How To Save Rock And Roll

Chapter 18 - Blue Birds

The next day arrived and sometime after noon, Patrick got awoken by a call from Joe. He told them the address of where the Blue Birds were hidden and Patrick called the guys to meet you at his place at 10pm to leave for their headquarters.

You were walking down the streets of Chicago that night, Patrick next to you and the guys trailing behind. Patrick was looking at a map on his phone when he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned his head to the right, where there was an alley. "It's there."

You followed him into the alley and he stopped in front of a metal door. He knocked on the door, the huge noise echoing off of the alley walls. The door opened a little bit and someone peeked his head outside. They were wearing a hood and, in the dim light, it was impossible to see their face. They turned their head toward all of you then nodded and let you in, closing the door after you entered. The person took their hood off and it was a man. Isaac looked at him and furrowed his eyebrows together. "Ben?"
"Yeah," The tall man responded and took Isaac in an embrace, "It's been a long time."
Isaac patted his back. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you."

Ben led you down the stairs and into a room with a table in the center and boards lining the walls with maps and pictures pinned to them, like in a movie. Two men were standing behind the table - a tan man with black hair and a short guy with a beard. They were Joe and Dave.
"So, you're joining the Blue Birds?" Joe asked with a grin.
"Well, explain to us what's happening and then we'll say yes," Patrick replied as he walked closer to the table.
"I already told you, we gotta fight the Syndicate," He explained, "They're getting more and more states. People get killed everyday. We have to do something. We have to find their boss and stop them definitely."
"It's not news that people are getting killed. Why didn't you do something earlier?" Patrick inquired.
"Well, at first we thought that it wasn't going to get anywhere, but then the government became involved and it was just impossible for us to do something. We don't even know where their headquarters is." Joe told him.
The singer sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "So what are we supposed to do?"
"We need more people to help us fight them; to get into demonstration and do a lot of other stuff." Dave remarked.
"So, are you ready to help us?" Joe asked.
Patrick looked over his shoulder to you then turned his gaze back to Joe and nodded. "Yeah."

Joe King explained to you all of the things you had to do. For now, you just had to wait for them to give you information and get into demonstration. Let's just say it was pretty calm. They never had news on the headquarters of the Syndicate and you never had to go in the demonstration yet, since there weren't any.

One night, you were sitting on the couch with Patrick when you heard the sound of a piano outside. Patrick went out and told you to stay inside. You waited at the door as you watched him walking down the alley.

*****

Patrick walked down the alley, still in his pajama pants, as he was trying to find where the sound - that had since stopped - was coming from. He stopped at the corner of the alley, where it changed into the street and peeked his head to see what was happening. There were two men wearing all black, dressed in what looked like armor, with a helmet and protection all over their bodies, and standing in front of someone sitting at an old piano. Patrick squinted his eyes to see who was that person and they widened when he realized it was Tyler. "What are you doing?" He muttered.
The younger man placed his hands on the piano and started playing again. A circle of yellow appeared around Patrick's pupils. The two guards aimed their guns at Tyler and one of them growled, "We told you to stop." Tyler kept playing.
"Stop this noise right now or we're going to kill you!" The other one threatened.
Tyler closed his eyes and kept playing. He opened his mouth to start singing but one of the guard pulled the trigger and Tyler's body fell to the ground.
"NO!" Patrick yelled as he left his hiding place and ran toward Tyler.
He kneeled down next to him and took his limp body in arms.
"No no no," Patrick repeated under his breath, "It's gonna be okay." He reassured the young man as he patted Tyler's pale face, his fingers starting to get covered in blood, "Stay with me, it's gonna be okay," He pleaded through sobs.
"It's too late. Your friend's dead." One of the guard said.
Patrick looked up at them, his eyes red and puffy from crying. As his eyes met the black glass of the guard's helmet, they evolved into a glowing yellow, "Why are you doing this?"
"We got an order."
"From who?" Patrick asked.
"An old friend of yours, Patrick Stump," The soldier answered.
Patrick stood up, clenching his fists. "My name's not Patrick Stump." His breathing started to get faster and he was gritting his teeth. The two guards looked at each other then glanced back at Patrick. One of them pointed his gun at Patrick, but Patrick grabbed his wrist and hid behind the guard as he forced him to shot two times at his friend. Patrick then forced the guard to shoot himself in the head. The two bodies now laying on the ground, Patrick collapsed to his knees as his eyes became their original color again. "What happened?" He muttered under his breath.