Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

Prologue

Better Living Industries. The corporation that rules the country through fear and manipulation. Sounds like hell, doesn't it? Well it was, especially for three kids in Battery City.

These kids weren't unique in any way, really. They were human, with emotions, normal abilities, mothers and fathers...

But they'd never known their parents. They'd never even seen them.

See, they were taken from their parents at a very young age by Better Living Industries. The company performed experiments on the kids, trying to genetically engineer them into weapons for their use. They had actually all been born in 2018, but BLI had tested an aging acceleration prototype on them, which meant that they had each aged eighteen years over the course of three. Obviously, being the idealist company BLI was, it also attempted to eliminate all individuality from them. Fortunately for the kids, it failed.

They didn't even have names. They were referred to by their subject number. Their "names" were VA1, VA2, and VA3. But of course, they referred to each other as One, Two, and Three.

Of them, there was one girl (Two) and two boys (One and Three). They were all best friends, but they had to keep it to themselves, because BLI was very anti-emotion.

They were regularly tested for their skills and abilities. The tests usually consisted of them being unconscious and put into a simulation. The goal of the sims was to test their skills, yes, but it was also to test their loyalty to BLI. They were definitely not loyal to BLI in any way, but they pretended to be, because if they weren't, they would be tortured as punishment. One usually took leadership over the group during tests.

So yeah, these kids' lives sucked. But they dealt with it, because it was all they'd ever known.

That is, until the Killjoys came for them.

It went like this: the three of them had just finished their last test of the day and had been sent to their rooms (they were more like cells, really, except for the fact that the walls were transparent) for the night. This part was particularly boring until they fell asleep. However, this time, something weird happened.

Some Scarecrows showed up. Now this was generally very rare after they'd been sent back here, but they had to just go with it.

When a Scarecrow entered One's room, he just smiled. "Hello sir," he said, just like he was always told to. "What brings you here?"

The Scarecrow didn't respond for a moment. Then, he did something that shocked One. He took his mask off.

What One saw was someone who was definitely not a Scarecrow.

This guy was a Killjoy.

The three subjects had been taught that Killjoys were terrorists, that their ultimate goal was to eliminate peace from the world. Obviously, they knew that wasn't true, but they said it anyways, because they knew what would happen if they didn't.

The Killjoy shook his (bright blue) hair out and addressed One. "Sorry kid, but I'm not a 'Crow. I'm here to get you out of here."

One took a second to process this. This could very easily be a sim, but it didn't feel like one, and he didn't remember being put under. However, he didn't want to risk it. "Is this a simulation?" he asked the Killjoy hesitantly.

He just laughed. "Actually, it's not."

"Really?" One considered his options. "So you're really here to rescue us?"

"Why else would I be here, kid?" the Killjoy laughed. "But you're gonna have to hurry out if you wanna come with us."

One jumped up without hesitation. Something about the Killjoys' use of art and music and color had always drawn him in, and now he had the opportunity to be a part of it.

The two other subjects were already outside and standing with two other Killjoys in disguise.

"Storm," one of the Killjoys said to the blue-haired one. "I've got a map of a shortcut out of here with a lot less complications."

"Good," the blue-haired Killjoy replied. "Alright, let's move." He pulled the Scarecrow mask back on and gestured for the group to follow him.

They traveled through several hallways, then climbed down a hidden ladder into a tunnel. The tunnel had metal tracks along the ground.

"What is this place?" Two asked nervously.

"It's a subway tunnel," one of the Killjoys told her. This one was soft-spoken and calm.

"Oh yeah," Two remembered. "We had these in a sim once, right?"

"Hey," Three spoke up, "Who are you guys?"

"Do you know what a Killjoy is?" another of the Killjoys asked. Three nodded in affirmation. "Well we're Killjoys."

"My name's Silent Storm, but just call me Storm," the blue-haired one told them.

"I'm Night Hunter," the second one said.

"Dr. Benzedrine," the calm one added. "Uh, do you guys have names?"

"Nope," One told him. "We do have numbers, though. I'm One, she's Two, and he's Three."

"We've got to get you better names," Storm said. "You're called Unit V, right? VA1, VA2, and VA3?"

"Yeah," One replied.

Storm thought for a moment. "VA1... I'm gonna call you Val. Okay?"

"Val," One tested out the name. "Sounds cool."

"Hey," Benzedrine commented, "You could be called the Ultra Vs! You know, like Ultra Violet radiation, Ultra V?"

"What are some other words that start with V?" Storm asked.

"Violence?" Hunter said, then trailed off. The Killjoys were silent.

"Okay, moving on," Storm said. "Uh, velocity, volume..."

"I like Velocity," One piped up again. "Val Velocity!"

"Volt," Two added. "I like that one. I saw it on a label on one of the tracks."

"I guess I like Volume," Three said, shrugging.

"Good!" Storm smiled. "You're all set. Al will love this."

They continued walking through the tunnels until they reached a station. They climbed the stairs onto a street and walked for a bit longer, until they reached the city wall. There was a minivan parked in front of it. They all squeezed in, and they drove to a spot where the wall had been broken through. From there, they entered the Zones.