Chapter 29: Criminal Intent
“Yet another day without the Stalker’s presence,” Flash Sentry placed both hands behind his head. “You think that steampipe incident on the news was his doing? The one on the road? I mean, steam pipes don’t just blow up, you know?”
“Well, who knows?” Home Run shrugged. “Besides, it could just be a faulty screw or something. We should just let the police worry about that.” In truth, the baseballer wanted to know more about that too, but it didn’t seem like the Stalker’s doing.
“You think we can go back to normal life now? I mean… Really?”
“I wish,” Home Run said as he placed his tray of food on the table beside the blue haired guitarist. “If anything, at least Mr. Pierce called in sick today. That was one less thing we had to worry about.”
“Yeah I guess so,” Flash leaned forward and began digging into his pasta. “Substitute teacher? Yes, please. At least she knows how to let a class have fun. Imagine if we had her as our teacher instead.”
“So true,” Home Run picked up one of his sandwiches. “Well, I do hope he’s okay. I mean, you know, he might be a bad teacher and all, but he’s still a person.”
“Guess so. As long as the Stalker didn’t get him, I’m sure he’s fine.”
Home Run figured it must’ve been something to do with his bad leg. Maybe he went for surgery to fix it up. Or maybe it was like they said, back in computer class. What if Mr. Pierce’s shady past caught up to him. It could’ve been some criminal overlord coming back to have revenge or to collect payment, or maybe even the cops, if Mr. Pierce was a bad sort of guy. Until the computer teacher returned to school, they could only come up with assumptions of what happened to their grumpy, monotonous teacher.
“Anyway, Vauban said he activated a radar, so he should be able to find the Stalker if he shows up.”
“Should be able?” Flash asked with a string of pasta slowly disappearing in his mouth. “Should? He’s not certain?”
“We don’t exactly know what that thing is, so…” Home Run moved his hand in a circle. “Yeah. He might not even appear on the normal radar.”
“Fair enough.”
After lunch, the boys went their separate ways with Home Run heading to science class with Mr. Discord. He still couldn’t help but think the Stalker was playing with them. Surely he was watching them right now.
The baseball player was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t see a poofy orange haired girl until he walked right into her.
“Agh!” she yelled as she fell.
Instinctively, Home Run reached a hand out to keep her from falling, grabbing the girl around her waist. He stared into her purple eyes for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The boy never thought he would actually reach her in time.
“I am so sorry about that!” he apologized quickly. “Are you alright?”
The girl frowned at him for a second, but eventually nodded her head as Home Run got her back on her feet. “It’s fine. Nice of you to help me.”
Home Run had never seen her before, and she wasn’t alone. Two more girls stood behind her, one with blue striped hair and the other with purple-green hair. All three of them seemed to be wearing outfits from some kind of dancing show of some sort. They were some pretty interesting looking characters for sure.
“Well, you take care, stranger,” she smirked at Home Run as she passed him. “Maybe I’ll see you again.”
They disappeared around the corner, followed shortly by a shout, presumably from the one he saved. “I do not like him! It just so happened he pulled me back up!”
“Whatever,” a more bored sounding voice replied.
“Uh…” Home Run mumbled before letting out an awkward laugh. He’d seen weirder things before after all. He turned back and ran along to science class, not wanting to be late.
Home Run found the girls at the school’s statue out front after school, talking to each other about something, with the occasional look over to the side of the school building.
“Uh, hi girls,” Home Run said slowly as he joined them, looking over to where they were looking at. He noticed the three girls from earlier, the ones he had bumped into, standing by the corner of school, talking amongst themselves. “What’s up…?”
“It’s the sirens,” Sunset Shimmer narrowed her eyes, clutching her journal closer to her chest. “Remember what I told you about the Battle of the Bands?”
“You mean the magical singing and magic and stuff?” Home Run asked.
“Yeah. Those three over there?” Sunset pointed. “They were the cause of all of it. They ran away, but now they’re back. Just be careful around them.”
“Well, I did bump into them just now,” Home Run told his friends. “They seemed... nice. Are you sure they’re still bad? I mean, they weren't even mad that I basically ran into them.”
“Well, to be honest, we don’t know,” Fluttershy spoke for them, pulling at her pink hair. “But… I still think they’re kind of scary.”
“You girls thought I was a monster when I first got here,” Home Run reminded them, changing a few of their faces to guilty ones. “I think you should give them a chance, you know?”
“Home Run’s right,” Sunset nodded confidently and turned to her friends. “At least one chance. If they’re truly back here to be among us like all the other kids, we should give them a shot at being friends.”
“If you say so, Sunset.” Rainbow Dash didn’t seem convinced. “But I’ll keep my eye on them, just in case.”
“What’s your take on the sirens?” Home Run found himself asking Flash Sentry as they headed back.
“The sirens? You mean the girls that controlled our minds with their singing? I don’t have fond memories of them, since you want to know.”
“Oh, well…” Just then, a black car stopped at the traffic light, just a few feet in front of them. As the two boys got closer, Home Run noticed big poofy orange hair by one of the windows. “Isn’t that them?”
“Oh yeah,” Flash said after noticing the hair. “Adagio Dazzle. I believe she was the leader of the group.”
One of the girls, the one with blue striped hair tied up into a high ponytail, looked out the window and noticed them. She waved at them for a second before leaning back to tell the others. Soon, three faces were looking out the window, except for the driver, whom Home Run couldn’t identify.
Home Run smiled and waved back, but Flash didn’t seem too pleased by it, so he stopped. As soon as the traffic light turned green, the car was away, zooming down the streets and out of sight; by the looks of it, it was headed towards the city.
“I still don’t trust them,” Flash folded his arms. “They turned us against each other, you know?”
“I don’t see why we can’t be nice,” Home Run said as he wheeled his back along the pavement. “The past is the past as I like to say.”
Flash raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never said that.”
“It’s a good saying at least. But yeah, from what the Rainbooms said, the sirens have lost their powers. I mean, what can they do now? Stare at you to death?”
“Well, you weren’t there, Home Run.” Flash began explaining the event a little more in detail than what Sunset had told him. Home Run could never imagine how such a nice school like CHS could turn against each other like the stories said. "I wasn't a good time. Wasn't."
“You guys forgave Sunset,” Home Run reminded him. “Sure, you all tried to leave her alone, but she redeemed herself. Why don’t we see what these sirens do first? For all we know, they’re doing just that.”
“You’re a tough nut to convince, Homey. But yeah, I guess I’ll give it a try. Twilight would want that.”
Arriving back at Home Run’s place, the boys wasted no time in getting their homework out and on the table, doing what they could as quickly as they could. Flash didn’t get one of the math equations, but Home Run was quick to help him out.
“How are you good at this, Home Run?” the guitarist decided to ask. “I mean, no offense, but you’re a sports guy and all. I would never have taken you for a mathematician.”
“I’ve never minded math,” Home Run started, twirling his mechanical pencil in his hand. “I think numbers and equations are a fun challenge to solve. Kinda like puzzles.”
“Huh… Well, the only class for me is music,” Flash admitted, leaning back in his seat. “You know… Guitar and all.”
“I already have my music credit, so I haven’t seen a point to get another. But you know me. I prefer more time for baseball.”
“So let’s see here,” Flash counted his fingers. “You play sports, you play the guitar, you're good at math, you’re doing good in computer. Why, that’s pretty good! I wish I had that many talents. You think you'd be more popular with such a large variety of skills.”
Just then, Home Run’s phone rang, distracting him from the conversation. He reached a hand over and picked it up, looking at the screen. It was Rainbow Dash.
What would the captain want now? Home Run shrugged and pressed the accept call button, putting the phone to his ear. “Yeah, Dash? Home Run here.”
“Hey, slugger. Just wanted to check with you if you’re all coming for the meeting later. Twilight’s castle. Seems the ‘Lotus’ has something to tell us.”
“Oh,” Home Run looked at the clock. They still had a bunch of time to cover their work. “Sure. We’ll be there, capt.”
“Sweet. See you soon!”
“How is your, uh, relationship with her working out?” Flash asked as Home Run stood to keep his phone in his pocket. “If that’s what you call a... relationship.”
“It’s good now. All cleared up.” Home Run explained his talk with her. “I think I just needed that talk. I can thank Vauban for that. He forced me to do it.”
“It was for your own good, Home Run,” his Tenno spoke in their heads. “But come. Let us go. The Lotus wishes to see us.”
“Back to school, huh?” Flash sighed and began packing his things. “Maybe next time, we should just do our homework in school.”
The trip back was fast enough, though Flash Sentry and Volt had arrived first. Home Run cycled his way there, but the guitarist equipped his Frame and zoomed off, sparking electricity along his path.
“Not bad, Flash,” Home Run congratulated as he parked his bike next to the CHS statue. “Maybe you should train more. See what else your Warframe can do.”
Walking through the mirror, the boys noticed everyone else was already there, waiting for them.
“Took your time, guys,” Rainbow joked and patted Home Run on the back.
“So what’s so important that we had to meet now?” Flash asked, folding Volt’s helmet away. "We had homework."
Twilight trotted over, still in her pony form. “I just got a message from Princess Celestia. Apparently, the one that attacked her inner sanctum, Duality, or more accurately an old friend of hers, Stardust, had contacted her, using only three words. Neural Sentry. Destroy.”
“Neural Sentry?” Trixie said out loud. “Trixie has no knowledge of what this is. A relative of Flash’s perhaps?”
“Ha ha, very funny, Trixie,” the guitarist laughed sarcastically. “Does she know what this Neural Sentry is?”
“Princess Celestia doesn’t know for sure,” Twilight briefed. “But she thinks it’s what controls all the Corrupted in the Void. The one left in charge of protecting the ancient towers left by the mysterious Orokin.”
The group pondered on what this information could possibly mean. Home Run himself hadn’t been to the Void, but from what he had heard from the four girls that went, there were Grineer and other races of aliens, taken over and controlled to attack anything that set foot in the Orokin towers. It only made sense for something to be controlling them all. Something to give orders.
“So this… Neural Sentry…” Home Run spoke up, getting the others’ attention. “What so important about destroying it? I mean, it sure will help us to traverse the Void more easily, but… why? Mr. Loregiver already has an awesome Warframe himself, I doubt we need to steal more, right?”
“I don’t think it’s about that, Home Run,” Rarity speculated. All eyes turned to her. “Twilight said Princess Celestia received a message from that one, Duality or Stardust, or whatever we want to call her. Now, if we look at all the information before it, it seems that Stardust has been reprogrammed, just like the Corrupted in the Void. If she were feeding this information to the princess, one would speculate that she might, perchance, know of a way to free herself from Duality’s control? To be her own master once again?”
“Woah…” was all Home Run said before pausing. “Did… Did Rarity just say all that? I mean, no offense, Rarity.”
“It helps to watch detective dramas, dear,” she flipped her violet hair back.
“I’ll bet,” he replied, deciding to leave the questions about her sleuthing skills for another time. “So, to free Stardust, we need to destroy this sentry?”
“I think so,” Twilight nodded. “We should try. Stardust was an old friend of the princess. We owe it to her to save that poor pony.”
“And what about the Stalker?” Applejack raised a hand in question. “Shouldn’t we focus on this Warframe destroyin’ sneaky fella first?”
“AJ’s right!” Rainbow supported, placing a fist into a palm. “I mean, this Stalker is looking for us! We should deal with him first!”
“Makes sense,” Twilight waved a wing. “All Duality wants is the Warframe back. If we can defeat the Stalker before she returns, then we won’t need Mr. Loregiver’s new Warframe anymore. Perhaps we can give it back.”
“Sounds like a plan, but what do we do about finding that shadowy figure?” Home Run put his weight on one leg and folded his arms. “I mean, we haven’t seen him in a week. What if he knows about Duality and is waiting for us to get rid of her first?”
“That is a possibility,” Rarity pointed out. “From what we’ve seen, the Stalker’s a smart one.”
“Then we just need to keep our eyes peeled,” Twilight nodded. “Well, that’s it for now, guys. Thanks for your input. I’ll be sure to get some plans out with Princess Celestia. Don’t worry. We’ll deal with the Stalker and Duality. I’m not going to let them do as they please as long as I’m still standing on my hooves.”
“Princess Twilight is right,” Home Run stood next to her. “None of this belongs to the Stalker for him to do as he pleases. We’re going to protect Princess Celestia and our Tenno friends no matter what.”
Home Run remembered the day he walked into all of this. He was picked or chosen; he joined in because he knew he could do something to help. He stood up against the Grineer and helped his friends take down a crazed captain trying to kill the princess. This moment made him feel that he was right, more than ever. This Stalker had wounded Vauban, taking away part of his ability to fight effectively, but this wasn’t going to stop Home Run. He was going to do all he could to help out like he said he would, and they were going to succeed.
The Stalker hopped down from the tree he was perched in, standing stone-still in a bush by the high walls of the large estate, spying the car enter through a set of black gates. The shadowy figure crept along the brick wall and peeked his head through the bars of the gates, watching the three female humans leave the car, making their way through the front doors of the large building. They looked like they were living well in this world.
Earlier, as he watched the Tenno and their pilots plan out their next move, he had seen their hostility towards other humans. Three females to be precise. Intrigued, the Stalker had followed them from the shadows, keeping track of their every turn, following them all the way back to this estate.
It was time. The three Warframes he had tampered with about to come into play. It didn’t matter if these three humans were willing or not. He had full control of the suits, and all he needed were hosts. Hosts that held negative emotions towards the Lotus’ warriors. He couldn’t have asked for better humans.
It seemed the three were staying in that big place beyond the front gates, far up a hill. The Stalker didn’t expect to travel this far from the school building, but it didn’t matter. He had waited a millenia. He had no problem waiting a few more years if he had to. But this wasn’t a matter of years; it was simply a matter of hours.
The place seemed to have high security, but to the Stalker, it was nothing compared to various traps the Void contained. If he wanted to, he could make his way into the compound, slaying everyone he saw, but it was unnecessary. All he had to do now was activate the Warframes, and they would find their way to their targeted hosts.
This was the final step of his plan. The Excalibur might’ve gotten an upgrade, but it didn’t matter. The Lotus could build up a wall all she wanted, but there was always a way around.
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Is it time for the Acolytes? Perhaps Malice or Violence to combat the Tenno...
Hopefully we either get the acolytes or somehow have Rathuum. It would be nice to see the arena based missions be mentioned here
Ohhhh CRUD! Stalker's getting Acolytes!
7220543 Rathuum wouldn't make much sense since Vor's forces are the only Grineer that have been encountered so far. The pilots and Tenno would have no reason to participate in Kela de Thaym's court. It's not like in Warframe where the Tenno save Grineer deserters. These characters are limited in where they can move. I don't think Celestia would send them to Sedna.
This....is doomed for failure.
Shit's about to go down.
I forgor the sirens were in this 💀