I stormed out of Dr. D's office and back into the main part of the diner. I heard him follow me. They were all sitting in various booths, and it was obvious they'd been talking before I came out. "You want to know what I'm talking about, Party?"

He glared at me from under a veil of his cherry hair. "No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway."

"Dr. D said you guys know that he used to work for the CIA. Well...so did I." I let out a heavy sigh. "That name, on the top of BL/ind's 'Exterminate on Sight' list? The one right above all of yours? That would be me." I sat down heavily on one of the bar stools and rubbed my face.

"You are Alexandria Pelletrov?" Party Poison practically yelled. Four astonished faces peered at me, eyes full of surprise and a hint of fear.

"Alexandria Pelletrov, Callie Andrews, Jane Smith, Penny Parker...I've got more, but those might be the ones you've heard." I felt like I was on display and I hated it. My life from before wasn't something I enjoyed talking, or even thinking, about.

"Hey, I remember seeing something about a Penny Parker on the news once. Something about saving a president?" Fun Ghoul looked at me and laughed a bit.

"Well that was me." I didn't know what else to say. I turned to Dr. D and raised my eyebrow, begging him to take over. He took mercy on me and stepped forward.

"Acid Angel was the CIA's top agent from the time she was eighteen until her last mission. I was one of her...bosses. We worked on special-ops and she took out some of the greatest threats to our country. Trust me, it's a blessing that she escaped the influence of BL/ind." They all just stared at me and I was so uncomfortable. All I really wanted was to leave. I looked over at Party Poison and noticed that his temple was still bleeding a bit. It was starting to look pretty nasty.

"Shit, Party, I didn't know you were a bleeder." I tried to remember to play nice. "I can fix you up, if you want." He shook his head curtly. I shrugged. I tried; it didn't matter to me if he wanted to keep bleeding.

Kobra Kid spoke up. "So...you're basically a huge magnet for trouble because they're looking for you?" I hadn't really talked to him at all, but his emotions were displayed clearly on his face - fear.

"Yep. That's why I travel alone. No one gets hurt, except draculoids, scarecrows, and exterminators." I looked at Missile Kid. I was happy that she didn't look scared of me. Oddly enough, she looked proud. This kid was really something else. I could tell she loved these men like nothing else.

"That's because you're awesome, Acid," she said. "Girls rule!" Everyone laughed and Jet hugged her, smiling.

"If you are uncomfortable with Acid being here-" I cut Dr. D off.

"I'll go. I've traveled alone for years. I prefer to work alone." I looked each of them in the eye. Looking back, I realize now how much I realy wanted to stay. It had been far too long since somebody gave a shit about me or I had someone to give a shit about. Sure, I was fighting for the freedom of humanity, but I hadn't had anyone to protect or care about.

"We don't want you to go, Acid," Fun Ghoul said. "You could be fun to keep around, y'know? Kick our asses every once in a while." Everyone laughed. Just then, Dr. D's pocket radio fizzled.

"Zone 3...I repeat, Zone 3. Killjoys under attack. Dracs. Need backup...Is anyone there? Is anybody out there?" a panicked voice filled with static called out.

"Fuck, let's roll," someone said and everyone jumped into action. Missile Kid ran to the back. I supposed that's where she stayed when they went out. I grabbed my mask, an antique Venetian masquerade mask, painted a vibrant purple. I tied it around my head. I quickly snatched my ray gun off the table, checking to make sure the power cell was full. Thankfully, it was, so I jammed it into the waistband of my shorts. I reached into my backpack and grabbed my knife belt. I strapped it to my right leg, with all my throwing knives in place. I put my arms through the gun holster, put both of my pistols in them, and clipped some extra ammunition on. I tightened everything and ran to the door.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" I asked them. They were still getting ready, the slow asses. They turned and stared at me.

"Now I know why your name is 'Acid' Angel," Fun Ghoul laughed.

"What?" I snapped. I was ready to go and ready for a fight. Feeling vulnerable made me want to lash out and having to tell even that little of my story put me on high defense. "Why the hell aren't you ready?"

"Acid, you just did all that in about five seconds. We're not as fast as you. Take this. I'll keep an ear on the radiowaves, babies," Dr. D said, handing me a transmitter. I opened my mouth to speak, but he stopped me. "No, Acid, I'm not going." Missile Kid came running out, a delicate mask over her face. I felt more than a little uncomfortable. I didn't want her to get hurt, and Jet Star caught the look on my face.

"She always goes. We can protect her better that way," he said. I didn't think any Dracs or any other BL/ind agents would bother an old abandoned diner, but it was his call.

"Who's driving?" I asked. My feet itched for a sports car, and I'd noticed the Trans Am outside. It was no Ferrari, but it would do.

"I am," Party answered. We all followed him out the door and I took the opportunity to study him. He walked with a purpose now: shoulders squared, a straight back, and fierce eyes behind a yellow mask. I climbed in the back seat and Missile Kid sat in my lap. I was terribly uncomfortable with her being here - it was dangerous. Jet was her dad though, so I respected his decision. After some seat-shuffling, we were finally ready to go, and we sped off into the desert.

"Damn, Acid, you look like a fucking terrorist," Fun Ghoul said to me with a grin.

"Thanks." I grinned. "I carry the old fashioned pistols because sometimes they do more damage to Dracs than ray guns. And they're easier to reload - no wait time. This is what I live for." He studied me for a moment.

"You live for a fight?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's all I've done for...God, I don't know. I'm twenty-six. I joined the CIA at sixteen. And before you ask, no, I never finished high school, but I know more and can speak seven languages, so I never needed to go back." He stared at me.

"Fuck, that's awesome. So are any of those aliases your real name?"

"Nah," I chuckled.

"Damn, I was really hoping for 'Penny Parker' so I could make Spiderman jokes!"

Before I could respond, we heard tires behind us. I pushed Missile Kid down to the floorboards and whipped around to see a BL/ind car following us. "Fuck." I climbed over Kobra Kid and hooked my feet under Party's seat. I leaned out the open window, bracing my body on the door. I pointed my vibrant violet gun at the van and fired two shots. I hit the driver in the face and the passenger in the shoulder. They had masks on, but I couldn't tell if they were Dracs or something else. My thighs began to burn. It had been too long, and it felt amazing. The van veered off the road, its driver dead, and rolled into a cloud of dust.

"Pull me in, Kobra," I called, holding my hand out. He grabbed it and yanked, eyes wide. I was met with similar stares from everyone. I grinned with the pleasure of surprising them with my skill.

"You, ma'am, are a ninja," Kobra said. I smiled at him and shook my head.

"Nah. Just former CIA. I met a ninja once though," I told him. I would tell him about that sometime. Missile Kid lay in the floor, looking around.

"I'll just stay down here," she said. She looked a little nervous.

I leaned up to talk to Jet Star and Party. "How much farther 'til Zone Three?" I asked.

"Maybe ten minutes," Jet answered, leaning out of the window to make sure we weren't being followed.

"Really?" I asked. This suddenly felt very wrong. "Because those Dracs were coming from our direction." I was suspicious and I raised an eyebrow at the three men looking at me.

Party urged the car to go faster. "It happens to us all the time," he said. He was still pissed as hell at me. Jet looked down at him, worry all over his face.

"She could be right, Party," he said. "They came out of nowhere, from behind. We could be driving right into a trap."

"We keep going. If there are Killjoys, we get 'em out. If not, we'll ghost them all and take our asses back to the diner and figure out how they did that," he said. I sat back in the seat and pulled Missile Kid up from the floorboards. I didn't like it, but I'd already fought with Party enough today. I needed to learn to play nice if I was going to stick around for a while. We sped into Zone 3. My senses buzzed and I looked out of the back windows for any sign of a fight. We were close enough to Battery City that the air felt different, thicker. I hated that feeling, like I was being pumped full of something. It gave a new meaning to the old saying, "There was something in the air." We heard shots from somewhere up ahead. I pushed Missile Kid back onto the floor. Jet turned to her.

"Missile Kid, no matter what happens, you stay in the car, okay?" He handed her a small ray gun. "Don't shoot unless they can see you." The car skidded to a stop and we got out. There was dust rising in the distance and we took off at a run. I didn't think it was very wise to leave her that far away from us, but I guess they'd done this many times before.

We reached them. There were three Killjoys, surrounded by Dracs and Scarecrows. I fucking hated Scarecrows. They were very hard to kill, with a pistol or a ray gun. "Fuck, Scarecrows," Party cursed. We approached cautiously, guns raised. So far, no one had seen us. About twenty feet behind a Drac, I took aim at its head and fired. It dropped like a sack of potatoes. The three Killjoys looked around frantically until they found us and relief washed over their faces. Stupid move.
They all came at us, every last one of the damn things. A particularly large Scarecrow was coming straight for me. I slung a knife straight at it's eye and it made its mark, but that just made it angry. "Fuck," I said to myself. It was close enough to smell, and shit, did it smell. It was like a thousand dead things. I kicked it in the face and fired at it, hitting it in the chest. It fired at me, but I managed to roll out of the way. I threw a larger knife at its other eye and it fell back, dead. Finally. I grabbed my knives and ran. I saw one of the three Killjoys we came to save lying on the ground, a huge burn in the middle of his chest. It was sad, but it happened. He died with his gun in hand and his mask on, like a Killjoy. Just then, I saw Party fighting a Drac, but a Scarecrow was coming at him from behind. The Drac had no gun, and neither did the Scarecrow, but it had Party by the neck.

"Party!" I screamed. "Behind you!" I yanked one of my pistols out and shot the Drac in the face. Blood went everywhere as the shot rang out. Everyone but Jet, Ghoul, and Kobra stopped, looking for the source. I fired another shot into the Scarecrow that was almost on Party. He whirled and finished it with a shot to its face. I heard something strange and whirled. A Drac had a radio. "Fuck." Party ran over to me and slammed up against my back. We leaned into each other.

"Thanks for that, Acid," he said. He actually sounded sincere.

"No problem. Korse'll be here in ten minutes if we don't finish fast. A Drac recognized us," I said quickly. I leapt onto the back of the last Scarecrow and slammed the butt of my purple gun into it's forehead, then slit its throat. I looked around. We had somehow managed to kill them all, but not before one of them had managed to send a transmission. Two of the three Killjoys we came to save rushed over to me and Party, gushing with thanks. "Get out of here," I told them. "Korse is on his way. C'mon guys, let's get back." I took off running back toward the car.

I reached the car first. Missile Kid heard me coming and jumped up, gun pointed. When she saw it was us, she lowered it. "Man, I was hoping I'd get to shoot something!" she said as I clambered into the backseat with her. "Oh no! Acid, you're bleeding!" She pointed to my leg. I had a huge burn on the left side of my left leg. Funny, I hadn't felt that. It started to shoot searing pain through my leg. Party gunned the car and everything faded to black.

Notes

Sorry for the confusing updates today. I posted this chapter this morning, only to find out that the formatting was all kinds of fucked up on this chapter and the one before it. It should be fixed now, but please let me know if it's not! Comments please? :)

Title: "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" by My Chemical Romance