Poison exhaled and watched as the smoke flew out into the evening sky, curling in the air in little tendrils in front of them. They tipped their head back against the wall behind them and let out a sigh of relief. They had needed this.
They sat on the roof of the diner, looking out over The Zone as they smoked. They weren't there long, after the incident with Ghoul they had left the diner in a fury, deciding it best to run it off in the desert. They had done several laps of Zone 6, running until their lungs felt as though they may just collapse, gasping in deep, desperate breaths of air. They had turned around at that point, their anger had dissipated with every step, trudging through the sand back to the diner. When they'd arrived, they knew they weren't quite calm enough to face Ghoul again, so instead climbed up the side of the building, onto the roof. They had been there for about an hour.
Alone with their thoughts, they had tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. The sirens, BL/ind, Ghoul's claims, their grandmother's name.
Their name.
Ghoul had known their name, but how? As far as they were concerned, only Kobra knew their name, and only because he was their brother. There couldn't be anyone else, but Ghoul had to have found out somehow. However, there was no way Kobra would have just shared that with him, he would never do that. Poison wasn't even sure if Jet knew, even after all these years. But then again, Poison couldn't bring themself to believe that Ghoul had fucking superpowers, they weren't that gullible.
The door creaked beside them and a familiar figure emerged, shutting the door behind him and lowering himself down to take a seat next to Poison. He nodded towards Poison's hand and put his own hand out expectantly. Poison handed over their cigarette to Kobra, who took it with an appreciative nod and threw it between his lips, inhaling deeply.
"Okay, talk to me", Kobra said through his exhale, not looking at Poison, who shrugged.
"What about?", they asked when Kobra handed the cigarette back, now taking a drag of their own.
"Oh come on Poison, don't play dumb". Kobra lay his head back against the wall, same as Poison, and stared out into the desert. "You're not actually serious about making Ghoul leave, right?"
Poison snapped their head towards him, squinting at him. "I am actually".
Poison watched their brother in confusion. Was Kobra actually coming out here to defend Ghoul, even after watching all that had happened?
"Poison come on", he shook his head. "We have no reason to get rid of him, and he has nowhere to go. Weren't you the one a couple of days ago preaching about the whole point of The Zones? A sanctuary for people running from BL/ind?"
"Yeah that was me", they said, toneless. "That was me before I figured out the shithead was a complete liar, I've learned better since though".
Kobra raised his eyebrows and tipped is head to the side a bit. "Well he didn't technically lie... Just sort of failed to mention why he had run from the city, that and basically anything about his past".
"I'm sorry but are you actually defending this guy?", Poison accused, now turning to face him fully. "The man comes up with the most alarmingly deranged fib about who he is to cover his guilty ass, and you actually fucking believe him?." Poison shook their head in disbelief. "Honestly kid, I thought far better of you".
"Okay well first of all, fuck you". Kobra spat, rolling his eyes as he sat back and looked out into the desert once more. He let out a sigh and then spoke. "Second of all, did he ever give you his full name?"
Poison looked at him questioningly, raising their eyebrows, not sure of his questions relevance. Ghoul had given his name to them, hadn't he? Back in the desert. Poison wracked their brain, trying going back to that moment. They frowned.
"Uh yeah he did", Poison mumbled, still scrambling to remember. "It was Frank something. Frank Lero? Or Frank Aero? I don't know, something like that".
Kobra's lip turned up at the corner at the name and he nodded slowly.
"What?", Poison asked, a little annoyed at this stage. "What's so special about that?"
Kobra shrugged. "Well it's just... Jet pulled out the files he has on that experiment, and we had a flick through them while you were gone".
Poison pursed their lips. They had forgotten Jet had a bunch of files in his cabinet up in his room, written documents from many of BL/ind's experiments over the years. He'd been collecting them for years, studying them, trying to get a grasp on BL/ind's motives, what each experiment hoped to prove. They'd come in handy more than any of them had ever thought. It made sense he had the files for the 'Halloween Experiment' too, and the look in Kobra's eyes suggested that they had found something in them.
"And?", Poison said impatiently, gesturing for Kobra to continue.
Kobra lip turned at the corner once more. "We had a scan through the names of the kids used in the 'Halloween Experiment'". He gave Poison a grimace. "Came across a certain 'F. Iero'. Sound familiar at all?"
Poison said nothing, just stared at their brother.
Frank Iero. That's how he had introduced himself. He'd called himself Frank Iero.
"Judging by your face I'm going to go ahead and assume that the name checks out".
Poison reached into their pocket and pulled out a fresh cigarette, lighting it up and putting it between their lips.
"Yeah", they said, voice muffled from the cigarette in their mouth. "Yeah the name checks out. But I don't change where I stand on what I said, I still want that kid gone by tomorrow".
Kobra squinted at them, eyebrows furrowed. "But he told the truth?"
"No he fucking didn't", Poison retaliated, pulling the cigarette out of their mouth and holding it between their fingers, using it to gesture as they talked. "He came here claiming to be some fucking nobody, then he got caught out, and now here he is trying to convince us he's a fucking superhero or something? I don't buy it".
"And Elena?", Kobra asked. "Pulled that name out of his ass did he? A lucky guess?"
Poison scoffed and rolled their eyes. They felt Kobra shift next to them and stand up, now glaring down at them.
"That's not all though, is it? I saw the look on your face when he whispered to you Poison. When he said your name".
Poison didn't look up, just swallowed as they felt their cheeks start to darken. Their fucking mask wasn't big enough to hide it so they knew Kobra could see it.
"I'm sick to death of you thinking you have the final word with every decision we make", Kobra scoffed, turning away from them and starting to saunter off. "Whether or not you believe him, I know I do. And for that, he's staying, I'm not throwing him out to the wolves just because he decided not to mention this in the four days we've known him".
Poison bristled.
"And I guess your word is final then, huh?", Poison snapped, barely containing their rage.
Kobra looked back at them, expression calm.
"Yeah", he said calmly. "It is".
YOU ARE READING
Broken Glass In The Morning Light
Fiksi Penggemar*New chapters every few days* *An AU of the original Danger Days comics* Just outside of Battery City, Party Poison is known as the fearsome and powerful leader of the rebel group 'The Killjoys'. Their group the main protectors of The Zones, they ha...
