Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

24.

Storm faded back into consciousness. He tried to move his arm, but he found he couldn't. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was sitting in a chair with all four of his limbs tied to it. He couldn't move if he tried.

Then he saw a tall figure standing in the corner of the room in front of him. The figure stepped from the shadows, and Storm saw that it was Grenade Shock. But it wasn't the familiar, friendly, smiling face he was familiar with. Her expression was solid stone, and he could clearly see anger behind her eyes. She came closer to him. Then she said to him: "So, you stayed with the Killjoys for... how long?"

"Three months."

"Three months," she replied. "So you know how they communicate? Like we use cell phones, what do they use?"

Storm rolled his eyes. "These ancient walkie-talkie thingies. They're practically useless."

Grenade's face remained blank. "Then you wouldn't keep one when you came here, would you?" Then she pulled her hand from behind her back, showing Storm's communicator in her hand.

Oh no. Ohhh shit. He took a breath and was about to open his mouth, when she cut him off.

"You know, I really trusted you," she said, and he could tell that her anger was surfacing. "I questioned you at first, because I question everyone. But then you hacked into the BLI interface, and you did it for me, you didn't object, so I was like, 'Yes, I can trust this guy.' But then, Ven comes and—"

"Ven?" Storm's eyes widened.

Grenade raised an eyebrow. "Revenge. He comes to me, and asks me if he can tell me a secret. I'm thinking it's gonna be something stupid, but then he says that Hurricane Lightning, my best friend, is actually a fucking Killjoy! And I tell him, 'Oh no, you're probably misunderstanding something. I didn't want to believe it, but then he takes me to your room, opens up a drawer, and pulls out this fucking communicator! Killjoy technology!" Then she got really close to his face. "These past two months have been a lie. All of it was a lie. You were never my friend, you were my enemy!" She raised her voice. "You were my best friend, Cane! I trusted you, I loved you!"

"No," Storm whispered.

Grenade's eyebrows scrunched. "What did you say?'

"I said, no," Storm said sharply. He was damned now, he knew it, so he let his inhibitions go completely.

"No to what?" Grenade was practically screaming now. "What the hell are you—"

"My name is not Hurricane Lightning." He looked her in the eyes. "You were never my friend. You didn't trust me, you didn't love me. You loved the character I created. But he's gone now." He knew he was driving her insane, and he was loving it. "My name is Silent Storm. And I am a Killjoy. My best friend is General Atomic Alien, and my home is the Nest. And you have murdered hundreds of innocent people, all of which had their whole lives ahead of them, and you stole that from them. And you know what?" He leaned in closer to her face. "When you consider that, there is almost nothing different between you and BLI."

Grenade raised her fist to punch him again. She was just about to bring it down, when she heard gunshots. She knew that she'd specifically ordered her troops not to fire in the Hub because it could set off any of the explosives. And that's exactly what she heard.

She turned to Storm with a shocked look on her face. He was smirking like a criminal who'd just been found "innocent". "You know what that is?" he said. "That's the sound of my friends coming for me. That's them succeeding, and that's you being defeated." He grinned maniacally. "Any questions?"