The morning started off with a bang. Literally.
"Holy shit, Kobra!" Party cried, narrowly dodging the laser that had just been expelled from his brother's gun. Everyone else in the room jumped at the sound, except for Grace, who jerked awake.
"Friggin' thing was jammed," Kobra muttered, placing his gun on the counter of the bar. There was a black scorch mark on the wall behind Party, and Kobra stared pensively at it.
"God, give that here," Crash said and snatched up the gun. She looked at it for a second, then shoved it in the waistband of her pants, her holster already taken by her own gun. "You don't get this back until you learn not to point it at people when checking to see if it's jammed," she said when Kobra tried to protest.
Noticing that she was awake, Ghoul went and sat down next to Grace. "He does that a lot," Ghoul told her and she nodded, her mind somewhere else.
"Do this mean anything?" She asked, tapping Ghoul's beaded bracelets. "'Cause I saw Crash wearing the black and blue ones, too..." She trailed off, letting Kobra's bracelet fall under the radar. She hadn't noticed it before, so she assumed that he didn't want anyone to notice it.
"They actually do," Ghoul said and raised his voice a bit. "Party, come over real quick." The red-haired man made his way to the booth and sat down on the bench opposite Grace and Ghoul. "Okay, so the red ones that Party and Kobra are wearing means that they're related by blood." Party shrugged off his jacket and offered his left arm to Grace, who saw the three bracelets grazing his wrist. "And the blue ones that all of us are wearing mean that we're a pack, a family, if you will. Every group of 'Joys has their own color, so if one of us gets ghosted, whoever finds us knows who to tell.
"And the black ones mean that you're married," Ghoul said and looked at Party with a loving look on his face.
"Oh," Grace said. "But Crash's wearing a black one." Internally, she added So is Kobra.
"Yeah, we've asked her about it," Ghoul says. "She said that she was married but he got ghosted a while back and she just never took it off."
"Was she wearing it when she joined you guys?" Grace asked.
"It was some 5 years ago, I think," Party said. "If she was, I wouldn't be able to remember it." Grace nodded and bit back her comments about Crash and Kobra's marital statuses.
"When am I gonna get a blue bracelet?" Grace asked, in hopes of turning the conversation away from Crash.
"Whenever we can get one," Party shrugged. "We kinda-sorta smuggled them from Bat City, and what with our spotting and everything, we may not be able to get back for a while."
"That's fine," Grace said and leaned back in her seat. She cast a glance over to Crash and found her leaning her back against the bar, laughing at something Kobra had just said.
It still struck Grace as strange that Kobra and Crash were, at the very least, keeping their marriage a secret. In Grace's experience— being her mother and father— marriage was supposed to be happy and it had to have been miserable to keep it under wraps. In fact, she hadn't really seen Crash and Kobra be— ahem— friendly towards each other at all.
Meanwhile, the other married couple were being obnoxiously adorable, holding each other's hands and sleeping next to each other every night. Party and Ghoul seemed to fit like two puzzle pieces put inside of a backpack.
A few beeps sounded through the room and Crash ran to the control room. Judging by the speed that she left, it must be important. After a short, muffled conversation from the back room, Crash yelled "Guys, Girly, get back here!"
All five of them made their way to the room, where Crash was leaning on her desk, supported by her hands. "Alright, Tommy's back, and..." She started and a man's voice filled the room.
"I've got some good news and bad news," he said. "Which do you want first?"
"Umm, good news," Party said.
"Okay, good news," Tommy said and added "Crash, turn on your screen for a second."
As soon as Crash turned on the screen, a picture and a file popped up and Grace nearly screamed.
It was her on the screen. The picture was about a year old, and it showed her missing one of her front teeth.
"Hold on a sec, Tommy," Crash said and tapped on the file. She quickly scanned the words and said "Yep, this is Girly."
"Wait, you know her?" Tommy asked. "This came up on B.L.I's employee database." Crash slowly turned to Grace, who quickly lost all color in her face.
"But I thought you were a 'Joy?" Ghoul asked, which prompted Grace to shake her head.
"I never said that," she told them. "I never said anything, really."
Kobra gave his brother and Crash a pointed look, as if saying 'I told you so'. Grace then realized what a bad situation she is in— a young girl who was listed as a B.L.I employee, who knew who the rebel leader were from a glance? Not good. Grace hoped that the file didn't get to in-depth about her life.
"Okay, let's see here," Crash mumbled and raised her voice to read the file. "'Name: Grace Jeanette; age: 10; gender: female; affiliation with Better Living Industries: child of an operative'."
That was the part that Grace didn't want them knowing. All five of them turned to look at Grace, who shrank back in her seat slightly. "I'm not a spy," she squeaked. "I swear."
"Why'd you leave?" Kobra growled and his hand flew to his empty holster, as if trying to get his gun. "No one ever leaves Bat City, except for rebels."
Grace conjured up all of the courage she had in her small body and said "You don't know what they do to kids of operatives. They force us into the line of duty, whether we like it or not. I was trying to save my life when I escaped."
"How did you do that?" Jet asked. "Escape, I mean. 'Cause Crash monitors the cams and she would've noticed if a girl left the city all alone."
"I did it in the middle of night, while everyone slept," Grace explained. "I didn't want to work for Better Living. A few months before my 10th birthday, I found out why I had to take those pills at dinner every night. I started not taking them, and everything became more complicated but... I liked it. I liked the challenge and decided that I needed to leave before they found out what I was doing."
"Okay, hate to interrupt," Party said. "But that's the good news?"
"Oh, yeah," Tommy said. "The bad news... Y'all are being headhunted."
"Meaning?" Crash asked. "We're headhunted every day of the week. This isn't news, Tommy."
"Well, this part is news," Tommy said. "They've got 'Crows on your tail."
"They skipped straight to 'Crows?" Crash asked, turning to her computer again. She quickly started up a new program, mumbling "That's rich. That is rich."
"What's a 'Crow?" Grace asked to the whole room, hoping someone would answer.
"It's a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W," Party explained. "It's the second highest rank at B.L.I, the highest being an Exterminator. Usually, they send out Dracs, then 'Crows, so jumping straight to 'Crows is, like, going straight to Defcon 1. It's bad."
"Very bad," Tommy said. "Wait, didn't you say that this 'Grace Jeanette' is there with y'all?"
"Yep, but we gave her the name The Girl," Crash said. "Or Girly. Whichever."
"Girly, do you have any idea who I am?" Tommy asked.
"No, sir," Grace said. "I don't."
"Please, for the love of God, do not call me 'sir'," Tommy laughed. "The name's Tommy Chow Mein— yes, like the food."
"Oh," Grace said. "Hi."
"Okay, Tommy, what do we need to do about the 'Crows?" Crash asked. "Do we need to relocate or... What?"
"Nah, stay where y'all are," Tommy advised. "Just be on high alert— I dunno if Korse is with them or not."
"If Korse is with them, we're screwed," Jet said. "Crash, is there a way you can check?"
"Yeah, give me a few seconds," she said and started tapping on her computer again while Tommy and Party talked.
"So, Party, what'cha been up to?" Tommy asked and Party smiled, his face turning the color of his hair.
"Not much," he said. He took Ghoul's hand and said "Got hitched a few weeks back."
"Who's the lucky lady?" Tommy asked and Ghoul cleared his throat.
"Me," he said. "And I thought I was the guy?"
"No, you're obviously the wife," Party joked. He cupped his husband's cheeks in his hands and said "Look at this face. Who can resist this face?" Almost as if on cue, Jet, Kobra, and Crash all raised one of their hands and Grace and Ghoul laughed.
"Alright, screw you guys," Party said and laughed.
"What about you, Kobra? Got anyone you have an eye on?" Tommy asked and Kobra's eyes momentarily went to Crash. No one besides Grace noticed, though.
"Nope," Kobra said. "I'm all on my lonesome. That how most of us are, anyway. And why're you asking me 'bout getting married? Why not Jet or Crash?"
"Eh, I don't care 'bout those bugs," Tommy said and laughed. "Just playing. It's just that you're so interesting, Kobra."
"You'd better be joking," Kobra said, raising one of his dark eyebrows.
"Okay, umm, guys?" Crash said, a noticeable hitch in her voice. "Sorry to break up the banter, but... Korse is with the 'Crows."
"Are you shitting me?" Party exclaimed, throwing his hands up and nearly knocking over the Mousekat figurine.
"I'm afraid not," Crash said and pointed to the file on her screen. "'Head Exterminator Korse was sent with the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Unit to bring the rebels back to Battery City'. And they have links to our files..." She tapped on a few more links and said "Oh, God, our statuses have been increased. Now, we're on the Most Wanted list— taking up the first five spots— and we're also wanted 'dead or alive'."
"So, what you're telling us is that we'd better be ready for a firefight?" Kobra asked.
"That is exactly what I'm saying," Crash said and everyone, including Tommy Chow Mein, groaned.
"It might be best if we relocated," Jet said. "Book it to 6."
"Did you just suggest we get to Zone 6?" Crash asked, laughing sarcastically and turning in her chair to look at him. "That is the worst plan ever."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Crash," Jet said, rolling his eyes. "Are my plans not sound?"
"They are," Crash argued. "But relocating to 6?"
"Alright, raise your hand if you've been a Killjoy for the past 33 years?" Jet asked and raised one of his gloved hands. He looked at it in fake shock and said "I'm the only one! I know how this'll go down. Trust me on this."
"Crash," Kobra interjected and put a hand on her shoulder. "He's the man with a plan. Let him execute his plan."
"Yeah, but what if his plan is complete shit?" Crash countered. "You want us to relocate to Zone 6— where it regularly gets up to 109 degrees and it rains acid?"
"Oh, I forgot about the rain," Jet said and looked down at his lap, thinking. "How about this? We stay here and just wait for Korse and the 'Crows to come to us, then we'll kick their asses?"
"Now, that's a good plan," Crash agreed and pointed at Jet.
"Okay, let's do this in a politically correct way," Party said and moved to the front of the room. "All who think we should relocate to Zone 6, say 'aye'."
Not one soul said a word.
"Now, everyone who wants to stay, say 'aye'," Party said and all seven people, including Tommy, agreed. "Okay, that settles it."

---

They were doing it again. "You can't deny the fact that we have to leave," Kobra said in a hushed tone and Grace peeked through the window again to see the two. They looked exactly the same as they did the night before, but Crash looked even more worried.
"Yeah, but..." Crash said and trailed off. "This is really the first time I've ever been truly scared out in the Zones, Kobra. What if we don't survive the attack?" She wrapped her arms around Kobra's torso and pulled herself into his body, pressing her face against his chest.
"To be honest, I haven't ever been this scared in my life," Kobra admitted, resting his chin on his wife's head. "But we'll make it through. We're strong; we can do this."
"But what if we can't?" Crash asked, looking up at Kobra.
"We will," Kobra said and pressed his lips to Crash's forehead. "Trust me."
"Okay," Crash said, nodding. She took a few deep breaths and said "We're not leaving. Not after what we learned today."
"Crash, leaving them would mean leaving my brother," Kobra said and glanced at the building. Grace quickly crouched down last the window to avoid being seen, and it seemed to have worked, because Kobra kept talking. "And I can't do that to Party. He's a right pain in my ass almost every day, but he's my big brother. I wouldn't abandon him if my life depended on it."
"You better not abandon me," Crash said and tapped the end of his slender nose, making Kobra smile. "You know, you should smile more. You're always so stoic; smiling really improves your face."
"Does it now?" Kobra asked and pushed a piece of rouge hair behind Crash's ear. "You need to stop scowling so much. You look so mad all the time."
"I'll try," Crash said. "But only if you smile more."
"I'll try to," Kobra said and gave Crash another kiss. "Love you."
"To the moon and back," Crash added and tightened her grip on Kobra for a second before releasing him.
"To the moon and back," he repeated and looked around at the barren desert. "We should probably head back inside."
At these words, Grace made her way back to the booth where she slept and pulled off her puffy vest, laying it on the table next to her boots, bag, and robot. Her radio was sitting on the bar counter, and it made her happy to just see it. She pulled the thin blue blanket up to her chin and pretended to be asleep, slowing her breathing down and making sure her eyelids didn't flutter.
The door opened and, peeking through her eyelashes, she watched Crash and Kobra silently come back inside the DIE. They weren't wearing their shoes, so that made the task a bit easier. They made their way to the booth where they usually slept and Kobra laid down on his cushioned bench, fashioning his jacket into a pillow. His legs hung halfway off the bench and he kicked them a bit, crossing his arms over his chest.
Crash did the same to her jacket, folding it up and placing it under her head. She pulled her legs up to her chest, curling into a tight ball and quietly whispered "'Night, Kiddo."
"'Night, Crash," Kobra whispered back and the whole room fell into silence.
A few minutes later, Kobra grunted and sat up, looking around. Grace pulled her legs to her chest, as she was cold, and watched as the man crossed the room to her radio. He turned it on and quickly turned down the volume so that the music coming out of it was barely audible. Seemingly satisfied, Kobra went back to the booth, laying down like before.
His foot bounced to the beat of the song that was playing, and he looked up at the ceiling, his eyes glimmering against the moonlight spilling through the gaps in the paper coverings on the windows. He crossed his arms behind his head and turned his head to look at Crash across the gap beneath the table and, upon seeing her, a small smile showed on his lips and he gave a content sigh.
Grace had never seen anyone so happy before. Not even in Battery City, where life was perfect. It was this moment that Grace realized something: life already is perfect, as long as you're happy. You don't need any kind of pills to make yourself feel better— or erase your feelings altogether.
For once in her life, Grace was truly happy with her situation. With that in mind, she easily drifted off to sleep, a smile on her face.

Notes

I updated my other story, so I figured what the hell? Why not update this? Some serious shit's about to go down in the next few chapters, so I'll leave you with this: kare wa doko in imasu ka? Bonus points if you figure out what language it is...
I know— I'm evil. >:D