Scarecrow and the Rainbow Solution

“So this plan to hand ourselves in and then use pre war tech to find Crim and the virus and kill the city before we die….”
“Yeah ?”
“One, it sucks and two, how the fuck do we get this lot into the city to help out ?”
Party looked at his brother thoughtfully before cracking a grin and answering the question. He was sitting comfortably with Kobra on the bonnet of the Trans Am just outside the bunker in five. They had liberated all the suits that they had only glanced past on the last visit. A second stealth suit, one that was wired to pump voltage over its surface, a third that used portable liquid nitrogen. In all there were seven of them which Party, Ghoul, Kobra, Jet, Rainbow, Blood and Cascade now wore under their normal clothes. Party had bundled up the original stealth suit for Crimson and they had emptied the bunker of arms and ammunition. That he had been expecting.
“I really didn’t expect this but I have some ideas.”
Nearly two hundred killjoys, all of them in the six zones that were mobile, had rallied to the Crater Club within hours of the BLI broadcast. Party and the rest had already set off for the bunker and they had all been amazed when Dr D had come on the short wave to say that far from turning the leaders in, the family was intent on helping. A rendezvous at the bunker had been arranged, the DJ having hit on the idea of the army bringing as many Drac suits as they could find with them. Party had quickly caught on.
Kobra removed the lollipop from the side of his mouth and tore his eyes away from the view of Blood’s ass as she bent over the weapons crates to retrieve the blasters at the very bottom. Goddamn now was not the time to be thinking of that kind of fun but if they all managed to survive this lunacy then it was going to be the first thing he would do.
“Share now bro before I grab that and leave.”
“We know that the Dracs won’t expect us to just walk in. We leave the cars in one and walk to the entrance to the city under cover. The closer we can get without being recognised the better. They can’t operate without command so while the entrance guards are figuring it out we disable them and the cameras. We go in with the suits and the rest go in as Dracs to create as much havoc and chaos as they can before getting the fuck out by one hour left on the clock. This gives us time to find Crim and the device.”
Kobra nodded slowly as Ghoul appeared, his arm around Rainbow. His face was about as confident as Kobra’s and Party was starting to get a little pissed. His plans were fucking legendary, there was at least a twenty percent chance this would work.
“We don’t know where the virus and Crim are. It’s a fucking big city.”
We split into pairs. You and Blood, Ghoul and Rain, Jet and Cascade. I’ll head straight for the prison to get Crim. If we know her well, she may already have a good idea of where it is.”
Jet looked at his friends and wondered how to word the elephant in the room.
“We won’t know if one of us finds it and Crim could be dead.”
“We all thought it in that bunker and she walked out of that one.”
Party got off the car and motioned his friends over to the far side of the desert clearing near the trees. Already people were preparing to leave for the city in batches to await the signal to move in. Party had arranged a code word with Dr D to broadcast over the radio when they were ready to go in and all of the killjoys had been well briefed about their missions and the new weaponry. Ghoul had even managed to sketch out targets for each of the band and considering the army had been raised without real thought it had become remarkably well organised. Party did not, however, want them to hear this part of the conversation.
“We use the clock. As soon as its hits one hour before we get the fuck out. Whoever finds the virus can either leave with it or use it. I don’t want any of us to die but whichever way, that virus is not going to be used against the Zones.”
There was a moment of silence as they all considered just how far they would need to go. Dying that way was not something any of them wanted to think about for too long but nobody was in any doubt that Korse would use it against them. Ghoul looked up at his friends, the warm hazel eyes clouded by doubt.
“If we leave with it ?”
“We have the resources in these bunkers to lock it away. I believe there is even a small yield nuclear weapon in the bunker in six we could use to destroy it if we can get it far enough away.”
Jet and Kobra exchanged an uncomfortable glance that Party could spot from a mile off. He narrowed his eyes, a horrible suspicion forming in his mind. Rainbow buried her smirk in pretending to push her hair back from her face.
“If you’re about to say it’s in my car, don’t !”
Two voices echoed back.
“It’s in the trunk of your car.”
Party’s mouth dropped open as Jet rubbed the back of his neck.
“It’s small enough to fit into a rucksack and the timer is pretty robust. Thought we might need it.”
“YOU PUT A NUCLEAR BOMB IN MY CAR !!”
Rainbow tried to stifle her laughter at the appalled look on Party’s face and hushed them all down. People were starting to stare in their direction and the knowledge of that kind of thing being bounced around in a muscle car was hardly comforting.
“It’s another weapon we can use Party.”
“Only as a last resort but I guess so.”
There was not much they could say to each other in truth. It had been heartening to know that the killjoy underground was not going to turn them in but the other inhabitants of the zones were not so loyal and already some friends had taken their smaller children and disappeared. Even The Crater had been evacuated, Dr D and Show Pony had been forced to head for the Diner and that journey alone was fraught with danger and meant some hours of static that in effect would blind them. Once they set out for the city it would depend on the radio signal being back online to start the attack. It was daunting, impossible and desperate but there was nothing left to do.
“If we get out, meet at the Diner. I….”
Party stopped, unable to say the words as Ghoul swept him into a hug. There was a mass of arms around him, his family may be together this one last time before being scattered to the shadows and he had never missed Crim so much. Kobra kissed his forehead and swung a hand over his own wet eyes.
“Don’t say it. Put a letter in the box if it happens and leave it at that. Killyjoys never die.”
Another voice broke into the group, more urgent and Ghoul recognised one of the group commanders. He was pushing an older man and a crying child toward them, both of them scuffed up and bleeding. The girl had a mass of wild curls, her face a mask of misery as the older man limped over to the redhead and nodded. Psycho Revenge looked at his leader before motioning to the two stragglers.
“We found them about a mile away. Looks like they lifted a squad car from the dracs and they say they’ve come from the city.”
Party walked forward, a reassuring smile to the young girl made her look up in wonder as the man addressed him.
“Are you Party Poison ?”
“Yeah, I take it you came looking for us for a reason ?”
The man nodded, wincing at the various wounds that covered the lower part of his face and neck. Rainbow found a cloth to hold to the nasty cuts and helped him sit down as Jet shared his water with the little girl, an instant bond between two fros.
“There was a prison break, just after that broadcast. All the killjoys are trying to fight Korse in there but we’re being wiped out. We lost her brother but managed to get down a storm drain. We had to find you.”
There was a hysteria to the man’s voice, his face grey with horror and fatigue. Party waited until he had calmed a bit, his friends gathered around the two newcomers as Blood organised the last of the killjoys who were leaving for the city. The time had clearly come for those even now being tortured in the city, there would never be this good a time to strike the target.
“You found us. We will help them.”
The man shook his head frantically.
“NO. Get them back, get them all back and away from the city. Crimson is going to drop the bomb she said. She’s already hunting the virus down.”
A huge grin broke over Party’s face as Rainbow started to laugh and Kobra grimly loaded fresh batteries into his gun.
“The impatient bitch just wants all the fucking fun. C’mon killjoys, we got a battle to win.”

Notes