Guardian Angels

Chapter 5

At first, I thought I was dead.

But then I heard the screaming...

The cars crashing...

The gunshots...

The police sirens...

Babies crying...

Just when I realized I was still alive, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I could see joystick, he had his collapsible baton out.

Why was he looking at me like that?

WHACK!

I woke up, lights in my face. I felt like I had a bad hangover, or like somepony hit me in the head with a baton.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Joystick's voice asked.

I shook my head, and tried to move, only to find I was handcuffed and tied to a chair.

"Alex, it's you. It's been you along. I can't believe my own friend would be the culprit." Joystick lifted my head to look me in the eyes, he was crying.

I turned away, and looked back at him, "What's going on, Joystick? What happened? Why am I tied up!?"

Joystick slapped me, "What's going on is I'm having a moral debate right now! I'm trying to decide whether to kill you or not!"

"What?"

Joystick turned around and slammed the lamp that was shining in my face onto the floor. He screamed at the ceiling and stomped his hooves. He looked at me, gritting his teeth, and growled, "WHY! Why! Why would you do that, Alex!? HUH!?" He took a short gallop and got in my face, "WHY, GOD-DAMNIT!?"

He stood there, staring at my eyes. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking through me. He was too busy thinking about something. The whole situation was bizarre to me.

Suddenly he turned around and disappeared into the darkness. He turned the lights on and I found we were in an apartment. One bed, a TV, and a microwave. I was directly in the middle of the only open area, right at the foot of the bed.

"HOW did you even manage to do that!?"

I finally managed to form another question, "Do what?"

"THE BLACKOUT YOU GOD-DAMN FOOL! WHAT THE FUCK ELSE!?"

"The...what?"

Joystick pulled out a gun and pointed it at my face, "You have 10 seconds to prove that you honestly don't know shit. 1."

"Wait, what?"

"2."

"Joysti-"

'3."

"Please, I don't-"

"4."

"Let me exp-"

"5."

"Listen to me!"

"6!"

"Grab my pho-"

"7!"

"Look at my em-"

"8!"

"It was an ema-"

"9!"

"JOYSTICK, CHECK THE EMAILS!"

Joystick lowered the gun, and stared at me. He went over to a table and picked up my phone, scrolling through what I assumed was the emails. He said, "what email?"

I replied, "The one titled, 'A way out.'"

He said, "There isn't one."

"What?" I replied, "No! There was, I swear! Daniel must have deleted it!"

Joystick rammed the gun in my forehead, "That blackout a few years ago, do you remember it?"

I gulped, "Yes."

"Do you remember what I told you happened that night?"

How could I forget? When the city went dark, Joystick was still very young, he knew nothing about being a fixer. He could barely hack a phone line. So when the people who have been spying on his wealthy parents got the opportunity, they swooped in and stole as much as they could. Those people were the fixers before the blackout, we call them Diablos, because they are out for nothing but themselves. The Diablos wanted all of their money, but couldn't hack through the bank's firewall. So with the system down, there was no way to connect to the bank, so they went to the next best thing, Joystick's parents. They locked Joystick in the closet and tortured his parents for their bank codes. They refused to give them up, and as a result paid the ultimate price, death.

They left Joystick out on the streets after doing some...unspeakable acts to him. It scarred him for life. When I found him, he was a teenager alone in an alleyway eating trash from a dumpster. He asked me for some spare change, and I told him I didn't have any to spare. As I walked away I got a notification that he was trying to hack into my bank account. I turned around, stopped him, and asked if he would like to be my apprentice instead, so long as he didn't steal from me. I let him stay in my apartment, I even had to stay in his room until he went to sleep, otherwise he'd have night terrors. That blackout ruined his life.

"ALEX! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!" Joystick shouted, snapping me back into reality.

"Yes! Of course I remember!" I quickly replied.

"Then you understand why I have to erase you from this planet!?"

"No Joystick! That wasn't me! Please, listen to me!"

Joystick's phone went off. He looked at it and his eyes went wide.

"What?" I said, "What is it?"

Joystick ran over to the window and looked out. He slowly backed away from the window.

"What is it Joystick?"

He looked at me with a certifying look, "I believe you. Now come with me." He cut me loose from the cuffs and led me to the door.

"What happened?" I asked.

Joystick opened the door. A blue pegasus wearing a black hoodie stood in the doorway, a white mask with a black mustache and goatee on its face. The pegasus said only one thing, "It's time."