Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

12.

Storm exited the bathroom and greeted Alien.

She reacted in the same way she did the first time. "Dude, lookin' shiny!"

"This doesn't mean anything," Storm said softly. "I'm still Storm. Hurricane doesn't exist." He said this more for himself than Alien.

"Yeah, I know," she reassured. "As soon as we stop them, you can come home and be yourself again."

"That sounds good," Storm sighed. "What happens now?"

"Well, you're gonna come back to the Nest with me and say goodbye to everyone, obviously, then you can take one of our spare bikes to their base." They began to walk back out of the shop.

"I need a backstory, right?" Storm asked. "If I'm gonna pretend to be one of them."

Alien thought for a second. "How about this: you were originally in the Lobby, but you ran to the desert when your family was killed by BLI. You wanted revenge on the whole city from the start, and were kinda frustrated with the Killjoys for not doing anything. Then you heard about the bombing and went straight there."

"That sounds okay," he agreed as they climbed back into the van. It was now 1200 hours.

Alien continued, "Then you're just gonna go along with everything they say. You know, pretend to hate me, pretend to want to murder the whole city, whatever. Then you'll report back to me once a week, unless something important happens, then you call me ASAP."

"Got it." As they began to drive, Storm felt the wind on his neck. It was seriously weirding him out. He felt the back of his head and marveled at how short his hair was. His bangs flew into his eyes, and he moved them out of the way. He was going to have to get used to this.

Alien saw what he was doing and laughed. "It takes a bit of getting used to, I know."

They kept talking and laughing like they always did, and Storm realized how much he was going to miss this.

They got back to the Nest without much event. As they got out of the van, Storm realized that this was the last time he'd see his home for a while. The goodbye suddenly became a lot more important.

As usual, the Nest was crowded and no one acknowledged their presence. The two Killjoys made their way to Alien's office, where Cola was waiting.

"Hi, General," Cola greeted Alien. Then he looked at Storm in confusion. "Who's this—oh wait," his eyes widened as he recognized Storm. "Good job, Storm! I didn't even recognize you!"

"That was kinda my goal," he said sheepishly. "I just came by to say goodbye to everyone."

"Ah, okay," Cola said, then he came over and shook Storm's hand. "So long, kid. I hope to see you sooner rather than later. By the way, what's your new name?"

"Hurricane," Storm said. "Hurricane Lightning."

"Awesome." Cola let go of Storm's hand, then gestured to the office's door. "Sunset's in the studio. Don't worry about Val, he's out with his gang right now."

"Okay," he replied. "See you, Cola."

"Bye!" Cola exited the office, leaving Alien and Storm alone.

Alien came over to Storm. "So I guess this is goodbye for now," she sighed. "I know we'll talk a lot, but I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Al," Storm said. Then he held his arms out, and she crushed him in a hug.

"Don't do anything stupid," she laughed, but there was still sadness in her voice. "Do exactly as they say. No matter what it is."