Bulletproof

I hadn’t slept all night. I knew that from the rising anxiety that was caught in the back of my throat- paranoia was always something I experienced when I was the only one awake in a dark room, which happened a lot after I’d started living with Sasha in Battery City. I found myself seated on the chest in the office, all the lights off as the guys slept off their injuries, Kindred slept off her fatigue from God knows what, and Dr. D and Show Pony just slept. I wasn’t able to sleep because I was worried about my boys. They might’ve looked a lot better since Kin and I found them, but that didn’t mean they were in the clear just yet. I didn’t want to wake up to find out something bad had happened. I was worried about Grace, too; on top of that, I was mad as hell. What was so important about little Gracie that they needed to steal her away from the only family-like group of people she had?

They’re trying to get to the guys.

I nodded to myself. That made sense. The Fabulous Killjoys were the most infamous of us all, so of course BLI would use whatever they could think up to get to them. They’d get to them, and then they’d try to destroy them. I scoffed. I glance at them all again, my eyes only to make out the basic outlines of their shapes and features in the dark.

Destroy them? Impossible. They’re down, but they’re never out.

I got up, running a hand through my short, dark hair. Sitting still was going to drive me crazy, so I decided to just walk around the diner some. It had to be better than mulling over mortality in the dark, and I was too angry to sleep anyway. They’d hurt my friends, they’d drugged my sister, and they’d taken my parents and Gracie. I found myself wishing for a fight, the anger boiling up underneath the surface. If Kin were awake, she’d tell me that I should calm the hell down, that this kind of brooding wasn’t healthy. I chuckled under my breath, pacing up and down the hallway. I started counting my steps, distracting myself so that I could focus on other things.

“You really need to calm down,” Kin yawned, stretching and cracking her neck before leaning against the door to the office to watch me pace. I nearly jumped out of my skin, since I thought she was still sleeping and hadn‘t heard the door open.

“Shit, Scar,” I gasped, laughing quietly after catching my breath again. “You scared me. Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Same old reason,” she murmured darkly, and I nodded. She’d never tell anyone this, but she had terrible nightmares that plagued her almost every night. “How about you?”

“I’m fucking mad,” I told her honestly, eliciting a nod. She knew my temper, even if she didn’t know exactly what I was throwing a tantrum over.

“I figured. You’re always mad,” she teased, so I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. She returned the gesture before I started pacing again. “You’re not still going by Kindred, are you?”

“Not since you told everyone I was dead,” she laughed. “I’ve been going by Perpetual Hyperbole recently.”

“That’s a mouthful,” I comment pivoting on the ball of my left foot to turn back and pace the other way.

“Yeah, I know. It looks pretty badass on the Extermination posters, though.”

“I bet,” I chuckled. I stopped in front of my friend who looked at me curiously. “Are you ever going to tell me where you were all this time?”

“I will,” she nodded, “but not right now. I’m not done yet, so I can’t give away the details. It’s not that I don’t trust you, you know I do, it’s just that I don’t trust the situation yet.”

She’ll tell me when she’s worked out whatever it is.

I hugged her quickly, which she returned, squeezing my middle gently. “I’ve been worried about you. I mean, I see almost everything you do, but… well, you’re hopeless without other people. I’m glad you found these guys,” she muttered fondly into my hair. I laughed into her shoulder.

“You’ve been worried about me? I’ve had no clue about where you were, what you were doing, or who was with you. You know how scary that is?” I responded, pulling away from her shoulder. She looked a little sheepish.

“I’ve been more or less safe, traveling, and I’ve been alone. Seriously, Har, that’s all I’m giving you right now.”

“You know I’m not trying to pry, I just wanted to know that you piss me off sometimes,” I grinned at her, so she rolled her eyes before grinning back. She opened her mouth to reply, but I shushed her by holding up a finger. A quiet groan was coming from behind the door against which she leaned. I ushered her to the side before opening the door quietly to see who had woken up. My eyes had long ago adjusted to the darkness that enveloped the diner, so I peered around the room for any signs of life. My eyes shifted to and halted on Kobra’s form, curling in on itself as he let another quiet groan escape. I padded over before kneeling next to his little pile of blankets. His back was to me and his knees were almost touching his chin as he tried to hide from the pain.

“Hey,” I said softly, putting a careful hand on his shoulder. At the contact, he tried to roll over to face me. I helped him as best I could, a frown touching my mouth and a line of worry creasing my forehead. Once he’d successfully turned over, he looked at me through his disheveled blond hair, a grimace on his face. “What’s wrong, Mikey?”

He thought about his answer, probably taking stock of how he felt. “Everything hurts, but I’ll be fine,” he whispered back, his voice even quieter than mine. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Shut up, we’re not talking about me,” I chided gently, pushing the hair out of his face as I settled myself so that his head was resting in my lap. What can I say? These boys bring out the mommy in me. He frowned at me for a second before I ran the tips of my fingers gently through his tangled, blood-matted hair. His eyelids slipped closed over the bright hazel.

“I’ll be fine,” he grumbled again, sleepily. I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see me.

“I know, you’re a big tough Killjoy and nothing and no one can stop you. Save it and just relax some, it’ll help with the pain,” I lectured. The ghost of a smile slipped to his mouth for a little while as we sat quietly, listening to the snores of our friends. The office door opened a couple of minutes later as Kindred tip-toed in, sitting down noiselessly next to me.

“Who’s that?” Mikey asked, eyes not opening.

“Kindred,” I told him, glancing between his peaceful face and my friend’s worried one fondly. “She helped me snatch you guys out of the desert and bandage you up.”

“Thanks,” he murmured quietly, his eyes opening slowly to look between us. He looked at Kindred for a long while, but stayed silent.

“You’re the Kobra Kid, right?” she asked eventually, her voice soft. He attempted a nod of confirmation, but grimaced. I gently tucked his head back against my stomach so he’d stop moving it. While he seemed to be very out of it, he was actually more aware and awake than he looked. I suspected blood loss had something to do with why he was curled to me like a kitten, anyway.

“You’re the infamous Sister Kindred that we’ve heard so much about,” his reply wasn’t a question, just a simple truth. She nodded with a smile, glancing at me for a second as the smile grew.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Mostly good things, I hope.”

“Define ‘good’,” I teased easily, to which her response was to show me her middle finger. I chuckled quietly. “Very mature.”

Mikey shifted, attempting to get free of my grasp weakly. I rolled my eyes at his antics. “Would you just sit still and calm the hell down?” I huffed at him.

“I’m fine, let go,” he grumbled again. I rolled my eyes again to reiterate how silly I thought he was being.

“We’ve been over this. This is the part where you shut up and relax so you don’t hurt yourself further,” I told him, frowning.

“Freak, you’re mommying him. He’s a big boy who can make his own decisions,” Kindred chuckled. I turned my frown to her.

“You’ve slept on these floors, you know how uncomfortable they are,” I returned, and she shrugged.

“If he wants to be uncomfortable, that’s his call.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Mikey protested, interrupting our childish bickering.

“You hush up and relax, mister,” I huffed at him for what felt like the millionth time. “This is as much for me as it is for you, so humor me.”
He shot me a questioning glance. Kindred chuckled knowingly.

“What do you mean?” he asked when I ignored his silent prompt.

“I feel like I could tear apart Dracs limb from limb for days on end. I’m mad as hell and tense to boot. Sitting here in the quiet and feeling useful is helping, but now I’m just mad again,” I explained with a pout. He considered that information for a moment before he stopped wiggling around. He allowed me to keep petting his hair as his eyes closed again. Kindred smiled at the two of us.

“I never knew you had a maternal side,” she commented, but the way she said it made it sound more like an accusation. She was accusing me of going soft. Maybe she’s right.

“You should see her with Grace around,” Mikey commented sleepily. The mention of the little girl sent a hot stab of panic and loss through me. I felt myself tense.

“Grace,” I murmured sadly, biting harshly on my lip. Mikey’s eyes shot open again, looking me in the face as Kindred did the same. Kindred grabbed my free hand and held it tightly.

“She’s alright,” she told me confidently. I nodded sullenly.

“We’ll get her back, Harley,” Mikey backed her statement up. I nodded again, a little less woefully. Kindred looked questioningly at me when he mentioned my name.

“You told them?” she asked, sounding more curious than I’d expected. Honestly, I’d thought she was going to be furious with me. She was the only one I’d trusted to that extent for a very long time, the only person out in the Zones aside from my family who knew who the girl behind the mask was.

“Yeah,” I nodded, glancing around the room. “They’ve saved my life more than once. They saved me from Korse the night you and me split up. They’ve done a lot for me, so I felt like I owed them some kind of gratitude.”

She nodded, casting a searching glance around the room like I had. “If you trust them, then so do I. Stop looking like you’re waiting for me to hit you,” she added, frowning. I shifted my guilty gaze away from her face.

“Sorry, I just… I dunno, I expected you to be mad or something,” I explained frankly, and she laughed at me.

“Why would I be mad? Maybe I’m not thrilled that you told four strange men your name, but what am I going to do about it? You’re not stupid, Harley, you know what you’re doing when it comes to dealing with people. You wouldn’t have said anything if they’d given you even the slightest reason to doubt them.”

I nodded along with her words. “Glad you’re not mad,” I mumbled childishly, giving her a falsely shy grin. She laughed quietly, shaking her head.

“Whatever, you’ve never cared what anyone else thought about who you are or what you do.”

I looked down at Mikey’s head in my lap- he looked ready to fall back asleep. Before he got the chance, I had to interrupt him.

“Hey, Kobra?” I whispered. He cracked one eye open to meet my gaze and made an inquisitive humming noise, prompting me to proceed. “What happened to you guys out there?”

He frowned. “Korse.”

“Oh, shit,” I said, in unison with Kindred. We looked at each other, recalling our own run in with the mastermind behind BLI. Kin shuddered involuntarily and I felt a flare of that familiar anger. It must’ve shown on my face because Mikey opened his other eye to analyze my expression. Kin squeezed my hand in her own gently. I blew out a long breath, trying to calm myself. It didn’t really work, but I let my face relax some so that they weren’t as tense as I was.

“Fucker,” I grumbled irritably, unable to contain the curse. Kin snorted quietly, biting back her laughter. Mikey just allowed his eyes to shut once again. We were quiet then, sitting in an easy silence as the night wore on. I drifted off eventually, only vaguely aware of Kindred sleeping against my side and Mikey sleeping in my lap. I leaned back against the wall to settle in for the night.

… Which turned out to be a bad idea. When I woke up a few hours later, my back felt knotted all the way up my spine and my neck ached mercilessly. With a grumble, I popped my neck to alleviate some of the pain. It made a loud snapping noise, but everyone else was already awake so it didn’t really seem to matter all that much.

“Sick,” Gerard murmured around his mouthful of breakfast- of course it was Power Pup. I just gave my best dainty shrug before (barely) catching the can of Power Pup that headed my way. I looked at Kin, bewildered that she would think it was a good idea to throw shit at me first thing after I woke up. She sat down next to me and handed me a spoon. Popping the can open, I scanned my friends.

“How are you guys feeling?” I asked before taking the first spoonful of the mush. I was getting more and more used to the texture and flavor. It was even bearable if I didn’t smell it.

“Not bad, considering,” Ray voiced, though he leaned against the wall weakly. I glanced at him, then I stared. An angry red line made its way through his right eye. It had nearly torn the eyelid in half. I felt my eyes go wide.

“Holy shit, Jet,” I breathed, forgetting my breakfast as I made my way over to him. I seated myself in front of him, grabbing his face gently as I turned it from side to side, taking in the damage. “Oh my God…”

“Yeah, it’s pretty awful looking, isn’t it?” he agreed. I nodded wordlessly, still gaping. “I… well, honestly, I can’t really see out of it anymore.”

If I was shocked before, I was absolutely at a loss now. “Oh God, Jet, I’m sorry.”

“What’re you apologizing for?” he laughed easily, smiling his lovely smile at me. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know that, but…” I trailed off and shook my head, since I really didn’t have anything to add to that comment. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It does when I think about it,” he shrugged, “so I won’t. It’ll heal up and I’ll get used to working with one good eye.”

“Let go of his face and come eat your breakfast,” Kindred called. It took a minute to register, but I nodded and let go of his face, scooting back over to where I’d left my can. I picked it up and stared at the contents as I ate.

“How about the rest of you?” I asked after another few mouthfuls.

“Doing alright,” Ghoul commented, shrugging nonchalantly. “I mean, yeah, I’m sore and injured, but shit like that happens when you do what we do. People are going to get hurt and people are going to-”

“If you say ‘die’, I will never forgive you,” I told him, effectively cutting him off.

“Harley, you’ve got to understand that that’s a risk we’re all taking,” Gerard murmured. I shook my head defiantly.

“No, I don’t. It’s not going to happen. None of us are going to die. We’re going to make it through somehow.”

“I wish that were the truth, but chances are someone’s eventually not going to be able to bounce back,” he continued. I stared back at him with as much belligerence as I could muster.

“No. No one’s going to die. I get that it’s completely possible, but I’m not going to admit it’s probable. I’m not going to tell myself that I’ll die today or tomorrow. I’m not going to tell myself that this fight is a hopeless one,” I shot back hotly, standing and abandoning my can for a second time. I took a couple of quick strides towards the office door, and I could feel their stares as they watched me.

“Where are you going?” Mikey asked as my hand touched the knob. I shrugged without turning around and let my answer slide over my shoulder as I kept walking, leaving the door open behind me.

“To blow off some steam.”