Faith Is Unavailable

Twelve sat there thinking and anticipating. She knew what was coming, she just didn’t know when. She, Silver Sands, Show Pony and Dr. Death Defying were in the diner waiting for word from the guys.

They had all gone out with Girl to chase around some Dracs -an idea Sands hadn’t liked from the beginning- and they hadn’t heard anything for a few hours. The sun was going down and Show Pony was on the roof skating from one side to the other listening for anything that sounded remotely like an engine in the distance. Not even the wind carried the sound he so desired to hear to his ears.

“There’s something on the horizon!” Show Pony shouted down to Silver Sands who was watching from the ground.

“I don’t see anything.” She said shielding her eyes from the setting sun.

“Just wait a moment.”

“I’m not waiting.” Suspect 12 said grabbing her green helmet and securing it beneath her chin as she walked out of the diner. “I’m going to meet them.”

“I don’t think it’s the guys.” Sands said when she saw what was coming.

“And that’s why I’m not waiting.” Twelve said kick starting her engine and jumping on.

She knew that the Dracs couldn’t get that close to the diner because then they would realize where the Killjoys had been living and Korse would get what he wanted. This was her only choice.

Silver Sands watched for a moment and then picked up her helmet off the table. Dr. Death Defying watched her. Star Killa was sitting in a booth knowing that she had to sit this one out. Dr. D didn’t want her in combat until her felt like she was ready for it. To be honest, she didn’t feel like she was ready mentally for that either.

“You still think she’s a double agent?” He asked.

“I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to let her defend the diner on her own and get all the credit.”

“When you say that you mean you’re not letting her alone with them.” Dr. Death Defying said from behind his dark glasses as he played with some strands of his hair.

“You know me well.” Sands smiled walking out to get her bike.

Show Pony was already outside sitting on Silver Sands’ bike waiting.

“What, are you riding bitch?” Sands asked.

“You know it.” Show Pony laughed putting the visor down on his helmet.

Sands threw her leg over the bike and kick started the engine. Show Pony held on as she went full throttle after Twelve.

Suspect 12 was already shooting at the oncoming Draculoids and they were shooting back. She caught a shot to the shoulder but it didn’t hurt that bad; that’s when she knew they had their guns set to ghost and had come for her.

She pushed her dirt bike to its top speed and flew past the Dracs. A few peeled off that were on motorcycles to follow her but the rest continued on towards Silver Sands and Show Pony. All the while Dr. Death Defying was watching and aiming his gun though he knew he was way out of range. He was wishing he could be out there fighting but he didn’t have a car and couldn’t ride a dirt bike.

Soon enough Silver Sands had caught up to Suspect 12. Twelve nodded at Sands and Show Pony. Silver Sands pulled in front of Suspect 12 having the faster bike and led the chase away. Suspect 12 was a little annoyed because she had been cut off but she just followed. There was nothing she could do at that point.

The Draculoids were catching up to Suspect 12 quicker than she thought possible. One of them was just a few feet away but he wasn’t shooting at her, he was trying to get close enough to grab her. In fact, all of the Dracs had stopped shooting at Twelve and were only trying to capture her.

She tried to shoot them down but there were at least ten of them. Soon enough she had one on either side of her and they were drifting closer to her. She wished she had let Fun Ghoul tool around with her bike to make it faster when he had wanted to. She had told him she didn’t need it. Boy was she regretting that now.

“They’re gonna get Twelve!” Show Pony yelled over his shoulder to Silver Sands.

He was now sitting on the dirt bike backwards so he could shoot at the Draculoids better.

“That’s what they want.”

“We’ve gotta help her.”

“Turn around.” Silver Sands said telling Show Pony to change his position.

After he was sitting forwards on the bike Sands spun the bike around and headed back into the crowd of Dracs speeding their way. The Draculoids all stopped their bikes in the middle of the road preferring hand to hand combat so Silver Sands stayed on her bike and chose to try and run a few over.

By the time she had her bike coming in again for round two they had overwhelmed Suspect 12 and ghosted her. One of the Draculoids threw her over his bike and sped off towards the City.

Show Pony jumped off Silver Sands’ dirt bike aided by his roller skates and picked up Suspect 12’s dirt bike. He had just enough time to kick the engine before the Dracs were descending on him. He dusted the few that were closest to him but then went after the one that had Suspect 12. It was no use though, the bike was too slow and he had to turn back because it was low on gas.

By the time he was back to where he had jumped off Silver Sands’ bike she was in the middle of bodies strewn all over the road just running her fingers through her hair to comb out the knots the wind had created.

“Guess you didn’t need to much help.” He said shutting the bike off.

“Six ain’t nothin’.” She said not even looking at him. “They get Twelve?”

“Yeah, her bike is too fuckin’ slow to catch them.”

“Mine would have been too. It’s old.” Sands said even though she knew it would have caught up enough to get a few good shots and rescue Twelve.

“Faster than this P.O.S.” Show Pony said kicking the bike.

“Come on, we’ve got to get back to the diner. The guys might have radioed in and Dr. D and Star Killa are alone.”

They both kicked the engines at the same time and headed back to the diner being very cautious to make sure there were no Dracs left. Night had fallen and as they approached the diner the outline of the Trans-Am was clear.

Sands smiled wanting nothing more than to see Party Poison and gloat about the six Dracs she had taken down and to be able to tell Girl how she did it so that one day Girl could do the same.

Of course there was the news that they had taken Suspect 12 but Silver Sands wasn’t too concerned other than about what it would do to Jet-Star. She had known for some time that Twelve was a double agent, just no one believed her so she kept quiet now.

“Three of you left here.” Dr. Death said from his wheel chair as Silver Sands put her dirt bike away.

“And two return.” Sands said walking towards him.

Dr. D eyed Show Pony getting off Suspect 12’s bike and knew something had taken a turn for the worse.

“They took Twelve.” Show Pony said pulling his helmet off.

“They got her too?” Jet-Star -now with an eye patch on his right eye- said walking out after overhearing the conversation.

“Too?” Sands asked suddenly tense. “Who’d they get from you guys?”

Jet-Star realized that she had no idea Korse himself had shown up with a few Scarecrows in Draculoid masks and taken Girl.

“Girl.” He said quietly.

“Party Poison!” Silver Sands yelled walking into the Diner. “What the fuck happened?”

He was sitting in a booth with his head in his hands. For a moment she felt his pain but then her rage came back. Her little girl was gone, the one that made her feel like a human.

“I’m sorry.” He said with his head still in his hands. “They ghosted us and when I woke up they had her and all Korse said was ‘Keep running’ and then I passed out again. I don’t know what happened. I just...”

After calming down a bit, Silver Sands sat next to Party Poison. She lifted his head from his hands and looked into his eyes. “We will get her back.”

Jet-Star was still out back with Show Pony listening to all the details of the fight with the Draculoids. Dr. Death Defying was watching Jet-Star’s heart break. He knew that feeling once, but he wouldn’t talk about it with anyone or even let anyone know he was broken. Jet-Star went to grab a dirt bike and Show Pony stopped him.

“You can’t go after her. That’s what they want right now.”

“I have to.” Jet-Star said, every fiber of his being was pulling him towards the City.

“They’re too strong and if you go you ain’t comin’ back.”

Jet-Star listened that time and went solemnly into the diner.

“Where are all the people who normally come here at night for shelter?” Kobra Kid asked.

“They probably heard about the fight and the increased number of Dracs and are laying low.” Fun Ghoul said from his position on the mattress.

He was nursing a wound to his shoulder. One of the Scarecrows got him with his gun before it was set to ghost and now he could barely lift his arm. Dr. Death Defying came over to look the shoulder over.

“At least it’s not my shooting arm. I’m going to need that.” Fun Ghoul said, always the one to look at the bright side.

Star Killa laid on the mattress next to Fun Ghoul and kissed his shoulder. He smiled and for a moment let the girl take him away from what he was worried about. It was selfish of him to forget about Girl and Twelve, but his mind needed relief.

“None of you can fight in this shape. You’ve gotta wait a day or so. Nothin’ is gonna happen to Girl or Suspect 12. They want us to come after them.” Show Pony said sitting on the edge of the mattress Fun Ghoul and Star Killa were lying on.

Girl was sitting in a room with white walls, a white floor, and a white ceiling. She hadn’t been inside many buildings in Battery City but she had noticed a theme. White. She was bored of it.

Trying to act tough didn’t work out for her when the Scarecrows just led her to this Sleeper Cell. Now that there was nothing and no one around she was scared. She tried not to cry but tears escaped. She felt like she was being watched and she didn’t know what was going to happen to her.

She sat on the bed that was in the room and crossed her legs in front of her. She looked around the room hoping there would be something to do or something to see but there wasn’t anything but white. There was a glass on water on the table next to the bed but she didn’t drink it for fear of what could be in it. She had heard enough from Suspect 12 to know not to touch it.

For what seemed like a long time she was in that room alone and had nothing but her thoughts. Then there was noise near the door and it opened. Someone was thrown in the room with her and then the door was shut and locked again.

Girl knew who it was instantly even though she was missing her jacket and her twin blue ran guns from their orange holsters.

“Twelve!” Girl shouted in surprise and relief.

She hopped off the bed and ran across the room to the woman on the floor. Then she realized she had been badly hurt and was out cold. Girl didn’t know what to do but thought the water would be okay to dab on Twelve’s forehead.

She went back to the table and grabbed the glass and smelled it before deciding it was okay to try and wake Twelve up with it. She dipped her hand in the glass and then started to dab Twelve’s forehead hoping this would help. She had seen Dr. Death defying do it to Kobra Kid and Jet-Star when they had both been ghosted on separate occasions.

Girl became more and more anxious when Twelve didn’t wake up. Girl knew she was alive because she was breathing but she couldn’t do anything to wake her up so she just sat against the wall with Twelve’s head in her lap. Every once in a while she would put some water on her forehead but that was all she could do.

There was no way of telling how much time had passed between when Suspect 12 had been put in the room and when she woke up but Girl was happy when she finally did. They hugged for a long time. Suspect 12 was quite surprised to see Girl upon waking and but then realized that meant they had both been captured.

“Are you okay? What did they do to you?” Girl asked.

“Never mind about the shape I’m in. I’ll keep you safe tonight.” Suspect 12 said pulling Girl into her chest.

“But you’re all messed up.”

“I’ve had worse.” She assured Girl.

“Sector F?”

Suspect 12 nodded. “I can remember parts of it now.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve just been dreaming about it. Things are slowly coming back.”

“Maybe one day you can remember everything and then we’ll get out of here.”

“Maybe.” Twelve said smiling at Girl.

She knew right there that she should be telling Girl everything but she couldn’t. There are times when things should be done but at the same time it’s not appropriate to do them. If she told Girl now then that would wreck all of Girl’s hope of ever getting out of Battery City and Suspect 12 wasn’t going to have her give up on that yet. She was still loyal to Korse but a small part of her that had been growing was loyal to the Killjoys; most of all to Girl and Jet-Star.

The both of them got up off the floor and went to the slightly more comfortable bed. Girl made sure that Suspect 12 had the pillow and then curled up against her side using her arm as a pillow. Twelve smiled and pulled Girl closer.

“You’re all I have now.” Girl said.

“Don’t think that way. The boys are on their way to save us.” Twelve smiled hoping that wasn’t true.

A Scarecrow opened the door and motioned for Twelve to follow him. She got up from the bed, trying to get Girl to stay on it but she wouldn’t listen. Girl stood in the middle of the room as Suspect 12 began to leave. She looked back at Girl who seemed about to cry.

“Hey, don’t worry about this.” Suspect 12 said kneeling in front of Girl. “They probably just want to ask me stuff and then I’ll be right back. You be strong. Remember what we taught you.”

Girl just nodded. Suspect 12 kissed the top of her head not knowing when she would have another chance to do that and then stood up to follow the Dracs out of the room. Then they were heading down a hall. Suspect 12 was colder than she could ever remember being. She had lost her jacket somewhere back in the zones during the fight.

She was put into another room but this one had a shower and fresh clothes. This was the first time she had seen her actual uniform that she had been measured for. She took a shower and cleaned herself up as best she could. The Dracs that had attacked her had done a good job in busting her up, but there was medication for that in her room.

She was almost as good as new by the time she was redressed in the blue and white of a Battery City elite with her new twin white BLI ray guns, something she had wanted to cling to from her past life as a Killjoy. This was something she liked looking at in the mirror. She knew everything was almost over and she could be one person soon.

Right on cue, Dracs came into her room and she knew where she was headed next. She didn’t even need them to lead her to Korse’s office. She’d been there so many times in the past it was like walking home. The slow walk there almost killed her. She had been waiting for this for so long.

Korse was waiting in his office when she opened up the doors. He was pleased to see the woman he had fallen in love with in his colors. To tell the truth he was expecting her to show up in her usual gold and black leggings, white tank top and leather jacket, and not to mention those hideously bright blue twin guns made only brighter when they were in their neon orange holsters. He almost missed that sight of the wild woman who stole his heart.

“Nice to see you in our colors again.” Korse said smiling.

“Well who am I loyal to after all?” Twelve asked walking into Korse’s open arms and letting him kiss her.

“I have something for you.” Korse said reaching behind himself and pulling out Twelve’s jacket.

She took it from him and looked at it with a bit of a smile. “I would have thought you would want to burn this.”

“Never.” Korse said. “I quite like you in it actually. It reminds me of just how wild you are.”

“I don’t think I’m that wild.” Twelve laughed. “At least I won’t be after a while.”

“I hope that proves to be untrue. One of the things I love most about you is how wild you are.”

Twelve blushed and shrugged into the jacket before putting her arms back around Korse.

“We might have to have it cleaned though.” He said.

“Did I always smell like that?”

“Usually.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No problem love, you will never smell like that again. Come, we have the Killjoys to prepare for.”

“I’m not doing any fighting against them, am I?” Twelve asked as Korse put his arm around her waist and began to walk away from his office.

“I would not want to risk your safety. You will be with Amy monitoring everything.”

“I wanted to fight. Or at least help defend you.”

“That will not be necessary.”