2 - The Offer
Pierce Network yawned and powered off his computer. It was nearing sundown here at Canterlot High, and it was about time for the computer teacher to head home and sit in front of his home computer for another few hours while he ate dinner. Pierce liked good food but couldn’t be bothered to cook for himself, hence his fridge was stuffed full of ready to eat meals from the local department store.
As Pierce entered the Canterlot High parking lot, he was pleased to see that Vice Principal Luna’s car was still here. That woman burned the midnight oil even more so than he did. Chuckling, he unlocked his grey sedan and slipped into the driver’s seat.
It was a short drive back to his home, a plain one-storey house with a front porch and built in garage. He activated the door with his phone; like most of the devices in his house like the porch lights and the burglar alarm, they were all linked to his cell phone for easy access.
Parking the car in his garage, Pierce exited the vehicle and proceeded into his house through the garage side door, unlocking the lock with his phone.
The man slightly smiled to himself as he thought about how convenient everything was with his phone and modern technology. He wouldn’t have lived this long if it weren’t for this trusty companion here.
Pierce shrugged his coat from his shoulders, setting it down on a chair before getting himself a glass of water from the sink. He opened the fridge and pulled out a sealed box, opened the wrapping, and put it into the oven, setting it for twenty-five minutes, like he did pretty much every evening.
The computer teacher picked up his glass of water before going into his room, where his high-end computer was. With all the latest in hardware and software, this was a rig that was matched only by the one he maintained at Canterlot High. Most of his salary had gone into souping up both computers, and it was for that reason that every student at CHS knew not to touch his school computer, lest they invoke the wrath of Pierce Network.
Powering up his PC, Pierce was about to sit down and start surfing the net when he was interrupted by his doorbell ringing.
Ding-dong!
He sighed and got up. “Who could be ringing me at this hour? I didn’t order anything, so it mustn’t be the delivery man. Let’s just go have a look and see what we’ve got…”
Bringing up the security feed for the camera he had installed above the front door, Pierce was surprised to see Principal Celestia standing on his doormat, her handbag slung over one shoulder. She looked up at the camera and smiled.
“What on earth is Principal Celestia doing here at my home?” he asked himself as she looked back down at his door. “She’s never come here. Is it something important? Did I do something wrong in school again, perhaps? No, I haven’t hit a student in months. It must be about something else.”
Sighing, Pierce Network unlocked the door and pulled it open.
“Mr. Pierce!” Principal Celestia said brightly. “Just the man who I wanted to see.”
“Principal Celestia,” the computer teacher greeted. “Odd to see you here. I thought perhaps I had done something wrong in school, but I realize I didn’t, so that isn’t why you’re here. Is this something important that you had to see me in person? No one’s ever come all the way here before.”
“There is something important I have to tell you,” Celestia continued to smile, gesturing with one hand. “But let’s go inside. I don’t feel like explaining it all on your doorstep.”
Pierce raised an eyebrow, but gestured for her to enter anyway. That was an odd statement. Principal Celestia never phrased anything like that before. Maybe this important thing wasn’t a good thing.
“Please, sit,” he pointed to his chair. “Would you like a glass of water? Water’s good for the body. Kids these days just enjoy their flavored drinks. They’re not as healthy as kids back in the day.”
Pierce could have sworn he saw Celestia’s eyelid twitch, as if in annoyance, but that couldn’t be. Principal Celestia was well known in all her social circles for having unlimited stores of patience. Then she nodded her head and widened her smile.
“Yes please.”
The computer teacher walked over to his kitchen and filled up another glass with his tap water, returning a few seconds later and handing it to his principal.
“So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Principal Celestia? Is the school looking for some changes? If you’d like, I can boost up the firewall and the internet for you. The school doesn’t exactly have the best protection there is. I can think of plenty of ways to increase its security.”
Celestia’s smile seemed to broaden.
“Actually, I had something far more… personal to talk to you about. Now if you’ll just take a seat…” The principal gestured to an empty chair across from her.
Dutifully, Pierce sat down. And that was when Principal Celestia pulled back her left sleeve and shot him in the knee with a phantom blade dart.
Pierce instantly reacted, grabbing for his knee as he fell to the floor, gasping in pain. It hurt badly when he moved his knee, forcing him to keep it bent, unable to get up on his feet. Then Principal Celestia rose off her chair and bent down beside him, a calm and peaceful smile still on her face.
“W-What… why?” Pierce knew there had been something odd about her the moment she came into his home, but as he lay there cradling his leg, he still couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then he remembered the phantom blade under her sleeve. Very few people in the Assassin Brotherhood had used that weapon. “It can’t be…”
“Here, let me give you a hand,” Celestia said, bending down and taking Pierce’s hand. Then she raised it to her mouth and bit down. Pierce gasped as a pair of two inch-long fangs punctured his skin, shooting a paralyzing venom into his bloodstream.
Soon, he realized he couldn’t move anymore, but the pain in his knee was still terrible. “H-How are you still alive? I watched the news… You died… Fell off your balcony… How are you here? How are you Principal Celestia?”
Principal Celestia folded back the arms of her wristbow, smirking down at him.
“And you thought a little tumble like that would be enough to kill me? You underestimate me, Pierce Network. As for how I am Principal Celestia, let’s just say that I’m very adept at copying others.”
Pierce looked back down at the ground and gritted his teeth, trying to steel his nerves against the pain. “I know why you’re here. You’re here to finish what you started all those years ago. You killed the rest of them, but you didn’t kill me. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You’re here to finish what happened that night I escaped from you.”
“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” Celestia said, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a short, jagged black dagger that hissed with green toxin along its length. She licked its blade before returning it back to its sheath. “I could finish you right now… but that would do me no good at all. What I’m giving you today, is a chance to earn your pardon.”
“Earn… my pardon?” the computer teacher repeated. “What do you plan on doing? I know you enough to know I can’t trust you… What could you possibly… be planning? It can’t be something good… How did you even find me? I was sure I covered all my tracks...”
“Nothing escapes the Board of Education’s eyes… and even if the Templars are finished, their data still stands. Finding you with their information was childishly simple,” Celestia glared at Pierce with a malice that the real Celestia would never have on her face. With her fangs out, this Celestia looked like a vampire, and Pierce was the main course. “You didn’t even bother to change your name.”
Pierce looked at her and sighed. Thinking back, perhaps he should’ve changed his name. He had shortened it to just Mr. Pierce, but apparently, that wasn’t good enough. Mirror Match had still managed to track him down, probably realizing the names ‘Pierce’ and being a computer teacher were too good to be a coincidence.
“So what are you planning?” he asked her again. “What do you... have in store for me? Is it some grand scheme to return... to the top of power once again?”
Celestia waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing so melodramatic. I simply want to take back what’s mine.”
“What’s yours…? What do you possibly hope to accomplish here, Mirror Match? Even I am unsure of what you want, exactly, and I usually have it all planned out. That’s how I... evaded you for so many years. I had planned everything... down to the small details. I even stopped wearing that brown coat of mine, hoping that I wouldn’t attract any attention with it on. And I was right… I did avoid it. Until now.”
“Oh, for the love of the queen, will you just stop talking? You’re giving me a headache,” Celestia growled, taking aim with her phantom blade. “Or this goes into your other knee, and we’ll see how talkative you are then.”
Pierce narrowed his eyes, but did as she said. He didn’t need a second arrow. The first one was already doing its job of hurting him badly.
Celestia put a hand on her chest, composing herself. “As I was saying, I want to take back what’s mine. My fortune and my estate. When I was declared dead by the authorities,” Celestia’s face darkened. “They froze all my assets and put my home into dispute. I want it all back. And you’d better be able to help me, or I will ensure that your life becomes as much of a living hell as I can make it.”
Dipping her fingers into her handbag, Celestia drew out a sheaf of papers.
“These papers document all of your illegal activities, from hacking the Board of Education’s database, to all your killings in the Assassin Brotherhood as well as your career as a vigilante in Chicoltgo. Yes, I looked into those as well,” Celestia said smugly, spreading the papers out on the table for Pierce to see. “You can keep this set, I’ve got extras. If you refuse, I will distribute these documents to the authorities.
“And in case you think of trying anything clever once my bite wears off, I think you should know: I’ve got the real Principal Celestia tucked away in one of my safehouses. You kill me, and Celestia will die of starvation,” Celestia smiled thinly at Pierce. “So, what will it be?”
The computer teacher didn’t see another option. If he wanted to live, if he wanted to find a way to stop her, he first had to play along. As for the real Principal Celestia, he had to protect her. “What do you… want me to do first?”
Celestia beamed down at Pierce.
“Oh, I knew you’d see the light. Well, first thing is for you to wait until my bite wears off. Then tomorrow, after I’ve fed Celestia, we’ll talk about what I want done. Deal?”
“What… What about my leg? How am I to get around like this…?” Pierce knew there was blood dripping down his injury to his floor, but he didn’t know how much blood he was losing. “How can I help… like this?”
Celestia blew air from her nose. “That’s your problem, not mine. I suggest you get that fixed up, or our partnership will be rather short-lived.”
Pierce grunted, but there was nothing else he could do until the bite wore off, nor did he have anything more to say to Mirror Match.
“Don’t bother getting up, I can see myself out,” Celestia rose to her feet, her knees cracking as she did so. She stopped at the door. “Sayonara, Pierce Network. I do look forward to working with you.”
And then she was gone.
Pierce, unable to do anything more, simply lay on the floor, putting up with his pain, waiting for the poison to wear off. This was going to be a while.
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thx
I've seen his name mentioned a bunch in Leap of Faith. So here he is at last and so is Mirror Match!!
how could she have survived that??
Ohh shit son! Mirror Match is back. I knew she didn't die! What could she possibly want with Pierce?
7848442 Yup, I knew she wasn't dead
Is this that guy, A.K.A. Cranky Doodle that kept getting referenced in LOF (Leap Of Faith)?
I knew she would live....
Will Sunset be in this.
Huh, seems like I should read the previous story first.
hmmm, Mirror must want Pierce to hack into the mainframe and get Mirror's account back.
So he was an ex-Templar before the fall of it even happen in Leap of Faith?
9873811
Pierce Network used to be an Assassin, but he left the faction after the events of A Long Way to Fall, which is the prequel to Leap of Faith.
Is that Mirror Match?
What a start.
Psithyra and Pierce in one story, it's like this was made for me. Always hype.