Pandemic: Starting Over

by Halira

Chapter 48: A Minor Domestic Disturbance

When I got to the bottom of the basement stairs, I got a nasty surprise—a shotgun two inches from my face.

"Lauren, don't shoot her!" I heard John yell out.

The door at the top of the stairs slammed open. "Drop the weapon!" a man, presumably one of the security guards, yelled.

"You're human!" a woman, presumably the one aiming a gun at my face, yelled in response.

Me, I was busy pissing all over myself with my eyes locked on the gun barrel, so I didn't see much of anything else.

"Lauren, lower the gun," John said again. "I told you we shouldn't threaten her."

"We don't know what this monster is capable of," the same woman, presumably Lauren, replied.

"Well, right now, she is urinating on the floor. That isn't threatening," John replied.

Lauren must have noticed the spreading puddle of piss and danced a step or two back to avoid it. That moved the gun farther away from my face, which let my brain start moving again.

"Whoever the security officer is up there, don't fire!" I called out, still staring at the gun barrel. "Lower your weapon!"

"I can't do that, Miss Blessing. You are being directly threatened with a firearm!" the guard shouted back.

"Believe me; I noticed," I replied with a gulp. "You won't be able to shoot her before she shoots me. You don't fire unless she takes me out. Please close the door, and focus on defending my family. I'm sure you'll be able to hear it if she shoots me. Let me talk to them."

"We already are calling the police," the guard replied. Crap. What was I supposed to do about the police if I got through this? I'm sure the security was trained to call the police in the event of an incident since they weren't actual law enforcement, but did they have to act so fast?

"If they aren't on the line yet, cancel that call!" I yelled. "Only call if there is gunfire."

"I'm sorry, Miss Blessing, but this is now a hostage situation. We have to contact the proper authorities," the guard called back. Damn it all.

"Fuck, Lauren, lower the damn gun," John growled. "Do you hear how quickly this is escalating? Why did you even do that?"

"It… the creature…" Lauren said pitifully.

It was difficult, but I managed to shift my gaze up from the gun barrel to my assailant's face. I guessed she was maybe about ten years younger than me, though she was dirty and seemed to be suffering from a mild case of adult acne. I could see tears in her eyes which likely came from a combination of fear and a realization she had just made a grave error in judgment and was now frozen in indecision.

"You're scared. I understand. You saw me, and you panicked," I said slowly, trying to force myself to sound calm and understanding. I wasn't sure how successful I was at that. "If you lower your gun, the security guard can lower his gun or at least back-off. When the police come, I will smooth things over with them—somehow. This only ends in violence if you make it end in violence."

"How do I know he won't shoot me the second the gun is lowered," Lauren demanded.

"Just take two or three steps back, and you won't be in his line of sight, and he can't shoot you," I said with the same forced calm. I'd stopped pissing, but only because there was nothing left. I couldn't tell if my legs were shaking or not. I couldn't feel them.

Lauren did take two or three steps back, but kept the gun locked on me.

"She has lowered her gun; you can close the door," I lied to the guard.

Suddenly, the gun just disintegrated. It didn't go up in flames; it just turned to dust. Before the dust even hit the floor, both Lauren and John were thrust together and bound in what appeared to be a tight purple magical rope. Gags of the same binding were around their mouths. God damn, Starlight could move fast.

"It appears as if Starlight Glimmer has the situation under control," I informed the guard as I finally let my posture relax. I almost fell over in a heap, but just barely stopped myself.

Starlight stepped forward out of the shadows. She didn't pay the humans much attention beyond keeping her horn lit. Her eyes were focused on me. "Is this the way you deal with things?"

"The woman was scared and wasn't thinking straight. I could have talked her down," I replied. I did a quick look at the pile of dust on the floor. "But thank you for coming to my rescue."

Starlight grimaced. I knew she would have a lot more to say later, but she turned her attention to the humans who were staring at her with mortal terror.

"I'm going to remove those gags, but not the bindings—not yet anyway," Starlight informed them. "My magic seals the door to the cellar, so you won't be able to run even after I release the bindings. We're going to sit and talk in a civilized way like Sunset wanted. Normally I am much more friendly, but I don't take well to my friends' lives being threatened. I'll remove the gags now so you can respond."

"Let us go!" Lauren cried and began to sob as soon as her mouth was free.

"Hush, you got us into this situation," John scolded. Lauren continued to cry and repeat her plea in half-muted sobs.

"What's the deal, John?" I asked harshly, more harshly than I intended. "I thought things were progressing well—maybe not perfect, but we were building some trust."

"She insisted on coming to guard me," John explained. "Said I needed someone to watch my back. I didn't expect her to do all that!"

Lauren continued to sob incoherently.

"Well, we've got issues now," I informed them. "Those guards were sent to guard me, but they don't work for me. I can't control what they do, and now they've called the police. Given the gravity of what they reported, I expect they'll be here within a minute or two—with a swat team not far behind. That adds multiple complications."

"They're going to come in here and arrest us?" John asked in a small voice; then his eyes went wide. "Oh no! The kids!"

I nodded. "Yes, they'll probably take your kids and send them into foster care."

Lauren started sobbing even louder.

Starlight stepped forward. "I'm going to release you now, but stay where you are. I still have the door sealed, so there is no running, and I won't tolerate any act of violence. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly," John replied. Lauren continued to sob, but managed a nod.

As soon as they were released, Lauren let off an agonized cry. "My babies! What have I done? I'm going to lose my babies!"

I stomped a hoof. "You haven't lost anything yet! Be quiet and let me think! I'll fix this!"

It didn't take me long to figure out the first thing I needed to do. I had my phone on me this time around, and I dialed Wild's number.

After a single ring, it was answered. "Sunset! You're on a conference call with me and the local chief of police. What the hell is going on down there?!" Wild yelled over the line.

"Everything is under control. It was a misunderstanding," I replied. "You can call off the police."

"I'm sorry, Miss Blessing, but the report says you had a shotgun held up to your face. That's something I can't have my men ignore. You could be speaking to us under coercion," a second voice said over the line. "I'm also obligated to tell you that this call is being recorded and may be used as evidence in future court cases."

The government was already recording my calls, so that was redundant.

"They aren't dangerous," I insisted. "I wish I had a regular cell phone so I could take a picture of them right now, then you'd see." A cell phone materialized in the air and hung suspended by Starlight's magic. "Or I guess Starlight can just teleport one in here from places unknown."

I grabbed the phone with my magic and found the camera option. I took a quick picture of the pitiful-looking pair and quickly sent it to Wild.

"Officer, Sunset just sent me a picture of the humans in question," Wild announced. "I can confirm by the picture they appear to be distressed but unarmed. If Sunset isn't pressing charges, I won't either. Do you want me to send you the picture for confirmation?"

"Do so," the police chief replied. "But note, my officers arriving on the scene will still need to do an investigation into this. Reports of this nature cannot be taken lightly."

"Can you tell your officers not to come charging downstairs?" I pleaded. "I'll be up within five minutes along with the humans. We can answer their questions then."

The officer could be heard sighing. "They are still arriving and have yet to set up a perimeter, so you can have your five minutes. I will relay that order. I will even say ten minutes since they need time to get in place, but if you aren't out at the end of that, they are going to be ordered to treat the situation as if there are still armed hostiles present."

"I understand and hope we can resolve this as just a minor domestic disturbance with no charges filed," I said gratefully. "Wild, I'm going to need your help with all this. I know you are already aware of the situation with the humans. I want to help them, but I'm dependent on you for that."

"You know me. If this can be resolved peacefully, you'll get that aid, but they need to be able to sit down and speak with me reasonably. I'm not as inclined to listen if I get attacked," Wild replied stiffly.

"I'm sure they'll speak to you in a reasonable manner," I assured her. "Let me talk to them, and we can smooth this over."

"If you are able to, can you please keep the line open, Miss Blessing?" the officer asked.

"Of course," I promised, then lowered my leg with the phone back down as I turned my attention around to John and Lauren. "Okay, this is what's going to happen. I need you both to cooperate completely. We are going to be completely honest with them. Lying will do us no good."

"But I aimed a gun at you! They'll lock me up for sure!" Lauren cried.

I scowled. "And they now have you confessing that on record. Didn't you just hear me talking to the officer, the one still listening?"

Lauren broke down, bawling like a baby again.

I took a deep breath. "No one is going to lock you up. We are going to get this resolved. Wild is a good person. She isn't going to let that happen to innocent people, and you're only guilty of being scared and confused. I promise you this, I swear on my soul to God, but you have to listen to me and do what I say."

"What do you need us to do?" John asked.

"I'm going to go up there and show them I'm perfectly fine. Lauren is going to sit right here with Starlight. You're going to go fetch your kids and bring them to this room, so you're all together," I explained.

"Don't you dare touch my children!" Lauren screamed with animalistic fury. She tried to charge me, but John pulled her back before Starlight even got a chance to react.

I took the scream in stride. My fear had long since disappeared. I was in control of the situation, with Starlight's assistance. "I'm not planning to, but if we have those police barging in here, they need to see that your children are safe and sound, and that you aren't a threat to them. If they aren't out here, they'll go into the bunker looking for them, and I'm guessing that at least one of your kids will be scared enough to shoot. That will make this situation go further downhill fast. If you have more weapons down there, do not bring them with you. Starlight has already demonstrated your weapons are useless anyway. I'm doing what I can to keep you from losing your kids. Family means a lot to me. Work with me here."

"You promise we won't be separated?" John asked gravely. "That's the only thing I want out of you. You've done everything you can to make the case you're a decent person, and you haven't said anything I can say for sure is a lie, but I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that my kids will not be separated from us."

I lifted my phone back up. "Officer, are you still listening? I can promise till I'm blue in the face, but you're the law enforcement."

"If no one is harmed and no charges are filed, then we will not take any further action," the officer assured me.

I looked John in the eyes. "I promise you that there will be no charges filed."

He stared at me for a moment, as if judging my sincerity, then nodded. "Let me go get the kids."

"And I'll go upstairs and show them I'm alright," I said with a nod.

Lauren gasped. "Wait! You can't leave me alone with that creature!" She pointed a shaking finger at Starlight.

"I have a name, you know," Starlight said in annoyance. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I growled to myself and hoped the growl wasn't loud enough to be heard. "You have two choices. You can stay here with her, or you can come upstairs with me. There will probably be lots of humans upstairs by now, with guns drawn. Probably some ponies too. If you choose that option, you need to listen to whatever orders the police give. I cannot order them around. When John comes back with your kids, Starlight is going to escort everyone upstairs."

Lauren seemed to be torn on her decision. "Are they alien ponies, like her?"

"I thought you two didn't believe in aliens," I replied with a raised eyebrow.

"What she did… it isn't anything a person from Earth could do," Lauren replied shakingly.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to lie to you, there isn't likely to be a unicorn on Earth that can match Starlight, but she isn't powerful just because she isn't from Earth. She is just an outlier on power levels. However, they should all be from Earth upstairs. What's your call? Are you staying here or heading up now? One way or another, you need to head up there in the next few minutes. They won't wait forever."

She took a tentative step towards me, shying away from Starlight. "I'll go with you."

I nodded. I turned to go and stepped right into my piss puddle. I gave my hoof a disgusted shake and wondered how many hours I would still need to wait to take a bath.

"Mind the puddle. I don't want you to slip. Also, please don't follow so close that you step on my tail," I instructed.

I headed back up the stairs. Hopefully, this would go without any further hitches, but this jumpy woman had me doubting that.

Comments

[harts fire]

yep this is not going to be good.

[keroko]

Ahh, the downside of negotiating with more than one armed conspiracy theorists: there's always one who isn't buying what you're selling.

[Javarod]

10690616
But on the flip side, Sunset is no longer associated with the Shimmerists, has little power as those who helped her are now pretending they never heard of her, so sure, lots of useful info, but what can she do with it? And then there's any and all compulsions put on her by the Dreamwardens. I don't think it takes that much trust to share this stuff with her, plus Twi's a bit desperate at this point, so she'll take all the help she can get.

[keroko]

10696131
We;re talking about Sunset Blessing here, the mare who practically invented Shimmerism. The answer to "what can she do with the most volatile information in the world?" is "a whole lot." Dozens of ways for petty vengeance against Equestria, like tapping the griffons with it, ways to reinvigorate a 'true' Shimmerism, ways to sabotage Equestria/earth relationships, the list goes on and on. She doesn't want to do anything bad with it, but that's where the trust part comes into play on Twilight's half. Yes, she also has a ton of compulsions, but loopholes will always be a thing and Sunset is an expert at exploiting loopholes. And this is the kind of information that could start riots, if not outright war. A lot of lives are put at risk here for the sake of saving one here. On a purely cold logical level, one life is not worth this risk.