own home. He went on and on, trying to cover every detail he could think of. It was then that he remembered Principal Celestia. The real Principal Celestia. Mirror Match had her hidden somewhere. If he somehow managed to kill her, he might never be able to find her. If he wanted to go ahead with his plans, then he first had to figure out where Mirror was keeping the principal. Don’t worry, Principal Celestia. I’ll find you. I’m not going to let Mirror Match get the better of you or me. This time, she’s the one that’s at the end of the stick. Whatever he was planning to do, Pierce was going to have to wait till after the dance. He didn’t like parties, but he guessed once wouldn’t hurt. Hopefully.