Past

Allen did his best to avoid the patrols as they rushed to investigate the gunshots that had sounded throughout the bunker, all the while trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the truth.

This is all his fault. he thought desperately. He knew what he was doing. He did it on purpose. He turned me into this…thing.

But he couldn’t ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him otherwise.

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring through the halls and interrupted the argument he’d been having with himself, bringing with it the panicked shouting of every guard in the facility.

They must have found the body. I need to leave before they lock down all the exits.

He shot out from behind the stack of crates he’d been using as cover, startling two guards on their way to the front door. Allen instinctively aimed his pistol at one guard’s head, but found he couldn’t shoot. He began sweating as he tried his hardest to squeeze the trigger, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Both men looked at each other in confusion as they watched him slowly lower the gun.

Finally one of them shrugged and aimed his shotgun at him. “So long, dumb-AAAAAAGH!!”

Instead of blasting the little punk point-blank, the guard dropped the gun started hopping around on one foot while holding the other in agony. His friend stared at him in shock for a moment before joining him, his SMG clattering to the ground.

Allen sped past them and continued down the hall, disabling any guards he came across in the same fashion as the first two. It grew more difficult to do so the further he went, which he assumed was because the guards he dispatched were warning their comrades about his tactics. Even so, he always managed to find the top of a shoulder or a knee sticking out of cover, and downed enemies were about as dangerous as dead ones.

Allen was beginning to run out of ammunition when he finally reached the door to the garage. He grew even more apprehensive as he saw that the booby trap he’d noticed before had been disarmed. He opened the door ever so slightly and tried to peek through the crack to see if there was anyone waiting on the other side.

“Fire!”

He dove to the side as the door was nearly ripped off its hinges by gunfire and rolled back to his feet, now panicking. There had to have been at least twenty people in the garage waiting for him to walk through the door. He only had one more spare clip, a half-empty one in his pistol, and the revolver he’d looted from Frost.

Maybe I can go back and grab a gun off of one of the-

Suddenly, about a dozen guards came around the corner, forcing Allen to take cover in a room just across from the garage.

He flattened himself against the wall to avoid the second barrage from outside and winced as something pressed into his back. He reached around and grabbed the offending object, bringing it close to his face so he could see it in the low light.

It was his grenade.

Allen stared at it for a moment, then let it drop to the floor and crossed to other side of the door. He was done killing, and that was all grenades were good for.

Even as he began trying to disable the guards in the hallway, however, he kept glancing at the grenade.

The pistol clicked empty as he took out the last one’s kneecap, and he quickly loaded in his last clip. Just as he was about to move for the garage door, however, more guards poured in from around the corner to replace the ones he’d taken down, forcing him back to the other side of the door.

He let his hands fall to his sides. There were simply too many of them, and more just kept coming. This would be the end of him unless…

“No.” he said to himself. “I won’t do it.”

But he couldn’t stop staring down at his only way out of this mess.

He heard one of the guards calling out in the hallway. “You and you, come with me. We’re gonna go flush him out.”

Allen heard footsteps approaching around the corner and sprang to the other side of the door, emptying six rounds into their legs. He sprang back just as the squad in the hall peppered the doorframe, staring once more at the grenade.

It’s not my fault. he thought as he picked up the grenade and pulled the pin. It’s your fault for shooting at me.

He waited for a second before turning around and chucking it into the garage, ducking back before they could shoot at him again.

One of them stopped shooting and watched a small metal object bounce and roll under the truck parked in the garage. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to warn his teammates, but he was too late.

Allen cringed away from the door as the garage was suddenly filled with fire and flying wreckage, then spun around and charged through the heavily damaged garage door. He heard the guards in the hall shouting as they tried to reorganize themselves and wasted no time in getting back to his vantage point.

He took a second to look back at the damage he’d caused, his gut twisting up at the sight of the garage; now filled with fire, scrap metal, and dead or dying guards. Then he shook his head vigorously and grabbed his rifle case. It’s not my fault. There was no other option. he thought as he sprinted back to his dad’s van.

The voice continued to disagree with him.

((((((*******))))))

“It’s done.”

“No kidding! Really?” The Administrator replied sarcastically.

“YES,REALLY!!” Allen replied angrily. “WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM, HUH!?”

They paused, obviously shocked by his sudden outburst. “Ghost?”

Allen didn’t respond for a long time, then he sighed. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t do this job anymore. I…I just can’t.”

“What happened?”

“I saw the devil smiling at me in the mirror before I killed Frost. He looked exactly like me.”

The line was silent for a long time as the Administrator processed what they’d just heard.

“We’ll talk later, but for right now, listen. When you blow up a garage in the middle of the night, people are bound to notice. Said people called the cops.”

“Please don’t tell me they’re after me.” he groaned.

“Said people also noticed a maroon SUV speeding away from the scene toward the city, and police are now in pursuit. I recommend you find somewhere to hide until-never mind, too late.”

Allen spun around in his seat, and what he saw made the voice in his head instantly shut up.

“Shit!” he hissed as he saw police lights in the distance, as well as a chopper’s searchlight which was focused on him. He turned around and pushed the gas pedal as far as it would go. “I’m open to suggestions!”

“You won’t be able to lose them by yourself. Even if the cops lose sight of you, there are cameras on just about every street corner.”

“Okay, and the good news!?”

“I have an idea. I’ve been working on a little project I like to call Smokescreen. It’s a computer virus. It’s coded to send all non-vital city electrical systems into standby for ten minutes, then burn itself out.”

“Great! How’s that supposed to help me!?”

“The power to street lights, cameras, and pretty much anything else that isn’t immediately important will be temporarily cut off. All you have to do is take out that searchlight and cut off your headlights and you’ll be able to pull an instant David Copperfield.”

“How long?” Allen asked.

“About five minutes. Just dodge and weave until then.” The line went dead after that, and he stuck the phone in his pocket.

“Just dodge and weave. Easy, right?”

His answer came from close behind. “Stop the vehicle now!”

He turned and gaped at how close the police had gotten while he’d been on the phone. One car approached his back right wheel, and he swerved in front to cut them off. Another approached from the other side and he rammed into it, sending it crashing into a building. “Yeah, easy.” he said confidently.

“Stop your vehicle now, or we will open fire!”

“Or not.” He suddenly turned down an alleyway in an effort to lose some of his pursuers. A few of them managed to make the turn, while the rest either slid past or slammed into the wall.

Allen turned back onto the main street with four cruisers still in hot pursuit. Suddenly, his back window shattered and he ducked down to avoid the gunfire now tearing up the back of his car.

“God dammit, hurry up Admin!” he growled as he extracted his pistol and aimed out of the now-windowless back window. He managed to take out one cop’s front tire and watched him spin out, his comrades swerving to avoid him while continuing to fire.

Allen noticed the chopper following close behind the cop cars, aimed up at its light, and emptied the rest of the clip, hoping that one of the five remaining bullets would hit the light. He smiled as the light exploded in a fit of sparks, then holstered the pistol and extracted the revolver.

Allen cringed as a bullet bit through part of his ear and took out his rear-view mirror.

“Five minutes my ass.” he growled angrily as he turned back to the road ahead of him.

He looked in the mirror to his left to see how close the cops were, and a small red light on the side of the chopper caught his eye. He stared for a moment, wondering what it was, then noticed a glowing dot of the same color crawling towards his rear tire.

“Oh God, NO!” he yelled as he swerved, but it was too late.

Allen heard and felt the explosion from the rear left of his car, felt the whole thing suddenly spin left, and watched the road he’d previously been traveling down rush up to meet the right of his car. There was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen, so he did the only thing that he could think of at that moment.

He placed one hand on the ceiling and braced for impact.

He quickly shut his eyes as he felt the entire world roll around his SUV, smashing against it and trying to crush him alive while also trying to cut him to ribbons with all the glass shards bouncing around inside. This continued for what felt like an eternity before the car finally, mercifully, came to a stop on its left side.

Allen moaned painfully as the world continued to blur and spin around him, his rifle case resting on top of his right arm. He was covered in cuts from the shattered windows, and his forehead rang painfully where he’d smacked it against the steering wheel, accentuating the already intense pain radiating from his nose. Outside, he heard the remaining three cruisers screech to a stop and deposit their occupants, as well as the beat of the chopper’s propeller above him.

Well, fuck. he thought grimly as he heard footsteps approaching his overturned SUV.

Suddenly a shot rang out, and the footsteps retreated back the way they’d come. “Enemy in the alley! Enemy in the alley!” he heard one of them yell. Allen sat confused for a moment, then noticed two flashes through the car’s sunroof as two more shots rang out. He heard the sound of something hitting the upturned side of his car, then the hum of the chopper disappearing into the night.

“Get yer ass movin’ man! I ain’t got all damn day!” he heard someone shout.

Skeeter!? Allen thought as he holstered the revolver still clutched in his hand and began to crawl out through the sun roof, dragging the rifle case with him. Once outside, he slung it onto his back and limped over to where his best friend was crouched behind a dumpster with his lever-action shotgun, taking cover directly behind him and re-drawing the revolver.

“How’d you find me?” he asked.

“Yer all over the news. Kinda hard not to know where ya’ll are.” Skeeter replied. “Before we go any further, I got one question: Didja get ‘em?” Allen had told Skeeter about Admin's lead before he'd left for the bunker.

“Yes.” Allen said shortly.

Skeeter looked at him in confusion. “Ya don’t sound too happy ‘bout it.”

Allen was about to respond when his phone rang. He slid it out of his pocket and punched the answer key while Skeeter resumed firing. “It’s about damn time!”

“Sorry, I had a few kinks to work out of the programming.” The Administrator responded. “Besides, did it really kill you to wait a few more seconds?”

“ALMOST, YEAH!!” he yelled into the phone.

“Okay! Calm down! Jesus…”

“Who the hell’r ya’ll screamin’ at?” Skeeter asked.

“My boss.” Allen answered before turning back to the phone. “Look, could you please just do your thing so I can get out of here?”

“Hold please.” they replied. “Launching Smokescreen…now.”

Suddenly a dull ‘boom’ sounded in the distance. Everyone stopped firing as they heard it, lights all around them starting to flicker on and off at random.

“Hey, is this killer light show part of the plan?”

“No, it isn’t. Something’s not right.” they replied. Allen swore he could hear keys being punched in the background as the Administrator growled at his computer screen. “No, no, no, knock that shit off.”

The lights began flickering more rapidly. “Admin, what the hell’s going on!? What’s wrong!?”

“I don’t know! I-wait a minute. What the hell is-oh God. Oh God,please! No!” Allen’s head snapped toward his phone at the sudden change in tone.

“Admin?”

“No. No, no, no, no, no! NO! ABORT! ABORT!” they screamed, the morpher crackling as it was subject to the unnaturally high volume of the Administrator’s voice.

“Admin, what the-hello? Admin?” Allen looked down at his phone, and the black screen stared back.

“Al, what the hell’s yer guy doin’!?”

“I don’t know, but I have a bad-”

And then he heard it.

It was the loudest, lowest baseline he’d ever heard. The ground began to shudder as the volume increased, and everyone in the city covered their ears in an effort to preserve their hearing.

Both boys watched open-mouthed as every building in the city went dark, one by one. The streets below them grew darker and darker, and a black shroud fell over the entire city. Only after the last skyscraper had blacked out did the noise finally stop.

For a moment, neither of the two boys dared to do anything but breathe. Finally, Allen spoke quietly.

“Skeeter?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to go. Now.”

“Uh-huh.” Skeeter agreed, getting up and leading the way to his truck.

Allen stayed back for a moment, then turned away from the comatose city and limped after his best friend.

((((((*******))))))

Present

“They never forgave me for what they’d had to do that night.” Allen said somberly. “They blamed it on my incompetence as a fixer, saying that it wouldn’t have happened if I’d been more careful. And what finally pushed me over the edge is that they were right. I was truly out of control.

“They wouldn’t let me quit, saying that I owed them for what I’d forced them to do to this city. They told me I couldn’t walk until Las Vegas was safe again. So, not one week after the incident, I was back to whacking high-rollers and gang members.

“Eventually, I managed to get over myself and start reaching out again, even if I only had Skeeter and his brother left to reach out to. Still, there was always that little voice in the back of my head reminding me of a time when I had completely lost control. I learned that I could tone it down with the occasional glass of brandy, but there was only one surefire way to shut it up completely until my next job.”

“You became a vigilante.” Twilight said.

He nodded in agreement. “I knew I couldn’t make up for what I’d already done to these people, but…I don’t know. There’s just something about helping people that takes the edge off and allows me to sleep at night.”

He sighed and turned to look at her. “Now I have a question for you, and I need you to be completely honest in your answer. It’s a question that has kept me up at night for the past three years; and one that only you, an unbiased third party who knows more about me than anyone else in this world, can answer.”

“You want to know if you deserve forgiveness?” Twilight asked.

“Please.” he replied.

For a moment, she simply stared at the dashboard, uncertain of how to approach the matter.

“I hate to say it, but…well…I’ve never had to judge somebody like this before. I’m not really sure if you’re asking the right person.”

Her heart wrenched as he looked away sadly. “I understand.” he said with a sigh.

She stared for a moment longer, then turned back to the dashboard. He needed this, that much was clear. He wouldn’t have told her everything he just had if it wasn’t extremely important. The least she could do was think about the facts and tell him what she thought.

She wanted to tell him that he did deserve the forgiveness that he desired, given how kind he’d been to her since her arrival and his habit of saving her from armed thugs, but this wasn’t about her. This was about Allen.

This was about the boy who’d lost his immediate family in the space of a few seconds, who’d felt his little brother die in his arms. The boy who lost, not only his family, but any mercy he held for the people who’d taken them from him.

He’d soon gone from being merciless to downright sadistic, holding zero regard for the pain he inflicted on his victims and maybe even going so far as to enjoy it. That in itself would have been enough for her to deem him unforgivable.

Then he’d described the demon in the mirror, and the subsequent madness caused by his guilt. His hatred of the world around him had been replaced by a fear of the monster he’d become. That fear had driven him to completely change paths, and instead help people whenever he could.

But for every person he saved, he killed two more.

He wasn’t evil, but he wasn’t a saint either. He was walking the thin gray line between the two.

She took a deep breath, then turned back to him. He turned to look at her.

“I’m going to be blunt. The things you’ve done are unforgivable. The things you continue to do are unforgivable.” She watched his expression fall back into miserable acceptance, then continued. “Having said that, I think there’s still hope for you.”

He looked back at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“You aren’t like any of the other people in this city. You aren’t greedy, sadistic, or anything else that they are. You’re not the picture of innocence, but despite everything you’ve already done, you’re still trying to be a good person. Right now, I think you’re walking the line between being what Frost was and what your stepfather was.”

Allen thought about her words for a moment. “So what you’re saying is…”

“I think you still have a choice.” Twilight finished.

Allen looked down and contemplated the steering wheel. He wasn’t forgiven, but he wasn’t condemned either. He didn’t have to be a murderer. He could be anything he wanted.

He wondered when the last time was that he’d had a choice at all, let alone one this important. Then he smiled.

He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. He fully intended to make the best of his next one.

“Thank you.” he said to Twilight, who smiled warmly in response. “After all that I’ve done, it’s nice to know that my life isn’t set in stone.”

She returned his smile. “You’re welcome.”

She continued to watch him as he turned to smile at the steering wheel in front of him. That’s a good look for him. she thought with satisfaction.

He suddenly looked up in realization. “And I couldn’t have heard this on a better day, either.”

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Allen grinned happily as he looked at her. “I’m retired.”

“Retired?” she asked in confusion, then the realization hit her. “Wait…retired!?”

He nodded, still grinning. “Goodman was my last job. With him out of the way, a new guy can step in and clean up the mess he and Frost made of this city. This’ll allow the Administrator’s organization to operate more smoothly, so he said he didn’t need me anymore.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s great!” she said, beaming.

“You still coming with us to blow up the car I used to get to the job?”

“Absolutely!” she said enthusiastically, before realizing what she’d just agreed to. “Umm…why are you blowing up a car?”

“Because it’s an ugly piece of ecoshit that handles like a pregnant whale.” Allen said casually.

Twilight stared at him for a moment. “Ooooookay then!” she said, turning away to look out the window at the other car.

Allen chuckled softly and leaned his head back, content to wait out the rest of the blackout in peaceful silence.

And just like that…it never happened.

Allen frowned as the voice of his guilt interrupted his happiness. You just don’t give up, do you?

You think any of what she said changes anything? You have a choice…good for you. What are you going to do with it?

I’ll figure it out.

I already have.

Oh?

You might think that you’ve changed, that you’re not the angry brat that you were when this all started. You know the truth, though. You’ll never change.

Whatever you say.

Don’t believe me? You’re still angry, I can feel it. You can feign pacifism all you want, but one day you’re going to snap. And I can’t wait until you do.

Suddenly, the lights in the parking garage came back on. Allen stretched in his seat, then started the car. Well you might have to.

“I’m pretty sure they’ve given up the search by now. I don’t know about you, but I’m freaking exhausted.” said Allen.

Twilight nodded her agreement. “Let’s get out of here.”

“To Skeeter’s we go.” he said as he pulled out and set off. Twilight gave him a look, which he returned. “He’s going to want to take a look at Beauty. By the way, be ready for an earful.”

“Speaking of which, I had some questions I wanted to ask you over lunch about this world’s physics. I hope you don’t mind.” she said with mock innocence.

“Oh joy.” Allen grumbled in mock annoyance as he made for the garage’s exit, smiling as she chuckled.

He pulled up the ramp and then suddenly stopped. For a moment, the two of them just stared straight ahead, not saying a word.

“How?” Twilight asked, finally breaking the tense silence that had befallen them.

“I don’t know.” Allen responded as he covered his face again and opened the door. “Just stay here.”

He got out, shut the door, and calmly walked to the front of the car with his hands raised and faced the large platoon of feds surrounding the exit.

Simmons motioned toward Allen and suddenly about fifty guns were being aimed at him.

“Step away from the vehicle!” he called.

Huh? Allen thought as he complied. Why are they telling me to-?

He was interrupted as Simmons spoke again. “I’m sorry about this Ghost. I tried to work this out peacefully, but you’ve left me no choice.” He suddenly raised a hand in the air. Allen looked around as a few guns were cocked and loaded.

He quickly realized he was standing before a firing squad, ready for execution. Simmons stood in front of them, ready to end his life with a simple hand gesture.

Allen’s brow contracted in anger, and he made two rude gestures of his own as he braced himself for the bullet storm head his way.

“Wait!”

His eyes widened as he heard a door open and running footsteps. He turned and saw Twilight running to stand in front of him. “Twilight! Are you crazy!?”

“Ma’am, step away from the Ghost and get down on the ground!” ordered Simmons.

“Let him go and I’ll come quietly!” she retorted.

“No you won’t!” Allen said angrily. After all he’d done to protect her, he couldn’t let her just surrender to the feds, and especially not for his sake.

Simmons stood shocked for a moment, then quickly recovered. “Why? When we can just kill him and take you anyway?”

“Because if you kill him, I’ll make sure a good half of you go down with him.”

“Twilight!” Allen growled, grabbing her arm.

She shook him off and turned to him. “I’m not letting them kill you. It’s not fair.”

“You know what else isn’t fair? A random brainy chick as kind as you coming here from a whole other universe just to wind up a torture victim by the federal government!” he said desperately.

“They’ll take me no matter what you do. Just give up.”

“Absolutely not!” Allen said, then brandished his knife at three soldiers approaching them. “Back off.” he growled, causing the men to stop and point their guns at him again. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Twilight smiling sadly at him.

“Allen…”

“No.

“Please. I don’t want to see you go down in a hail of gunfire. I’m not worth that.”

He turned to face her. “You’re right. You’re worth so much more than that.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise at that. “What’s that supposed to-?”

She was interrupted as feds slapped handcuffs on her and forced Allen to his knees at gunpoint, the knife clattering to the ground behind him. Allen watched helpless from the pavement where the agents had him pinned as she was led to one of the SUVs and shoved into the back. She gave him one final sad smile before the armored vehicle took off and she disappeared from view.

Allen sat watching the SUV long after it disappeared from view. Eventually, the feds let go of him and backed away, guns raised. They needn’t have bothered, though. Allen didn’t even bother getting up as the feds got back in their respective vehicles and sped off after the SUV.

He sat there long after they disappeared.

Then he got up, retrieved his knife, got back in his car, and drove back to Skeeter’s garage.

Author's Note

The feds have won.
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Love you guys. See you later.