Celestia's Finest: Side-Bets

[Miltonian]

"Remember," Red Tape had said, "I don't know if anything is actually wrong. He could have a perfectly good explanation for this. I just want to make sure everything is alright."

Those words echo inside Harrier Squad's heads as they move through the East Canterlot military base, which mostly serves as secure housing for career soldiers. It has a garrison and serves as a small airfield, of course, but the large number of homes makes it more akin to a military suburb than anything.

Wildcat, as befits his new rank, has an isolated bungalow a little ways off from the rest. It's very nondescript. Plain, white siding, mowed lawn with no flowerbeds or other plants to break it up, and an air-car parked out front. Wildcat clearly doesn't spend much time making his house a home.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Functional." Longshot says upon surveying the Commander's dwelling. "If not visually appealing. It works for me in that regard."

Another moment passes. Longshot adjusts his backpack of tools brought 'just in case'. When the weight fails to lay him flat on his back, he relaxes and begains approaching the front door.

"Let's hope the Commander just had a bad case of the 24 hour flu." He quips.

[Elbeyon]

"Traditional." The place was looked after it would seem. "The architecture is classic. I always had a thing for real windows." The Commander's windows are probably real? Love's place doesn't have windows. It has video walls designed to work as windows for extra security.

Love glances at Longshot and gives him a small smile. She tried to park as close as possible so they wouldn't have to walk very far.

"His car is still here." The details are cataloged. Love walks with Longshot. The Commander's neighbors get visual searched to see if any might be home.

She chuckles at the quip and jokes back, "Who doesn't enjoy a twenty-four hour house bug from time to time?" The Commander didn't seem the sort, and that's what had her worried.

[Miltonian]

The door is there, a simple doorbell by its side. As they approach...nothing happens. No movement within, no sign of life, not even a light on inside.

The doorbell is waiting.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Most ponies are adverse to sickness bugs for some reason. Maybe that's why the windows are always closed."

Longshot gets the distinct feeling that the forces of the universe want him to push the shiny button. So he makes a perception check before pushing the doorbell button.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16 (+3 Hyper Spectral)

[Miltonian]

The doorbell is indeed a doorbell, not a cowbell or any other sort of bell, like some would have you believe.

[Elbeyon]

Love smirks. "The Commander wouldn't want anyone to catch him playing video games on his sick day." She nods at the house. "I don't see any video games being played." If he is sick, he could be in bed sleeping. Love stands with Longshot.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Somehow, I can't envision Wildcat playing video games."

Longshot presses the doorbell again.

[Miltonian]

And once again, there is no answer. The only echo is the sound of silence.

[Elbeyon]

"That's definitely not what I would do on my sick day." Love has never taken a sick day. Too many doctor notes required.

She puts her hoofs up to her mouth. "Wildcat! Your favorite ponies are here!"

No response on the second bell? Love looks sideways at Longshot. She steps off the porch and starts looking through windows.

[D.KnightSpider]

Hmm...

"I'll check the car." Longshot says once Love begins checking the windows.

He drifts back to examine said air cat.

[Elbeyon]

She might be laying on the sarcasm a little heavy today.

Love half-looks back towards Longshot. "Good idea."

Don't shoot Commander! Love isn't some peeping jay.

[Miltonian]

The windows are, unfortunately, all covered with curtains. However, Love's new tech allows her to see right through it and out the other side. Commander Wildcat sits in his living room, surrounded by empty bottles, staring at a blank screen.

As for the car, it's fine. About half a tank remaining, but in perfect, operating condition.

[Elbeyon]

Love shouts loud enough she thinks Wildcat can hear her, "Commander Wildcat! Could you answer the door?"

She whips around to face Longshot, "Wildcat is sitting there staring at a blank screen. He's not moving." There is notable worry on her face. Why isn't the Commander opening the door?

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot frowns. No matter how one chose to interpret these events, the resulting conclusion was decidedly of the 'not good' variety.

"That's... not good. I'd say we should find a way in there."

He flies back to the door and checks to see if it's locked or unlocked.

[Miltonian]

The front door is locked. However, in response to Love's louder cries, she sees the Commander move. His shoulders slump and he seems to let out a very long sigh. With agonizing slowness, he pushes himself to his hooves and begins staggering for the door.

A few moments later, he speaks from the other side, "Who is it?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"Longshot Scope and Partial Charge." He calls back to their Commander. "Red Tape asked us to check in with you."

The debate over how formal to be was very short lived out of necessity. Maybe some informality would be of help in the situation.

[Elbeyon]

Love looks back to Longshot and nods about finding a way inside.

At the movement, Love turns to Longshot again. She at normal volume, "He's coming to the door! Slowly."

She watches him as he gets closer on the door with a nervous face. If he looks like he'll reach the door safely, she backtracks and steps to the door and stands there with Longshot.

[Miltonian]

Wildcat slumps against the other side of the door. "Hello, Lts," he says dourly, "Well everything is fine. I am enjoying my day off, thank you very much. If there's a problem, I trust it can wait until tomorrow."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot nods to Live, indicating that she should answer. This is going to be more within her ballpark than his.

[Elbeyon]

Love nods back to Longshot and swallows. This would be what she calls a sticky situation.

Love stokes some positivity! She says, "Hey, Wildcat." Her language flips back to not using his rank. "Good, your day is about to get even better. I brought some Bub's hayburgers!" Love grabs the bag from her side and raises it towards the door. "Let's eat together."

[Miltonian]

Wildcat pauses for a moment. He chuckles hollowly. "Well, how could I say no to that?" he says humorlessly, "Might as well let you in." The deadbolts slides back and he opens the door. A day's worth of scruff adorns his chin and his eyes have bags under them. He looks at them blearily. "So it's just you too, eh?"

He holds the door open, inviting them into the dark house.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Just us." Longshot replies. "Were you expecting otherwise?"

He tries to be glib as he slips through the doorway, even though he's fishing for information.

Love's going to have to play good cop.

[Elbeyon]

One of the best things after a long night. Free food hoof delivered.

"The flavor was already headed through the door. Might as well enjoy it." Love smiles. It smells good.

Wildcat's scrub isn't going to pause this train. The caboose enters the house at safe entry speed.

Love carries the takeout bag in a hoof as she walks. The bag is big. Large enough for two stallions. Too small for three stallions so Love has another bag on her person for that third stallion. "I love Bub's. They know how to cook a burger. Dripping with flavor. Fries are large and seasoned right. I like the regular fries myself. They have sweet potato waffle fries, but the flavor is too dense for my style. Doesn't pair as well with the hayburger. Plenty of ice cream flavors on the menu if that's a pony's thing."

[Miltonian]

"No comment," Wildcat says in a wry attempt at humor.

"Yeah..." he agrees about Love's assessment of Bub's, "They do good work. Make good food." He shuffles towards the table, which only has the recommended four chairs around it. The interior of the house is not very messy. There's too little in it to make much of a mess, even if it was all thrown about. At the moment, aside from the bottles stacked around the armchair in the living room, everything is neat and orderly.

"If you want soda, tough. I have water," Wildcat says.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot could appreciate the simplicity of the house, although he'd freely admit that such appreciation wasn't the intended effect. It looked like their Commander didn't have much by way of a personal life.

"Were Brazen with us, I'd say suspicions would be well-founded. But since he's not, eh." Longshot shrugs. "And water's fine by me. I had to give up empty calories a long while ago."

He drifts toward the kitchen and takes a look around the place. Surely there had to be some form of conversation topic lurking about the room. Hm.

[Elbeyon]

He keeps a clean place. She can appreciate that. A little decoration never hurt no pony though. Was there something on the TV?

Love follows Wildcat to the table. She puts the bag down and reaches inside to remove foam polystyrene clam containers.

She chuckles. "We got you a 'Big Ugly'." A one pound burger. Lightly seared bread. Quality burger. Half melted cheese on top. Off to the side, ready to be assembled, is lettuce, tomato, pickle, and another seared bun. Bub's burgers only get so thick and so the burger/bun have grown outward to a comically large. The thing is the size of a pony's head. Love puts down another flip open container with his basket of fries.

"I'll take water." Love isn't big on soda.

"I went with the 'Not so Ugly."" Half Pound. Love unpacks the first bag and starts working on the second one. Her burger container is notable smaller so there is no confusing the two. If Longshot isn't going to be eating, Love is going to be eating that third burger herself. A 'Mini Bub'? Maybe, he has something else?

[Miltonian]

The fridge has a water dispenser built into the door of the freezer, as per normal. The cabinets have a few glasses, but not enough for a large company. Wildcat doesn't host parties very often. However, there is a stack of papers on the table, including a pamphlet with a saucy batpony mare on the front and number underneath.

The television is turned to a classic, war movie. Wildcat sits at the table and accepts his burger. He begins chewing it, making a grunt of approval first and foremost.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot takes the third burger off of Love's hooves. He's been practicing how to peck at food so as to be polite.

He glances at the TV screen. "Well, that looks familiar... Although I can't quite place the name. Which one is that?"

IQ
[roll0] VS 12

[Elbeyon]

Love looks for one of the glasses and grabs one. "Wildcat, you want water? Ice? Longshot. Ice or no Ice?" Love puts a hefty amount of ice in her cup and fills up. She serves everyone else at the table what drink they request.

Love glances over the room as she moves on the look out for any thing that could be trouble.

[Miltonian]

The film is an old classic, The Battle of Halfway Island, detailing the turning point of the war between Equestria and a rogue dragonlord who'd set himself up as a god in some of the eastern lands.

Wildcat grunts. "Halfway Island," he replies, confirming Longshot's hypothesis. He keeps munching his burger and soon has consumed most of it. "Water'd be nice. Ice please."

He lets the room lapse into silence. "So, everything check out? Seen enough to satisfy Red Tape's mothering instincts?"

[D.KnightSpider]

That was right. Halfway Island... His grandfather had written quite the scathing dissertation on the documentary's many inaccuracies once upon a time.

"No ice is fine."

Longshot mulls over Wildcat's comments. Maybe they were going about this all wrong. Perhaps a better method would be to shoot straight or start launching into his hypothesis.

A second passes as Longshot evaluates their Commander.


Body Language
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

She does a little mini cheer, "Water, Ice on the way."

"No ice, got it," she says in a happy tone.

"Halfway Island. I've never seen it. How are you enjoying it?"

Love puts her drink down on the table. She puts Wildcat's glass near his plate. The same is done for Longshot.

Love sits down next to Wildcat and flips open her container. She assembles her burger. "I think Red Tape is worried about you. He doesn't mean any harm. He wants to make sure your alright." After he couldn't get a hold of him for 24 hours.

She takes a big bite out of her burger and chews. She takes a swig of her water.

[Miltonian]

Wildcat sips his water morosely. He's showing a lot of classic signs of depression. "The movie is...showing its age," he mutters, "It was great for its time, but nowadays colts find it boring."

"Of course he did," Wildcat says, even more subdued. "Well...I suppose he's going to find out soon. Might as well get it out."

He takes another swig of water. "I've been ruled unfit to command."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot provides an immediate, honest reaction: "The unholy buck?"

His secondary reaction is to shift into business mode. His cell phone comes out of hiding. He types a message and places it in the center of the table for all to see: Love, we need a security/bug check.

[Elbeyon]

Love puts her burger down. She frowns and says, "Commander... I..."

She glances at the phone on the table. She steels her face and looks up to Longshot and nods. She stands up and starts walking around searching for listening devices and anything that signals Wildcat may be in trouble.

Bug Check
[roll0] vs 16 (Sensor) + 2 (Program) +2 (Tool) +/- (Other(s))

[Miltonian]

The place is devoid of bugs, actually. Not even official ones. Which, to be honest, is suspicious in and of itself, if you're paranoid.

Wildcat finishes his glass of water.

[Elbeyon]

Love checks the radio waves for any chatter.

If she doesn't find anything, she shakes her head to Longshot that she didn't find anything.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot nods to accept her findings. He relaxes slightly.

"This... is very unexpected. It doesn't even make sense." Sigh. "What happened to cause all this?"

[Elbeyon]

Upon finding nothing, Love's unhappy face returns. She walks back into the kitchen near the table. "Commander. I'm so sorry." She keeps an eye on him.

[Miltonian]

"They cited." Wildcat grimaces. "Medical issues. I feel fine. More like my old self than ever. And then told me I was a stuck up old fart who shouldn't be in charge of a popsicle, much less a military outfit. They accused me of gross negligence, incompetence, and lacking every skill necessary to be commander. Then they told me that, so long as I went quietly, they wouldn't make it public and I could retire as an 'honored member of Equestria's fabled heroes'. Huh."

[D.KnightSpider]

Were there times when he might of agreed with that assessment? Yes. You'd be hard pressed to find a subordinate who didn't share the sentiment at one time or another. But that was immaterial to the fact that, for good or ill, Wildcat was a part of the squad.

There were very few ponies for whom Longshot would roll over when it came to his squad. The way Wildcat phrased things provided some hope.

"I'm sorry, Commander." He pauses so that the meaning of the wording was clear and not related to what followed. "How high up the chain did this decision originate?"

Thoughts and theories were beginning to stir.

[Elbeyon]

Love stands closer to the Commander. Longshot has more experience with the military than anyone except the commander. She trusts him on this one.

"We'll figure something out."

[Miltonian]

"It came from all the top-brass," Wildcat says with a humorless chuckle, "Everyone shy of the princesses themselves was in that room and they all signed the document. Seems my list of friends has been cut short."

"There's nothing TO figure out," he snaps, "This is it. I'm done. It's over."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot sinks back into his chair. He couldn't fight that sort of clincher.

"Cud." He says. "I'd hoped for a moment that Doom was behind this and maybe we could unwind it somehow..."

[Elbeyon]

The Princesses didn't support, at least on paper, his forced resignation. They may not support Wildcat being ousted like this so that gives Love some hope.

Love pulls a chair besides Wildcat and takes a sit.

"Commander, you built the EDF. We're only here because of you."

Love frowns at Doom's name and keeps an eye on the Commander.

Did they make a mess of the last mission?

"There has to be a crux at the heart."

Did the name Doom mean anything to you?
[roll0] vs 14 (Body Language)

[Miltonian]

Wildcat's jaw tenses at the mention of Doom. "Perhaps he is," he says, voice cold. Not towards Love and Longshot, but just cold. "He's everywhere we turn now. There's no end to his 'friends' and 'close supporters' in the upper echelons of power. But to think that he could get to War Monger..." He shakes his head. "Something's happened and it's bigger than the EDF. Bigger than us, even all together."

He sighs. "This...coming mission is the last one. If nothing changes, when it's over, I'll no longer be your commander."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot rouses himself forward and to attention.

"Then let's find that change. There must be some way to knock Doom's legs out from under him... I know the Princesses were working on a way to stop him, maybe we could coordinate with them?"

[Elbeyon]

The commander knows Doom? He seems to have quiet a few run ins if Doom is everywhere nowadays.

"When I'm told to be quiet and not ask questions. That's the most important time to ask questions. We can't allow this to happen under the rug."

Is the diarchy in danger? She doesn't like the idea of Doom and his friends amassing power.

Love nods to Longshot. "If we go at this alone we may trip up the Princesses' plans. It may not hurt to check in with them or their CSS. Considering Doom's history, I doubt I'd like whatever is coming down the pipeline. We should investigate."

She asks Wildcat, "Forgive me. Are you or anyone you know in any sort of trouble? How much interaction have you had with Doom and his friends?"

[Miltonian]

"Perhaps you could. But I'm out of the fight, Lt," he replies to Longshot.

Wildcat looks up, his face that of a trapped animal. "I can't answer that," he says to Love. He goes to take another drink of water, but finds the glass is empty and stares at it.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot makes the conscious effort not to sound abrupt or demanding. He tries to keep the edge out of his voice.

"I'm not going to let you go down without a fight, sir. So let's cut to the heart of the matter: what can you tell us? Does it involve Rose and Chrysalis? My mishaps?"

If Doom got his hooves on the EDF... Best not finish that thought.

[Elbeyon]

"We're not going down without a fight, Sir."

She stands and puts a hoof on the Commanders shoulder. She gives him a reassuring rub, "I'll get you some more water," and reaches for his glass. She steps away and asks, "Would you like more Ice?" She tries to provide a distraction for Wildcat's sake.

[Miltonian]

Commander Wildcat lets out a sigh. "You all are definitely not going anywhere. I made sure of that. Red Tape hired the best bucking PR people out there. You all should be untouchable. Now I'm regretting not using a little of that for myself."

"More ice," he repeats in assent. He stares off into space for a moment before finally answering Longshot. "I have my own enemies," he says at last, "Ones with a lot of power and, apparently, the ears of the top brass."