Wolf's Pack

It was past midnight by the time they returned to the hideout, Zacky having driven in circles to be sure no one was following them before heading for the tunnels.
Luna spent the time worrying, and becoming more and more nervous; and curious.
It was one thing for the BLInd to know that she had been at the outpost when they blew it up, and for them to know that she hadn’t died then – but how did they know she had joined a band of killjoys?
And if they didn’t know that, then why was she wanted for extermination in the first place?

Zacky told her as he drove about the cameras that spied for BLInd, hidden out in the desert, which would surely have seen her with the killjoys; something that would instantly classify her as an enemy.
The thought was terrifying, that she was now in danger because she had been helped by outlaws – there was no way out of it, she mused – she could have died in the desert alone, or forever be in danger of being killed by dracs because she had been helped to survive.

Eventually they reached the tunnels, hiding the car in a disguised cave entrance on the other side of the rock before hurrying into the safety of the holes to think of what the poster meant for Luna and the others.
They had planned to call a meeting to discuss it, but M. and Wolf were busy, going over maps and plans that they probably knew by heart by now.
This left just Missy, as Shadow and Syn were still out on their reconnaissance mission, gathering information to add to the plans the leaders were working on.

So they gathered in the infirmary, dust from the plains still sticking to their clothes as they woke Missy up and showed her the wanted poster.
“Wow, that was pretty quick,” she said finally, blinking as she tried to wake up and adjust to the light in the room. “It took me months to get my own poster.”
“Yes, it’s quick,” Zacky said to Missy, rolling his eyes, “but that’s a problem because it means that they’re hunting her for some reason – which puts us all in danger.”
“Oh,” Missy’s eyes widened, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

A moment passed; Luna worrying because she hadn’t realised that she would put everyone else in danger by being high on BLInd’s wanted list, and Missy and Zacky thinking hard to come up with a plan to combat it.
Suddenly Missy sat up with a start, grinning madly and giving the other two a fright as she started speaking extremely fast.

“I’ve got the perfect idea,” she said excitedly, the bobbles on her beanie bouncing ridiculously as she talked, “BLInd is after you, whoever you were before, right?”
Luna nodded slowly, so Missy went on, the words coming out slightly slower now.
“So all we have to do, is get rid of who you were before – you’ve already changed your name, so now you just need to change your hair or something, and get rid of the really obvious clothes, and you can be someone different – someone they’re not looking for.”

Zacky and Luna stared at each other silently, while the idea processed; then Zacky suddenly grinned, even though Luna still wasn’t completely sure.
“It’s a perfect idea,” he said, then turned back to Missy, “but are you sure you can do it?”
“Yup,” Missy nodded confidently. “And I know exactly where to start…”

A half hour later, Luna found herself sitting on a chair by Missy’s bed – she had agreed on the condition that Missy didn’t actually get out of bed and risk irritating her injured leg – with her head covered in a sharp-smelling goo that made her eyes water.
“What exactly are you doing?” she asked for the third time, as Missy applied more goo.
“If you must know,” Missy sighed, “I’m bleaching your hair, so don’t move, alright?”
Luna sighed and stayed still, hoping that the tingling on her head wasn’t chemical burn.

Another hour after that, Luna had finally been allowed to go and rinse her hair, watching the natural brown colour wash away with the water.
When the bleach was finally all washed out, she returned to the infirmary where Missy sat, wielding a pair of scissors.
“Oh no, you didn’t say anything about cutting it off!” she backed away, stopping when she saw Zacky blocking the doorway, a smirk on his face.
“Fine…” Luna sighed again, seeing that, now she had begun the transformation, she couldn’t really back out of it now.

She wasn’t allowed to look in a mirror until Missy had finished with her hair, and had sent Zacky to get a pile of clothes from the storage room.
Missy picked through the pile, throwing the things she chose at Luna, and telling her to try them on while Zacky left the room.
Luna raised an eyebrow at the clothes Missy had picked for her, but put them on anyway; a yellow tank top over jeans that must have once been black, but had faded now to almost white at the bottom; a pair of black boots and some yellow gloves – remnants of decades before, by the looks of everything.

In the end, she put her black leather jacket back on top of everything, and turned to face Missy, who clapped and cheered in a massive overreaction.
Zacky came back in then, looking her over, then grinning and producing a large mirror so she could finally see what they had done to her.
When Luna did see her reflection, she gasped, forcing herself to move so that she could tell that the girl in the mirror was really herself.

Her previously brown hair had been bleached to a light blonde colour, and cut short, so that when Missy had tied it up into two pigtails on the top of her head it curled, like the fringe that now tucked behind one ear and exposed her hazel eyes.
The new clothes were even more astonishing; the brilliant yellow shirt and gloves being subdued just enough by the monotone jeans, boots and jacket that it all fitted together, disguising her identity and making her look more like a true killjoy at the same time.

“Well,” Luna said finally, grinning at the expectantly watching Missy and Zacky, “I think you definitely got rid of the old me that BLInd are hunting.”