Danger Days- Vampire Money
Title: Danger Days- The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
Author: 6_pack_apathy
Pairing: Gerard/Ray Mikey/Frank
Rating: R
POV: 3rd- Gerard-centric
Summary: Our fabulous Killjoys discover that art is the weapon and use it to take down Better Living Industries
Disclaimer: This is entirely a work of fiction, none of the characters or events are true.
Author's Note: Another super quick update! Hurray! I know this is a very long chapter but I just didn't want to stop until I finally had all my Killjoys together.
Warnings: language, violence, sex
Previous Chapters:
Prologue- Look Alive, Sunshine
Chapter One- Art is the Weapon
Chapter Two- Bullet Proof Heart
Chapter Three- S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
Chapter Four- The Kids From Yesterday
05
Gerard, Mikey, and Fun Ghoul sat outside wearing several oversized women sweaters. All three were huddled around a fire in silence. There had been mostly silence for the rest of the day after Dr. Death-Defy had told Gerard what his first mission as a Killjoy - as Party Poison - was. Cherri, Ghoul, and Dr. D all tried to reassure him and Mikey that it would be a piece of cake and was already planned out but he was also pretty sure that none of them had ever lived in Battery City. None of them could possibly understand the level of security or coordination inside the walls.
Cherri skated up to their group wearing a ridiculous fur coat and plopped down next to Gerard. “So Poison, Kobra,” she started while still wearing the crash helmet, “are you two excited for tomorrow?”
At first neither Gerard nor Mikey realized that she was addressing them.
“You need to same-face those names,” Ghoul said, “for the rest of the party Gerard and Mikey are ghosted.”
“What?” Gerard asked.
“What he means is-“ Cherri interjected, “-you can’t go by your old names any more for safety reasons. If Korse finds out anything about you he’ll use it against you.” She paused and touched a slender finger to her mask. “Also, you need to learn to jabber - talking on the waves the way you two do isn’t safe. You’ll pick it up pretty fast.”
“Well what about you?” Mikey - or rather, Kobra - asked. “There was another Cherri Cola before you - are you new too or what?”
Ghoul and Cherri gazed at each other across the fire… At least Gerard thought they were gazing at each other, it was hard to tell with the helmet on. “No…” Cherri started slowly, “I’ve been here since the beginning. Who do you think took the picture that my- that Dr. D showed you? I was Show Pony back then and I still am sometimes depending on where I’m needed. D wants me to run with you tomorrow though so I’ll be Agent Cherri Cola then.”
“Who were you before you were Show Pony?” Gerard asked. “It’s only fair since you know who we are… or were.”
“When we know we can trust you, we’ll tell you,” Ghoul said firmly then changed the subject. “What did you two do before the Pig Bombs? Where did you spawn from?”
Instantly Gerard understood how this was going to go. He and Kobra weren’t going to be trusted if they didn’t share and they were going to have to earn the right to know more about the others. “We lived together in Jersey. Mi- Kobra was a DJ and working at a bookstore with me and I was trying to be an artist on the side.”
“Trying to be?” Gerard noticed his brother shiver and Ghoul’s arm wrap around him as he spoke. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Should he be protective? He hadn’t forgotten about the laser attached to Ghoul’s hip.
“He never sold a painting,” Kobra explained. He didn’t lean into Ghoul’s grip but he wasn’t pushing him off either. It probably just felt good to be close to someone.
Gerard looked over at Cherri then back at Ghoul and Kobra. Well, maybe not just anyone. After the early days in Battery City when reproduction was mandatory he didn’t think he’d feel comfortable ever touching another woman. “Are you gay?” He blurted out while looking directly into Ghoul’s eyes.
The tension felt so thick that Gerard could have cut it. It had been so long since sexuality was even an issue. If you were gay in Battery City then you sucked it up and became straight to help repopulate the planet. Gerard hadn’t mentioned that most of the places Kobra had spun at were gay clubs for a fucking reason. That unsettling look Ghoul had given his brother earlier in the day didn’t sit right with him and while he didn’t know how Kobra felt about anything, or if he was even totally capable of feeling at all again, he knew that he didn’t like it.
“Party’s over,” Ghoul said, arm dropping away from Kobra while he stood, “you two should get konked. The spotlights gonna be on us all day.”
Cherri stood up and skated over to Ghoul. “I’m going to check up on Dr. D,” she said quietly then looked back at Gerard and Kobra. “Goodnight boys!”
Raymond Toro sat on the floor of his living facility with Grace. She was starting to get a little too old for peek-a-boo to be found entertaining but there were few other things he could do with her while simultaneously preaching the ideals of BL/ind.
Lynn walked past them, the white heels of her jumpsuit clicking obnoxiously as she went. “Are you sure you want to stay in with her today?” She asked Raymond while kneeling down to kiss him. She flashed Grace a sweet smile that instantly changed into a look of hatred when the little girl turned away.
“I’ll be fine, I make you watch her too much,” Raymond said and returned the kiss. He didn’t fail to see the look Lynn was giving his daughter and felt rage swelling up within him.
Luckily he was able to keep himself in check and hold perfectly still as she got up to walk away. “We should really think about sending Grace to school. Right now she’s only holding us back,” Lynn called out before leaving the facility for work. He was shaking with fury by the time she was gone.
Just get through the rest of today, Raymond thought to himself. The Killjoys would be coming for him… He hoped. His freedom really depended on whether or not Gerard would accept becoming Party Poison… and on Fun Ghoul actually finding him. Dr. D had assured him that little Frankie had grown up since the last time he was in the desert and that the new Cherri Cola was trustworthy.
His eyes glanced involuntarily to the electronic clock display on the wall then back to his daughter. A few more hours and it would all be over. Dr. D had made him swear not to bring Grace with him and he’d reluctantly agreed. Zone-running was extremely dangerous. He could come back for Grace when she was older. No one would know he was part of the Killjoys so there’d be no reason to kill her.
“Lights on!” Fun Ghoul was throwing biker jackets at both Gerard and Kobra.
The two had fallen asleep on a pile of old clothes closer to the back of the shop and Gerard found that he was absolutely freezing. He grabbed one of the jackets. It was blue and had a strange texture. “What is this?” He asked groggily.
“Solar cells,” Cherri said as she skated by, “keeps you cool during the day and warm at night.”
“Take off the fucking skates!” Ghoul yelled at her.
“If you don’t play nice I wont show you the toys that Dr. D is giving you today,” She retorted while giving him the finger.
Ghoul instantly quieted down. Gerard was watching the back and forth with interest. It was so… normal. As far as he was concerned they were about to go on a suicide mission to rescue an evil man from what is literally hell on earth and Ghoul and Cherri were just arguing like little kids. Like siblings.
Kobra had pulled on one of the jackets - the red one - but didn’t bother zipping it up. Gerard pulled on his and tugged the zipper up to the neck. He stood up slowly and cracked his back then neck. Already he felt warmer in the jacket but not enough to be comfortable. Just enough to feel like he wasn’t going to get frostbite.
Cherri was skating towards the back room where Dr. D had been transmitting with Ghoul and Kobra on her tail. Gerard started to follow as well. In that back room, Dr. D had laid out a variety of weapons ranging from the most advanced, to old world, to a fucking rocket launcher.
“Fucking shiny!” Ghoul gleefully exclaimed as he rushed over to look at them.
Gerard walked more cautiously over to the table; he was drawn specifically to several glass orbs with blue light radiating from the center. “What are these?” He asked.
Ghoul put down the rocket launcher to look at them. He seemed significantly less impressed. “Battery-Powered Exploding Sheep,” he answered, “squeeze ‘em till they’re red and throw - they’re good for when you’re outnumbered in a clap. Don’t use ‘em indoors or you’ll end up popping yourself.”
“One day,” Gerard started, “I am going to sit you down and you are going to explain to me what the fuck you’re saying.”
The rest of the weapons were easily recognizable. A pump-action shotgun, one red and one yellow new world laser gun, the fucking rocket launcher, and several plasma trip-wire devices. Gerard reached for the yellow laser gun. It was old, worn, and personalized like the green one at Fun Ghoul’s hip. It felt comfortable in his hand - as if it belonged there. Dr. D wordlessly passed him a belt with a holster then handed Kobra one that could strap around his thigh.
“Where did you get all of this?” Kobra asked.
Dr. Death-Defy laughed. “You think we’re the only ones zone hopping? There are entire towns out here, lots of crashqueens and motorbabies who are more than willing to help contribute to the killjoy cause by any means necessary. Most new world weapons are from victorious claps and old ones from wavehead stockpiles.”
“Fucking shiny,” Ghoul repeated, “we never get so many toys!”
“Hopefully you wont need all of them, use old war shit only in emergencies-“ Dr. D gave Ghoul a hard stare until he set down the fucking rocket launcher “-if all goes according to plan you wont fire shit.”
Cherri Cola was loading the battery-powered exploding sheep into a fanny pack around her narrow hips while Kobra was putting away his red gun and grabbing the shotgun. Ghoul stared at the fucking rocket launcher like Santa had gotten him exactly what he’d asked for before carefully picking it back up and cradling it like a newborn close to his body.
“Keep the static pumped up, I’ll be your surgeon,” Dr. D assured them with a tone of finality that meant they needed to leave.
The Killjoys wordlessly walked to the front of the store. Gerard noticed Cherri fidgeting with white gloves then noticed the words “SHOW” and “PONY” tattooed across her knuckles. She wasn’t kidding about having previously being someone else.
Out front was a beat up gray Trans Am that hadn’t been there the night before. It was still dark out and the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. Battery City would be awake and thriving by the time they got there. It would probably be safer in the daylight, though Gerard felt a nighttime kidnapping would be more convincing.
“Put these on,” Ghoul said and handed Gerard and Kobra their respective helmets while holding onto his mask, “and fucking wear them.” He was glaring at Gerard. “You don’t want to get dust mouth and you don’t want to suck in too much heat.”
“Where did this come from?” Kobra asked, ignoring Ghoul and motioning to the Trans Am. After a moment he took his helmet and put it on, Gerard grudgingly did as well.
“Big wheel’s are D’s so he can get out in his crash-kart but we use it to pick up new tumbleweeds from Battery City. This baby’s fast and good for hopping,” Ghoul explained as he slid the fucking rocket launcher under the rear seats then jumped behind the wheel. Kobra and Cherri jumped into the pack, leaving Gerard to ride shotgun.
The ride to Battery City was uneventful. Lots of static on the radio with loud punk music and Dr. D checking in, giving weather forecasts, traffic reports, and heavily coded warnings to anyone else in the desert that shit was about to blow up.
To Gerard’s surprise, when they reached the city, they drove right up to the Eastern gate. Cherri shoved Gerard’s seat forward and hopped out. The ground was too cracked and sandy to skate so she awkwardly hobbled to a small exterior keypad on the side of the gate. She was pulling something out of her fanny pack and Gerard worried that it was going to be one of those Sheep things. Instead it looked more like a remote control that she pressed against the pad. Whatever it was - Dr. D hadn’t told them about it. Need to know basis, Gerard thought.
The door opened and Ghoul pulled forward and coasted slowly past Cherri. “See you back on the outside!” She yelled then slapped the side of the car.
Raymond was starting to sweat. He expected the Killjoys to arrive before the lights came on. It’d been over an hour since then and nothing. No word from D. No confirmation that it would even happen. Conditions weren’t going to be this perfect for his kidnapping any other day. What if Gerard was dead? What if little Frankie fucked up again and still was too goddamn trigger happy? What if Gerard had headed south to look for his brother? Fuck, why did Gerard have to fuck up everything by trying to bring his brother with him?
Grace was sprawled out on the floor with a learning tablet, playing a reading game when the front door exploded open. Raymond nearly had a heart attack and ended up jumping from his seat to shield his daughter from any flying metal. What the fuck? In stomped Fun Ghoul followed by Party Poison and fucking Kobra Kid. What the fuck? Fun Ghoul turned his masked face to look at the security camera. He gave it the finger then, quick as lighting, fired a charge at it.
Sparks rained down and Party Poison was charging forward, knocking Raymond over and using a hard-toed boot to deliver a swift kick to the side. Grace was in the corner, head covered, sobbing. Everything was moving too quickly and Raymond couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in so much pain. Not since he’d been in the desert.
The mysterious Kobra Kid was sweeping through the rooms - grabbing valuables and food packs and anything else he could grab hold of.
“Half pistons, Poison!” Ghoul yelled. “Don’t ghost him!”
Poison used his boot to flip Raymond onto his stomach then dropped onto his thighs and grabbed his arms. He gave a yank and Raymond felt his muscles straining. He cried out in pain. Grace was screaming. Jesus, it felt like Poison was going to kill him.
Raymond heard a crack and his arms came free. He instinctively scrambled to his feet and saw that Grace had gotten up and smashed her tablet across Poison’s back. He was picking himself off the floor and Kobra had his gun at the back of Grace’s curly head.
“Stop!” Raymond roared and rushed Kobra blindly, forcing him back. “Don’t hurt her - that’s not part of the plan!”
“You fucking idiot,” Poison was yelling, voice strained by his pain, “audio - static… What-the-fuck-ever isn’t out in here! Korse can fucking hear you!”
A siren was going off and Ghoul was cursing while yelling at Poison, “Speak jabber!”
In a few seconds there were five Scarecrow’s in Raymond’s living facility. “Fuck it I don’t understand fucking jabber!” Poison yelled and started firing off shots. Lasers were flying all over the place. Scarecrow’s were falling. Poison was screaming in pain and Kobra was yelling: “Shit’s blown let’s get the fuck out of here!”
Raymond didn’t need telling twice, he grabbed a gun from a fallen Scarecrow. They were all down but more would be coming. Kobra Kid had run out and Party Poison was waiting at the door to make sure everyone got out. “Grab Grace!” Raymond yelled at Fun Ghoul as he started towards the door. Without thinking, Ghoul complied and picked up the struggling girl and they were fucking out of there.
The car was still running in the tunnels and the five of them hopped in. Without thinking, Poison took the wheel and sped off, skidding around turns at dangerous speeds. Soon they saw the Eastern gate - still open - and had almost made it out just as red lights started flashing across the tunnels. The gate doors started to close. Poison punched it so hard that the pedal was literally to the metal. There was a sickening scrape as the gates tried to close on the trunk of the Trans Am.
Poison cut a hard do-nut as soon as they hit the sand. The gate slid shut. Ghoul was leaning forward and turning the volume up to full static while grabbing the microphone to the rusted CB radio under the stereo. “Shit’s gone all Costa Rica here, D! We need motorbabies!”
With horror, Raymond saw that there were already Dracs crawling all over the fucking sand. There was an explosion and he saw Show Pony dressed in Cherri Cola’s clothes trying to skate out to the car. “You brought Show Pony with you!?”
She was dropping another Battery-Powered Exploding Sheep behind her and diving into the car, screaming out when she made it only half way through the rolled down window. Kobra and Raymond - who were in the back - pulled her through and Poison punched it, swerving the car as he recklessly drove until the Dracs faded into the dust and the static was clearing up.
Raymond saw an eighteen wheeler in the distance hurtling towards them and narrowly dodging them. From the west he could see several motor bikes heading towards the Eastern gate. It looked like D got the distress call.
Author: 6_pack_apathy
Pairing: Gerard/Ray Mikey/Frank
Rating: R
POV: 3rd- Gerard-centric
Summary: Our fabulous Killjoys discover that art is the weapon and use it to take down Better Living Industries
Disclaimer: This is entirely a work of fiction, none of the characters or events are true.
Author's Note: Another super quick update! Hurray! I know this is a very long chapter but I just didn't want to stop until I finally had all my Killjoys together.
Warnings: language, violence, sex
Previous Chapters:
Prologue- Look Alive, Sunshine
Chapter One- Art is the Weapon
Chapter Two- Bullet Proof Heart
Chapter Three- S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
Chapter Four- The Kids From Yesterday
05
Gerard, Mikey, and Fun Ghoul sat outside wearing several oversized women sweaters. All three were huddled around a fire in silence. There had been mostly silence for the rest of the day after Dr. Death-Defy had told Gerard what his first mission as a Killjoy - as Party Poison - was. Cherri, Ghoul, and Dr. D all tried to reassure him and Mikey that it would be a piece of cake and was already planned out but he was also pretty sure that none of them had ever lived in Battery City. None of them could possibly understand the level of security or coordination inside the walls.
Cherri skated up to their group wearing a ridiculous fur coat and plopped down next to Gerard. “So Poison, Kobra,” she started while still wearing the crash helmet, “are you two excited for tomorrow?”
At first neither Gerard nor Mikey realized that she was addressing them.
“You need to same-face those names,” Ghoul said, “for the rest of the party Gerard and Mikey are ghosted.”
“What?” Gerard asked.
“What he means is-“ Cherri interjected, “-you can’t go by your old names any more for safety reasons. If Korse finds out anything about you he’ll use it against you.” She paused and touched a slender finger to her mask. “Also, you need to learn to jabber - talking on the waves the way you two do isn’t safe. You’ll pick it up pretty fast.”
“Well what about you?” Mikey - or rather, Kobra - asked. “There was another Cherri Cola before you - are you new too or what?”
Ghoul and Cherri gazed at each other across the fire… At least Gerard thought they were gazing at each other, it was hard to tell with the helmet on. “No…” Cherri started slowly, “I’ve been here since the beginning. Who do you think took the picture that my- that Dr. D showed you? I was Show Pony back then and I still am sometimes depending on where I’m needed. D wants me to run with you tomorrow though so I’ll be Agent Cherri Cola then.”
“Who were you before you were Show Pony?” Gerard asked. “It’s only fair since you know who we are… or were.”
“When we know we can trust you, we’ll tell you,” Ghoul said firmly then changed the subject. “What did you two do before the Pig Bombs? Where did you spawn from?”
Instantly Gerard understood how this was going to go. He and Kobra weren’t going to be trusted if they didn’t share and they were going to have to earn the right to know more about the others. “We lived together in Jersey. Mi- Kobra was a DJ and working at a bookstore with me and I was trying to be an artist on the side.”
“Trying to be?” Gerard noticed his brother shiver and Ghoul’s arm wrap around him as he spoke. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Should he be protective? He hadn’t forgotten about the laser attached to Ghoul’s hip.
“He never sold a painting,” Kobra explained. He didn’t lean into Ghoul’s grip but he wasn’t pushing him off either. It probably just felt good to be close to someone.
Gerard looked over at Cherri then back at Ghoul and Kobra. Well, maybe not just anyone. After the early days in Battery City when reproduction was mandatory he didn’t think he’d feel comfortable ever touching another woman. “Are you gay?” He blurted out while looking directly into Ghoul’s eyes.
The tension felt so thick that Gerard could have cut it. It had been so long since sexuality was even an issue. If you were gay in Battery City then you sucked it up and became straight to help repopulate the planet. Gerard hadn’t mentioned that most of the places Kobra had spun at were gay clubs for a fucking reason. That unsettling look Ghoul had given his brother earlier in the day didn’t sit right with him and while he didn’t know how Kobra felt about anything, or if he was even totally capable of feeling at all again, he knew that he didn’t like it.
“Party’s over,” Ghoul said, arm dropping away from Kobra while he stood, “you two should get konked. The spotlights gonna be on us all day.”
Cherri stood up and skated over to Ghoul. “I’m going to check up on Dr. D,” she said quietly then looked back at Gerard and Kobra. “Goodnight boys!”
Raymond Toro sat on the floor of his living facility with Grace. She was starting to get a little too old for peek-a-boo to be found entertaining but there were few other things he could do with her while simultaneously preaching the ideals of BL/ind.
Lynn walked past them, the white heels of her jumpsuit clicking obnoxiously as she went. “Are you sure you want to stay in with her today?” She asked Raymond while kneeling down to kiss him. She flashed Grace a sweet smile that instantly changed into a look of hatred when the little girl turned away.
“I’ll be fine, I make you watch her too much,” Raymond said and returned the kiss. He didn’t fail to see the look Lynn was giving his daughter and felt rage swelling up within him.
Luckily he was able to keep himself in check and hold perfectly still as she got up to walk away. “We should really think about sending Grace to school. Right now she’s only holding us back,” Lynn called out before leaving the facility for work. He was shaking with fury by the time she was gone.
Just get through the rest of today, Raymond thought to himself. The Killjoys would be coming for him… He hoped. His freedom really depended on whether or not Gerard would accept becoming Party Poison… and on Fun Ghoul actually finding him. Dr. D had assured him that little Frankie had grown up since the last time he was in the desert and that the new Cherri Cola was trustworthy.
His eyes glanced involuntarily to the electronic clock display on the wall then back to his daughter. A few more hours and it would all be over. Dr. D had made him swear not to bring Grace with him and he’d reluctantly agreed. Zone-running was extremely dangerous. He could come back for Grace when she was older. No one would know he was part of the Killjoys so there’d be no reason to kill her.
“Lights on!” Fun Ghoul was throwing biker jackets at both Gerard and Kobra.
The two had fallen asleep on a pile of old clothes closer to the back of the shop and Gerard found that he was absolutely freezing. He grabbed one of the jackets. It was blue and had a strange texture. “What is this?” He asked groggily.
“Solar cells,” Cherri said as she skated by, “keeps you cool during the day and warm at night.”
“Take off the fucking skates!” Ghoul yelled at her.
“If you don’t play nice I wont show you the toys that Dr. D is giving you today,” She retorted while giving him the finger.
Ghoul instantly quieted down. Gerard was watching the back and forth with interest. It was so… normal. As far as he was concerned they were about to go on a suicide mission to rescue an evil man from what is literally hell on earth and Ghoul and Cherri were just arguing like little kids. Like siblings.
Kobra had pulled on one of the jackets - the red one - but didn’t bother zipping it up. Gerard pulled on his and tugged the zipper up to the neck. He stood up slowly and cracked his back then neck. Already he felt warmer in the jacket but not enough to be comfortable. Just enough to feel like he wasn’t going to get frostbite.
Cherri was skating towards the back room where Dr. D had been transmitting with Ghoul and Kobra on her tail. Gerard started to follow as well. In that back room, Dr. D had laid out a variety of weapons ranging from the most advanced, to old world, to a fucking rocket launcher.
“Fucking shiny!” Ghoul gleefully exclaimed as he rushed over to look at them.
Gerard walked more cautiously over to the table; he was drawn specifically to several glass orbs with blue light radiating from the center. “What are these?” He asked.
Ghoul put down the rocket launcher to look at them. He seemed significantly less impressed. “Battery-Powered Exploding Sheep,” he answered, “squeeze ‘em till they’re red and throw - they’re good for when you’re outnumbered in a clap. Don’t use ‘em indoors or you’ll end up popping yourself.”
“One day,” Gerard started, “I am going to sit you down and you are going to explain to me what the fuck you’re saying.”
The rest of the weapons were easily recognizable. A pump-action shotgun, one red and one yellow new world laser gun, the fucking rocket launcher, and several plasma trip-wire devices. Gerard reached for the yellow laser gun. It was old, worn, and personalized like the green one at Fun Ghoul’s hip. It felt comfortable in his hand - as if it belonged there. Dr. D wordlessly passed him a belt with a holster then handed Kobra one that could strap around his thigh.
“Where did you get all of this?” Kobra asked.
Dr. Death-Defy laughed. “You think we’re the only ones zone hopping? There are entire towns out here, lots of crashqueens and motorbabies who are more than willing to help contribute to the killjoy cause by any means necessary. Most new world weapons are from victorious claps and old ones from wavehead stockpiles.”
“Fucking shiny,” Ghoul repeated, “we never get so many toys!”
“Hopefully you wont need all of them, use old war shit only in emergencies-“ Dr. D gave Ghoul a hard stare until he set down the fucking rocket launcher “-if all goes according to plan you wont fire shit.”
Cherri Cola was loading the battery-powered exploding sheep into a fanny pack around her narrow hips while Kobra was putting away his red gun and grabbing the shotgun. Ghoul stared at the fucking rocket launcher like Santa had gotten him exactly what he’d asked for before carefully picking it back up and cradling it like a newborn close to his body.
“Keep the static pumped up, I’ll be your surgeon,” Dr. D assured them with a tone of finality that meant they needed to leave.
The Killjoys wordlessly walked to the front of the store. Gerard noticed Cherri fidgeting with white gloves then noticed the words “SHOW” and “PONY” tattooed across her knuckles. She wasn’t kidding about having previously being someone else.
Out front was a beat up gray Trans Am that hadn’t been there the night before. It was still dark out and the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. Battery City would be awake and thriving by the time they got there. It would probably be safer in the daylight, though Gerard felt a nighttime kidnapping would be more convincing.
“Put these on,” Ghoul said and handed Gerard and Kobra their respective helmets while holding onto his mask, “and fucking wear them.” He was glaring at Gerard. “You don’t want to get dust mouth and you don’t want to suck in too much heat.”
“Where did this come from?” Kobra asked, ignoring Ghoul and motioning to the Trans Am. After a moment he took his helmet and put it on, Gerard grudgingly did as well.
“Big wheel’s are D’s so he can get out in his crash-kart but we use it to pick up new tumbleweeds from Battery City. This baby’s fast and good for hopping,” Ghoul explained as he slid the fucking rocket launcher under the rear seats then jumped behind the wheel. Kobra and Cherri jumped into the pack, leaving Gerard to ride shotgun.
The ride to Battery City was uneventful. Lots of static on the radio with loud punk music and Dr. D checking in, giving weather forecasts, traffic reports, and heavily coded warnings to anyone else in the desert that shit was about to blow up.
To Gerard’s surprise, when they reached the city, they drove right up to the Eastern gate. Cherri shoved Gerard’s seat forward and hopped out. The ground was too cracked and sandy to skate so she awkwardly hobbled to a small exterior keypad on the side of the gate. She was pulling something out of her fanny pack and Gerard worried that it was going to be one of those Sheep things. Instead it looked more like a remote control that she pressed against the pad. Whatever it was - Dr. D hadn’t told them about it. Need to know basis, Gerard thought.
The door opened and Ghoul pulled forward and coasted slowly past Cherri. “See you back on the outside!” She yelled then slapped the side of the car.
Raymond was starting to sweat. He expected the Killjoys to arrive before the lights came on. It’d been over an hour since then and nothing. No word from D. No confirmation that it would even happen. Conditions weren’t going to be this perfect for his kidnapping any other day. What if Gerard was dead? What if little Frankie fucked up again and still was too goddamn trigger happy? What if Gerard had headed south to look for his brother? Fuck, why did Gerard have to fuck up everything by trying to bring his brother with him?
Grace was sprawled out on the floor with a learning tablet, playing a reading game when the front door exploded open. Raymond nearly had a heart attack and ended up jumping from his seat to shield his daughter from any flying metal. What the fuck? In stomped Fun Ghoul followed by Party Poison and fucking Kobra Kid. What the fuck? Fun Ghoul turned his masked face to look at the security camera. He gave it the finger then, quick as lighting, fired a charge at it.
Sparks rained down and Party Poison was charging forward, knocking Raymond over and using a hard-toed boot to deliver a swift kick to the side. Grace was in the corner, head covered, sobbing. Everything was moving too quickly and Raymond couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in so much pain. Not since he’d been in the desert.
The mysterious Kobra Kid was sweeping through the rooms - grabbing valuables and food packs and anything else he could grab hold of.
“Half pistons, Poison!” Ghoul yelled. “Don’t ghost him!”
Poison used his boot to flip Raymond onto his stomach then dropped onto his thighs and grabbed his arms. He gave a yank and Raymond felt his muscles straining. He cried out in pain. Grace was screaming. Jesus, it felt like Poison was going to kill him.
Raymond heard a crack and his arms came free. He instinctively scrambled to his feet and saw that Grace had gotten up and smashed her tablet across Poison’s back. He was picking himself off the floor and Kobra had his gun at the back of Grace’s curly head.
“Stop!” Raymond roared and rushed Kobra blindly, forcing him back. “Don’t hurt her - that’s not part of the plan!”
“You fucking idiot,” Poison was yelling, voice strained by his pain, “audio - static… What-the-fuck-ever isn’t out in here! Korse can fucking hear you!”
A siren was going off and Ghoul was cursing while yelling at Poison, “Speak jabber!”
In a few seconds there were five Scarecrow’s in Raymond’s living facility. “Fuck it I don’t understand fucking jabber!” Poison yelled and started firing off shots. Lasers were flying all over the place. Scarecrow’s were falling. Poison was screaming in pain and Kobra was yelling: “Shit’s blown let’s get the fuck out of here!”
Raymond didn’t need telling twice, he grabbed a gun from a fallen Scarecrow. They were all down but more would be coming. Kobra Kid had run out and Party Poison was waiting at the door to make sure everyone got out. “Grab Grace!” Raymond yelled at Fun Ghoul as he started towards the door. Without thinking, Ghoul complied and picked up the struggling girl and they were fucking out of there.
The car was still running in the tunnels and the five of them hopped in. Without thinking, Poison took the wheel and sped off, skidding around turns at dangerous speeds. Soon they saw the Eastern gate - still open - and had almost made it out just as red lights started flashing across the tunnels. The gate doors started to close. Poison punched it so hard that the pedal was literally to the metal. There was a sickening scrape as the gates tried to close on the trunk of the Trans Am.
Poison cut a hard do-nut as soon as they hit the sand. The gate slid shut. Ghoul was leaning forward and turning the volume up to full static while grabbing the microphone to the rusted CB radio under the stereo. “Shit’s gone all Costa Rica here, D! We need motorbabies!”
With horror, Raymond saw that there were already Dracs crawling all over the fucking sand. There was an explosion and he saw Show Pony dressed in Cherri Cola’s clothes trying to skate out to the car. “You brought Show Pony with you!?”
She was dropping another Battery-Powered Exploding Sheep behind her and diving into the car, screaming out when she made it only half way through the rolled down window. Kobra and Raymond - who were in the back - pulled her through and Poison punched it, swerving the car as he recklessly drove until the Dracs faded into the dust and the static was clearing up.
Raymond saw an eighteen wheeler in the distance hurtling towards them and narrowly dodging them. From the west he could see several motor bikes heading towards the Eastern gate. It looked like D got the distress call.