Chapter 10
Shield stood in front of the six heavy boxes that his friends sent. Each one was labeled with the content they carried. He approached the first one, labeled: Research. He focused the energy in his gauntlet to form a punch dagger and cut open the tape. Once the tape had evaporated he took a look around the room, and he noticed that compared to what the rest of the house looked at the beginning he started thinking that the unpacking was just an inevitable chore. The room was painted in bright white except for the wall opposite to the backyard which was painted navy blue, the floor was covered in the same wood as the rest of the house and there was minimalist furniture all around.
The desk was a flat bed of stained glass supported by four black wooden posts. The two bookshelves were also black, with only a silver drawer to the left. The sliding glass door leading to the back was accompanied by a thick white curtain. There were some drawers too, also black. With a confused look he started blinking, hoping that he was just having visions.
He heard the door open behind him, and the individual that entered had a sweet fragrance about her. "Rarity, I think we need to have a talk." he said with a cool voice, kind of on-par with the villains in the Secret Agent movies. All he was missing was a large black chair and a white cat.
"I hope you liked it. I know I should have waited for your permission but I just wanted to do something to make you feel more like at home." she said with a smile, which faded away the second she saw two crimson blades forming in his fists.
With a quick turn Shield was pointing his weapon at the seamstress's neck, his face showing an angry frown. "You think I like this? HUH??"
Rarity was taken completely by surprise, she had put in so much effort in this particular room. "I thought you would like it, but there's no need to overreact..." she started negociating before he dismissed his blades and gave her a new definition of bear hug. This felt a little more like a boa constrictor was wrapping around her.
"I absolutely love it! No one has ever put so much effort into something for me! maybe my baby sister, but she never has done something like this." he said as his hug threatened to crack her spine. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou" he continued as he began jumping up and down.
Rarity tried to free herself from his tight grapple, and only succeeded when he got the memo. As she gazed upon his now-red face she saw tears coming down from his ice blue eyes. "Thank you so much! How did you know this was what I wanted? Actually scratch that, this is way better than what I had in mind."
Rarity blushed as she composed herself. "It was nothing really, I just made a few calls to some acquaintances of mine on trending things in Vanhoover, the Commission and also the Steel Legion. They all said the same thing: Be as simple and modern as possible."
The soldier cleaned his runny nose. "This is even better than when my dad gave me permission to go help Great Bridle after that hurricane struck. Or that time Grey Mane allowed me to forge Riot."
"I'm sure you've had better experiences." she said as she dusted off her white blouse.
"You don't get it, no one has ever been this kind to me without me saving them first or them shooting me in the back the second my back is turned." he sniffed. "I think I understand why you wanted me to unpack the boxes so much."
"Well... no, I wanted you to unpack those boxes because you have been neglecting your house for too long. You really should think about what you're doing with your life. I know commissioner work is tiring and requires a lot of attention, but you cannot just relinquish your duties to anyone else. You have to assume more responsibility for what you own. Imagine if I neglected my house, how would I be able to sleep if there were rats in my bed? Or how would I be able to prepare breakfast if I never clean the dishes? These may be menial tasks, but they are essential."
Shield sighed. He knew something like this had to have a downside. But one more look around made him calm down and realize something: behind all the scolding there was genuine interest in him, just like his mom. "Why is it that I can never win against women?"
"Because we are always right." she answered smugly. "I hope you understand the favor Princess Cadence is doing for you. She could snap her fingers and have a castle built just for her, but instead she decided to take on the huge responsibility that is taking care of your house and even bigger: You."
"Celestia, you had to bring this up. I know I have to mind my own house. It's just that the prospect of settling down, even if it's just for a bit seems too daunting for me. I've had to sleep with one eye open for the last eleven years, and just thinking about trying to live what you call normal life just seems dull."
"Why on earth would you spend eleven years in constant peril?"
"I can't remember why it even started. I know that my trip to Great Bridle has something to do with it, but I can't quite remember. I probably hit my head pretty hard at some point and I lost that memory."
"You mentioned forging your sword with Grey Mane, I'm sure you didn't mean The Grey Mane, the Master Forger in Concordia?" asked the fashion designer with an air of doubt.
"Yeah, that one. But like my paranoia, I can't remember why I was there in the first place. Y'konw, I'm starting to think that it wasn't a single hit that wiped my memory, it was probably all of those blows to the head I took during my years of Commissioner work." he answered as he pulled out a group picture with a black frame.
Rarity took a look at it and saw five friends hugging each other, all of them wearing thick light-grey overcoats in what appeared to be the mountains. All of them had gas masks dangling from the left side of their faces. Shield was in the center, a sword with an erect winged cross guard resting on an ogre's skull as he hugged two women smiling with him. The one to his left was a Seraph with brown wings, her helmet blocked most of her hair, except for a single strand of magenta hair protruding from the inside. Her left arm was clutching the soldier, while her other arm held a scythe covered in lightning and petals.
To Shield's right was a fair-skinned woman holding a silver rapier with her left hand. Behind her was a ruddy man holding an axe, still bloodied from fighting, and smiling as if he were being given an award.
To the opposite side of the picture standing behind the purple-haired woman was another man. He looked a lot like the one with the axe, but his smile wasn't so big as the rest.
"I still remember the day this picture was taken, It was our first Spring Cleaning Operation as a Formal STG" sighed Shield as he placed it on the desk.
"Oh, and what does Spring Cleaning consist of?" asked Rarity with some curiosity.
"Every year or so the Steel Legion will send a company of soldiers to investigate the caves on the Unicorn Range for pest control. The pest? Ogres. Big, green, smelly, dumb ogres."
"Ogres are considered pests in Vanhoover?"
"Yeah, Mostly because they are warmongering animals, but there's also the issue with their spores."
"I must admit I don't know much about magical creatures." said the seamstress as she looked for some chairs. "Would you care to explain?"
"Oh, I'd be delighted." answered the soldier as he grabbed a folded chair. "Ogres don't reproduce normally, instead, when they're killed they release dozens of spores that will eventually fester and will bring about a pack of strong ogres with all of his combat abilities ready. Those that turn out to be duds end up becoming goblins, which is actually even worse considering that they are the brains." he said.
"So you conduct your operations to ensure that the ever growing menace is contained in the caves and doesn't dare to walk into the city, right?"
"Yup in spring is usually when they get restless, so all we do is grab a couple of flamethrowers, a tank or two, a Fusion Bomb, and even a battleship if necessary."
"And what happens of they release their spores in the city? Do you have to wait for them to grow up before driving them out of the city?"
"Nope, not enough time. If one of the civilians inhales even a single spore they will have the most gruesome death available. If that were to happen we just kill the spores with fire, that immediately burns the eggs." he said casually.
'So who are your friends?" asked the seamstress as she grabbed the picture.
"This pretty lady with the scythe is Cherry Blossom, one of the most intelligent field engineers in the world. Tell her to hack a computer amid gangster fire, she can do it. Tell her to jury-rig a vehicle, just give her ten seconds while she gets the parts. The other bombshell is Moon dancer, and boy is she special. She's usually calm in every situation, but just dare do something stupid or act like a jerk and she'll pull out your vocal chords with her sword faster than Celestia eats bananas."
Rarity chuckled. "Would you like my help unpacking this?"
"I thought you wanted me to do this alone."
"I wanted you to start, I never said you had to do it alone." she said as she pulled out the latest issue of Captain Equestria.
.oOo.
Twilight was busy writing the various crimes on the data pad that rested on the table next to the rifles. She was almost done, she would have finished earlier if she had omitted an explanation, so she started eyeing the arsenal. As she finished filling out the papers she approached one of the five Hermes-pattern rifles. All of the rifles were in pristine condition, probably due to the fact that they were brand new and had never seen action like Manny that rested next to Riot.
"Hey girl, can you talk to me for a sec?" asked the prisioner as he tried to wriggle his hands out of the magical cuffs.
Twilight grabbed a bullpup rifle and aimed it at the prisoner. "Why?"
"I swear I ain't up to no-good. I just wanna know what you had planned for me. That monster said he was planning on putting me in the cage."
Twilight lowered the rifle and placed it next to the data pad. "Where's the Cage?"
"You don't know? Figures, you folks here live in glass houses after all. The Cage is a prison in Cloudsdale where solitary confinement consists of putting you in a cage in the middle of the sky, you jump and you're dead. Regular cells are very similar, so if you cause trouble you get dropped to the ground."
Twilight could picture it the effectiveness against standard delinquents, but considered it useless against fliers. "But what happens if you're a Seraph? You could just fly away."
"Nah, I heard that the bad criminals get their wings tied. And the ones that are bad motherfuckers get their wings clipped."
The librarian was forced to shrug. How could Princess Celestia allow something like this to happen? "So what do you want from me?"
"I need you to tell your pet to keep his sentence, and I don't want to spend more than one year in jail. He can have Boulder if that's what he wants, but I'm suing him if I spend an hour more than I have to." stated the leader of the gang with authority.
"And why would I do that? You beat my friend up and expect me to just help you?"
Serpent lost his authority. "Please, tell me what you want to do and I'll do it! Anything!"
"How about we make a deal: You tell me everything you know about Shield Heart and I'll make sure you have a fair trial." said the student calmly.
"Fine, but I really don't know much. They say he was one of them nobles, but he never really got along with them. Then, eleven years ago he got lost in Great Bridle and just reappeared in Vanhoover later. There he made his name by murdering any criminal that dared go out. I had three friends that got hired by Snake Eyes, the head honcho back then, and by the end of the week the city was delivering ashes to their families."
Twilight allowed the information to sink for a minute. "And that's it?"
"Nah, I'm just getting warmed up. They say he made a deal with a very powerful Shadow. Some say he sold his soul to Talos, the Concordian God of War." he pursed his lips. "Some say he's a demon and that's why you can't kill him."
"Go on."
"Some time ago, back when he reappeared he had this big showdown against Snake Eyes in the middle of the city. Snake Eyes had taken an overdose in Pixie dust and went berserk on your friend. Their brawl leveled a quarter of the city before the great Kaiju, as he was called by the Triad, dropped a twenty-story building on top of him. And that ain't even it. They also say he's responsible for killing dragons and taking white phosphorus bombs to the ogre caves under the Unicorn Range."
It took a while for the librarian to process everything. "So what does Kaiju mean?"
"Monster in their language. And after hearing about Manehattan I think it fits."
"What about Manehattan."
"After the death of Snake Eyes there was some fighting for the power over the criminal underworld. A beautiful woman from Mexicolt called The Mare of the South took over the Big Apple and took over the underworld. A year ago they send in Shield Heart and his buddies, the result? A thousand gangster corpses. They couldn't kill him, and when The Mare threatened to kill his little sister he destroyed part of the train station: killing her best friend and most of the most important chunk of her power with him.
"Some of my friends say that a threatening her sister is the worst mistake anyone can make."
"And why's that?"
"Lady, did you even listen to me? He blew up an entire Train Terminal just to show someone not to mess with his family. Even when one of the nobles accused her of being his bastard kid it didn't end well."
"Anything else you want to add?" asked Twilight as she grabbed the data-pad.
"Why don't you ask him? He's your pet after all."