Two

We stuck around the compound to see if we could find her that night. Bingo. We found her kept like an animal. Is that how they think of us? She was caged like a bird outside the main building. A very beautiful bird, a phoenix. Hopefully, a more responsive Psycho would be born from the ashes when she dies again.

"Psycho." I whispered, Gerard in the bush behind me as I crept forwards. There was no answer. The spotlight sweeping the yard caressed her face, she was out. Unconscious I knew, as she would not be asleep on her own accord.

A dried river of crimson came from her hairline, her hair loosely blanketing her cheeks. Her face had softened with sleep, making her seem innocent and younger.

"Psycho." I repeated, creeping like a shadow towards the cage. She was leant against the steel bars. I used foliage to disguise myself from the patrolling beam of light. I squeezed her shoulder. She woke with a start, flashing me the irises I miss.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. "You're going to get caught! They have cameras on me." She said, her eyes narrowing to express her pain to me.

"It's the middle of the night. No one is watching surveillance." I reassured her. She shrugged off my hand from her shoulder with grace.

"Then why did that camera in the tree just turn to us and zoom in?" She asked. A wave of panic washed over me, nausea mixing with determination.

"In that case, we need to get you out quicker." I grinned.

"No, you can't do it tonight." She insisted. I had a better look at her eyes, lost their shine to mydriasis.

"Your eyes..." I whispered, cupping her face in my hands. Her face crumpled in pain, one tooth denting the perfect petal of her bottom lip.

"Please, Fun Ghoul, please don't get yourself caught tonight. Come back for me, just don't dive in." She pleaded, her hands gently grasping my wrists. Her knuckles were crimson too, a sign of her fighting back. "Take out the camera, leave the spotlight - it will help." She told me. "Make a plan, but come alone, I don't want the others getting caught." She said. "And make Party Poison promise to look after Revenge for me, in case I... don't come back." Her eyes narrowed to fight off invading tears.

"Don't say that-"

"Make him promise, for me." She interrupted me. Her grip tightened on my wrists, and then loosened, a sign for me to retreat. I looked at her drooping eyelids, watched her until she fell back to slumber, then met Gerard back in the brush.

"She's there, alright." I told him.

"So what's the plan?"

"There's no plan. I'm going to save her, it's that simple. But you've got to-" I paused, scrunched my eyes shut. "She made me ask you to promise to look after Revenge if she..." I trailed off, and Gerard nodded.

"I'm sure Kobra is doing that just fine." He smiled weakly, looking over at his brother and the woman as they sat together laughing under a wide tree. "We're going to get her back." He reassured me, sitting on an artificial rock. I frowned.

"I just want to be free of this place. Brings back... memories." I told him. He nodded sympathetically. "My sister was brought here. They got her before she could run with me." Ray was keeping watch, so I allowed myself to indulge in my memory. "I don't know what happened to her. Maybe a mystery for another time, after we've saved Psycho and had a little time being back to normal out in the zones."

"Normal?" He snorted.

"Well, normal for us." I corrected myself. "How are Kobra Kid and Revenge?" I asked. He glanced over my shoulder, and a smile cracked his face.

"I don't think we need to be worried about them." He grinned. I turned round, and they were asleep, curled up together. Suddenly, his face turned serious. "So, what's the plan to rescue her?" Bringing me soberly back to the matter at hand.