Killjoys 28 Playing With Fire

"Once the sun's gone down I'll take you to see my friend Marilyn Deathrow. I don't know where exactly she's been hanging out during the day lately. Usually she's here with me when things get this nasty in the City. But she had some usual haunts that we can check out and hopefully one of them will be fruitful." Death-iNation instructed Fire Frenzy who showed very little interest in him and his personal life. Surely she was curious of who these people were that were going to help her, she had to be.

"And who is Marilyn Deathrow? That doesn't sound exactly like a Killjoy name so she's not a normal contact is she?" Fire Frenzy seemed to guess more about the situation than Death-iNation had thought she had. Perhaps that's why she hadn't seemed at all interested to know what their relationship had been, she had already guessed and assumed. Something told him though that Frenzy wasn't the kind to just assume without having fact to back up her grand assumptions.

"Marilyn is her pseudonym; it's not her real name. It's a nod to Marilyn Monroe. But yes, she is only sort of a Killjoy." Death-iNation smiled as he watched Frenzy flipping through the books he had in the corner. She looked impatient and eager to get on with her work in the City. He wondered what was going on with that lighter she kept flicking every few moments, but he was beginning to guess it was some kind of nervous habit. It was a relief to see her looking much healthier than she had earlier in the day though. Even after she'd taken the drugs she'd been unusually pale, which he guessed was from the blood she lost in the fight against Destroyer. He could only do so much for her without the proper medical supplies, so her body would have to supply the replacement blood on its own.

Luckily after a few hours she'd regained some color and clearly she'd regained her strength with how she'd been manically walking around the apartment looking for more information.

"I was guessing that was it, not sure why. Not like Marilyn is a very common name anyway, it's always been more of a stage name." Frenzy shrugged her shoulder and tilted her head to the side as she looked at some notes scribbled inside of one of the novels she'd picked up. Closing the cover to check what the book was she discovered it was The Time Machine by HG Wells. It seemed like it'd seen more love than the other books in the corner, though all of them looked like they had been read at least once judging by the bends she could see in their spines. "But I didn't ask about her name, I asked who she was. She's only sort of a Killjoy, how does that work?"

"She's a prostitute." Death-iNation said flatly after an attempt to choose his words wisely. There was no point in trying to sweeten the truth about the woman. He wasn't fond of her career choice but he knew it was something he couldn't change about her very easily. Besides, Death-iNation had been sure if he had tried to sugar coat Marilyn's career title then Fire Frenzy would have called him out on it. She didn't seem the type to care about being politically correct.

"And why is it that you regularly affiliate with a prostitute?" Frenzy turned to face him, still holding the book in her lap.

"What makes you think I regularly see her? What if she's just a contact I've made while living in the City?" Death-iNation was curious as to how she already knew so much about his living arrangement with Marilyn.

"Well, unless you regularly draw hearts and butterflies in the margins of books while reading and sign her name at the front, then I'm pretty sure this Marilyn Deathrow lives with you a good chunk of the time. Plus, there is a pair of women's panties underneath the bed." Fire Frenzy shrugged simply and nodded to the bed Nation was seated on. Death-iNation leaned down and sure enough saw the evidence of what went on in his bedroom.

"Okay, so maybe I regularly affiliate with her."

"Why is that then? You're a handsome man, surely you could find that sort of companionship reasonably simply without having to pay for someone's services." Death-iNation winced from the way this conversation was going. Clearly this woman didn't whether or not she embarrassed others with her words. He wondered how she would feel if he turned the tables on her, but he couldn't find any similar ammunition against her so let it be.

"It's not that I was looking to pay for the intimate aspect of things." Death-iNation chose his words wisely. "I was lonely and not in the way you think. I paid her to keep me company and let me talk to her without having to worry that my secrets wouldn't be kept."

"Right, I'm sure that you hired a prostitute to come back to your apartment and talk to you." Frenzy rolled her eyes and got up off of the floor, setting the book down on the pile. "I'm sure that's why she sleeps here and her panties are under the bed. She must have been just so happy to hear you talking about what you do for the Killjoys that she lost her panties in all the excitement." Death-iNation felt his face turning red in embarrassment.

"I don't really think it's any of your business how my sex life plays out." Death-iNation sighed and averted his eyes. God she has no idea what she's talking about, time to change the subject.

"You're right, it's not. But you're the one who insists upon making this a guessing game so, I'm playing along. It's not my fault you're uncomfortable with your extracurricular activities. I find that if you're ashamed of something you probably shouldn't be doing it." Frenzy started peering through the room, in the closets and the dressers. She found more women's clothing only verifying to her that the woman stayed here far more regularly than Death-iNation had initially admitted.

"Prostitution is illegal in the City and Better Living Industries does despicable things to those they catch doing it. When things start to get hot in the City for Marilyn I let her stay here to keep safe and lay low. I also provide her with a place to stay when things aren't hot in the City okay? Regardless, being a prostitute she's incredibly useful."

"Yes, I gathered that by the job description, thank you very much."

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Death-iNation continued on his rant now. This woman was making too many assumptions about his personality and he was going to set her straight. He wasn't the type of man to pay for a woman's services and he was not the kind to use them and throw them away and he didn't want to garner a reputation as such either. "She's a prostitute and a lot of important and powerful men come to her in the bars looking to have a good time. You wouldn't believe the information I've gotten from her that she's heard from her clients. Hell, she does a better job getting information about Better Living Industries than I did working for them. If anyone has heard where they've taken that little girl and moved the IOD project to then it's going to be her."

"Wow, defensive aren't you? Believe it or not, I actually meant that she was a wealth of information and not the filthy way you thought I did. Men like to rattle their mouth off before and after sex, so who would know more than a prostitute." Frenzy rolled her eyes and continued to look through the room. "You said your friends could help me. Now, unless I'm mistaken and Marilyn Deathrow has multiple personalities, there is someone else you said you can take me to visit. I want to know exactly what our plan is before we head on our way."

"Yes, my friend Zeppelin Rocket from the zones. He's a pilot and a Killjoy. He's always hitting up the bars and meeting with different women and such. Smart guy, a pretty good guy too. He's always seeing a lot of shit he's not supposed to see and getting away with it so if Marilyn can't help us out, then I suggest we go find Rocky. However, he's a lot harder to find because he's not often in the City anymore now that the curfew has been lowered and security tightened."

"Well, then I suggest we go and look for Marilyn Deathrow soon. I don't know how much your pilot friend will be as help, but this prostitute seems very useful and like she would be far easier to find."

"Was that so hard to admit?" Death-iNation smiled, hoping that the teasing and taunting Fire Frenzy had unintentionally done had finally ceased.

"Had I ever said it was a stupid idea? I was merely verifying facts. It's not my fault if you took it as an insult. You Killjoys are all so damn touchy about your egos." Frenzy rolled her eyes and holstered her gun after double checking that it was properly functioning. It would be unpredictable since she'd dropped it so many times and had only a limited amount of supplies to work with during its repair. Nonetheless, it was the only thing she had besides the flamethrower until she could get her hands on something better so it would have to do.

Flamethrowers weren't exactly discreet so she'd have to leave it in the apartment while they were sneaking about the City. Luckily, Frenzy had always felt it best to fire twice instead of once so it would give her pretty decent odds. Frenzy dusted off her messy clothing the best that she could then looked to Death-iNation expectantly. "Get your gun, come on."

"Be patient, I was getting it." Nation grabbed the gun she had used to attack him earlier that day and made sure it was working properly. "I haven't had to do this kind of thing in a long time, so I might be a bit of a rusty shot."

"Well in that case, I guess you better bring up the rear and just tell me where to go. I may be injured but I'm still a practiced shot."

"Oh, and what makes you think you're better at this than I am?"

"I just have a feeling. And I make guns for a living, it probably means I can handle them better than most of the people in the zones." Frenzy started out the front door of the apartment. Death-iNation followed quickly behind her, bringing up the rear as he had been asked to do. While perfectly capable of taking care of himself he wasn't afraid to admit he was still rusty despite how he had saved her from Destroyer in the parking lot of that theater. Adrenaline had mostly helped him get through that situation and now making a calculated move through the City was going to be much more complex, particularly since there were posters of the two all over the walls of the City and alerts to be wary of them on every television station.

"She frequents a few clubs at night and if we get lucky, we can find her before the Drac police find us." Nation said once they'd exited the building. The bustle of the afternoon in the City had died down and only a few people here and there were scattered, walking along the road and to their final destination for the night. Most were keeping their eyes down, not bothering to observe the people around them. Death-iNation looked pleasant enough at first glance but Fire Frenzy garnered a few more unsavory stares due to the wounds wrapped on her arms and legs and the loud colors of her outfit. The staring made her uncomfortable but she had worse things to be concerned with and it kept her from reacting to any of the onlookers in a violent way as she usually would.

Nation stayed behind, hiding his face the best he could. They could've just donned bandanas and managed to be completely unseen, but those in their own right were a mark of being up to something according to the Better Living dress code. Bandanas had become frowned upon in general within the City and people wearing them, even just as a fashion statement, were to be considered dangerous and were usually detained by Drac police. An hour of walking led them to the central area of the City, filled with restaurants, bars and clubs that were frequented mostly by Dracs.

Over the years the Dracs had built up a reputation as party animals, despite how they were drugged and brain washed, the reputation had only continued to grow. I never understood why they would drink and screw around the way that they do if they're so drugged up. Perhaps it's so that they don't overload with all the stress the medicine puts on their systems? Partying and drinking doesn't do much harm, at least not to Better Living. If nothing else it gives them a whole new area of marketing for hang over cures. Nation shook his head and grabbed Frenzy's shoulder, stopping her mid-walk.

She turned defensively, looking as though she was resisting taking a swing at him. Nation nodded to the building they'd stopped in front of and she nodded in return to let him know she understood what he was trying to convey. Together they walked through the front door. Frenzy put her hand on the handle of her gun upon seeing a bouncer at the end of a narrow hallway, staring at them menacingly. The hall was dimly lit in a sad bluish undertone.

Another method of brainwashing. Blue makes you feel solemn and calm, a lot easier to spend your hard earned money when you're not feeling stressed out. Clever; whoever owns this place is a lot smarter than we expected. Frenzy continued forward and had expected to have to either bribe the bouncer or have to knock him out but to her surprise, he apparently recognized Death-iNation and nodded his head, opening the door for them.

"Is she in the usual room?" Nation stopped in front of the bouncer and spoke under his breath, but Frenzy could hear them both just fine so she found their whispering pointless. If it had been an attempt to show off it had been a failed one.

"Yes, back room as usual. The door is locked though, she has a client or at least I think I saw her go in with someone." The bouncer gestured toward Fire Frenzy. "She looking for work? She's kind of short compared to the other girls. But she's pretty, so she could work."

"No, no… Trust me, she'd kill your clients if given the chance." Death-iNation patted the bouncer on the arm who was still giving Fire Frenzy the once over. As if to not comprehend she'd just been invited to join the establishment as an "entertainer", Frenzy walked past the bouncer and into the raucously loud club. The hallway had been deceivingly quiet in comparison and now the whispering had seemed even stupider to Frenzy. Nation watched her curiously then thanked the bouncer before following Frenzy into the club. Women, half dressed, some not dressed at all were walking around serving drinks, dancing on stages, dancing in cages, dancing in windows along the walls for the entertainment of the men in the room. This room was filled with red lighting now. Lust, really fucking clever.

Nation finished talking to the bouncer and found Frenzy standing next to one of the stages watching one of the women doing a provocative dance to some music overhead, using the pole in the center of the stage to her aid. Nation didn't look up at the dancer but watched Frenzy curiously. The woman seemed oddly fascinated by what was hiding within the walls of Battery City.

"I thought these places were illegal. I've seen them in the Zones, but I thought they cracked down in the City." She didn't look away from the dancer.

"They are. But there are a few of them still underground. They move periodically, most of them at least. All of this can be packed up and relocated easily but this one in particular has survived for years in this building on bribes and mostly because the Dracs love watching women they can't have taking their clothing off for money." Nation folded his arms across his chest and leaned his head to the side, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. He was striving not to offend any of them women who worked in this place. Most of them were as vicious as the women out in the zones if crossed.

"So this is what we're fighting for?" Frenzy still didn't bother to look away. Unable to think of a response right away, Nation nodded his head.

"It's not this but the freedom to do it if we wanted to." Nation started away from the stage. "No one should be able to dictate what we can and can't do. I understand laws and rules to keep people decent but this? We can't read certain books because they give us certain ideas. An idea should never be banned. Without ideas, we're nothing."

Frenzy finally turned away from the stage and followed Nation in his walk to the back of the club since he clearly was uncomfortable watching the woman on stage writhing around. For someone dating a prostitute watching women taking their clothes off and pleasuring themselves sure shakes him easily. Peculiar.

"I like these places." Frenzy tried to make things less awkward. "I wasn't judging them when I said that."

"You were a little bit." Nation turned back and gave her a small smile, though he was pleased with her attempt to make nice.

"No, that's not true. If these women can get money out of these poor saps just by taking their clothes off and doing a stupid little dance, then more power to them. Usually it means they're more confident in themselves than the women who think they're being objectified. And you're right; ideas should never be illegal. Without an idea, we really are nothing."

Nation stopped walking at the last door in the back hall of the club, looking surprised at the way Frenzy reacted.

"I don't know why but I expected you to be one of those feminist types that are entirely against women being objectified in places like that."

"You've known me for a day, I'm pretty sure you know next to nothing about me." Frenzy rolled his eyes. "Which room will she be in? This last one, that's what the bouncer said right?"

"Yeah, that's what he said." Nation tapped at the door but received no response then tried the handle only to find it stuck fast, locked. Whatever was going on inside the room, the occupants within didn't want to be disturbed and chose to ignore them. Stepping back, Nation looked around. "I can go get the key from the owner, he knows I'm a regular here."

Frenzy didn't seem to have the patience for him to do so. She took a step back, grabbed Nation's arm to brace herself then kicked at the door where the handle met the lock. The wood splintered and with a second kick the door fell in, swinging hard on its hinges.

"…or we could just do that. Even if it was a little unnecessary." Nation looked impressed and walked into the room. If he had to pay for the door later he didn't mind. He'd prefer to see Frenzy kicking in doors than people's teeth.

"What the hell is going on?" The pretty young woman with blond hair and blue streaks fading out of the ends covered her bare chest desperately and climbed off of the young handsome man sitting on the couch lining the end of the room. "Nation! What are you doing? I'm working!" The woman who was clearly Marilyn Deathrow looked embarrassed and cheated. Funny, I've never met a shy prostitute before. Frenzy contemplated this and opted to watch the scene play out. "You can't just storm in here like this! We've talked about this!"

"I'm not here because of that this time." Nation cleared his throat and then turned to the man who was readjusting his pants and smiled in delight upon realizing just who it was that he'd walked in on Marilyn with.

"Then what are you doing here? And who the hell are you?" Marilyn eyed Fire Frenzy in annoyance. "You owe me a pack of cigarettes, little miss!" Marilyn pulled her clothing properly back on and looked apologetically toward the man on the couch who wasn't paying her much mind anymore since it'd become obvious he wasn't getting what he'd been willing to pay for from the woman in the room.

"Zeppelin Rocket, what are the odds you'd be here with Marilyn?" Death-iNation extended a hand to help the man up from the couch. Fixing his bomber jacket, Zeppelin Rocket straightened himself up and turned his charming gaze back to Marilyn Deathrow, flicking blondish brown hair out of his eyes.

"Sorry, guess we'll have to catch up another time, hmm?" Zeppelin pulled one of the cigarettes from the pack he'd intended to pay Marilyn with and pressed it between his lips. "Anyone got a light?" Marilyn eyed the cigarette bitterly.

Frenzy held up her lighter and flicked the flame to life. Zeppelin Rocket reached to take the lighter from her hands but she pulled it back to let him know he was not putting his hand anywhere near it. Instead, the man leaned forward enough to let the end of the cigarette be licked by the flames of the lighter she held. He likely thought it was a game when really it was Frenzy being possessive over it.

"Thanks, doll." Zeppelin Rocket gave her a cheeky smile then looked back to Death-iNation who was trying to console Marilyn Deathrow on her lost sale. "You said you were looking for me?" Death-iNation seemed grateful for the interruption. Frenzy closed what was left of the door and leaned against it, in hopes they wouldn't be overheard while talking, despite the loud music. Suddenly the loud music made a little more sense.

"Yes, will one of you tell me what the hell is going on here?" Marilyn still seemed angry but it was clear that her frustration was fading, given that the situation seemed serious. She'd noticed the wanted posters of him and this woman over the last few days and now she could see the wounds on Frenzy's arms and legs. In fact, she was surprised the woman was walking and kicking down doors with the state of those bandages.

"This is my new friend…"

"We're not friends."

"This is Fire Frenzy." Nation sighed, looking to Frenzy apprehensively. "She says we're not friends, but I think we are by default, seeing as we're apparently on the run together according to Better Living Industries."

"Does it really matter if we're friends or not? It seems irrelevant." Frenzy rolled her eyes and finished the story for him, running out of patience. "He told me you'd both be able to give me some information I was looking for. We were coming to find Marilyn Deathrow for my benefit, not for his. And if you didn't know what I needed, we were going to look for you, Zeppelin Rocket but since you're both here I might as well ask you both right now." Marilyn and Zeppelin looked to Death-iNation as if to confirm the story.

"What the lady said." Nation shrugged his shoulders and folded his arms, his concentration more on Marilyn than on Zeppelin.

"Alright, what is it you need to know?" Zeppelin Rocket sat back down. "I don't give out important information for free, so we can talk negotiations after you've told me what you want from me."

"I'm going to ask Marilyn first in that case, seeing as I have nothing you want." Frenzy looked back to the woman who now seemed curious and less aggravated with the fact that she'd be interrupted and lost a sale.

"Go ahead. If you make us square for this with a pack of cigarettes, I'll help in whatever way I can. I'm a cheap date."

"I need to know if there's a less obvious way to get into the cleansing center Better Living Industries has set up in that theater on the east side of the City." Frenzy began. "Preferably if there's a way I can do it without alerting the IOD project they're hiding within. There's something I need to get out of there before it's destroyed." She was hoping not to give a lot of information in regards to what she was planning on doing. With the rate they were going, these three idiots were going to ask to help her with it and get themselves killed in the process. You're responsible for enough deaths already, no need to make the toll higher by dragging them along with you.

"I can't really tell you if the IOD project would be alerted or not by breaking in. Whenever I try to ask about that all the Dracs tend to clam up or change the subject. Though, I've been curious ever since Nation told me about it." Marilyn tapped her fingers against her arm, shifting her weight onto her left foot. "But, there's an abandoned sewer system below it the building you could likely use to access it without being caught. I think they're currently using it to drain off the toxic waste from the experiments into the manmade lake in the first zone." There was disdain in her voice when talking about it. "But who knows what kind of illness you could get from walking through that muck? It hardly seems worth it. Whatever you lost, you should just let it go."

"Okay so we'd have to get out of the City to get back into the experiment center." Frenzy nodded her head, grateful for the woman's advice but chose to ignore her last suggestion. Giving up was never an option.

"No, you could find a sewer grate in the City and crawl through there instead. It'd be easier than going through the gates to get out of the City. They all interconnect so it's just a matter of navigating them without getting lost. It's a fucking maze down there it's nearly impossible to find your way back after you've been down there for an hour."

"Not to mention all the homeless people that are living down there now. It's like a City of its own right down there. I meet people sneaking food down there all the time. I've been trying to help them with it actually." Marilyn chimed in. "I can navigate a little bit of it and probably get us some help to get to where we need to be."

"Wait, wait. That old movie theater on the east end? That's what you're talking about right? That place Better Living claims is giving out free stuff to the kids on the street?" Zeppelin interjected, removing his cigarette from his lips. "No way, you're not getting in there. Not anymore at least. It'd be impossible."

"What do you mean, I have to get in there. There are no other options." Fire Frenzy responded flatly.

"I did an air show in the first zone early this morning for some organization out there that hired me. Flying above, I could see the damn thing was decimated. Plus it's all over the newspapers… Someone blew it up. Terrorist act by someone acting for the Killjoys, or so that's the story everyone's been telling. You know Better Living, when something blows up it must be the Killjoys."

"Oh wait! That's right! I didn't realize that was the same theater you were talking about…" Marilyn snapped her fingers in realization and then hurried to the couch, pushing Zeppelin Rocket out of her way. Reaching between the cushions she pulled a newspaper out from between them and began to flip through the pages. Nation and Frenzy exchanged glances and watched her browse through the papers before suddenly turning to swat Zeppelin Rocket's hand away from her back side. "No freebies!" She got back up from the couch, folded the pages over and held up the story nearly halfway through the paper.

Sure enough the headline let them know about the terrorist bombing at the movie theater that had been set up as a charity to the children of the neighborhood. Beneath the headline was a picture of the collapsed theater and next to that was an artist's portrayal of the perpetrator who'd blown the building.

"I knew I recognized you right away. This is why I did." Marilyn pointed to the drawing of Fire Frenzy in the paper. "They're saying you blew up the theater."

"Which I'm guessing is a lie since you were trying to break into it. Why would they lie about that?" Zeppelin Rocket added afterward.

"Why would they lie about anything?" Nation grimaced. "They're adding fuel to the fire in anticipation of finding her so that when they kill her they can brag about another successful attempt to keep the City safe. It's all another ploy to convince the people in the City that what they're doing is actually working. They're hoping that these people never catch wise to their games." Frenzy didn't seem phased that she'd been blamed for the explosion along with the deaths of multiple people inside of it. She was more upset that she no longer had any leads to where she could find where Instigator had taken Grace.

"Then where the hell did they move all those kids in the theater? Where did they take Grace after she helped me? They wouldn't blow up their precious IOD project, I'm guessing so they've probably moved them already." Frenzy paced back and forth and then opened the nearly ruined door. "I'm going right to the source."

"Oh no, you're not going out there on your own." Marilyn started after her. "Nation, tell her she can't go on her own. She'll get killed! The Dracs are out there full force, stopping almost everyone in search of the two of you! They won't want to listen to her story, they'll kill her!"

"She's right, Frenzy, you can't just walk around the City kicking in doors hoping to find what you're looking for. It doesn't work like that." Nation grabbed the woman's arm to stop her from leaving, much to her distaste.

"You'd much rather me just hide in your shitty little apartment and wait for them to find us? I'm not a coward, I'm going out there and I'm going to find Grace and I'm going to kick the shit out of that asshole who did this to me, got it?" Frenzy hissed in frustration, eager for her revenge.

"They're right. You can't go by yourself. They're looking for you and they'll find you." Zeppelin Rocket put out his cigarette beneath his shoe and stood up straight. "I haven't seen someone last more than forty-eight hours in the City after they put up the exterminate posters. We'll go with you."

"You're far too high a price to be worth the company you'll give me." Frenzy forcefully pulled her arm away from Nation's grip, tired of being pulled around simply because she was smaller.

"We'll go with you Frenzy, okay? I'm not going to let you walk out there and get yourself killed. Besides, you're still hurt and while I'm sure those painkillers are muting the pain a lot for you, there are some things you will continue to be physically incapable of doing until you've properly healed." Nation tried to reason with her.

"And I'll work for free, just this once. Call me curious." Zeppelin Rocket nodded his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I know my way through this City better than anyone. We'll go together." Marilyn Deathrow smiled, feeling oddly cheery about this new adventure, despite knowing the dangers it would pose. Frenzy folded her arms over her chest, looking defeated. Unfortunately, they have a point. If you die before you save that girl and destroy Better Living Industries then what purpose will you have served? Other than destroying the lives of so many children and the people who are offering to help?

"Fine. If you get in my way for even a minute though, I'm ditching you. It's far harder to sneak around as four people than it is as one."

"Well two of us are wanted."

"Three of us." Marilyn smiled, waving her hand playfully. "I'm always wanted in this City. Prostitution is highly frowned upon, you know."

"Four of us… I might have caused some trouble a few weeks ago in a bar and killed a few Dracs who were practically asking for it." Zeppelin Rocket chuckled, adding in his two cents.

"Oh great, another group of Killjoys who can't keep their shit together…" Frenzy rolled her eyes and opened the door. "I'm utterly shocked. Now can we please go?"

"I'll lead the way, just cover me. I know I have a gun but I don't really use it very often. The most I do with it is threaten, honestly." Marilyn started out the door, leading the rest of the group through the loud club and out through the front door, past the bouncer. Not knowing where they were going or how they were going to find what Fire Frenzy was seeking was part of the thrill.


Party Poison couldn't focus on anything important and he knew he needed to focus on something other than the things that had happened in the last four days. Come on, come on think. Think about something other than Kobra Kid being a fucking traitor and selling out our entire organization and perhaps having been tortured into doing so. Think about something other than Fire Frenzy out there being tortured by Better Living Industries thanks to Kobra. Think about something other than Disco Bitch being dead in the desert somewhere after losing her mind. Fuck! This isn't working!

Throwing his hands up in frustration, he continued these thoughts for another twenty minutes. All he wanted to do was break shit and make a mess but he knew it wouldn't accomplish anything except for bloodying his knuckles and making an ass of himself. Poison paced in the alley next to his house but stopped dead as he saw the shadow on the wall of someone watching him.

Turning around he saw an older Killjoy, probably in his mid fifties, simply standing there watching him agonize over his thoughts. He looked the type that spent most of their time telling ridiculous stories in the bar in the back of the camp. After a few moments of scrutinizing, Poison had decided he'd seen him around before this. Poison had always kept his doors open to the older generation of Killjoys, seeing as they had done so much good before losing their marbles. In fact, he and Kobra had been trained by someone just like the guy watching him, before having made their way through the ranks.

"Can I have a word with you, Party Poison?"

"Go talk to Jet-Star about whatever it is. I don't have the energy for anything right now." Poison dismissed him and started pacing again. My head is a mess and if he's wants some attention then Jet-Star can find someone to pity him. I don't have it in me today. I'm not sure I'll ever have it in me again.

"I've seen that girl walking around here. The one you were yelling about in the infirmary." The man seemed determined to talk to Poison and he'd struck the right nerve to get to do so.

"What? What girl are you talking about?" Poison's interest was definitely peeked. If he'd seen Disco Bitch or Fire Frenzy it could be some kind of help for his nerves. Apparently the hope in his eyes had been apparent because the man continued quickly on his tangent.

"I mean before all of this, a few days ago. I remember seeing that girl with the red stripy hair and thinking she seemed familiar. I had thought about talking to her about something, but then I forgot what I had wanted to say. I forget a lot like that these days." The man with the graying hair and bandana tied around his head, covered with a baseball cap approached. "I'm Aghast Perish. You probably don't remember me, but I remember you. I watched you grow up here." He extended his hand to shake but Party Poison merely stared at it.

"We all saw her a few days ago, that doesn't help me. Why would you come and tell me that?"

"I was in the infirmary getting my weekly check up with Jet-Star. I'm sick you see, so I come in every week… I was there when Kobra Kid went and told you he was the leak and letting the Dracs in. I tell ya, you were really seeing red. Don't think I've ever seen you that angry actually." Perish pointed to him with a small smile. "But I didn't remember who that lady was not until you said her name to Kobra Kid then something clicked and I figured you ought to know about it."

"Fine, then tell me before I change my mind." Poison was losing his patience for this man, despite his attempt to try and be helpful. Usually he would entertain the man and even comfort him, get him some food or something similar but all Poison wanted to do was keep pacing and sorting out his thoughts.

"See, I could tell that you must actually care about that girl to bring her up like that well… when not a word had been said about her before that. She left a few days ago, I remember seeing her walking out of those front gates." Aghast continued. "I figured if you were going after your brother like that, you must be worrying that she's gone and got herself into some similar troubles cause of him."

"Look get to the point, I don't need a recap from you." Poison's lip curled in annoyance as the man pointed out the feelings he apparently obviously had according to the people around him. Everyone's telling me how I feel, so how the hell am I supposed to know what's real and what everyone is planting into my head? That was just an excuse, Poison knew very well how he felt he just hated admitting it.

"When I was younger, about fifteen years back, when we were still allowed in the City without being pulled in for questioning immediately the way we are now… You know before Better Living had us all declared terrorists and tried to tolerate our objections to the way they ran things… God those days were a lot easier than things are now, weren't they?"

"Focus, Perish. Get to the point." Poison was intrigued by what the man had to say now about Fire Frenzy but at the same time couldn't handle the way this conversation seemed to stem off topic so damn often. I wonder why he sees Jet-Star every week, maybe there's a medical reason for this bullshit erratic conversation.

"Sorry, I know I tend to ramble on when I reminisce. I forget little details until they're popping out of my mouth." Perish took a deep breath, looking exhausted. "But regardless of that, me and a group of six or seven other Killjoys, we'd go into the City and bring food to the orphans running around there. We'd play games for a few hours while the sun was still out and try to recruit as many of them as we could to come back to camp. That was back when there was only one of them. A lot of them were older actually, they don't make it to that age anymore it seems. There was one quiet little girl amongst them, I distinctly remember because she had the brightest damn blue eyes I've ever seen in my life. Still to this day, I don't forget her face. I'd become partial to her for a little while. I know it's pretty weird since I'm so much older but it wasn't like that. I'd tried to convince her to come back to camp with me so I could father her not anything unsavory like some people thought."

"I get it, you're not a pedophile." Poison sighed heavily. He was coming to terms with the fact that he'd have to keep this man on topic if he hoped to get anything out of him that would be useful.

"Yeah, but I caught her trying to sneak into one of the big shipping buildings that Better Living used to have set up before they built those big concrete walls around the City. She said she was trying to get supplies and blankets for the other kids because it was cold in the City at night and they were getting sick. She said two had already died and she couldn't watch any more of them freeze to death." Perish looked lost in thought, remembering the little girl he'd met so long ago. "When I found her, she was being bullied by a group of Dracs and she was terrified even if she wouldn't admit it. Me and my friends saved her, put those Dracs in their place for tormenting her in such a vile way. You know the way we used to do it before you started up on the whole no killing shit. Really, some of them just deserve it Poison, you should reconsider."

"Yeah, and we all deserve to be experimented on and used as lab rats. If that logic works then we're as good as Better Living Industries." Poison had argued with people so much about this rule of his that he knew exactly what to say to get the subject to pass. "So you saved what you're thinking is my friend who ran out of here the other day? Is that what you're saying? Why does this matter? She was an orphan, a lot of the Killjoys were. I don't see how this helps me." It does make me miss her though.

"Let me finish my story and then maybe you'll understand why I'm saying this." Perish leaned against the wall, looking winded and tired.

"Look, why don't you come inside and sit down while we talk? I can get you a glass of water, you look fucking exhausted just from talking to me. I'd hate to have you pass out before you get to the point of this story." Poison started to the front of his house and held open the door for Perish. Watching the old man lumber into his house slowly was agonizing but Poison did little else than sigh in frustration. If the man was going to give him some useful information then it was worth the wait. After he was inside Poison closed the door and got him a glass of water from the faucet in his bathroom. Both men sat down at the table in the main room.

"Thank you, I needed that. This heat gets to me now in my old age." Perish finished his glass of water quickly, apparently grateful for it.

"You can't be that old, why are you so damn sick?"

"Radiation." The man half smiled, knowing that it implied what else he had. "We didn't know what we know now about the old cures. We used to self inject to try to avoid Better Living's brainwashing back when they had those big screens on every street. Found out later the shit was toxic and now half of us have cancer while the other half are out of their minds. It's a damn shame really. Jet-Star keeps me comfortable though."

"At least you've got your mind?" Poison averted his eyes. Another distraction. We'll all die young out here, who knows if we'll have much more of a life.

"Yeah, that's a good way to look at it." Perish smirked and then looked at had once been his glass of water. "But I was telling you about the little blue eyed girl I knew. After we got her out of there, she wasn't even shaken up. I'd sworn she was terrified when it was all happening but something had changed about her. She told us that a lot worse happened to them while they were out on the streets and the Dracs would've been too chicken to kill her anyway. For someone who had nearly gotten killed she sure had some balls on her."

"Well, that sounds about right."

"I gave her my lighter and some blankets and I told her to keep warm and out of trouble." Perish nodded his head. "I didn't expect to ever see her again, honestly I expected her to get herself killed being as reckless as she was. The other orphans had learned to avoid Better Living Industries so for her to run in there headlong like that, it was like she wanted to get caught. I never understood it"

"Okay…" Poison wondered if the lighter Fire Frenzy carried now was the same lighter this man had given to her so long ago. He could picture her in his mind, a little girl, hiding in an alleyway and just staring, fixated on the lighter to drown out the disturbing sounds that filled the City in the night after curfew had passed.

"About a week later, I was with that same group of guys in the first zone when some Dracs ambushed us. Someone had let them know we were going back into the City to see the kids. I guess they'd wanted revenge for the Dracs I'd killed when I'd helped out little blue eyes. They tied me and my buddies up and started to interrogate them. Eventually my friends cracked and told them everything they knew. It was awful watching them like that…" Perish seemed lost in his mind for a few moments and Poison let him take his break. Remembering fallen comrades was something he couldn't blame him for. He'd often found himself staring and recounting the many he'd seen lying in the dirt, bloody and beaten.

"But I refused to crack, not for anything. I watched them slaughter every one of my friends right in front of me. They were going to kill me next when that little girl came out of nowhere. The Dracs hadn't expected her to come either and before I'd even realized what she'd done she'd managed to cover them all in some kind of accelerant, smelled like gasoline at the time, and set them all on fire. She watched them burn to death before she came over to free me." Poison watched the man wide eyed. That was a twist in his story he hadn't expected, even if it hadn't come as much of a surprise.

"She watched them fry?"

"Yeah, with this weird… high look in her eyes. I almost asked her if she was on something but I'd been so shaken I could only think of getting the hell out of there. She'd refused to tell me her name back then so I dubbed her Fire Frenzy that night, as her Killjoy name and asked her finally to come and join us. I told her that they'd be hunting her now that she'd murdered the Dracs."

"She turned you down? Even after all of that?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, she's not a Killjoy so… I could only assume."

"I begged her to come with me and be safe at least but she told me that the only reason she lived was to kill them and not to play our game. I didn't know what she meant back then but as I got older I realized how much like a game of chess this has become. Better Living does something, we react until they come out with something bigger and we retaliate. She was right. We'll never win like this."

"What happened? Did she go back to the City?" Poison asked curiously, well aware of the situation with the Dracs and how he'd spent years trying to break the cycle.

"She disappeared after making sure I could get out of there on my own. I never saw her again even though I came looking for her every week. I knew she would stay in the City and other kids told stories about her, but I never actually saw her again until I saw her walking around the other day. It didn't click that she was that same little blue eyed girl until I heard you say her name the other day. What are the chances that I'd remember those pretty eyes when I saw her and then hear that name from you in the infirmary in the same week? I'd say odds are, we've got the same girl." Perish got up from the table. "I know this is a lot to take in, so I'm going to leave you to your thoughts."

He slowly meandered away from the table. Perhaps he'd left in such a hurry because he'd seen the realization hit Poison before he himself had realized it. Poison stayed seated and tapped his fingers against the table, waiting for the sound of the door closing behind him before he started really thinking about what he'd just learned.

The papers he couldn't find in the secret place he'd kept them. He couldn't stop thinking about them very suddenly. Frenzy must have taken them, of course she would. They had been rearranged when he'd gone looking for them and the secret drawer he kept them in hadn't quite been put away properly. When he'd first found it messed up a few days prior he'd thought that maybe he'd put it like that in his haste to double check the flyer but when he'd found the flyer gone he'd become suspicious that someone had tampered with what was in his drawer.

Now he knew that Frenzy had taken things from his drawer and knew what she was going to do. The thought had vaguely crossed his mind the day that she'd left but he'd pushed it out of his thoughts and occupied himself with Killjoy business.

"She's going to get herself killed." Poison exhaled, the realization flooding through him like a cold shower. "She's going to run into the City and set the place ablaze and let the damn fire take her with it. She's on a fucking suicide mission. I knew she was going to end up getting herself killed after finding all of that shit in her bunker, but I didn't think she'd go through with it." And why not? Because she met you and found something worth living for? Way to think so damn highly of yourself asshole.

"Fuck." Poison stood up and paced again. I can't do anything about it. If she wants to do it, then I can't stop her. Besides, who am I to stop her anyway? If this is what she wants then maybe I should let her be happy. But how could she think this would make her happy or fix anything? Clearly she's never known anything else so maybe she's not fit to make the decision.

"But who am I to say she's not?"

It's not like I can do a whole hell of a lot about it right? I've got to stay here and lead this damn army. But isn't it my obligation to help out Killjoys in need?

"She's not a Killjoy, she doesn't want my help anyway. She was constantly reminding me that she didn't need me."

Yeah, but she helped us so damn much when she didn't have to do anything. I know she doesn't deserve to die and I don't know how she got it into her head that she does but if I could just find her and set her straight, maybe things could be different.

"I can't just leave things behind here when we're at such a crucial point. I've got to find out where Disco Bitch is and I've got to find out what the hell is going on with that IOD project, I've got to find Death-iNation, Vengeful Venom and fuck… There's so much to do, so much to fix and all I can think about is this stupid fucking stubborn girl who is just out to get us all killed."

If I can't stop thinking about her, then maybe I'm not fit to do this anymore anyway. At least not until I can get her out of my head. Poison froze at that thought and gripped at the back of the chair he had been sitting in. If he could just get this out of his head he could get back to work. He used to have ways to get things out of his head but he'd sworn them all off years ago. It'd been ages since he'd had any sort of urge to abuse his body in such a way.

So what is it Poison? Are you going to lead the Killjoys to potential victory, or are you going to follow your heart, which is apparently a big fucking masochist. You can't have the best of both.

Poison hung his head in thought, realizing the answer was far easier than he had expected it to be.