Dead Flies In The Summertime

A week had passed since that serene night, and Grace had started to feel a bit more at home with the Fabulous Four. Crash took it upon herself to be Grace's new mom, and she did the job well, making sure that Grace was comfortable and happy. Meanwhile, the guys— and Show Pony— all acted like her uncles or brothers more than father figures and Grace sort of appreciated that.
"Don't touch it!" She exclaimed and jumped off of the countertop where she was sitting. Jet brought his hand up to his freshly braided hair and felt down the one large, curly rope and laughed. "I said don't touch it!"
"Sorry," Jet said and laughed again, his laughter accompanied by Party's. His hair was decorated with a flower crown, made with little white flowers that Grace had found growing behind the DIE.
Grace came back with her bag and rummaged through it, jumping back onto the counter. "Okay, you have three choices," she said and pulled out various flowers. "There're these really pretty white ones, or these red ones, or these blue ones."
"Mm," Jet hummed and said "Blue." Grace pulled the flowers off of the large stem, weaving them into the braid.
"Done!" She cried and put the leftover flowers back in her bag.
"You look good, Jet," Ghoul said from across the room. "You too, Party."
"Thanks, Ghoul," Jet and Party said almost in unison and Grace giggled. "God, I haven't heard someone giggle in..." Jet started and trailed off, pulling the young girl into his lap. "Let's see... In probably 10, 15 years." This prompted Grace to giggle again and Party smiled at her.
"That's sad," Grace said. "You should at least hear someone laugh everyday."
"That's kinda hard to come across in the Zones," Jet complained and Ghoul nodded in agreement. He crossed the room to Party and sat down in his lap, kissing Party's ear. "Hey, Ghoul. Wanna let Girly braid your hair?"
"I've kinda been wanting to cut it," Ghoul said, tugging on his shoulder-length black locks. "Like, all of it. I want it gone."
"No, don't do that," Party said and brushed Ghoul's hair behind his ear. "I like your long hair."
"Really?" Ghoul asked, seeming genuinely surprised.
"Yes, really," Party said. "It frames your face, makes your angles look a little softer."
"Oh, okay," Ghoul said. "But I think I'll pass on the braids, if that's cool with you."
"Yeah, that's fine," Grace said. The room fell into near-silence after that, the only sound being the radio, playing Crash's show.
During the middle of one of the songs, Crash poked her head through the door and said "I need you guys back here." Without another word, she retreated back to the control room. Party, Ghoul, Jet, and Grace all exchanged a look and got up. Grace had learned in her week at the DIE that, if Crash called them to the back room, it was usually to deliver bad news. The only exception to that rule was when Crash wanted to show them a new program that Cherri Cola had sent her that allowed her to hack through higher level protection firewalls.
"Alright, children," Crash said into her microphone once everyone had gotten into the room. "With me today, via an audio trans, I have the marvelous Cherri Cola, broadcasting straight from the middle of nowhere."
"'Morning, Dr. D," Cherri said and Grace could practically hear the sarcasm dripping off the name. Cherri seemed to be in on Crash's secret as well. "I've got some news for the tumbleweeds out on the Getaway Mile: watch your backs. Korse and a few 'Crows were sent out from B.L.I last week, in pursuit of the Fabulous Four. I'm sure they won't hesitate to take down some other rebels on their way, though."
"What does that mean for the Fab Four?" Crash asked, eyeing the men— and Grace.
"Well, it means that they'd better be ready to fight," Cherri said. "'Cause, from what I've figured out from hacking into B.L.I cams hooked onto the car, they're around about Zone 4, and closing in quickly."
Crash mouthed "Damn it,", then said aloud "That's helpful to hear, Cherri. Now, back to what we were talking 'bout earlier, I heard a rumor that the Fab Four are now the Fab Five. Care to elaborate?"
"I don't think I'm the most qualified to answer that," Cherri said and laughed. "Let me get the Fab Four on call, and I'll let my main man, Party Poison, do the talking." Almost immediately, one of the buttons on Crash's control panel started blinking red, and Party made his way over to a spare microphone set up across the room. He nodded at Crash and she pressed the button.
"Party Poison!" Cherri cheered. "How've you been, brother?"
"I haven't been my best," Party said honestly. "It's stressful when you've got Korse riding your ass, but we're managing."
"That's good," Crash said. "So, what's this I'm hearing 'bout y'all getting another member to your little clan?"
"Oh, yeah," Party said and laughed, brushing his fingers against his flower crown. "We did acquire a new member, so there are now five of us."
"Who's the lucky dude to be able to hang with you guys?" Cherri asked and Party motioned for Grace to come over. When she approached him, he pulled her up into his lap.
"Well, umm, that's the thing," Party said and patted Grace's knee. "It's a girl. Her name is pretty simple, it's just The Girl. We shorten it to Girly most of the time."
"Is Girly with you guys right now?" Cherri asked, even though Grace was 100% sure that he knew that she was.
"She sure is," Party said and whispered the next part, hoping the mic wouldn't catch it. "Say hi, Girly."
"Hi," Grace said and Cherri exclaimed.
"Woah, hold on!" He cried and laughed. "Are you telling me that Girly's a... Well, a little girl?"
"I'm 10," Grace said stubbornly. "I'm not that young."
"And there it is," Cherri said. "Yep, you're a 'Joy."
Grace giggled, which caused everyone in the room to smile broadly. "We're gonna take a little break," Crash said. "But the Mad Gear and Missile Kid'll keep y'all company." She pressed a button on the panel and a song started playing.
"Well, that went well," Crash said. "We got some news in and got the word out that there's more of us."
"That's good," Party said and Grace jumped off of his lap, letting him stand up. Crash stared at Party for a second, then turned her sights to Jet.
"What the hell's happening with your hair?" She asked finally. Jet pointed at Grace and Party bit back a laugh. "It looks pretty good."
"Thank you," Jet said.
Then, as if he had been electrocuted, Party jumped and frantically looked around the room. "Where's my brother?"
"He's not in the front with you guys?" Crash asked, noticing for the first time that Kobra was nowhere to be seen.
"We thought he was back here with you," Ghoul said.
"Damn it!" Crash yelled and stood up from her chair, pushing it back into the wall. She quickly made her way to one of the machines on the other side of the room and turned it on, plugging her headphones into it. She turned to Grace and said "I make all the guys wear small audio and vid transes, just for this reason."
"Kiddo, call in," Crash said, turning back to her machine and saying her words clearly. "Kiddo, call in," she repeated, sounding slightly annoyed and frightened. "Kobra Kid, answer your goddamn call!"
Grace saw something flash across Crash's face, just for a second, and she was sure that nobody else saw it. Crash was afraid— horribly afraid. Her husband wasn't answering his audio trans, and that wasn't a good thing at all.
"... And I can't hack into his trans 'cause effing Tommy made the program too good," Crash mumbled, rubbing her temples. "So I can't locate his trans. God, we're screwed. We're really, really, really screwed."
"Okay, we may know where he is," Ghoul said after a second.
"We do?" Crash asked, sounding a bit defeated.
"I have a theory, at least," Ghoul said. "He may or may not be going to Bat City; it depends on whether my theory is right or not."
"Why in the ever-loving hell would he go to Bat City?" Party asked. "He hates it there."
"We all hate it," Ghoul said. "That's why we left in the first place."
"Okay, so why would he go back?" Jet asked.
"He probably needs something that he can't get out in the Zones," Ghoul said, thinking. "Bat City has everything."
"Crash, you look like you're gonna be sick," Party said and everyone turned to look at the pale-faced woman.
"Oh, God," she mumbled, pulling her headphones off. "Oh, my God, no! God, Kobra, you're an idiot!"
"What'd he do?" Party asked, looking confused for the first time since Grace met him.
Crash took in a shaky breath and said "Kobra and I were planning on leaving." She let the words hang in the air for a few seconds before continuing. "We were gonna leave the night you guys brought Girly here, but we decided against it and said we'd postpone leaving. He left."
"Kobra and you were planning on leaving?" Party asked, rage etched on his face. "Why would you do that? You know how much we need both of you!"
"I know, I'm sorry!" Crash said, her eyes welling up with tears. "We were being stupid and I bailed last minute... But Kobra's gone and we need to find him."
"Did you guys have a plan?" Jet asked, trying to remain calm. "Like, a certain place you were gonna leave to, or...?"
Crash shook her head. "We were just gonna run," she said. "We didn't have a set location."
"Crash Fire, how could you be so stupid?" Party yelled. He put the flowers in the pocket of his jacket and took the collar of Crash's jacket in his hands, pulling her out of her seat and slamming her against the wall. "This is the most idiotic thing you've ever done! Now, my brother— my baby brother!— he's gone and we have no clue where he is!"
"I said I was sorry!" Crash yelled, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were hard, though, locked on Party's own hazel eyes. "I didn't think he would go through with it and I certainly didn't expect him to leave without me!"
"Why were you gonna leave in the first place?" Party asked, his face inches from Crash's. For the first time ever, Crash was at a loss for words. Grace knew why they wanted to leave, but she also knew that Crash and Kobra wanted to keep it secret.
"I... Umm..." Crash stuttered and Party tightened his grip on her jacket.
"Answer the question! Why were you gonna leave?" Party growled, getting uncomfortably close to Crash.
Thankfully, Jet wrapped his arms around Party and pulled him off of Crash. "Party, settle down," Jet said quietly. "It's fine, we'll find Kobra."
Party shoved Jet's arms off of him and stormed out of the room. "I'll go check on him," Ghoul said quietly and followed after him.
Crash fell to the floor, curling up into a small ball and crying, choked sobs escaping her chest. Grace sat down next to Crash and hugged her tightly, rubbing her hand down Crash's hair. "We'll find Kobra," Grace said and moved her mouth closed to Crash's ear. "We'll find your husband. I promise." she whispered and Crash sniffed, looking up.
"What did you just say?" Crash whispered, eyeing Grace.
"I know about you and Kobra," Grace whispered. "I heard you guys talking a few nights ago and I connected two-and-two."
After a few seconds of silence, Crash said into Grace's ear "Please don't tell the guys. It'll ruin everything."
"I won't," Grace promised, standing up. She helped Crash up and the two were thankful to find that Jet was across the room, and that he hadn't heard their quiet conversation.
Meanwhile, in the front room, Ghoul was giving Party a bone-crushing hug. "We'll find Kobra," he said, kissing his husband's ear. "Trust me."
"He's my baby brother," Party simpered, pressing his face into Ghoul's chest. "And we don't know where he is." Ghoul helped Party up from his place on the floor, where he had fallen when first entering the front room, and sat him on the counter, wrapping Party's legs around his waist.
"Party, look at me," Ghoul said and Party locked eyes with him, trying to hold back more tears. "If it kills me, I will find Kobra. Everything'll be alright. We'll find him, and I'll help you kick his ass." This pulled a small laugh out of Party, who looked down at his lap. He leaned down and gave Ghoul a kiss as a thank you, and he felt Ghoul's smile through the kiss.
Someone cleared their throat and the two turned to see Jet standing in the doorway. "Really sorry to break this up," he said. "But we have a new development on Kobra's whereabouts."
Party jumped off of Ghoul and practically flew to the control room, wiping his face dry. Ghoul followed after him, with Jet taking up the rear.
"Okay, so, get this," Crash said once Party entered the room. She pointed to a map on her screen and said "I contacted Chow Mien about this, and he was able to tap into Kobra's vid trans."
"Seriously?" Party asked and leaned forward to better see Crash's computer.
"Yeah," Crash said, then added "Hey, Tommy, can you send us a live feed?"
"Yeah, hold on a second," Tommy's voice came from the control panel and the room fell into silence.
"Sorry, about... That," Party said quietly, looking at Crash.
"It's fine," she said. "Just don't do it again."
"I won't," Party said.
"Okay, it's sending now," Tommy said and Crash turned away from Party to see a video player pop up on-screen. She clicked play and, after a bit of static, a video started playing.
It was a black and white video, the only color coming from a blinking red 'live' on the top corner. It didn't show much, but what it showed was a tremendous help. It showed the walls of the pristine Battery City, and everyone quickly pinpointed it as the Neon District. There wasn't any sound, thanks to the lack of an audio trans.
"Why's he in the Neon District?" Crash asked. "He's gonna get himself killed."
"I gotta go get him," Party said, tapping the red gun in the holster on his leg to check if it's there.
"I'll come with you," Ghoul said, stepping closer to Party. "You'll need the back-up."
"I'm coming, too," Jet said. "Crash?"
"I'm staying," she said. "If he moves out of the Neon, you guys'll have no way of knowing."
"What about you, Girly?" Party asked. "Are you staying with Crash or coming with us?"
After a quick moment of thought, Grace said "I'll stay with Crash."
"Okay," Ghoul said and gave Grace a tight hug. "We should be back soon, but just in case—"
"You're coming back," Grace said confidently. "All four of you are coming home."
Not soon after, the Trans-Am was pulling away, with Party, Ghoul, and Jet inside. Crash sighed, watching the car drive away until it wasn't visible anymore, and went back inside the building. She stripped off her jacket and tied her hair back with her yellow bandana and sat down at her and Kobra's booth. Grace was sitting at the bar, silently twiddling her thumbs.
"Alright, Girly," she said, propping her feet up on the table. "How'd you find out about me and Kobra?"
"Isn't Pony still here...?" Grace asked and a bell dinged behind her. She turned and saw the subject of her question, watching the two from the kitchen. The silver bell on the stainless-steel divider was shaking slightly from being used, and it was almost completely covered in rust.
"I already know about them," Pony said. "Found out last year, purely by accident."
"Oh, okay," Grace said. "So, umm, how I found out: the day I found out you were Dr. D, I couldn't sleep that night and I heard you two talking about leaving. I noticed that the two of you had black bracelets like Party and Ghoul and I asked Ghoul what the colors meant."
"Okay," Crash said. "Is there more?"
Grace swallowed and pushed up the sleeves of her silk shirt. "Why're you keeping it a secret?" She asked, looking up from her lap.
Crash sighed and said "It seems better."
Grace wanted to pry, to figure out why it seemed better, but she decided against it. "So, umm," she said and cleared her throat. "How did you guys meet?"
"I was running from a pack of Dracs," Crash told Grace. "And they let me take refuge here for a few days. Kobra and I just... Hit it off." Crash had a kind of hazy smile on her face, like she was sorting through pleasant memories. "I ended up staying for a lot longer than a few days— a few years, more like."
"Five, right?" Grace asked. "Party said five years."
"Yeah, five years," Crash said. "About three years ago, we started kind of going out and last year, he gave me the bracelet."
"Oh," Grace said.
"I know that he seems really rough around the edges but he's better, once you get to know him," Crash said. "He's really very sweet."
Grace nodded and Crash sat up , swinging her legs off of the table. "I'm gonna go check on the vid," Crash said and quickly left for the back room. Grace followed after her and leaned against the open doorway as Crash watched the silent video feed.
Crash furrowed her eyebrows and, confused, asked "Wait, where the hell is he?"
"He's not in the Neon anymore?" Grace asked. Crash shook her head, making her vaguely curly hair bounce around her face.
She rolled over to the audio transmission machine and twirled a few dials. "Party, call in," she said and static filled the empty space.
"Party, calling in," he said, his voice grainy from the distance separating them.
"Kobra's not in the Neon anymore, and we have no idea where he is," Crash said. "You gotta think, is there anywhere that he might go?"
There was silence on Party's line until he said "I have one place, but he's be damn crazy to even try going over there."
"Okay, well, where is it?" Crash asked, turning on her chair to see the video across the room. "Kobra really doesn't seem to be in his right mind right now."
"He might be heading for our old house," Party said. "In the slums. If that's still where Mama and Papa still live."
"Why the hell would Kobra go see your parents?" Crash asked.
"I don't know," Party said. "Have you tried calling into his audio again?"
"Let me see if I can make a three-way call," Crash said and got to work on adding Kobra into the conversation. Grace watched the screen and took notice of how the video bounced with each of his steps.
"Where's his vid trans?" Grace asked and Crash stroked a section of her neck just below the hollow of her throat.
"In his necklace," Crash said, still trying to get him in the call. "His audio trans is in the same place." So that explained the bouncing.
"How's it coming, Crash?" Party asked then, after a moment, added "Ghoul said that he's gonna help me beat Kobra's ass when we get him."
"You have my permission," Crash said. She cried out in victory and said "Kobra, call in."
"Kobra, calling in," he said. His voice was a bit softer, like he was whispering.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" Crash cried. "You just leave us and don't answer your trans when we call you? I outta beat you senseless!"
"Crash, settle down," Kobra said, and Grace watched as his thumb ran over the smooth surface of his pendant, the edge of his thumb peeking into frame every few seconds. It seemed like a nervous habit for him, and he obviously wasn't looking forward to the task ahead of him. "I'm sorry, but I have to do a few things before we start—"
"Just warning you, Party's on the line too," Crash said, a mortified look on her face, as if Kobra was about to spill a big secret. "And he wants to kill you."
"Party, I'm really sorry, but I need to talk to Mama and Papa," Kobra said. "I know it's likely for me to get caught but this important."
"So important that you had to leave without telling anyone?" Party growled. "I swear to God, I'm going to kick your skinny little ass when we get you!"
"Okay, here's the thing," Kobra said and stopped walking. He angled the camera to him and Grace saw that there were crystalline tracks down his cheeks and that his eyes were slightly puffy. "I know you guys got Tommy to tap into my vid, so I'll call you back. We can end the audio, too, since the vid'll be working all the way," he said. "I swear, I'll answer the call."
Crash shut off the hack and the audio transmission quickly and snarled "You'd better."

Notes

Y'all probably hate me... I'm so sorry.