Keep Running (Killjoy)

05

D.A.'S POV:
The morning was awkward. I knew that I was happy about it, but the nervousness was coming from how Party Poison would react. Thoughts clouded my mind about how he could pretend nothing had happened because he regretted it. Back before the BL/Ind rebellions, there were some people who did similar things to my old friends, keeping the memory of their painfully embarassing moments fresh in my mind. Swallowing down my anxiety, I got out of bed and left the room while my girls were still asleep.

After following some of the twisting hallways, I managed to find the open area where food was served. Hardly any other people were milling around at that mildly early hour of the morning, making the short, brown-haired friend of Party's to stand out even more through the handful of killjoys. He caught sight of me and made his way over, a clever smirk completing the teasing expression of his face.

"Hey there." He greeted.

"Good morning, Ghoul." I chuckled.

"Got it on with Party last night, didn't ya?"

I flashed him a dirty look, "No! I'm not nearly that trashy."

"He was shoving his tongue down your throat, princess."

"Was not! Get off my case, will you? Bother him about it."

"He's not up yet; stayed up last night drawing."

"Party draws?"

"Yeah, he was an artist before the mess with BL/Ind."

"That's really cool. I'd love to see his art sometime."

"I'm sure you'd also love to see his di-"

"Shut up!" I smacked his arm, turning bright red.

"Hey look, your face is the same color as his hair!" He teased.

My back turned away from Fun Ghoul and I focus my attention on the variety of foods stockpiled in front of me. After finally making a decision on what I'd have to eat, Fun Ghoul forced me to sit beside him at a circular table painted with some neon-colored graffiti. We chatted for a little, mainly consisting of him making jokes of me. His eyes glanced over my head for a moment, alarming me briefly until I heard a low whisper in my ear.

"How you doing there, Destroya?" Party greeted and sat sideways to face me.

Fun Ghoul wiggled his brows at me, receiving a glare in reply before getting up and leaving us alone. My head turned to the red-haired guy and I looked at him expectantly, waiting for words to come out of his mouth.

"Hope he wasn't being too nasty to you, I know he loves to tease people." He explained.

"He thought we went really far yesterday and that's all I'm going to say." I shook my head while talking.

"Ha, I'm not surprised. He's the more dirty-minded of us, so if he's okay with one of our relationships then he just immediately turns it into that."

"Are we in a relationship? Not to be confusing or cliché, but I like having complete decisions over things."

"I'll give you an answer to that by the end of the day." Party assured me.

I nodded, though not completely satisfied with his answer. He must've sensed it because a kind smile appeared along with a ridiculous expression, obviously there to have made me laugh.

"There's your smile; don't get upset because I didn't give you a straight answer now. It's just that right now isn't a good time for me to make explanations since-"

As soon as those words were uttered, an announcement from Dr. D came over the speakers to all of the killjoys in the space.

"Rise and shine, rock-and-rollin' rebels! We've got a herd of those sick, grayscale-life machines roamin' out in Section Three needin' to be ghosted. And welcome to our four new motorbabies, found by our Fabulous Four! Knock 'em dead and remember to keep runnin'! Coming to you from Dr. Death-Defying." His rusty voice signed off.

"That would be why you're not getting an immediate answer. We always get morning missions around this time and I didn't want to be interrupted while talking to you." Party explained, getting up from the table.

"Wait, am I supposed to take my car?" I asked.

"Nah, they've got some guys filling papers for it and making sure it's up-to-shape before you drive it. You can hop in with us today." He said, offering his hand to me.

I took it, not completely comfortably, and we were rushed by a crowd of brightly-colored killjoys running to their vehicles. Jet Star, Kobra Kid, and Fun Ghoul were near us so shoving us all into the Trans Am didn't take as long as I expected it to. Our seating arrangement hadn't changed either- Party was driving, his brother was riding shotgun, and the remaining three were squeezed into the backseat. My girls wouldn't be expected on the mission, plus they would've appreciated a few extra hours of sleep, so we left them in the building as throngs of gorgeous muscle cars speeded outside towards Section Three.

It took me a moment to realize something vital was missing, "Hey, where are the weapons we'll be using? I just don't really want to die from not being prepared."

"We've got our ray guns on us. Here's one I grabbed for you and, when we get back, you can spray paint it however you want. The rest of your group won't be given ray guns until they get sent out on a mission since they haven't needed them yet." Our red-haired driver replied and passed back a plain, silver ray gun.

I thanked him and tried out my grip on it so I could gain some familiarity of it before actually fighting with it. I had only ever handled handguns in the past, which were only slightly different from these structure-wise, although never to harm anything. My father wanted me to be able to protect myself and I never thought it would be a skill I would need. Now look at me.

The car swerved to a stop, everyone crawling out to where they could aim at the Draculoids that had just noticed our presences. However, there was a rule we were still under- don't shoot unless the gun is already aiming at you. The black and white machine-people stood for a few moments then quickly whipped out their weapons, clearly a new tactic meant to surprise us. That was when all silence was completely broken over quite a lengthy time period- each killjoy was firing like madmen until each Draculoid had fallen to the ground. Even though they weren't even fully-functioning human beings and didn't have emotions, I still felt guilt after shooting them so my weapon only aimed at them this time.

Some of our teammates started being hit with the Dracs' shots, falling to the ground with grunts of pain. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I turned around for a few moments when a body crumpled to the ground beside me. Kobra's arm was hit, bleeding crimson liquid while he grimaced in pain and his brother immediately rushed to him.