Resurrection

The Council had come together.
Ten killjoys once again rather than the six that Rainbow had kept together and the four originals sat along the top of the table. Jet loaded the blue gun, his eyepatch back in place as he glanced at Kobra next to him. Kobra was more interested in his coffee cup which was heavily irished thanks to Crimson and occasionally borrowed by his brother. Party leant against his shoulder, his hair now black and the familiar tight jeans and jacket back in place. Ghoul was next to him, his hand clasped in Rainbow’s who sat to his right.
Dr D was there too and beside him sat Neon, not a member but here to bear witness.
The other members numbered two the boys knew and two they didn’t.
Amber Dragon and Bright Blade were old friends, they had been in the remains of Boston when the boys had been killed and had raced home to help Rainbow deal with the chaos. Ghoul was glad they were alive, Bright remained the tow headed blond kid he remembered who had trailed Amber for months until she had agreed to go out with him, now they were among the most formidable fighters still alive.
The DJ introduced the other two men. Nitro Noise was a big man in every way, well muscled and over six foot tall. He had proved himself the night Battery City had fallen the first time and Party was quietly approving of him having a place on the council. The other man was an unknown quantity although he had been extremely useful to Rainbow, Phantom Fox lived up to his name. The boy was gangly and quiet, Party noticed the watchful eyes and remembered that he was a spy.
“Where’s Crim?”
There was a silence, Party narrowing his eyes as Bright spoke.
“Party….Crimson isn’t even a killjoy anymore. She’s been killing everything that moves and is….”
His voice trailed off and Party put his feet up on the table, his voice amused.
“Is what?”
“Ummm….under sentence of death by the Council.”
Party roared with laughter, Kobra still keeping a straight face as Jet looked bemused and the others wary at the stares coming from the newer members of the group. Clearly they had expected him to take it a little more seriously. Rainbow rolled her eyes and glared at him until the laughing gave way to hiccups.
“Party, the gunshot fucked her up a bit more than you think.”
“I’ll talk to her but we need her, fucked up or not so this whole death sentence thing can wait.”
The tone broached no disagreement and Ghoul quickly sent Neon to check just where their erstwhile friend was as they listened to the Dr explain the numbers. There were still killjoys in the Zones but not enough to do what Bright, Amber and Nitro wanted to do.
“We should go into the city now, strike them down.”
Ghoul winced, Jet looking a little annoyed as Nitro continued.
“We can do it, go for the generators or something. Blow the place like you did.”
“We don’t have another nuke and to be honest that was luck.”
Party drummed his fingers on the table.
“We also don’t have the numbers, casualties were horrific that night.”
Nitro slammed his fist onto the table.
“Then what? I’m sick of running Party, we need to hit back and now that you’re here people will rally to the cause again.”
Kobra looked up, his voice soft.
“We will. I am going back in.”
Everyone stared, Rainbow still shivered at the thought although there had been no talking him out of it. Party had tried everything but Kobra had forced them all to agree that he was the logical choice to go back and work undercover to get them into the city and take it out from within. Didn’t mean any of them liked it anymore than Kobra himself but it gave the killjoys a chance. Fox spoke up, his eyes alight with possibility.
“You think Korse will take you back in.”
“Absolutely, I can feed them some information that will point them in the wrong direction and continue looking for weak spots. I was onto some good stuff when we got pulled out.”
There was agreement around the table and Party looked to the Dr.
“Meanwhile we send recruiters and killjoys out to the Zones. We cause trouble again and draw BLI out like the old days. We look for any way to be a pain in the ass while we train fighters and get the townships back on side. You guys up for that.”
Bright and Amber nodded.
“We can take Zones three and four.”
“Fox and I will take Five.”
Jet nodded and looked at Ghoul.
“Leaves us to handle one and six.”
Party stretched, seeing Neon waving from the door frantically and already knowing why.
“Okay, me and Dr D will start getting us out on the airwaves. Lets do this and aim to have Kobra back in the city by next week. I want to make sure everything is in place before he risks that obstinate ass of his.”
The conference broke up, Neon grabbing Party by the arm.
“Crim started a fight in Hedonism. She’s not doing so well at it.”
“She’s only got one working arm and no brains. Rain, can you and Ghoul give me a hand?”
Rainbow giggled and nodded, Jet and Kobra already out the door and heading down to the bottom of the club. No way did they want to miss Crim and a fight, it tended to be spectacular. Ghoul was suspicious, usually Party hated her fighting but this new version seemed completely unconcerned.
“Party, You okay?”
The crooked grin appeared.
“I’m horny as fuck and there is only one thing that will shut the bitch up.”
Ghoul shook his head and followed Party as they made their way downstairs. There were few killjoys around, most were still in hiding as per their orders but the bars also catered to the townsfolk of the Zones and it was three of them who were trying to hold a spitting and kicking Crimson down as she tried to grab the broken chair she had been using as a weapon.
“Fucking pussy bitches! Let me up and fight like men.”
Party wandered over, one hand on his gun which made all the people step back. He looked lethal, the hazel eyes shrewdly clocking the numbers as Rainbow and Ghoul came up at his shoulders. Jet and Kobra stood by the door and the atmosphere stilled and froze as Party picked up the bourbon and took a slug.
“Let her up.”
“She broke my friend’s neck, bitch should hang.”
Party placed his gun on the bridge of the man’s nose. He was shorter than the man who held Crim’s hair but all of them could see he would have no hesitation in pulling the trigger if not obeyed.
“Last warning. Let Crimson go and fuck off.”
The man decided not to take the chance and they pushed past the killjoys as Party helped Crimson to her feet. His girl was a little drunk, mixed with the sedatives and a headache it had made her short tempered and now she could see he was not happy. Rainbow just sighed and glanced at Ghoul.
“Some things never change.”
“No, we’re outta here. Good luck Crim.”
Kobra and Jet joined them in leaving, the bar now as empty as most of the Crater Club as Crimson sat down heavily on a bar stool and waited to get yelled at. To her surprise Party didn’t seem angry, he merely checked her stitched arm and poured them both another shot.
“You okay?”
“Should have stayed in bed but you weren’t there and I got bored.”
“The council has descended into over eager kids who want to die.”
Crimson glanced at him, a half smile on her face.
“You finally got over the martyr thing?”
Party smirked and pulled her into his arms. He had been thinking it through and blamed himself more than her for what had gone wrong. Crimson had been right, they had walked into a trap that night and for what? They got Missile back but set the fight back by a long way and BLI had grown stronger. They had to be more subtle, cleverer, hence his reasoning in letting his brother go back into the city.
“Dying does that. Makes you realise that the cause isn’t everything.”
Crimson pushed his hair back and kissed him gently.
“Good because I can’t watch you die again. Now let’s go to bed.”

Notes