Hang Up

Chapters

Getting Acquainted
No Talk
Overdose
Decadence
Adding a New Line
Prelude: The Metro

Getting Acquainted

You continue staring at the unicorn in disbelief. Here was a creature that was entirely fictional, sitting in your living room, talking to you, and criticizing your home.

At the very least, from the way she talks, you're pretty sure that the bum you killed pretty much had nothing to do with her. So that's a little less guilt to feel over it.

Eventually, you realize that she asked you a question, and was now staring at you, waiting for an answer. Still unsure about this whole situation, you briefly tell her your name, and that you found her outside, and so you brought her into your home. Not a complete lie.

She looks around, thoughtfully, before looking at you again. "Are you my father?"

This catches you off guard. You hastily think up an answer, and tell her that, while you're not technically her dad, you might as well be, now.

She nods in understanding. Then, her stomach grumbles a bit. She blushes slightly and oh god she's adorable. "Do you have any food?"

You say that you do, probably, and you go to the kitchen, the unicorn following. Inside the fridge are various leftovers that can barely be called food anymore, at least one thing that you weren't sure was food in the first place, and some pizza. Luckily, it was cheese, since you're pretty sure unicorns wouldn't eat meat.

Thankfully, the pizza was still recognizable, and didn't have any mold on it, so you got out a couple of plates, put two slices on them, then stuck them in the microwave.

The unicorn seems impressed by your ability to press buttons, but she doesn't say anything.

The pizza is reheated quickly, and you take it out and give the unicorn her plate, while you eat your own.

She starts trying to awkwardly eat it straight off the plate at first, something that is unbelievably cute, before she gives up and-

Wait why is her horn glowing.

As you watch, part intrigued and part horrified, her slice is covered in a light blue aura, and lifted off the plate, where she takes a bite from it. It seems like she doesn't care much for the pizza, but still eats it.

She sees you staring, and sets the pizza down. "What?"

Shakily, you ask about what she just did.

She looks at you like you just told her the floor is below her. "Have you never seen magic before?"

You tell her that, no, as a matter of fact, you have not.

She seems puzzled by this. "Really? You've never seen magic before?"

You confirm her question.

"Huh..." With that, she goes back to eating.

Now that the novelty has worn off, you go ahead and finish your slice, before something occurs to you. You ask the unicorn if she has a name.

She finishes chewing, then answers, dabbing a nearby paper towel at her mouth. "My name is Rarity."

Alright, she knows her name, at least. Saves you the trouble of coming up with one. You ask if she knows anything else about herself, like where she came from.

She thinks over your question, and frowns. "Strange, I can't seem to remember. All I know is my name, and how old I am."

You go ahead and ask about her age.

She smiles. "I'm eight!"

You ask her to clarify if she means in years.

Rarity nods. Well, you have no idea how that works in relation to human years, but it works.

Speaking of species differences, you ask about what exactly she is.

"I'm a pony, a unicorn, specifically." She looks at you. "Are there no other ponies around here?"

You tell her that, no, there aren't any ponies here. She seems a bit saddened by that, but goes ahead and keeps eating.

You run out of things to ask or talk about, so you go ahead and eat in silence. Once you're both done, you take the paper plates and throw them in the trash, which is almost overflowing.

You take a look at the clock, and realize that it's nearly 2 AM. And you're also dead tired. Even though Rarity just woke up, she seems to agree. You tell her that you should both get some sleep, and lead her to your bedroom.

You don't remember why you had two mattresses, but it's a bit convenient now. You take a spare pillow and blanket off your bed and place it on the other one. Hopefully she'll be able to ignore whatever the hell those stains on the other mattress are.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to care, and she crawls into bed wordlessly. You get in your own bed, and are about to turn off the lamp, when you hear Rarity mumble something.

"Goodnight, Father..."

Your heart melts at that, and you bid her goodnight as you extinguish the light.

While she passes out quickly, though, you remain restless, despite how tired you are. The night's events keep getting replayed in your head, over and over:

The drive to the metro.

That first caved in skull.

The smashed face right after.

The blood.

Oh man, was there blood.

And the worst part?

It felt good.

It felt good to show those piece of shit mobsters exactly what you felt about them. Tonight's action gave you an adrenaline rush you had never felt before.

And it all started because of that one phone call. You had no idea where it came from, but you know that, for the time being, you'll listen to them a lot more.

However, then your mind goes over what happened after the metro, and it confuses you. You went from being a bloodthirsty killer one moment, to caring for a young mythical creature the next.

You look over at Rarity's sleeping form. Something about her makes you think that what you do is... wrong. Of course, she has no idea what you've done, and hopefully, she never will.

Eventually, you fall into a dreamless sleep, your mind still torn between two extremes.

April 8th, 1989

You and Rarity spent the next few days getting to know each other better. At her urging, you had told her a short version of your life story, and she gave you a brief explanation on how her magic worked, though she said that she didn't have much experience on the actual mechanics of it.

The apartment was becoming much cleaner, too, thanks to her pushing for you to get it done. It also helped you realize just how much of a slob you were being. You still couldn't cook, though, and neither could she, so you went out and got food a lot.

That was one thing that she protested early on: she couldn't go outside at all. You couldn't completely lie to her about it, so you told her that the world isn't completely nice, and you don't want her to get hurt. The almost stereotypical fatherly reasoning worked, though, and she never brought it up again.

Today, you had showed her how your Nintendo worked, and she was amazed at the games, even though you only had three of them, and you're pretty sure one of them was some cheap Chinese knockoff game.

You had gotten mail earlier today, some kind of thank you letter from a newsletter you don't remember subscribing to, called "50 Blessings". You just left it on the table, thinking it was junk mail.

As Rarity started getting the hang of playing video games, you heard the phone ring, and you got up to get it. You pick up the phone and answer the call.

"Hello, it's 'Linda'... I need a babysitter right away. Got a few kids that need to be disciplined here. I'm at East 7th Street. Make sure you have a long talk with them, I really need someone to get through to those rascals. And like last time... Please be discrete!"

The line clicks shut, and you simply stand in place. You had almost forgotten about that phone call almost a week ago, and it seems like they needed your service again. You were starting to feel perfectly content just spending time with Rarity, but when that call started, you felt... something stir within you.

Something that wanted some blood to be spilled.

Knowing you couldn't change your mind if you wanted to, you tell Rarity that you're going to get some pizza for dinner.

"Okay, see you later!"

You put on your letterman jacket and leave the apartment, making sure to lock it behind you. Your Delorean is waiting exactly where you parked it, and inside, your chicken mask was still in the glove box.

It was time to get to work.

No Talk

Author's Note

Reminder that you should be reading using the Celestia color scheme for best effect.

No Talk

You get up, ignoring the gasping coming from the mobster's new gaping neck hole. You drop the knife that was responsible for the deed, since you'd much rather have that shotgun the guy was carrying.

Making certain that the gun was loaded, you stand waiting next to the door to the next room, where you can hear a couple of them chatting in Russian. You wait until it sounds like one of them is in front of the door before you barge in, knocking one onto his ass.

The other jumps in surprise, but you paint his brains on the wall behind him, making him slouch back on the couch he was sitting on.

His buddy, the one you knocked down, starts to plead for his life when you aim the shotgun at his head.

Not that you listened.

Ejecting another empty shell, you hear footsteps approaching rapidly, so you get in place behind the door you just entered. When you hear the cry of shock from the mobster, you slam the door into him, before beating his head into a fine red paste with the gun.

Hearing someone else calling out in Russian a room over, you pass through a couple doors and find him aiming a rifle your way. You act fast and duck back out of the room, barely avoiding a few stray shots. The mobster taunts you, even though you can't understand him, and you answer by popping back into the room and throwing the gun at his face.

It connects, and he goes down, dropping his own gun. Wasting no time, you go over and beat the back of his head into the floor.

Again.

And again.

And one more time to grow on.

Once his head is finely mushed, and once the only sound in the building is your own heavy breathing and blood dripping off the walls, you leave, getting back in your car and driving off. Those gunshots were no doubt heard by the neighbors, no reason to stick around when the cops show up.

As you drive down the Miami streets, you take off your chicken mask and look at yourself in the mirror. Oddly enough, you don't have much blood on you, besides some that got on your shoe when you stomped a guy's head in. Up ahead, you see a pizza place, and remembering your excuse to Rarity, you park out front and get out.

Inside, a couple is sitting at a table, enjoying their pizza in silence. They give you an acknowledging nod, which you return. Behind the counter is a long-haired man, who looks a bit too much like a hippy.

"Hi there, welcome!" he greets. You're about to place your order, when he cuts you off. "Oh, you don't need to order, your pizza's already done. Had a feelin' you were on your way here, heh..."

Odd, this guy was talking as if you knew each other, but you couldn't remember anyone like him. "Well, let's just leave it at that for now, shall we?" he continues. "Don't worry about paying, it's on the house!"

Confused, you go ahead and take the pizza box on the counter, noting that it's slightly heavier than you remember pizza of that size being. You take it back to your car, where you open the lid and find a large amount of hundred dollar bills taped to the top of the box, slightly greasy from the cheese pizza underneath.

That made you think. The guy seemed to know that you were going to get pizza. And the money was proof that he was part of whoever was leaving those phone calls. Had they bugged your house?

Did they know about Rarity?

Your earlier bloodlust giving way to fear, you head home, eager to leave the creepy guy behind.

Once you pull up in front of your apartment building, after stashing the cash in the glove box, you take the pizza out of the car and go inside. When you enter, Rarity peeks in from your room, and her eyes light up slightly upon seeing the pizza. However, as she goes to greet you, she pauses. "Father, what's that on your jacket?"

Ignoring what she called you, since you knew she'd do it even if you told her not to, you look at the front of your jacket to see a small bloodstain. How you missed that in the car, you don't know.

Thinking quickly, you set the pizza down and explain that it must be some pizza sauce, since they apparently got generous with it this time. Thankfully, this satisfies her, and you make a mental note to try and clean up before coming home after every 'job' you got sent on.

As the two of you eat, Rarity tells you about how she beat that game on the Nintendo, and you can't help but smile. Jeez, is this what you sounded like to your parents when you were her age (or at least the equivalent age)?

A passing comment from Rarity reveals that she's been feeling an odd urge to do something with clothes, though she didn't know why. Thinking, you get up and go to the bathroom, rummaging through your laundry. Finding what you're looking for, you return with a few shirts that you never wear, and as such were almost perfectly clean. You tell Rarity she could practice doing cloth stuff to them, and she actually smiles and hugs you.

As your heart threatens to explode from her cuteness, a lingering thought hangs at the back of your head.

She doesn't know what you did earlier

She doesn't know you're a killer

You ignore the thoughts and return the hug, before you both continue eating.

Whatever the hell you have happening now, you think you can make it work. For both of you.

Overdose

April 16th, 1989

You pull up in front of your apartment building, and sigh. Another night spent murdering mobsters for fun and profit.

And there's no denying that you found it fun.

You look at the passenger seat, where a lone VHS tape case sits. Of course, there was money inside, but there was also an actual tape. Judging by the cover of the case, it was some kind of cheesy horror movie that you've never heard of. Probably not something for Rarity.

Stashing the tape in the glove box, right next to your mask, you exit the car and head back to your apartment. As expected, no one else is about at this time of night.

Unlocking your door, you enter your apartment, to find Rarity hard at work at the kitchen table. Upon hearing your entry, she turns around and smiles. You can see that she's doing something with her magic, though her body hides exactly what it is.

"Oh, welcome back, Father!" she greets you. "I was actually just about to finish my first piece of clothing!"

Curious, you ask if you can see.

"Hold on, I'm almost done with it." She goes back to her work, focusing intently on whatever she was doing. Then, she looks back at you. "Alright, done!"

She holds up her handiwork, and you can't help but stare. Being held in the air in front of you is a hand-stitched (or magic-stitched, rather) jacket, very similar to your own, made up of various different shirts. While your own jacket is a dull brownish-yellow, this one was white and blue, despite the fact that the shirts made to use it were various different colors.

You tell her that it's really good, especially for a first. She blushes and thanks you.

As the two of you settle in for some leftover pizza for dinner, Rarity begins to talk. "Father, I was curious, where did you go tonight?"

You pause mid-bite. Cautiously, you ask her why she asks.

"I was just wondering, since you didn't bring back any fresh pizza, or anything."

You think for a bit, then tell her that you had to go to work. Technically not a lie.

"What do you do?"

Once again, you pause. You have no idea how to explain, and you know for sure you can't tell her what you've really been doing, blowing out their brains, bashing their heads, spreading the blood

You tell her that you just do various odd jobs for cash. This seems to prove acceptable to her.

You both finish eating, and start getting ready for bed. Just after you put the paper plates in the trash, however, you turn around to feel Rarity hugging your legs.

"I love you, Father."

Your heart melts, and you stoop down to return the hug, and tell her that you love her, too.

After a bit, she breaks the hug, then goes to bed. You stay behind to tidy up a bit, and while doing so, your gaze falls on the jacket she made for you.

Should you start wearing it, you think? On the one hand, it would break Rarity's heart if you didn't. But then again, as nicely done as it is for a first, it's still kind of patched together, which would likely draw more attention to you than you care to have.

There's also the issue of getting 'called in' while you're wearing it, and the last thing you want to do is get it covered in blood.

With that thought, you once again start to dwell on your late night activities, and what they mean about you. There was no getting around it; you loved murder, and you loved enacting carnage on people. But at the same time, everyone you've killed up to this point have been filthy mobsters, scum of the city, and they very much deserved to die. After all, you were sickened back when you killed that hobo. So maybe you're not really such a bad guy?

You know you like it, there's no saving you

At the very least, Rarity seems to be enjoying her stay. And that display of affection earlier is proof that she certainly doesn't see you as a monster.

Though, you realize that there were a lot of things you couldn't really provide, or help with. You were, in essence, a single dad, caring for a young girl. True, that girl was actually a unicorn, but the point still stands.

You yawn, and decide that you can think over all of this tomorrow. Turning all the lights out, you crawl into the bed next to Rarity, and start falling asleep.

A little while later, you hear rustling from the other side of the room, and shortly after you feel a weight getting into the bed with you. Rarity must think you're already asleep.

Soon, you hear her breath grow steady and slow. Smiling, you drift off to sleep, yourself.

Decadence

April 25th, 1989

"Hi, It's 'Kate' from Hotline Miami's dating service. We have set up a date for you this evening. She'll be waiting for you at Southwest 53rd place. As usual, make sure you wear something fancy."

The line clicks dead, and you hang up the phone. Odd, seems like you were called out earlier than usual; the sun was still setting.

The fridge is still well-stocked with food, and Rarity seemed to be perfectly fine occupying herself with more clothes-making, so you just tell her that you're going to be out for a bit. She nods in acknowledgement, still focused on her work.

You shut the door behind you, and immediately your whole demeanor changes. To any onlookers, you just looked like a guy going to his car. Nothing more, nothing less.

It doesn't take you long to reach the address. Unlike the other places you visited, this place was in a slightly better part of town.

The sun started to sink below the horizon, so that now the only illumination was the lights of buildings around you. Such is life in the city, anyway.

Pushing the idle thoughts aside, you open up your glove box, and grab your mask.

It was time.

Entering the building, you see a camera scanning the entryway ahead of you. You walk by, ignoring it; if anyone here could see you on it, then it was already too late for them.

As you walk through the next door, you surprise a mobster at the other end of the hall, holding a baseball bat. Apparently, you've already become infamous to them, because he immediately rushes at you, preparing to swing.

You get him first, though, dropping him with a well-placed punch. As he nurses his broken nose, you take the time to grab his dropped bat and finish the job.

After making sure his head was reduced to paste, you move on, bloody bat in hand. Further down the hall, you spot another mobster leaning against a metal door, taking a smoke break. He also had a rifle in his other hand.

Taking no chances, you hurl the bat at him, catching him right in the jaw and causing him to fall back against the wall in pain. You then make sure to cut off his cursing by running over and grabbing that same bat before it completely clattered to the floor, and swiftly mashing his gray matter into the wallpaper.

That's two down.

You hear talking from one of the doors in the hallway. Looks like someone heard your exploits.

Picking a door at random, you bash it open, finding two mobsters standing together, both of them with shotguns. You quickly smash the first one's head open, then run to get the second guy before he could react. He manages to get a shot off at you, but you deflect it to the ceiling at the last moment, before taking the gun from him and firing the second barrel into his ribcage, blowing a solid chunk out of him.

As he falls to the ground, you grab the first guy's shotgun, and whirl around just in time to see another two mobsters enter through the other door. You blow the first one's head clean off, and his lifeless body knocks the second guy over. He panics when he sees what you did to his comrade, and panics even more when you start to approach him.

You hear more movement coming from the other room, though, so you pull the guy up and turn around, one hand pointing your gun at the other door, the other keeping a vice grip on the guy's neck.

As you thought, three more guys come in the same way you did, and start shooting at you. Thankfully, your 'volunteer' takes the shots for you, and you return fire, managing to get two of them with one shot.

The last guy fires at you again, blowing your shield's head off and coating your mask in blood, but he then realizes that he's out of ammo.

Seeing your chance, you drop the now-thoroughly-dead body and throw your own empty gun at him, knocking him down. He starts backing up as you approach, begging for his life.

As you step closer towards him, you spy a pair of scissors on a nearby table.

Those will do nicely.

You grab them and start advancing on the mobster again, who has now backed himself into a corner. His pleading grows even more panicked, and you think you hear what sounds like a prayer in there, too. He really didn't want to die.

Not your problem.

Fun fact: The temples are the weakest part of the human skull, and as such are prime targets for stabbing.

Leaving the scissors lodged in his cranium, you go upstairs, eager for more.

You find a mobster waiting by a pool table, no doubt preparing for your inevitable arrival. Unfortunately for him, it appeared he wasn't ready enough, as it was almost too easy to punch him into a wall, and then stomp his head in.

You hear someone call out, and you turn to see another mobster leveling his gun at you, further down the hall. You know a losing battle when you see one, so you grab the nearest object you have, a pool stick, and duck into another room just as he shoots.

Inside, you find two guys, one with a knife and the other with a lead pipe. They charge at you the moment you enter, so you swing the pool stick at the first guy, braining him and breaking the stick in half. Wasting no time, you then take the broken end of the stick and shove it right into the second guy's eye, dropping him to the floor in a screaming, bleeding mess.

You help him out by way of introducing him to the underside of your sneakers.

Grabbing the knife, you barge into the next room- a bathroom, by the looks of it- and find another mobster, holding a gun. Not close enough to stab him, you instead throw the knife at him. It connects, blade first, and he drops to the ground, knife protruding from his face.

Grabbing his gun, you take the other door out of the bathroom and start shooting at the first mobster you see, then the next. They both drop after a few bullets are put into them, and you also gun down the guy from earlier who took a shot at you.

Inside the next room, two of them are patrolling, apparently watching both doors so they won't be caught by surprise. You shoot one at the same time he shoots, but thankfully his shots go wide. The second guy tries to get his gun on you, but you're faster on the trigger.

Two rounds rip through his lower body, then your rifle clicks dry. The mobster falls, but is clearly not dead. He even starts to futilely crawl away, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. You walk over and grab hold of his head. He screams in fear, and you twist, turning his head completely around with a sickening crack.

He gapes at you for a second, before his broken neck catches up with him, and he dies.

You do a quick sweep of the floor, just in case there were any stragglers waiting to ambush you. There aren't, so you head back downstairs.

There, through the doors that were left hanging wide open in the carnage, you spot the metal doors that you noticed right after getting here. They click, and slide open.

"Gotta do everything by myself, huh..."

Hearing that, you grabbed the nearest weapon you could find, a shotgun, and aim at the doorway, where a very large black man wearing a kevlar vest was rushing towards you.

You pull the trigger, only to realize that the gun was empty.

The man takes a heavy swing at you, but you manage to duck it, and using his weight to your advantage, push him a bit off balance, giving you a chance to rush away from him, the same way he came at you.

You hear him let out a roar of anger before he starts to run after you. You might've underestimated him, because you can hear his footsteps slowly catching up with yours.

You sprint through the open metal door, and find a shotgun lying against the wall. Desperate, you grab hold of it and whirl around just in time to shoot a shell point blank into the guy.

The vest takes all of the impact, saving him from having his gut blown out, but it's thankfully enough to knock him to the ground. As you pump a new round home, he quickly gets back up, only for you to fire again.

You can tell that the vest was starting to give, because you saw a small amount of blood fly onto the floor. This doesn't stop him from getting back up again, though, just as it doesn't stop you from firing yet again into his vest.

The kevlar fails completely now, and he falls down once more, and starts coughing up blood.

Seeing that he's no longer a threat, you throw the shotgun aside and walk towards him.

Seeing you approaching, his eyes widen. "Oh God..." He coughs up more blood, and you can even see a few tears streaming down his face, though whether it's from pain or fear is unclear. "Please, don't!"

Not listening to him, you walk over and grab hold of his head. You then extend your thumbs, and place them right over his eyes.

And then you squeeze.

Predictably, he screams.

So you squeeze some more.

Blood splatters as you pop his eyes like grapes.

And you still squeeze.

Soon, his screaming dies down, and he falls back, limp.

After making sure he was dead, you remove your thumbs, and wipe the eye juices off of them.

That was it, seems like the place is cleared out now. Another job well done by the masked murderer that is you.

Before you go, curiosity gets the better of you, and you look around the room that this guy was hiding in. On one wall, was a series of monitors, which appeared to be where the cameras were controlled from. In front of them was a greasy, messy chair, covered in crumbs, which seemed to originate from a bag of flavored potato chips on the ground.

On the other side of the room, you see something that makes you pause. There, with a spotlight in place to show it even better, was a large bed, on which a woman in just her underwear was lying. You spied a very suspicious needle on the bed next to her, which seems to correlate with a few needle marks on her arms, amidst other bruising and marks.

She sluggishly looks at you, and you can see that her eyes are filled with tears.

"Yeah..." she speaks, her voice just as rough as she looks. "Just get it over with..."

You step closer to her, and she looks away, closing her eyes.

"I knew it would end like this..."

She coughs, and then seems to fall back into whatever comatose state she was in before.

A voice tells you not to, but you know what you have to do to her.

Acting quickly, since you didn't want to be around when the police arrived, you took hold of the woman and lifted her off the bed, which you found to be a bit easier than you expected.

Stepping through the blood and over the bodies, you carry her to your car, where you carefully put her into the passenger seat. Tossing your mask into the back, you start the car and pull away from the building, just as you start to hear police sirens approaching in the distance.

As you drive through the city, you can't help but look at the woman. You have a pretty good idea of what she went through, and even though it feels hypocritical, it sickens you.

As you pass by different stores, shops, and bars, you realize the implications of what you're doing. Obviously, you couldn't just leave this woman out on the street somewhere, and you were pretty sure the homeless shelter wouldn't help, either.

So that means you basically had to see to it that she recovered in your home.

The same home where you're already caring for a small child unicorn.

You had no idea how you'd explain this, or, in fact, if the woman wouldn't just call the cops on you the moment she was lucid.

This was a huge fucking gamble, and you knew it.

As you pulled up to your apartment, you figured that, whatever happens, you'd just wing it and hope for the best.

After getting the woman out of your car, you carry her sleeping form up the stairs and to your door, where you struggle to get your keys out and unlock the door. You eventually manage it, and almost run into the apartment to set the woman on the couch, and put a blanket over her.

As you go to close and lock the door behind you, you hear Rarity come out from where she was working. "Father, is everything-"

At that moment, she notices the passed out woman on the couch, and her eyes widen. "W- What- Who is that?"

Slumping against the wall, you say that you found her, passed out and sick, on the side of the road, and you couldn't bring yourself to leave her there. So you brought her here, so you could, at least, nurse her back to health.

Whether or not Rarity actually buys it, she doesn't push the issue, and walks up to the sleeping woman. You follow right behind her.

After a while of watching her slow breathing, Rarity speaks up. "Will she be okay?"

You think over it. You had found her after murdering an entire building of people, one of whom seemed to have taken full advantage of her. And then, when she had resigned to her own death, you had instead brought her home. Hell, now that you think about it, you could've probably left her there, and the cops would've seen to it that she was cared for. So why exactly did you have an urge to 'rescue' her?

Shaking your head, you tell Rarity that, while you certainly hope so, you'll just have to wait and see. She nods in understanding, then yawns. You almost laugh at that, and suggest that you both get some sleep for now. She agrees, and goes to bed.

You linger behind for a bit, looking over the sleeping woman. Whatever would become of this, you'd figure it out in the morning.

Writing out a quick note, in case she woke up before you did, you place it on a plate with some cookies that Rarity insisted you get for her, and set them on the coffee table in front of the couch. Hopefully, she wouldn't scream bloody murder when she woke up, and would at least hear you out.

And then there was the matter of explaining Rarity.

You sigh, and feel a longing to return to the murder. At least there, things weren't so complicated, and everything had absolute answers.

Turning out the lights and shedding your jacket, you crawl into your own bed, and quickly fall asleep.

Author's Note

Friendly reminder that Hydrogen is the best song and all other songs are objectively inferior to some degree.
Except for the one in Fun and Games that one is the absolute best

Adding a New Line

April 26th, 1989

You feel yourself starting to wake up, and you slowly rise from your bed, the remnants of last night's dream floating around in your head. Something about a bear, a tiger, a zebra, and a pair of swans. Odd.

Pulling yourself to your feet, you see that it's quite early in the morning. 6 AM, to be exact. As you'd expect, Rarity is still soundly asleep.

Your thoughts turn to last night's events, and you do your best to rush quietly to the living room. There, the woman is still asleep on the couch, breathing evenly.

You also notice that the cookies you set out are gone, only a few crumbs left on the plate. Well, at least she didn't call the cops or anything, especially since the phone was right there next to her.

...You didn't really think this through, did you.

Pushing your own momentary stupidity aside, you go to the kitchen, since you could probably go ahead and make yourself some breakfast. Whatever is gonna happen, it's probably best to not do it on an empty stomach.

Just as you're finishing off a bowl of cereal, you hear the woman groaning softly, in that way people do when they've just woken up. Still without a plan of any kind, you head back over to the couch, and pull up a chair. Hopefully that will make you look less threatening.

Though, if she remembers last night, that won't help at all.

Slowly, she begins to stir, twisting and turning on your couch. Soon, her eyes open, and she takes in the dim blue early-morning light groggily. Her eyes roam around the room, before falling onto you.

Her grogginess disappears in an instant, and her eyes go wide. It looks like she wants to scream, but no sound comes out.

Not wanting her to panic, you politely ask for her to calm down, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

Thankfully, your brief stint as a pseudo-father seems to have helped with that, as she stops panicking, but now has a deeply worried expression on her face.

"Wh- Where am I?" she finally asks. You notice that her voice is a lot less slurred, now. The drugs were probably out of her system by now.

You tell her that you found her in a terrible state, and took her into your apartment, to make sure that she was okay.

Her eyes dart around the room. "Wait, but... I remember... that I was-"

Suddenly, her eyes widen again, and she looks at you in horror. "You...!"

Looks like she's remembering your actions the night before. You can't think of anything to say, so you just stay quiet, looking away. Namely, at the phone, as if it would ring you up for a new assignment any moment now.

Thankfully, she seems to calm down on her own, though her next question shows that she was still on edge.

"Are you going to... kill me?"

You simply tell her no. You then quietly add that, if you were, you would've done it back there.

While the answer disturbs her slightly, it seems that she agrees somewhat, as she slumps down a bit, looking more confused than anything.

Silence passes between the two of you for what feels like hours, before she finally begins to speak again. "...Thank yo-"

"Father?"

Your blood runs cold at the sound of Rarity's voice coming from your bedroom. Thankfully, your body is blocking the unicorn from the woman's view, but you knew that respite wouldn't last long.

Once more, the woman's eyes widen, but for an entirely different reason. "You have a daughter?" she softly asks, in mild disbelief.

You tell her that you kinda do, just as Rarity walked around you, into her view.

The silence that then permeated the room could've been cut with a knife, disemboweled, then had its throat slashed, it was so thick.

Eventually, the woman says something. "What...?"

Her eyes fly towards the empty plate, then at you, then back at the plate. "Did- Did you drug me?!"

This isn't good, she's getting panicked again.

You tell her no, that the cookies were completely clean, and that she's not hallucinating right now.

It doesn't work very well. "I can't believe you, you fuc-"

Some fatherly instinct in you triggers, and you cut off her cursing with a semi-loud shout. You then ask her to not curse in front of the kid.

Oddly, that outburst seems to have done a better job of calming her down, as she now just sits gaping at Rarity, who looks slightly uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Wait, so that's... a real..."

Her sentence hangs unfinished, as an odd look of realization comes across her face. At the same time, Rarity tilts her head in confusion.

"A real what?"

Her voice seems to shake the woman out of whatever trance she was in, and she blinks, before looking back at Rarity. "Uh... hello?"

At the greeting, Rarity gives a shy smile. "H- Hello..."

Oh man that's cute.

Silence once again takes over the air, and you softly nudge Rarity to continue.

"I- I'm Rarity."

The woman hesitates, before telling you both her own name. "I'm..."

You can't help but nod slightly after you hear her name. It suits her. You then take the opportunity to tell her your own name.

There's another pause, before Rarity speaks again. "Are you my mother?"

You manage to choke on your own throat, while the woman just looks completely confused, both at Rarity and at you.

Eventually, though, she chuckles, which leads to you adding your own laughter as well.

Rarity pouts slightly. "I was being serious!"

You quiet your chuckling, and tell her that she's probably not her mom, which she backs up.

After that, the woman tried to stand up, only to wince heavily as she held her head and almost fell back down. You were there quickly to make sure she was alright.

"I'm fine, it's just... my head... ow..."

As you help her lay back down, you tell her that she'll probably need to rest for a bit, until her health comes back. After that, she was free to leave if she wanted.

She agreed, and rested her head back on the pillow.

Your stomach then makes sure to remind you that you haven't eaten breakfast yet, so you go to the kitchen to see what you have. Thankfully, you have more than enough toaster waffles for the three of you, and you all manage to have probably the strangest breakfast you've ever had, including the ones with the child unicorn.

As you watch, Rarity and the woman seem to get along rather well, despite the latter's occasional disbelieving stare. Unlike you, it seems that she's unfazed by magic, likely because she's just accepting the weird turn her life has taken.

Your eyes meet, and for a split second, you see her the same way you saw her last night: broken, defeated, used.

You feel like she sees you from that time, too: wearing a blood-soaked chicken mask.

The moment passes, though, and you both start laughing as Rarity tries to eat a whole waffle in one bite.

Maybe things would work out, after all.

Not bad for a crazed killer, if you say so yourself.

Author's Note

So, Hotline Miami 2 came out, and with it came the issue of the lore of even the first game being drastically changed.
That being said, I've decided to not stray from my original plan for this fic. What that means is that Jacket shall remain the mild amnesiac psychopath we used to assume he was, rather than what 2 revealed him to be.

Prelude: The Metro

You find yourself in a dark, grimy room. You don't know how you got here, or even where "here" is. Faced with no options besides a door, you open it, emerging into a larger dark, grimy room.

Inside, a blue light comes on, revealing an unidentifiable woman with a horse mask sitting in a chair. There is also something white in her lap, but for some reason, you find yourself unable to focus on it to see what it is.

"And who do we have here?" she asks, her gaze focusing on you. Evidently, she sees your confusion on your face. "Oh, you don't know who you are?" She looks down at the thing in her lap. "Maybe we should leave it that way?"

The blue light goes out, and is replaced by a yellow light from the middle of the room. There, a man with a chicken mask is sitting. Notably, he appears to be wearing the same kind of jacket that you're wearing. "But I know you," he says, his voice calm and even. "Look at my face, we've met before... Haven't we?"

You can't say you have, but the light goes out, and is now replaced by a red light from the right, where a man in a white and purple suit wearing an owl mask looks at you. "I don't know you!" he shouts, angrily. "Why are you here? You're no guest of mine!"

The light goes out, and once again the blue light comes on. "Do you really want me to reveal who you are? Knowing oneself means acknowledging ones actions. As of lately you've done some terrible things..." She looks at the thing in her lap again. "But then again, you've done some nice things, as well... truly a mystery."

The yellow light turns on. "You don't remember me?" the chicken-man asks. "I'll give you a clue... does April the third mean anything to you?"

For some reason, it feels like it does, but you can't say for sure why.

"I believe that was the day of our first encounter." He pauses. "You look like you might be remembering something..."

The lights go out, and you find yourself in darkness.

April 3rd, 1989

You kill the engine and coast into place in front of the train station. Stepping out of the car, you look around. No one else is out this time of night, thankfully. That means no witnesses to what you're about to do.

You look at the chicken mask that arrived in the mail. For some reason, it seemed like you saw it somewhere before...

Pushing the thoughts aside, you put on the mask, and head inside the station.

About five minutes later, you emerge, covered in blood, and clutching a blood-soaked briefcase. You hurry up and get back in the car, starting it and driving to your next instructed address. There, you find an alleyway, where you quickly get out and start walking. Deeper in the alley, you find a dumpster, which you toss the bloody case into.

"Who's there? I can hear you! I know you're there!"

The sudden voice coming from the entrance to the alley surprises you, and acting on instinct, you quickly rush the voice and knock him down. You then grab the bat he was holding and bash his head in.

You're about to get back in your car, when you realize what you just did. Those guys in the metro were mobsters, at least, but this was just an innocent homeless man. And now you caved in his skull, splattering brain matter on the ground.

Unable to take it, you rip off your mask and throw up. Just what the hell have you gotten involved in now...?

You're about to stumble your way back to your car, when you suddenly hear something nearby. It sounded like... mumbling?

Curious, you try to find the source, only finding a single cardboard box in the alley. You hear it again, softer this time, this time for sure coming from the box.

Your stomach threatens to empty itself again. Did that bum have a baby, or something? Did you just create an orphan?

Preparing for the worst, you walk over to the box, and uncover what's inside.

Well, thankfully, it's not a baby.

However, what is there confuses the hell out of you.

It was a small horse... no, it had a horn, this was a unicorn... and it was a very white unicorn, with dark blue, maybe purple hair. It seemed to be asleep.

You look back at the dead bum, and quickly look away. Was that guy hiding this... whatever it was? Caring for it?

Trying to protect it from you?

With your stomach still doing flips, you make a decision. You grab the box and gently lift it, making sure to not wake the small horse. Making sure no one saw, you put it in the passenger's seat of your Delorean, and start the engine. You pass by a grocery store on your way home, and you contemplate getting something enough that you stop and get out, but ultimately you decide to just go straight home, and figure out what the hell was going on.

Once you pulled in front of your apartment, you stashed the chicken mask in the glove box, and carefully took the cardboard box inside. You set it down on the couch, and immediately go into the bathroom, where you change out of your blood-soaked jacket and jeans, and into cleaner clothes.

As you emerge, you look at the still-sleeping unicorn, and in this non-hostile environment, you can't help but think that it's... kinda cute. You couldn't know for sure, but you'd say that, whatever this thing was, it was probably pretty young.

As you look at the sleeping creature, it suddenly dawns on you what you have to do, now.

Obviously, you couldn't turn this thing into the feds, since that probably wouldn't end well for either of you. At least, you'd wait and see if it was dangerous, first.

You weren't even sure what unicorns were supposed to eat. Honestly, you didn't really think this through at all.

As you're thinking about all of this, you spot some movement from the unicorn, and you freeze in place as it begins to fidget. Looks like it's going to be waking up soon.

Slowly, it opens its eyes, and holy shit they're big. Its eyes must take up almost half of its head. They're also quite blue.

It starts to lazily look around the room, probably still groggy from sleep. Eventually, it looks at you, and its eyes suddenly widen. However, of all the things you were expecting, what happened next was the last possibility you considered.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

While you're still reeling from the fact that it (no, she, that certainly sounds like a girl's voice) spoke, the unicorn gazes around your apartment, wincing slightly at the mess. "And why is it so dirty here?"