Faith Is Unavailable

Dr Death had gone back to making as many rounds as he could Show Pony was on the roof again, but Star Killa was having trouble adjusting to this place without Fun Ghoul. He’d kept her out of all the “politics” of this place, which left her pretty well separated from everyone else. She was left alone once again.
Silver Sands didn’t have to ride far before finding a Drac to test the gun on. It spun on her hearing her bike aiming it’s regulation Better Living raygun just like the ones she used to build their cure gun.
It fired two shots at her -both missing- as she drew her cure gun and fired one dead on shot.
The creature in white hit the dirt.
She smiled to herself, “I think it works.”
Show Pony shouted down through the roof entrance to the attic that Silver Sands was coming back and she wasn’t alone.
“This is Charlie Harris, get her some food and take her up to the attic.” She said as she stopped her bike after everyone came out to see. “I can probably up the air pressure sending the darts out but other than that it works. I’m gonna teach you guys how to make them.”
Jet-Star had already come to help the disoriented girl off the bike.
“I have an idea about how to get the guys back. So I need to teach you guys tonight incase I don’t come back.” She spoke honestly finally stepping over her bike heading back inside.
“Are you gonna share this plan of yours Sands or just leave us here in the dark?” Dr Death asked trying to make the girl stop and think about whatever crazy thing was going through her head.
“Obviously I’m going to tell you guys. You all have your jobs too.” She turned to him. “I know you’re thinking this is some bonkers basic Silver Sands knee jerk reaction plan but I assure you this could be something that works! Plus I’m the only one who has to be in the line of fire. We can’t risk anyone else. First though we need to make more guns. Put your old friend Walker up on the roof as look out and send Pony. He covers ground the fastest. Tell him to take the Vend-A-Hack and get as many guns and batteries as the nearest machine has.”
Dr Death’s old friend had spent most of the day up in the attic resting up so he could watch over the night as he tries to put his life back together in his memory. All the time he’d spent behind that mask left him at odds with everything he’d once known of himself. He’d been lost for a very long time. Show Pony came back and Sands taught him, Jet-Star, 12, and Star Killa how to build the guns.
With only 6 guns finished they stopped for the night all finding the need to stop for the night. They were all stretched out over mattresses no one actually asleep.
“So are you going to share your brilliant plan with us now?” Dr Death Defying asked Sands as he slowly moved out of his chair with Show Pony’s help. “Watch your hands Pony.” He had to say something of that nature every time Show Pony helped him.
“Tomorrow you guys are going to go out and blow up an active Drac station. Of course we’ll fix the Dracs up bring them back here. But the disturbance will bring Viktoria, Twelve and Korse out of the city. The only two who would know me from Tori if I was all dressed in white.” She explained sitting up knowing she probably wasn’t going to sleep. “I have my old uniform hidden... I think I can still find it. Plus we have the Battery City bikes, no one would question it.”
“So this is totally bunk, you do nothing but say Twelve was on the other side now you want to get back into the uniform.” Star Killa said hotly she too now sitting up.
Sands stayed calm. “Twelve is on the other side, you got any better ideas? I know it’s sketch-tastic but it’s all we got that might give us a chance.”
Dr Death looked over at Sands, “So this really isn’t your typical reaction. This is something with only one explosion. If this was your usual there be at least 15. Pony and I can set up the explosion. Star Killa could come with us and help us get those Dracs. Jet and Girl can stay back and take care of this place.”
“Great, I get to be a housewife while y’all get to go fuck shit up.” Jet-Star paused thinking about what she’d just said and looked over to Girl. “Don’t repeat that language.
Her face furrowed trying to think of what it was she wasn’t supposed to repeat. The Killjoys had been so foul mouthed she had built up a pretty good vocabulary of ‘things she wasn’t supposed to repeat’.
Dr Death let out a sigh before finishing his original thought. “Once we come back they could take the van and go out Drac hunting with the new guns. We’re taking our armies back. Hold on to your seats children this is where the ride gets good.”
With that the conversation ended and everyone slowly fell asleep.
Everyone was still asleep when Sands went out to look for her uniform, she couldn’t stay asleep when that was all she kept thinking about.
She left as quietly as she could, everyone needed their sleep.
Her bike was sitting in the shed like always. She stopped for a moment thinking, looking around, realizing again the Trans-Am wasn’t anywhere around here. She wasn’t riding out only hoping Party Poison wouldn’t follow. She was leaving to get him back. There was nothing she wished for more than for him to follow her.
Bike kicking up dirt while she went, she left, more determined than ever.
Back at the house more than a half an hour away from the diner she was focusing on not getting lost in the scenery. She went back to the master bedroom. She saw the huge dark wood dresser, she remembered exactly where she put it. The left hand drawer third one down, as soon as she opened it the perfectly white uniform was staring up at her.
She laid it out on the perfectly made bed before going back to the attached the bathroom checking the water. She assumed it didn’t work but maybe by the same stroke of luck the diner had it would. She stood by the shower reaching in twisting knobs. Nothing. She figured she wouldn’t be so lucky. She figured she’d just use the sink back at the diner. It wasn’t a fixed faucet like you’d have in a home. It was on a cord and had quite a lot room to move it. It had always been their go to for quick clean-ups.
She went back to the bedroom back to the uniform that seemed to taunt her still. As if she was going back to the life she detests honestly not just masquerading as her sister.
Pipes started creaking, tearing Sands from the BLI uniform she hated. The sounds got louder more pronounced and she jogged back into the bathroom and the shower head started slowly streaming, gradually picking up speed as the pipes seemed to quiet down again. She knew she had a water tester strip in her bag.
She tested it and the strip told her it was safe enough for a shower. This was her first real shower in years. Not standing in the large sink hoping the guys would stay gone long enough not to worry about people barging in.
It was weird how human you felt through the simple action. Fun Ghoul -their resident shower guru- would have died for a shower and now she really remembered why. Once on a patrol they’d raided a Drac station and he’d made her keep watch while he snagged the shower he so craved. They weren’t even sure the Dracs weren’t coming back! He took more sink showers than most could comprehend -everyone had seen him naked at some point- but he did fit better than most.
As her thoughts ran back to the guys she couldn’t help but miss them. It reminded her more and more why she did this.
Wrapping herself in the towel hanging off the door she stared in the mirror and got her hair into the perfect tight bun atop her head. Finding just the right spot for it so the ruse could go without a hitch. Then it was crafting the black make-up that would seal the whole thing.
The mirror revealed our lady Killjoy looking just like one of the highest ranking Drac wranglers in the business.
She got back into her normal attire deciding to change at the diner so no one would be jarred seeing “Tori” sitting in the diner like it was where she belonged.
Once arriving home light had begun peeking over the horizon. Hours passed like minutes when plans with so much on the line were coming so close. It made her tense, worried that they’d miss a step and it’d all fall to pieces.
Everyone had risen from their short hours of slumber and were getting things into place, they wanted everything ready by the time a BL/ind day would start so it would throw off Korse’s whole day.
Star Killa was the first to spot Sands when she entered and her eyes damn near popped out of her skull. “New look?”
“Just stealing little sister’s, don’t worry she did it to me first.” Sands spoke adding a wink at the end simply for effect as she followed Girl’s trail up to the roof where she knew she’d find Jet.
“Ok so you guys are going to have to hit this station,” She spoke strategy to him over a map of the zones. “Zone 4 sector C, it’s the biggest operating outpost. Korse will be on his way the minute the bomb goes off. The computer systems are so linked that they know when the thermostat has been changed let alone when the place is blown to shit. So you guys have to get into that place get the people out and move the fuck out. You won’t want to get caught there.”
They could hear the ruckus of the van being loaded. Sands could see Girl’s worried face. Sands wished she could deviate to Girl’s troubles but she had to keep her head in the game.
Jet-Star was going to explain the plans to Dr D when she was preparing herself and they were done preparing for their explosion.
Sands glanced up as Star Killa was passing a gun off to Girl. She eyed them watchfully. She'd always rather giving Girl a gun then anyone else but there was no room for complaint at this point.
She began her descent down the ladder heading for the uniform she was dragging her feet to get into.
Things were moving at the speed of light around her, yet she felt like she wasn't keeping up. Finally dressed like a chip right of the old BLI shoulder she retrieved the new ammo from Dr D and loaded up with a stock Better Living gun to wear on display.
Then she was off to the abandoned drac shack between the city and their target where she'd watch the troops ride out toward their destroyed shelter so she'd know it was safe to start in. They couldn't rely on luck of timing for this one.
Arriving there she perched herself next to the window using a rigged up mirror to see the road not flinching until Korse, a fleet of Dracs, and Viktoria road passed.
As soon as she laid eyes on them she dropped the mirror knowing it wouldn't be heard over the sound of the motor cycles and Korse's modified out car. Waiting for the sound to fade into the distance she thought of the exact path she'd take through the building knowing they were still probably in the "morgue". This morgue was really just where they prepped the dracs. She still remembered where it was from what had been her office. She hadn't been a simple drac wrangler like Tori, she did the job Tori still wasn't qualified to do, Scarecrow wrangler. Much harder job as their more then glorified zombies. The way you taught them was much harder too as you did more than hand them a gun say "point and shoot" and move on.
Sands' mind had gotten so overwhelmed by the old memories drudged up to the surface that it startled her to realize the engine sounds had vanished.
Booking it out to her BLI bike she threw on the helmet and speed off. Driving like she was crazy as a road lizard was easy as breathing to her; good thing Tori had a bit of a led foot too.
Reaching the city she drove the way Tori was mandated to, like everyone else.
This was the second time that building was in her sights it was getting harder to swallow.
This time she pulled into employee parking to Viktoria’s spot real close to their entrance.
She walked up to the door seeing the same keypad as when she left. It was new then.
It took her punching in the code she never forgot in to get perfectly into character. To feel that old dull nothingness seeping through her soul soaking her to the skin chilling her to the bone. Finally the icy-ness slipped back into her eyes for the first time in years she looked more like her sister than could ever really be explained.
She remembered how the boss’s daughter got to walk through the building nose in the air never having to stop and explain where they were going.
“Viktoria,” A dark haired Asian woman Sands didn’t know from when she was here approached her with a friendly sound to her voice. “I thought you just left to survey the damage with your father and Rachel?”
She tried to remember to make herself sound more like Tori, looking like her was easy sounding was a lot harder to fake. “Father sent me back, told me that investigating the site was far less important than the task he wants me to preform here. I will bring you up to date later.”
Amy thought this suspicious but didn’t keep in step with her any farther, she assumed it was something people in her ranks weren’t yet to know. Still she was put off by the way Viktoria spoke to her, something didn’t seem right.
Sands made her way to the enemy morgue. The Drac shop. Where they’re built from the ground up. She knew the guys probably weren’t “in commission” -so to speak- yet. So they’d still be there, with any luck with toe-tags still in place.
It was two floors into the basement, only the impound lots were lower. Being below ground kept them hard to get to, only one entrance and exit from the impound lots. Korse liked controlling the place so tightly.
The code for the “Drac Shop” was 14 digits long, Sands still knew it like the back of her hand. This was one of the moments she was glad for the medications her father had given her while she worked for him. He made her memory impeccable, her stamina ridiculous. He was the one who made her so efficient in taking out his soldiers.
She typed in the code flawlessly not even seeming to struggle, with Amy watching her suspiciously on the screens in the surveillance center she had no room for error.
The door slid out of her path and she was instantly pushing herself through.
There were a dozen stainless steel medical tables out in front of her only seven or so filled. All of the bodies were in the Drac uniforms save for the boots.
She glanced around nothing had changed, this room still didn’t have cameras. No rebels really knew about this place and no one wanted anyone to see the things they did to Dracs to prep them.
She started walking down the line just glancing everyone over not looking at the toe-tags yet. Then she saw it, a single little tuft of hair hanging just passed the edge of the mask; bright red hair.
She lost her shit. “No.” She made all the sounds like she’d cry but kept her eyes as dry as she couldn’t let herself mess up the make-up. Seeing Party Poison, her counter-balance, in the enemy uniform.
She moved over his body placing her hand on his chest, putting her hand in his cold one. “I’m gonna get you out of here G baby.”
She reached to her holster and pulled out her cure gun and pushed it flush to his chest replacing her hand and pulled the trigger. Then moved knowing time was short and found Fun Ghoul and Kobra Kid.
Dr Death had refined the cure to rid it of the tremors. Of course Sands would have much rather seen it to know it was working.
As she saw them stirring she knew it was time to act.
“Ok boys you’re in unfamiliar clothes, in the worst place you could ever find yourselves in, and to top it off to make it out alive you have to listen to me.” She spoke in her voice hoping they know it well enough for her appearance not to startle them but decided to announce who she was just in case. “It’s Silver Sands. Now just stay quiet, walk behind me -maybe to my flanks-, you’re going to be off-kilter for a while, put on the boots.”
She turned her back facing the door falling back into character as her sister only hoping they can handle it once they realized they were dressed up like Dracs.
Soon enough they were at her back and she was pressing the combination to open the door back up.
When it slid open it was like there was a only a mirror on the other side. Sands stood toe to toe with Tori.
“Playing me I see. Just to get back your favorite rats. Oh, I should call father.” She spoke only to torment her sister.
“Wouldn’t be the first time. You’re my little sister you did tattle one hell of a lot.” Sands said boldly she wouldn’t be seen shaken and stepped forward making Tori take a stylish step back. “What’s gonna stop me from making sure you don’t say a word to anybody, possibly ever?”
Tori had kept moving with Sands, she faced the elevator Sands and the guys would need. Sands had her back to it so she could be between them and her when she waved them to walk over to it.
Tori just watched them with a satisfied smirk. “Father was only a moment or so behind me on my bike. Amy will tell him she saw two of me and probably already be printing out pictures of this moment to show him.”
“Are you telling me I need to knock you the fuck out now so I can start runnin’?” Sands asked harshly.
“No I can help you by not hitting the emergency button that will lock down the whole building and I will let you get out with your shitty little car.” She stood a little straighter smirked a little harder. “I’ll let you masquerade as me and get out if you do me... One. Little. Favor.”