/ Chp 22: Concrete Jungle arc (part 5): Foxey Lady / Story: Pucci's bizarre adventure: Made in Equestria / by TheGunslinger12 /-/
Vinyl (1st person)
Private Eye: a real stuck-up piece of work in your flank, but a pony who always finds ways to trap others in his alcohol-ridden likeness. Sure, he may be a radical guy once you dig past the near-impenetrable "cool guy" act he flaunts; what you can't get by is the methods used to throw your ass under the wagon!
When I bothered to skim over the letter sun-butt gave me, it was apparent who wrote it- even a blind pony could tell. The tired colt-of-a-guns has always been a tight-lipped type of pony who would die rather than list what he ate for breakfast. I mean, the bastard went on a month-long vacation to Hawaniegh without telling anypony and came back acting as if nothing happened. We only found out another month after when he casually mentioned it in a board meeting! I digress, however, for as borderline paranoid as Private Eye seemed, I can't ignore that he knows a shit-ton of things when assigned scouting.
Hopefully, the joint ain't so jam-packed by gung-ho Tierra Muerta cronies- it'd be pretty annoying.
Leave it to the detective stereotype to send his allies to a 'get important info from a local bar' scenario, especially involving somepony like The Fox Lady. And like the rotting slums I currently walked through, trash littering the ground, smog filling the air, and the loveliest loony drug addicts on every corner street, Fox Lady is the last pony I want to be near. The mere thought of the succubus shrivels up whatever amount of dignity I have left.
"H-Hey, Commander?" I hear, looking over my shoulder to see Moondancer nervously glancing in every direction. "A-Are you sure t-this is where this 'Fox Lady' lives?" She stuttered, flinching when a plastic bag flew past her from an alleyway.
I pray for this kid's soul, "Live is certainly a broad term for her." I say, turning left at a T-section sidewalk. Heh, broad. " But places like this, and her line of work, give distractions for those down on their luck- an escape from the real world, you can say." Turning another corner, I grimaced at what was ahead.
"Well, can you tell me more about her specifically, 'you'll see' isn't a good descriptor. And what do you mean by distraction?" Moondancer replied.
Thankfully, a few more steps down the sidewalk, I was blessed with not having to explain my worst nightmare to her, but I was also cursed immediately afterward. Looming like an incoming cataclysm of regret, Moondancer and I stopped before a single-story brick building. Like the neighborhood around it, the place was dingy as ever, with near-rundown exterior walls held together by an overlapping, rusting sheet metal roof. The lack of windows, replaced by scandalous posters of creatures in revealing positions, hid away the atrocities that would scar any child's mind.
Above the main doors, a pink and white neon sign reading 'Vending machine of love' looked ready to blow up, sparks flying out of the back.
If you, Private Eye, can read minds…I hate you.
"You're about to see." I sigh, going ahead and pushing past the door.
Ya know? When you stub your hoof against something, usually a corner, there's no pain for a few seconds, right? The fiery feeling traveling through the nervous system, slowly creeping up and exploding in full in a matter of seconds. All in that short time frame, you think to yourself: "Why, why did this happen to me?" all while rolling on the floor, crying. Yeah, that's basically what happened the second I stepped in the door, but with my nose. Minus the crying, of course.
Two seconds: completely fine.
Four seconds: Something is coming.
Five seconds: Oh god.
Then it hit me like a fucking tidal wave of bodily stench. The mix of biological fluids from Celestia knows where, poorly covered by cheap cleaning products, entered my muzzle, nearly making me fall to my knees. Never in my thirty-seven years of living will I familiarize myself with this smell…and the noise. Put it simply: these weren't the distant, muffled moans and cries of pain you'd hear in the depths of Tartarus…they're way worse. Don't get me wrong: I'm definitely a pony who'd love to get down and dirty with another for a good time, but not when the walls are as thin as paper! The fact that places like this are allowed to exist is a crime.
"Oh, hello, ladies, shall I be of service?" A stallion said, sitting behind a desk next to the front door. In the room, like the rest of the building's interior, the walls were colored maroon red and matte black, neon lights hanging from the ceiling flickering in a strobe pattern.
Fortunately, Moondancer seemed to have better luck than me, the stench not doing much to her sense of smell as she walked up next to me. The lucky bastard behind the counter acted as if nothing was wrong in this accursed building. "Nah, don't get us wrong, we ain't here for…your services." I say, resisting an embarrassed blush, "We need to see your boss." Affirmingly nodding to my request, the stallion shifted to the right side of his desk.
Picking up a landline hoofset, the receptionist moved the device to his ear, dialing a sequence of numbers into the unseen dial pad.
After a few seconds of ringback tone, a muffled voice spoke into the receptionist's ear.
"This is the front desk calling…A pair of mares are requesting an audience with you, ma'am…No…one denied our pleasure service, so I doubt it…But can I send them in now?" Another moment of silence, "Alright, I'll escort them immediately." He smiled politely, standing up while setting down the hoof set. "Follow me. The boss has allowed a meeting." He said, walking around and away from his desk.
Looking at each other hesitantly, I saw Moondancer starting to crack under the embarrassment, especially when we followed the stallion through a walkway left of the front desk. The further we went, avoiding the room-flanked hallways and VIP areas, it only intensified. When we all reached a particularly 'normal' waiting area, a typical office waiting room mixed with the building's colors, the kid and I were mentally exhausted. The stallion told us to wait in the small area shortly before abandoning us, Leaving Moondancer and me lingering awkwardly in a waiting room like lost foals in a supermarket. I prefer dying before ever landing my rump on those leather seats covering the walls between a door.
Needing to distract myself from getting violent with everypony working here, I reached into my saddlebags and retrieved the crystal Private gave me. These little gems work on a magical connection linking two or more ponies, like a mana-based pager. Infusing my magic activated the little modern piece of technology, and the emerald-shaped gem glowed mutely momentarily until the light slowly faded.
"Hello?" Replied a gruff voice echoing in my skull.
"Yo! I made it to Grogar's den." I mentally reply, repeatedly tossing the gem into the air and catching it when it falls back down. Good thing these run of telepathy, "Spill the beans, baggy eyes, What'd I got to do?"
There were various clanking noises, followed by a door closing, "Sorry, freaky brows had a bit of a freakout; first time seeing a corpse and all, I guess." He lazily said, unable to witness my bewilderment. What the hell was going on at their end? "Ain't the point, however. All I need you to do is use your famous charm to get Fox Lady to spill info about the warehouse by any means necessary."
I think I threw up in my mouth. "I'm hoping you mean physical violence?" I aspirated.
"Any means." Of course, he would say that; why can't everything be solved by punching it?!
Playing in the same ballpark as Fox Lady is equivalent to throwing yourself into a pit of cobras, ending in either feeling violated…or strangely gratified.
I should know; everypony was dumb and young once in their lives.
"I know you two have your little catfights from time to time," That's an understatement, considering any building or open space we're in gets demolished. "But this isn't the time for relationship problems. I need details; anything that can give us a clue as to-" Suddenly, the call was abruptly disconnected following a swift crash and a curse from Private; the tired bastard must've dropped his crystal again- he's always been clumsy.
Groaning in contempt, catching the crystal a final time, I pinch my muzzle bridge, "Fine! But don't come cryin' when Manehattans perverted underbelly loses its biggest freak." I angrily shouted despite Private not hearing, tossing the crystal back in my saddlebags.
Looking over at Moondancer, she sat on the floor while gawking at scandalous posters on the wall with a crimson hue face, acting out her best impression of a curious filly. Worry for the mare welled inside me before the centering door slowly creaked inwardly, drawing our attention. Stepping out- or, accurately -stumbling out, a youthful stallion slurred drunkenly. He barely acknowledged us in passing, narrowly bumping into Moondancer as he proceeded down the hall we arrived from. And like the rest of this place, the guy lacked the decency to 'cover up' his backside, which was redder than Big Mac's fur, slap marks overlaying his rump.
Thankfully, Moondancer hadn't noticed the pervert, mainly because of who followed him out and leaned against the door frame."Well, well, well. Look at who we have here~." She said, touching her bottom lip with a hoof. Appearing as a mix between a magician and a pole dancer, the Fox Lady appeared.
Moondancer stood up and hustled closer to me, halting at my right, sheepishly shifting in place. "H-Hey, are y-you Fox Lady?" She said, averting her gaze as the succubus slithered up next to the timid mare, her curvy, plump navy blue body uncomfortably pressed against Moondancer's.
A red and white striped legging-covered foreleg reached up and settled over Moondancer's shoulders, Fox Lady's sad-looking, droopy eyes hungrily scanning her. "My, my, aren't you a magnificent sight to behold. You're practically oozing with ripeness; the smell of innocence coats every inch of your short-stacked body. Like a pile of solid gold presented to me on a silver platter." The mare's hoof snaked further up Moondancer's shoulders, clearing buttermilk fur and swimming through a barrier of red hair, eventually nesting in the middle of the tide mane. "If you want, I don't mind clearing a room out and giving your first time for free, cutie~." Lowering her voice into a slutry tone, Fox Lady slowly pulled in her hoof, bringing Moondancer's face closer to hers.
"Alright, that's enough," I interrupted, Immediately, circling the pair, stopping behind Fox Lady to grab her shoulders and move the succubus back to the doorway. "Save the freaky shit for somepony who wants it, Fox." I angrily chided.
Fox Lady pouted subtly but quickly gave a sad smile with a mix of ire, her long four-tailed, black jacket shoulder pressing against the doorframe again. "And then Mrs. Scratch ruins the party as always." She said, her head tilted to her right, her pale brown eyes glaring behind loose long white mane strands poking from under the top hat. "I'm guessing you're not here to quell your grumpy attitude?" The annoyed succubus pouted.
With a sigh, I shook my head. "No, I'm not," I reply, glancing over at a stiff, blushing Moondancer, "Look, me and my friend here are on a tight schedule right now; can we talk in private? I don't want the kid to be traumatized any further and waste time."
Fox Lady giggled slyly upon my request, kicking back, and twirling into the depths of her office, leaving me to levitate Moondancer- still unmoving -to a corner. At least the kid can act as a guard dog when she comes around. Following the succubus inside, the door magically closed behind me with a loud bang and a click, forming a lump in my throat. To her credit, Fox Lady's office looked somewhat normal, like a boss's office if you ignored the copious amount of sex-related instruments hanging from the walls. Holy horseapples, she had an angled strap-down table in the corner?! Fox Lady, rolling onto her empty desk, stopped in its center with her hindlegs pointed up and spread, head dangling backward off the front desk edge.
Ignoring how her hat hadn't fallen, I sat in one of two chairs before Fox Lady's desk; I threw my saddlebags in the second so I could sink into the cheap fabric cushions. "You know, I'm willing to forgive you for denying me the fresh cut of meat," Fox said, playfully kicking her fish-net-covered hindlegs. Reaching over, I dug through my saddlebags until pulling out the field report and throwing it on Fox Lady's face in response.
"Oh, I was worth a shot." She sighed, lifting the parchment over her face and skimming its contents.
"I ain't looking to participate in your past-time hobbies, Fox. A friend and his team were prowling the streets not too long ago when the ball started rolling again. Didn't seem too important; everypony's up in arms recently, trying to get a system going, until I read it." I pointed a hoof to the parchment in her hooves, "They found something interesting on their travels: a merry band of gun-wielding Terra Muerta members guardian' a warehouse. We know Jack about what's in the place, our only clue being distant screams." I explained, planting an elbow into my chair arm and resting my head on my hoof.
The Fox Lady tossed the parchment aside, hoisting herself across the desk with a soft grunt and landing on the other side.
Twisting around, she sat down, bringing her forehooves together, "And you only came here to interrogate me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her tone holding offense. "You interrupted my work time with that lovely stallion, denied me from speaking with your friend, and now you expect cooperation from me because the big, mean secret agent doesn't know how to let go of a grudge? Just because I'm not technically a part of your secret stand user club doesn't give you the right to boss me around like that." The displeased mare scolded, smacking a hoof on her desk.
Does she think I care about her feeling? She was about to seduce my trainee right in front of me, for Celestia's sake! "Whatever, Fox Lady," I sigh, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm sorry." if only to get this over with quicker, "A million things are happening because of Terra Muerta's comeback, and my visit here is one of those things. So just tell me anything you know about this warehouse, and I'll…" Am I really going to say this? My throat became dry as cotton, sweat pouring down my forehead.
Shit, Fox Lady's shocked to sly expression eliminated any option of twisting my words. "You'll what? My dear Vinyl." She drew out in a teasing voice, leaning closer to me while batting her eyebrows.
"I'll…humor you." I reluctantly answer, getting a giddy squeal from Fox Lady. She was strange to a fault, going from pissed to happy in seconds because I promised to screw her; I don't know if that's pathetic or freaky, maybe it's both. But Octavia is going to be pissed if she finds out. I'll have to plan later; my sex life isn't as important as Equestria's fate.
During my short internal monologue, Fox Lady fell back on the wall behind her with a wide grin formed on her muzzle. "Alright, Mrs. Scratch, I can't stay mad at my little music mare." She cooed, sending a shiver down my spine. "Sadly, I haven't received any tidbit about the warehouse; this isn't an establishment meant for much talking, mind you. However, everypony outside these walls is spreading rumors about an upcoming event happening a few days from now- something akin to a sale."
"Taking it isn't an ordinary garden sale?" I joked.
Fox Lady shook her head with a soft chuckle, "Sadly, no. The local mob families are getting in on the action, like the Stable Houses- a few of their members sure are loud-mouthed. Other than that, there isn't much else to talk about." She frowned.
"Did you hear about a location or hint where this 'sale' is taking place?"
"Again, no."
Silently cursing under my breath, I ran through the options I had. With no location to speak of, I'll have to see Private again to see if he remembers where that warehouse is- that's the easy part. The hard part is finding out what dirty secrets lie inside without any clue and try preventing a pile of body bags. We could send in a strike team, gather what remaining hornet division members aren't busy, then bomb rush them. But the populated city could get caught in the crossfire. Too many variables are missing right now; I'll have to reckon, get hold of Celestia, then form a plan.
This meeting was a waste of time, "Well, if that's all you have, then I'll be go-" Just as I was about to stand, stopping mid-rise with my hoof pushing off the chair's arms, Fox Lady and I were unprepared for the sound of crashing, followed by Moondancer screaming.
Immediately, I vaulted over the chair, knocking it over as I rushed the door, using my shoulder to bust it open. Wood splinters exploded away and flew through the air, the ruined door knob landing on the tiled floor and the now-damaged door slamming against the back wall. Just as I halted in the doorway, a figure jumped at me like a savage animal, only to meet my hoof embedding itself into their cheek. Shattering the tile underneath as I slammed them to the ground, I finally got a good look at whatever attacked me.
At first glance, anypony would have mistaken the thing for a regular pony if they saw it at night, but the neon lights overhead provided a semblance of light. The pony's fur was pale and clammy; their body shivered and quaked like it was the middle of winter, and they had eyes of white, pupils barely visible under a cloudy vale. And as I suspected, the non-pony shrugged off my punch, escaping my hoof's underside to pounce me again with an unhinged maw full of razor-sharp teeth. Summoning my stand, I felt the soundwaves flowing throughout my veins and into Beat It, simultaneously grabbing its face before it could reach me a second time. With a strained grunt, the soundwaves released directly onto the thing's face, making it sing an unholy screech of pain before its head burst in a shower of rotted gore.
"Damn, what are Terra Muerta soldiers doing here?" I wondered, facing forward to see Moondancer barely fending for herself. Before I could rush in to help, a burst of pink smoke passed by my head, the scent of strawberries entering my nose.
Moondancer, throwing a punch and bucking two soldiers in front and behind her, yelped in fright when one successfully got the jump on her, latching to her back. The non-pony dangling off Moondancer, who flared around to get it off, tried to sink its teeth into my trainee's neck, only to stop when the pink cloud reached them and the small mob of non-ponies crowded in the hall. Its eyelids began to droop upon inhaling the pink mist, closing shortly after and falling to the ground lifeless.
Fox Lady appeared beside me, sighing with a hoof held close to her chest, the same pink mist as the cloud emanating from a small hole in her hoof. "Did you need to break my office's entrance, Mrs. Scratch?" She huffed, drawing the pink cloud over and back into her hoof hole. Facing her, I gave a deadpan expression.
"Sorry, my assistant was about to be mauled to death. Such an overreaction to a minor problem?" I sarcastically replied.
Walking up to us, Moondancer shook her head with a hoof pressed against her forehead. "Vinyl, Fox Lady? What's going on?" She asked, turning to the pile of sleeping monsters, "I heard a bunch of screaming earlier- snapped me out of my…shock. And I was going to investigate until they came out of nowhere and started attacking me." Her body shivered uncomfortably, turning back to me with a worried look. "Who, or what, are they?"
"To answer your first question, these freaks are Terra Muerta undead soldiers- a byproduct of necromancy," I explained, using a hoof to kick over the headless soldier.
Moondancer gasped, "So they're behind this?"
Nodding, I lit my horn and summoned my saddlebags onto my flank again. "Afraid so. Although I'm more confused about how they found us this quickly." Did the enemy know we were coming here? That isn't possible. I took the back roads to this place, nopony would have seen us come that way. So how did they find us-
"Drizzle."
My eyes widened under my shades, not at the unseen voice, but because of the soldiers rocketing towards the three of us. Grabbing Moondancer, I quickly kicked to the side while pushing down Fox Lady, knocking all of us to the dirty ground as the soldier's body crashed into the previously pristine wall next to the door. I ignored the bits of drywall and plaster falling onto my body, rising from the ground alongside Moondancer and Fox Lady to turn around, expecting to take care of another soldier. However, that wasn't the case; I grimaced upon seeing the soldier was already dead, slash marks caking his rotting body and…strings of blue yarn sticking out of its chest? Although the yarn was as straight as a board, and going by how it kept the corpse pinned to the wall, it was probably made of sturdy stuff.
The yarn then pulled itself out of the corpse, letting the dead soldier fall to the floor with a wet impact forming a pool of spoiled blood under it. And with Moondancer and Fox Lady on their hooves, we all watched in bewilderment as the yarn slithered down the hall, disappearing when a neon blue showered figure started to approach us, shrouded by the shadows created by the strobing lights above.
"W-Who are you?! Did you send these…things?" Moondancer shouted, her stand appearing behind her.
The figure didn't respond to her question, only walking closer and closer until three large gray bundles of cotton shaped into clouds floated above them. Blue yarn strings dangled from the cotton clouds, Giving the appearance of rain. And a pair of bright yellow eyes gazed dully from within the blacked-out shape, the yarn coiling and twisting around the figure.
Their piercing eyes looked down at the sleeping soldiers, then back at us. "Sand stolen from the hourglass." They said so quietly I was barely able to hear.
Suddenly, the blue yarn dangling from the 'clouds' shot up, forming zig-zags as each bolted forward in our direction. Moondancer and I were ready to deflect or dodge the yarn, Fox Lady preparing to create more smoke, only to be horrified when the yarn bent toward the sleeping soldiers. One by one, each rotted corpse was impaled either in the head or heart by the string, giving a sharp jolt before going completely limp as blood leaked under them. We didn't even notice the yarn retreating as we gawked at the deceased soldiers, a scoff from the figure snapping us out of our stupor.
"Life grants choices to those it deems worthy of picking the right ones. It's up to the one receiving the choices to be the wisest." They said, stopping a few meters away from us. "Live or perish?"
Dio (3rd person)
The room's air was plagued with the stench of smoke as a faint trail of gray flowed from a cigarette held by a long filter. The peach-colored hoof grasping the filter's other end lowered it to an ashtray on top of a fancy desk, then took a glass filled with brass liquid and raised it to a peach-colored muzzle.
Standing on a balcony across from the desk was DIO, leaning his forelegs on the marble railing with a look of annoyance written across his features. With the blazing sun he loathed shining down upon him, sweat rolled down his forehead as he gazed out into the sandy expanse of a desert. Called to attention by the stallion less than 5 meters behind him a while ago, DIO snarled silently at the prospect of being in his presence- especially since there wasn't any given reason. He was a busy stallion, and to have him of all ponies interrupt his 'work' was ironic and irritating.
"Is there a point to this, First Commandment?" DIO sneered, not bothering to look back. "You were ordering me to find the book, so what is so important you have to rip me away from my important endeavor?" He sarcastically asked.
A loud creak reached DIO's ears as commandment one leaned forward in his chair, standing up and walking over to a bookshelf on the other side of the room from DIO.
Pulling a book from the top shelf, Commandment One flips through a couple dozen pages before stopping, poking a hoof into the page. "Written by the great minotaur general, Spear Head, in his biography, page one hundred and thirty-six, he states that the best way to go about war is to 'keep your cards close to your chest'." He closed the book, "I used to find that quote quite dull because of the simple idea it proposes. Of course, I knew its meaning: let nopony know your next move so you have the advantage."
Interrupting the stallion, DIO loudly scoffed while rolling his eyes. Spinning around to face his equal, DIO furrowed his brow at him, "I'm not here to listen to a long-dead general's empty words." He growled, holding the marble railing in a vice-like grip.
Instead of lashing out at the unruly stallion, Commandment One quietly replaced the book on its shelf before facing DIO again.
"It was when I served in Celestia's army all those hundreds of moons ago that I finally realized its true meaning. My platoon was sent out into enemy territory on orders to take a stronghold that would've provided an advantage, ignoring how risky the operation was. Of course, the battle for Glizards Hill wasn't in our favor, and we got beaten because the enemy knew of our tactic. They had spies crawling around, acting as refugees- and the princesses were blinded by their inevitable victory in the war to notice."
He then looked away from DIO, gazing at a flag mounted on the left wall bearing the mark of Equestria: a moon within a sun. "And as I lay in the dirt, surrounded by the griffon army, I realized the quote's true meaning." He sighed mournfully. DIO, however, deadpanned the whole time, bored of Commandement One's speech.
DIO had read up on the battle for Glizard's Hill, a conflict occurring near the end of the Griffon War, also known as the worst loss for the Equestrians during that time. Of the five hundred-plus guards sent out by Celestia and Luna's order, only about twelve came back alive, but a hoof full remained intact- physically and mentally. Not much information about the battle itself was released to the public, likely because the Equestrian's didn't want to face the embarrassment of their loss. But it came as a shock to hear Commandment One had served in that army and survived Glizard's Hill- not that he cared to admit it.
"And what is that, I may ask?" DIO replied rhetorically.
Suddenly, DIO felt a massive cold wave run down his body, causing it to shiver despite the intense desert heat baking him. The cause of the shivers was Commandment One, who glared harshly at DIO from across the room, a deep frown on his muzzle. DIO could feel the burning hate radiating from his boss's gaze. It was as if Grogar himself was staring him down, nearly making Dio fall to his knees.
"I know about your plan, Dio Morningstar."
A dagger made of ice stabbed Dio's heart upon hearing those words, a yawning pit of dread opening in his stomach as Dio slowly turned around. With Eyes wide as dinner plates, his face contracted into a strained flat expression, the sweat on his forehead coming down like a hail of bullets.
"W-What did you say?" He muttered in disbelief. There was no way he knew!
Commandment One, returning to his desk, bent down and opened a drawer, returning shortly after by throwing a small book on the desktop. "In your personal quarters, left nightstand, second to last drawer on the bottom, and hidden under a pile of writing equipment." He said, driving the last nail into the coffin Dio thought he would be in the next hour after his boss had tortured him.
The book currently on Commandment One's desk belonged to Dio, a personal journal he would write in…including his plan to betray Commandment One.
"H-How the hell did you find that?!" Dio angrily roared, summoning his stand beside him. If he were to go down in a fight, Dio would gladly smite the smug cretin in front of him by caving in his repulsive mug. And when he eventually wins, his plans for Equestria will only go faster.
Taking a sip from the eight-ball glass, Commandment One reeled back his foreleg and threw it at Dio, ice and remaining alcohol spilling across the floor. Unprepared for the unexpected movement, Dio's stand moved in front as he crossed his forelegs, protecting his head. The stand's forelegs punched in a flurry of blows, only to be kicked in the side by Commandment One's stand, sending both Dio and his stand flying to the opposite wall. Dio grunted painfully upon impacting the wall and fell to the floor, his stand disappearing as he tried to get up. But Commandment One pushed Dio back into the carpeted floor, his hoof digging into the yellow stallion's cheek as he glared, the outline of a pony with rabbit ears fading away behind him.
Commandment One then craned his neck closer to Dio's head, "Keeping your cards close to your chest isn't just applied to your enemies, but to your allies as well." He whispered, raising his head while stepping off Dio. "I care little for your betrayal, Morningstar. In the end, it won't work. Even if you have the book or the most powerful artifact in the world, ponies like you: dumb, irrational, and immature, will always fail when their plan reaches the final. Even more so if your master plan can be discovered so easily by a noisy maid." He continued, reaching for the zipper holding his pink coat closed.
Dio raised halfway off the ground, supporting his aching side with one hoof as he glared bitterly at his superior, only for his hidden shock to surface when Commandment One's coat fell to the floor.
On the back of Commandment One, who had faced away from Dio, was an unsightly scar etched into his flesh. And upon examining it further, Dio realized that the ugly scar was the same design as the flag that dangled above him. In spite of its sloppy and straight-edged pattern- obviously made by a blade -one could make out a moon floating within the sun.
Turning back to Dio with an unreadable expression, Commandment One stared at him, "I carved this symbol as a reminder: never follow fools or lead them. You only hold your title now because of your once-in-a-lifetime power, like me and the second commandment, no matter how weak it is. To kill you off would displace and waste power in my organization. Even so, change your plans, prolong your goal, kill me in my sleep; nothing you do will change the outcome of your idiotic plan- I've read it." Picking up his coat from the floor, Commandment One put on the piece of clothing, "An underling with power and foalish dreams will do anything to satisfy his desires, only burn up and crash. I suggest you play your correct role and find the book, or you can continue thinking you're the underdog climbing the hill of thorns to success."
Walking back to his desk, Dio seethed internally as Commandment One sat back in his chair as if nothing had happened- no, like he didn't matter! Dio contemplated attempting to kill his boss again but held back his rage as he rose from the floor.
"I swear to death herself, you'll regret letting me go." Dio snarled, shuffling toward the office door without taking his eyes off Commandment One.
With an eye roll, Commandment One picked up his filtered cigarette and turned his chair the opposite way. "You sound like my younger self, full of hate and spite for Celestia and her foolish leadership. But I have moved on and grown, something you seem incapable of. Now try to be useful before I take back my mercy offer." He said.
Slamming open and closing the door, Dio bolted out of the room, his lungs burning as he ran as far as he could, only to stop in a random hallway. Panting heavily from exhaustion, Dio's eyes peered up and stared at nothing ahead as his snarl returned. The fact that Commandment One brushed off a betrayal scheme crafted by the brilliant Dio like some bothersome bug enraged the egotistical stallion to no end. If he spoke the truth: his boss would have known about the ashes protocol he'd written down on the first page! To arrogantly dismiss something that would give him the powers of a god meant he was more idiotic than he claimed Dio to be or he was that powerful.
Both implications flew over Dio's head, who grinned and cackled devilishly, veins bulging from his head. "Alright, I play your damn game," He said with gritted teeth, "I'll prove you and everypony else wrong in the most painful ways imaginable. Only then will you regret disrespecting the mighty DIO as I stand over your lifeless bodies." He chuckled harder.
Yes- his troops are already in Manehattan to find the book and kill any stand users they sense. They will complete their part of the plan, then move on to the second phase. If only his generals were as useful.
"But I can't just disregard my second general yet. He served his purpose by creating my new vessel, so I'll make his death swift and painless as thanks." He muttered, straightening his posture, glaring in the direction he ran from. "And since he figured out my plans, I'll have to stay in Stalliongrad and protect my vessel if he decides to turn back on his promise." With an annoyed snort, DIO turned back and Continued his walk down the hallway.
They will rue the day they laughed at the almighty DIO!