Wolf's Pack

The compound was silent when Luna and Wolf finally reached the prison sector, the access card stolen from the dead drac opening the door onto a bare white room with a few individual cell doors off either side, and a single door labelled ‘Interrogation Room’ at the far wall.
Apparently, BLInd didn’t need many places to keep prisoners; once they had their information, the captives were killed.

“In there, you think?” Luna whispered tentatively, not wanting to alert anyone, prisoners or guards, to their presence.
Wolf nodded, glancing to both sides before hurrying as quietly as he could to the end wall, Luna close behind.
They peered through the tiny grate in the door, into a tiny room painted all in blinding white – the only sign of life in there was an emaciated form lying on a bench to the side, asleep, and a guard right in front of the door – also asleep.

Wolf and Luna exchanged a determined look, and moved to the lock side of the door; the second Wolf swiped the access card, Luna threw the door open, and Wolf shot the drac guard before he awoke.
The sudden noise awoke the prisoner, who sat up quickly, terror showing in his eyes though he stood as if to fight whoever had come to interrogate him next.
“Johnny?” Wolf asked quietly, kicking the drac’s body out of the way contemptuously as he neared the shorter man.

Upon seeing the killjoy clothes, Johnny had to sit down again, his beaten and bloodied body, almost unrecognisable from the photos Luna had been shown, not able to put up with the sudden stress and relief of the raid.
“Thank god you’re here,” he said vehemently when he could speak again.
Luna grinned at the familiar liveliness she had come to know in the other killjoys, but the smile quickly faded as Wolf turned and held a hand up for silence, focussing on the transmission coming through his radio headset.

“Okay, time to go,” he said when the frantic message finished, “they must have made it in there – the alarm just went off and there’s dracs everywhere, headed into the building. They’ll come to find out why the two we killed don’t report soon.”
Luna nodded, and Johnny stood again, this time stronger as he focused on surviving, and they all hurried up the stairs with the sound of shouting and echoing laser-fire from the floors above.

This time when they reached the passageway beyond the stairs, the sound of a screaming siren blasted through the compound – luckily, the passages they were on were mostly used as the route between the prison and the warehouses and road tunnels, so the few dracs they did meet were alone and easily disarmed.
In the final passage, where the door of the warehouse leading into the tunnel was, they were almost safe when a sudden cry of surprise made the rescue team spin around.

Running full-pelt into the passage, dracs behind them, M. and Syn had made it back, and were grinning – despite the immediate danger – to see their friend alive.
They neared the doorway, and as Luna pushed the unarmed Johnny inside, turned to pick off the closest dracs and give them some time to run.
Even Luna, who hated using her raygun, felt that the time had come to kill or be killed, and sent enough dracs falling backwards that by the time they were free to make a run for the tunnel, everyone was safely inside and the manhole closed by the time the door burst open and more dracs came crashing in.

Though the dracs were unlikely to find the disguised tunnel entrance, all of the killjoys felt they should get out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, just in case, and started riding towards the open desert and freedom before anyone had the chance to talk.
It was only when the pre-dawn stars at the end of the tunnel came in sight and the adrenaline of the chase began to wear off, that Luna finally realised what it meant that only M. and Syn had returned from their mission.
Silent tears were oozing down her face before she realised how much she cared, so she jammed the throttle open and sped off on the bike, not wanting anyone to see her cry.

They reconvened outside the tunnel, Luna pausing away from the rest to dry her eyes and regain her composure before moving over to where the others were gathered around the remaining members of the Deathbats.
“…him who found the exterminator who had the Rev ghosted,” Syn finished telling them about getting upstairs to find the exterminator, the start of the recollection which Luna had missed.

“He must’ve got the exterminator,” M. continued sadly, “but there were dracs out in the next room… by the time we got close enough to see what had happened they’d raised the alarm, and we figured now that we’d got our own back, it was better to just get out of there so we could keep on fighting them later.”
Wolf nodded sombrely, while Missy and Shadow glanced at each other mournfully.

“He did what he wanted, though,” Luna finally piped up, speaking quietly though she knew what she was saying was right. “He was sick of it all, and he told me once all he had left was revenge… he got to do that.”
She earned a sad smile from most of the others, and somehow managed to keep the tears from returning while the others were watching.

Once the story had been told, and Wolf had relayed how they freed Johnny, the others returned slowly to their vehicles and left for the hideout, eventually leaving just Luna and Wolf standing alone by the sandy flat that was all that showed of the tunnel entrance.
“I guess we won,” Luna said finally, sounding unconvinced as the tears she had been holding in began to flow freely again.

“It’s not about winning,” Wolf shook his head, awkwardly placing his hand on her shoulders in a frail gesture of comfort. “It’s about surviving, and getting what you need to get done… and learning along the way.”
Luna just sniffled, feeling stupid for standing there crying when everyone else was dealing with it so much better, but unable to hold it in anymore.
“Look, Luna,” Wolf went on, not realising he was using her real name, “I wanted to say thank you, as well… what you said the other day, about self-pity and getting over things with your friends’ help – I realised sometime today that you were right.”

“Since Bella died I’ve been wishing I died with her, and I forgot what she would have wanted me to do.” He smiled a little, a sad smile that wasn’t bitter anymore. “She would’ve wanted me to go on helping people, and fighting for the cause, for our friends… and I never realised the friends I had until you made me see it. So thanks,”
He trailed off awkwardly, staring at the ground as Luna shifted beside him, and seemed surprised when she suddenly gave him a hug.

“No,” Luna said when he looked up, managing a sad, weary smile as well, “thank you. If you hadn’t let me stay, then I wouldn’t have had you, or Shadow, or Missy – not even Zacky; I’d been alone so long I’d forgotten what having friends was like, so you helped me realise their value as well, and I couldn’t have helped you without that.”
There was a silence after that, when the first trace of light from the morning sun began to glow on the horizon, and the world seemed peaceful for a moment.

“Come on,” Wolf said eventually, in a lighter tone than he had managed for months. “We’d better get back before the sun comes up,”
“Beat you there!” Luna smiled, genuinely this time, and ran for the bikes, Wolf in tow.
They set off across the plain, letting the adrenaline of the ride through the stunning desert dawn wash away the fear and sorrow that the day had wrought.