FicWad

I had always been told not to stare, but it was kind of hard not to. After spending so long staring at monochromatic shades of white, it almost hurt my eyes as I tried to take in the bright colours and their crazy hair styles. I glanced down the line, taking in the men who had been my hero’s for so long.

Kobra Kid stood with his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched up underneath his bright red leather jacket. The visor on his helmet was pushed up and I could see his narrowed eyes which meant he was either edgy about more Dracs showing up or that me and Grace were taking so long. I thought it was probably both. Next to him was Fun Ghoul, looking quite dishevelled with his long black hair all over the place from the fight. He had taken off his Frankenstein mask and was smiling down at me and Grace, looking a little amused that we were still hugging. Jet Star was next to him, struggling to take off his helmet and when he finally managed to remove it, he revealed such a thick head of curly hair it amazed me he managed to put up with it in the heat of the desert. He was grinning broadly and turned to smirk at the man to his left; Party Poison. His bright red hair gave the impression that his head was on fire and he returned Jet Stars wide grin with a smaller smile of his own, one of quiet success and triumph.

Every inch of them screamed “INDIVIDUAL!!” They didn’t have to hide who they were, they could be themselves, be free – be something I had dreamed of being all my life. They really were the Fabulous Killjoys.

It took me a moment to work out that I was still gawping at them open mouthed and remembered to close when I heard my Grandma’s voice in my head saying something about flies. I somehow managed to get up without letting go of Grace, who still clung to my side like the little monkey she was. It occurred to me that I should probably say something, like “Oh hey, thanks for saving mine and my sister’s life, and by the way, you guys are my hero’s, can I have your autograph?”, but i couldn’t seem to find the words to do it. Eventually, Fun Ghoul grinned and extended his hand.

”Hi, I’m Fun Ghoul,” I shifted my right hand out of Grace’s and stepped forward to shake his.

“Jess. Jess Brown,” I managed to say without stammering. Ghoul smiled and acknowledged the men behind him, who were now inspecting bodies and checking cars.

“I’m assuming you know the rest of the guys – hopefully, you’ve paid attention to D’s radio shows,” he beamed.

“Er, yeah, I, er, I pay attention,” I stuttered, managing to sound like a complete idiot. As Ghoul turned to join the others in their hunt for more weapons (and hide a smirk, I assumed), a worrying thought occurred to me.

“Wait, how did you know I’ve been listening to Dr. D’s broadcasts?” Jet Star curly head popped up from under the hood of a car to answer me.

“Well, to be honest, it wasn’t that hard to trace the only signal from D’s shows going into the city. It’s probably how they found you in the first place,” he said, gesturing to the Dracs scattered around. I froze – that thought had never crossed my mind! Of course they could track me down, who else wouldn’t notice an illegal broadcast going into one of the world’s most secure and uptight cities?

“Ah shit! I never even thought of that! How could I have been so stupid, of course they found us!” I had begun pacing back and forth, something I always did when I was pissed off. “Oh god, now what are we gonna do?” I felt a tug on my hand and looked down to see Grace looking up at me with scared eyes.

“We can’t go home now, can we Jess?” it amazed me sometimes how perceptive this kid was. I took a deep breath and said calmly, “No Gracie, we can’t,” Her lower lip began to tremble. “B-but, w-where are we g-gonna l-live now, a-and w-what about m-mum and dad-“her eyes started to well up and I knelt down to face her. “Hey, don’t you start the waterworks now. I’m gonna work something out, just you wait, we’re gonna be fine-“

“Hold on!” yelled a voice nearby. We both jumped and turned to face Party Poison staring at us like I’d just insulted him somehow. “You didn’t think we went to all that trouble just to leave you to fend for yourselves, did you?”

My eyes bugged out of their sockets. No way, he couldn’t mean, did he seriously just say-

“Hey guys, the cars good to go and I don’t think we’re gonna find much more on these guys,” Jet Star called out. The others all began to walk towards the Trans-Am parked haphazardly down the street. Kobra Kid still had his shoulders hunched, which I guess meant he was edgy about being in one place too long. Fun Ghoul looked back at me and Grace, and called “Are you coming then?”
My heart did a little swoop – YYEESS!! They really wanted us to come with them! I began to walk towards the car eagerly, but was stopped by a small tug on my hand. Grace had not moved and was staring at the car with something like fear on her face.

“Jess, I’m scared, I don’t think I wanna go . . .” my heart sank again. “Gracie, we have to go, there’s nowhere else for us and these guys are our only hope.” Grace continued to look frightened and wouldn’t budge. I heard someone behind me mutter “Oh, for fucks sake,” and turned to see Kobra Kid walking over, sill looking annoyed. I quickly shielded Grace from him. I wasn’t sure I liked this Killjoy yet with his surly attitude and impatience and I sure as hell wasn’t letting him near Grace until I was certain I could trust him. Party Poison came over too, looking annoyed as well, but more with Kobra Kid than me and Grace, I thought. Kobra stopped in front of me, raised his eyebrows at my protective stance in front of Grace and asked very sarcastically, “May I speak to Grace, please?” I was very tempted to say no, but a sharp glance from Poison told me not to argue. We needed to get out of here, and fast.

“Well, since you said please,” I said just as sarcastically back. He sneered at me before I stepped aside. When I still looked reluctant to let Kobra talk to her, Party Poison leaned in and whispered, “Don’t worry, he’s great with kids,” I resisted the urge to laugh, as I highly doubted that this grumpy man could speak kindly to children.

So he surprised me when he knelt down so he was at Grace’s eye level and smiled- actually smiled- kindly at her.

“Hey, kiddo. I’m Kobra Kid, nice to meet you,” Grace looked at him curiously “That’s a weird name,” Kobra smiled again and said, “Well, that’s my name, like it or not. Yours is Grace, right?” She nodded slowly. He lifted a hand to the gash on her cheek and when she flinched, he said reassuringly, “I’m not gonna touch it, I just wanna look,” Grace decided he was telling the truth and didn’t flinch away this time. Kobra looked into her eyes and asked her very quietly, “Did the Dracs do this to you, Grace?” she nodded again. “Well I’m not gonna lie to you Grace, cause you seem like a smart kid,” he smiled again, “But no matter what happens now, the Dracs are gonna come after you. But if you come with us now, there is a lot less chance of them ever hurting you again. But if you stay here, then it’s gonna be a lot worse,” Grace’s eyes widened with fear and I was about to step in when I felt Poisons hand on my shoulder and stayed where I was. Kobra Kid was still talking to Grace.

“You trust your sister, right?” He got a small nod in return. “Well, your sister trusts us and we would never let anything happen to you whilst you’re with us. Besides, I think your sister would skin us alive if we did,” “Damn right I would,” I muttered behind him, and I saw him smirk before turning back to my sister. “So whaddya say, Grace? You wanna be a Killjoy like your sister?” A moment’s silence, then – “Okay.”