"Dude, stop!" Fun Ghoul shouted, making Party Poison leap in his seat and slam his foot down on the break. The car skidded to a halt, sending up plumes of sand, and Ghoul pointed out the window to something.
It was a small girl, walking all alone in the middle of Zone 3. She had only what seemed to be a radio with her, as well as the clothes on her back. Regardless of who she was, Party knew that she definitely needed help. For Pete's sake, the poor girl didn't even have a flashlight— it's the least he could do.
Ghoul and Party got out of the Trans-Am, the latter lighting a flare. A red light flamed up and the two men saw the young girl jump with surprise. Ghoul cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Are you okay?", his voice amplifying across the few yards between the two parties.
The girl said one simple word: "No."
Party and Ghoul rushed to her, remembering their first times alone in the desert. Given, they were in their early 20s at that point and they knew a thing or two about what to expect, but, when they approached the girl, they found that she couldn't've been more than 10 years old. Party crouched down to get to her height and found that she had a canvas bag slung around her side and, along with the radio, she was clutching a plastic robot toy. "Darling, you'll be fine," Party said quietly, not wanting to scare the girl. "I'm—" he started to introduce himself but she cut him off.
"Party Poison," she said, her voice cracking with dehydration. She pointed up at Ghoul, who had neglected to crouch, and said "You're Fun Ghoul."
"You know us?" Party asked in shock. The girl nodded and tightened her grip on her silver robot.
"I'm Grace," she said, not elaborating on how she knows them. Party figured that it was because she listened to Dr. Death Defying's radio broadcasts— he'd never met a Killjoy who hadn't tuned in at one point or another.
"Do you wanna come with us?" Ghoul offered. "We have water back at H.Q and, if you have any injuries, we can fix those up for you."
Grace was silent as she thought about the offer. Water would be nice; and she had a cut on her hand that most likely needed medical attention— it was turning bright red and the sticky bandage had come off in Zone 2. She shrugged and said "Sure."
Party stood up and the three walked to the dusty white Trans-Am. Grace climbed into the backseat and the men resumed their seats from before. "Try to sleep or something," Party told Grace. "It'll be maybe an hour or so."
As soon as he finished talking, Grace yawned and pulled her bag up, resting her head on the material. In seemingly no time, she was asleep. Party drove, his mind drifting to various topics.
"Crash'll be able to take care of her, right?" Ghoul whispered, trying not to wake up Grace from her much-needed sleep.
"Definitely," Party said at an equal volume, nodding slightly. "Crash can take care of anyone."
In next to no time, the car was pulling up in front of the diner. The sign out front was missing the N and the R, so everyone just called it the DIE. Ghoul retrieved Grace from the backseat, carrying her into the diner. He set her down in a red vinyl booth close to the door and quickly got a blanket from the freezer for her. He draped it over her and, after a second of thought, he grabbed a clean dish towel and folded it up, placing it under her head to act as a pillow.
Party approached the sleeping form of Crash Fire, who was in the seat opposite of the Kobra Kid. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the cushion, much to her discontent. "Hey!" She cried as Party pulled her across the room to the bar.
"So, we picked up a kid," Party said bluntly. Party was a pretty blunt person, as was Crash. "We were coming back from Bat City— we got those radio parts for you, by the way— and we saw her and Ghoul made me stop and pick her up."
"A kid?" Crash asked dubiously, cocking one eyebrow. "You've gotta be joking."
Party shrugged and gestured to the sleeping girl across the room. She was still sound asleep, but she held her robot close to her as she slept.
Also asleep in various booths around the room were Jet Star, Fun Ghoul, and the Kobra Kid. Party was sure that Show Pony was around there somewhere; probably in the back-room, where they always were.
"She was alone, in the desert, at night," Party said, enunciating every word. "What was I supposed to do?"
"We can barely feed ourselves, Party!" Crash argued, her voice rising slightly and Party shushing her. "Now we're gonna add a kid to the mix? This is a recipe for disaster!"
"You've gotta think positive, Crash," Party said, quickly searching for a positive thing to say. "She'll... Umm..." He gave up and say down at one of the barstools, the cracked red leather squeaking with protest under his weight. Not that Party was overweight— in fact, he was most likely underweight if anything— but it was rather that the barstool was, in Ghoul's words, "old as shit, just like the rest of this building".
Crash sighed and sat down at an adjacent barstool. "I'll take care of her," she said. "But the four of you guys— and whatever the hell Show Pony is— have gotta help me out."
"We can do that," Party said. "And Show Pony is a 'they'. They've been a 'they' for the past two weeks."
"Alright, Snappy," Crash said, under the idea that Party had just snapped at her. He kind of had, but that's not what was important at that moment. "I'm gonna sleep. 'Night," Crash added after a moment, quickly scanning the room for an empty booth. Unable to find one, she sighed and got in the seat opposite of Party's baby brother, pulling her black leather jacket tighter around her.
Party got in the booth with Ghoul and was disappointed to find that they couldn't sleep on the same side. He poked Ghoul's shoulder and, upon the younger squinting his eye open, asked "Can we sleep in the freezer?"
Ghoul showed a sleepy smile and sat up, wrapping the thin blue blanket around his shoulders. He had taken off of his green vest and his black boots, leaving him in his yellow and black striped shirt and faded denim pants that, to Party's delight, were tight. His wristbands were still on his thin, tanned wrists and his dog tag necklace was still on his neck.
The two moved to the freezer, which had stopped being useful a few years back, when all resources to the Zones got cut off. That included water and energy, and it proved difficult to stay alive during the paralyzing heat. It was useful, to a certain extent, as it contained the pink fluffy foam that had come out of the cracked cushions of the booths and a few spare blankets that weren't being put to use.
Party laid down on the foam and Ghoul curled up next to him, pulling the small blanket over the two of them. The lack of warmth from the blanket gave Party a reason to wrap his arms around Ghoul, pulling him closer into his body. Party gave Ghoul a small kiss on his scalp and whispered "'Night."
"'Night, Party," Ghoul mumbled, already half asleep. He was still awake enough, however, to turn around and plant a kiss on Party's cheek. "Love you."
"Love you, too," Party murmured, and Ghoul turned back around, wiggling into Party's body.

---

"Get up," a voice said, nudging the sleeping couple with the toe of their boot. Party groggily opened his eyes to see his baby brother looking down at him. "'Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Kobra said, smirking a bit.
"'Morning, Kiddo," Party said and sat up, pulling his arms from around Ghoul, who whimpered in protest and shoved his face in the pink foam.
"No!" Ghoul cried. "You always wake us up at the asscrack of dawn! Let us sleep!"
"I have been awake since 3 this morning," Kobra argued, helping his brother stand up. As soon as Party was on his feet, Kobra turned to him and asked "Who's the girl in the booth?"
"What?" Party asked, his brain refusing to work. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he said "It's Crash, you idiot."
Kobra huffed and rolled his eyes and pulled Party out of the freezer. He pointed to Grace's sleeping form and said "That girl. I already knew about Crash." He didn't bother keeping his voice down, since everyone— except Grace— was awake already.
Jet Star gave the brothers a small wave and continued to eat his breakfast of Power Pup, stolen from Battery City. Sure, Power Pup was meant for dogs, and was horrifyingly disgusting, but it was the best thing there was.
Show Pony was leaning up at the bar, finishing off their own can of Power Pup. Their helmet was resting on the countertop, and it showed off their tan skin and blue eyes.
"Oh, her," Party said and popped his neck, earning a groan from Jet, who hated the sound of anyone popping their joints. "That's Grace. Ghoul and I were coming back from Bat City last night and we found her alone and figured that helping her might be beneficial."
At the mention of her name, Grace stirred in her sleep and sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes with her fists. She yawned and looked around the room before saying "'Morning." Her voice was shaky, though, like she was scared.
Crash came out of the back room and Grace silently marveled at the woman standing before her. She seemed to be a bit younger than the other Killjoys— maybe late 20s. Her hair was cut choppily short at her shoulder, and it was the color of chocolate with dyed blood-red ends. Her eyes sparkled light blue against her tan, freckled skin and a silver ring hung from her left nostril. She had on an outfit that screamed Killjoy— tight, faded denim pants, a bright yellow sleeveless shirt, a black leather jacket, and combat boots that matched her jacket. She had a pair of black headphone draped around her neck and her jeans had scraps of different colored fabric safety-pinned to the thighs. A single gold safety pin was poked through a hole in her right ear. She was beautiful— there was no doubt about it. She was carrying various machine parts that most likely looked like they belonged in a radio and her palms were coated slightly in black.
Crash looked around the room and stopped when she noticed Grace staring at her. Crash took a silent moment to examine the small girl, with her short, curly brown hair, tan skin, and large, pale green eyes. She had on a puffy, red-blue-and-yellow vest and a red silk shirt underneath the puffy vest. Between the vest and the shirt was another vest, this one a black denim. Her dark jeans were tucked into black leather biker boots and she had a necklace of multicolored whistles dangling around her neck.
Crash put her radio parts down on the counter of the bar and wiped her hands on her jeans, leaving it streaked with black. She moved across the room to Grace's booth and crouched down to reach the younger girl's level. Both of them realized that the room was cloaked in silence but only Crash did something to remedy that. "Hi," she said quietly, giving the girl a small smile. Her smile seemed kind and non-threatening.
"Hi," Grace choked out finally.
"I'm Crash Fire," she said, introducing herself. "But everyone calls me Crash."
"I'm Grace," the smaller girl said, holding her toy tighter. Crash smiled again, and bit her bottom lip, thinking.
"Oh, these are my friends," Crash said, gesturing to the men around her. "You've already met Party and Ghoul, so the one with the red jacket—"
"Kobra Kid," Grace said. "I used to live in Bat City, so I know who all of the rebels are."
"Crash, Party; a word?" Kobra asked suddenly and pulled the two to the back room without consent from either.
"Okay, she's a citizen," Kobra said as soon the three were out of earshot. "She could be a spy."
"Kobra, she's 10," Party argued. "It's not logical."
"This is Better Living Industries— where they wiped people's feeling with a pill— that we're talking about," Kobra reminded his older brother. "I wouldn't put it past them to make the kid of a Drac or 'Crow a spy."
"You're being ridiculous, Kobra," Crash said, scoffing. "She's not a spy. I promise you."
"And how could you possibly know that?" Kobra snapped. Crash looked down at the floor, biting her bottom lip.
"I just know," she murmured to her boots.
After a moment, Kobra said "I'm sorry, Crash. You know how I am."
"Yeah, but that doesn't give you the excuse to be an ass," Crash said, looking up. "Grace is 10 years old and she would probably be dead if Party and Ghoul hadn't picked her up." She turned to Party and, looking him straight in his hazel eyes, said "You did the right thing. Don't listen to Kobra."
"Hey, umm, Crash?" Show Pony asked, poking their head through the door. She turned to them and they said "Signal's up."
Crash blanched and repeated "The signal's up?", seemingly in shock. Show Pony nodded and Crash breezed by the two brothers. She stopped to look at Grace for a second and asked "Wanna help me with the radio show?"
Grace nodded and slid off of the red vinyl cushion, placing her toy on top of her canvas bag. Crash offered Grace her hand and Grace examined it for a second before taking it. The black grease from the radio parts was caked under her short fingernails and she had a yellow bandana wrapped around her wrist. Also on her wrist was a black beaded bracelet, the small plastic beads giving off a dull shine. Grace grasped Crash's hand and the older pulled the girl up.
By this time, Kobra and Party had left the small hallway leading to the back room, and they were now seated at the bar. Kobra started to pull out a box of cigarettes, but his brother snatched them away from him. "There's a kid here," Party reminded him. "And," he added, pulling out the last white cigarette, "This is the last one. We won't be able to get any more until we head back to Bat City in a few weeks."
"Fine," Kobra grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Crash led Grace to the back room and Grace stood transfixed in the doorway, looking at the room. It was a fairly large room, with tables and old, rusting filing cabinets lining the paint-peeling walls. On the tables were various parts to various machines— one of the larger tables seemed to hold all of the parts for a car battery.
The far corner of the room was perhaps the most interesting. There was a proper desk, with radio broadcasting equipment spread all over it. A flashing panel of lights next to the microphone had a small blue figurine head propped it on it, and Grace recognized the face as Mousekat, the title character of a cartoon back in Bat City.
Crash sat down at the desk, pulling her headphone over her ears. She plugged them into the flashing panel and tapped the top of Mousekat's head, seemingly as a good luck sort of thing. She also plugged in the microphone that sat front-and-center on the desk and eyed Grace. She pulled one of the ear-covers down and said "You can sit down, if you'd like," and gestured to a few empty chairs set around the room.
Grace sat down in a black rolling chair and watched as Crash expertly pressed buttons on the panel, making some stop flashing and others glow a different color. She turned in her chair and flicked on one of the computer-looking devices behind her and immediately a buzz ran through the room.
Show Pony rolled into the room, shutting the door behind them. "Gotta open this..." They muttered as they threw open the curtains on a small window on the same wall as Crash, sending a small beam of light into the room. They quickly rolled across the room, closer to Grace, and grabbed a vinyl record from out of the top drawer of a short filing cabinet. They shed the cover and placed the large disk on a record player. Before they set the needle, they stopped to look at Missile for a second.
"Hey," they said and offered a hand to her. Their hand was covered by a white fishnet-like fingerless glove, and Grace realized that it resembled the leather driving gloves that the Fabulous Four wore. Grace shook Show Pony's hand and nodded toward the discarded vinyl cover.
"The Mad Gear and Missile Kid?" Grace asked. Show Pony nodded and Grace added "I love them."
"You'll fit in well here," Show Pony smiled and Crash said "Alright, going live in 5."
Show Pony sat down on an empty corner of Crash's desk as she counted down the seconds. Once she got to two, she silently counted with her fingers until she said "One-oh-nine in the sky and the pigs won't quit, you're here with me, Doctor Death Defying!"

Notes

So, yeah... I'm starting a new fic 'cause I'm My Chem treasure :)
Comments are encouraged and I hopefully will update Even Lights Can Fade Away later today. xo Bec