We Taught Ourselves to Smile

Part 7

Kobra

Kobra couldn't focus. The only thing certain at that moment was that he was kissing Sandman, and Sandman was kissing back. His lips were soft, and Kobra could feel the smile beginning to form as they slowly parted. Sandman was beaming, his mocha eyes practically glowing. Kobra grinned and the shorter man grabbed his neck and pulled him back down, holding the kiss for longer this time, until Cherri coughed to remind them of why they were all gathered in the kitchen in the first place. Kobra ran his fingers down Sandman's cheek one more time before stepping back and steeling himself for the fight once more. Sandman stood frozen until one of his crew members, who was somehow even shorter than Sandman, shook him out of his stupor. He shook his head, and Kobra let a small smile slip through the walls he had put up.

"Okay, if you two wouldn't mind," Cherri said, tapping his foot and glancing out the windows anxiously, "We've got at least four patrol vans and what looks to be a car driven by BLI's head Exterminator, Korse, about to come and try to kill us all. I don't know how they found out where we are, but even if we do manage to ghost all of 'em, they'll still know where we are, so we'll have to relocate within the next few days."

"Fuck," Ghoul said, and all eyes turned to the dark haired boy as he tinkered with one of his bombs, "I was looking forward to not sleeping on the floor for once." Poison smiled down at him and started pulling their hair up into a braid.

"Ghoul, Darling, not now. He said within a few days, we'll get at least one night here." He huffed and they paused in their braiding for a moment to press a quick kiss to his cheek.

"As I was saying," Cherri continued, with a glare in Ghoul's direction, "be careful. If you get seriously hurt we can't risk A. Moving you and B. staying here for too long. Stay safe, don't let them hit you, and whatever you do, don't get captured." Everyone nodded, making final adjustments on their masks before filing outside.

The roar of engines could be heard, and though they still sounded far away, it made Kobra uneasy. He looked to his left and saw Poison and Ghoul embracing as if it might be their last, Ghoul's face buried in their neck and theirs in his hair as they clung to each other. Jet was doing final checks on his gun, making sure the sights were lined up and he had enough battery packs. Sandman was directly to his right, and the rest of his crew, Kobra still didn't know their names, beyond him. Sandman glanced at Kobra and smiled, taking his hand.

The patrol filanny entered his view. Four white vans and a black car, just as Cherri had said. The car stopped about 40 yards away, and a man got out, tall and bald, clad in dark clothing. Kobra looked back and Sandman and squeezed his hand, then grabbed his gun and held it steady on the man. The white vans unloaded their cargo, twenty dracs in total. Kobra switched his blaster from stun to kill.

"So." The man's voice was rough, laced with arrogance and venom. "The desert rats have finally come out to play."

"Oh, is that what we're here for? Well in that case I may just go home. Not really in the mood for games right now." Poison matched his tone easily, their golden eyes flashing behind their mask. To their left, Ghoul snorted and punched Jet's shoulder playfully, then gestured back to his fiance with vigor. Poison sighed. "Well I suppose since we're all already here, we may as well do something, Sugar." They glanced at Ghoul. "What do you think, Darling, shall we play a game?" Ghoul started bouncing on the balls of his feet, and Kobra could picture the grin spreading across his face underneath his mask.

"Oh hell yeah, Gorgeous." He pulled something small and rectangular out of his pocket. A detonator. Kobra had no idea when he'd had the time to place bombs, but apparently he had. Ghoul activated the detonator and several explosions erupted at once, nearly knocking Kobra off his feet. The Dracs weren't so lucky. Several of them had been caught in the blast and lay inert in the sand, and three of the vans had been completely destroyed. The rest of the Dracs and the Exterminator had been knocked to the ground, and the killjoys scattered and took cover. The Juvies, in a state of shock, hesitated for a moment, but Kobra grabbed Sandman and the short one and dragged them behind an old truck parked near the house. The other two Juvies followed, snapped out of their stupor by the start of the laserfire.