Jet Star And The Kobra Kid/Traffic Report

Party and Ghoul sat across from eachother, eating a can of Power Pup between them. So, maybe they had gotten hungry, while Jet and Kobra were taking a little too long at the recycler. Their radio was blaring Mad Gear and the Missile Kid, until the music cut out.

Bad news from the zones, tumbleweeds.

The two killjoys straightened their backs, and stared at the radio. Dr. Death-Defying didn't stop in the middle of a song unless it was important.

I t looks like Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid had a clap with an exterminator that went all Costa Rica and, uh, got themselves ghosted. Dusted out on Route Guano.

Ghoul looked to Party. Sure, he was sad, but his main priority had always been to take care of Party, even if it was usually him and Jet that took care of everyone else. Party just kept staring, unable to process the information. No way could that have happened. Jet was too careful, Kobra was too fast a driver. But, if it had been a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, then maybe... And what the fuck had they been doing on the Getaway Mile? That road was dangerous, there were exterminators there every other week.

So it's time to hit the red line, and upthrust the volume out there. Keep your boots tight, keep your gun close, and die with your masks on if you've got to. Here is the traffic.

Party got up, shutting off the radio. He slammed himself back down in the seat, clutching at his hair.
"No," He muttered, pulling his hair.
Ghoul looked at him, helplessly. He couldn't do anything, and he knew it. He couldn't bring Kobra and Jet back. Once they were gone, well, they were gone.
"No!" Party couldn't keep his stiff lip for long.

It took hours for him to stop crying. It took weeks for him to stop obsessing over finding their bodies, because they had gone, in two BLi Body Bags. And it took another year for him to stop threatening to take a ray gun to his own head. So, two years later, Party Poison was pretty sure that he was okay. Until Ghoul came sprinting into the diner, holding a cutting from a 'zine between his grubby fingers. He handed it to Party, shaking a little. "Read it" Ghoul got out, looking at him with wide eyes.

Please stand by.

This is not a test.

Did you think you defeated the Kobra Kid?

The stars are aligned for me tonight.

Sit and watch me glide through all the lights.

The calm, the darkness that is life.

And it took a few days. Maybe they both underestimate when 'now' was. They both thought they were going insane, with the page taped up on the wall of the diner. But on a night, when the air felt more comfortable to breathe, when they had more than enough water to drink and more than enough food, it happened. Neither of them noticed the footsteps. The pair of footsteps. Fun Ghoul was the first to look up, intending on going out to check the car. His eyes met a pair of men. Party Poison looked up, and he wasn't scared. He smiled at the two standing in front of them. The one in red took off his helmet, and grinned at the two of them.

"The electric century begins now,"