Killjoys: The Legend - COMPLETED

Legends are stories. No one knows where they came from or if there's any sliver of truth to them. This is no exception. I heard this story years ago when I was younger.

In the days before BLind completely took everything over they started off as a Government regulatory side company. They helped make laws and helped enforce them. The company also dabbled in genetic engineering, mind altering chemicals and cloning. The Killjoys weren't yet a renegade faction but merely a group of close knit friends and hadn't yet come up with their Killjoy names. Their real names have been lost to time.

In this time having children, getting married and other normal everyday things needed expressed written consent from at least 3 BL officials, taking up to a year to even get one approval notice. Families decided to go rogue and have children anyway but at a high price if caught. Pregnant women were subject to removal of their child by any means necessary and fetuses stored for research. Unapproved children were taken away from their mothers and raised brainwashed to be soldiers and SCARECROWS. Unapproved brides and grooms were jailed for up to 10 years. These were some horrible times.(Not that BLind total rule is a walk in the park)

There were actually alot more Killjoys than the original 4. There was Party Poison , Fun Ghoul, Kobra Kid, Jet Star(the original 4) but also Skye (Poisons girl) and Clayton(Skye's younger brother)

Skye and Poison were nearly inseparable and Clayton was usually not too far behind. In this time everyone still lived in Battery City. There were parks, grass and trees still. it was magnificent. While Skye played with Clayton in the park, one day, Poison confided in Kobra Kid. He told him he's gonna ask Skye to marry him. As he showed the ring to Kobra the BL soldiers swooped in for one of their mant daily illegal child inspection. Skye grabbed Clayton. Both Skye and Clayton were illegal children. She cradled him and looked around for Poison as the inspector got closer. Knowing for certain that if she ran now they would definitely be caught. Skye caught glimpse of a worried Poison. Fortunately for Skye near the end of the line a mother tried to run with her child, drawing attention away from her so they could run. As they tried to run a soldier saw them and tried to shoot them but almost missed, hitting Skye in the arm and Clayton in his cheek.

Back at their hideaway Skye, Poison and Kobra decided that they've had enough of the inspections and stupid laws. It was time to take action.

A few nights later at BL's Child welfare and Inspection office a small group of masked rebels quietly break in. Skye, being a explosives fanatic placed one of her large improvised fireworks in the front office area. Jet Star stood as lookout while Poison stayed close to Skye. From the back room they hear people talking. Almost half of the inspection staff were having a meeting and it was just letting out. Skye quickly finished setting her device and set it. The group started to run when the inspectors saw them and started to chase them. Jet knocked over a filing cabinet as they ran thru the doir to slow the SCARECROWS down. The group just barely cleared the building before her device detoated, leveling the office, killing all those inside , but one lone SCARECROW.

Poison and Jet got slightly ahead of Skye. The Scarecrow caught up and grabbed Skyes arm. Fighting, flailing her mask came off. The scarecrow stared at her with his Scanner goggles. With it he could see clearly who she was, where she lived and that she was healthy and illegally pregnant. The information relayed to the main computer as Poison and Jet found them and shot the Scarecrow, freeing Skye. If they had waited a moment before running off they would have heard the voice on the headset say The Unit has been dispatched. They were after her.

Skye had to tell Poison she was pregnant. In the midst of the chaos he smiled as bright as ever.
"I'm gonna be a dad"

They made it back to their hideaway safely. Poison told Skye to hurry and get Clayton and gather items together so they could run to a safe place in the desert away from the city. Skye ran off quickly as Poison went to get food and water for the trip. It was then the SCARECROWS decended upon the small village. Rayguns drawn, Poison, Kobra Jet and Ghoul battled their way through the army.

Skye ran into the home she shared with Poison and Clayton to gather the required supplies but the inspectors and Exterminators were already there. They killed the woman that was watching Clayton and had him captive. The inspector motioned toward Skye and tgey grabbed her arms, holding her, helpless. The Inspector took out an instrument and pressed it against Skye's shoulder. Blood poured into the vial. The machine beeped loudly as the test was completed. Unlawful pregnancy. No authorisation. The inspector then turned to the Exterminator. Without a word she was taken over to a the table in the room. The exterminator then retrieved a 2 inch wide cylindrical object from his pouch, placed it on her stomach and pressed a button. The object made a sickening whirring sound as the razor sharp blades tore deep into her. In a matter of moments, it was over. The child was removed and Skye lay bleeding profusely on the table. She could only weakly protest as her brother, Clayton was dragged out with the retreating enemy.

Skye gathered up as much strength as she could. Rolled off the table and crawled to the body of Clayton's one time babysitter and grabbed her Raygun.

Walking, more so weakly dragging herself out the door to see the melee outside. Her friends ran chased by Exterminators and scarecrows. Bodies lay in the streets. She was so sorry at what her recklessness caused. With tears streaming down her cheeks she stumbled toward where she thought Poison should be. She couldn't see him. Fearing he was gone too she quickened her sluggish steps. Finally she saw him. He was cornered by an exterminator. Skye raised the raygun and shot the enemy in the back of the head.

Skye sank to her knees, exausted and beginning to get weaker each moment. Poison rushed to her side, frantically trying to save her. She fell over into his arms and told him about Clayton. Skye made him promise her that he'd get her brother from the BL. He promised that THEY would all get him back. She smiled at him warmly. The last words he heard her say was"just get him back"

Her breathing slowed and with one final gasp for air Skye stopped fighting. One last tear rolled down her cheek. Poison cradled her in his arms trying to comprehend that she was gone.

In one action BL had taken away everything Poison had wanted in life. Skye. His family. His child.

As was custom, Poison prepared Skye's body for burial. He had the difficult task of going back to their home, the scene of the attack. The place was in shambles. There was blood everywhere. He tried his best to avoid the mess but found one rather large one with something in it. He reached down to get it and his heart sank. It was Skye's necklace, the one he gave her and she wore all the time. It had apparently been pulled off during the struggle. Poison washed the blood off and strung it around his own neck as a reminder of what might have been.

Poison got some of Skye's clothes, some of his own, and her mask, left the home, never to return there again.

When her body was ready there was a mass funeral for the victims of the attack. It was a celebration of the 9 lives lost but only Poison knew there was one more life taken that day.

The procession , led by Skye and Poison , weaved thru the outskirts of the city to the caves hidden just outside the city limits. The deep caves had been the final resting place for many victims of the new laws and regulations.

Inside the caverns each body was taken to different areas. Skyes place was further back in beautiful natural cathedral. Placing her in a spot of high importance, Poison waited until the pallbearers had left the area. He gently took her hand, holding it for a moment. He reached into his pocket retrieving the engagement ring he was going to give her, and slid it lovingly on her finger. Pausing a moment he placed her hand back on her chest and covered the ring with her other hand. He kissed her one more time before walking slowly out, taking one final look.

In mere days the seige on the BL main compound was planned and provisions gathered. The group had to get Clayton back by any means necessary.
There was only one small detail that needed addressed. No ride. They needed a vehicle to get them there and then out to the planned safehouse

Fun Ghoul came running back excited. He had found a car for them. Ghoul tossed Poison the keys and they went out to see what rusty scrap heap he found. To their amazement, it was a white old school Trans Am in fairly good condition.

"Well. it'll do for now...but it needs work"

The hour had arrived for the men to put their plan into action. They each had masks to hide their faces(history was made in this moment)

They jumped into the Trans Am and took off towards the main compound. There weren't as many guards as they thought there would be, and what stood in their way inside was immediately shot. When they made it into the quiet building they split off into two groups. Poison and Kobra went north while Jet and Ghoul went south.

They snuck through the nearly empty building as silently as they could pausing only to check in a room every now and again.

Poison looked in a room with large vats and tubes. on each tube was a small electronic monitor and screen. He was just about to duck back out when he froze in his tracks. There were people in the tubes, One tube was someone he recognized. But that couldn't be. He cautiously walked towards the tube. It was who he thought it was! It was Skye!

To the south Jet and Ghoul hurriedly rushed through the rooms. They had found the floor where the "illegal" children were being kept, but couldn't find Clayton anywhere.

Back in the north wing laboratory Poison began pressing buttons, pulling levers to try to get to Skye. Becoming more and more frustrated, he hit the screens and control panels. Suddenly with a mechanical hiss the tube began to open. As it opened slowly Poison reached in to touch her. She was kind of cold. Kobra warned Poison he needed to stop but he didn't pay any attention. He had his Skye back. That was all that mattered. Poison pulled out a thin tube connected to Skye from a machine. With that she started to move slightly. Poison started to tear up. He reached out gingerly to touch her face, but in a flash Skye's hand shot up and grabbed his tightly. Her eyes opened slowly. Poison realized that he had made a huge mistake. It wasn't Skye's beautiful green eyes looking back at him but the dark evil black eyes of BL's clones. The vial of blood taken from Skye by the inspector had been used to clone her.

Twisting his arm, Skye's clone pushed him backward. She stepped slowly out of the tube with a wicked evil smile. Poison said her name trying to see if any part of the Skye he knew existed in this creature. Sadly no. She wrapped her hand around his throat, lifting him off the ground. Kobra darted in and knocked her off balance, causing her to release her grip. Kobra had his gun drawn ready to fire.

"NO" Poison yelled

The clone backhanded Kobra into some equipment and turned back to Poison. This time he was ready for her. She backed him into a wall by his shoulders, looking him square in the eye. Poison grimaced. He knew what had to be done. Over the machinery noises, guages beeping and hissing hoses Poisons hurt filled cry was heard. He screamed as he aimed his raygun toward the menacing grin of the Skye clone...and pulled the trigger.

The clone lay helpless on the floor. Skye had been taken from him a second time, this time by his own gun. Poison knelt beside the clone, brushing the hair from her face.

"I'm sorry Skye. I love you."

Poison lingered by the body until Kobra shouted at him
"Let's go. They'll be coming"

Poison felt broken inside, like he, himself, killed Skye, not the clone. He gathered himself and left the lab with Kobra.

In the North, Jet and Ghoul had one last room to check. There they found not only Clayton, but a small girl, a year or so old by the way she looked. The two were sleeping curled up together like Clayton was protecting her.

Jet touched Clayton's shoulder gently."Hey buddy." he said sweetly "we gotta go."

Clayton woke up as Jet picked him up. When he realized they were goibg to leave without his new friend he started crying "No! don't leave her! We gotta take her too!" Jet tried to explain to Clay they couldn't take her, but he still protested. While the others argued , Ghoul looked around the room. On a desk were two files. One was Clayton's one for the girl. Ghoul opened her file. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He tore the first two pages from the file, silently walked over to the girl, and picked her up too.

"She's coming too. Let's go now."
Jet looked at Ghoul puzzled.
"Why?"
"She's coming." he replied sharply

Jet, with Clayton and Ghoul carrying the still sleeping girl dashed out of the room. Around the corner they ran into the night watch nurse for the floor. She started back for the office to alert security,but was stopped by a raygun blast to her back.

The four made it down to the main floor where they ran into Poison and Kobra. Poison was grateful and elated to see Skye's brother as was Clay to see Poison.

Kobra relayed the story of Poison's encounter to the others. They decided this genetics laboratory needed destroyed. BL were trying to play god.

"What's with the girl?" Poison inquired as he saw her.
Jet snapped "Ghoul said she had to come. Clayton wouldn't leave her either"

Poison shrugged slightly,confused, but led the group back to the lab. Jet put Clayton down and sat at a computer terminal. As he typed in his hacker kill codes, Ghoul drug Poison aside.

"You need to see this" he stated, pulling the papers from his pocket.

Poison read silently:

Test subject #N466592F

Mother: Genetic Profile #N96277F
(deceased)
beside the number was Skye's city ID picture

Father: Genetic Profile #CR954876M
(whereabouts unknown)
next to that was Poison's ID

Subject was taken from biological mother and immediately placed in stasis. Upon arrival subject tested for genetic markers 437 and 65776. Having both, was taken to age accelerator lab. Subject placed in 24 hour acceleration process. Test was a success. Removed from accelerator and placed in Nursery 27 for another 24 hours. After survival, was deemed suitable for training and breeding purposes.....Age progression halted and will resume as normal until placed back in accelerator....

Poison stopped reading, tears streaming down his face.

"What does this mean?" he stammered "does this mean...."

"She's your daughter, Poison." Ghoul interrupted.

Jet stopped typing "WHAT?"

"You mean My daughter, Skye's daughter. This is HER?"

"It would appear so."

Poison carefully took the sleeping child from Ghoul. Looking at her face he finally believed. In the girl's face he could see Skye. Giggling a bit through the tears, he kissed his daughter's forhead.

"Ok. Done. We gotta go NOW!" Jet said sternly "that bitch is set to auto destruct. We've only got a few minutes to get out"

The men and children ran switly through the halls, gunning down the security that came in their path.

Outside the Trans Am had been hidden from view and was easily accessible. They jumped in and drove off seconds before they began to hear the booms of the auto destruct in the lab. Poison sat in the back, cradling his new daughter, with Clayton sleeping, leaning on his side. He had his family. All except for Skye. With a sense of renewed purpose in his life, he smiled.

Kobra glanced over at Poison.

"No one can ever know who she is...I mean that she's your daughter. Not even her. That would be too dangerous for us..and her."

They all agreed. No one would know the girl was Poison's daughter. They would all raise her, and Clayton, in one big happy family out in the desert safe havens. They would tell her about her mother and father when she was old enough to understand.

But sadly, that day never came for the girl. We all know how the Killjoys story ends. They died trying to save the girl once more. After the auto destuct demolished the laboratory, BLI abandoned their age progression studies and focused more on complete domination. Clayton, her uncle, was always there with her. He was the driver of the van that whisked her away from the BLind when the Killjoys died. He, too, was mercilessly gunned down in the desert by a SCARECROW that just didn't like the way he looked.

There's no way to know if any of this story is true. All those that DO know the truth are long gone. But in the long nights when the SCARECROWS are on their patrols and there seems to be no hope for Destoya's awakening, I like to think that Skye, Poison, Clayton, and the other original Killjoys, are all looking down on us. Proud of our strength and of what we've become.

We are strong. We are many. We are the Killjoys.

Notes