Danger Days: The Escape

The two friends stared at each other in silence. Both were relieved that Fun Ghoul was still alive. It gave them hope, but first that had to figure out where he was with only half a clue to go off.

“City,” Party Poison mused aloud. “The only place around here I can think of is Battery City, but they don’t have a compound there, do they?”

“No, they don’t, but they do have their headquarters on the outskirts of it.” Lady Killer replied. “I don’t know of any killjoys that have managed to get in there, but there’s every possibility that they have cells, just in case, perhaps for the killjoys they’re most after.”

“Which would be us.” He surmised. “But why weren’t you taken there then?”

“I don’t know, maybe they don’t see me as a threat or haven’t realised that I work with you guys.” She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter though. We know where Ghoul is, so let’s go get him.”

Party Poison gave her a smirk before pressing the accelerator down to the floor. They continued to speed off toward Battery City.

Thoughts of Fun Ghoul raced around in both their minds. Lady Killer was concerned with how he was being treated by Korse and the draculoid, while the thoughts floating around in Party Poison’s were of a more sexual nature, and he no intention of ever voicing.

The silence was starting to get to them. Party Poison turned the dial on the radio; it was automatically tuned to an underground radio station. Dr. Death Defying’s voice flooded from the speakers, the volume loud to accommodate the noise of the engine and whooshing wind. It was surprisingly calming. He was like the spokesman for Killjoys everywhere; he knew what they were all going through, who they were fighting and how. If they needed an update on the state of play, Dr Death could provide it.

“Listen up, Motor babies, got a Drac warning for you. Keep clear of the Zone 12/Battery City boundary, them Drac’s are circling that place like vultures in the desert.” Dr. Death alerted them. “So keeps your boots tight, keep your gun close and die with your mask on if you have to, here is the traffic.”

Lady Killer covered her face with her hands. Why did the draculoids have to be right where they were headed? It was as if they knew they were coming.

“We can barely contact Ghoul, Kobra’s in hiding, Jet Star’s betrayed us and now the draculoids are right where we’ve got to be. What are we going to do, Poison?”

“Calm down, Kill.” He said reassuringly. Suddenly he swerved the car to the right. “We’ll go the long way then.”

He wasn’t kidding either. It took them a good three hours to get from Zone 6 and enter Battery City instead of the hour it should have taken them. In that time they had entered 8 different zones, passed a couple of draculoids, thankfully unnoticed, and lost a side mirror when Party Poison cut a corner a little too close. But they had made it. They knew that it was best to infiltrate BL/IND at night, so they decided to catch up on some sleep to pass the time.

Party Poison awoke first. He shook Lady Killer’s shoulder gently to wake her. “It’s time to go.”

She sat up and climbed over to the front seat, bring the radio with her. “So remind me, what’s our plan?”

“We’ll try the radio again to see if Ghoul was able to charge the battery. Then we’ll drive over to BL/IND and find a way in. All that’s left to do is find Ghoul.” He replied while adjusting his mask in the rear view mirror. “And keep an eye out for Jet.”

She nodded in response. That was Party Poison’s cue to start the engine. They drove out of the alley way and moved slowly through the streets of Battery City. Not drawing attention to themselves was key. It didn’t take long for BL/IND to appear before them.

They watched in silence, lights and engine off. A large van passed them and travelled through a tunnel off to the side. It appeared to lead underground. Once it had disappeared from sight and the lurking draculoids had gone inside they ignited the engine and followed the path the van had took.

“Ghoul didn’t respond, are we still going to do this?” Lady Killer asked, unsure.

“There’s no turning back now.” He replied.

The boom gate ahead of them didn’t frighten Party Poison in the least; he sped up. Lady Killer sent him a warning glance that went unnoticed. They smashed the gate to bits, narrowly missing the draculoids on either side of it. Neither of them in the car saw one draculoid lean over and hit the panic button.

Now safely inside the BL/IND building they ditched the car and moved cautiously through the dimly lit passageways. Their ray guns were held tightly in their hands. It didn’t take long for draculoids to come running in search for them.

Party Poison pulled Lady Killer into a small nook off the main passage. They were forced to stand practically on top of each other due to the small space.

“That was too close.” He whispered after the draculoids had passed. “I’m not sure where to go from here. Those Drac’s could be anywhere.”

Looking around, Lady Killer spotted a vent above their heads. There was no way Party Poison could fit through it, but she might be able to. In this situation, it was better to be split up than stay together.

She grabbed the radio from her boot, where she’d clipped it to earlier, and handed it to Party Poison. “Give me a boost.”

He looked confused, but obliged to her request. With him supporting her weight she was able to remove the cover and heave herself up inside the metal vent. When she was fully inside she rolled on to her stomach and replaced the cover of the vent.

“I’m going to crawl around in here for a while. You keep searching down there. Meet back at the car in an hour, with or without Ghoul.” She whispered urgently. “The radio Ghoul has might be charged for all we know, so you keep a hold of that one. I’ll have more chance of finding him than you, so we may be able to keep in touch through them.”

“What happens if one of us gets caught?” He asked. She sent him a look; he knew the answer. “Keep running, never look back.”

Lady Killer began her search for Fun Ghoul via the ventilation system. There was hardly any space for her to move but she managed it. As she pulled herself through the metal passage she peered through the openings below and beside her. Most of the rooms contained some kind of advanced computer system, none of which had people working in them. So far she hadn’t seen a single cell room.

Party Poison was having about as much luck down on the ground. He’d seen no sign of Fun Ghoul other than the line up of wanted posters that appeared every so often across the walls. Considering BL/IND had just had a break in, the place was extremely quiet. It was almost eerie; he didn’t like it.

Back in the ceiling, after half an hour of searching, Lady Killer felt she was finally on the right track. Below her she could see a cell very similar to the one they kept her in for two months. It was empty. She moved forward so she was above the next one; it was also empty. Again she moved forward, this time coming to a T-intersection. She took the right and found herself over the top of another cell. This time it was occupied. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the face of the occupant.

“Ghoul!” she hissed through the vent.

She watched on above as Fun Ghoul jumped up, looking around for her in his cell. It was amusing watching him shake his head vigorously. He thought he was going insane.

“I’m up here in the vent!”

He moved to underneath the vent and looked up at her with the biggest of smiles on his face. Lady Killer removed the cover. Then it hit her – how was she meant to get Fun Ghoul up in the vent? He was too short to reach anywhere near it and her arms weren’t that long.

He’d noticed the problem too. “What’s the plan, Kill?”

She shuffled over the vent and leant down through it, bracing herself on one hand while dangling the other down as far as it would go. “Jump.”

Ghoul crouched down slightly and leapt up high; his hand clamped around Lady Killer’s tightly. She pushed herself back with her free hand, effectively pulling him up into the vent with her. They gave each other the best hug they could in the confined space.

“I was sure you’d been ghosted.” Ghoul said as he followed Lady Killer through the metal passages.

“Poison and I thought the same of you, him especially when he lost radio contact with you.” She replied over her shoulder. “Come on, we’ve gotta get out of here quickly. He’ll be waiting for us.”

Little did Lady Killer know that at that moment Party Poison was being dragged through BL/IND by an army of draculoids.