Resurrection

“You know taking this out in the Zones is a risk right ?”
Rainbow smiled and nodded, running her fingers along the hood of the car. It looked exactly the same, a beat up and graffiti covered Trans-Am that had seen too many fights but had become an icon. Like the men it had once belonged to. She had thought it lost along with them after the final fight and now turned back to where Crimson was leant back against the wall, a sardonic grin on her face.
“I thought this was still in the city.”
“It was. I liberated a lot of things from there with the help of the stealth suit.”
The two women stared at each other. Rainbow had thought that Crimson had stayed in Zone 6 after their fight and now realised why the diner had been emptied out after the boys had vanished for the last time. Her friend had clearly been intending to use the spoils of their previous raids on pre-war tech and now her curiosity was peaked. Rainbow folded her arms, the annoyance at Crim stealing from them in her voice.
“You liberated that from the diner. You could have told me.”
Crimson shrugged and opened the door to the car. It still felt strange to drive it, Party had always been fiercely protective of his baby and all of them had joked that he loved it more than he loved her. It had been the first thing she had taken from Korse, the madness of grief making her take some insane risks to get it which now seemed stupid. It remained her favourite and most treasured thing, a place where she could feel close to him and now it felt right as Rainbow settled in beside her.
“I could have but we were too busy trying to hurt each other and we did a good job. You know the boys would have been appalled.”
“I know. So let’s put this right, between you and me as well as getting Gee back.”
Rainbow absently fingered the scars on her face as Crimson nodded silently, that much was true. In fact Ghoul and Party would have throttled both of them for allowing what happened to come between them. It had been chaos in the aftermath, the Killjoys suddenly leaderless and unsure whether to fight or run. Crimson had wanted the latter, cursing them all for not running before when BLI had started to rise again. Rainbow had wanted to carry on and had, pulling the hundreds of killjoys back into a fighting force which had caused her friend of accusing her of wanting them all to die. Harsh words had turned to knives and teeth which lead to both of them ending up near death. As Rainbow recovered from the stiches used to close her face back up, Crimson had disappeared. It had taken months in the wilds of the outer zones to find a doctor good enough to save her from the violent seizures and agonising headaches and even now there were times when the pain incapacitated her. It was somehow ironic that Party returning from the dead had returned them to each other too.
“I want nothing of your war Rain. I just want him.”
Crimson glanced at Rainbow, a trace of the fearless carefree girl she had once been showing in her crooked smile. The other girl returned it and gripped her hand, realising how much they had missed each other.
“If we save him it won’t matter. You can both go if that’s what he wants.”
“He won’t so we’ll be back to where we always were. Be honest, you are looking for Frank as much as for Gerard.”
“Well duh !”
Crimson chuckled, the car roaring into life as they spun out into the dust of zone four. She had suggested going to her bunker in five first before they did recon on the city. Partly because she did have all their stuff from the diner and some very personal things that she wanted to show Rainbow and partly because she didn’t want anyone else to know of the tech that was now hidden there. She had become adept at moving silently, the stealth suit made her invisible and the fugitive status meant she had become used to not speaking to people for months at a time.
Rainbow settled back, almost able to believe that Ghoul was next to her, Kobra riding shotgun as Party drove and Jet singing along as the sound of Mad Gear filled the air. It was a carful of ghosts and shadows and she knew that Crimson had been right. If she found her boy alive it would be tempting to leave it all behind and keep running. The other comment had also been correct, even by taking this car out into the Zones would mean that BLI would know that their propaganda had produced a reaction, maybe even cause them to up security but it would be worth it to show the killjoys that not everything about their most revered legends had been lost.
It was dark by the time they reached an abandoned and bomb scarred parking structure that hid the entrance to Crimson’s hideout. It had been well hidden, Rainbow had patrolled past it a dozen times and never seen the entrance or the tunnel attached that Crimson used to hide the car. They went down into a darkened passage, two flights of metal stairs going lower until finally Crim entered a pass code and another door opened with a shuddering clunk. It was warm inside, the security monitors inside working and linked to a turret gun that pointed outside. Rainbow noted that it was furnished sparsely but comfortably before following Crim into the main room.
“I managed to repair two stealth suits so you can come with me into the city.”
Crimson motioned to the familiar mirrored fabric suits hung on the wall as Rainbow reacquainted herself with the bank of weapons along the wall. Most of it had been scavenged and repaired but still looked lethal. It was the four weapons that were kept apart that caused her to pause, the pain in her voice evident as she reached out to run her fingers along a green raygun, hung above was a blue one, a red one below and finally, the most famous yellow gun in history. All of them were decorated, chipped and worn by the men that had fought to their dying breaths.
“You found them…”
“I wanted them back before Korse hung them up on some wall of fame to get off on.”
Rainbow swallowed down the lump in her throat as Crimson took her hand and led her into another room, pausing before a locked metal door. Even she hadn’t been in her for a while, there were certain things that were hard to see but now it could be the very things that reminded Gerard of who he was, who he had been. Ever since seeing the poster Crimson had been determined that whatever brainwashing they had used, there had to be a way to break it. There were eight more floors below including cells and she intended to keep Party hidden from everyone and anyone who could interfere.
“I have other things. I worked and worked on getting around in the city until I can now go just about anywhere. It’s strange that it’s only now that BLI are using Gerard, I found no sign of any of them for all this time.”
She pushed the door open and Rainbow flinched, recognising the masks and jackets that hung within on battered mannequins, it was a shrine almost to everything that she and Crim had lost. The laser holes and bloodstains were equally evident and for a moment she thought she would be sick before walking over to where Ghoul’s Frankenstein mask hung over his green vest. Touching it seemed so strange and Crimson understood why, her eyes drawn to the yellow mask before she turned back into the main room. Rainbow lingered, her hands running down the familiar clothes before she followed.
“You really did keep everything.”
“I know, grim huh ? You have a plan on how we do this ?”
Rainbow nodded, pulling out a map of Battery City and laying onto the floor of the main space. She pointed to the apartments and television studios, her voice still a little shaky after so many memories had been brought flooding back. Crimson already knew her way around but was checking which of the few access points she had was best.
“We have an insider. He’s been watching the studios and we think we know where Gee is although he’s heavily guarded night and day with not only guards but motion tracking and god knows what else. Won’t be easy.”
“Nothing ever is. I know central ops is here….we should check there as well in case we can find any case files, any sign of what they have done to him.”
Crimson stabbed her finger onto the map and then pointed to the hospital. Another safe bet for information. Rainbow made notes, trying not to think about the objections some of the other killjoys had raised about the two of them going alone at least on this part of the mission. Mob handed might seem safe but it would draw attention.
“I’ll go meet up with the informant if you want to sniff around there. You remember Toxic Monster right ?”
Crimson thought back, the kid with multi coloured hair that had made some interesting raids more interesting didn’t fit with undercover work but she had been out of the loop for a while so anything was possible. She was surprised any of the old guard were still alive, life expectancy was not something many of them had.
“Yup, good kid.”
“Excellent spy. Now works for the Scarecrow Unit and Korse.”
Rainbow giggled again at the smile that appeared and the two women started to pull out weapons and the equipment they would need to get into the city. A new desire to fight was now fuelling both of them and they worked in a companionable silence until Crimson went up to the wall, lifting down the green and yellow guns from their places before looking at her friend.
“Seems only fitting that these come too.”
Rainbow lifted Ghoul’s gun up to the light before placing it next to her own. Crimson slipped Party’s into her jacket and tightened up the collar of the stealth suit. Both now wore the stealth suits, primed and ready to help them disappear into the city and its inhabitants. Rainbow also noted that her friend no longer wore a mask, unwilling to hide amongst their own either. She would have to talk to her friend about the death sentence that still hung over her among the killjoys but now was hardly the time as Crimson looked towards the door.
“You ready ?”
“Let’s go bring home Party Poison.”

Notes