Who's Killing Whom? [INCOMPLETE]
Author's Note
Since I'll never finish this story, you deserve to know how far I got before I reached this point.
Enjoy this while you can. It'll be gone soon.
Who's Killing Whom? [INCOMPLETE]
He's sitting at an outdoor table outside the Sweet Shoppe, sipping down his Mountain River. Gotten to go, of course, since he's not sticking around. That one should be here soon, after all, if the clocks are right, assuming they hadn't been stopped AGAIN overnight like that one incident. If anything, he probably shouldn't have bothered getting the drink, considering what time it is. He would've arrived earlier, if the Sweet Shoppe opened early enough for that to have been an option, but alas.
He glances across the street, at the big parade going down Main Street. It was ironic, really, how the incumbent mayor, Gladstone Maneur, got half this many people backing him four years ago, and now double the supporters are clamoring to bring back Ivory Scrolls. Then again, it wasn't hard to guess how Gladstone got that much support in the first place: bribes, quid pro quo, things like that, all from his wealthy supporters up in the Heights. Not that much different from what Cinch tried to pull during her last Friendship Games, except Cinch had gotten caught. Now she's out of the picture, and Cadænce is running the show, and doing a much better job, to boot.
The trill of a nearby police siren jolts him from his reverie, though his practiced hands keep his drink intact. His head snaps in the direction of the noise, only to see a police car pulled over by the curb between the intersection and the Sweet Shoppe. Ah, finally, it's about time. You'd think they'd drill it into a cop's head to arrive some degree of early. Maybe not military punctual, fifteen minutes early, but still, shouldn't have kept him waiting.
As he walks up, the window rolls down. He peers inside. Fat-ass cop, jaded expression, receding hairline.
"Officer Smith?" he asks.
"Get in," the cop snaps.
He complies, and buckles up one-handed. There's only one cup holder after all, and it already has a coffee in it.
Rule 23: Never fuck with a uniform's coffee if you want to live.
"Already not what I expected," he murmurs to himself, but apparently not softly enough.
"Aw, jeez, what DID you expect?" Smith snarks. "Young, fit, and handsome? I'm not out to please a fag."
"Language," he replies lazily. "Smoking gets you cancer. You're happy enough without that shit."
As Smith is about to retort, they come up on the parade. One of the walkers breaks off and practically hugs the hood of the car. He wonders if the guy is high, considering the giggles.
"No more manure!" he cheers. Smith reaches down his left leg as he rolls down the window.
"Get the fuck off my shop, you wild fucking animal!" the cop roars, drawing a taser and plugging in the poor man. With a "whoa!" of surprise, the unlucky dude jolts away and collapses, convulsing.
As Smith puts his taser away, he catches his passenger looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"This election's got the sheep more riled up than models in a bikini contest," he states, as if that explained it.
"Pretty harsh, don't you think?" his passenger asks.
Smith just scoffs. "Feel free to cry to Armstrong. Nobody gives a flying fuck these days."
"Just saying, kinda sad to see a Sunny Towner, let alone a cop, call the middle-class wild animals."
Smith groans. "Aw, jeez, you remind me of my partner. He bought into the 'sensitivity' schtick, too."
"Didn't know you had a partner," his passenger says. "What's his name?"
"His name was Ricco Santoangelo," Smith grunts. "End Of Watch was two weeks ago. Guess how, Dr. Freud."
"Ventus," the passenger corrects. "Doctor Ventus. Pretty sure Captain Armstrong mentioned my name."
"About that," Smith says. "How's someone like Armstrong wind up pals with a shrink like you? He could've gone with any old shrink around here to hire as the precinct's therapist, but he goes with you?"
"His little sister's a patient," Ventus replies. "Remember that Friendship Games right before Cinch got the boot?"
"You're kidding," Smith chuckles. "Little Twila Strong? I remember she used to come by the station, that pup of hers in tow. How is she these days? Still a cutie, or has she bloomed into a real beauty?"
"Even if she did, she's taken," Ventus replies, irritated. "And even if she wasn't, you're not her type."
"Why not?" Smith says loudly. "Is it the hair? I can't help the hair. Better not be the tummy, it's all muscle."
"Your gender," Ventus says, amused. "There's stuff for the hair. And if that belly's muscle, then I'm the Falcon."
Smith jerks, but manages to keep the car's swerve to a minimum. Oops, Ventus had forgotten that Smith was one of the cops that was anti-Falcon. Then again, it WAS a funny statement for him to make.
"Don't bring that freak into this," Smith says. "Biggest mistake of Armstrong's career was not takin' him seriously. A sad dent in that 'shining armor' of his. Can't wait 'til we get someone competent in that office. Wouldn't surprise me if someone got some dirt on Armstrong to IA. Maybe even make it ABOUT the Falcon, show 'im that workin' with a vigilante's askin' for trouble. Makes us legit authorities look like a joke."
"Funny how everybody only shits on the Falcon," Ventus grumbles. "What about those girls who started up a crimefighting gig with those weird powers? Why's it these 'Equestria Girls' get a pass and the Falcon doesn't?"
"You just mentioned the reason," Smith answers. "Those 'weird powers' of theirs. After what happened to Cosmo Stormking, nobody wants to try an' police 'em. Just be happy they're on our side. The Falcon, on the other hand, is just some plain ol' dude messin' with gadgets and thinkin' he's fuckin' Mare-Do-Well or some shit."
(Yeah, plain old dude, sure,) Ventus thinks. "Hah, nerd confirmed!" he says aloud. "Knew you were a comic book geek. Next you'll say you read Power Ponies and Super Blah as a kid."
"Oh fuck you," Smith grumbles. "So little Twila's a dyke, you say? Do me a solid, don't tell Ramirez."
"Ramirez already knows," Ventus snarks. "Why do you think he took that bet when he's living paycheck-to-paycheck, but too honest to go to the Dark Side to get some pocket money?"
"And why do you think nobody fuckin' LIKES Ramirez?" Smith bites back. "He's a fuckin' goody-two-shoes. Cost us a bunch of good cops just 'cuz they forgot to put the safety on their pieces after holsterin'."
A call comes in on the radio just as Ventus is about to say something.
"" says the dispatch.
Smith looks over at Ventus, who's looking at his phone. Without a word, he shows the screen to Smith, nodding.
Smith gets on the radio. "Unit Seven responding. All units advised to steer clear, this could get ugly."
He puts the radio back. "Where'd you get an app for police dispatches?" he asks Ventus incredulously.
"I have police scanners all over the mansion," Ventus replies. "Fifth and Platinum is Sunny Town. Who'd be dumb enough to do a robbery in Salvación Desde La Viruela territory?"
"Only one way to find out," Smith replies, as they drive off to the scene.
The drive over is uneventful, but the sights are where the magic happens. Of course, by "magic" one would mean the shit that would make a demon cringe. Ruined buildings, some abandoned, others...
One doesn't want to know what goes on in the ones that aren't abandoned.
And then there's the people. Ventus notes a trio, something passing between two separate hands, and then the third one in the middle spots the car and glares, the other two following suit.
"Bereft of guidance and family, high as kites and running amok," Smith's voice brings Ventus back to Earth. "They call us 'Blanks' because we're nobodies. Some figure if we got nobody to be, we got nothin' to lose."
"I can think of worse places to grow up," Ventus remarks idly.
"So can I," Smith snarks. "Heard of this place in the Middle East. A prison built into a massive fuckin' hole."
"Al Hufra," Ventus says. "Arabic for 'The Pit' if you prefer English. But I wasn't talking about that."
Smith is about to reply when the store comes into view. The proprietor is outside. Understandable, he's just been robbed, might even have been the one to call it in, considering the types of folks otherwise hanging around.
Smith takes his statement. Ski masks, gloves, lowered the pitch of their voices (Good luck with the laryngitis, idiots.) and whenever they spoke, they yelled. Ventus asks if there was anything that stood out, but nope, their faces were as blank as the folks around here are called. The part-timer takes umbrage, but is told to blog it.
Smith looks over at a pair of hoods tagging a wall in an alley across the street. Ventus had spotted them himself as they pulled in, but had been planning to interrogate them later once he had some free time. Guess that's not happening now, assuming Smith acts like your typical cop in this scenario. Speaking of, Smith tells Ventus to get the part-timer's statement just to be thorough. Meanwhile, he goes over to the Flanksy wannabes.
The part-timer didn't see shit, though Ventus had already figured as much. He was in the back room when he heard the yelling and just stayed there in case the robbers had guns. The proprietor had already said they didn't, but it's not like the part-timer knew that at the time. Frankly, it's a waste of his —
"Call me a nobody one more time! CALL ME A NOBODY!!!"
All three look over at the alley where Smith saw the Flanksy impersonators. Sure enough, Smith has one pinned to the wall, his gun in the poor artist's mouth. Aw, for fuck's sake, he's crying so hard he's got a snot mustache.
The other one is babbling, Smith says something about painting a wall (I hate it when two or more talk at once, you never know what either one said.) and the second one names the Sunny Town Psychos. Sometimes being right is more annoying than being wrong. A rival gang is conquering drug lord territory.
Well that's just Prime.
Smith lets the spray-painters go and crosses back over to the parking lot. Ventus goes to join him.
"Save it," Smith says before Ventus even thinks about saying anything. "I'm sure you have a speech planned to call me out for my conduct, but I just plain don't give a shit. Now get in the fucking car."
The drive is awkward as hell. Ventus hadn't overheard the conversation before Smith got triggered, but if his angry words when he threatened the street artist and his weary bitterness after letting them go are anything to go by, it's clear Smith hates his roots, and the Flanksy fakers had mocked him for being a cop from Sunny Town.
The Sunny Town Psychos. Ventus had never heard of this gang before today, and that was worrying. What other crimes could these packs of shit have committed on his watch? On Steven's watch... and Smith's watch, too...
Smith's interrogation could have gone better. For all Ventus knows, the Flanksy knock-offs dropped a random gang-like moniker so Smith would back off and let them go. But apparently Smith knows of this herd, considering this drive around Sunny Town instead of R2B'ing. Sure enough, they pull up on a deserted house. Smith reaches down and offers Ventus his side-arm, a Wolfram PP7.
"Ever use one before?" the cop asks.
The decision is practically instantaneous, but it sure felt like at least ten thousand years to Ventus.
"Not my style, but yeah, I can sling," he replies, taking it.
"Better to have what you don't need than need what you don't have," Smith says, getting out of the car.
"The very words I live by," Ventus mutters under his breath as he does the same.
Ventus takes point, he gives Smith a three-count: one finger on his lips, like the "quiet" signal, then two fingers, then three. The door easily gives way to his foot. Not his first rodeo, after all.
Won't be his last, either.
"Hands in the air!" he roars, picking the white coat by a lab table as his own target. As Smith identifies himself as police, the white coat turns around. The hair had looked familiar, even from the back, but the face seals it.
(Ricardo Sanchez, genius pharmacist turned psychedelic alchemist. What's he doing out of Balkham?)
Ventus almost says that out loud, but remembers just in time that he shouldn't know that. Just like how he shouldn't recognize the three teens that Smith's got in cuffs. Ricardo's grandson Roneo, and Roneo's two besties, also given the name Roneo, Patiño and Tharlthane. All three from Salvación, which is a red flag.
He almost misses Sanchez reach for a large volumetric flask, and only has time to recognize it as sulfuric acid before a shot rings out. The flask shatters, drenching Sanchez, who yells as he loses his balance, spins, and falls into the table, breaking it, and the remaining lab equipment.
Ventus looks over at Smith, who trains his smoking gun back on the Roneos, then looks back over where Sanchez fell. From what evidence remains, he was likely trying to market sulfuric acid as a hallucinogenic, likely in the mistaken belief that "acid" literally referred to acid instead of being slang for LSD. Now all that's left is broken glass, a badly-smelling liquid, and a corpse already half-decomposed, a skeleton from the hip up.
"What a world, huh?" Smith says, getting Ventus' attention again as a noise is heard upstairs. "Search it."
On the landing, the noise is heard again. First door on the right, right about where the last one was. The door's not just open, it's missing, meaning sneaking up is gonna be tricky. Still, it isn't hard to quietly climb the stairs and position himself just right to strafe across the door —
...
"Pequeña?"
Pequeña Estrella was once a patient, being treated for low self-esteem after deciding "Then Let Me Be Evil" after a run-in with supporters of the thankfully-now-former President Ronald Card, who accused her of only immigrating to push product and steal jobs. She'd been improving, but then she met Roneo Sanchez, and from there had been slowly showing up for sessions less and less, until he got a restraining order in the mail when he'd consulted her parents about her missing sessions. He knew it hadn't come from them, considering they called him when she ran away from home the previous day, but knew chasing her down would only cause trouble, even if he'd done it in his free time, so he let it go and forced himself to move on.
"Dr. Ventus?" she asked, relaxing.
Apparently she expected someone, but not him. He'd always had his doubts about the restraining order. Time to find out if he was right. He relaxes himself, stuffing the PP7 in his right back pocket. Smiling is the easy part.
"Not how I expected us to meet up for your next session," he jokes, chuckling.
"But you didn't care," she says, like this was completely unexpected. "Roneo said —"
That was all Ventus needed to hear. "Roneo lied," he said. "I assume he said he met with me, I was dismissive about you, and he stormed out in anger. All I got was a restraining order that looked too legit to mess with."
"No, no!" Pequeña shakes her head, shakily raising the switchblade he saw in her hand. "Roneo would never lie to me like that, you racist pendejo! He loves me, and you don't do that to someone you love!"
Worse than her last session: when she couldn't even focus on her breathing techniques, preferring to fantasize about Roneo; now she's fully convinced Roneo can do no wrong. Typical tragic case of Bella Swan Syndrome.
"So you think a pendejo like Ronald Card is also right about you?" he asks calmly. "Way I remember it, I took you as a patient because I also didn't like how Card and his lot treated your people. If I'm always lying to you, does that mean those Card acolytes were right all along about you?"
"Not then," she spat. "But Roneo made it okay. He said if they're not gonna see us as anything but thugs and drug dealers, then we might as well play the part, since we'll never be able to change their minds."
"And that means it's not worth it to try?" he asks, stepping into the room. "If they're wrong about you, you gotta PROVE them wrong. This life isn't some inescapable destiny, I've seen folks even from Méjico live good —"
She cuts him off with a cry as she launches herself forward knife-first, but he was ready. Twisting himself out of the way, he catches her hand by the wrist with his left, uses his right to relieve her of the knife, then shoves her away with his now free left hand. But she's not done yet, as she raises his PP7. She'd managed to get at it while he was taking her knife. She fires one shot, but he'd already leaned himself back to fall to the floor, and gets her own knife in her wrist, making her drop the PP7, as three bullets break her heart like Roneo likely would have.
Ventus gets to his feet as Smith goes to take back the PP7. Weapons secured, the two lock eyes.
"You were taking a while, so I came to check on you," Smith says. "The way you two were talking, I didn't know you knew her. Lemme guess, another patient, like little Twila?"
"Not anymore," Ventus replies, going over to Pequeña's corpse. He closes her eyes, all he can do for her now.
"Who's watching the Roneos?" he asks, remembering they were here too.
"Themselves," Smith replies. "Let's just say I put the fear of God into them. They're still downstairs."
"Good," Ventus says, picking up Pequeña's body. Without another word, he carries the cadaver downstairs.
He looks at Roneo Sanchez. This kid just lost his grandfather and his girlfriend to his bad choices. How poetic.
(You did this,) he doesn't just think it, he mouths it to the boy as he passes by. Aloud, he addresses Smith.
"Gimme a minute, would ya?" he asks over his shoulder. "Get 'em up and ready to move when I'm good."
Without even waiting for Smith's reply, he goes outside to the car — the SHOP, cops call it here in California. Now that he thinks about it, do cops call their cars "shops" in other states? He pops the trunk and lays Pequeña inside, with a hidden memento, before closing it back up. Then he gets his phone and starts texting a number.
Another innocent he'd failed to protect. He'd done all he could so Pequeña would come home safe and sound. What did he have to show for it? Evidence of a fight, a sliced wrist from a thrown switchblade, GSR and three bullet holes. Her family is gonna be so devastated when they get the news, he just —
*BOOM!!!*
He whips around, Smith approaches from the burning WRECKAGE of the house as it implodes behind him.
"The hell happened?" he asks over the noise, noting Smith's nonchalance as he crosses the street to the car.
"Same old story, doctor," Smith replies calmly. "Blanks killing Blanks. Now get in, we got someplace to be."
Ventus' phone buzzes in his hand. He checks it before replying to Smith.
"Actually, that's my secretary," he says. "I'm late for my next appointment. Not to mention you've got —"
Smith cuts him off. "We're going to lunch first," he says sharply. "Now shut up and get in. I know a good place."
Ventus starts to wonder if he's gonna end up spending the whole day running around Sunny Town with Smith. At least they're back in the main district, though Ventus wonders what would be "a good place" in Sunny Town. But then Smith parks in front of a club called "The Primal Heart" and his question is answered then and there. Ventus sends a quick text and is about to pocket his phone when Smith looks over, gesturing at the phone.
"Leave it in the shop," he says. "They don't like phones in there. You'll understand once we're inside."
Warily, Ventus complies, and puts his phone on the seat of the car, taking off his purple jacket to lay over it. Nobody has a reason to steal a jacket, and the phone is concealed, so that's all they'll think is there, the suckers. Once inside, both are frisked, and to Ventus' surprise, the guards allow Smith take his weapons inside with him. Now it's Ventus' turn, and it doesn't take long before he's cleared as well. The guards pull back a thick curtain.
No wonder they don't want phones here. Ventus is pretty sure half the shit here's illegal, and phones are just the easiest way to record what goes on here. Likely explains the deep frisk despite Smith telling him to leave his phone behind, in case there's a wire or a miniature camera hidden on their person. But no system is truly perfect.
"I did say that you would understand once we were inside," Smith tells him. "What happens here STAYS here. Now come on, there's someone important that I need to introduce you to."
The two weave their way through the gambling tables, the slot machines, and past the lap-dancing booths. Though he doesn't show it, Ventus recognizes one of the dancers as San-Ha Mitsuba. That means only one thing.
This is Salvación Desde La Viruela territory.
This is what happens when you let a pig find you in the Alps.
Another dancer approaches the two. Her outfit, if it can be called one, is pink, adorned with the image of the sun rising over water. Blonde streaks in orange hair that fades to blonde near the end, tied up in a ponytail with a bang on the right-hand side. Those orange eyes, though... something about them worried Ventus.
"Welcome to the Primal Heart!" she says cheerfully. "Looking for some entertainment? Only ten per minute!"
The cheer in her voice is so well rehearsed that even Ventus would have missed it had he not noticed her eyes.
"We're here on business," Smith replies sharply. "Gris Grande is expecting us. I'm sure you understand."
She pouts, but points in the direction of the food court. Smith nods to show his thanks and beckons Ventus.
At the food court, and as they pass by the tables, Ventus notes what appears to be on the guests' plates. The meat, in particular, definitely came from game that's illegal to hunt, though it would be rather expensive to serve in a slum, yet it seems all types of people frequent the Primal Heart. Hobos, wealthy elites from the Heights...
A booth in the back of the food court is hidden by a curtain with two guards. More Salvación members that Ventus remembers seeing before. Unlike the others, though, he never got their names. As if expecting the two, the guards pull the curtain back to let them in. Ventus isn't surprised to see the leader of Salvación at the table.
"Yo, Morty! Glad to see ya here!"
"Glad to BE here, Gris Grande," Smith replies, sitting down on the right side. "Don't be shy, doc. Have a seat!"
In spite of his discomfort, Ventus takes a seat opposite Smith. Today's already gone far enough off the rails.
"Jonathan Ventus, meet Pezuña Gris," Smith indicates each name's owner. "Or 'Gris Grande' if you know what's good for you. Gris Grande, this is the shrink I was talkin' about, that Armstrong was bringin' on board."
"Please, Morty, he can call me 'Señor Pezuña' if he wants," Gris tells Smith, to the latter's bemusement.
"Sure, if he wants to disrespect you, Gris Grande," he deadpans. "And everyone here knows what happens to those who disrespect you, Gris Grande. So aw jeez, I guess 'Gris Grande' it is."
Gris waves him off and offers his hand for Ventus to shake. Ventus only returns a grim smile.
"Sorry, my hands are a bit on the grimy side," he says. "I think covering hands like yours in this slime would count as disrespecting you. Morty here didn't exactly give me time to wash up."
Gris laughs at this. "Fair enough, no skin off my back," he says. "So what's your inspirations toward the shrink business, Jonny-boy? Sofia Lamb, David Wheeler, Kumiko Tamura?"
Ventus has to chuckle to cover up his annoyance. "Heh, try Sean Maguire, Linda Martin, and Edward Roivas," he finally says. "Though since you've brought up Tamura, I always was curious about whatever happened to her. To my knowledge, only Victoria Drake was arrested when the operation went sideways."
"Probably had to run for it when Drake got pinched," Smith supplies. "No way in hell her involvement in the old bat's schemes was gonna stay secret once the force had reason to ignore said bat's influence, and sayin' Drake blackmailed her wouldn't hold up against the security footage they got their hands on. Nah, I think she's in some gutter somewhere, either dead or wishin' she was, considerin' sweetie-pie Jessica was out for blood that day."
"Eh, I'm not keen on talkin' about gettin' pinched," Gris speaks up. "I'm more curious what gave Armstrong the idea to bring a shrink on board. The precinct's never needed one before, so what's the deal?"
"Well, first thing's first," Ventus replies. "Remember that incident all the way down in L.A. back at the start of April? The former SWAT leader who nearly offed himself?" Both men nodded. "They had a shrink on hand to help the boys get through that whole bullshit and back to work. Second, after what happened to Smith's old buddy —" Ventus notes the two sharing a glance, "— Armstrong figured C.L.E.P. needed something like that too, and he figured he knew a guy — that's me — he could trust to stay professional in that environment."
"Well, here's hoping WE can trust you to stay professional," Gris says, snapping his fingers.
The blonde dancer in pink from earlier enters with an envelope. She hands it to Gris and takes her leave just as quickly as she came in. Gris in turn hands the envelope over to Smith, who opens it.
"Gris Grande likes to contribute to the precinct's efforts to keep the peace," Smith says, taking out a large stack of cash bills and dividing it in half. "Sometimes that involves some stuff that... is better off being kept private. So we hope we can count on your discretion when we say the Sunny Town Psychos simply had a little accident."
Smith slides one of the halves of the stacks across the table to Ventus, who looks down at it.
Checkmate.
"If I might hazard a guess," he says, steeling himself for anything. "I'd say Santoangelo wouldn't keep quiet. That's what you were referring to earlier today, when you said his sensitivity got him killed, isn't it?"
Gris looks over at Smith, who's gotten a little nervous, and sweaty. "Now now, no need for haste," he stammers. "Jonny-boy here's just new, is all; a civilian who's just getting his feet wet. He doesn't get how things work."
He finishes with a lot more confidence as he leans forward, glaring at Ventus.
"I'm sure you said the same thing about Santoangelo," Ventus returns. "I gotta say, I am disappointed, Morty. Just because Sunny Town's gone to hell in a hand basket, doesn't mean the townsfolk have to jump right in."
He sweeps the money back across the table, but the stack doesn't hold and the bills go all over the table.
"Good thing I kept Armstrong in the loop as we went along," he says coldly. "He and Major Crimes are on their way here as we speak. They're following the tracker I left on Pequeña Estrella's corpse in the trunk of your shop. You thought me the one with a choice to make — between being on the take or six feet under like Santoangelo before me — when it's really you, Officer Smith. Are you the honest cop Armstrong always believed you to be, or are you nothing but a dirty pig who doesn't deserve his badge?"
Smith gapes at him as the guards enter with guns drawn.
"You clever little sneak."
Just as Ventus sinks his elbow into the gut of the guard on his side, Smith reaches over with his right arm, grabs the wrist of his guard's gun arm, and pulls it across as he swings his left fist to connect with the guard's nose. Ventus, for his part, follows up his elbow by turning his forearm upward so the back of his fist hits his guard in the chin, the slope of the knuckle shoving the poor fool's head up as Ventus shoves him against the threshold. The skull makes impact first, and down he goes like a puppet with its strings cut.
Smith puts a bullet in the wall while he and Ventus run for the nearest group of tables. He fires again as Ventus turns them over to create some cover, leaving his DD44 Dostovei empty.
"Were you bluffing about Armstrong being on the way?" he asks as he holsters the Dostovei and draws his PP7.
"No I wasn't," Ventus replies. "It'll still be a bit 'til he arrives, but I can get us some faster backup. Cover me!"
Smith fires some shots while Ventus dashes for the exit. Gris yells something, and though he couldn't make it out due to not focusing on it, it's clear he ordered Mitsuba to stop him. Clearly not pretending anymore, if the war fan heading his way is any indication. No matter, it will take more than that to stop him. It always did.
In a swift, single motion, Ventus twirls mid-run, catching the fan, whirls around, sends it back at Mitsuba, and resumes running without losing his pace.
And that's as far as I got. Here's what would have come next.
Ventus takes down the bouncers and makes it outside with Mistuba still in pursuit. He ducks into an alley, and the light of his henshin is noticed by Mitsuba. She rounds the corner, and the Falcon knocks her out.
Rejoining the firefight downstairs, the Falcon quietly steals Smith's taser (remember that from the car scene at the start?) as insurance for later, before alerting the cop to his presence. He lies to Smith that Ventus filled him in on the situation before fleeing the scene. Smith kills one of the other bodyguards while the Falcon uses a well-aimed Boomerwing (basically his version of the Batarang) to knock out the other bodyguard.
Smith approaches Gris Grande and puts his PP7 to the gang leader's forehead. "Not so grande now, are you?" he says before the Falcon holds him up with the taser (this is when the taser theft would have been revealed) to make him stand down. Smith says that if Gris Grande lives, he won't hesitate to rat Smith out as being on the take, but the Falcon retorts that if he does...
He unmasks himself as Ventus, saying with his real voice that HE'LL talk in Gris Grande's place.
Ventus reminds Smith of the choice he has to make: whether to be the honest cop he swore to be when he accepted his badge, or the dirty pig Gris Grande turned him into; and points out that arresting Gris Grande and being that honest cop would be the biggest middle-finger to Gris Grande, showing that, for all the slime the gang leader dragged him through, he failed to make him a pig, as he's still a cop, and always will be.
Smith considers this for a moment, before telling Ventus that he forgot something in the spiel he just gave. "The human need..." he says as he shoots Gris Grande dead, "...to SURVIVE!!" he finishes as he turns the gun on Ventus, who has already pulled the trigger, tasing Smith into unconsciousness.
Ventus handcuffs Smith, puts his cowl back on, and as Smith comes to, wipes his memory with his handy tool, the Electron Screwdriver. Just after he puts the Screwdriver away, Captain Steven Armstrong arrives with backup, cuffing the unconscious bodyguard and taking both him and Smith into custody. Before Smith leaves the building, he hears Armstrong ask the Falcon what had happened, and the Falcon's response.
"Same old story, Steven. Blanks killing Blanks."
With his modified memory, Smith can't recall when he said that line to the Falcon.
So how, then, does he know it? He can't have been listening when he said it to Ventus, he had a thing courtesy of Gris Grande that would've tipped him off that someone was listening, even if it WASN'T the Falcon.
But wait, Ventus said he could get some faster backup if he was able to escape, which he did, by bringing the Falcon to the scene as backup. And the Falcon said Ventus filled him in and escaped.
In the span of about a minute, though?
That would require the Falcon to have already known about a few things in advance, but —
"Don't shoot him, Morty!"
"If I don't, he'll spill! The whole precinct knowing I was on the take, in exchange for leniency!"
"If you do..." "...I'LL spill."
Oh. So that's how...
Smith figures out Ventus is the Falcon, and is driven away laughing.
Secrets + Revelations = Madness [RECAP ONLY]
Author's Note
Since I'll never get around to writing this chapter, have this recap instead.
Secrets + Revelations = Madness [RECAP ONLY]
Ventus is back on the streets as the Falcon after making a public appearance at a club in Canterlot proper, and promptly calling his butler Reginald Whitman for pickup so that "Jonathan Ventus" can be stated as being back at Lulamoon Manor while the Falcon goes on patrol.
Ventus is kicking himself for unmasking himself just to convince Smith that he knew enough to replace Pezuña Gris as a witness against him if he pulled the trigger, but sadly it wasn't enough, and now he can't be certain he erased all the details since he was in a hurry with Steven arriving soon. If Smith were to put the pieces together...
Speak of the devil, Reginald contacts him to say that Steven is calling Ventus' public line. Finding a place to talk privately, he accepts the call, turning off the voice changer.
Steven says that Smith claims he has a massive bombshell in information to share with the cops, but will only share it if he talks to Jonathan Ventus first. No cameras, no microphones, nobody in the dark room. Just the two of them, and that's in exchange for the information. Ventus' blood runs cold, but says he'll be there.
Reginald warns him it might be a trap, that Smith might have told Steven to say it so Ventus will talk about being the Falcon while unaware that all that stuff is still running. Ventus replies that Steven wouldn't agree to do something like that, and if Smith had said he thinks Ventus is the Falcon, Steven would be at the door asking for him as wanted for questioning, not agreeing to a completely private interview with the potential vigilante.
Ventus concludes that Steven doesn't know what Smith's play is, but Ventus can guess that Smith has indeed figured out he is the Falcon just from a wise-crack one-liner and a rush-job memory wipe. If Ventus plays his cards right, he can do a proper job wiping Smith's memory and make sure he can't cause more trouble. He returns to the mansion so that "Jonathan Ventus" can be seen being driven to the police station.
Upon arrival, Ventus meets with Sergeant Mitta Danza, who he remembers as having lost her best friend Ruby to Gris Grande, and how that loss motivated her to become a cop so as to help clean up Sunny Town. In her, Ventus sees the cop Smith could have aspired to be, had he not chosen to kill Gris Grande, or be on his payroll in the first place. But alas, alea iacta est. (Latin: the die is cast)
Mitta thanks Ventus for his help in bringing down Salvación Desde La Viruela and avenging Ruby's death, and leads him to the interrogation room where Smith is waiting for him, with Steven waiting outside. Steven tells Ventus that he and Mitta will be setting up a perimeter around the interrogation room to ensure no-one can overhear their conversation even by accident. Ventus thanks him for taking care of the matter, as he is worried that Smith wouldn't need to have it recorded if it was said loudly enough. With that, Ventus heads in.
Somehow, in the span of maybe two hours, Mortimer Smith looks even worse than when Ventus had seen him dragged away to be processed for murder-one, accepting bribes, as well the various charges he'd have rung up doing all sorts of things for Gris Grande. He'd have to ask Steven and Mitta about that once he was done.
Smith tries to get Ventus to outright say he's the Falcon, but Ventus is clever enough to avoid even implying it, preferring instead to focus on Smith's now-wasted potential, even bringing up Mitta and how Smith could have been like her. Smith fires back that Mitta forgot her place, saying she knew her place when she kept her mouth shut and let the people from Salvación kill Ruby to make sure she couldn't tell anyone about the gift Roneo Tharlthane had gotten for Pequeña Estrella, since the gem was highly valuable and was stolen, to boot. Had Mitta gone to the cops about the plot, Salvación would have had to kill her too.
Ventus remembers that the evidence suggested Ruby was beaten to death, and then her corpse was burned in the fireplace to hide the murder. It took Mitta revealing the location to suggest that Ruby hadn't killed herself, even if it hadn't been an accident as initially surmised.
Smith finally has had enough of the runaround and outright states that he knows Ventus is the Falcon and how: From remembering that he heard Ventus finish the Falcon's statement, and how the Falcon had repeated a line that only Ventus knew. Occam's Razor says not to over-complicate the answer, and the least-complicated answer with his fuzzy memory is that Ventus is the Falcon.
Nothing else makes sense: The Falcon can't have been eavesdropping when Smith blew up the Sunny Town Psychos, as Smith had equipment on him at the time that would've tipped him off, therefore the Falcon couldn't have overheard "Same old story, Blanks killing Blanks" when he said it to Ventus, and the differing voices makes sense when one remembers that the Falcon uses a voice-changer to avoid being identified that way.
Smith surmises that Ventus revealed himself to convince him to spare Gris Grande. Ventus doesn't confirm it, but does say he'll be testifying at Smith's trial, how he threatened two street artists, which the two guys from the convenience store will support, as well as how he blew up the Sunny Town Psychos AFTER they'd been secured. Both especially supported by a hidden camera Ventus had at the time, which will blow any story Smith comes up with out of the water. Good news, though, it'll also prove that his killing of Pequeña wasn't murder.
Smith asks Ventus if he really thinks that being the Falcon makes him a hero. Ventus replies without confirming his secret that the Falcon does not do what he does out of a sense of heroism, but rather of altruism, and as an acknowledgment that there are criminals and other evils in the world that the legitimate authorities cannot reach. He points out that most vigilantes disparage the authorities, on the grounds that they take up their vigilantism under the belief that the police don't do enough. Meanwhile, he goes on, the Falcon has no problem working with police, as evidenced by his working relationship with Captain Armstrong, and feels no need to intervene in normal cases, especially if it's clear that the police has things well in hand.
Smith asks Ventus if he has a police badge, or some other symbol of authority, that would allow him to subdue and apprehend criminals. Ventus replies that Smith himself can't really ask that question, since he abused his badge in various ways on Gris Grande's orders, if not for the late gang leader's sake. Smith scoffs and asks if Ventus could confirm that Gris Grande would have stayed gone, or had even made it to prison.
After all, it wasn't just cops that were on the payroll. Lawyers, judges, even prosecutors, it would have been one hell of a show with a foregone conclusion: all charges dropped and Gris Grande free to go.
Ventus asks back if Smith really thinks that he's delivering new information. Gris Grande and Gladstone Maneur aren't the only ones with friends in high places. Smith actually laughs at this, saying that Gladstone had some pretty big connections. Not that he knew who they were, but they could really make things happen.
For example, apparently this mystery benefactor single-handedly funded Gladstone's campaign, and dealt with some of Gris Grande's more troublesome nuisances. Smith was never told how, and he suspects Gris Grande was either equally in the dark, or smart enough to know not to ask. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.
Ventus silently concludes that he'll have to keep this "mystery benefactor" business to himself, as if he tells the cops about the benefactor, they might find out Smith talked, and if this person is as capable as Smith claims, not even solitary would keep him safe AND incarcerated. He'd be a dead man walking.
Ventus decides it's time to drop the act and tells Smith that he'll deal with the benefactor. After all, they must have let Gladstone go if he's lost the election, though he wishes them luck in getting Ivory Scrolls in their pocket. Besides, if Scrolls winds up dead so soon after the election, it'll blow the lid on something big going on in Canterlot, something Ventus doesn't think would benefit the benefactor in any way.
Smith replies that Gladstone losing is likely him failing the benefactor for the last time, assuming Ventus has watched Stella Bella, and that the benefactor does NOT forgive failure.
Smith continues, saying it's time for the real reason he demanded to see Ventus and then revealed to the psychotherapist that he knew he was the Falcon. At the Primal Heart, Ventus gave Smith a choice between being a cop or being a pig. Now he has a choice for Ventus to make: whether he'll end this day as an exposed vigilante, or as a murderous false hero. "There ARE no 'true heroes' in this world, doc," he tells Ventus.
The ultimatum is simple: If Ventus doesn't kill Smith to shut him up, Smith will tell Armstrong and anyone in the dark room that Ventus is the Falcon, leaving Armstrong with no choice but to arrest Ventus as a vigilante if he doesn't want to lose his badge for corruption as well as aiding-and-abetting. But he can keep Armstrong from having to weigh that option by killing Smith right now. It wouldn't be hard to make it look like suicide, and Ventus has all night to set it all up so long as he stays in the room.
After a few seconds of silence, Ventus finally responds... by laughing. Rather wildly too, at that. After getting his composure back, Ventus tells Smith that he forgot a very important factor when he set all this up.
He asks Smith if he remembers actually shooting Gris Grande. Smith says it was right after Ventus aimed the taser at him that his memories fog away into nothingness. The next thing he remembers is Gris Grande dead of a bullet in the forehead and figures it had to have been him that did it.
Although, he goes on, his first definitive memory after the fog was a bright light flashing in his face that left him a little stunned, which is strange since he was already handcuffed.
Ventus produces his Screwdriver, and just as Smith puts two-and-two together, wipes his memory yet again, this time being careful not to miss anything. He then produces a copy of his cowl's voice changer, and says in the Falcon's voice "If you do, I'LL spill," before putting the voice changer away.
Smith snaps out of it, but is disoriented, wondering why he and Ventus are in interrogation, before asking if it's about the Falcon being at the Primal Heart. Ventus plays dumb, asking Smith if he remembers asking to see him before talking to the cops. Smith says the last thing he remembers was the Falcon pointing his own taser at him before it gets fuzzy, but remembers the Falcon saying he'd tell the cops about him being on the take if he kills Gris Grande. Ventus feigns sadness as he tells Smith that he DID kill Gris Grande, and the Falcon DID tell Armstrong that he knew about the bribery. But Smith is still confused.
After all, he doesn't remember anything after that. After the Falcon said he'd talk, the fog became nothing, and the next thing Smith can remember is him and Ventus talking right now.
Ventus relaxes a bit, confident that everything is safe now. He tells Smith that he was apparently traumatized by killing Gris Grande, and it messed up his head. In fact, he was babbling about nonsense when Ventus came in, something about a benefactor running Gris Grande and Mayor Gladstone.
Smith pales at this, and Ventus immediately feigns fearful shock, saying Smith is about to lose himself again and be like he was before, so he offers to give him an experimental treatment that will soothe his mind. All he has to do is relax, and just think about the benefactor and how he thinks they're out there right now.
Ventus then flashes his Screwdriver again, this time selectively removing only the memories Smith has regarding the benefactor, and of the Screwdriver. This way, the benefactor won't kill Smith, since he no longer knows anything of potential value to authorities, neutralizing him as a liability.
Before snapping Smith out of his quasi-trance, Ventus tells him he used a hypnosis trick on him to calm him down when he was getting upset. Then he snaps his fingers and Smith is back, saying he feels calm now. Ventus shows his relief, claiming it's because Smith remembers them talking before he "went under" as he puts it.
Sadly, Smith only knows about being on Gris Grande's payroll, and apparently having confessed to it, so there's no reason for Ventus to stay. That said, the mental problems he experienced means he may need therapy in the future, but it's beyond Ventus' expertise right now. He'll need to be transferred to Balkham Asylum for treatment, but Ventus says he'll argue against committing him, even if killing Gris Grande would be a point in its favor.
Outside, however, he steels himself and meets with Steven, where he tells the police captain that Smith just babbled nonsense the whole time he was in there, and Ventus couldn't make head-or-tail of it, thus he recommends that Smith be committed to Balkham, and given the full works: straitjacket and a padded cell. Probably deep in the asylum where no-one can hear his ravings. Steven nods and leads Ventus to the lobby.
Once there, Steven goes to call the asylum, and Ventus notices the television, showing breaking news.
Mayor Gladstone has been found dead in his home, and first responders suspect he committed suicide.
Steven comes back, notices the headline, and says he's about to head there once he sees Ventus on his way out. Ventus distractedly replies, "I'll meet you there," to Steven's voiced confusion.
Realizing he slipped, Ventus says he thought Steven was inviting him over to dinner once Steven was done at Gladstone's. Steven denies it, but says he'll talk to Cadænce about it before any plans are made. Ventus remarks he'll have to ask Reginald about it as well, and Steven says that Ventus will have until Steven texts him that he's left Gladstone's place to text him about the dinner plans.
On the way out, Ventus grabs Steven's shoulder, tells him he's a good cop, and to let no-one say otherwise. Steven is confused, but lets it go. In the car, Ventus tells Reginald what he told Steven, just as Steven himself calls again, this time on the line for contacting the Falcon.
Ventus responds, telling Steven he'd been following up on something regarding Gris Grande. Steven assumes that the Falcon hasn't seen the news yet, telling the vigilante about Mayor Gladstone's death, to Reginald's silent shock. Ventus says he's surprised, considering that while his investigation so far has implied a connection between Gladstone and Gris Grande, there's no reason for any survivors of Salvación to go after Gladstone, considering it was Smith who killed Gris Grande, and he's never had anything to do with Gladstone before.
Steven says he'll try to preserve the scene at Gladstone's place for when the Falcon arrives, and Ventus replies, "I'll meet you there," to Steven's surprise, as "Jonny" had said the same thing when Steven told him he was heading for the scene. Ventus just says that he was heading back to base when Steven called, and once he's topped off he'll head out to Gladstone's place and meet Steven there.
Steven acknowledges and hangs up. Ventus tells Reginald that he feels a storm coming, and is being heralded by the deaths of Gris Grande and Mayor Gladstone. Reginald replies that they'll weather this one just as they weathered the last storm, which is a reference to Cosmo Stormking's organization, S.T.O.R.M.
The inside of the car is silent as it drives through the streets of Canterlot City back to Lulamoon Manor.
T H E E N D
Cast Of Characters
(In order of appearance)
Endless Dream as Jonathan Ventus and the Falcon (Self-explanatory)
Cop Morty as Officer Mortimer Smith (Rick and Morty S3E7 "The Ricklantis Mixup")
Noella Bible as Police Dispatch ("Control" from Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death)
Kashif Akhter as the Convenience Store Proprietor 1
Burgerpants as the Convenience Store Part-Timer 1
Full Tilt as the Smart-Mouthed Spray Painter 2
Gassy as the Timid Spray Painter 2
Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick as Ricardo Sanchez (Rick and Morty S3E7 "The Ricklantis Mixup")
Roneo as Roneo Sanchez (named for Rick and Morty's relationship as grandfather/grandson)
Locria Tharlthane as Roneo Tharlthane (Shout-out to a friend of mine)
Locria Tharlthane's Ghirahim Fanboy Younger Brother as Roneo Patiño (He's really into Ghirahim)
Starlet as Pequeña Estrella ("Little Star" in Spanish)
Pianta Syndicate Thugs as the Primal Heart Bouncers (Big guys in suits meant to remove unruly guests)
Three Leaf as San-Ha Mitsuba (三葉 サン・ハ)
Luster Dawn as Luxia 3 Dawnes (Nwehehehehehehehehe! 
)
Glitz Pit Security as Gris Grande's Bodyguards (They're also in suits)
Grey Hoof as Pezuña Gris (Gris Grande) (In Spanish, "Gray Hoof" and "Big Gray" respectively)
Shining Armor as Captain Steven Armstrong (The initials, despite the Metal Gear Rising reference)
Reginald Whitmane as Himself (The MAN!!)
Mitta as Sergeant Danza 4
Ruby as the reason Danza is a cop 4
Prince Divine Right as the French Emissary (DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN!!!)
1 I couldn't find any ponies that fit this role so I went with who I could find elsewhere.
2 Not my OCs, but are shown to identify with spray paint.
3 "Lucia" seemed the best fit, and "Lux" for "Light" was added on.
4 These two don't have a second name, not to mention their names work as human given names.
References
Mountain River - Mountain Dew. Food Lion variant is Mountain LION, so this variant also keeps "Mountain"
"Clocks stopping" incident - Batman: The Animated Series episode "Time Out Of Joint"
Gladstone's surname - "No more manure" came first, pun wrote itself.
Ivory Scrolls - Mayor of Ponyville in RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse.
"the Heights" - Children of the Red King series. Unpleasant people live there, according to Charlie Bone.
Rule 23 - From NCIS. "Never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live."
"Smoking gets you cancer" - A "fag" was once slang for a cigarette.
"You're happy enough" - "Gay" can mean "happy" as well.
Steven Armstrong - S.A. for Shining Armor, "strong" like Tara.
"Ricco Santoangelo" - Italian take on where "Sanchez" came from. Rookie Rick's predecessor was also a Rick.
Twila Strong - Humanized name for Sci-Twi, uses Tara Strong's surname as a nod to her.
Cosmo Stormking - Consequences by Shallow15 shows the EqG version of the movie villain.
Super Blah - The Demented Cartoon Movie. Go watch it, it's an experience.
"Do me a solid" & "Ramirez" - Final Fantasy VII Machinabridged by TeamFourStar.
"two-one-one" - Actual police code for a robbery in the state of California.
Platinum Avenue - Renamed "*belch* Avenue" based on Princess Platinum.
Salvación Desde La Viruela - "Salvation From The Virus"
(The title for "The Cutie Pox" was translated "La Viruela Cutie" in Spanish)
This is based on the fanon assumption that the ponies of Sunny Town thought Ruby's curse (actually just her Cutie Mark) was the Cutie Pox, instead of considering Cutie Marks in general a curse.
Al Hufra / The Pit - The Dark Knight Rises has this as the prison Bane was born in.
"Well that's just Prime." - Optimus Primal from Beast Wars: Transformers has this as a catch phrase.
Wolfram PP7 / DD44 Dostovei - James Bond video games, especially GoldenEye.
"The very words I live by." - GoldenEye the movie, Bond's reply to Xenia saying "enjoy it while it lasts"
Balkham Asylum - Reference to Batman's Arkham Asylum made by the Power Ponies comic.
Sulfuric acid as LSD - Needed a corrosive to kill off Ricardo. Figured exposure to fumes messed with his head.
"Then Let Me Be Evil" - TV Tropes reference.
Ronald Card - Lawyer-friendly reference to an anti-Mexican President whose given name ends in "-onald"
Bella Swan Syndrome - Reference to The Twilight Saga and Bella's belief that Edward can do no wrong.
Ventus' "shop" question - I first heard cops call their cars "shops" in The Rookie which is set in Los Angeles.
Canterlot, California - Seven Days in Sunny June has Canterlot City as its version of Redding, California.
"The Primal Heart" - Blueblood's brother Nobleheart's secret club Lunacy Is Expected by Caleb Serusa.
"Finding in the Alps" - The Big Lebowski had a line about "fucking in the ass" that was censored as this.
Sofia Lamb - Villainous psychiatrist from Bioshock 2.
David Wheeler - Villainous psychiatrist from Batman Beyond.
Sean Maguire - Benevolent psychiatrist from Good Will Hunting, played by Robin Williams.
Linda Martin - Benevolent psychiatrist from Lucifer.
Edward Roivas - Benevolent psychiatrist from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.
Kumiko Tamura and Victoria Drake - Psychiatrist and rich bitch from Logan Scodini's Dream Therapy series.
Victoria Drake's arrest - Ventus replaces the player in that game, but flips the script and gets Victoria arrested.
SWAT leader's failed suicide - Reference to S.W.A.T. Season 3, Episode 18, "Stigma" - aired on April 8, 2020.
San-Ha Mitsuba's war fan - She's Japanese, Code Lyoko's Yumi Ishiyama is Japanese, but Yumi's not evil.
Electron Screwdriver - Any version of Mugen Kagemaru has one, for reasons that are tl;dr
Prince Divine Right and his Canadian associates - From Seven Days in Sunny June by Shinzakura.
What Could Have Been
The Last Moments Of Pequeńa Estrella
Pequeña wasn't initially Roneo Sanchez's girlfriend, but that changed after a recent watch of a playthrough of Story Of The Blanks, which was confirmed by the page on the My Little Pony Fan Labor Wiki on FANDOM. Her death was originally going to be a straight redo of Psychopath Morty's deception, attack, and death at Rookie Rick's hand, but when I decided to make Pequeña a former patient of Ventus', the plan for her was then changed to have her commit suicide since she couldn't kill Ventus, but knew Gris Grande would have seen her dead if she didn't go through with it. But then as I wrote up how she stopped coming to sessions, I came to settle on her being in Mad Love with Roneo and this allowed the fight scene to be written back in, by having Pequeña once again attack Ventus, but for badmouthing Roneo, not because he's busting her crew.
In the first idea, I had it be that Ventus would kill Pequeña by putting her knife in her forehead instead of her wrist, but with the "former patient gone nuts" background, it would have been against Ventus' character to slay her in cold blood when he was trying to save her from herself, so it ended up going to Smith.
The reason Ventus would still have killed Pequeña, before he was finalized as wanting to save her from herself, when as the Falcon he tries to avoid taking a life, is that he wasn't in costume at the time, so it wouldn't have meant much if "Jonathan Ventus" took a life in self-defense, even if he showed off some impressive skills.
Flanks On The Brain
The "Flanksy [insert 'fake person' noun here]" schtick was initially going to pay off with Ventus telling Smith that he knew they weren't Flanksy because the real Flanksy is a patient, like ~~Sci-Twi~~ Twila, but refusing to reveal Flanksy as Sunset Shimmer due to "patient confidentiality" — even "Jonathan Ventus" has standards.
But ultimately, it didn't come to fruition, and so his knowing the real Flanksy is just implied by the fact that he knows Full Tilt nor Gassy are NOT Flanksy. I still maintain that Sunset sees Ventus for therapy.
But, In The End, The Story Refused To Finish
The whole story was supposed to be a one-shot, with Smith forced to bear Ventus' secret in silence from Balkham Asylum, and the story ending as he was driven away in cuffs, laughing mad as he figures out, from the clues Ventus accidentally missed when he wiped Smith's memory, as well as one clue the Falcon unwittingly left that he shouldn't, that Ventus is the Falcon. And this wouldn't have set up future events as Smith would be too unhinged to be taken seriously, and that would've been that.
Instead, I wound up imagining a scene not out of place in the likes of Spider-Man PS4, where Peter would receive a conveniently-timed phone call and from there the player got their next objective, in the form of Armstrong calling Ventus saying that Smith is demanding to see him after being taken into custody for killing Pezuña Gris, just so Smith could try to taunt Ventus into killing him by revealing he knows Ventus is the Falcon and threatening to spill the beans if Ventus doesn't kill him and prove there are no "heroes" in the real world.
In an expected twist, Smith finds out why you Do Not Taunt Cthulhu as Ventus just wipes Smith's memory again, getting it right this time, and just to be sure, tells Armstrong that Smith just babbled some nonsense and instructs him to cart Smith off to Balkham so he can't tell anyone if he somehow does work it out again.
Though originally, It was going to be that Ventus would use his magic to trigger a fatal aneurysm in Smith that he would have explained away when he told Armstrong about it, until I realized Ventus wouldn't need to kill him since even as "Jonathan Ventus" he has his Screwdriver with him at all times, and it'd be less messy to just memory wipe him correctly this time (since he's not in a hurry like earlier) and tell Armstrong he was nuts.
