The Killjoy from Yesterday

Chapter 3- New Faces and Shocking Surprises

Work wasn't as boring as usual for Cassadee today. Her team had took up the shooting range to test a new ray gun they've been developing. The subjects that were doing the actual shooting were mostly Dracs, but a few Exterminators had volunteered since they'd be the ones actually using the guns once they get into production. Cassadee got to the range early to avoid being assigned to a trigger-happy, overconfident, 'I can kick your ass, nerd' Drac. Luckily, Frank Iero was one of the Exterminators that had volunteered, so Cassadee was assigned to him.

"Holy shit. That is badass!" He remarked as she handed him the new weapon. Frank picked it up and began holding it at different angles. "So what's different about this one? It looks the exact same as what we already have."

.

"Well, its got a tracking device planted in it, in case it gets stolen by a Killjoy. And there's a stun feature too. All you have to do is flip this switch right here." She flipped a small switch behind the barrel of the gun. "Give it a go." Cassadee flipped her safety glasses down and took a few steps back. Frank took aim at one of the dummies and fired. Three direct hits to the dummy in on the other sie of the range. He turned back to her and gave a thumbs up. Cass walked over to him, "What do you think?" She asked.

"Well it didn't blow up. That's a plus." He joked.

Cassadee punched him in the arm. "Ha ha ha. Very funny Iero. Seriously, what do you think?"

"Not bad," He said. "Does Mikey know that you're working on this?''

"Actually, he doesn't." Cassadee responded. "Don't tell him though. I want to tell him once he gets cleared to go back out. If you tell him, I'll find you."

Frank laughed and raised his hands in surrender, "I promise not to tell your boyfriend of his new toy."

Cassadee smiled and flipped down her glasses. "Good. Now let's get down to business."

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After several hours of tests and collecting data, Cass and Frank went on break. The duo headed over to the cafeteria which was a few floors up from the shooting range they were using. "So how is everything between you and Mikey?" He asked.

"Everything's fine," She answered warily, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well he's been through a lot lately," Frank explained. "His brother disappearing, the fight with Party Poison, being stuck here with office work. He's kind of a different guy now."

Cassadee thought of his words carefully. She had noticed that Mikey had been keeping to himself a lot more than usual lately, but she thought nothing of it at first. Her mind began wondering back to her dream. How different he was as a Killjoy. Suddenly, she realized that the short killjoy WAS Frank. They had the same tattoos in the same places, they sounded exactly the same, the only thing that was different about Killjoy Frank was his hair. Her Frank had short hair that he always kept the same length. The other Frank had long jet-black hair that almost went down to his chin. But that still didn't explain why he, Mikey, Ray, or Party Poison were in her dream in the first place.

"Hey, Earth to Cassadee." Frank waved a gloved hand in front of her face.

"Right here Frank." She laughed.

"You spaced out on me for a sec." He said. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours."

Just as Cassadee thought of telling him because she trusted him with her life and vice versa, the pair ran into some Dracs. One of them that had their collar popped up ran directly into Cassadee. "Watch it nerd." He sneered. Cassadee and Frank tried their best to keep walking and ignore them, but the same Drac that ran into her grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her up against the wall next to one of the EXTERMINATE posters with Party Poison's face plastered on it. "Hey, you're supposed to apalogize nerd."