Scarecrow and the Rainbow Solution

“Is it safe ?”
“It’s been empty a long time. Should be safe.”
“You said that about that shack in Zone 3 that happened to cover a radioactive waste pit.”
“You didn’t grow a fucking tail, quit bitching.”
“Both of you shut the fuck up.”
Kobra grinned back at his brother and Crim as they bitched at each other some more and tried to see into the broken entrance in the rock. The old bunkers were remarkably well hidden, without the map they would never have known it was there or seen the hairline crack in the stone that denoted an entrance. Crim had lifted the key cards to all these abandoned places along with the map and it still worked enough to open enough for them to slide through. The blast of cold damp air that blew forth was not exactly inviting.
Party flicked on the torch and shone it into the cavern, there seemed to be a tunnel to another door at the far end but no sign that anyone had been there before them. There was a list of tech on the agenda for this place that made no sense to him whatsoever but sounded vaguely as though they were weapons. Crimson was interested in some of the stealth technology that was rumoured to be inside and Kobra just wanted to find something they could use without finding anything still alive.
“C’mon, just keep your guns drawn. There could well be some nasty wildlife down there.”
Crimson patted Party’s ass, amused at his serious tone.
“It’s the robot sentry system we need to worry about. That vault that Rain and I found those dracs in ? Had to take out nine of the damn things on the way down.”
Kobra winced and looked at Party as the woman disappeared down the passage towards the metal door. They had always avoided becoming trapped underground for this very reason and dying this way would be kind of embarrassing. They followed carefully, Kobra picking up an abandoned tin can as they got to where Crim had swiped the key card and another door had opened. This passage was darker, a flickering light in the distance telling them that the place had some electricity. Kobra tossed the can into the darkened hallway and all of them stepped back at the immediate din of automatic gunfire.
“Class two turret, top left.”
Party took careful aim as a second can caused the weapon to open up. Two blasts of laser caused a larger explosion in the confined space as the turret exploded. Crimson covered her ears against the din and all of them ducked away from the shards of superheated metal that flew in all directions. It was a quick sprint down the hall and into a small control room where an overhead bulb provided flickering light.
“Think you can wire it ?”
“Not sure, usually Jet would handle it but I’ll give it a go.”
Kobra reached into his jacket for his knife and tools, prying a decayed metal covering from the fuse box as Party tried to work out which stairwell related to what on their map. Crimson opened drawers in the consoles and cabinets and was happily surprised to find ammunition and paperwork. Suggested nobody had been down there before them.
“Heads up.”
Kobra grinned happily as the lights came on and the two stairwells were bathed in a stark light. Party tested the buttons on some of the keyboards until one flickered on and showed the login for the security system. Crimson peered over his shoulder.
“Damn, we should have brought Jet along.”
“Suggests we could find more trouble downstairs.”
Both of their faces lit up, it was too much fun to think of going back and now the curiosity to explore had really kicked in. Kobra slung an arm over their shoulders and with the map between them, they all looked at the two doors, one on either side of the room that led downstairs into the main body of the bunker.
“Left. Armoury is four floors down.”
“Ok, Crim in the middle and you take the back Kobra.”
Party reloaded and carefully worked his way down the narrow metal stairs. The air was icy cold after the heat of the desert and all of them were shivering by the time they reached another stairwell. Something just below clicked and buzzed, another turret moving on its axis in the ceiling, already alerted to their presence. It was a much more difficult angle to get a hit, somebody was going to have to take a risk.
Crimson hopped up on the rail, hooking her feet through the metal before leaning back and taking aim as the gun cranked around towards her. Upside down made it harder and all the blood rushed to her head as she aimed for the weak spot near the centre of the metal housing. Weight against her legs told her that Party and Kobra had a firm hold on her and it allowed for two bursts of fire to disable the turret. She swung back up, pulled off the railing and into Party’s arms as he pulled a face at her.
“You always want to take the risk huh ?”
She kissed his lips, enjoying their warmth before realising that Kobra was already going down the stairwell to the next level, chuckling to himself. Party blushed and they let go of each other to follow him down into the next hallway. It took two more sentry bots before they finally reached the armoury door.
“Not gonna be able to blow this one. Any thoughts ?”
“We can work the lock, just may take a while.”
Kobra hooked up a keypad to the matching one on the door and left it to run through millions of combinations as the three killjoys sat on the floor in front of the massive metal door. Party passed around a hip flask of whiskey and they picked at an old bag of skittles that Crim had tucked into her jacket at the diner. It was so peaceful and quiet she found herself dozing against Kobra’s shoulder, his arm wrapped around her. Party was on the other side, his hand on her leg as he half sang a song from back before the war had ripped their lives apart.
“Well I thought I heard you say I like you…”
Crim grinned sleepily and wondered if there would be a time when she would hear him sing again properly like he used to. That life seemed to be like it had been lived by other people and he was no longer allowed to be the man he once was. It made her want to cry.
“It’s done, no sleeping on the job. If you two hadn’t been fucking all night…”
“Next time you can join in.”
Kobra blushed, not wanting to acknowledge that there had occasionally been truth in that statement in the past when none of them had wanted to sleep and the bed had got cold. Crimson was well aware that neither of the brothers would complain if it happened again and stayed seated as they checked on whether the blast door would now open.
There was a screech of metal that set everyone’s teeth on edge but the gap was big enough to squeeze through and what was inside exceeded the manifest by a long way. It was a huge room, dominated by racks of guns and equipment, shelves of grenades of differing makes and even different sets of clothes. Without a word to each other the three killjoys wandered in and out of the place and marvelled over all of the equipment. It would take trucks to shift it all but they could fill the car to the brim and return as often as they needed.
“It’s payday boys.”

Notes