Bulletproof

Kindred caught up to me as I was busy strapping my gun (which I’d taken off after we’d gotten back to the diner) to my waist. I ignored her as she grabbed at my arm in an attempt to slow me down.

“Harley, what’re you going to do?” she demanded, authority ringing behind her words. It was enough to halt my pace so that I could look back at her. I stared at her for a long moment, mulling it over.

“I’m going to get Grace back,” I announced decisively. She looked nothing short of unimpressed.

“By yourself? That’s a suicide mission and you know it. Do you have any idea where she even is?” she was trying to talk me down. It wasn’t going to work.

“No. I’ll find her if I have to tear Battery City apart in the process,” I returned stubbornly as I strapped my mask to my face. She sighed at me, still holding my arm. “Let go, Scarlet.”

She flinched slightly- it’d been a long time since she’d heard anyone use her birth name- but her grip didn’t loosen. She stared straight at me, and I could see the stubborn nature of my own character reflected in her eyes.

“You can’t do this alone, it‘d be stupid to try,” she commented eventually, her voice carefully even.

“So don’t make me,” I hinted. She looked like she was considering it. I raced around in my head to pick out reasons for why it was a good idea; I didn’t come up with many, but the few I had were decent.

“This is stupid,” she sighed eventually, shaking her head.

“No, it’s not,” I disagreed as calmly as I could. “They won’t be expecting an attack this early after beating the guys down. They didn’t want to kill them, just keep them out of commission for a while. Stupid move. Anyway, you’ve seen how they look. They’re not going anywhere soon, and BLI and Korse are counting on that. The defenses should be a little lacking. Besides,” I felt a savage grin paint my features, “they probably won’t be expecting us, either. We’re both supposed to be dead. We won’t be as noticeable as the four Fabulous Killjoys, at any rate.”

She looked like she was getting ready to argue, but I could tell that she was weighing her response carefully. “I really, really don’t think this is a good idea,” she started, “… in fact, it’s completely stupid. Though… oh, hell. You’ve always been able to talk me into the craziest shit,” she conceded. I felt the grin on my face widen.

“You’ll come with?” I asked hopefully, though we both knew that I already knew the answer.

“Someone’s gotta be there to drag your dead ass out of Drac territory,” she let a martyred sigh slip between her lips, but I could see the excitement building up in her. “I take it we’re leaving now?”

“We’d better,” I agreed with a nod. “The sooner we head out, the sooner we can start checking places. There’re lots of BLI outposts, and she could be at any one of them, assuming they didn’t take her straight to Battery City.”

“They probably didn’t. Not yet, at least. If we’re going off the assumption that you’re right and they’re taking their sweet time because there’s no immediate danger at the moment, they’re probably camped out somewhere. Korse didn’t exactly get out of there unharmed yesterday,” Kindred mused. I nodded.

“Okay, we should stock up on some supplies. A couple of cans of Power Pup and some power packs, maybe a few bottles of water if they can be spared,” I murmured, more to myself than to her. She nodded regardless, probably making some sort of mental checklist. She’d always been the planner between the two of us.

“I’ll get the stuff together. You should take care of anything you need to around here before we go.”

“Maybe I should say a quick goodbye to the guys,” I frowned. I didn’t like the idea of goodbyes, since they generally meant you weren’t coming back. That wasn’t the vibe I wanted to be giving off, since it’d probably be received badly. “Or at least apologize for being a bitch.”

“You know if they catch the hint they’re going to try and stop you,” Kindred raised her eyebrows. I sighed, nodding once again.

“I know, but I can’t just leave, no matter how angry I might be. It’s not fair to them. Plus, if for whatever reason we don’t come back, I don’t want to leave on a negative vibe.”

“Whatever you think is best,” she shrugged, setting out to pack our supplies in her bag. I spent a good two minutes plucking up the courage to head back into the office. Once I’d accomplished that much, I made my way over, but as soon as my hand touched the knob (since Kindred had apparently closed the door behind her as she came after me), I found my courage withering again.

C’mon, Harley, don’t be a baby. They’re all hurt, so they’re not going to be chasing after you effectively if you mess up the wording. Just go in and say what needs to be said. You’ll regret it later if you chicken out now.

After I’d mentally bullied myself into it, I felt my hand turning the knob slowly as my other hand slipped my mask back off my face and dropped it in the hallway. They’d get nervous right away if they saw me wearing it. I shuffled into the room after the door was open wide enough, trying to act casual as I avoided their gazes as inconspicuously as I could.

“Are you alright?” Gerard asked after a couple of seconds. I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded. I’d never really had a problem with lying before, but it was different when you were lying to your friends. I continued to stare at my feet, hoping that they would take it as embarrassment rather than guilt.

“Sorry about just now,” I murmured at the floorboards, but I knew they could hear me because it was dead silent otherwise. “I lost my cool. It’s no one’s fault but my own, so… sorry for snapping like that.”

“Hey, no big deal. It’s been tough out here recently,” Ray excused easily. I cringed inwardly at how easily he’d forgiven me. It made it that much worse to know that I was lying to them when they trusted me as much as they did.

“Yeah, whatever. Gotta blow off the steam somehow,” Frank agreed with a shrug.

“Well, uh, Kindred and I are going to go out and pick up my bike. I had to leave it yesterday so I could drive the car back,” I invented, glad that I was telling a half-truth. It was better than full-blown lying, at least. “We’re taking her bike, then I’ll ride mine back.”

“Okay, but be careful,” Gerard told me seriously. “Watch for surveillance cameras and patrols. Try to be back before nightfall.”

“Yeah,” I agreed noncommittally, practically choking on my guilt by that point. “You guys just take it easy, okay? Rest up and try to heal.”

I went around the room and distributed quick, loose hugs. While it was out of character for me to be so easily affectionate, I’d kept it to a minimum so that they wouldn’t get too weirded out.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys later,” I called, turning on my heel so that they wouldn’t see the frown on my face. They called out their farewells as I quietly closed the office door behind me, scooping my mask off the ground as I made my way to meet up with Kindred outside. I strapped it on my face and stepped out into the sunlight, striding to the bike. Kindred was already seated, so I sat behind her and secured myself to the machine by wrapping my arms around her waist.

Kicking the bike to life, she checked to make sure everything was in its proper place (me included) before we roared away from the place I’d been calling home. I forced myself not to look back, since I knew I’d regret it later. We rode like that until we reached the spot where we’d picked the guys up yesterday. She killed the motor and we both climbed off the bike. I looked at her questioningly.

“I think I might have some idea of where they’d have taken Grace,” she informed me. I looked at her, silently urging her to continue. “You know that outpost on the outskirts of Zone Three?”

“Outpost? That place is a fortress!” I replied. She shrugged.

“That’s why it’s our best bet. I’ve been busy since we split. I spent a lot of time monitoring BLI’s movements in the Zones, and they do a lot of work out there. It’s secure but not glaringly obvious, so they stay there on occasion if they’ve got a team out here for a long-term project,” she explained. I chewed my lip thoughtfully.

“Alright, it’s our only lead, so we might as well check it out. Do you know the way? My sense of direction gets a little rusty after Zone Four.”

“Yeah,” she nodded and straddled her bike again. I found mine quickly and coaxed it over next to hers. “Follow me, and keep sharp. Never know what’s lurking out here.”

***

By the time we reached the border between Zones Three and Four, night had fallen and darkness had chased away the daylight. We made camp in the middle of some scrubby little brushy plants, no fire. We’d been lucky enough to go uninterrupted until that point, so we didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. We hadn’t even spotted a patrol on the way out, and there were no cameras tracking our movements. While this might’ve seemed lucky, it put both of us on edge. It was going way too smoothly. Neither one of us made mention of that as we made ourselves ready for a quick snooze, though.

Only three hours later I was awake again, and I could tell that Kindred was too. Without any verbal exchange we both got up and got back on our bikes after making sure that there were no uninvited guests around. It took not even an hour after that to find our destination. We stopped a few miles away, coming up with a plan of action. It was still dark out, so we were going to try to work that to our advantage. Whoever had said that the dark was to be feared had clearly never been the scariest thing hiding in the shadows. That’s what I told myself as we proceeded cautiously. We left our bikes so the sounds of the motors wouldn’t alert anyone to our presence, opting instead to continue on foot. Kindred kept watch for patrolling Dracs while I shifted my glance every which way to look for cameras, but we saw neither. The knot that had been tangling in my stomach since we’d left was swelling, nudging against my sides and making the nervous feeling grow. Something’s not right.

Once we got closer, suits of white could be seen pacing around the entrances and exits to the building. It was a very geometrical sort of place, a few squares and rectangles pushed together and painted a neutral beige. It was bigger than most of the outposts and the smiling BLI logo was painted on the side. While it was a relief to see life other than Kin and I (even if they were the enemy), the face unnerved me. It almost felt like it could see us, like it was laughing at us. I see you.

I shook that feeling off as we got even nearer our target. There were four Dracs that we could see, all of them huddled in a group and chatting quietly. There were some stunted, crispy little bushes surrounding the building, which we used to creep up slowly and avoid being seen. The problem was that they were brittle; they snagged my hair and clothing and crunched lightly if you even breathed just a little too much. We moved incredibly slowly, which tried my patience to the extreme. I peeked my head up just enough to see what was going on with the Dracs.

They weren’t there anymore.

All of the alarms and whistles of warning I had in my system went off in that moment, making a silent cacophony in my head that made it nearly impossible to think. I realized I’d stopped moving when Kindred bumped gently into me from behind.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, so quietly that I was forced to stare at her lips to discern what she was saying. I made myself calm before answering.

“The Dracs are gone,” I replied, just as quietly. Panic flashed across her face quick as lightning and then was gone- if I’d blinked, I would’ve missed it. It was replaced with a resolved, stony look.

“Is there any movement at all?”

I peeked again, dropping quickly back down once I was sure of what I saw. “Absolutely none. It’s completely still out there.”

“That’s… ominous,” she murmured before swiveling around as quickly and silently as she could, making sure they weren’t behind us.

“You don’t think we missed a camera, do you?” I fretted. I’d had this awful feeling that that was exactly the case.

“I didn’t see any.”

“Neither did I. That’s almost worse…”

“Yeah, and no patrols ei-” she stopped mid-sentence, staring straight behind me with a blank expression. Why does this always happen? I turned slowly, afraid of what sight I might be met with. Dracs? Korse?

Neither, as it happened.

It took me a second to realize that whatever it was that she was looking at was above the bushes we were in. I craned my neck slowly, exposing myself as little as possible as I tried to see what had rendered my verbose friend speechless. As my eyes made their way above the tops of the bushes, I blanched. There, on the wall like you found on the tunnels in Battery City, was a message, projected from some unknown source.

Welcome, Killjoys.

Before I even had time to swear out of confusion and frustration, floodlights went on at all corners of the building, illuminating everything and leaving nothing unseen. I dropped to the ground in half a second out of instinct, trying to make myself as small and unobtrusive as possible. We both knew that it was no use, though. They’d find us within a matter of minutes if we stayed still, seconds if we ran. I could hear the footsteps of many people rushing around, branches snapping as they plowed through the bushes. They were so close to us that I hardly dared to breathe. Looking back at Kindred, I made up my mind quickly.

“Play along, stay quiet,” I ordered almost silently before I stood up slowly. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements that might get me shot. Beams of light were immediately thrown all over my figure, and I was blinded as someone pointed a light directly in my eyes. Squinting to try to see anything, the only thing I could make out for sure were the figures of many, many people standing around me in a wide circle, none of them moving.

“Proceed forward slowly and surrender your weapons,” someone ordered in a bland voice. I did as I was told, taking baby steps forward as I removed my gun as slowly and visibly as possible. As I made it to the Dracs, one of them snatched it from my outstretched hands, leaving me vulnerable. “State your name.”

“Freak Show,” I told him confidently, surprising myself with how calm I sounded. Another Drac flipped through a few leaflets of paper, shaking his head when he’d reached the end of them. Under my new name, I’d managed to not make the Exterminate listings.

“Where are your comrades?”

“I came alone,” I announced fearlessly, plowing through my lies easily. I had to be convincing if I wanted Kindred to get out of here safely.

There were murmurs of distrust amongst the group. The one that was evidently in charge gave me a long look through the eyeholes of his mask, taking me in.

“Seems like a stupid move.”

“I thought I had a better chance of not getting caught if I came alone,” I replied breezily.

“Our sensors picked up two distinct heat signatures, however,” he continued. I felt myself pale behind my mask, but I shook it off. Play it cool, Harley. “We picked up on you and your partner a mile out.”

“Partner?” I asked, as if I’d never heard the word.

“Don’t be stupid,” he scoffed back. “We can have your partner found within minutes if you fail to cooperate. The consequences will be dire.”

“Fine,” I sighed, letting my annoyance show. “I’ll make you a deal, then.”

“What can you possibly have to offer? You’ve got twenty guns trained on your person, and one little signal could have them firing holes through you until there’s nothing left.”

“Well, yeah, that could happen,” I agreed, “but then where would you get your information?”

“Information regarding what?” he snapped. He was losing his patience with me quickly, but I had his interest. I hoped that Kindred had made a little distance between herself and all of the BLI drones by now.

“The Fabulous Killjoys,” I declared, basking in the pregnant pause that followed. I heard a few quiet, disbelieving scoffs.

“That’s a bluff,” the head Drac nearly shouted, getting his subordinates to quiet down.

“If you say so,” I gave an innocent little shrug. “You know that Korse would be pissed if you killed me and it turned out I had information on them, though. Them, plus Dr. Death-Defying.”

“The pirate DJ…” he sounded a little less disbelieving now. “Tell us what you know.”

“That’s not a part of the deal,” I refused, crossing my arms. I’d all but forgotten that it wasn’t just him and me at that point. “I’m not telling you anything until you meet my requirements.”

“What’s your price, then?” he barked, losing his cool at last.

“You let my partner and a little girl that you brought in yesterday go,” I demanded. “If either one of them is so much as hassled, I’m not saying anything. You’ll just have to kill me and try to figure everything out on your own, which you’ve done a simply marvelous job of doing so far,” I teased. I was putting on a lot of bravado to hide my fear. It seemed to be working so far, so I stuck with that tactic.

Before I knew what was happening, I’d be seized by both arms roughly and was being dragged towards the building. All of the other Dracs followed, but I looked over every single one of them to make sure they didn’t have Kin. They didn’t. I allowed myself to be manhandled into the building, dragged to whichever room they pleased, and handcuffed to a table. I did all of it without a single complaint. They left me alone for a good while, somewhere like an hour. I couldn’t tell for sure, since there was no time-telling device in the room. Not even a window that I could look out of. Just white on white on white, everything clean and sterile and safe.

The door flew open and hit the wall with a crash, leaving a vicious dent as the door swung back shut from the sheer force. Korse sat down across from me, towing Grace with him roughly by the arm. She struggled against his grip, using her stubby, chewed-down little fingernails to dig into his fingers. He eventually let her go with a look of loathing. She yanked her arm back to her side but stayed where she was, until her eyes landed on me. She didn’t recognize me through the mask, happily enough.

Korse stared at me for a good few minutes, fingertips touching as he gazed over them at my mask.

“You claim to have information on the Killjoys and their pet DJ,” he recalled eventually. I nodded once. “Do you have proof?”

“I’ve been traveling with the Killjoys for the past month,” I explained briefly. Gracie’s gaze snapped to my face immediately, but I shook my head very slightly at her. She couldn’t make a scene, not now. Korse caught it, though.

“You are familiar with this child?” he questioned, spitting the word ‘child’ like it was the most foul curse word he could think of. I just nodded again.

“She’s been with all of us, yes.”

“Why should I meet your demand and let her go, then?” he probed.

“She’s just a child. They’ve told her nothing about their plans and she couldn’t find her way back to the hideout if her life depended on it,” I voiced coldly. I saw the hurt flash across her face and I felt bad immediately. I was glad for the mask. I’d have to play it like she really didn’t matter if this was going to go in my favor.

“Why should I believe they’ve told you anything?” he pried further. I gave another shrug.

“I was the one who picked them up after you were done with them yesterday. I was also the one that left you that charming little message on your walkie-talkie the night the Killjoys were sighted at the gas station. Plus, I helped them take out your little ambush unit in Zone Four,” I listed off casually. He seemed to consider me again.

“I will let the girl go in exchange for your information,” he told me decisively, his cold, dark little eyes boring into my blues as he stared at me again.

“Her and my partner,” I corrected. He nodded. “I want to see them off safely. If anyone so much as touches them, I’m not saying anything.”

He looked extremely annoyed, but he agreed. He uncuffed me from the table, but he pointed his own gun right at the back of my head as he marched Grace and I from the room. We reached the front doors soon after that, and he pushed Grace roughly forward. She gave him a dirty look and me one of concern and hurt before making her way through the doors. Kindred was on her knees with two Dracs standing sentinel at her sides. She spotted Gracie and was allowed to stand up after her two guardians caught the nod from Korse. They were escorted only as far as I could see before they were allowed to continue on their own, Kindred taking Grace’s hand and hauling her forward so that she didn’t have time to look back.

“Now, you hold up your end of the bargain. Tell me what you know.”