Resurrection

The Zones remained as they always had.
Small settlements tried to survive outside among the ruins and radioactive dust, most of them trying to stay out of the war between BLI and the Killjoys. The cities shone as if in a different world, places of dead peace and a dull sterility that offered warmth and comfort apart from the hostile world outside. The two lifestyles rarely mixed without an explosion of extreme violence, both sides hiding from the protagonists and now these were ramping up after a period of relative peace. Scarecrow patrols and draculoids had returned to the Zones and so had the bands of brightly coloured psychopaths.
Rainbow leant back in the deep seat of the Mustang, happy to let one of the others drive as she continued to think over what the posters could mean. If Gerard was alive did it mean that Frank was alive ? What about Mikey and Ray ? Or had they all died and only Party had been saved to become the puppet of BLI and its minions. That was the thought that haunted her, to save him and then have to tell him that almost everyone he loved was dead was not something Rainbow could do without support.
Then there was the question of what they would do if they couldn’t save him. What it would mean to the Killjoys and the entire fight to survive. Party Poison was their charismatic leader, a figure that had inspired devoted love and provided inspiration for all of them through the darkest of times. Rainbow knew that without all four of them she was only keeping together a band of fighters in their memory. If BLI succeeded and used Gerard like this then everyone might lose hope.
“Rain, snap out of it. Where now ?”
Rainbow stared at the girl beside her. Dynamite Fairy was one of her best fighters, tough and loyal in ways that sometimes reminded her of Crimson. They had fought side by side after the boys went missing and now she trusted the woman with her life. Fairy shook a mop of curly hair out of her eyes and nodded at the map. They were fast approaching the edge of Zone 5 and things would get more dangerous from here on out. Few people lingered in Six these days.
“The Grove and then on into Hells Reach. The tip off says Crimson is out there at some bar. Sometimes.”
Fairy nodded, wondering again why the hell they were doing this. They could go into Battery City without Crimson Suicide, whether she had been Party’s lover or not was immaterial. In the eighteen months since the four had died there had been nothing but bad reports and this one woman was now under sentence of death from both their leadership and BLI. That she and Rainbow had ever been best friends was hard to believe but she had to trust her leader when she said that without Crimson it was a no go.
“If we find her she may try and kill you again.”
“Not when she sees the picture. It’s whether she’s sober enough to fight I’m worried about.”
Rainbow grinned to herself and watched the desert speed by as they dodged the worst of the radioactivity and a drac patrol. She had insisted on doing this with only two companions, Crimson trusted no one and would see it as a threat if they showed up mob handed. Subtle manipulation had always worked better with her and it had usually been Rainbow that managed it. She glanced over at the other occupant of the car, Neon seemed to be able to sleep through anything.
The Grove remained a burnt out shell, the area beyond it baking in the heat as the killjoys pulled up bandannas against the dust storm and made sure that they had their masks pulled down low. People this far out tended to dislike all sides and the bar they were heading for had quite the reputation. Hells Reach had been a set of office buildings at one time and now housed maybe thirty families with The Pit to one side, a low squat building that was as ugly as it looked.
The Mustang stood out with its riot of colours spray painted on all sides so they parked it underground in one of the low remains of a shopping mall. There was a coolness that afforded some relief as they checked guns for fresh batteries and the ruins for camera flies. It was easy enough to spot them in the heat of the day, the metal glinted too much to be standard flies but it was still a risk to move around. They all followed Rainbow as she strode up the ramp, a few people were already starting to stare from the doorways. There was no mistaking the red hair and tight leathers, she was as beautiful as she was a legend even this far out in the Zones.
The man behind the bar knew her immediately and looked nervous although he tried to hide it. There were no more than six or seven patrons in his place at this time of day and all of them left quickly at the sight of the three heavily armed killjoys. Neon closed and locked the door, leaning back against it as Rainbow smiled pleasantly at the bartender. Fairy stood at her shoulder, the tall girl made more threatening by the black leather she wore and the skull painted eyes above her bandanna. The man swallowed nervously.
“Go get Crimson.”
The barkeep, a plump sweaty man called Reece, shook his head.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about and I don’t want no trouble.”
Rainbow sighed and leant across the bar, her fingers closing into his hair before she slammed his face into the counter and placed the purple raygun up against the bridge of his nose. Reece started to whine and shake, the smile never leaving her face.
“Do not fucking lie. Crimson comes here and a drone said she was here last night.”
“I….she….went. I swear she went. That one don’t stay anywhere long.”
Rainbow looked at Fairy, Neon watching from the doorway as the girl grabbed the terrified man’s hand and planted it flat on the bar. The blade whistled as Fairy drove it through his hand and pinned it cleanly to the bar, blood seeping out as he screamed and jerked. Rainbow stood back and walked around the bar checking for a doorway upstairs or outside.
“Last chance….”
“I swear I don’t know. Please !!”
Reece fought back the urge to vomit, the three people in front of him had not batted an eyelid and now there was a lighter in Neon’s hand, perilously close to the alcohol stained tables. The whole place was dank and musty, only a few glimmers of light breaking in through the corrugated iron slats that passed for windows. The place was a shithole but he didn’t really want to burn with it. Rainbow came back in and walked around the side to get a closer look at the bottles on the shelves.
“Fine. We light this place up and move on. If you live you can tell Crim we’re looking for her. Reckon you have a fifty fifty chance of pulling that knife out.”
There was a chuckle from behind them and Rainbow turned, her heart jumping into her throat at the noise coming from one shadowed corner. There was no sound of movement bar the quiet noise and now all three realised that the woman had been there all along, blending into the dark and only now coming out to where they could see her. The leathers were all black, the t-shirt red and Rainbow only recognised her eyes. The red stripes had grown out of her hair and it was cut back from some impressive scars but Crimson Suicide was still carrying the familiar ray gun and the blade at her hip. Her voice was hardly a whisper but full of venom.
“And what do you want with me ? Last time we saw each other you wanted me dead.”
Rainbow stood her ground, a thousand memories going through her head of old battles and lost love, the two of them escaping a nuclear blast and nearly dying, laughing together and that last awful fight. It all seemed like a lifetime ago.
“I have something to show you and a deal on the table.”
Crimson was more than a little drunk and more than a little surprised. She wanted nothing to do with her old friend, she brought back too many memories in her turn. A man with red hair and a cute giggle, his brother, their friends. All of them gone to a cause that Crimson no longer believed in. Anybody got in her way now and they died, it was so much better that way.
“No deal. Not interested.”
“You’re not in a position to argue Crim. You’re coming back with us like it or not.”
Rainbow watched as the other woman raised an eyebrow and settled back into a rickety chair nearer to the bar. Neon shifted uncomfortably, he had seen one too many bar fights involving these two to think it would be that easy despite now having Fairy to back them up. All of them had forgotten about the man trying to prise his hand out of the wood.
“No, I’m not and if you’re thinking to make me ? Think. Again.”
Rainbow sat down opposite her, reaching into her pocket which immediately caused Crimson to raise the gun in her left hand and point it at her face. Two more guns were pointed at them but it had all come down to the two of them and the picture that Rainbow slid across the table.
“Look at it.”
Crimson glanced down and then stopped. Her eyes focused a little as she stared at the man smiling confidently for the camera and the caption underneath it. It wasn’t possible, not now after so long and she frowned, the gun dropping and Rainbow waited. Crimson remembered back, Gerard had always gone for a wide range of colours but this was different and she took in every familiar curve and plane of his face before looking back up at Rainbow.
“Bullshit. Party is dead, Gerard was dead a long time before that. This is BLI trying to finish the job and you’re dumb enough to walk into it.”
There was a pause, Rainbow could see that Crim had been drinking and wondered what else before she settled further back into the chair. The scars between them were not just physical but somehow it still felt good to see her old friend and she didn’t object when Neon put a bottle of JD between them and two glasses.
“We both know that is Party. BLI rose from the dead, why not him ?”
“You think Ghoul and the others are alive too ?”
Rainbow shrugged, not wanting to admit that she had thought of little else but that possibility. The thought that all of them may be inside Battery City, unknowing and drugged had started to haunt her dreams. Crimson watched her, the low laugh escaping again.
“You think it and you think we’re going to walk in there and get them all back.”
Neon took pity on the barman and pulled out the knife as shots of whiskey were passed around and Crimson took another look at the picture. She grudgingly admitted to herself that it really was a possibility that this was Gee and fought with herself about getting pulled back into the madness. He haunted her dreams, the last argument and then seeing Gerard die on the big screens. That had damaged her far more than anything a weapon could do.
Crimson hadn’t stopped running since the fight. She knew that the brain damage from Rainbow’s wild shot had taken the last of her reason and didn’t fight it, taking down anyone who refused her, from traders to scavs to BLI. A death wish if she was honest, far worse than anything Party would have thought her capable of. For one minute she allowed herself to imagine getting him back.
Rainbow knew that her former friend was starting to cave and smiled broadly.
“C’mon Crim, if anyone can do this it’s us. We can’t leave him like that.”
“Don’t fucking try that on me. He probably won’t even know us.”
“Then we remind him.”
There was steel in her voice and Crimson raised an eyebrow. Her friend had always been tough, now she was running the whole damn show and it was hard not to be impressed. Something in her broke, the knowledge that Party was still alive but now in the one position he would hate more than anything else made her mind up for her and Crimson put the gun away. She stood, some keys appearing in her hand as the other three exchanged glances and started to smile.
“He will probably remember his fucking car though.”

Notes