Chapters Prologue
Technology has come a long way.
Back about a little less than a hundred years ago, the fastest method to making apple cider was a giant machine that puffed toxic smoke and made more noise than a bat out of hell. Now here we were, "the future." Where cars could fly and boats could transform into submarines. Well, not quite, but we weren't far from it. We had excelled in other areas though.
About fifty or so years back, Twilight Sparkle created the Celestia-Tier online system, or the CTos for short. A magical energy grid that connected everything: from security cameras to personal files. It made it easy for citizens to access their files, and files of other family members. This also allowed law enforcement to fight crime in new and amazing ways. It connected face ID's to information, so a name could be produced just by scanning somebody's face, allowing a complete criminal history, and names of relatives. It also allowed law enforcement to raise and lower bollards, spike strips, and scan for possible crimes with the press of a button on a smart phone.
It was the perfect system, and worked flawlessly.
That is, until the power went out.
Ten years ago, somebody hacked into the CTos. They took control, causing traffic lights to malfunction, electronic billboards to display profanity, and they even hacked the steam pipe pressure valves, and detonated steam pipes throughout the city. It was complete chaos. Then, as a final act, they caused a complete blackout. They shut off every light, camera, billboard, and even the law enforcement equipment. Everything. Manehattan went dark.
It was pure chaos. Everypony thought the world was ending. Until the lights came back on, and everything was normal again. Amazing what a simple hacker can accomplish, right? Well once people learned that CTos is vulnerable, they began hacking into it. Dozens of people hacked into the system, gaining access to control everything at their hooftips. Traffic lights began to malfunction frequently, and bollards normally used to stop criminals would raise and lower by themselves. Security cameras would be used to spy on people, and billboards would be hacked to display propaganda.
Until about two years later, when they started the HDF, or Hacker Defense Force. A team of professionally trained hackers who searched the system for any breaches. When they found one, they would set out a team to find the pony who got in. The bad hackers got caught, and jailed. After about eight years of this, all that's left now is the good hackers. Ones that know how to clean up a breach, and keep their presence to a minimum. Most of these hackers work for a underground hacking group known only as HakNet. They fight to show the ponies of Manehattan that Bloom, the company that owns CTos, is corrupt, and the CTos is flawed and unnecessary. That ponies put too much information online for hackers to use against them.
Then, there are the Fixers. These are the hackers that work for the highest bidder. These guys use the CTos to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. I guess you could say I'm one of them, but I have boundaries. I only do money jobs, I'm not a hitman. That's what this job was, a grab and go.
It was a simple job. Get inside the Manehattan bank, hack an account, and make out with some serious cash. Only, something went wrong. I was inside, initiating the hack and making sure it went smoothly. My partner was back at the safe house, doing all the hard work from the terminal there. Until he told me somebody else was hacking into the system as well, and they were stealing my files. I wasn't stupid, I didn't throw my personal files all over the web, but plenty on my computer. For all I knew, they had my identity already.
I told him to end the hack, and keep the money we got, or I was going to cut the connection. He refused. I told him over and over to stop hacking, but he was greedy, foolish. I cut the connection, and walked out. It was only after I returned to the safe house did I learn that whoever hacked us had gotten enough information to know exactly who I was.
I could only pray that I could stop whatever they planned to do.
Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring.
Click.
"Hello?"
"Hello Daniel, I have a new contract for you."
"Pleased to hear that! What do you need done?"
"I'm sending you an ID, I want you to find this pony, and kill him."
"My! If you want somebody dead, it must be for a good reason, no?"
"He tried to steal from me."
"Sounds like a good enough reason to me. What idiot tries to steal from you?"
"Alex. Alex Parker."
Chapter 1
Manehattan. A city on the move.
Everypony had somewhere to be, and something to do. They didn't have time to stop and smell the roses. However, that's exactly what some people were going to do. Metaphorically speaking of course. In this case, I didn't really have to stop, I just passed by them and smelled their roses. Except the roses were their bank accounts. Sweet, sweet bank accounts.
I just hacked into a Mitchell Larson, pretty wealthy guy. I'm sure by the time he realizes he's missing about $10,000, my trail will be long gone. I walked up to an ATM, pulling out my smart phone. A few misplaced codes and presto, money comes pouring out. Amazing what technology can do these days.
I stick out my hoof to grab the bits, the cold air biting at my grey fur as it leaves the warmth of my coal colored trench-coat. I pocket the coins and adjust my black cap so the hole fits better around my horn, ruffling my radioactive green mane in the process. I swished my tail, the same color of course, adjusting the tail flaps of my coat to a more comfortable position.
"Another day, another dollar." I mumbled to myself.
"How right you are Mr. Parker."
I turned around, getting ready to pull out my gun. The only people who knew my name were family, and I doubt they would recognize me dressed like this. After all, the sole purpose of my outfit was to hide my identity. I was faced with a blood red earth pony, with a silver mane and tail. He wore a business suit, and a fedora. I don't know why, but the addition of the fedora to his outfit made him even more distasteful.
"Who are you?" I asked, "How do you know my name?"
He looked to the side, "Not an enemy, if that's what your asking."
"How can I know that for sure?" I questioned.
"Because I didn't stab you in the back when presented with the opportunity." He stated, "Now, how would you like to join me over a cup of coffee?"
Not until I knew who he was, "You didn't answer my question, who are you? How do you know who I am?"
He looked at the ground, thinking. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'm afraid I can't give you my name, but I can tell you that I am a friend. For now, just call me Daniel."
Daniel? That sounds like I've heard that name before, but I couldn't put my hoof on it. "Fine," I stated, "I could go for some coffee, but don't think I don't have a hoof on the trigger at all times."
"I can understand that," He gestured towards a small cafe, "Shall we?"
We walked to the building, a Star-Buck, he remained silent, a small smile on his face. It was damn near impossible to read what he was thinking, but I doubt it benefited me in the long run. We stepped inside, and walked up the counter, a purple pegasus mare wearing a Star-Buck hat greeted us by saying, "Welcome to Star-Buck! How can I help you this morning?"
Daniel replied, "We're here for the Celestia Special."
That wasn't on the menu.
The mare responded, "I'm sorry sir, that special was taken down, can I get you something else?"
Daniel's smile turned into a grin, "We'll have the Lunar Espresso Deluxe."
That wasn't on the menu either.
The mare seemed a little concerned, "I'm sorry but we're fresh out, anything else?"
Daniel was still grinning, "Mr. Drake sends his regards."
What?
The mare nodded, "We'll be right out with your order."
Daniel added, "And get us two lattes while you're at it, would you, please?"
She still seemed a little concerned, "Yes sir." With that, she trotted to the back.
I was a little more than suspicious at this point, "Would you mind telling me what that was about?"
Daniel closed his eyes, still grinning, "I'm just picking something up."
I still didn't trust him, but he didn't do anything yet. I was watching him like a hawk.
The mare returned, holding a tray with two lattes on one wing, and a umbrella under the other one.
"Here's your drinks," She said, setting the tray on the counter, "And here's the umbrella you requested, anything else?"
Daniel took his drink, "No that'll be it, unless you want anything?" He looked at me.
I levitated my drink over, "No, that'll be fine. Thank you." There was something bigger going on here, but I wasn't going to get involved. Unless Daniel already had me involved, maybe that was his angle all along?
"Our business is done here," Daniel said, turning to leave, "Come, Alex. Let's talk."
I followed him, not simply walking away out of sheer curiousness of what he wanted, and out of fear that he wasn't alone. He had proven he already had allies in strange places, he may have had allies in high places too.
We walked out of the Star-Buck, "Now, Alex. You've been very under the radar, I must say, I'm quite impressed."
I didn't reply, trying to read him. Walking along side him, I didn't dare drink my latte.
"You're a very hard pony to find, Alex Parker, but I managed." He paused to take a sip of his drink, thinking, "Do you think I'm the only one?"
It was a scare tactic, I don't know how he managed to find me, but he did. Unless he was the hacker from the bank job? Even still, that meant he was the only one who could find me. I stated, "Yes. There's no way anybody else could find me."
Daniel raised a brow, "Really? Do tell, what makes you so sure?"
"I'd rather keep that secret as leverage." I tactfully replied.
"You think I'm that hacker from the bank job?"
My eyes shot open, I dropped my latte.
"That's right, I know all about that little mishap."
I got a magical grip on my pistol, "How did you know about that?"
He sipped his latte, "I already told you, I mean you no harm."
"Tell me now. " I gritted my teeth.
"I will, in due time. For now, I need to visit the little stallions room." He held out the umbrella, "Would you mind holding this for me?"
It could have been a bomb, it could be covered in poison, it could just be a normal umbrella. Whatever the case, he felt comfortable carrying it, so I saw no reason not to. Although, I lifted it with caution.
"I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!" He trotted off.
I was alone, I didn't like this. It seemed as though everypony was looking at me. A stallion all by himself, standing still in a city of constant traffic. Even the pegasi slowed down to look at me. Something wasn't right. I felt a chill run down my spine. Suddenly, a police carriage pulled up on the nearest curve. The sirens turned on and three ponies came piling out. They all approached me, drawing their guns.
"HOOVES IN THE AIR!" one of them yelled.
I sat on my haunches, lifting my forehooves. The umbrella fell to the ground, and out clattered an AK-47. That bastard set me up!
"HE'S GOT A WEAPON, EVERYPONY GET BACK!" an officer screamed.
"GET ON THE GROUND! FACE TO THE CEMENT!" another one yelled.
Time for the hard part. I laid down, and pulled out my smart phone underneath my coat. I tapped the command with my hooftip, and the officers headsets started playing deafening static. I shot up, and galloped down a nearby alleyway.
They threw off their headsets and one shouted, "HE'S GETTING AWAY, AFTER HIM!"
I ran up a wall and jumped a high fence, I ducked under pipes and vaulted dumpsters. I jumped on top of a larger dumpster, and onto a fire escape. I began to climb the stairs as the police began shooting at me. Screams from the citizens erupted all around us, not understanding what the loud noises were, and fearing them as a result. I jumped my way onto the roof, and sprinted across as fast as I could. I pulled out my smart phone, time for some tricky stuff. The roof was locked electronically by a CTos control box.
"Just a wave of the hoof, and..." I unlocked the door.
I opened the door to find three more officers had worked their way up the stairwell inside.
"THERE HE IS!" One of them shouted, pointing at me.
I slammed the door, and re-locked it with a different code, so the officers couldn't unlock it. I ran over to the edge of the building, looking down at the foot traffic. Feeling queasy, I looked back up, and saw the pegasi traffic was just out of hoof's reach. New plan.
I jumped, and grabbed the first pegasus I could.
"Agh! Hey! Get off me!" He protested, as we began to descend to the street below.
We slowly lost altitude until it was safe to jump off. I let go and the pegasus flew off, shouting profanities and calling me a crazy-pony. I hit the ground running, and sprinted for the subway. I ran straight through the lines, subway security shouting at me as I rushed through. They tried to close the security gates on me, but unlucky for them, they were connected to CTos, and I opened them as soon as I saw they were closed. I made my way to the train platform, when a voice of a mare came over the intercoms.
"Train for Canterlot station leaving in one minute." Was all it said.
I didn't have a minute, the security ponies were right behind me. I was about to run past the train, when I noticed a CTos control box next to the roof of the tunnel the train was in. I opened the profiler app on my phone, and scanned the box.
_METRO_CONTROL_HUB_ came up on screen.
I input the "Go" code, sent it to the box, and hopped on the train. The doors slid shut behind me, and the security ponies banged on the windows as the train pulled away. I made it, but was I really safe? Daniel had more resources than I knew about.
"Ah, so you got away?"
I turned, pulling out my collapsible baton. I expected to see Daniel standing in front of me, instead, he was on the TV monitors. All of them.
"What the hell?" I mumbled.
"Today's lesson was never to trust strangers." Daniel sipped his latte, "I hope we meet again soon." The screen turned to a news broadcast, with pictures of me labeled as a gunman.
I just found a shit storm, and walked right into it.
I knew I should have stayed in bed today.
Chapter 2
"How goes the whole 'playing dead' routine?"
I deadpanned at the buck in front of me. As much of a help he was, he really knew how to get under my nerves. I swear, one of these days, I was gonna haul of and buck Jack right in the face.
"The news crews tell me it isn't going so well." Jack continued.
"Well since when do you trust the news?" I asked.
"Since they had pictures of you on air." He snarked.
I shook my head, and turned away, walking towards my computer.
"What are you gonna do now?" He asked, walking in the glow of my computer. I could clearly see his cream colored coat and black mane now. His cutie mark stood out starkly, the green on the cartoon computer monitor on his flank reflected brightly in the pale light.
"Well I'm gonna have to figure out who this guy is, and how he found me. I thought I covered up pretty well!" I replied. There really was only one explanation for all of this, Daniel had to be the hacker from that bank job. There was no way he could have found me otherwise. Unless he worked for that hacker? HakNet could be willing to do that, expose that bank accounts weren't safe in the CTos. Maybe it was a fixer, a hired gun. I don't think that as likely, it may have been a HakNet operative. If they could expose me, try and get me to crack, then they could use me to reveal my hack on the bank account.
"You didn't manage to catch his name, did you?" Jack asked.
"No, just an alias. Daniel." I replied.
"Daniel?" Jack itched his chin, "Most anypony who uses an alias will use the same ones frequently. Maybe you could run a search and see if you could find a Fixer?"
"No, he's not a fixer, he would have just killed me then and there. This guy is after something else. I think he's related to the bank job." I admitted.
Jack gasped, "You don' think he was that other hacker, do you?"
I shrugged, "It's highly possible, or somebody working for them."
Jack sat down, thinking hard, "Can you run a search through the HakNet servers?"
I sighed, "That's about the same thing as asking me if I can sprout wings and become a princess. It's not gonna happen."
There was a pause, then Jack stated, "What if you got some help...from the inside?"
"What HakNet operative would want to turn on their own?" I asked, "Unless you know somebody?"
"No," He admitted, "Nothing like that. Maybe you could get one of them to work for you, earn their trust, and gain access that way?"
"It would take a miracle and a half." I stated.
"I think I know somebody who you can start with." Jack smiled, "I hear she's into melodramatic guys with radio towers for cutie marks."
I looked at my cutie mark, a radio tower. The few times I took that coat off, Jack always said something about it. Whether it was a joke or just a statement, he always noticed it. I never understood that, maybe that's why I put it on so much, like I was doing now. "Who?" I asked.
"A hacker, username ModPea115." He stated.
"Got a real name?" I prodded.
Jack smiled, "Miss Pie. Maud Pie."
I was already on my way to The Magic Dragon when Jack called me.
"Hey, just wanted to remind you to be careful. Daniel obviously has access to the CTos, so he can see you anywhere. He might be listening in to our talk right now." Jack said.
I grunted, "Then don't call me!" I hung up.
A couple seconds later, a ding erupts from my pocket. I pull out my smart phone.
NEW TEXT: Jack
Message: You didn't have to be rude! /)*0*(\
I grinned, pocketing the phone and looking up to see I was already at the buffet. The Magic Dragon was supposed to be where Maud met with Jack when they conducted business, so I'd be sitting in for Jack on this one. I just hope she gives her uninvited guest some less-than-friendly words and not some shoot-first-ask-questions-later ones. The last thing I needed right now was a gunfight. I turned the alley behind the buffet, and waited. Sure enough, something pressed up against the back of my head.
"Where's Jack?" The voice sounded...bored?
"I'm his friend, I wanted your help." I said, honestly.
"Oh really? Got any proof?" She said the proof like no matter what I showed her, she'd still shoot me anyways.
I pulled out my smart phone, and lifted it behind my head, showing her the text Jack sent me just a minute ago.
The barrel was removed from my skull, "Yeah, that's his number."
I sighed, and turned around to see...a teenager. Maud Pie was a teenager, about 17 or 18, grey coat, purple mane and eyes, and her cutie mark, barely sticking out from her grey overcoat, was a...rock? Yes, cutie mark is confirmed as rock.
"I guess I can trust a friend of Jack, but I've got my eye on you." She said, in a monotone voice.
"You-you're a teenager?" I asked, bamboozled.
Maud sighed, "Is there a problem with that?"
"Well," I said, "So long as you can make it on your own, I guess not."
Maud blinked, holding a bored expression, "Good."
Silence, and a cough. So much for a dramatic confrontation.
"So," Maud droned, "You got a name?"
"Oh, I'm Alex. Alex Parker." I stuck out a hoof for a hoof shake.
She raised an eyebrow, "I'm Maud Pie." She...gave me a hoof bump. She was certainly a teenager.
I cut to the chase, "Well, Ms. Pie. I was won-"
Suddenly, she was up in my face, nostrils flared, gun to my ear. She growled, "What did you just call me?"
I nearly wet myself. She was thin and quiet, but when she got in my face, I swear she seemed like she could break boulders. I stammered, "M-m-miss P-pie?"
She snorted, pushing the gun hard into my ear, "That's what ponies call my mom, and my mom is a whore . So, what did you call me?"
Now I got what she was saying, "I said Maud! Maud!"
The gun was removed from my ear drum, "That's what I thought." She backed off, "Now, what were you saying?" Back to the monotone bored voice. This girl was going to kill me.
"Um...w-well, I was wondering if you would be willing to help me tail a hacker." I asked.
Maud replied, "You do know who I work for, don't you?"
"Yes," I replied. This was where I added the hook, "He hacked into the monitor feeds last night. I got in a bit of a scuffle with him and he hacked the televisions on the Manehattan metro to send me a vulgar message."
Maud didn't even blink, it was impossible to read her, "Do you have any proof?"
Proof? I always have proof, "Right here." I pulled out my smart phone, and showed her yesterday's camera feed on the metro. You could clearly see Daniel on the screens.
"That's proof enough for me," Maud replied, "So if I help you get back at this guy, you'll help HakNet reveal him to the press?"
Now came the part where I lied, I was never good at lying. Well, here goes nothing, "Yes." Man, that was easier than I thought!
"You're lying."
Or maybe it wasn't...
"What?" I played dumb.
"Don't play dumb with me," I couldn't read her, but she read me like an open book, "There's some angle you have, so spill it."
I sighed, maybe honesty was the best policy here? What was the worst she would do, shoot me? That wasn't so bad. Let's try honesty, "I need access to the HakNet servers-"
"So you planned on using me to get to them?" She stated, bored as ever. It was like she was reading my mind.
I simply nodded.
"Well if you asked I would have given you access in return for a simple chore," she monotoned, "but now you have to do something extra special."
Grand. Great job Alex. Great job.
"I need you to give HakNet access to the CTos." She stated.
I raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't HakNet already have access?"
She gave a ghost of a grin, "Complete access."
That wasn't going to be easy. You see, the CTos was connected to everything. Cameras, pipes, TV's, radio, you name it. Although, some portions of the CTos were blocked by extreme fire walls. It was basically impossible to get around them unless you had somebody on the other side. Maud just asked me to find all of these places blocked by fire walls, and hack around them. Not only that, but unless I wanted the HDF on me, I'd have to do it good too. I'd need help. Which meant I'd need help to get help. Sounds pretty backwards when you think about it.
"But..." she added.
I hate butts.
"...I'm not supposed to give you access. So I'll give you temporary access, then I'll revoke it, and nobody will ever know. Deal?"
I thought for a second, weighing my options. It was possible Daniel didn't even have a record on HakNet. Though, it was too risky to leave a stone unturned. It could cost me my life, "Deal."
She stuck out her hoof, and I nearly shook it. Instead, I gave her a hoof bump. I have to admit, it made me feel like a badass.
"Then I'll leave you to it." She said, and started to walk away.
As she did, I pulled out my smart phone and opened the profiler. I scanned Maud and she came up quickly from the database.
MAUD_PIE
WRITES MLH FANFICTION
Age:19
Occupation: Rock farmer
Income: $45,000
"Writes what?" I mumbled to myself.
Putting the phone down, I was greeted by Maud's snarling face, "Tell anybody, and you're dead." With that, she turned and galloped away.
Maud Pie, most confusing mare I ever met.
Time to call up some old friends.
Chapter 3
He texted me.
I don't know how, but Daniel texted me. He hacked into my phone, got my number, and added himself into my contacts. The text wasn't that long, but it was intimidating as all get-out. I looked at the words on the screen and could feel my skin crawl.
NEW TEXT: Daniel
Message: I'm watching. Always.
I looked around, and saw a camera. It was facing right at me, I could see the lens twisting as it focused on me. Daniel had access to CTos, as did I. I pulled out my smart phone and opened the profiler. I scanned the camera. A notification was pushed to my screen, saying "Connected to CTos user." That meant somebody was using that camera right now . I was willing to bet my life savings that it was Daniel.
I selected the link and tried to trace the connection. Just as soon as I started the hack my phone swapped over to the Flappy Bird app, cancelling the hack. I tried to swap back, but instead it took me to my text message screen, where Daniel had sent me another text.
NEW TEXT: Daniel
Message: I think you're forgetting that I have access to your phone as well. Don't worry, you'll get your chance at me soon enough. In the meantime, play nice.
Play nice? What did that mean?
Suddenly, my screen swapped over to the CTos map function, and the police radio chatter kicked in.
"Starting CTos scan for criminals and hackers." Dispatch said, as yellow circles, the areas they were scanning, started filling the screen. One of those circles was right on top of me. I tried to disconnect from the CTos servers, but every time I tried to, Daniel swapped me over to a different app. If they scanned me, they'd have a lock on my phone, and the police would be on top of me in a few seconds. I had to do something, the scan was already at 73%.
I panicked.
I pulled out my gun and fired a few shots in the air. I yelled, "EVERYBODY GET DOWN, NOW!" Instantly, my phone picked up 911 calls and police radio chatter. Dispatch cancelled the scan and started sending available units to my location. I had to pick Grand Celestia Square to get caught in this mess. At least they didn't lock my phone. That much was safe.
A police SWAT van rolled up.
Fantastic.
SWAT units piled out of the armored van, shouting commands, "EVERYBODY GET ON THE GROUND! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"
I crouched behind a low wall, pulled my scarf over my snout, and lowered my cap. I made certain to tuck my gun away. I sneaked my way around the wall as more police arrived and SWAT began searching for fire arms in the crowd. It was only a matter of time before a civilian pointed me out or an officer saw me. I need to get out of here somehow. I looked around, the pegasi traffic was thick today. I wonder, would the same trick work twice? Only one way to find out.
I pulled out my smart phone to try and send white noise into the police radio in an attempt to form a distraction, only to be stopped as Daniel turned on the media app, and played death metal music. The SWAT were the first to notice.
"YOU THERE!" one of them shouted through their gas mask, "STOP IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA!"
I always hated doing things the hard way. I pulled my gun back out and opened fire, disabling (but not killing) one of the SWAT members. They returned fire with extreme prejudice, two bullets biting hard into my flank and shoulder. It burned deeply, but I had to fight through it. I found better cover on the other side of the low wall and made a crouched sprint for the nearest alleyway. I saw a fire escape and was about to jump for the ladder...when it raised just out of reach. As if a ghost pulled it up. A ghost named Daniel.
"Is that the Twilight Town umbrella shooter?" one of the police said, over the radio.
Another officer responded, "I think it is! All available units, report to Grand Celestia Square! We have a very hostile shooter!"
This just got much harder.
I ran down the alley way, vaulting fences and rolling under pipes. A homeless stallion bumped into me, falling over. I could hear the police at the end of the alley shouting commands. It would only be seconds before they opened fire. I picked up my pace when I found the friend I was looking for.
An orange pegasus sporting a silver mane swooped down, gliding alongside me. He grinned maniacally and said, "Need a lift?"
I nodded and he flew over me, wrapping his hooves around behind my shoulders, and lifting up. His powerful wings projected us up and over the rooftops. He disrupted the pegasi traffic and nearly crashed several times. My hind legs dangled behind me as we tore through the air and crowding pegasi. We broke out above the pegasi traffic and flew higher, up above the clouds.
We broke the cloud layer. I could feel the moistness of the cloud dissipate around us, the sun blazing down and drying the dampened areas it created in my fur. I turned and craned my neck, looking back down to see if we were followed. Not another pegasus came up after us. We escaped...a little too easily. I looked at my phone, a single text from Daniel sat on the screen.
NEW TEXT: Daniel
Message: Maybe now we are at an understanding. Expect to hear from me soon.
This guy was working at an angle that I didn't fully understand, no matter what, I had to disconnect him from my phone. This couldn't go on.
I looked back again to double check. Nobody was following us. I noticed my old friend's cutie mark, a single analog gaming joystick. I looked up at his face to see that old grin he got when he carried me. He always joked about dropping me, I don't know why he thought it was so funny.
"So, Alex? How ya been?" He asked.
"Not too well, Joystick. Not too well." I replied.
"Do you wanna talk about it, or would you rather have some alone time?" He smirked.
"Just take me down to the ground." I groaned.
"As you wish!" His face turned cold.
He let go of me.
Have you ever ridden a roller coaster? You know that feeling you get in your gut when you go down the drop? I had that feeling as I plunged hundreds of feet through the air, descending to my death. As luck would have it, Joystick loved playing cruel pranks. Before I could break the cloud layer, he swooped down and scooped me back up.
Panting, I yelled, "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
He grinned, "Tons of things! Which are you talking about?"
I put my hooves to my chest, I could feel my heart trying to break out of it. My legs turned to jelly, and the blood had flushed from my face. I felt cold, and every sensation was amplified a million times over. I think I may have been in shock. I would have clocked him one right in the jaw, but considering he was the only thing keeping me from going through that same experience, I thought better of it.
"So, what did you need me for?" He asked.
"Not to kill me!" I joked, "That's for sure!"
He chuckled, "Well, I didn't kill you." He looked at me with a scary smile, "Yet ."
"Look," I started, "I need your help to track somebody."
"Really?" He stated, "What makes you think I'd help you?"
"Well," I grinned, "We are friends, right?"
He seemed to ponder the question for a moment, as if he wasn't sure. After a second, I thought he was going to drop me to scratch his chin, but then he said, "Yeah, I'd say so."
I sighed, "Well don't friends help friends?"
He sighed in return, "When was the last time you helped me?"
Now I was thinking. If I recalled correctly, the last time I assisted Joystick was when I helped him hack into CTos. That was eons ago, so it had been a while.
Before I could say that, he cut in, "Exactly. It's been a long time."
I nodded, he was going to ask me to do something. What it was, I was unsure of.
He huffed, "This is the part where you say, 'Well what can I help you with, friend ?'"
"Oh!" I shook my head, "Well what can I help you with, friend?"
"Nothing much," he said, "Just a little bit of bull-shit."
"What kind of bull-shit?" I asked.
"A bull." He stated, "He's full of shit."
"Uhhh..."
"Okay, a Minotour. His name is Iron." he admitted.
I raised an eyebrow, "What's this guy done to you?"
"Well," He smiled, "He knows too much. Now he wants to tell the wrong people about it."
"A snitch?" I asked.
"The worst."
"Well you know what snitches are?"
In sync, we said, "Snitches are bitches, and bitches get stitches!"
Chapter 4
I had Joystick back on my side. That is, after I helped him with this "Iron Will" character. I was still unsure what threat this guy really played, considering he'd been dark for years. Joystick told me he'd help me with HakNet if I helped him find Iron Will. Joystick had been searching for almost a year now, what makes him think I could find him? There must be something he wasn't telling me. It seemed that was the case with everpony.
So I had a to do list now:
1) Help Joystick find Iron Will
2) Have Joystick and Jack help me get HakNet complete access to CTos.
3) Find HakNet's details on Daniel, depending on if they have them.
4) If HakNet doesn't have Daniel's records, then find another way.
Plus, at any moment, Daniel could poke his head in and say "Hello!" If he does, I plan on returning the "Hello" with a "Goodbye!" In the mean time, I needed to find someplace to start on this Iron Will guy. If what Joystick told me was true, then I was going to have a hell of a time finding this guy. His records all say he had a training program. The only problem is that the program was a little less than a hundred years back. Either Minotaurs could live a really long time, or this was a different one using the same name. Either way, I had to assume this guy could be anybody. Well, any Minotaur.
I went where I did every time I needed to find somebody. The bank. Everybody had an account, and accounts had information. It was always a great place to start. I walked into the Manehattan bank, memories flowing back. This was where Daniel found out who I was. We were stealing the money from an offshore account from a fixer in the suburbs. I guess he thought that if he put his money far away enough from him that it would be safe. Unfortunately for him, I came along and stole some of it.
My first thought after the event was that the fixer we were stealing from was hacking us back. After we tracked him down, we quickly learned he didn't even know we stole from him. So this "Daniel" is somepony completely different. Jack helped me search all his relatives and friends, none of them were the hacker. After about a year of searching, Daniel pops up and gave me that umbrella. Just when I was starting to think I was forgotten about too. How foolish I was to let my guard down like that.
A stallion walking through the doorway bumped into me, "Hey!" he shouted, "Get out of the way! You're blocking the doorway!"
I snapped out of my reverie and trotted to the side of the room, leaning against the wall. Wondering what made him so grumpy, I opened my profiler app and scanned him.
It came up with this:
$%&*#@!(%)#@_#$@$*)(@
!@#$%^&*()#@
Age: 666
Occupation: Professional Pro
Income: $69
"What the actual fu-"
"Hey Alex!" Joystick blurted.
I nearly dropped my phone as I tried to keep from pissing myself.
I regained my composure, turned around, and smacked Joystick right in the face. "What in the hay was that!"
Joystick rubbed his sore cheek, "I was just saying hello..."
"Well you nearly made me crap myself! Look, if we plan something, then show up on time! When I say 9PM, I mean 9PM!"
"Oh you know me, Alex! I'm always-"
I interrupted, "Fashionably late, yadda yadda. Look, let's just see if we can trace this guy."
"Sheesh, what's gotten under your skin?" Joystick asked.
"Well I was on the news wielding a gun, a crazed psychopath is hot on my tail and could attack me at any minute, and the only person who might be able to help me find him needs me to help her find a way into the CTos. Then, on top of that, I needed you to help me with that, but first you want me to find a one hundred year old minotaur! Any other questions?"
Joystick rubbed his chin and formed a psychotic grin, "Hmm.........nah."
I facehoofed, "You're going to make this as difficult as possible, aren't you?"
Joystick smiled, "I always do!"
"Whatever," I droned, "Let's just get on with this."
"Okay!" Joystick perked up, "So what's the plan?"
I facehoofed, "I'm just here to help! You're supposed to come up with the plan!"
Joystick smiled innocently, "But I thought you said that the bank was a good place to start? So I thought that meant you were calling the shots."
I raised my hoof and opened my mouth to object, but he was right. I kind of did say this would be a place to start, and after I found out where to go from here, that'd mean I'd still be leading the way. By giving one simple suggestion, I'd dug myself a hole into a position of leadership. God dangit, Joystick didn't even play a hoof in that one.
Then I recalled what I saw, "Hey, Joystick, do you know anything about this?" I showed him the profiler data on my phone.
Joystick's light and playful attitude suddenly became very dark and scared, "When did you profile this information?"
Now I was worried, "Just a few minutes ago? This guy bumped into me and trotted- Hey!" Joystick had begun to search me, "What are you doing!?"
Joystick reached under my coat and pulled out an object about the size of an apple. It had a red blinking light on it.
"Oh shit." I said
Joystick ran for the door, "EVERYPONY GET DOWN!"
Instantly, everybody dropped down to the floor. Joystick finished his mad dash for the doorway, and chucked the object that I now realized was a small bomb, out the glass pane of the door. The object bounced a few times and landed on the sidewalk.
"RUN!" Joystick screamed, "GET AWAY FROM THAT!"
Everypony outside either looked at Joystick in bewilderment, or ran for cover. The ones who hesitated, paid the price. The bomb detonated, exploding and sending about four ponies flying. The glass window panes on the bank blew in, and ponies in teh street started a mass panic. The bank interior was a mess, ponies sprawled out screaming, glass all over the floor, and not to mention the number of police calls I was being notified of. I looked and noticed that two ponies called the police the moment that Joystick yelled to get down. Jesus, if I didn't know any better, I'd think they had the cops on speed dial!
Then I swapped to the CTos map...and noticed circles. They were scanning already. This was not going well.
I tried to disconnect from the servers, but I got a friendly reminder that Dan had control of my phone. I was going to get caught, and sentenced to life in prison, or worse, they were gonna kill me! Maybe if I was lucky, they'd decide that I should go the way those four ponies did, in an explosion. They'd blow me up! Twice if they had to! Could they even do that? Blow me up twice?
My mind was in panic, I was panicking. I needed to slow down and gather my thoughts on the task at hand. First thing, stop the scan from locating me. If it did that, then I was screwed. The only problem was, that I couldn't do that. Maybe if I could just shut the scanning device down then I'd be good to go. Yeah, and maybe I could buy some ice cream while I was at it. How on earth could I do that.
They had already traced me to about 80%. In a few more seconds, my life of freedom would be over. The HDF would hunt me to the ends of Equestria if they had to.
Then I received a Hail Mary.
My phone notified me of an email, set to "Extremely Urgent" priority. The subject line was, "A way out." I looked at Joystick, he was frantically disconnecting from the CTos servers, saving his own skin. Not knowing what else to do, I opened the email to find one link labeled, "Click Me."
I clicked the link, and then everything went black.
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."
