If my velocity starts to make you sweat
Then just don't let go
And if heaven ain't got a vacancy
Then we just, then we just, then we just
Then we just get up and go!
"Be gone! ... Jeez!" barks Jimmy, waving a hand to dismiss the stares of those who have gathered to see my return.
I can hear gun shots in the distance. I guess Jimmy was forced to leave a few guys behind. Oh well, lives have to be lost in war.
Jimmy smiles, a shiver running down his spine, "God, I love that sound."
Just as Jimmy finishes saying this, a small teenage boy is thrown down at the foot of our chair. Who the hell is this?
The boy looks up at us, blood runs down his face from a slit just above his eyebrow. I know that mark. His shirt is ripped apart and his blonde hair has small scarlet droplets hanging from some of the stands. If I had a heart that still felt emotions I think I'd feel bad for the kid. He shivers, probably out of fear. We are kind of a scary bunch of people.
"What's your name, boy?" Jimmy question, his tone soft.
The boy is too frightened to reply, instead he looks to me. I'm not going to help him.
Shortly Jimmy becomes irritated; he's never had much patience.
He slides me off his lap, stepping towards the boy. Placing a gun against the frightened animal's head, Jimmy sounds more like his normal self, "I won't ask you again."
"Adam! It's Adam!"
"Adam," Jimmy takes his pointer finger and wipes it through the trail of blood on Adam's brow.
He walks back over to me, holding out his finger. I flick my tongue out, allowing the blood to sit on the tip for a second before swallowing, "It's real."
Jimmy flashes me a devilish smile before turning towards the boy, "Welcome to the club."
Everyone that didn't get the hint and stayed plastered to the walls begin to cheer. Jimmy hands me back the gun that by rights belongs to me. I gave it to him the night before I was taken away. It's nice to see that he took such good care of it.
"Club?" Adam questions, looking confused; this boy is a moron.
Jimmy gives him a sideway glance, removing the cigarette from his moth to blow out smoke. "Do you even know who we are?"
Billie shakes his head. Where has this kid been all his life?
Jimmy groans in annoyance; he hates having to explain things.
"You don't know St. Jimmy?" I question getting off the couch, putting my face in the boys, my eyes wide giving me a slightly crazed look. "What about me?"
"She's the queen of death!" a woman shouts out. Dammit I was having fun.
"He's the suicide commando!" another man adds referring to Jimmy
"Enough!" everyone stops and looks toward Jimmy. He is slumped back in to his chair, watching me at work. "You don't have to tell this brat our, Miss. Murder and my, whole life story, for Christ sake."
"St. Jimmy…Miss Murder," Adam says as if the light blub in his head finally went on. "St. Jimmy! Miss Murder! You're the criminal that Atrector's looking for!"
The room grows quiet, as Jimmy slowly turns his attention from me to Adam. Atrector is a cursed name amongst our people. He's evil.
"We're not the criminals," I hiss.
"What did you say?" Jimmy questions getting up from the chair and grabbing Adam by a chunk of his uncut blonde hair. "You better not be working for that son of a bitch!"
"No, no, no! His men where chasing me! Honest! That's how I got like this!" Adam says hastily, wincing in pain at the hair being pulled.
Jimmy gives him a disgusted look before moving to warp his arm around my waist. Jimmy kisses me on the cheek whispering for me to explain things to the mindless Adam.
"That man, Atrector –" I snarl, showing my teeth – "He has this knack for hurting us. Well, you see he's got his people and then there's us…. We're the misfits…unwanted…. The Killjoys, Atrector calls us. That's why this war is taking place. He wants us dead. Oh, but no! I'm the teenage assassin! Working along side the suicide commando himself! They'll fall beneath us!"
I begin to laugh like a mad man, imagining pulling Atrector's stone cold heart from his chest with my bare hands. The crowd that is still gathered cheer at my words.
I notice that Adam is smiling as well; I guess everyone is looking for a place they fit in during war time. Adam just found his.
Jimmy gives our newest member a strange look, "You okay kid?"
Adam looks like he's just been woken from a dream, "Uh…oh yeah I'm fine."
"Hey kid, go get washed up. It's time to eat," Jimmy says.
Adam's eyes light up, mirroring mine. Food; I've not had a decent meal in months. Adam leaps from the floor and hurries over to the bathroom marked by a sign on a door. Jimmy smirks, leading me towards the dinning room.
Halfway down the hall a man steps in our way, a stupid smile on his face; the urge to slap it off bubbles up inside of me. He's such a bastard.
"Molly!" the salt and pepper haired man exclaims, spreading his arms for a hug.
I sneer at him, throwing my arms around Jimmy's neck, "Father."
"I see Jimmy held true to his word, he got you back. I must say we've missed our head assassin," my father continues making it seem like I'm just another robot he controls. What a fool.
Sitting up in his office my father has no clue that Jimmy and I have taken over his operation sending forces out on missions he would never authorize. We manage without the bumbling idiot who thinks he controls things.
"I bet," I reply before continuing forward, pushing past my over weight father towards the dining room.
Moments later Adam joins us, sitting across from me and to the left of Jimmy who has taken up his rightful spot at the head of our table of about 25. Our numbers have decreased since I was taken. Perhaps it's just my imagination. I always forget there are two rounds of dinner. Jimmy always attends the last seating, wanting others to get their fill before him.
Joe, our cook along with a few others that help him, place food down the length of the table.
St. Jimmy doesn't reach for anything and normally I wouldn't either but my stomach rumbles and I can't refuse it a meal. Grabbing a burger I place it on a bun feeling guilty as I bite into it; food is limited.
I notice Adam is following Jimmy's lead, having nothing on his plate.
"Why don't you eat?" Jimmy questions fixing a burger for Adam, setting it on his plate.
"Why aren't you eating?" Adam returns after swallowing; the kid really is hungry.
Jimmy glances down at his empty plate, "Well, food is scarce, and my people need it more then I do."
"I shouldn't be eating," says Adam, setting down his barely eaten burger.
"You remind me of Zelda," sniffs Jimmy. Oh, shit.
"What?"
"She thought about others before herself."
"And that makes you sad because…?" questions Adam.
"Zelda, my sister, was killed…by Atrector," Jimmy's eyes narrow. He clenches his teeth, slamming his fists on the table. Jimmy then gets up and walks out.
Everyone's eyes drifted over to Adam who looks confused. Why is he such and idiot? Keep your mouth shut, do what Jimmy says and you'll be fine.
"Jimmy wai- Jimmy!"
Jimmy turns to face me, his eyes clouded over with sadness.
"You know she died for a cause, Jimmy; to save the rest of us."
"Really?" spits Jimmy who is now upset.
"Do you really know why we gather here…?"
It seems like every time someone reminds Jimmy of his little sister Zelda something inside just snaps and he rages at anyone within hearing distance. I'd rather it be me than anyone else. I'm used to Jimmy.
"I'm aware, I helped set this up Jimmy," I reply knowing he's going to tell me anyway.
"To show we're right, that the rebels are right for once; to show Atrector that the Killjoys are a force to be reckoned with!"
I nod to show my understanding of the matter. Jimmy is actually pretty hot when he gets riled up like this.
"Sister Assassin, come with me," Jimmy commands, taking my hand and walking out the door; this is not part of his normal rant.
Jimmy leads me around our building, down the streets. There where bodies everywhere. The smell of iron filled the air and my combat boots become quickly soaked in the blood of fallen allies and enemies alike.
"Why are you showing me this, Jimmy?"
"These…these streets of shame, they showed them on the news the other day. Everyone we knew, our army, lived on these streets. It's all we've got left in our name. You've got to help me protect them."
"I have and will continue to. My absence hasn't changed me. If anything it's made me hate them more. I'm here to take back our city, St. Jimmy."
Jimmy smiles, pressing his lips to mine for a second, "It's nice to know you have my back once again."
In the distance I hear the sirens going off letting all Killjoys and innocent peoples know it's time to get off the streets, "They'll be out soon looking for anyone stupid enough to not heed their warning."
"Let's go," Jimmy grabs my hand, the two of us walking as quickly and silently as possible back towards our building. I hadn't realized how far we had traveled.
As we go to round the corner I stop Jimmy, seeing two of Atrector's men standing at the end of our usual cut through alley, "Shit."
Pulling my gun out of the inside pocket of my leather police jacket I motion for Jimmy to remain quiet; I have to do this quickly and with as little noise as possible. We can't afford to have more men called in. Pointing the gun around the side of a building I shoot the first guy in the neck. Before the second man can call for backup my bullet makes contact with his forehead.
Hurrying over to the two I take the knife Jimmy is offering me and slit their throats just for good measure before carving a 'KJ' in each of their foreheads. We might as well let Atrector know who killed his men when he comes to gather them up.
I bull the trigger of my gun twice, letting the shots ring out in a sign of 'Yes mother fuckers, we're out here, come find us.'
Jimmy smirks, "Damn girl, you're in the mood to fight tonight; it's hot."
"When you lock up a beast you've got to remember that once it's set free it'll only come back ten times more angry than before," I reply before taking off towards our building; Jimmy at my heels.
As Jimmy and I enter through the curtains everyone looks relieved. Do they really have that little faith in us? Whatever, sometimes it's nice to know someone cares if you live or die.
"Shut and lock the doors!" I holler, "They're out there!"
With that Jimmy and I climb up to the second floor using special stairs installed when we first took over this building. No one is allowed on the second floor unless Jimmy or I invite them up.
"It's nice to have you back in my room," Jimmy signs, tossing me one of his shirts to wear as sleep clothes.
I take off my hat, pulling off my jacket and laying my gun on top of it. I then remove the rest of my clothes, pulling on Jimmy's shirt over my bra and underwear. I then sit down on the bed.
Jimmy, shirtless, moves to sit next to me. He has at leas ten new scars lacing his already torn up back. Although the thin white lines are hard to see on his pale skin I know they're there.
I rest my cheek on Jimmy's shoulder, fitting my fingers in the gaps between his. The both of us look out the window onto our once glorious city. It's in ruins because of one asshole that sees Jimmy and me as a threat to national security.
"What is it?" Jimmy questions.
"Your back, there's new scars," I answer.
"Oh that," Jimmy shrugs it off.
"Did you get those from trying to rescue me?"
"Yeah, they held me for a few days."
"Did it hurt?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"Not you're fault."
"What…what happened exactly?"
"I held onto the hope I'd be able to get you within a week of them taking you and the blood and rain washed that way," Jimmy struggles to find the right words to describe how he feels at the moment. "We're the perfected examples of how fucked up society is."
Jimmy really does believe that it's just him and I against these enemies; that the people who fight along side us are just there. Some days I believe him.
I chose not to reply, crawling under the covers instead. Jimmy slips in next to me. I turn on my side, eyes on the side of Jimmy's face.
"Are you ok?" Jimmy asks me.
Instead of answering I give him a small peck on the lips before rolling back on my back, staring at the ceiling painted to look like the night sky.
"Good night," we both say at the same time.
I've missed St. Jimmy.