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Stelle was used to doing what she wanted.
Specifically, she was used to people not stopping her. Once she made her presence known in a new area, the denizens there quickly learned not to question her actions. It was better for everyone that way. So when she was digging through garbage cans, screwing around with nearby technology, or “stealing” (as some people would like to call it), the authorities turned a blind eye.
Considering all of this, one would imagine Stelle’s surprise when somebody actually tried to stop her.
It had been a normal day in Belobog. Stelle had gone into the Restricted Zone (again) and was wandering around without supervision (again.) After the short-lived excitement of trespassing ended, she began to look for other ways to entertain herself.
There was not much to do. The Restricted Zone was the front lines, not a tourist spot. With that being said, Stelle’s not exactly a tourist either. She didn’t need a museum, monument, or gift shop. All she needed was her baseball bat and some destructible objects.
That was when she found one. Only a few meters away from her was an oil drum. There wasn’t anything special about it; it was nearly identical to the rest of the yellow and gray barrels she found all over Belobog. But that was what made it a prime target for destruction.
Nobody would miss one oil drum, right? At least, that was what Stelle told herself as she summoned her baseball bat, readying her stance.
One.
Two.
Three.
WHAM!
The oil drum collapsed into several pieces, falling to the ground unceremoniously. There was not much in it, only some supplies and a small number of credits (no oil to be found.) Not that Stelle cared. She was content with just the destruction alone.
She was about to leave when she heard a shout from behind her.
“Hey, you!”
Stelle turned around to face the source of the voice. It was a Silvermane Guard. A rather scrawny one, at that. He did not seem pleased at Stelle’s presence.
“I got you now!” He shouted, pointing his weapon at Stelle.
She stared at the man for a couple of seconds before replying. “Who are you?” She asked.
Honestly, she couldn’t decide if she was more annoyed or impressed by the guard. On one hand, it was beyond frustrating for Stelle to be stopped in the middle of her ‘rampage,’ if one would call it that. But on the other hand, no average Joe has had the balls to confront her in a long time.
Oh well. She’d humor him. For a while, at least.
The soldier appeared to be insulted by Stelle’s question. It was a genuine one, really. Almost all of the Silvermane Guards’ uniforms look the exact same; and with those helmets, it was nearly impossible to tell them apart.
“...I am an honorable Silvermane Guard and a righteous servant to the people of Belobog,” he answered.
‘Servant to the people of Belobog.’ Right. So was every other Silvermane Guard in a twenty-mile radius. What made this one so special?
Before Stelle could ask another question, the man carried on.
“I caught you redhanded, you vandal! Under my sworn oath as a Silvermane Guard, I shall carry out proper justice!” He exclaimed. Aeons, this guy could monologue.
“Don’t these things renew themselves?” Stelle frowned as she spoke.
If Stelle could see the other’s face, it would certainly be one of confusion. “Renew? Are you from another world?”
Yes. She was. Doesn’t everyone in Belobog know that by now?
After not being given a verbal response, the Silvermane Guard sighed in obvious irritation. “You should know, for every supply vessel you break, that’s three hours of overtime for someone in the Restricted Zone to replace it…” he explained. The tone in his voice was condescending, as if he was talking down to Stelle.
Now that was annoying. Guilty or not, she was not going to go down without a fight.
“What I do is my right and it’s none of your business!” Stelle shot back. Her voice was a little harsher than she intended it to be. Not that she cared. This guy could go choke on dirt.
The Silvermane Guard seemed taken aback. Good. That showed just how unprepared he was if things went awry.
Quickly collecting his bearings, the man went into a fighting stance. “Backtalking, are you? Guess I got to put some hurting on you. We’ll show you the price to pay for damaging public property in the Restricted Zone!” He said before turning to a couple of other Silvermane Guards that were conveniently nearby. “Get ‘im!”
Uh oh.
This definitely wasn’t looking good for Stelle. She was grossly outnumbered, and the odds of her winning a fight by herself were low. But there was no way she was going to swallow her pride and apologize. That left only one option.
She booked it.
“What- hey! Just where do you think you’re going?!”
Stelle didn’t answer, nor did she look back. The last thing she heard was an “After her!” before she entirely focused her attention on her new goal: to escape.
Unfortunately, that would prove to be a little difficult. There were soldiers at nearly every turn; and while they were not actively looking for her, they were still a nuisance as they blocked her path.
She took a quick glance behind her and panicked when she saw that her assailants were beginning to catch up to her. That wasn’t good. She really did not feel like having to talk- or fight- her way out of a jail sentence.
Stelle desperately whipped her head around for anything she could hide behind. That was when she saw it, or rather, him.
“Gepard!”
The man in question turned around at the shout of his name. His serious expression softened when he saw who it was.
“Stelle! What are you doing here?” He asked, clearly confused. While he would willingly turn a blind eye to Stelle’s presence in the Restricted Zone, he still did not understand why she would spend her free time there.
“No time to explain. Hide me!” Stelle yelled. She frantically ducked behind Gepard and quite literally hid under his cape. The man stumbled a bit in surprise.
“Wha- hey! Just what is going on?” He asked, expecting an answer. Stelle remained silent, much to his annoyance. He was about to ask again when he saw a few of his coworkers running toward them.
“Sir,” the Silvermane Guard in the middle addressed him. “That girl is under arrest for the destruction of private property!”
The soldier pointed to Stelle as he spoke; who, in turn, shrunk back to completely hide behind Gepard.
Gepard frowned. He looked back at Stelle and noted the panicked expression on her face. Great. This was now his problem to deal with.
“Could you elaborate on what happened?” He asked.
“Gladly. This young lady completely destroyed one of our oil drums with her baseball bat! And then she tried to flee from the crime scene when she was caught,” the Silvermane Guard replied.
Gepard let out a quiet hum before replying. “There must have been a misunderstanding.”
The Silvermane Guards stood there in shock. If it weren’t for their helmets, Stelle was sure that their jaws would have been wide open.
The Silvermane Guard spoke up again. “Captain, there is no way that this was a misunderstanding. I saw her with my own eyes!”
Gepard shook his head. “Then I don’t believe you.”
The soldier was about to reply when Gepard continued on.
“This is the hero of Belobog you’re talking about! Do you really think she would do such a thing?” he reprimanded, fully knowing that Stelle would indeed do such a thing.
“B-But, sir-”
“No,” Gepard cut him off. “You are accusing someone who helped save our city from disaster.”
He then adjusted to speak to all of the soldiers in front of him. “You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves! You should be glad that I’m letting you all off with a warning. Now go back to your posts,” he demanded.
The Silvermane Guards paused for a moment. A chorus of grumbling could be heard as they dispersed, going back to their initial positions. The original guard paused for a moment to glare at Stelle before sulking away.
Despite her better judgment, Stelle couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. It may have been a close call, but she won. Now all she needed to do was leave.
“Thanks, Gepard,” she said while walking off. “I owe you one, really.”
Stelle was about to escape when she felt a harsh tug on the back of her jacket, causing her to stumble backward.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
She glanced up to see Gepard’s unamused expression.
“Those soldiers were right, weren’t they?” He stated while adjusting his grip on Stelle’s jacket.
“Well- yeah. But how was I supposed to know that it was illegal?!” She replied, trying (and failing) to verbally defend herself while simultaneously attempting to struggle out of his grip. She considered ditching her jacket altogether but decided against it when she remembered she was in Belobog of all places.
“What do you mean ‘How were you supposed to know it was illegal?’!”
Gepard stuttered for a couple more seconds, trying to understand Stelle’s pure genius. Instead of coming to the conclusion that, yes, her reasoning was completely understandable, he let out of quiet sigh and let go of her jacket.
Stelle was caught by surprise and fell into the snow upon release. She let out a quiet “Hey!” before standing up and dusting the snow off of her clothes. Looking back at Gepard, she saw him pinch the bridge of his nose while muttering something unintelligible under his breath.
“Did Sampo put you up to this?” He asked.
In an instant, Stelle’s normal expression scrunched up into a much more annoyed one. Her? Work with Sampo? Absolutely not.
“Of course not. I’m still mad at him for scamming me,” Stelle replied, taking the opportunity to complain a little about falling victim to one of Sampo’s more recent schemes.
Gepard sighed. “At least there’s that. Now, listen.” He paused momentarily before speaking to make sure she actually was listening.
“I’m letting you off the hook today, but you cannot keep doing this. Not only are you destroying the property of the Silvermane Guards, but you are also distracting my soldiers and causing them to leave their posts. Something could have gone very wrong today if there was danger and nobody was there to help. Do you understand?”
Stelle was trying to listen to Gepard’s lecture. Honest! There was only one issue: she did not care. At all. So when she finally tuned back in only to hear the last sentence the other spoke, she quickly nodded without hesitation.
The man frowned. “Were you even paying attention to what I- you know what? Nevermind. Just leave before I change my mind,” he demanded exasperatedly.
“Will do, captain!” Stelle grinned and gave an exaggerated mock salute before running away and out of the Restricted Zone. Alright, she could now understand why Gepard assumed that she was helping Sampo. The latter seemed to be rubbing off on her a little bit.
Oh well.