The Sound Of My Vendetta (A Killjoy Stori/Fanfiction)

Party Poison

     When I exited the kitchen, Kobra was looking out one of the booth windows and Party was nowhere to be found. I came and sat down next to Kobra, who only briefly glanced over at me. As he returned his gaze to the desert outside, I looked down at the table. I wanted to ask him about his and Party's life before, but it seemed too personal.
     "Party's outside," Kobra's voice said from outside my thoughts.
     "I'm sorry, what?" I asked, coming back to reality. Kobra grinned at me.
     "Party's outside," he repeated. I shrugged, trying not to give anything away. Kobra's grin grew. "What is it with girls? Why do females develop crushes so easily?" he joked. I gaped at him innocently.
     "Are you accusing me of having a crush on your brother?" I asked him, pretending it wasn't true.
     "Oh come on! It's so easy to tell. I'm honestly surprised Party hasn't noticed himself! Or maybe he has and he's just not saying anything!" he laughed. I blushed, not expecting to have this conversation. I guess he could see my embarrassment, because he dropped the subject. Instead, he exchanged it for another. "So you're Sonik Soundwave now, huh? Pretty badass."
     "That's what Party said," I snickered, "You two must be brothers." Kobra smiled.
     "Nah, I'm afraid Party and I are not much alike," he sighed, leaning back with a slight stretch, "Party is the laid back, yet kick ass leader, and I'm more of the short-tempered sidekick." He shrugged.
     "Ah, but every leader needs his sidekick. Without him, the leader would be utterly lost," I consoled. Kobra raised an eyebrow at me. "Without Robin, there would be no Dynamic Duo?" I tried again. That got a grin out of him and another shrug.
     "I don't mind being sidekick. Party wasn't always the leader he is now. At one point he told me he was following my lead....." he trailed off, remembering. He took a breath and got up, "But that was a long time ago. Before all this." I nodded and smiled at him. Kobra returned his gaze to the desert, and my gaze followed his. "If you really want him to notice, you should talk to him. He doesn't really see things for himself anymore. He's always thinking of someone else," he said softly. I looked up at him to find him looking at me. He nodded towards the door.
     "I guess I'll go give him some company then.." I muttered through an amused grin. Kobra smiled and retreated towards the back of the diner where the sleeping quarters were. I opened the door and stepped outside. The moment the door was closed, as if mother nature was waiting, a gust of wind began whipping sand around my knees.
     "Hey," Party greeted as he came around the side of the diner. When I looked up, he looked almost confused as if it was unnatural for a female to be outside. I could feel a blush creep across my face because I could tell he had not expected me to be there. He smirked. "What's with you?" he asked.
     "What do you mean? Nothing," I replied.
     "Liar," he stated bluntly, wiping something in his hand with an old rag. I gaped.
     "You would dare call me a liar?" I laughed.
     "Yes I would," he chuckled back with a small nod.
     "Why?" I asked him, inwardly cringing at how childish my voice sounded. He looked down at what he was wiping in his hand.
     "Because honest women don't turn red at nothing," he answered, returning his amused face back to me. I flushed again as he turned away, nodding for me to follow along. "So what brings you into the great outdoors?" As I followed him around the side of the building, I explained to him how Kobra had told me he was out here and that I thought he might want some company. He smirked back at me, wind tossing his hair every which way. "Aren't you sweet," he taunted. I smiled embarrassedly.
     We were in a whole part of the diner I hadn't seen before. It was like a garage. I thought it might have been one at one point in fact, considering the gas pump that stood not far away. The Killjoys seemed to be using it as a sort of storage shed for all the various things they had. Party brought the piece he had been cleaning over to a helmet that resembled a cartoon character. He pushed the piece into a hole in the helmet that I realized was supposed to be an eye.
     "Oh, my God, that's not.." I trailed off, looking from the helmet to Party. He grinned at me over his shoulder and then stood  back, admiring his work.
     "Yup! Mousekat!" he confirmed, obviously enjoying my horror. BL/Ind had aired a cartoon at the release of their 'miracle tablet' in order to advertise its 'incredible cures.' It was a cartoon similar to the old Mickey Mouse cartoons where the characters didn't actually say anything, but instead silent animation was set to music with various captions placed in like a silent film. I slowly shook my head. It had been a creepy cartoon, let alone it being from BL/Ind. Party looked over at me, hands on his hips. "What? Don't like my Mousekat helmet?" he laughed. I shook my head quicker.
     "I never liked Mousekat anything. It's creepy," I told him. He laughed again.
     "That's what it's supposed to be!" he told me, picking it up and putting it on. I stared at him as he turned to face me. Party's version of Mousekat was obviously refurbished. There were spots added to his face that looked like patches almost. A tube ran from his mouth to somewhere behind the head. Those were add ons, but it was obvious this had been a costume piece before Party got a hold of it.
     "Where did you find this thing?" I asked him, laughing a little bit. Whether it was nerves from being freaked out by the helmet or because it was genuinely funny, I couldn't tell. I put a hand to my face as I stared, "Can you even see out of that thing? Can you walk in it?"
     Without warning, Party took a rather large step towards me. I shrieked and jumped back. I hadn't been expecting it. I could hear him laughing inside the helmet. His voice was muffled a little as he tried to speak to me through Mousekat.
     "I'm not going to hurt you!" he declared, a hint of laughter still in his voice. He took off the helmet as he continued, "I found it out in the zones on patrol one day. Figured I could clean it up and scare the crap out of anything that got to close." He smirked. "Apparently it works," he added, holding up the helmet and then putting it back on his work table.
     I smiled, leaning against the door frame. He turned back to look at me, leaning on the table. Neither of us spoke. It was a little odd. We were just standing there analyzing each other. Party opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, and then closed it again. I guess he had thought the better of it, whatever it was. I could feel another blush forming and I looked away. When I looked back he was smiling at the ground.
     "I, uh, I should go inside and do something," I said awkwardly. He smiled at me, clearly amused. There was no way in hell now he didn't know I had a crush on him. Not after that long silence, at the end of which I turned red. He nodded towards the garage door.
     "We can go into the diner from here instead of going all the way around," he told her, "I was going to grab some water anyway." He allowed me to walk in front as any proper gentleman would. I awkwardly shuffled along, acutely aware of his proximity as he followed behind. I wanted to escape into the comfort of my room and release all the cringes I'd held in over the past few minutes.
     Kobra nodded at us and gave me a sly grin as we entered. Party either ignored it or didn't notice. The garage door led into the dining room. The hallways that led back to the rooms was directly next to us on our right. Party stepped around me and into the kitchen. I didn't dare follow. Instead, I scampered back to my room to hide how awkward I felt. I could hear the Kobra and Party talking in the dining area, but I couldn't make out any words.
     I took off the tee shirt, allowing myself to air out in the camisole I'd been provided. I sat at my desk and began drawing nothing in particular. My mind wandered away as I doodled. When I came back to the moment, I had doodled the loose image of a woman holding a figure that was wrapped in a blanket. I was so confused. How had it happened? I don't remember my brain telling my hand to make those marks. I closed my eyes and shook my head.
     "Not gonna deal with that," I muttered to myself, getting up and plopping down on my bed. I speculated for some time. After the Helium Wars, there was still some chemical disturbance or radiation in the air. Many people had taken to calling it 'Galactic Fallout' and it was decidedly dangerous. The first people who had gone out all came back with issues of some kind. One man was hallucinating to a point where he could not distinguish the things he knew as real from the things he was imagining. Another could not remember his family, his name, or his life before. Another man lost his sight, and it was later discovered that he had developed a viscous deformity in his brain that took out the vision center of his brain entirely. No one could go out until the Galactic Fallout had dissipated. Even when it was finally declared safe, there were still small traces of it in the air. I vaguely wondered if my strange dreams were some side effect of the small amount I'd inhaled upon emergence from the underground shelter. Everyone had gotten a little. Some got more than others. Some had side effects. Some didn't.
     I looked down at the bandage on my arm and wondered what had become of the burn that hurt so badly only about five or six hours ago. I didn't bother with the bandage, feeling a sudden urge to sleep. My eyelids felt heavy as I fought to keep them open. It was strange that I was suddenly so sleepy, but I couldn't think about it anymore. My mind was going into sleep mode and I was out like a light.
     When I awoke, it was dark. I don't even remember caring. I'd had a very bizarre dream and felt I needed to remember it. I scrambled for a paper and pencil. I flipped on my light and began to draw quick sketches. Various words accompanied the pictures. 'Bomb' stuck out on the paper and looked unnatural in my handwriting. It was that same woman again. I drew her face this time. As best I could remember it anyway. She looked so tough, so strong. And I knew she was important somehow. I soon grew frustrated when the ending of the dream succeeded in evading my memory.
     Slamming my pencil down on the desk, I left the drawings there. I grabbed my jacket and stepped out into the dark hallway. It was late, but I couldn't tell how late. I stepped silently into the dining area to find Party siting on a table, staring out the window. He looked like he was far away in thought. I wondered if he was thinking about the girl he'd told me about. Just when I was about to appreciate the silence, I realized it wasn't silent. I could hear him humming. The tune seemed vaguely familiar and though I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before, it was still comforting to hear something so human after such a strange dream with bombs and Dracs and pregnant women.
     Party turned with a start, finally realizing that he wasn't alone. "Oh! I didn't realize anyone was awake!" he whispered. I shrugged, stepping toward him to join in his view of the outside world.
     "I wasn't awake until a few minutes ago. And now that I'm awake I can't sleep," I told him quietly, "I've never really slept well." He nodded mutely, turning back to look out the window.
     "I was just thinking," he said.
     "Me too," I chuckled softly. He smiled, but did not look over. Neither of us spoke. The moon was big and bright, shining on the sand and creating a whole different world from the one seen in the daylight. The silence that reigned at that moment in the dark was not the same awkward silence that was present in the garage earlier that day. It was more comfortable and peaceful. And then Party broke it.
     "Why did you wake up?" he asked quietly, not looking at me.
     "I had a weird dream," I replied honestly, seeing no harm in sharing a dream that was probably nonsense anyway, "There was a woman. And I'd seen her in a previous dream. She was pregnant, but she wasn't showing yet, so I'm not sure how I knew, I just knew. And I also just knew that  her kid was super important for something, but I didn't know what. And then there were Dracs and BLI and a huge explosion. It was weird."
     Party nodded slowly. "It sounds really weird. What are you smoking?" he joked lightly, looking at me as though he was only half-joking. I shoved him playfully, but did not answer. We both chuckled a little. "You should see if Kobra will take you out on his bike tomorrow. I bet you don't want to be stuck around here while we wait for the patrol to get back," he suggested.
     "Are you trying to set me up with your little brother?" I teased, mentally hoping that wasn't what he was doing. Party smiled and shook his head.
     "No," he defended, "I was just thinking about your sanity. Kobra won't go by himself, and he would never ask someone else. Why would you want to be stuck here when you could be racing through the desert on the back of a motorcycle."
     "Holding onto your little brother for dear life, you are trying to set me up with Kobra!" I accused teasingly. I giggled a little and then shrugged, still amused as I continued, "Well you make it sound so tempting, but I don't know. I don't mind being stuck here." I smiled to myself, staring out the window.
     "Sonik, I just.." he started. He didn't finish. He exhaled as he looked down at the table on which he sat. He shook his head, unsure of how to finish that sentence. I sat there waiting for it, but the ending of that thought never came. Eventually I just let it go.
     "Kobra's lucky," I said quietly. He looked over at me. His expression told me to go on. "I wish I still had a big brother to think about me and worry about me." Party laughed, though not loudly.
     "Kobra?" he snickered, "Kobra may be the younger brother, but he does most of the worrying. I mean, yeah, I love my brother and when he's in danger I worry about him. But Kobra is always telling me that he worries about me," Party explained, "He's a great kid and I will always want to protect him, but he's also protecting me." His statement ended on a heavier tone than I imagined he would have liked. It hung in the air as we sat, once again, in silence.
     As time passed, Party resumed his humming and I rested my head on the table next to where he sat. I stared out at the wonderland the moon had created of the desert, pretending there were magical beings to be discovered in the sand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Party look down at me. He must have assumed I was asleep, because he brushed back my hair. He then removed his hand and shook his head. I wished I knew what he was going to say. Sonik I just..
     Party's humming lulled me to sleep on the table. When I awoke, Dr. Death Defying's voice could be heard on the radio overhead. I was in my own bed, laying on top of the covers. I sat up, rubbing my eyes with a yawn. I looked over at my desk. The drawings from yesterday still sat on the surface. Getting up, I studied them once more and then walked out of my room. I could very faintly hear Kobra and Party talking in the dining area of the diner.
     "No, I'm not going to do that, you know I don't like people clutching onto me!" Kobra complained quietly.
     "Come on, it would be fun. You'd have something to do at least!" Party coaxed.
     "If it would be so much fun, you do it!" he suggested, sounding more agitated than he should have been. I could hear Party start to protest as I stepped into the room.
     "Good morning," I said with a faked yawn, pretending I hadn't heard a thing. I stepped sluggishly to help my believability. Party looked over at me with slight surprise. Kobra was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, staring at me. Party sat in the booth I had occupied last night, holding a set of keys in his hand.
     "Hey Sonik, you want to go out on the motorcycle? Party says he'd take you if you want," Kobra said, speaking for Party before Party could get a chance. Party frowned at him. "He asked me if I would mind someone else using my bike. Usually, I don't like it, but I trust my brother, and I don't like riding with other people." The last statement was directed towards Party. They glared at each other for a moment.
     "We don't have to go anywhere if nobody wants to. I don't mind staying here," I said, trying to keep them from arguing more. There was another brief moment of silence, and then Party stood up, grabbing his jacket from off one of the chairs.
     "Actually, I think I would like go for a ride," he responded, seemingly just to spite Kobra. He turned to look at me, his glare gone, "If you really do want to."
     "Sure," I said, possibly a little too enthusiastically. I turned away quickly and ran back up the hall. I knew I was blushing and I didn't want them to see. I grabbed my jacket and tugged it on gently over my burn. When I returned to the dining room, Kobra was sitting in one of the booths, his feet propped up on the seat opposite him. He was reading something I couldn't see.
     "Party's in the back looking for a helmet," Kobra said without looking up from his reading. I nodded, thanked him and then went in towards the garage. Party shoved things about as he looked for a helmet.
     "I know there's another one somewhere.." he muttered to himself. I looked around, but didn't touch anything.
     "It's just plain black?" I asked, spotting one handing on the wall next to a bunch of costume hats. I wasn't sure why all those hats were there, but I wasn't going to comment on them. Party looked back at me and nodded. I pointed to the helmet.
     "Ah! There it is. Good eye," he told me retrieving the helmet and wiping it off with the cloth he'd been using yesterday. He examined it, and then held it out to me. "I hope it fits, because there's not really another option," he chuckled.
     I took the helmet and put it on over my tied-up hair, signaling that it fit with a thumbs up. Party smirked and nodded for me to follow. Waiting outside the diner was a simple silver motorcycle. The thought crossed my mind that it might not be the right kind of motorcycle for two people, but I assumed it was safe if they suggested riding with someone else.
     Party put on his helmet and moved to get on the bike while I just stood awkwardly. I'd never been on a motorcycle before. He put the key in the ignition and looked back at me. "Come on then!" he laughed. I would hear his voice through my helmet. It was a weird feeling. I tentatively got on the motorcycle behind Party. "Hold on!" he declared as he started the bike. He wasn't kidding. I wrapped my arms around his waist as I'd seen it done in movies as he sped off through the desert and away from the lonely diner.