“Coincidental Reunions”
By DarkMalcontent
Co author and proof by Alisia
Wingless Editor Brawny Buck
***
Applejack narrowed her eyes. The crazy wild haired lady was her main concern, her thugs were already taking a step or two back from her position, a look of uncertainty across their faces.
“I'll say this, she has a much better fashion sense then most.” Mayhem chuckled. “Do try to keep her outfit intact. I want it and her head on my wall.”
“Bleh! Who hangs heads on their walls?!” Dash chimed in, sticking her tongue out in minor disgust.
“Aw man this is getting boring. Waste’em!” Babs finally shouted, the gunfire from the rifles each had echoing across the rooftop.
Applejack shielded herself as bullets struck around her, sending gravel flying. The magazines ran dry, the dust settling around her, revealing her miraculously unharmed figure. A slow smile formed on her face, breaking only for a moment as she felt her new outfit ride up on her in several areas. Tugging at the material of her unitard subtly, the expression snapped back in place with her crossing her arms defiantly.
“Now then...” Applejack finally broke the silence. “Y'all get a final chance. Leave. Or I'm fixin’ to throw ya off this roof the hard way.”
Two of the girls stepped back trembling with fallen faces. Swiftly they both threw their rifles down, turned and dashed. Mayhem snarled, baring her teeth. “No deserters.” Two razor sharp tendrils flew out and impaled through the fabric and flesh of the two females. Neither had time to scream as the sickening sound of blood and organs being punctured filled the air. Each had their backs burst open in a spectacle of red rain. The other members still standing stared in horror. Although having seen this before, it wasn’t any easier for some, whom were covering their mouths and trying to hold down their dinner.
Mayhem brought one girl closer, grabbed her hair roughly and violently threw her off the tendril. Before the body could even touch the ground, it was sliced in two then one more to remove the head. Other members moved away as the heroes behind AJ stared wide eyed and speechless. AJ’s face had fallen at the sight and lowered her head, her mouth covered with a hot sensation in her throat. The second body was thrown up into the air and impaled sixe more times with one going through the forehead, which expelled shreds of brain tissue. Upon the blood soaked body’s conclusion to the ground, the skull cracked and seeped what remained of the blood.
The villainess chuckled in her throat with a crazed grin and wide, excited eyes at the sight. Soon she looked up and frowned at her minions staring in horror. “GET HER!” she bellowed fiercely and leaned back with her tendrils repositioning to support her while the others charged to engage the new heroine.
Applejack brought her fists up and chin down as she focused on the girl charging her with a hammer. Applejack slipped under the clumsy swing, that left the girl wide open for a backhand that knocked her straight to the ground. Within the same motion, Applejack blocked the second thug’s baseball bat with her left bracer, which proved as a distraction as she was tackled around the waist by a third thug.
Bracing herself in time, AJ's body didn't budge as the girl made contact. Crumpling up on the ground, she saw the thug roll weakly to the side in obvious pain. Glancing back up, AJ saw the last two girls close distance in hope's of overwhelming her.
Their swings stopped as Applejack caught each makeshift club with a hand. Both items flew over the edge of the roof as her super strength sent them out of reach. A howl of pain was all one of the girls got from their desperate punch to AJ's stomach. The girl clutched her hand as she joined the crumpled foe from before on the ground. Finishing off the last girl with two quick kicks, sweeping her off balance and then flinging her back several feet with a crane kick to the chest.
“I warned y’all.” She shrugged to the pile of groaning girls under her. Barely registering the final gang member, her smile returned with the few steps backwards the thug took.
Suddenly a loud metallic thud behind her broke her concentration. “Eh?” was all she had time to utter. Babs took aim at the propane tank as a final desperate attempt by the last girl hit her. Three quick strikes hit Applejack in the chest, bringing her focus to her last foe. The girl hurled herself forward in a powerful tackle to AJ. Unphased and unamused, Applejack punctuated her mood by picking the girl up with a single hand, lifting her high and staring up at her. “Now that’s just dirty pool.” She smirked as she grabbed hold with both hands and suplexed her to the rooftop gravel.
Applejack ducked as a gunshot rang out, turning in time to see Babs smile before a concussion wave overtook the hero. Flames and a loud ring from the propane tank rupturing followed quickly. Desperate for purchase, AJ grabbed and caught piping that nearly buckled just as quick. The wave and heat had vanished, letting her check on her friends to make sure she was the only one who took the hit. The last of the smoke and dust cleared, leaving Sunset and Twilight's amazed expressions.“Ya need to vamoose. I’ll keep these two busy, ECPD and JUSTICE is en route.”
The confused look registered with her from both of them, while Dash merely stared blankly ahead. Applejack smirked. “It’s alright. You can trust me,” she pulled half her mask down for the two girls. “Honest.” She smiled as she replaced it and turned back.
“Wait. Not all of us are in shape to move...” Sunset shouted. “Impervia.” She corrected herself before AJ's name came out thankfully.
“Then get gathered up and I'll carry.” She shouted back as she ran back through the smoke.
“Babsy,” Mistress Mayhem tapped her chin as Applejack returned to view. “This one seems more than capable. Why don't you run along? Finish up the party plans.” A twisted smile came over her face. “Perhaps this one will last longer than our rodent!”
This was not what I expected for my first hero outing. Applejack pushed the doubt from her mind the best she could. Steeling herself, her eyes locked on Mayhem. “You fixin’ to come down or should I come up there?”
“Oh I've been on my feet all day,” Mayhem shrugged casually. “Why don't you meet me halfway?!” she finished as she sent a salvo of her spear tipped tendrils at the hero.
Applejack nimbly ducked the first two as another stabbed at her. She flipped forward, leaping off a tentacle as a springboard with a veer to the right. Almost taking a full hit from another set of spear tips, her bracers gave a dull metal clang as they deflected. Gaining ground, AJ shot herself forward, her impressive legs tensing and flexing off the roof towards her foe. Barely feeling the last set of spears deflect, she felt the last one tear into her costume. Sending her tight fist forward, she missed its mark of Mayhem's face again. Plummeting to the roof, Applejack left a small imprint on the gravel, coughing from the impact. Eyes widening she felt the world spin, the impact of a brick wall dazing her. Ok, I am NOT ready for someone of this level! Her mind barely registered, focused more on recovery and standing herself up.
A few stray bricks broke loose and hit AJ on the head, a soft frustrated grunt coaxing it's way out as they did. Applejack stood up, not wanting the monster to have an easy target. Bracing against the breaking wall, several more bricks shattered as the hero pushed off again, sailing towards Mayhem. Each deflection on her bracers came faster and faster as the distance closed. The final set of tentacles redirected as she got within shouting range. “Ma’am, you have some serious issues!” Applejack finally said, her right fist hitting home this time and connecting in a near perfect right cross to Mayhem's surprised face.
The impact thundered on the rooftop, shoving the insane woman back about a foot with her tendrils digging into the rooftop to keep her upright.
“Guess that takes care of tha-” she was cut off while dusting her hands off by a swift tight coiled grip around her arms and chest. She looked down to see the hard as steel hold was one of Mayhems tendrils. Applejack grunted with a fruitless squirm, causing Mayhem to laugh at the sight. Mayhem drew back several pointed tentacles, aiming them as precisely as arrows at the heroine. “Not to mention some nasty split ends!”
“I’ll show you split ends!” Mayhem laughed and stabbed her spears at Applejack’s head. Her laughter turned into shrieks as her tentacles retracted, crumpled up and broken, throbbing like a steady metronome. With a furious roar, Mayhem threw Applejack across three rooftops and burst into laughter when the heroine slammed into a billboard advertising ‘The Bucking View with Brawny!'.
Applejack moaned as she fell and hit the cement face first. Shaking her head she stood and looked up behind her. “Never cared for that show anyway.” She shook her arms out, flexed her legs and took a breath with her eyes locked on the hair menace. Applejack rose and lowered herself repeatedly before pushing off into a massive jump, ready to get back into the fray.
***
“That was Applejack.” Sunset said, turning to Twilight and then glancing at Dash. “This day just keeps getting weirder.” Turning to check on Pinkie, she hurdled over debris to her resting spot.
“Hey, you alright?” Sunset shuffled wood and bricks aside, Twilight and Dash joining her rescue efforts.
“Okay.” Pinkie sat up, several clouds of dust coming with her. “You are WAY heavier than you look.” She finished as a coughing fit started, ending as she hit her own chest and a rock flew out of her mouth. “Fluttershy?” she shook her friends body, her hand recoiling in shock as Sunset and the others arrived.
“Fluttershy?” Sunset raised another eyebrow, less surprised at that point. “OK, we need to get out of here before we start twenty questions.” She put her hand to Pinkie's shoulder. “Are you able to stand? AJ is holding off Crazy Hair until we can regroup.”
“Oh! That's Mistress Mayhem.” Pinkie corrected her, dusting her torn costume and tearing more off as she did more damage then cleaning. Several parts tore off around her midriff and just under her breasts, revealing her lack of even a bra. “Applejack's here? Sweet that's everyone!” Pinkie squealed in delight.
“Say you might want to cover up.” Sunset and Twilight both averted their eyes out of courtesy.
Dash smiled and shook her head. “Wow. Doesn't that chauf?”
“Huh?” Pinkie asked, a bewildered look for a moment before noticing her costume. She laughed. “OH! Naw. After a while it started to feel kinda good…”
“Let's get our friend out of here.” Sunset motioned to the unconscious vampire laying in front of them. “Then we can talk about fetishes later.”
“Spike is offline.” Twilight tapped her manual control panel, part of it broken off on her left forearm plating. “But I'm pretty sure I can get propulsion working to fly me out of here.” She shook her head. “Just me though. How are we getting the rest away?”
“Where are we going?” Dash shrugged, watching these Applejack and Mayhem ducked it out behind her. She gasped as Applejack was sent flying into a billboard across the rooftops.
“Oh no...” Twilight’s wide eyed expression tipped off Sunset as well. Turning to see Mayhem heading towards them. Flipping a panel on her right shoulder, several small canisters popped free and into her unarmored hand. “I can distract her for a few seconds while you girls--”
“Hold that thought.” Dash smiled as her sonar pinged once and she saw Applejack slam into Mayhem from behind. The jump gave enough impact to topple the villain over to the edge of the building. The hair went limp and fell as Mayhem lost consciousness.
“That ain't gunna keep her down for long.” Applejack said as she landed with a small thud. Turning to her friends, she tightened her mask and jogged over towards the ragged looking group. “Ya’all ready to jump for it?”
“We can't just let her go!” Twilight gestures with the flash bangs in her hand. “She may cause more..more..”
“Mayhem?” Sunset shrugged.
“I was trying for a different word.” Twilight slumped and nodded.
Sunset put two fingers to the side of her ear, the faint sound of radio traffic playing. “That's not an issue. Night and his capture team are about to arrive.” She motioned to Fluttershy. “And we need to get her to a hospital or at least back to the tower.”
“Ooo you have a tower!?” Pinkie smiled widely.
“Yeah Phoenix is right.” Twilight said, the metallic clanking of her canister locking into their holsters again. Her boots sputtered to life and levitated her into the air. “Follow us and keep up!”
Applejack grabbed Dash and Pinkie who still held onto Fluttershy and slung them onto her back, a massive display of strength as her legs sent her flying after Twilight.
Sunset concentrated and shot up after her, the entire group of newly united friends skimming off rooftops and trailing across the skyline, all heading towards the largest building: The Rarity Building.
***
Malcontent adjusted his tie in the mirror, a satisfied smile on his face. Giving the Windsor knot a final adjustment, Aria popped up in the background from the blankets. The flickering fireplace catching her gem, now glowing brightly, the siren looked at him from afar. Narrowing his eyes at her briefly, he tilted his head to adjust his collar. The mirror cast a different image of him than he knew others saw. His eyes were not human, but more wispy filled orbs giving off hints of purple and blue.
“Seems we both get what we wanted.” He turned to face her, the smile still across his face. Walking over towards her he looked over his shredded gloves and tossed them in the fire unceremoniously. Watching the leather be consumed by the flames, he suddenly turned back to look at her naked form on the bed. He adjusted his glasses and stared down at her. He waited until she broke the gaze, staring down to the floor. “Now that you had your refill, get dressed and meet me in the main hall. I've got all the pieces I need save for one.”
He lost his smile as he turned to the door, grabbing the steel handle with his hand. As he left, faint trails of ice stuck to it as he let go of it. Boots echoing down the hallway, he stopped at his chess table and picked up two blank pieces, and brought them to eye level.
“The game nears its end. Yet not all the pieces were apparent.” He quietly said aloud to himself, his tone slightly distant during his focus. While his eyes and hand glowed, blank pieces were wrapped in his blue magic for a moment before being released, revealing their new shapes. Setting them down, they smoldered briefly and visible: one was Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark and the other Sunset Shimmer's. “A different approach may be in order.” His smile returned, picking up Sunset’s piece and staring at it. “I may just be able to have my cake and eat it too.”
“Cake? I like cake. I miss cake.” Aria wandered in, pulling her hair into a ponytail as he turned to face her. “This whole eating one thing gets old after ten years.”
He smiled and patted her shoulder, his hand moving to her neck obsessively. The instinctive twitch she had to move away always amused him. Faint frost was formed on her collar, but her exposed neck wasn’t even showing goosebumps. “Now, now. We made a deal. You agreed to serve me, in all ways.” Malcontent leaned in, stared down at her for a moment before he gently shoved her back. He turned and rummaged through a wooden box under the table. “And you get a ticket home, all the power you desired, and the company of a kindred soul like myself.”
“She sure does serve him in all ways!” A giggling voice filled Arias head, as hard to drown out as a guilty conscious.
“Oh we see everything in here, sister…” Adagios voice broke over Sonata's. “Need some mouthwash?”
Aria clenched her eyes and willed away the thoughts and sounds of her trapped sisters. At the same moment Malcontent turned back and took notice of her clenched hands. “Sibling rivalry?”
“Its fine. What's the last part you need me to do?” Arias tone changed as she finished. “Darling?”
Malcontent seemed to approve of her word, though for only a measurable moment. He handed her an envelope with Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark on it. As she looked to try and open it, he slapped her hand.
“Ah ah. That's not for you. See that this gets to Twilight, Matterhorn, and see that she alone gets it.” He adjusted his glasses as he stepped back. “Make sure she knows no one else is to know its contents, then make your way back here.” He waved her off with a gentle gesture.
“Then we're going home?” Aria asked uneasily. “Right?”
“I promised you everything you deserve and more. Now, get going.” He turned away and sat at his chair, staring across the map of the city. A gentle curling smile came over his face as he steepled his fingers, staring intently at Sunset Shimmers cutie mark.
***
“Well that's just creepy.” Applejack said, pulling her mask off while she walked into a room filled with her friends. All of them were in worse shape than she was with Fluttershy still being unconscious. “All of us got superpowers but didn’t talk none about it?”
“Eyup.” Pinkie replied, her legs dangling off a sofa as she lay spread eagle. Her tattered remains of her costume left her not in much modesty, but she was apparently more bored than concerned. Blowing her fluffy hair out of her face repeatedly, she responded. “Seems that way.”
Rarity's heels clicked on the floor, causing most to turn to see her grace the sanctuary they had been given. “Not all of us, darling.” Flicking ashes from a lit cigarette, the fashionista made her way to a large desk in the room.
Twilight walked in from a side door, the Rarity buildings top floors were clear of prying eyes to her relief. Pulling off the rest of her destroyed armor, she set the salvageable items on a nearby table, the echo of each filling the penthouse sized living room they all resided in. “It seems we've got a lot to catch up on.”
Dash sat with Fluttershy, who was still out from her sustained fight with Mayhem. Checking her pulse, the blind girl sat back, satisfied by the result. “Still alive.”
“She seems to be recovering, her vitals have slowly risen since she got here.” Spike popped onto a vertical screen behind Fluttershy’s body, dressed in a doctor's lab coat and holding a clipboard. “She took quite a beating. Her clothing took more damage then she did.” Spike mentioned, a nearby cabinet opening by Twilight, several fluffy multi colored robes revealed. “Maaaybe...we should get her and Pinkie some more covering?”
“Good thinking, Spike.” Twilight gave a quick nod, her hands grabbing a robe in each and flinging one towards Pinkie. “I know you don’t seem to be bothered Pinkie, but some of us are more…”
“Repressed?” Pinkie smirked and began to cover herself.
“...Conservative was the word I'd use. Thank you.” Twilight smiled, having missed Pinkie's persistent positive perspective.
Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and helped Dash cover her up the best they could on the couch. Turning back to look at Pinkie, she noticed she was staring at Spike on screen, slowly moving to poke at the software dragon.
“Um..” Spike smiled and waved back at her. “Hi, Pinkie Pie?”
“That's just too weird.” Pinkie said, peering at Spike. “I remember sending a Happy Death Basket to Twilight when you...” she paused. “Are you really, Spike?”
“No.” Spike answered frankly. “Twilight's Spike died approximately eight years ago.” He pulled up a long string of code on his screen. “I am a self aware Artificial Intelligence that holds all that Twilight could program in by hand.” A series of pictures of Spike as a puppy, then a dog, then a sculpture of him as a dragon popped up on screen. “For all intents and purposes, I'm --”
“Of course he's Spike.” Twilight interrupted. “But now we need to focus on getting healed up, between Pinkies costume, Fluttershy and her wounds and Sunset's-”
“Hey, where is Sunset?” Applejack asked, walking around the corner and peeking.
As if on cue, Sunset walked in, her boots in one hand and her jacket in the other. “Here. I'm here. Sorry. I needed to get out of some of this.” She took a seat in an overstuffed chair. “Sounds like Night and the Meta Human team have Mayhem on the run.” She rubbed her neck, taking off her gloves and scratching her head a bit. Taking off her goggles, she leaned forward, putting her hands together as she stared down at the floor. “I should have stayed.”
“Problem like that won’t stay hidden long.” AJ out a hand on Sunset's shoulder in comfort. “Meanwhile, we, and I mean all of us, need to start catching up fast. Details can wait but we need the basics of what the heck is going on.”
“Applejack's right.” Twilight nodded, the bodysuit she was in tearing as she stepped forward. “Oh great.” She grumbled. “Let me go find something decent. I'll be right back.” She hid her body with her hands, sidestepping quickly and comically out the door.
“Well. While she deals with a wardrobe malfunction, I'll go first.” Rarity stood up, taking a slender smoke from her case and lighting it up.
“Not much to catch up on there.” Dash smirked, leaning back next to Fluttershy. “You made it. You're loaded. You own most of the businesses. You're pretty happy I take it.”
A puff of smoke left Rarity's mouth. “Actually, there's a bit more to it than that, Rainbow Dash.” Her heels clicked gently as she stopped short of the center of the room. At the same moment all the monitors around them lit up with the Rare Innovation logo.
“Whoa. Snazzy.” Pinkie poked at the closest one.
“Some time ago, I became…” Rarity paused, staring down a brief second. “Distracted by several emotional ailments. I fixed it with work at first but then turned quickly to alcohol and therapy.” Tilting her eyes up, she was happy to see no apparent judgement among her old friends. “It seems that during that time, my assistant, Coco Pommel, began abusing my trust...I was too generous with my liberties I gave her.” She took a drag from her cigarette, the screens shifting to show hundreds of invoices. “She used her authority to not only run the day to day operations, but work on shifting large amounts of resources through dummy accounts. A sum of some several million dollars.” The figures began adding up on screen, the sound of a cash register sounding. “She has now disappeared. Her phone is off and Spike cannot locate any movement of her.”
“Ouch.” Dash said, drumming her fingers as she shifted.
“Yes.” Rarity merely answered, the invoices popping up again. “It would be bad at that, but the more Spike and I dug, it became clear something else besides mere embezzling was going on.” Several spinning images of Equestrian City and the Canterlot Commonwealth displayed on screen. “Not only did she steal money, she allowed a back door for someone else to exploit a shipping log error. The error itself is unimportant, but what it allowed was whomever found this exploit also took great care to hide themselves. Sunset found a few traces of the error, which helped Spikey and myself while you were all out rough housing.”
“Hide and take what though?” Twilight asked, peering at the manifests. “Wait…” she squinted at several entries. “These are familiar.”
“What they do when combined I can't begin to tell you.” Rarity adjusted her reading glasses, staring down at a DataTablet in her hand. “But the manifests we have unmasked are the following.”
Several long lists of items began to scatter across the screen. Each one stacking on top of the other as Rarity continued. “Several tons of lead lined building material. Discarded by the Purgatory project as useless. Several miles of high capacity power cable and assorted electronics. Twelve shipments of rivets and welding material.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she saw the lower part of the list Rarity was reading. “Alot of these items I used when fixing the mirror up.” A hand went to her chin as she ponder. “ They all can be assembled to do a few things so I wouldn't assume its magic related.”
“On the contrary, Twilight, we should.” Rarity responded as a map over No Man's Land appeared. “All of the items are being shipped, in around about way, to the science outposts on the outskirts of Canterlot High School.”
“The same place Twilight and I fought Aria and her sisters at.” Sunset added, standing up to peer closer. Tapping a spot on the map screen. “There.”
“Makes sense. There's a service road that goes through that entire back area.” Spike popped up on the layout and poked with a claw. “Since we know Aria and presumably her male friend--”
“Malcontent.” Twilight interrupted. “He told me his name in the alley. Didn't seem too worried if I knew. Course he was about to kill me.”
“That's another thing, based on what scans I took, he was giving off an energy signature that was more like the kind you and Sunset give off.” Spike pulled a window shade down on screen, showing off a stream of data superimposed over Sunset and Twilights basic figures.
“My hips can't be that big.” Sunset stared down at her body a brief second, feeling rather uncomfortable with herself. “Wait, that geek gave off our signature?”
“Wait-wait-wait.” Dash raised a hand. “Could someone explain this to those of us who can't see flat screen monitors?” She waved a hand in front of her own eyes.
“Spike’s saying that it looks this Mal guy is just like them.” Pinkie chimed in as she dropped to a standing position from the sofa.
“So he...came from your world? How? The portal was destroyed.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
“He must have another portal.” Sunset rubbed her own chin now. “Or he was already here.”
“I'm not sure which of those ideas is more unsettling.” Twilight raised an eyebrow as her gaze turned to Sunset. “But whatever those two are up to, it's clear that it focuses inside the No Man's Land.”
“We need some more respirators for sure.” Sunset's demeanor changed to a more focused tone. Her eyes looked over the map and returned to her friend. “How soon can you get two more ready?”
“Whoa-whoa-whoa. Two? You forget how to count? “ Dash snapped to an upright posture, her mask coming completely off as she did. The room lighting reflected off her eyes.
“Look, Rainbow Dash, I appreciate you want to help.” Sunset shook her head. “But this is dangerous. We barely made it out alive last time. The things that place makes you see…” she paused as images of her own guilt popped into her head. “Just...trust me when I say it's not something you want to experience.”
“No problem.” Dash was quick to respond. “I can't see anyway. Not normally.” She smiled. “Besides, what sort of friend would I be if I didn’t help you all?”
Sunset sighed and shook her head with a frustrated smirk. “Alright. I can't win with Twilight, I sure as heck can't win against all six. So let's let our think team here work on what this Malcontent is making.” She stood up, having slipped her boots back on. “I assume you all have spare costumes?”
Twilight jumped, startled as a table top opened near her and a small handful of identification cards appeared.
“Sorry, Twilight.” Spike chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Rarity had me print these up.”
“Thank you, Spikey.” Rarity plucked the batch of cards up in a simple gesture and shuffled them in her hands idly. “My tower is secure, and it has some amenities you may find useful. I'm not sure who has what at their disposal but I can offer basic shower facilities and a safe place from prying eyes.” She moved with grace, easily flipping all the cards into a center table. “These will get you all back into the tower.” She took a drag from her cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke. “As the sun is nearly rising, I assume at least some of you have other responsibilities, or at the least, as Sunset suggested, need to change into a spare set of clothes.”
The girls all picked up the white proximity cards carefully, each examining them, save Dash who simply pocketed it.
“Alright. Meet back here when you all get yourself in a more presentable state. Twilight and I will tend to our dear sleeping Sybil.” Rarity motioned to the unconscious Fluttershy.
“Not to mention we have a meeting with Spitfire today.” Twilight mentioned offhand.
“Quite right.” Rarity smiled at her old friends. “So I'll see you all this evening, or sooner. Twilight and Spike can show you all a discrete exit location.”
The girls all stood up, save Fluttershy who was still out on the sofa, leaving the room with chatter and discussion. Rarity smiled, arms still crossed as she stuck the half gone cigarette to her lips and walked across the office to a bookshelf. A cursory glance of the books and she revealed a small wet bar behind it all.
She paused and looked at all the fine spirits she had hidden. Glancing back to make sure she was all alone, she cataloged the items more closely. Clanking glass and ice cubes filled the otherwise silent room, followed by the sound of a fine scotch being poured into the glass.
Walking over to her desk, the shelves closed behind her and she sat down, setting the prepared drink without sipping it. Leaning back, the sound of her shoes clanking to the floor echoed. Rubbing her feet, she was happy she didn’t have stockings to worry about, the ache from the day coming out as she did. Glancing down at her nails she scoffed, polish was chipping off, leaving her feeling naked almost.
Feet propped up on her desk, the fashionista leaned back, her eyes locked on the drink she had made for herself. The drink she kept pushing back from her mind as she woke that day. The same drink that she almost lost focus because of during a phone interview earlier. The same drink that crept into her mind even after she was reunited with her long lost friends.
She stared at the drink. The ice in it shifted, as if to indicate to her it was staring back.
A long silence filled the room as she reached towards the drink, hesitated and pulled back.
Squinting at it, she turned and began looking over her tablet to pull up data from the day, the glass just in her line of vision.
Finally she reached for it and took a long drink from it, closing her eyes and letting a smile run over her face. Leaning back further, she forgot the numbers on the screen and began to let the warm rush of the liquor take over.
Just one won’t hurt. She thought as she took another gulp.
***
End of episode
***