Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

05.

Alien and Revolution talked for the rest of the day. It took a while to catch the returning Killjoy up to speed with the events of late.

The hardest part for Alien was telling her friend about Vendetta.

She got a bit choked up recalling the events, but that was it. She had taught herself to remember the happy moments of his life, not the pain of his death. But human emotions are hard to deter.

Storm was a bit skeptical of the newcomer. He'd never heard or even comprehended the idea of someone who just leaves their friends randomly and doesn't come back for months on end. Alien seemed to trust them, which honestly wasn't that reassuring, because Alien seemed to throw her trust at people randomly, and never ceased to give second chances to people who didn't deserve them.

The next day, the two friends were still chatting when Storm entered the mess hall for his breakfast. After he had gotten a can of Power Pup, Alien called him over to sit with them, and he obliged.

"Mornin' Stormy! What's up?" The general grinned.

"Hey guys," he said as he sat down across from them. Revolution continued to look him over, slightly distrusting.

"So," Revolution said casually, "Al here talks pretty highly of you. You actually got out of the city on your own?"

"With my sister," he corrected, "but yeah. It's not that big of a deal."

"Hell yeah it is," they contradicted, "the last people who managed that without a patrol were this one and Ven, and that was three years before you did. You shouldn't downgrade yourself."

Wow, he thought. "Thanks, I guess—"

"That doesn't mean I trust you," Revolution cut in. "But, tell me one thing. You can't get out on your own while you're on the pills, right? So how did you get out of the main city of your own accord?"

Alien spoke up. "Okay, he'd have to tell you his real identity to tell you that, so let's change the subject."

Thank Destroya. Storm almost sighed in relief, but caught himself at the last moment. He scooped some (disgusting) Power Pup into his mouth. He'd long since gotten used to the taste of the vile dog food, because it was really the only thing the Killjoys had to eat that wasn't really expensive.

"You were with Poison, right?" Revolution asked Storm. "He always seemed so uptight about the whole romance thing, except for his epic stage gay, of course."

Storm took a breath. "Yeah," he told them. He really wasn't in the mood to talk about this.

"Hey Storm," Alien cut in, "can I talk to you, ya know, in private?"

Storm nodded (not too vigorously, he hoped), and the two got up and moved a few feet away.

"Why are you being so apprehensive?" Alien snapped when they were out of earshot. "The way you look at them, you'd think Rev was gonna jump up and kill us all!"

"Well I'm sorry," Storm whisper-yelled, "but I just don't trust them!"

"They're my best friend!"

"What kind of friend disappears for two years when you need them the most, huh?"

Alien stopped, and took a breath. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Storm then realized what he'd said. Alien was always so loyal to her friends, and she'd known Revolution for way longer than she'd known him. "Al, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay," Alien deadpanned. "Why don't you go find someone you aren't bitter about and eat your breakfast with them?" Then she turned on her heel and walked back over to Revolution, who she sat down next to.

Storm was speechless. He walked out of the room, leaving his can of Power Pup where it was. He'd lost his appetite.

🌩

Sunset had taken the three newcomers out to get new clothes (because it would suck if they looked like BLI for the rest of the time they were out here) and they were loving it. Volt had chosen a lot of bright green for her attire, while Volume went with several shades of blue, purple, and red. Val was still changing, so they hadn't seen his choices yet.

"Oh, hell yes!" yelled Volt, messing with her freshly dyed green hair.

Volume was layering gel into his already severely spiked lavender-colored hair. "Dude, are you kidding? This is awesome!"

"Hey guys," Val's voice said from behind the group. He had taken a bit of a risk when choosing his outfit, but he didn't care. What he thought was, the color white is actually the combination of every color, so why not use that to his advantage? He had had kept his hair white, and chosen light gray jeans and a black denim jacket. He had also found some plastic vampire teeth on a string, which he hung around his neck.

Sunset's jaw went slack. She couldn't believe the amount of white he was wearing, but was also kind of proud of his confidence. "Holy— wow."

"That bad, huh?" Val chuckled. "I just kinda figured, white is the combination of all the colors, right? I could change how people see it."

Wow, that's even better, Sunset thought.

"That's actually really cool, One— Val, sorry," Volt commented.

"It's alright, the names will be hard to get used to. And uh, thanks." Val ran a hand through his hair. "So Sunset, are we gonna go back to the Nest now, or..."

"Yeah," Sunset told him. "Alien will want to see this."

"Is there any other concerts we can go to?" Volume asked eagerly. "The Mad Gear one was awesome!"

"Al might know a few," the ginger assumed. "We should get going."

Sunset waved to Tommy Chow Mein, and the group found their way out of the shop.

They had ran into a couple of Dracs on the way home from the Mad Gear show, and after they took care of them, they claimed their motorcycles for their own. There was only three of them, and Sunset thought it fair that each of the Vs should get one, because she already had the van that she shared with Storm and Alien. She sat behind Val for now, and held onto his new jacket as they sped along the highway.