But Maybe We'll Live Forever

Dates.

Dates and times and who was supposed to be there.

Rory had given us a copy of a full year’s planner for BL/ind. Everything that was going to happen, everything that was planned, everything for the next year – was here. In this file.

It was like a gold mine.

“Fuck,” Jet Star breathed. “This isn’t the first step. This is the first ten steps.”

We were all silent, but it was obvious we agreed; the way we stared at the papers was just screaming triumph and amazement. I wondered how Rory could’ve gotten a hold of this without getting caught.

Then it hit me.

He was caught.

That’s why my brother was dead. He’d found the ultimate savior for us, and he paid the ultimate price for his cause. Their cause. Our cause.

My cause.

“I… can’t believe…” Bulletproof Liberation was staring at the papers with shock, sadness, and amazement in her eyes. I assumed the sadness was from the same realization I’d gotten: Rory had died for this.

“This is it,” whispered Party Poison. “This is everything we could ever want.”

After a few more moments of silence, Bulletproof Liberation stood up, the shocked features on her face completely gone. “Well,” she said, her voice controlled. “I supposed that we should get started right away then. We have nothing to lose.” She looked down at the papers. “Apparently Korse is making a speech for a new product in one week.”

“Wouldn’t doing something then make us considered to be… I don’t know, terrorists or something?” I asked cautiously, peering at the folder.

“We’re already considered terrorists. Actually, we’re considered to be worse than terrorists.” Fun Ghoul smirked at me. “Welcome to the world of the Fabulous Killjoys, m’dear.”

I blinked, shocked, for a moment. I guess I should’ve seen that coming, but hearing it out loud just made it a thousand times more real.

After a moment, though, I eased my face into a sly smile. “Well, then let’s get this shit going.”

Everyone laughed heartily; Fun Ghoul even threw his head back.

“Now that’s the spirit,” Jet Star laughed.

I smiled softly along with them. I figured that this was going to be dangerous, but it was all for Rory. This whole entire battle that I was a part of now was all for Rory. And in the meantime, maybe I could also raise some hell and have fun doing it.

For Rory.

“Sunshine!” Bulletproof Liberation called out. “C’mere, sweetie! We’ve got an adventure to go on!”

Grace shot out of her room faster than the speed of light. “What? What are we doing?”

We all laughed some more. She was so cute. So eager to fight our fight alongside us. It was refreshing to see someone so young want to do that.

But then again, it was sad. Sad that someone so young felt the need to fight in a war.

“Alright,” Party Poison said, his strong voice almost echoing through the room. “If Korse is making his public appearance for the speech in one week, that gives us one week to get there. With stops for rest and food, it should take us two days to reach Battery City. If we decided to stay low for a while, which I think we should do, we could stay here for two days. That’s four days. Once we reach Battery City, we have to get more details on what exactly is going on and devise a plan. That would give us the remaining time, three days. On the third day, that’s when he’d give his speech. So that would mean that we’d have until exactly the last minute to attack.”

“Well, that’s how we work,” Kobra Kid said. “Fast, choppy, and cutting it close. I think it sounds like a good plan. I’m in.”

“I think we’re all in,” Bulletproof Liberation said.

“What’s happening?!” Grace was excitedly jumping up and down, her eyes wide with amazement and excitement. “What’s going on? What are we gonna do?”

“Sunshine, love,” Party Poison said, his voice suddenly soft, much different than what he usually sounded like. “We’re going on a mission. It’s very dangerous, but you can come if you like. We will protect you and Bulletproof with all our power.”

I smiled softly. It was touching, what he said. Sweet and soft and loving all at once. I’d never seen this side of Party Poison; I hadn’t known it existed. He seemed like the classic leader of a group like ours: holding back all emotions carefully, never showing any real connection, mentally separate from everyone else. I liked this side of Party, I hoped that I could see it more often with Grace around.

Grace smiled brightly and ran over to Party, hugging him. Party softly hugged her back, his eyes closed and a quiet smile on his face.

“Well,” said Bulletproof, clapping her hands. “You’re more than welcome to stay here in the meantime. We have plenty of room. We have a few more beds available and there’s the couch, and I have sleeping bags for whoever needs to take the floor.”

We all nodded and thanked her.

“Hey,” I said, smiling a little. “We’re in Las Vegas, for God’s sake. Let’s have some fun while we’re here. We got nothing better to do.”

Bulletproof smiled. “I think you’ve got the right idea.”