5 - Dogs of War
Down in the secret bunker, tension filled the air as Sable and Troubleshoes stood at the center of the SIRENs’ makeshift command center, watching the feed from the Nest home security system. Neither man betrayed anything as they watched the silent conversation play out between Adagio and the other man—Withers, according to Troubleshoes. For one brief, frightening moment, the two actors on the screen showed each other their hand, and Sable thought for sure a shootout would occur. Instead, the man Withers closed his black jacket and left with some parting remark. Sable then let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
It wasn’t that Sable didn’t think the triplets could handle themselves if the situation turned to violence. In fact, quite the contrary: Sable would have pitied the man if he’d tried to move against them. But he knew that any violence breaking out, regardless of the outcome, would have made an already delicate situation much more complicated. Fortunately, it wasn’t something Sable needed to worry about now.
“Have to say, they handled themselves pretty well,” Troubleshoes said as he watched Withers trudge away on the computer screen. “Adagio didn’t even flinch when he flashed his sidearm, but given what you told me they’d been through, I suppose that’s to be expected.”
Sable couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride as he said, “You should have seen them when they were still with SIREN.”
“It’s only natural that they'd lose some of their edge with enough time living as civvies, but the speed and cohesion they just demonstrated shows how well you’ve continued to train them.” Curiously, Troubleshoes concluded his praise with a contemplative frown.
“See something they can improve on?” Sable prodded.
“No, it’s not that. It’s…” Troubleshoes said, shaking his head. “Forget it. It’s not my place to say.”
“Please. I want to hear your thoughts.”
Folding his arms, Troubleshoes said, “Look, it’s not that I’m ungrateful for their help, but the father in me can’t help but wonder… whether this is right. These girls have seen and done things that no kid their age should ever have to. Now, they have the rare chance to live their lives like normal girls. Wouldn’t it be better for them to just… leave all of this behind?”
Sable watched the screen showing the feed from the foyer, where Adagio and Sonata had holstered their weapons and were talking with serious expressions on their faces. He swallowed the lump in his throat that still sometimes showed up whenever he really thought about exactly what the triplets truly were.
“Honestly? I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. But you said it yourself: They’ve experienced things no kid their age could possibly imagine. There is no leaving all of that behind. Not for them.”
“Doesn’t mean they can’t try,” Troubleshoes said, turning to face him. “Vets like us do it every day. I don’t need to tell you how hard it can be sometimes.” Then looking down, he added, “They have something good here with this family. I’d hate to see them make the same mistakes I did.”
“I think you’ll find their circumstances are quite different from yours,” Sable said, turning towards the elevator back up to the main house.
Troubleshoes followed. “What do you mean?”
The two of them got in and with a press of a button the doors closed and the elevator started moving.
“Talk to them about it sometime,” Sable said. “You’ll probably understand better if you hear it from them.”
In a few quick moments, the elevator doors opened and the two men stepped out into the foyer. Adagio and Sonata immediately stood at attention when they approached.
“Sir, the enemy is in full retreat,” Adagio reported with remarkable professionalism. “No major incidents to report.”
“Where’s Aria?” Sable asked.
“She’s remaining on station until we’re sure the enemy’s really left.”
“Did I miss something? What’s going on?” Everyone turned to see that Sunset had entered, and was looking between everyone with mild concern. The triplets (the two that were here, at least) had fully switched on their Specialist Mode, and Sunset generally knew what that meant.
“You two brief the princess on what just happened. Then you are to report back to the bunker for our scheduled training session,” Sable said, capping his orders off with, “Dismissed.”
The pair snapped off sharp salutes and set about their task.
“I think I’ll sit in on their debriefing,” Troubleshoes said. “Maybe there’s some insight I could provide.”
There was meaning behind the look Troubleshoes gave him then that went unspoken. It would seem that he was really thinking about what Sable had told him. Sable nodded and Troubleshoes turned to follow them. With that, Sable headed for the stairs, intent on checking in on Aria. He was surprised, then, to find Tirespin waiting at the top of the stairs, giving him a look that he couldn’t quite figure out.
“Everything okay, Tirespin?” Sable asked.
“I… was thinking of asking the same question, actually,” Tirespin said in a quiet voice so very unlike the girl Sable had first met what felt like a lifetime ago. “Things sounded pretty serious down there.”
Seeing no point in lying to her, Sable answered, “There was a minor incident. One of the members of Los Perros showed up, but the triplets scared him off.”
“Jesus, they know we’re here?”
“It’s possible.” Seeing the look of fear on her face, Sable put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’ll be okay, alright? You and your dad are safe here.”
“Y’know, as weird as it sounds... I actually believe it,” Tirespin said, trying for a nervous smile.
With an encouraging nod and a smile of his own, Sable continued past Tirespin to find where Aria was posted up, but Tirespin spoke up again.
“Hey, teach?” she asked, and Sable looked back at her. “I… I don’t think I ever said how much I appreciate everything you and your friends are doing for me and my dad.”
“No need to,” Sable said.
Now this was a side to Tirespin that Sable was really unfamiliar with, and despite his best efforts he just couldn’t reconcile the girl in front of him with the girl who’d thrown herself at him harder than a waitress in the Turkish restaurant from Troubleshoes’s story.
“Maybe, but I do think I need to apologize,” Tirespin said sheepishly, as if reading Sable’s mind. “Both for coming on as strong as I did the other week, and… for cussing you out after.”
With a notable wince, Tirespin rubbed the back of her neck as she continued, “Yeah, really not proud of that. When I saw you with your girlfriend that morning, something in me just… snapped.”
Sable was pretty sure he remembered that morning. He had been pretty affectionate with Celestia as she dropped him off and now he was more than certain he’d seen Tirespin waiting for him at the curb.
“I can understand, without condoning,” Sable said, giving her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “Thank you for the apology, Tires.”
“I had this whole idea in my head for how our relationship was gonna go, and it took me seeing just how in love you are with your girlfriend for me to realize that… y-you were never gonna look at me the way you looked at her.” Wiping the tears from her eyes before they could fall, a bit of the old fire entered her voice as she exclaimed, “Was I so wrong to just want a family for my Cinnamon to grow up with?!”
Sable waited several moments for Tirespin to let out all of her tears before he answered, “From where I’m standing, you already have a family who loves you and Cinnamon very much. All you need to do is let them.”
Tirespin immediately frowned. “Yeah yeah, okay. I know who we’re really talking about now, but you don’t know him like I do.”
“Perhaps. But I think the opposite is also true,” Sable said. “You’ve cut your dad out of your life for so long that now, the Troubleshoes that you know and the Troubleshoes that I know are two completely different people.”
Tirespin opened her mouth, but evidently didn’t have an answer to that. So Sable provided one. “Tell you what, you and your dad are going to be staying here for a while. How about each of us spend that time getting to know the Troubleshoes that the other one knows?”
Finally, Tirespin said, “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”
Giving her one more smile, Sable continued down the upstairs hallway to check in on Aria.
There were days that Sable Loam wondered if it was worth it. Working at the Blanks often made him feel like Sisyphus; always struggling to push that boulder up the mountain only to watch it come tumbling down every time. But seeing how much Tirespin had grown over such a short period of time made Sable realize: Yeah, it was worth it.
At the same time that Sable was having his heart-to-heart with Tirespin on the second floor, Troubleshoes was seated at the dining room table with Sunset. Adagio and Sonata stood ramrod straight at attention before her, having just finished giving her their account of the night’s events.
“First of all, thank you very much for the information,” said Sunset, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Second, could you two please just talk to me like normal people?”
“Negative, Highness. The Admiral hasn’t given us authorization to stand down,” Adagio stated curtly.
“Additionally, the concept of normality is subjective and vague, therefore such an order couldn’t be carried out effectively,” Sonata said with equal military discipline, adding, “Your Highness,” for good measure.
Despite now knowing everything the strange girls had been through, Troubleshoes couldn’t quite keep himself from chuckling at the scene. It was Sunset’s utterly exasperated expression that did it.
“Thank you, girls,” she said, burying her reddening face in her palm. “You’re dismissed now. Leave.”
The pair of them filed out of the room, and Sunset buried her face into the table, curtains of red and yellow hair muffling her groan. She then evidently remembered that Troubleshoes was still there, and she sat up and cleared her throat.
“Sorry about that,” she said with an awkward grin. “Don’t get me wrong, I love both of them very much, but it can be frustrating when they get like that.”
“If I may give my own opinion on the matter…” Troubleshoes said, and when Sunset indicated that she didn’t mind, he continued, “I think it’s a defense mechanism for them.”
Sunset looked curious. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, as I understand it, they were operators practically since birth. It’s good that they can have more or less normal lives now—and they’re clearly happier for it—but such a stark change of lifestyle must be scary for them. Strange as it may sound, a military command structure probably provides a great deal of comfort for them. It’s something they can fall back on when they’re scared because it’s familiar.”
“Huh. I never thought of it like that,” Sunset said, before growing quiet. Troubleshoes figured she was seeing her adoptive cousins in a new light now, so he gave the thought time to process. Finally, Sunset frowned. “Guess that means they told you the truth about their background, huh?”
Troubleshoes nodded, and Sunset said, “Still not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. Very few people outside our family know what you know. But Sable seems to trust you, and weirdly, so do they.”
That last part was a surprise to Troubleshoes. He hadn’t even been sure that the triplets particularly liked him, and had wondered whether they’d only told him their history because Sable had ordered it. But Sunset knew them better than he did, so Troubleshoes trusted her judgment.
“Maybe it’s time to return to the matter at hand,” he said.
“Right,” Sunset said before sighing. “I have a plan in motion to get Los Perros out of your hair, but it was kind of dependant on them not being able to find you for a little while.” Sunset spent some time tapping her finger on the table before asking, “What would you say the odds are that they’re going to come back?”
Troubleshoes didn’t have to think about it long. “Honestly, not likely. Withers clearly saw how well armed and trained your cousins are. He’ll know that the only way Los Perros is getting to me in here would be with a committed attack, and I don’t believe they’ll think I’m worth the risk. The Bloodhound might be insane, but he’s also obsessively pragmatic. He won’t risk stirring the pot in a city like this unless the reward is worth it.”
Sunset nodded, the gears in her head visibly turning. “Okay. That actually plays very nicely into my plan.”
Sunset then relayed her plan to Troubleshoes, and when she was finished, he said, “That could actually work.”
“Then I see no reason not to stay on our present course,” Sunset said, standing from the table. “That being said, I am going to look into increasing our security just in case. It’s not that I don’t trust your assessment of the situation, but I’d rather err on the side of caution with this.”
“Makes sense,” Troubleshoes said, also standing from the table and following Sunset out of the dining room. “My assessment is based on what I know about Los Perros from my own time with them, but that time was quite short. For all I know, there could be other elements at play here.”
Found on one of the lesser-traveled side roads in Sunnytown’s ostensible downtown area was a seedy basement bar called “The Crevice”. Present for as long as Sunnytown had existed, it was also an unsavory location for equally as long, so much so that pop culture savvy members of the Canterlot metro law enforcement community occasionally referred to it as “a wretched hive of scum and villainy” and often did so without a smirk. From its earliest days as a bootlegger’s paradise in the days of Prohibition to its role as a drug haven in the 1960s and 70s, the Crevice and its attached apartments had a negative role in Sunnytown’s already spotty history.
The current version of the establishment wasn’t much different. Due to the partly burnt-out neon sign, it was often called “The Crevi”, with passers-by making fun of the fact that the rathole couldn’t even afford to fix their signage. But to the owner, a man who also went by the name Crevi, it meant more than that.
Crevi, by coincidence, was a phrase in the Tuscan dialect of Italian which meant “I come to be”. It was also, by design, the motto of the 17° Stormo Incursioni, the famed Special Forces unit of the Italian Air Force. Thus, the bar seemed to run much tighter than the days when it was a popular rent-a-hideaway for the various gangs of town.
However, it just meant that the Crevi was now home to a different sort of clientele. One that, were the local law enforcement aware of their presence, would have much preferred the gangbangers to be there instead.
The three top lieutenants of Los Perros de Guerra sat around a table in the dimly lit bar. Mr. Crevi himself stood silently behind the bar in a shirt and vest with a bow tie. An elderly man with sunken eyes and flowing white hair, the owner stood surveilling his guests’ meeting; one of the conditions of patronage at his establishment. Mr. Crevi could likely fill a book with all of the secret meetings he’d heard over his many years, but he had a reputation for knowing the value of silence. Indeed, the only reason for his presence during all of his patrons’ meetings was to ensure they behaved themselves within his establishment.
So the lieutenants of Los Perros held their meeting beneath Crevi’s gaze, treating him—as all others did—as if he weren’t even there. His fedora casting a shadow over his eyes, Biff listened as Withers relayed what he discovered in his attempt to track down the wayward Troubleshoes Clyde.
“Withers, we can’t know for sure…” Biff started, but Withers cut him off.
“But I do!” he exclaimed, not bothering with any of his faux charm. “Those girls were SIREN. There’s no other way to explain it!”
“Och, aye,” said Rogue, a particularly beefy Irishman with an orange mullet and bushy sideburns. “Hard tae think any ‘o ‘em coulda survived what ‘appened ‘ere in the summer.” His look then darkened. “But if there’s even a chance any ‘o ‘em did….”
Biff nodded. “It’s worth investigating at the very least. How many did you see, Withers?”
“Looked like there were at least six girls there, plus the woman. Only three of them were visibly armed, but for all I know they could all be SIRENs.”
“You also said you saw the guy who was scoping out our vehicle at Hard Luck Towing,” Biff said before turning to Rogue. “You find anything else on him, Rogue?”
Rogue shook his head. “Nothin’ we daen’t already know. Sable Loam: Ex-Ranger, Iraq and Afghanistan. English teacher at a local high school. I sent a guy to his apartment, but daen’t find shite. Looks like he hasn’t been there in some time.”
“Probably because he’s been spending his nights up at SIREN manor banging the brains out of one or all of them,” Withers pointed out. “That means we’re potentially dealing with seven SIRENs and a Ranger.”
“And a SEAL. If we’re assuming that’s where Troubleshoes is, anyway,” Biff said with a frown.
Withers nodded. “We’re gonna need at least a dozen guys if we’re gonna hit this place. Probably more.”
Biff held out a hand and said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We don’t even have confirmation that Troubleshoes is there, let alone that any of them are really SIRENs. For all we know, this could just be some rich family whose kids are really into the Second Amendment.”
Beneath his shades, Withers rolled his eyes. He knew that what he saw wasn’t just a few young gun enthusiasts. Withers had looked into their eyes and saw himself reflected in them: they were cold, hard killers.
“Och, aye,” said Rogue. “Just the same, I’d like to contact the Bloodhound. See if he’d be willin’ tae send some extra guys up our way.”
Withers liked Rogue. They usually saw eye to eye on most things, and the Irishman’s blind hatred for SIREN made him easy to manipulate in circumstances like this one.
“I don’t know about you, Biff, but I’d certainly feel more comfortable having more guys on hand,” said Withers, giving a meaningful look to Rogue. “Just in case.”
Looking from Withers to Rogue, Biff sighed and said, “Okay. I’ll call the Bloodhound, get his permission for this operation, and start conducting an investigation into these potential SIRENs. Withers, I want your help with the latter. Explore any other possible avenues of escape Troubleshoes might have taken while you’re at it. As for you Rogue, keep monitoring this Loam guy. Report any new developments.”
“Yes, sir,” said Withers.
“Och, aye,” said Rogue.
With that, the three men stood, nodded to Mr. Crevi behind the bar, and made to leave. Rogue stepped out of the bar first, and Withers made to follow, but Biff’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Hold up a sec, Withers,” Biff said. “I have one last question for you.”
Rolling his eyes again, Withers turned to face Biff, pulling out a patient smile from his bag.
“When are you gonna tell me what happened with Troubleshoes?” Biff asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” Withers said, his faux smile never faltering.
“What I mean is I’ve known Troubleshoes a long time,” Biff said, a hint of a challenge entering his tone. “He’s not the kind to just cut and run like this. So what happened?”
Withers made a show of shrugging. “How should I know, Biff?”
“Because it was your job to run surveillance on him. So, did something happen? Did you notice him acting strange at all before he disappeared?”
“I don’t think I know Troubleshoes well enough to know what ‘strange’ looks like for him,” Withers said, his carefully constructed amicable tone slowly matching the hint of challenge in Biff’s own. “He’s your friend, isn’t he? Tell me, what do you think happened?”
“I know it would take a lot to spook a man like Troubleshoes Clyde,” Biff said, pushing his hat up so Withers could see his eyes boring into him. “And I know that you have your… hobbies. The kind of shit I hear that you get up to would spook anyone, Withers.”
“Hey, I told you that I keep my work life and my private life separate, didn’t I?” Withers said, putting a hand on Biff’s broad shoulder and rubbing it gently, almost tenderly. “The Bloodhound trusts me. Don’t you?”
Biff grabbed Withers’s hand and gently but firmly removed it from his shoulder. “Until you give me a reason not to. Same goes for the Bloodhound.” Biff then pushed past Withers, pausing at the door to get one last word in. “I don’t think I need to remind you what the Bloodhound would do to you if he thinks you’ve gone off script, Withers.”
His false smile crumbling to pieces, Withers seethed as Biff turned his back on him. Such disrespect! He touched one of the knives hidden in his jacket and actually considered sticking it right into Biff’s back as he walked away. Oh, am I going off script, Biff? He’d ask while twisting the blade deeper. Well maybe I’m done reading your fucking script!
The fantasy persisted until Biff was out of sight, and then it no longer held any appeal to Withers. As was often the case, the prospect of telling Biff exactly what he thought of the Bloodhound’s “script” would just create a mess of a situation that would have been too tedious to clean up for Withers to bother in the first place. So after collecting himself, Withers stepped out of the bar, leaving Mr. Crevi alone in his establishment.
Sunset had made good on her declaration to Troubleshoes that she was going to increase security at the mansion. Adagio and her sisters realized this when they went to meet her in the backyard the following evening and saw her standing before a row of well-armed soldiers standing at attention. Suffice to say, Adagio had some questions, but knew they would have to wait. First, protocol needed to be attended.
“Your Highness,” Adagio said, she and her siblings popping off sharp salutes. “You wished to see us?”
“At ease, for God’s sake!” Sunset groaned. Seeing no reason to refuse her—this time—Adagio and her sisters obliged.
“So, are you going to introduce us to…?” Adagio trailed off as she looked again at the assembled soldiers and did a double-take.
“Uh… that’s us,” Sonata stated. Sure enough, among Sunset’s apparent new security force were perfect copies of the triplets dressed in their old tactical gear from their days with the original SIREN. “Huh… never realized our old gear made my ass look so good!”
“Yeah, well, looking at that,” Aria replied, “just confirms that I look absolutely horrible with short hair.”
“Yeah…” Adagio said absentmindedly, hardly listening. Looking down the line, she spotted more familiar faces: Sable Loam, Zephyr Breeze, Sunny Side, Evergreen Pine, and… more. “The hell are we looking at, Sunset?”
But it was Aria who answered, “They’re illusions.”
“Good guess,” Sunset said, sounding impressed. “How’d you figure it out, Ari?”
“Aside from the fact that Zephyr is in France and that Pines and Sides are still the Chocolate Twins in this timeline?” Aria asked dryly (causing Sonata to squee silently). “Even standing relatively still, something about their movement is just… off. I can’t really explain it, it’s like… it’s like an idle animation on a video game character.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit these things are fairly simple constructions.” Sunset then made to shove the illusory Sable and her hand passed right through his chest. “If I had more Equestrian materials and more time, I could make something that can physically interact with the world and operate fairly autonomously. As it is….”
Sunset then waved her hand, surrounded by a cyan glow, and the assembled illusory soldiers all raised their weapons and unloaded a burst of rifle fire at the triplets. The loud reports of the weapons made Adagio instinctively flinch, and she still had to check herself for injuries before she could relax. She and her sisters were completely unscathed.
“I see, so they’re meant to function more as a deterrent than a true security force,” Adagio noted.
Sunset nodded. “I’m hoping that the sight of a full armed force protecting the mansion will make Los Perros think twice about trying anything if they do come back.” She then looked at Sonata. “Think you could put together a fake security company online to help sell this? I could ask Derpy to put you in contact with some of her friends in those kind of circles.”
Sonata nodded. It seemed like a solid plan to Adagio, but there was one small problem that Aria beat her to pointing out.
“How do we explain all this to Troubleshoes and Tirespin?” she asked.
“The three of you actually took care of that for me,” Sunset answered. “Now that Troubleshoes knows your history—to an extent, anyway—I’ll just tell him that we managed to get some of your old contacts to help out. As for the ones that look like you three, you look different enough now to how you looked then that at a distance I don’t think anyone will recognize them as you. And in addition to their pre-programmed patrols, I’ve also programmed them to keep a set distance away from Troubleshoes and Tirespin at all times. If we play this off right, they’ll barely even notice they’re here.”
It all made a certain amount of sense. Everyone who had fought against the monsters that the old SIREN program had become was here. Even….
Adagio heard a gasp come from Sonata, and a lump formed in her throat when she saw that her youngest sister had wandered all the way down the line of faux soldiers to the other end. Oh no. Adagio had hoped that she wouldn’t notice.
Standing at the end of the line past Piano Bliss (who Adagio realized hadn’t been involved in their battle with SIREN, but had nevertheless gotten her own Happily Ever After with the Chocolate Twins) were three more heartbreakingly familiar figures. Vesper Blue, Madrigal Storm, and Intermezzo Blue all stood at attention with the rest of the illusions. Sonata was in front of Madrigal, staring right into the illusion’s eyes while tears started forming in the corner of her own.
Adagio herself couldn’t help but step closer to the illusion resembling Intermezzo. Suddenly she was back at the front gate of the SIREN stronghold, watching helplessly as an RPG turned their van into a flaming wreck with Intermezzo still inside. It had all happened so fast, but… maybe if Adagio had been more vigilant… if she had spotted the enemy with the RPG sooner and had been quick enough to react….
Adagio forced herself to look away from Intermezzo’s face, determined not to let the heartache take her. Her eyes found Sunset’s as she did, and Adagio saw them fill with realization.
“Oh God, yeah. I forgot that… yeah. I’m sorry…” Sunset said, dispelling the illusions with a wave of her hand.
“Wait!” Sonata cried as Madrigal disappeared before her eyes. “I… I still had so much I wanted to say to her….”
The tears in the corner of her eyes started to make their way down her cheeks, and Aria went to her. Even as she wrapped her arms around their youngest sibling, Aria’s eyes kept flicking to where Vesper’s ghost had been standing moments ago.
“I’m so sorry, I should have fucking known better,” Sunset said frowning.
Adagio put a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Sunny. Water under the bridge.”
“I won’t have any of my illusions look like them from now on, I promise.”
Spotting movement out of the corner of her eye, Adagio turned toward the house and made ready to draw on a possible intruder. But it was just Sable; the real Sable, and he waved them over. Today’s workout session really crept up on us.
Aria looked at her over Sonata’s shoulder, and Adagio motioned for the two of them to get ready for their workout. They did so, but Adagio lingered with Sunset an extra moment.
“I’d actually like it if you kept using them,” Adagio said, smiling in spite of the painful lump in her throat. “It’s kind of nice…. Feels like our sœurs are still watching over us.”
Troubleshoes had to admit, it was kind of nice getting back into a regular workout routine. Even after he quit drinking, getting back to a normal routine was never something he got around to doing. Sure, he’d still used his weights at home and went for the occasional jog, but that wasn’t even close to what he was doing now with the triplets down in their secret underground bunker.
Due to the previous night’s uninvited guest and Sable’s need to get home in time for the increasingly rare dinner with his girlfriend, their workout had been cut a little short. So, Sable had decided the triplets would continue where they left off last night, doing a quick round of calisthenics before moving on with strength training. Despite being relatively out of practice, Troubleshoes kept up with them easily enough, and even gently corrected their posture here and there when needed. In fact, after a while it almost felt like Troubleshoes was the one leading the workout session rather than Sable.
However, there was something that nagged at Troubleshoes as the workout went on. The other night, the triplets had attacked their session with gusto, likely fired up from their confrontation with Withers. Short though it was, the mood of last night’s session was spirited and jovial, the triplets chatting and bantering with each other during rests. Tonight, however, the mood was subdued, almost melancholy. The girls completed the session like troopers, but it seemed to Troubleshoes like their hearts weren’t into it.
At first Troubleshoes tried to tell himself that whatever was going on wasn’t any of his business. That he should just pack up and head upstairs. But some instinct that he couldn’t explain instead pushed him to where they were still seated on their mats, drinking water from their reusable bottles.
“Everything good?” he asked, and the three of them looked up at him.
“Yeah. Why?” Adagio asked casually enough.
Troubleshoes didn’t buy it. “Well, there’s the fact that you guys were just going through the motions tonight,” he said, giving them a compassionate look as he sat down next to them. “C’mon. What’s on your mind?”
The three of them were quiet for a moment, then Aria said, “Something happened before we started tonight. It was nothing major. A little thing, really. But I think it’s safe to say it’s left us all a little unbalanced.”
The other two nodded in affirmation, and Troubleshoes asked, “What happened?”
The quiet moment was a bit longer this time, and Sonata was the one to answer. “We saw… we were reminded of our sœurs.”
Troubleshoes scratched his head. “Uh… I’m a little rusty on my French….”
“It means sisters,” Aria explained. “In SIREN, senior members were each assigned a young recruit to mentor. The relationship is usually filial, and because we were so young when we were assigned ours, this was especially the case for us.”
“I see. So they were like your parents?” Troubleshoes asked, and the three of them nodded. Considering everything they had told him, it didn’t take a lot of guessing for Troubleshoes to figure out what had happened to these sœurs of theirs. These poor kids have been through so much….
“Please, don’t look at us like that,” Adagio said with a frown, evidently noticing the sympathy on his face. “We’re fine.”
But then Sonata asked in a small voice, “Are we?”
Suddenly Adagio didn’t look too sure. “Okay, maybe not entirely. But we don’t exactly have the luxury of dwelling on it.”
“And why not?” Troubleshoes asked.
“Because there’s too much at stake! We need to be ready to protect our family when the time comes.”
“In my experience, bottling up your emotions will only make that harder,” Troubleshoes said, and this time Adagio didn’t have a response. “I know you guys were raised to be dogs of war, but now you have the opportunity to let yourselves be human. You should try to embrace that, even if it’s scary.”
The three of them seemed to consider this for a long time before tears started welling up in Sonata’s eyes, then Aria’s.
“Well… I suppose we were trained not to be scared of anything,” Adagio said, trying to put on a brave face for her sisters even as her own tears came.
“I just… can’t help but think about all of the things I wanted to say to Maddy,” Sonata said through quiet sniffles. “Even though most of it she probably already knew anyway, it would have been nice to tell her ‘I love you,’ and…. ‘T-thanks for being a good mom’.”
Adagio reached over and put an arm around her. Deciding to let them have their moment Troubleshoes turned to look at Aria, who seemed to be on the cusp of saying something. With a little wordless encouragement from Troubleshoes, she managed to get her thoughts out too.
“It just sort of hit me earlier that we don’t have any pictures of them,” Aria said, her usual deadpan tone masking the pain that the thought brought with it. “Now I can’t help but wonder… will we still remember what they looked like five years from now? Ten years?” Now it was Aria’s turn to start sniffling, and she quickly wiped her nose with a trembling finger. “Shit’s scary.”
Troubleshoes was silent for a few minutes, just letting the three of them process what they were feeling. When he felt the time was right, he told them, “Y’know, I know it’s not exactly the same, but my old man was killed in the line of duty.”
The attention of all three of them were back on him, so Troubleshoes continued, “Cpt. Hard Luck, USMC, was a part of the multinational force in Lebanon in the early eighties. Was one of over two-hundred men killed by a truck bomb that drove into their barracks. I was probably about your age when it happened.
“Now, I’m probably luckier than you in that I still have pictures of him, but I think that even if I didn’t I’d still remember him clearly. Sure, certain details get fuzzier with age, but my old man was a pretty big inspiration to me. Not only was he a war hero, he also started up Hard Luck Towing from nothing to make sure me and my mom were taken care of. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without him.”
With a nostalgic smile, Troubleshoes concluded his story with, “Doesn’t matter how much time passes. You just don’t forget someone like that.”
Finally, Aria allowed herself a cautious smile, while Sonata just asked, “But… doesn’t it bother you that you never got to tell him that?”
“Nope,” Troubleshoes answered immediately. “I know that wherever he is now, he knows and is proud. That’s good enough for me.”
With nothing else left to say, Troubleshoes stood and the triplets all did the same. Adagio and Aria both gave him looks that conveyed what was unspoken, Thank you. Sonata, on the other hand, conveyed the same through a sudden and unexpected hug. Surprised and a little bewildered, Troubleshoes gently rubbed her back until she let go and joined her sisters, the three of them returning to the house proper via the elevator.
“Have to say, you really are a natural at this,” Sable said, and Troubleshoes turned to see him approach from the other side of the bunker where he’d evidently been watching.
“A natural at what?” Troubleshoes asked.
“Being a mentor to them,” Sable answered with a smile. “In fact, I was hoping to ask if you could cover their workout for me tomorrow. I’m going to be busy and usually when that happens, that day’s session is shot.”
With an earnestly genuine smile, Troubleshoes answered, “It would be my pleasure.”
About a week later, Sunset Shimmer was eating her lunch in the CHS cafeteria when someone’s hand placed a small USB harddrive on the table in front of her. Sunset looked up from her greasy meal to see Derpy Hooves take the seat across from her.
Sunset finished chewing her admittedly soggy potatoes and said, “So I take it you finished the job?”
As Derpy answered in the affirmative, Sunset looked over the girl’s shoulder where her friends were still in line getting their own lunches. Pinkie glanced in her direction curiously and Sunset gave her a look which she hoped would convey that she wanted to talk with Derpy alone for a minute.
“The files you specified are all on here,” Derpy said, tapping the portable harddrive. “Have to say, the Feds really haven’t done much to improve their security since the last time I did this.”
“Thanks, Derpy. The money will be wired to you at the end of the week, same as before. My brother and his people thank you for your service,” Sunset said, hating the feeling of lying to her friend.
“I’m sure they do. So, when are you going to tell me what these jobs of yours are really about?” Derpy asked, evidently hating the feeling as much as Sunset.
Sunset took a moment to try to figure out something to tell her, but Derpy took the silence as a refusal to answer and said, “Look, I get it. If you’re involved with something dangerous—and judging by what’s in these files, you are—I want to know as little about it as possible. But you can do away with all the bullshit about ‘helping the FBI test their cybersecurity.’ I thought you and I had more respect for each other than that.”
Unable to hide the wince on her face, Sunset said, “You’re right. I’m sorry, Derpy. But it’s like you said: The less you know, the better off you are.”
Derpy’s face softened as she replied, “I understand, Sunset. And for the record, I trust you. I probably wouldn’t have taken this job in the first place if I didn’t. I sure as hell don’t hang my ass out in the wind for just anyone, you know.”
“I appreciate that,” Sunset stated, thankful even with Derpy’s usual crassness.
With that, Sunset and Derpy promised to see each other around before Derpy left to meet up with Carrot Top and Sunset was joined by her usual circle of friends.
“What were you and Derps talking about?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset picked the USB harddrive off the table and put it in her bag. “Business,” Sunset answered plainly.
“If y’ask me, I think the time’s comin’ for you to let that girl in on your big secret,” said Applejack, predictably advocating for honesty. “Seems only right with how often you’ve gone to her for help.”
“I’ve been considering it.” The question was what she would do with Derpy whenever she did end up telling her. Would she offer her a spot in her SIRENs like Aria had suggested? Or did Derpy have another role to play in things to come? Either way, it was a question for another time, and Sunset had more pressing concerns on her mind. Like finding out what exactly was on the drive Derpy had given her.
The rest of the day seemed to go on forever, but eventually the final period bell rang and Sunset wasted no time rushing home. It was a good thing she wasn’t working at the Sugar Cube Corner today, because she would have been sorely tempted to simply call in a sick day. The little harddrive in her backpack was all she could think about for the entire rest of the day.
So when Sunset finally did get home, she made a beeline for the underground bunker and immediately set about downloading the files from the hard drive to the computers in the makeshift command center. The computers down here were on their own network, so Sunset didn’t have to worry about anyone finding their contents unless they somehow found the secret bunker itself, and at that point Sunset would have much bigger problems than someone discovering illegally obtained federal files.
The next hour and a half was spent poring over what was apparently all of the FBI’s counterterrorism and intelligence files on Los Perros de Guerra. Sunset was pleasantly surprised to find just how thorough an investigation the Feds were conducting into the merc group, but considering Canterlot’s recent history with such things, it shouldn’t really have been a surprise. The FBI had pinned down the location of Los Perros’s FOB here in town (a seedy place in Sunnytown called the Crevice) and had detailed files on all of its core members (including Withers, the man in sunglasses who had apparently visited last night).
Far more concerning was some of the other information Sunset had discovered. Well, shit. This certainly adds a new perspective to the situation.
It was around that time that the triplets had arrived home, and Sunset called them down to the bunker to discuss the things she had found.
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” Adagio exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air. “Just our fucking luck!”
“You’re sounding a bit like Troubleshoes now, Dagi,” Sonata said with a snicker, adding some levity to the serious situation.
“I think I’m justified to call bullshit on this stupid luck! I mean, what are the odds that this random merc company also has a history with SIREN?”
“Considering that both SIREN and Los Perros took on contracts all over the world? I think it would be more surprising if there wasn’t any history,” Sunset said.
“Except I remember hearing about plenty of other military contractors that were rivals to SIREN back when we were in it, and I don’t remember this one,” Aria pointed out. “Sunny, where did you say that SIREN and Los Perros had their run-in?”
Sunset looked again at the files on the computer. “Colombia. Apparently, that’s where Los Perros is based. According to this, CSIS had contracted them to eliminate a SIREN bolthole in the area right around the same time as the ‘Battle of Canterlot’ last summer. Los Perros accomplished their objective, but the SIRENs put up way more of a fight than they were expecting. Los Perros incurred heavy losses, including one of their top commanders.”
“How exactly did the FBI come across this information anyway?” Sonata asked.
“Apparently it’s FIVE EYES material, so CSIS and the Feds are working pretty closely on this. I guess after what happened here last summer, the Feds didn’t want to take any chances that this is connected somehow.”
“And the current director of Les SCARS is probably hoping to walk back their predecessor’s fuck ups by fully cooperating,” Sonata added with a hint of distaste in her voice.
Adagio and Aria, meanwhile, exchanged a look. “Hey Dagi, didn’t Sides and Pines tell us when we first met in the old timeline that they’d fled a SIREN bolthole in Colombia that was hit by mercs?”
Adagio just nodded, the pieces falling into place. “Great. Just great. Assuming Los Perros are still sore about their guys in Colombia, as soon as they realize we were SIREN they’re going to come back for us as much as Troubleshoes.”
“Or not,” Sunset said, and all three of her cousins focused on her. “Remember, you guys were never SIRENs. Not on this timeline anyway. Even with all of the resources in the world, Los Perros won’t find any evidence linking you to SIREN because as far as this world is concerned, that evidence doesn’t exist.”
Adagio opened her mouth, likely with a counterpoint, but Sunset was already refuting it. “Oh, they might have their suspicions, but in the end I don’t think it will matter. From what Troubleshoes told me about the Bloodhound, he’s obsessively pragmatic and practical. Not the type to launch any major action on nothing but a hunch. Especially in a town like Canterlot where something like this already happened.”
This seemed to placate the triplets, but Sonata suddenly got a curious look in her eyes. “You know, I feel like we’ve heard a lot about this ‘Bloodhound’ guy since all this started. Is there anything about him in the documentation?”
Sunset frowned. “Honestly, he’s the only part of this that’s as much a mystery to the FBI as he is to us. No name, no picture, not even a year of birth. All they know is that he assumed command of the main branch of Los Perros right after the SIREN incident last summer.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, wondering whether there was some way this connected to what they knew from their own experiences in the other timeline.
With a sigh, Adagio was the first to give up. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter who he is. All that matters is that he and his subordinates are as sensible as Troubleshoes says.”
“Dagi’s right,” Aria said. “Now Sunset, you said that once we had the intel from the FBI we would be ready to take the next step to getting rid of Los Perros.”
“Yeah, how do we use this to our advantage?” Sonata asked.
“It’s simple: We lay it all out on the table!” Sunset said with a mischievous smile. “Are you guys up for your first official mission tonight as my SIRENs?”
Sunset then explained her plan to the three now very eager SIRENs. As she did, something about the whole thing nagged at her. Sunset had thought through everything very carefully, and she believed that she had accounted for every variable.
So why did it feel like there was something very important she was overlooking?
Within the bowels of the Crevice, Withers was nervous with anticipation. Gathered around him were all of the fireteam leaders he had selected for this prospective operation, as well as his fellow lieutenants, of course. At the moment, Biff was on the phone with the Bloodhound giving him the final rundown of the situation, while Mr. Crevi watched silently from behind the bar.
Withers had to admit, his search for solid proof that the three girls he had met at the house on Golden Oaks drive were SIRENs had proven very fruitless. He had pulled in a lot of favors with a lot of people to get full access to the lives of Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk, and it had all been for nought. According to his findings, those three girls had lived perfectly mundane lives (despite being shuffled around by a cornucopia of relatives and guardians before eventually ending up in the house he found them in).
Still, something about the sheer amount of almost absurd tragedy that had relocated the girls again and again really stuck out to Withers; like the unprompted elaboration of a bad liar. So, Withers tried a different avenue of investigation, drawing instead from the images taken of the strange manor’s grounds.
His people had been monitoring the property on Golden Oaks since his fateful encounter there a week ago, and their findings indicated that there were at least half a dozen more armed sentries there than there had been when he’d made his own little excursion. Evidently his little visit had seriously spooked somebody.
So, Withers set about digging into the backgrounds of some of these newly appeared guards, and much of what he found was truly baffling. Most of them were apparently living in different parts of the country, (two of which were even hosts on some dumb kids show) and one was even supposedly in France. And yet, despite somehow being in two places at the same time, there were still no connections to SIREN. Just when Withers had lost all hope, he had at last hit paydirt.
Vesper Blue, Madrigal Storm, and Intermezzo Blue had apparently all been a part of SIREN up until the infamous Battle of Canterlot last summer, after which the trio had been apprehended by the FBI, handed over to the RCMP, and then died in a tragic “accident”. As a man who had arranged many different kinds of similar “accidents” over his career, Withers would have known better even if the evidence weren’t right in front of him. So, he passed off his findings to Biff, who in turn sent them off to the Bloodhound, and now the two were on the line together, going through the final formality before they could proceed.
Finally, Biff hung up his phone and turned to face Withers. “We have authorization. Operation: Watership Down is a go.”
With the widest of grins, Withers turned and ordered his men to move out. Their plan of attack was already mapped out, and Withers had faith in every man (and woman) under his command to do their jobs well.
“Take one or two alive if yeh can,” Rogue reminded him. “I checked yer findings, and I’ve got one or two wee questions fer the cunts.”
Not to mention the boys who had survived Colombia would no doubt want some revenge, and each one of those girls would make a pretty outlet for all of that pent up anger. But there was only one canvas that Withers wanted for himself, and now he was so close he could practically taste that sweet chocolate.
Ready or not, Big T. Here I come!
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Why do you want to change the cover art?
Great chapter! Glad your back.
Damn it Sunset, that's one hell of a slip up.
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Mostly because as it is, it's not really much of an actual cover (and I've commissioned someone to make some that should be nearing completion)
I knew that Sunset's illusions were a mistake when that scene started. If you're trying to make people think you're not worth their time, you don't make yourself MORE threatening to them. And she really doesn't get the wide range of information access modern tech has or she would have known using real people for her illusions was another mistake. Only thing I'll give her a break on is she didn't know about the SIREN grudge til after the fact.
Still nice to know I seem to be right about Withers' rogue agenda. But will that matter after the girls bloody them in the now inevitable fight?
Nice and at this time it's really good and the script is awesome. The characters and their development are good.
Soon you’ll be brought into the fold