Hurricane // Danger Days (Book 2)

29.

Alien was stressed. After the battle, the Nest had been really overcrowded with ex-Rioters learning how to be Killjoys. The living quarters didn't even have any empty cots anymore; about half of the people living there had to sleep on the floor! And you know what Alien had to do? She had to log every single one of them in her files. Their names, ages, skills, affiliations, et cetera. Yeah, she liked writing, but not like this.

She knew that they had to move the Nest. She'd been thinking about it before, but now she was certain. She sent out Killjoys every day on scouting trips for a new, bigger place for them to stay. Yeah, they could use the Hub, but that had turned into a weapons warehouse over the past week, and really only had the sleeping room for about a hundred people, not the five hundred extra trapped in the Nest.

Another thing that had changed was Alien's office. She was used to having that private space to work, but Cola had insisted they repurpose it, if only temporarily. What they had done was placed a single cot in the corner, and locked Grenade Shock inside.

That, Alien wasn't sure about. Killjoys weren't really the type to keep prisoners, but she had to consider the options. Cola had stopped her from coming in contact with Grenade for fear of her being attacked. That made sense, but she still didn't know why it was her and not Storm that had been prevented from going in there.

Storm not going in with Grenade made sense. He had straight-up betrayed her trust, and she wasn't one to forgive and forget. But Storm was one of those people that hated when someone he cared about (and yes, he cared about her. She was still his friend, Rioter or not) was upset at him. Alien was one of those people too, but she knew there was still a risk, even though Grenade wasn't armed.

Grenade had fallen into a very depressive routine. Her emotions had been reduced to guilt, sadness, or nothing, and her mood only lifted when Revenge came to visit her in her prison cell. She had no desire to see any of the Killjoys except her brother, who she still was having a hard time accepting as a Killjoy. But he was a genius. He knew what he was doing, so of course, she respected his decision.

Hurricane—no, Storm—however, she could not accept. He was a good actor, she'd give him that. But acting like her friend and spying on the Riot from the inside was taking it too far. What really drove in the knife was that his appearance had returned to how it looked before he joined the Riot, confirming his true intentions. She hated him. She wouldn't try to kill him, obviously, because she was unable to. But if she could kill him, she would.

But here's one thing that she would never speak to anyone: she hated that about herself. After the day of the battle, something had changed in her. She realized that everything Revenge had said made sense. And now, she regretted every innocent life she'd ever snuffed out. It was the reason no one trusted her anymore, and it was the reason she was stuck in this cell. She couldn't help thinking that maybe if she apologized, Storm would be friends with her again... but no. That just wasn't something she'd do.

So when Storm knocked on the cell door one day, she was not happy to see him.

Storm unlocked the door and peeked inside, to see Grenade curled in a ball on her cot. "H- hey, Ren," he started.

She whipped her head around and sat on her cot normally. "What do you want?" she asked, ice in her words.

"Um," he stuttered. "Can I... talk to you? Possibly?"

"What is there to talk about?" she sighed. "You said it yourself. We're not friends."

Storm stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He wanted to sit down next to her, but he didn't want to risk anything. "Listen, Ren. I- I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I said that. I'm not saying I didn't mean it at the time but... I care about you, is what I'm trying to say. I think what I was saying was that I'm not the person you thought I was. I'm not this... cocky asshole that doesn't care what people think of him. I'm not Hurricane."

Her face softened slightly. "So what are you saying?" she asked. "You don't expect me to just say kumbaya and be done with it, do you? I'm not that kind of person."

"No, no," he told her, "that's not what I'm saying at all. I just-" he sighed. "I know I hurt you, and I know you'll never forget that, and you probably won't even forgive me. But I at least wanted to apologize. You are a good friend, Ren, and I miss that friendship we had. I don't want you to hate me forever." he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"It's never going to be like it was, Cane," she said, not noticing that she was using his alias. "You betrayed me and the rest of the Riot. You- You're supposed to be my enemy."

"But the Riot is on the Killjoys' side now. There is no Riot anymore." He felt confident enough to sit next to her now, and he did. She said nothing in response. "There's no reason for us to be enemies. Even Revenge—"

"Don't bring Ven into this!" She exploded. Then she seemed to realize what she'd done and took a deep breath. She hung her head. "Sorry."

"You're good," he told her. "But anyway, you don't have to forgive and forget. But I at least want there to be no hostility between us, okay?" Then he held out his hand, hoping she would shake it in agreement.

She looked up and their eyes met. She hadn't expected the look on his face to be one of friendliness, but there he was, smiling softly at her. His eyes told her that he truly did want to be friends again.

So I'm not alone after all, she realized.

So then, instead of taking his hand, she hugged him. She threw her arms over his shoulders, despite every part of her mind screaming at her to stop, this man is your enemy! But he wasn't. He really did care about her.

Storm was shocked. He had expected her to grudgingly take his hand, then ask him to leave. But he was relieved. She was actually willing to forgive him, even if it would take a while. So he put his arms around her, pulling her close.

Everything's going to be alright.