**Note**- You guys have no idea how much I hate the original and the rewrite. I got all these ideas for characters and back-story and shit, and they didn't add in. So I decided to rewrite the goddamn rewrite. It's helped that I've made a list of the tropes that will be involved, so luckily the writing will be much better.
Danger Days
Chapter I- Introduction
Year: 2014
It had been two years since the fires of 2012, and since then the world's population had dropped from seven billion to three billion. America had been the most affected, but Japan and Germany were close behind. People still did not know or understand what had caused the fires.
Yet it was 2014 that had been known as the year of total, complete disaster- or at least the start of it; all across the world there had been disappearances and rumours, whispers of an unknown evil. People who had not lost their families to war or murder knew someone who had.
They did not know how right they were at the mention of evil- the world was controlled by it. A single corporation rose from the ashes of what was once known as California. Better Living Industries was run by a man known only as Korse, and only he knew the true cause of the fires. Korse had an army of Draculoids behind him, readily armed with ray guns, which had been specially designed by Korse to take out anyone who opposed them or suspected their motives. Their slogan, "The Aftermath is Secondary", could be found all over America, and despite Better Living's assurances, there were many people who did not- could not trust them.
One of these was Bob Bryar, the drummer of the band My Chemical Romance. He was suspicious, and stealthily looked into BLI's work. What he found shocked him, and he warned his fellow band members not to trust Better Living Industries, he set a time and place to meet them, but when they arrived the sight the band were met with shocked them to the core.
Bob was hanging by his ankles, suspended from a nearby skyscraper wearing a straitjacket.
They would later see in a newspaper, FactNewspaper, that he was killed by a ray gun wound to his chest.
The pills came out a month later: BLI's first attempt at anti-depressants were very well received by most of the population and sold out very quickly. The four remaining band members did not try them, and neither did their wives- not after Bob's warning.
So the band broke up. Realising the danger they were in, the four men decided to run away to protect their wives and children. Though he and Alicia were going through a rough patch, Mikey made her promise to stay away from BLI's drugs and not to trust them. She agreed, but only because Lindsey, Jamia and Christa were also doing the same.
They left their names behind with their lives. Gerard and Mikey Way, Ray Toro and Frank Iero were dead, but Party Poison, Kobra Kid, Jet Star and Fun Ghoul were very much alive.
California, September 7th.
They were in California for a month when they found the diner. Ahead of them, in the heated desert was a salmon-pink diner with extra-wide, extra-large windows and a gas station as a permanent attachment to it. At least one of the windows was broken- a huge gap with jagged pieces around the frame. The Killjoys were hungry- starving, their mouths and throats were dry, and they had become accustomed to dizziness and black-spotted vision.
The diner was something that gave them hope; having not learnt to be weary and suspicious so early on, they saw no reason to avoid it. They did, however, draw their ray guns for safety, just in case.
Jet Star went first, slowly edging through the double doors into the diner, and taking in the details- the walls were a yellow pastel, as were the counter-tops, the furniture was stainless steel with bright yellow seats, and a red, white and yellow chequered linoleum floor. Broken glass had fallen on several of the seats and the white tables, the floor was dusty- the sand had presumably blown in during a storm. The clock above a coffee dispenser had a broken glass cover, and the television mounted on the wall in a corner was old.
And it was all silent. Too silent.
He motioned for the others to enter, sensing a presence and knowing that he would need back up. Party Poison, Fun Ghoul and Kobra Kid joined him, all surveying the inside carefully. Their gaze fell on the door leading to the men's toilets, and Ghoul raised his gun at the sign just as a man left pointing his own ray gun at them.
The man stepped forward and asked, 'Who are you?'
The Killjoys knew that their appearance had changed from their former life, but they did not know that it had been so drastic. As Ghoul slowly lowered his gun, the man before them frowned in confusion. They noticed that the man wore beige trousers and a black leather jacket, and Kobra wondered whether he found it comfortable to wear in the hot desert.
It was Poison who spoke first, 'Jimmy? What are you doing here?'
The man hesitated, 'How do you know my name?'
'Jimmy,' Poison said, 'It's us-.'
There was a crash from the toilet and the man looked alarmed. He held his ray gun up and told the four, 'Don't move,' and he rushed into the toilet.
Kobra and Jet shared a glance.
Not long after, in which during the man's absence, the four could hear angry muffled shouts and more bangs, the man that Poison called 'Jimmy' stepped out with his appearance looking significantly more dishevelled. He scowled at Poison and pointed his ray gun at Poison's face, 'Tell me your name and then leave. We don't want no freeloaders.'
Poison looked affronted, 'Jimmy-,' the man's finger twitched on the trigger, 'it's me- Gerard.'
Jimmy frowned, as though he was debating whether Poison was telling the truth; there was something about his appearance that seemed so familiar, but as with the other three, the disguises worked well.
Finally, his trust won, and he lowered his gun. Jimmy beckoned them over to a booth to sit down at, when they did, he said, 'We thought you guys died.'
'You did?' Ghoul asked, 'You went missing after the fires! Everyone thought that you'd burnt alive!'
'Is Chantal okay?' Jimmy asked, ignoring Ghoul's statement.
Poison nodded, 'Yes, except she's already pretty high up with BLI.'
Jimmy growled, 'Damn Better Living.'
Kobra asked, 'What did you mean by 'we'?'
Jimmy winced, 'That'd be Steve. He's in the back working on his radio project.' He was quiet for a while before he sighed, running a hand through his ruffled hair, 'It was BLI that started the Helium Wars, you know. Them fires? Korse was wanting to recruit Draculoids, 'cept no one would want to join up. So he started torching America- starting with small arson acts, then endin' up with helium bombs, an' they didn' do us any good.'
Jet gaped, 'That was them?'
Jimmy nodded, 'Yeah, an' if you think what they did here was bad, then you haven't heard about the rest of the world. Japan turned out all right- eventually, but China's been wiped off the map. Germany formed their own resistance force, but they were betrayed by an insider. New Zealand was forced into making some sort of serum, and most of Britain has been eradicated leaving jus' England- and that's become one giant weapons factory.'
'But that's disgusting!' Kobra cried, 'How did we not hear about this before now!'
'Listen to yerself!' Jimmy exclaimed, 'Better Living own the News industry! FactNews- BLI own it! The TV channels? BLI own 'em. The goddamn newspapers? BLI OWN 'EM. There ain't one chance that they'll reveal their plans to the public. That's why Steve's working on that radio; he wants to give 'em hell. BLI took his legs in the goddamn Helium Wars, we're nothin' but a couple of tumbleweeds in this motherfucking desert, and it's all down to BLI, and we have no clue why.' He took a deep breath and continued at the sight of the Killjoys' stunned faces, 'Listen, I have no idea why you guys are here; we don' get much news now that we got cut off, so someone explain, goddamn it.'
There was a short pause in which the Killjoys looked uncomfortable, 'Uh, Jimmy,' Poison said, rubbing the back of his neck, 'The thing is, Bob did a lotta research on BLI and what they were doing. He managed to give us a few warnings but...'
'He got ghosted,' Ghoul told Jimmy.
Jimmy did not react as much as they thought he would, instead he nodded his head and said, 'Ghosted... I like it. I'll have to pitch it to Steve.'
Jet frowned, 'Are you being serious? Bob's dead and you're-.'
'I know he's dead, Ray!' Jimmy interrupted, 'When you've fought in wars and killed Draculoids, you have to learn to distance yerself! What good is it gonna do to dwell on it all? If Bob was researching BLI, then he pretty much had an idea of how dangerous it would be. I'll say he knew that it was suicide, but he did it anyway. What strikes me is that I don't see your families with you!'
'Of course not!' Poison shouted, standing up quickly and facing Jimmy. He slammed his hands on the table between them and said, 'We ain't here on a fucking holiday! We ain't running away from 'em. We're fighting! We're the Fabulous Killjoys, a fucking rebellion, we didn't tell 'em about it all 'cause we're keeping 'em safe.'
As Poison said this, loud crashes came from the back room, and were soon followed by a wheelchair-bound man entering the diner looking irritated.
'Listen,' he said through gritted teeth, 'I'm tryin' to work on something there, an' your yellin' ain't helpin', so say what you wanna say, then leave.'
Jimmy shook his head and gestured for Poison to sit down. 'Relax, Steve. It's the guys. They've decided to rebel.'
'Well that's all fine and dandy, but would ya mind keepin' it down, or at the very least take it outside?'
Kobra clenched his jaw, 'You two... you've changed.'
'War does that to you, son,' Steve told him.
'No,' Kobra said, shaking his head, 'No, it's like you don't care about everyone. We've been away from home for months trying to find a suitable place to work against BLI from, and then we see you two. We thought you were dead!'
'An' I'm pretty sure Alicia'll think the same about you, Mikey.'
Kobra glared at him, 'We're trying to protect our families, what-.'
'Kobra!' Ghoul shouted, 'I don't think we know anything about what Jimmy and Steve are doing here, so let's not assume that they're here for anything less than we are, okay?'
'Fine,' Kobra said through gritted teeth.
Jimmy watched this exchange with interest, 'Why did you call him Kobra?'
'As Killjoys, we have new names,' Ghoul said, 'I'm Fun Ghoul, Mikey's Kobra Kid, Gerard's Party Poison- he's our leader, and Ray's Jet Star.'
'And you think jus' four o' you is gonna be enough for a rebellion?' asked Steve, 'You guys must have gone all Costa Rica, if you think I'll believe that.'
'Then join us,' Kobra said, 'Both of you- we can get more people together and bring down Better Living Industries!'
Jimmy and Steve looked surprised at this request; both seemed speechless. Finally, Jimmy grinned, 'Alright, you're on.'
Steve nodded, 'Sure, I suppose we choose our own names, right?'
The others nodded.
'Very well, I'll be Doctor Death Defying.'
'And I'll be Agent Cherri Cola,' Jimmy added, holding out his hand for one of the four to grasp.
Poison took it, 'Welcome to the Fabulous Killjoys, my friend.'
Kobra shook Steve's hand, 'Danger Days, here we come.'
