The Only Hope for Me Is You

We walked in a group for no longer than ten minutes when we finally reached the inner limits of Battery City; it was oddly quiet. No Dracs or Scarecrows were around, not even the people of Battery City were to be seen. It was completely empty, except for the industrial looking buildings that towered over us. The street was cement, and no garbage or anything was in sight.

"This is too strange..." Fun Ghoul said, circling on the spot. Everyone else nodded.

"Still, team, keep an eye out..." Poison said. "Time to split into our groups." Jet Star patted the depressed-yet-determined looking Kobra Kid on the back, and they ran to the right, to get into BL/ind from the back. Fun Ghoul ran to the left, going in from the other side, knowing exactly where they were keeping Joker. I looked at Poison, and we smirked at each other.

"Let's go," I said, and we ran straight ahead, to take BL/ind from the front, just the two of us. We managed to get into the HQ unscathed, only having to fire down a couple mere security guards at the gates. We just kept walking, shooting them both in the heads, not even breaking stride.
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"Jet Star, it's this way. Come on, man!" Kobra yelled, looking at the map as he ran, Jet Star close behind.

"I'm coming!" he yelled, and Kobra navigated their way through the empty streets, eventually winding up at the side door of BL/ind; there was absolutely no Dracs or any sort of security in this area, and Kobra pocketed the map.

"Well," he said, looking up at the building. "That was easy..." Jet Star nodded.

"Yeah, except for the fact that the door IN is on the second level." He pointed, and Kobra slumped.

"How the fuck do we get up there?" He said, surveying the area. He looked around, seeing if there was anything he could use as a rope to throw up and climb, but couldn't find anything. Then, he saw it. There was a mechanical ladder that was attached to the wire walkway near the door. Smirking, Kobra aimed carefully, fired his pistol, and hit the button with eagle-eye accuracy, bringing the ladder down with a CLANG. He turned to Jet Star, who looked nothing less than impressed.

"Whoa, dude! That's impressive!" Jet Star exclaimed, and the two of them ran over to the ladder, and climbed up with cat-like agility. Kobra helped Jet Star up from the last rung of the ladder, and they walked through the door, guns at the ready, prepared for anything. They leaned back against the wall, and Kobra leaned his head out of the doorway to see down the hall. He saw a door; the one they were supposed to go through to set off the alarms. Only it was guarded by about three Dracs and a Scarecrow. He leaned back and looked at Jet Star.

"On my count..." he said, and Jet Star nodded. "3...2...1...NOW!" They came out from the doorway, firing at the enemy, taking down the three Dracs in the course of a few seconds. The Scarecrow, however, dodged a shot from Jet Star and fired back, blasting him in the shoulder, and Jet Star fell to the ground.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Kobra yelled, firing madly, shooting the Scarecrow with a massive amount of shots at once, killing it. He holstered his gun and got on his knees next to Jet Star, who was groaning.

"Ray! Shit, hold on!" Kobra yelled, touching the wound. Jet Star winced.

"Kobra, stop, I'm fine..." He leaned up on his elbows. "Just give me a sec..." Kobra backed up, giving him room, and Jet Star eventually stood back up, holding his shoulder. Kobra stood up as well.

"You sure you're all right?" he asked, and Jet Star nodded.

"Let's just do our part..." He said, and walked over and opened the door to the alarm system. They two of them walked in and looked around, and Kobra spotted the computer that ran the entire system.

"This is for you, Joker..." he said, pressing the button, causing the alarms to go off immediately.
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Fun Ghoul was running down the streets, all alone, more paranoid then ever. This was his most important solo mission: finding and saving Joker.

"Shit, I don't want to die..." he said to himself as he ran through the streets, eventually making his way to the back door of BL/ind. He cocked his gun, put up his bandana, and opened the door, holding the gun out, viewing his perimeter. There was no one to be seen.

"Prison cells..." he said, and put his gun at his side, quickly walking down the narrow blinding white hallway, checking every single room through the window, to see if Joker was in any of them; she wasn't. He looked up as the sirens began blaring, and the hallway began flashing red.

"Way to go, Kobra," He sighed, and ran down the rest of the hall and around a corner, only to face about twenty Dracs at the end of the hallway.

"FUCKING SHIT," he yelled, turning on his heel and running back down the way he came, hearing the marching of footsteps behind him. He managed to slide himself into an unlocked and empty prison cell, and climbed on the bed, and up into the ceiling air vents, and made his way to the torture chamber.

"I've got you, Joker..." he said, crawling through the tight space, feeling ever more woozy as the air in the vents became more and more drug filled. He adjusted his bandana even tighter, hoping that that would help prevent the affects of the drugged air.
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Poison and I were waiting for the siren to go off in an empty hallway, sitting on the floor, back to back in the middle of it, in case any Drac decided to wander into our vicinity. I turned my head sideways.

"Poison?"

"Yeah?"

"What happens if we fail?" He turned around to face me, got on his knees and put his gun in his holster, and grabbed both sides of my head.

"Cyanide, NEVER think like that," he said, staring right into my eyes. I blinked. "We are going to leave this place alive, okay? Promise." I turned my head to the side, but he snapped it right back.

"I'm SERIOUS, Cyanide..." he said, leaning forward and kissing me on the lips, and I felt something I had never felt before in my entire life. He backed away, and inside I wanted to do everything I could to keep him there. I just smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then, suddenly, the sirens went off, and he let me go, and stood up quickly and began running down the hall. I was still dazed, sitting on the floor, but I shook my head of what just happened, stood up and ran, eventually catching up with him in no time.

"FUCK YES! They did it!" he whooped. "It's our turn now, girl!" I smiled, and we ran down the hallway, side by side. Suddenly, he stopped, and threw me into a little alcove between the walls, facing me, his arms outstretched against the wall, our bodies pressed close together.

"Poison, what are--" I said, thinking he was about to do something like he did a few minutes ago; I prepared myself for it.

"SH! Shut up, Cyanide!" he put his finger to my lips, and I obeyed. "Sirens going off...they're going to be swarming any minute now. We can't take down an army with just the two of us..."

And like clockwork, we heard the marching footsteps of a massive group of Dracs coming down the hall towards us. I looked at Poison, terrified. He looked at me reassuringly, stoking my cheek.

"It's gonna be okay, babe...shhh..." I stood there, still close to him, not daring to say a word. Finally, the marching stopped, and he backed off, letting me walk out of the small hole in the wall.

"That was close..." he said, looking around. He put his mask on, and I did the same. "You ready?" I nodded, cocking my gun, and we continued running down the hallway, alarms blaring and flashing red.
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Fun Ghoul continued his way down the vents, realizing he had made a wrong turn whenever the air got thinner. Finally, he made his way to a part of the vent with an opening in the bottom, and he looked through it. There was Joker, unconscious, lying sprawled out on the floor, a tray of BL/ind food not too far from her.

"Damn it..." Fun Ghoul said, and took out a knife from his side pocket of his vest, prying the metal off of the small opening of the vent. After a few minutes of digging under the metal, he managed to pry it up enough to grab it with both hands, and flung it aside, down the air vent with a loud CLANG! He stretched his legs out in front of him, dropping them down into the hole, the rest of his body following, and landed in the middle of the torture room, using one hand to steady his fall. He stood up and ran over to the unconscious Joker and got on his knees, shaking her.

"Joker, wake up, please..." he said, trying to wake her up; there was no response. Groaning, he picked her limp body up and slung her over his shoulder, and shot the door with his gun, causing the locks to fail and the doors flew sideways, opening into the hallway. Fun Ghoul adjusted Joker on his shoulder, and began running down the hall, only to hear a HEY! from his right. He stopped, and there was Poison and Cyanide, running down a different hallway.
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"Good job, Fun Ghoul!" Poison said. "Now we just gotta get out of here alive. I looked at Joker, slung over Fun Ghoul's shoulder.

"Is she...dead...?" I asked, terrified. Fun Ghoul shrugged.

"I don't know, but let's not wait to find out, okay?" Poison and I nodded, and we ran back the way we came, guns at the ready.

"Fun Ghoul, if we come across any Dracs, I want you to run ahead." Poison said.

"But...Poison..--"

"NO! Listen to me-she was our mission, and I will DIE before we fail." I looked at Poison, seeing a completely different person than before. This was no longer the humerous, loving, caring Poison; the Poison in front of me was a leader-stubborn, strong-willed and hard headed. Fun Ghoul just nodded.

"Fine." he said, and we continued running, and came across a group of Dracs in the part of the hallway where all corridors met. There must have been at least fifty of them, and they were already firing at us.

"FUN GHOUL, RUN!" Poison ran, firing shots at the hoard, knocking them out one by one. I shot at them as well, talking them out. Fun Ghoul ran down a separate corridor, his footsteps fading as he escaped. Poison and I stood back to back, firing away, and I turned around to see Kobra and Jet Star running towards us from behind the large group of Dracs, shooting from behind. Jet Star was holding his shoulder with one hand, and firing with the other.

"About time you two showed up!" I yelled, shooting a Drac in the leg, then punching his head as he fell.

"Sorry!" Kobra said. "These hallways look the same after a while!"

"No time for excuses, bro!" Poison yelled, kicking a Drac in the chest, sending him backwards, then shooting it in the head. "We gotta get out of here!"

No one spoke again after this. We were too busy focusing on not dying on this mission, trying as hard as we could to survive, constantly firing our pistols at the never ending waves of Dracs, until HE showed up. Everyone stopped firing, even the Dracs. They split like the Red Sea, to reveal the one they called Korse.

He was older, bald, and sickly-looking. He wore a long gray jacket, and slacks, with a white ruffled shirt, and carried a pearl white gun. he held it up to his face, and spoke.

"Well, well, well..." he said in a deep, menacing voice. "If it isn't Party Poison, and his little troop of Killjoys..." He smirked, and Poison growled.

"Korse..." is all he said.

"You and your..." he looked at me, Kobra, and Jet Star, then back at Poison. "FRIENDS...have ruined my most recent plan to rid the world of scum such as yourselves."

"YOU'RE THE SCUM!" Poison yelled, about to fire his gun at Korse, but I brought his arm down just in time.

"Poison, STOP!" I said, and he looked at me, and I saw his eyes were wild behind his mask. "That will only make things worse!" He sighed angrily, but listened to me, and put his gun away again.

"Yes..listen to the little girl," Koarse mocked. "She's thinking straight." I was angry.

"Yeah, unlike you," I retorted, and he looked at me.

"For such a small girl, you have a big mouth." He said, and shot me in the leg. I screamed in pain, and fell to the floor.

"CYANIDE!" Poison yelled, and got on his knees, inspecting me. I was rolling on the floor, holding my leg, screaming in pain.

"You BASTARD." Kobra yelled, and the battle began again, and all I heard was Korse laughing evilly, and he began walking back down the hallway, and disappeared from my sight.

"That rat bastard," Poison said, looking up at Jet Star and Kobra fending off the rest of the Dracs. "Here, let me help you up..." He wrapped his arms around me, and dragged me upwards by the shoulders, and eventually picked me up completely, after seeing I could not stand up on my own.

"Kobra! Jet Star!" he yelled. "Fuck them, let's get out of here!" He began running, with me in his arms, panting, looking down at me every few steps. I saw Kobra and Jet Star running too, turning around to fire every once in a while. Eventually, we got back outside, and I realized the methane skies had set; it was no longer sunny out. All I could see was Poison's face, concentrating on getting out alive. I looked around Poison's shoulder to see Kobra and Jet Star close behind, and together the four of us escaped BL/ind, through the empty streets, and back to the vast deserted Zones, meeting Fun Ghoul and Joker at the car, Joker still being unconscious. Poison kissed my lips again, and gently layed me down next to her, and I blacked out from the pain.