Three consecutive right-handed strikes to the ribs, a left-handed uppercut, and a roundhouse kick was all it took for Jessica to knock the three-hundred pound minotaur on his ass, of course with a few liver shots and shifts of the feet to avoid the bull’s slow heavy swinging. When Jessica’s dad lost his arm, her younger brother became her new sparring partner. Walter is a huge man, but unlike this minotaur Walter has stamina, agility, reflexes, and a surprising amount of speed. He has a way of guiding his opponents into his attacks, but all this bull has is just brute strength and not a whole lot of discipline. Jessica regularly whooped Walter’s ass on a daily basis, even when he grew to be over a foot and a half taller than her, so obviously she made quick work of the heavy-set minotaur that accused her of cheating at a game of cards… She did but he couldn’t prove that.

A familiar grizzled stallion enters the bar Jessica found herself spending her nights in over the past few weeks. The aged unicorn steps over the unconscious bull and makes his way over to the bar, spitting his chewed up wad of nicotine gum into a nearby spittoon before waving down the bartender.

“Sprite. None of that cranberry shit…” Ashfall says, slapping a few bits on the counter while Jessica treks over, hopping up onto a stool next to the older stallion, staring at him with a smug grin and eyes filled with curiosity.

“Howdy stranger~” Jessica greeted, the smell of hard whiskey on her breath, which brought back memories of his younger years chasing strange tail while hopping from dive bar to dive bar. Not too keen on nostalgia, Ashfall turns his thoughts to the human woman next to him, regarding her with a studying glance before turning his eyes to the bartender as they slid him his ordered drink.

“Hnn… Jessica, right?” Ashfall asked, not even looking at her as he takes a sip from his drink, keeping his hand over his cup after setting it back down, remembering the panic Walter had when the elements were left alone in a room with this woman.

“Depends on whether or not you have a warrant.” Jessica replied, causing Ashfall to pause for a moment, before shaking his head and sighing.

“Ain’t a cop… More of a freelancer I guess.” Ashfall says with a shrug, taking another sip from his drink.

“Well then, yes sir that’s me!” Jessica replied, leaning against the bar, purposefully letting her cleavage show as she stared at Ashfall with predatory eyes. Obviously the liquor coursing through her system was making her… Energetic.

“Hnn… Still tryin’ to wrap my head around Crewes and Fury having kids.” Ashfall mutters, causing Jessica to pause a moment, before tilting her head, her eyes staring at him unblinking.

“What’s there to wrap your head around?” she inquires, staring at Ashfall as if she were trying to peel back his skin with just her stare.

“The fact that your parents hated each other.” Ashfall remarked, snuffing out the unease in his gut from her stare. She’s definitely Walter’s sister, each of the siblings have a very defensive or protective reaction to somebody bringing up their parents. Probably a force of habit given that they most likely had to protect their family’s honor from griffons who don’t know when to shut the fuck up.

“Oh?” Jessica perked a brow, “What about it?” she asked as the bartender slid her a shot of whiskey after sliding a few bits on the counter, already knowing what she wanted without her having to ask for it.

“Sergeant Crewes and Captain Barnes bumped heads quite a lot. I know because they’d regularly fight at the pubs in Stalliongrad when the Legion was deployed during the war. I happened to catch glimpses of their disputes… Figured they hated each other’s guts.” Ashfall comments as he watches Jessica down the shot as if she were drinking a cold glass of water on a hot summer day.

“Naw dude, that shit was foreplay.” Jessica replied, causing Ashfall to take pause, staring at the human woman sideways.

“Come again?” Ashfall inquired.

“When you’ve won as many fights as my mother has, both physical and strategical, it kinda gets boring to take control of every man you drag to bed. You kinda just wanna get dominated, ya’know? You want to experience true assertion of dominance, but my mama wasn’t about to just submit to just any man. Naw, she wanted to make my dad work for her pussy. And work hard he did.” Jessica says as Ashfall just stares at her before turning his gaze to his drink.

“Hnn… A true love story.” Ashfall says with a dry chuckle, tapping on the rim of his glass while Jessica examined him up and down.

“So, what do you want? You’ve been avoiding me ever since our first date and now out of nowhere you come to me? Making me feel confused with all these mixed signals babe.” Jessica says, resting her chin on her hand.

“If that’s what you call a first date then you got problems, then again that kinda goes unsaid.” Ashfall says as Jessica grins, giggling softly. “It’s your brother. I have questions.” Ashfall says, causing Jessica’s smile to fade into a neutral expression, her face relaxing entirely as her eyes didn’t leave him once again.

“What about him?” Jessica asked in a calm tone of voice.

“Who the fuck is he, exactly?” Ashfall asked, staring back at her.

“Aren’t you his ‘guardian’? Don’t you already have his file?” Jessica asked, perking a brow.

“A lot of redacted information had been filled in with unassuming white lies. That’s the impression I get at least.” Ashfall says, finishing his drink before tossing in another stick of nicotine gum. “The Crown wants me to be this kid’s personal guardian, and from my long history of babysitting, if my subject of affection has an obscure background it usually means a shit storm follows with’em.” Ashfall explains as Jessica taps on the bar idly.

“That so?” Jessica muttered.

“Hnn. Walter suffered a bullet wound to the head and survived, the files say it was a three-eighty ACP slug they dug out of his skull… But the medical reports reveal otherwise.” Ashfall began, but was suddenly stopped when Jessica stood, leaning in real close to his ear.

“Not here. Follow me.” Jessica whispered, her hand grazing against the back of his neck, drawing his attention briefly to the touch as her hand slipped in and out of his jacket. Ashfall didn’t take notice, he just got up and followed her quietly as she led him to the employee’s lounge in the back of the bar, locking the door once inside.

Jessica turns to Ashfall, and before he could say much she kicks him in the center of his chest, taking him completely off guard. Before he falls back onto the couch, and before he could retaliate she holds up the magazine from his sidearm, dangling it in front of him before dropping it on his crotch, causing him to grunt as he glared at her.

“I don’t quite like talking about my baby brother getting shot in the back of the fucking head by some cowardly cunt. And I don’t take kindly to you digging up past shit. Ever since my brother and I got to this god damned country everybody keeps treating us like the red menace!” Jessica hissed as Ashfall just stared up at her, furrowing his brow before tucking his magazine into his pocket.

“Tough shit kiddo. Your brother is under my protection. He’s my jurisdiction now. I have much a right to him as a parent would, at least until the HCA deems him fit to function alone in society.” Ashfall replies, pausing for a moment as he stared at her. “...Funny thing is, you aren’t in the HCA program… You just showed up. And since then you’ve pretty much went under the table, and people forgot about you. Why is that, I wonder?” Ashfall says as Jessica stares at him quietly.

“What are you implying?” Jessica inquires as she cocks her head to the side, giving even more of a reason for Ashfall to be creeped out by this psycho.

“It doesn’t fucking add up.” Ashfall spat, “Your brother gets all this special attention, the Crown walks in his shadow, he lives with some of the most powerful ponies in this country aside from the diarchs themselves, and some reason I get the distinct impression that I’m not protecting him from anybody!” Ashfall says as he glares down at the human woman. “Who is Walter Barnes, and why does he seem to have all this attention from all these powerful parties?”

Jessica gave pause for several long moments, anger and frustration twisting her face as she stares up at the grizzled stallion. She looked away, brushing her nose with her thumb for a few seconds before taking in a deep breath and looking back up to stare Ashfall face to face.

“One year. It took one fucking year for the Legion to change my brother into a stranger. Halfway into his first year of service he got deployed to the Forsaken Forest. Human insurrectionists took over a military outpost there and captured hostages belonging to wealthy families that funded the Legion. My brother was a part of the fodder sent to weaken enemy defenses. Twenty-five fourteen year old boys, some armed with weapons bigger than their own bodies, sent to charge into their own death. Walter doesn’t talk about what happened, not even to our father. I don’t know what happened, all I know is that after that he was a different boy to the sweetheart I called my brother. I knew the Legion would change him, but they didn’t just do that, they fucking broke him. Drugs, violent outbursts, he started growing like a fucking weed… Once he started climbing ranks that’s when some coward decided to take a gun to my baby brother’s head… Walter was too strong for that though.” Jessica says, pausing, sniffling a bit as she once again brushed her nose with her thumb. “It’s funny… The coward that tried to kill Walter wound up scrambling enough eggs to change Walter back into the boy I once knew… He was still different, but when he woke up from the coma he had light in his eyes again.” Jessica trails off, turning her gaze away from Ashfall.

“...Shitfire.” Ashfall sighs, placing his hands on his hips and staring at the floor for a moment. “There’s still a lot of things that don’t add up.” Ashfall says, Jessica just gives a dry laugh and glances his direction.

“Sometimes the past hurts too much to remember. Some memories are worth having, others… Not so much. My dad has connections, resources… It may be obscure but Walter’s files, his documents, they are all official. Me, my dad… We want to give Walter a different life than what we had. He deserves that much, to have friends. To find love. To move on. Me, my father, we’ll do anything to assure that nothing stands in the way between Walter and a second chance. Don’t be an obstacle, Captain Venture.” Jessica says firmly as she walked toward the exit of the room.

“Hnn… Heh. Cute, that supposed to be a threat?” Ashfall scoffs, staring back up at Jessica, who simply just casts a hot scowl his direction. “This kid is my jurisdiction. I am his shadow. I protect him and others around him. It’s my job. I don’t like it when information is kept from me when I work a job. Whether or not the past hurts to reflect on doesn’t matter here. What matters is my efficiency with doing what I do best. And if anybody is being an obstacle here, it’s you, Ms. Barnes.” Ashfall says, spitting his gum into a nearby trash can. “Besides… You can’t possibly deny my curiosity when kid survives a fuckin’ .357 magnum point blank to the back of the skull. Wasn’t too hard to find out the truth after plugging in the measurements of the crushed slug they pulled from his head.”

“...I don’t know.” Jessica says, her expression blank and featureless as a stoic mannequin. “You think I know something, but I just fucking don't. I’m about as clueless as you are. My mother dies during premature childbirth, the brother I was told wouldn’t live past a week comes home a fat healthy baby. He shoots up like a fucking weed and packs on muscle like a human fucking tank. I don’t know, I always believed it was a miracle.” Jessica sighs, crossing her arms. “If you’re looking for answers then you’re probably gonna have to find them some other way. I’d start following the name Phantom.” Jessica explains, drawing a reaction of recognition to flicker across Ashfall’s features.

“Phantom?” Ashfall asks, perking a brow. “And how do you know that name?” Ashfall presses on while Jessica turns and unlocks the employee lounge’s door.

“My dad used to work for’em.”

“Walter, would you like your steak medium-rare or well done?” Reynolds asks as he pokes into a thick and juicy looking sirloin, the well seasoned meat causing a mouthwatering aroma to fill the air.

“Uh, medium-rare please.” I replied quietly, watching as Reynolds worked his massive array of multiple separate grills and cooking stations set up like one of those massive drum kits that drummers use when they’re playing a solo concert, like the Mark Temperato of outdoor cooking appliances. He has all the stations segregated perfectly for both the carnivorous and herbivorous members of the audience watching the large man at work.

“So Walter, what are some hobbies of yours? Sports, art, video games?” Reynolds asked, his ears aimed my direction while his eyes paid attention to the roasting foods.

“Music, wrestling, and I guess video games.” I replied with a shrug. I had only started playing video games recently thanks to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. I’d really gotten into games like Spyro, or Sly Cooper, more of the older stuff.

“Ah, music eh? I’m a bit of a country man myself, if it wasn’t that obvious, but I’m quite familiar with rock and metal.” Reynolds says, rambling on about various artists, some I recognized, others I heard of but didn’t listen to. I just kinda zoned out, I was still thinking back about that thestral girl. Why did she remind me of my first deployment? I’ve been interacting with others, I’ve seen plenty of other children too like those two rugrats that live at Pinkie’s work. So why the hell did it come up now?

“Is there a point to all of this?” I’d suddenly just blurt out, I’d tuned Reynolds out by now, and just spoke bluntly about what I was feeling. “I’m not planning on sticking around that much. I came by to help a friend… I don’t want to be somebody’s pity case.” I say calmly as I just stare off at the ground.

“...Welp, I’ve never been a really good icebreaker. Straight to the point then, I guess.” Reynolds says, pausing as he turns to me and offers a smile. “The Forest Campaign was a rather cruel and ruthless play in the theater of war. It was mostly just the Legion sharpening their fangs, yet their efforts proved far too rough based on all the cracks in their teeth.” Reynolds says, causing me to slowly glance his way, studying his expression closely. He’s calm, his face relaxed aside from the gentle smile resting on his lips, or at least what little I could see of them underneath that freakish mustache.

“Whatever shit that tabloids puke all over their blogs and independent media websites ain’t gonna exactly help you grasp the understanding of what happened there.” I say lowly as I tuck my hands in my pockets.

“Of course not. One of my kids was a medic in one of the five regiments of the first deployed, like you. The first deployed suffered the most, the second and third waves just had to clean up the mess.” Reynolds says as I shoot him another stare of surprise.

“...What was their name?” I asked, staring at the large man with curiosity now.

“Abigail Lincoln. After the Forest Campaign ended she was discharged and tossed in the cellar of some run down sanatorium. When some of my friends up North came across her, they sent her to me… I signed the papers, adopted her as my own and took her in, here.” Reynolds says as he flips my steak over a few times while prodding it with a knife.

“...Is she doing okay?” I asked. I remembered Abigail, her group was pinned down by enemy fire, we were called in to flank the enemy and pull their attention away from her group long enough for them to extract wounded. The older cadets called her Gutsy, since she’d often time be pushing people’s guts back into their bodies.

“...Abigail killed herself about seven months ago today. Found her hanging in her bedroom one morning when I came to bring her breakfast. Before she died she’d often spend hours talking about all that's happened to her. I doubt she had anybody to truly listen to her during the time she spent in the sanatorium.” Reynolds says, causing my heart to fall into the pit of my stomach.

“She's dead…? I’m… Sorry.” I say, trailing off as I lowered my head. She was more mentally sound than the rest of the kids in my squad, me included. She put so many people back together and kept many of us alive during that time. I always felt like she was stronger than me… I guess… I guess I was wrong.

“...She didn’t die in some cold loveless asylum. She died in a home that loved her. The damage done to her soul was far too great, she’d made her decision long before she met me. Sometimes I ask myself if I did something wrong. If I had done things differently, maybe she’d still be here, laughing with that beautiful smile of hers… The only thing I can take comfort in is that she had a father who loved her dearly. In the end, she had a family… She had friends.” he says as he tosses my sirloin onto a plate along with some bacon-wrapped shrimp and roasted veggies.

I just stand there, holding the plate of food in silence. I lost so many friends in that massacre. My comrades lost legs, arms, eyes, teeth, organs; yet I was the only one who walked away unscathed. Didn’t matter how many times I was shot or blown up, I seemed to be able to pull myself back together. Everybody else just fell apart around me, and I always felt like I was resented for that… And sometimes, I resent myself for it too.

“It’s not your fault.” Reynolds spoke up, breaking me out of my trance. “What happened in that conflict wasn’t your fault. Abigail’s death wasn’t my fault. You did the best you could do. You fought hard, from Abigail’s stories of all those she served with I know for a fact you fought hard. You’re still here. And those who didn’t make it, they aren’t your fault.” Reynolds says as he places his hand firmly on my shoulder.

“But…”

“It’s not. Your. Fault.” Reynolds reiterates, squeezing my shoulder more firmly. “You did your best. It’s not your fault.”

I just stand there in silence for a few long moments, staring at my food in silence before looking back up at him, silently nodding.

“My doors are open at all times. Any time. No matter what. I’ll help you however I can. You’re not a pity case, you never will be. You’re a man climbing a mountain. I’m just the guy who sells the climbing gear.” he says with warm eyes, the same eyes dad used to give me during his pep talks.

“...Okay. Thanks.” I say quietly, looking back down at my plate as I stepped away, stowing what I felt deep in my chest as I walked away.

Reynolds hummed softly as he continued flipping steaks, burgers, and hotdogs. Working his grills like the console of a ship, sailing through rough waters. He takes pause, noticing a pair of eyes resting onto him. He wears a smile, although it falters slightly as he turns to see a young thestral woman standing next to him, holding a plate, staring at him with uncertainty.

“I don’t believe we’ve met miss, my name is Riley Reynolds.” Reynolds greeted as he turned to her. “What would you like?”

“...The name’s Vick, and… I’d like some steak please… And maybe later… I’d like to… Talk to you about stuff too.”

“Of course, dear.” Reynolds says, piling on some steak for the timid thestral mare. He knew her aura, he didn’t have to touch her like he did with Walter, he could hide his emotions far better than she could… The signs were quite simple to read, a story he is sadly all too familiar with.

Reynolds had a feeling her story was going to be a lot more complicated than most cases, though.