"She's Dr. Death?" Grace whispered to Show Pony. They nodded and Grace stared open-mouthed at the woman sitting in front of her. Grace had listened to Dr. Death's broadcasts ever since she escaped Bat City a few months prior, and she quickly fell into a metaphorical love with the smooth-talking, quick-witted pirate radio DJ.
"... Louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny," Crash continued and Grace smiled a bit at how many gestures she used while portraying her character. Crash formed her right hand into a gun on the word 'revolver' and she shot at the wall on 'shiny'. "This one's for all you rock-and-rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies. Listen up!" And with those words, Show Pony dropped the needle onto the vinyl and the Mad Gear and Missile Kid's Black Dragon Fighting Society started to blast through the room.
Crash unplugged her headphones and pulled them down around her neck, smiling at Grace. She pulled the young girl out of the room and closed the door, quieting the loud rock music to a dull roar through the cement walls.
"How the... Who the... What?" Grace stuttered in awe. "Okay, wait. You— Crash Fire— are Dr. Death Defying?"
After a second of thought, Crash said "In a manner of speaking, yes."
"This whole time, I've been listening to a girl?" Grace asked. "How is that possible? Dr. Death's voice—"
"Is a computer program," Crash cut Grace off. "Yeah, there's this program that changes your voice to whatever you want. It's ridiculously hard to find in the Zones, but it's super easy to get in Bat City. I suppose that's 'cause B.L.I used it all the damn time before the Helium Wars." Crash leaned back on the wall and continued. "I'm not sure why I'm using a guy's voice instead of my own. More people'll trust a guy, I'm guessing."
"Crash!" Jet yelled, interrupting the two girls' conversation. "Get in here!"
Grace took Crash's hand and she saw Crash smile as she lead the two to the front room. All four of the men were sitting at the same booth, Party and Ghoul on one side and Jet and Kobra on the other. This was the first time that Grace had seen the four of them clearly, and she took the time to examine the infamous Fabulous Killjoys.
First was Party Poison. He had tan skin, like everyone else, and hazel-brown eyes that contrasted beautifully with his shoulder-length scarlet hair. He seemed to be one of the shortest men at the DIE, being only a few inches taller than Ghoul. Party wore a blue leather jacket, with various patches on the front, including a Dead Pegasus badge on his left side. His denim pants were faded and clung to his legs for dear life, the ends of the legs stuffed in black motorcycle boots. He had his brown leather gun holster sitting on the table, his yellow laser gun residing in its place. He also had a blue bracelet on his wrist, much like Crash's bracelet, with the addition of a black bracelet and a red bracelet, just like the first one.
Next up was Party's brother, Kobra Kid. Kobra looked pretty similar to Party, because they're brothers, of course, but there were a few differences. For instance, Kobra's hair was shorter than Poison's and dyed blond, but his dark brown roots were showing. He had on a yellow and brown tiger-striped sleeveless shirt underneath a red leather jacket paired with dark jeans and black boots like Party's. His gun was on the table as well, his the color of his jacket. He had on the red and blue bracelets just like Party, and he had a slender, dark stone necklace around his neck.
After him was Fun Ghoul. His eyes were a hazel-green color that were the complete opposite of his shaggy black hair. He had on a yellow and black striped shirt, the long sleeves pushed up past his elbows to show off the tattoos that littered his arms. He had on a green vest that looked vaguely military-like, as did the green belt that held up his black jeans. He had on an almost identical pair of boots to everyone else and he had red–white–and–blue wristbands on both wrists, as well as a black beaded bracelet and a blue one. He had on a few necklaces, too, and his green gun resided next to Party and Kobra's.
Finally, there was Jet Star. He had dark brown eyes and unruly curly hair just like Grace's, except it was a darker brown— almost black, even. He had on the simplest outfit— black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots. The only color came from the blood-red interior of his jacket and a few patches on the front. He too had on a blue beaded bracelet. His gun was also on the table, and it was a dark blue.
All four of them looked like they could benefit from a shave— and probably a shower.
Crash found chairs for her and Grace and the older threw her own orange gun on the table. "Alright, why'd you need us?" Crash asked, directing the question at Jet.
"We need to..." Jet started and took a quick glance at Grace. "Discuss some things."
"Like...?" Crash asked. "Elaborate on what those 'things' might be."
"You know what the first thing is," Kobra said and shot a pointed stare at Crash.
"Oh," Crash said and looked at Grace. "What about her?"
"Among other things, her name," Party said. "Don't get me wrong, Grace is a beautiful name—" this made the young girl smile a bit, "But you could be recognized with that name."
"It could just be something simple, like The Girl," Ghoul offers. "Not all 'Joy names have to be complicated."
"True," Party agreed. He turned to Grace and asked "Do you like that name? The Girl?"
Grace nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I like it."
"Alright, now that that's done with," Party said and shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "We've got some... Bad news."
"We?" Crash asked and Party gestured to the other three men. "Okay, well, what's the bad news?"
"We were spotted last night," Ghoul said. "In Bat City."
Crash rolled her eyes and smacked the table with her hand. "Damn it, Ghoul!" She cried. "You had one job and that was to not get spotted!"
"It's not like we had the choice of whether or not we got spotted!" Ghoul argued, trying to keep his voice down. "The cams must have been up last night."
"The cams?" Crash asked, suddenly curious. Ghoul nodded and Crash slowly stood up. "Follow me," she murmured to the whole room and slipped out of the room to the radio room. After a shrug from the self-appointed leader, all five of the remaining left the booth and followed after her.
When they reached the back room, Crash was furiously checking the file cabinets, muttering under her breath. "Cams, cams, cams," she repeated as she pulled out a thick paper folder. She dropped down into her black rolling chair as Kobra shut the door behind him. Someone had turned down the volume to the music and an unidentifiable rock song was giving off background noise.
The five watched as Crash went through the file, then turned to the computer-like machine behind her. She touched her fingers to the blackened screen and it started to glow with the white screen of a program.
"What'cha doing, Crash?" Jet asked after a minute. She shushed him and continued to tap the screen, moving through different files.
"Someone, go get Pony," Crash said and Party left the room. As soon as he came back, Pony in tow, Crash said "Pony. B.L.I pass— what is it?"
Pony quickly rolled over to Crash and tapped in an intricate code. A serious of beeps sounded from the computer and Crash turned in her chair to look at the paper file. "Yep, here it is," she said and gestured for the guys to come closer. "'Surveillance cameras are to be left on for citizen protection at all times'," Crash read from the hard copy of whatever she was looking at and Ghoul nodded. "However," Crash added and turned to the computer. "This says that the cameras shut off at midnight. What time were you guys spotted?"
"Maybe one o'clock-ish," Ghoul shrugged.
"Okay, so..." Crash said and turned back to the computer. She tapped a few more times and a small screen cropped up, and a grainy black-and-white video started to play. There was no audio, but that didn't matter much, as Crash forwarded through most of the video. The time stamp in the bottom corner sped through from 8 o'clock at night until midnight, where the camera shut off and the video was replaced with the Better Living Industries smiling logo.
This happened a few more times, from a few different angles, until Crash groaned and sat back in her seat. "There's no record of any 1A.M surveillance on these cams," she complained and turned to Ghoul, who was sitting on an empty edge of Crash's desk. "Who told you that you were spotted?"
"Cherri," Ghoul said. "We got a transmission from him early this morning that said that a cam got us."
"Cherri," Crash repeated and thought for a second. "Cherri," she said again, this time quieter, and pressed a few buttons on her flashing control panel. She flicked a switch on the computer and the screen immediately turned black as the sound of radio static filled the room.
"Cherri Cola here," a man's voice filled the room and Crash sat up in her seat.
"Cherri, I need the vid file for all cams last night," Crash said, without an introduction.
"Crash!" Cherri cried. "My favorite hacker! How're you doing, girly?"
"I'd be tremendously better if you'd send me the vid files," Crash said bluntly and Cherri laughed.
"Alrighty," Cherri said and hummed a little tune as he looked for the videos. "Hey, stupid question, but did you happen to hack into B.L.I before you asked me for this?"
"Of course I did," Crash said. "I went through every cam that was up last night and didn't find anything from 1A.M. I even checked the database for the time regulations and the new regs say that the cams shut off at 12."
"That's strange," Cherri mumbled and, after a moment, added "I think I just sent you the right file, but I'm not too sure."
"Cherri, there's a child in this room right now," Crash warned him. "If you pulled the same shit you did a few weeks ago, I swear to God, I'll—"
"I don't need to hear the end of that," Cherri said, cutting Crash off. "Hello, small human child!" He called and Grace smiled.
"Hi!" She said back and Jet smiled at the exchange. At that moment, Crash's computer dinged and she turned quickly in her seat to see the screen.
She tapped it again and a new video cropped up. It was just like the first few videos in terms of format, except the time stamp did extend into the early hours of the morning. The group of Killjoys watched the screen in silence until Crash exclaimed and paused the video. She pointed to a grainy figure and said "Cherri, can you make..." She paused and looked at the time stamp. "4:23 a higher res?"
"Higher res? Crash, this video's from a B.L.I cam. The res is already as high as it'll get," Cherri said.
"Doesn't Tommy have some kind of fancy program he can run it through?" Party butted in, sitting down in an empty chair next to Grace.
"He does, but Tommy's AWOL right now," Cherri said. "And I have no idea what his pass is."
"He's AWOL?" Crash asked dubiously. "It's freaking 9 in the morning, how can he be AWOL?"
"It's Tommy— why're we doubting him?" Cherri asked. "I've tried tapping into his audio trans but he made the program too good. Not even I can hack into it, and that's saying a lot."
"Damn it," Crash sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Okay, well, I have a semi-clear image of what could possibly be the Trans-Am, zooming down the streets of Battery City. Great."
"I know," Cherri said.
"Wait," Kobra said. "Get us the video from the 1138th Street Tunnel. It'll show exactly when you guys went through."
"Is that you, Kobra?" Cherri asked. "You sound different."
"Do I?" Kobra asked, a confused look on his face.
"Yeah, you do," Cherri said and added "Vid's sending right now." Crash turned to her computer and pressed play on a video that had just came in. After fast-forwarding a bit, Crash cried out again and paused the video. This time around, you could clearly see the white Trans-Am with the black spider painted on the hood.
"There it is!" She exclaimed, pointing to the picture. "So, you two need to be more careful coming out of Bat City."
"We can only do so much when there's one exit and entrance into Bat City," Party shrugged.
A buzz sounded and Cherri said "Uh, guys, I gotta go. Talk soon?"
"You know it," Crash said, smiling. "Alright, over and out." She pressed the buttons on her control panel again and the audio trans shut off, leaving the room in silence.
"So, you just watched a certified hacker break her way into Better Living Industries' secure database," Party said and Grace nodded.
"That was... Amazing, Crash," Grace breathed. "Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"Yeah, Crash," Ghoul said and turned towards her. "Where did you learn how to hack like that?"
She gestured to the control panel and said "Cherri and Tommy, back before I met you guys."
Ghoul nodded while Kobra stared dubiously at Crash, like he wasn't sure that she was telling the whole truth. He shrugged a bit after a moment of not receiving a different answer and Crash asked "Anything else we needed to talk about?"
"Not that I know of..." Party said and glanced around the room at the other Killjoys, who all shook their heads 'no'. "Oh, I know— we gotta be on extra alert with our sighting. B.L.I could potentially send out Dracs or 'Crows to get us."
"Shit, I didn't even think about that," Crash said. "You're right." She gave Grace a look and asked "You know how to fight, right? Or shoot a gun?"
Grace nodded. "Yeah, I know some things about fighting. I can't shoot, though."
"That's fine," Crash said and turned back to her computer for a second to check the time. "Oh, you probably need something to eat, don't you?" She asked and Grace nodded once more.
"'Kay, come with me, Girly," Crash said and lead Grace to the front room, the Fab Four and Show Pony in tow. She sat Grace down at the bar and asked "Do you have any injuries or anything like that?"
"I have a cut on my hand that I think's getting infected," Grace said and offered her injured hand to Crash. "Other than that, nothing else."
Crash got out a plastic bottle of water from behind the counter and retrieved the dish towel from the booth Grace slept in. She crouched down in front of Grace and opened the bottle, wetting the ratty white rag a bit before pressing it to Grace's cut and wiping at it. "Kobra, could you get me a bandage?" Crash asked and he went behind the counter and threw her a packaged bandage. Crash set aside the rag and opened the bandage, pressing it to Grace's cut and pressing on it to make the tacky ends stay.
"That's as good as it's gonna get," Crash said and shoved the paper wrapper in the pocket of her jacket. She gave the small girl the opened bottle of water and added "Drink up. We don't get much water out here and... Party, Ghoul, where's the Bat City stuff you got last night?"
"In the trunk," Party said, jerking his thumb in the general direction of the car.
"Just checking," Crash said and went behind the counter once more to retrieve a can of white-labeled Power Pup. She cracked open the can on the counter top and gave it to Grace, offering up a plastic spoon to eat it with. "Now, I know this stuff is pretty nasty, so just eat what you can," Crash said and pulled herself up to sit on the counter, crossing her legs over each other.
Crash was right— it was horrible. It was room temperature, wet dog food, with hard chunks of whatever-the-hell-meat it was. "You kinda get used to it," Crash said, wrinkling her nose a tad. Grace nodded, filing that statement in her brain under 'Things I Can Say 'I Told You So' As A Response To'.

---

She couldn't sleep. Grace wasn't sure how she fell asleep so easily the night before, but she knew that sleep wouldn't come to her.
She laid awake in the booth, looking up at the tiles ceiling. She did this at her old home when she couldn't fall asleep— she looked at the ceiling and let her mind wander.
The only noises were the various sounds of the Fab Four sleeping; sometimes a little snore or a hitch of breath, but that was the only things to occupy her brain.
No, wait. Grace sat up and listened again, hoping to hear the sound again. "This isn't a good idea," Grace heard Crash whisper and looked around to see if she could find her. "They'll be royally pissed at us."
"God, Crash, make up your mind!" Kobra argued and Crash shushed him. "Last week, you were damn ready but you have reservations now?"
"We have to think about everyone else," Crash objected. "I mean, what about Girly? We can't just leave her."
Kobra sighed and Grace placed the noises as coming from outside the DIE. She slowly stood up, as to not make too much noise, and quickly walked over to a cracked-open window. She peeked out and found a disheveled Kobra and Crash. Both were missing their jackets and Crash's hair was pulled away from her face, her bandana holding it back.
Kobra ran his hand down his face and Grace noticed a black beaded bracelet on his wrist, one that she hadn't noticed before, despite it being right next to the red one. Apparently Kobra took notice of his black bracelet as well and Grace could literally see the wheels turning in his head. "Okay, think about this," Kobra said and offered his arm to Crash, giving her full view of his jewelry.
Crash stared at his wrist for a second, a surprised look on her face. "No, Kobra, you're not pulling that shit on me," she said, shaking her head. "We aren't leaving and that's final."
"What shit?" Kobra asked, seeming genuinely confused.
Crash offered her arm to him, showing her own black bracelet. "This shit," she answered. "You aren't going to guilt-trip me into leaving."
"That's not what I was going for," Kobra said, pulling his arm back in. "I was just saying that whatever you choose to do, I'll do it too."
Crash pulled her arm back, nodding just enough for her hair to dance around her face. "Okay," she said. "And I choose to stay. At least for a little while longer."
"Just to clarify, how long is a little longer?" Kobra asked and Crash shrugged.
"Maybe a week or so," she said. "Not that long, I promise."
"A week," Kobra repeated, mulling over the time frame. "That works." He agreed finally and took Crash's hands in his. "We'll make this work."
Crash nodded. "We'll make it work," she repeated and hugged Kobra tightly, her eyes squeezing shut.
Grace scrambled back to her booth, trying to process the small amount of information she had just received.
Crash and Kobra are going to leave.

Notes

Hope y'all have a good day! xo Bec