Three

"A Killjoy?" the redhead asked.

"Yeah," said Midnight Grace, "You know, like someone who fights against BLI?"

"I didn't know they were real," he muttered.

Midnight heard him. That made her more curious. If these four hadn't thought Killjoys were real, then what were they doing fighting against BLI agents? And hadn't her father received a call from some Killjoys here?

Shit.

"You've never heard of Killjoys before?" she asked urgently.

They shook their heads.

"Never in Battery City?"

"Nope," the shortest one said. "And believe me, Battery City's small enough that we would know. We're the only ones that seem to hate BLI around here. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who don't take BLI pills. That's how we found each other—"

His rambling was cut off by Midnight's swearing. Then she took off in the opposite direction, with her left arm pressed awkwardly against her stomach.

It was a trap. Midnight knew it. She didn't know how, but BLI had gotten a hold of a Killjoy transmitter, and they were trying to get her father, the leader, out of hiding. This was not good. She had to get back to the others—fast.


"What do you think that was about?" the blonde guy said, stepping out of the shadows and speaking for the first time.

"I don't know," said the leader, "but she looked like she was in a hurry."

"And she looked hurt," said the afro guy.

"Should we go after her?" the short dark-haired one asked. "I mean, maybe there're more of them."

"Maybe," said the redhead. "Alright, let's go."


Midnight sprinted past Purity, who looked up in alarm.

"What's going on?"

"It's a trap!" Midnight yelled without slowing down.

Without hesitation, Purity pulled out her hot pink ray gun and followed Midnight. She wasn't as fast of a runner, so she had a hard time keeping up. Then she heard voices behind her. Quickly she ducked behind a building and waited for them to get closer.

When they seemed to be almost on her she jumped out, gun raised. Seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of what looked like four normal citizens, she lowered her ray gun, but only a little.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Are you a Killjoy?" asked the redhead.

Purity's eyes narrowed. Then he said, "Are you here with Midnight Grace?"

"How do you know that name?"

"She saved us, well, me especially," the shortest member piped up.

"Are you Killjoys?"

"No," said the redhead, who was clearly the leader. "We're not. My name is Gerard. This is my younger brother, Mikey," he said, pointing to the blonde in the back, "Ray," he nodded at the afro guy.

"And I'm Frank!" said the short one.

"And you're not Killjoys?"

"Nope," said Gerard. "I've never heard of any Killjoys in Battery City. Like I told your friend before she ran off, I think we're the only four who don't take BLI pills."

The pieces clicked into place. Dr. D had never received a call from Killjoys, it had been from Dracs.

"Shit! We walked into a trap!" she said.

"What?" the blonde kid, Mikey, spoke up for the first time.

"You hate BLI, right?" Purity asked. They all nodded. "Then come with me. I'm Purity Pandemonium and I'm a Killjoy, one of the original Killjoys. And right now, we've walked into a trap."

"The Killjoys? Like Dr. Death Defying?" Frank asked.

"The one and only. But there's no time to explain. We have to go! We could already be too late!"

With that, Purity and the guys set off in the direction Midnight had run.


Midnight saw a group of Dracs up ahead.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" she heard Adrenaline Torment say.

Midnight quickly ducked behind an old dumpster and reloaded her ray gun. She also unclipped an extra charge of ammo and put it in her vest pocket so it would be easier to get. She wished she still had her other ray gun. Midnight used to fight with two weapons, but her blue one had been destroyed.

She peered around the edge of the dumpster. A Drac was holding a gun to Adrenaline's head. Shit. Blaze, Cola, and Pony had all backed up against the wall. Their guns were on the ground, and their arms were in the air. What are they doing? Midnight screamed in her head. Then she saw a Drac roughly pull her father around and to the front of the group.

This wasn't good. She needed to act—now.

Blaze looked frantically around. Something had to be done now, or they were all goners. A couple Dracs were dragging Dr. D out. Then he saw her.

Midnight was crouched down behind the dumpster, poised to attack. Careful not to let his gaze rest on her, in case he caused the Dracs to turn around, he kept his eyes moving. But he was sure she had seen him.

They made eye contact. It was just the briefest moment, but that was all they needed. Midnight inhaled deeply, checked to make sure her charge was full, and stood up.

She carefully took aim at the Draculoid holding Adrenaline, and fired. It fell, and Adrenaline sprinted forward, into Pony's outstretched arms. Blaze already had his gun in hand and was firing away at the Dracs holding Dr. D. Cola was only a split second behind him.

Midnight and Blaze shot the two holding her dad, and he hurried back with Adrenaline behind the line Cola, Pony, and Blaze had formed. Both of them had their guns taken from them when they had been grabbed by the Dracs.

Half of the Dracs, mainly the ones in the back, turned to Midnight. She kept shooting, rolling and dodging their shots as best she could.

She was doing alright until a pain shot through her leg. She had managed to move out of the way of a shot at the last second, but it had grazed her—again—on the leg.

Midnight tried to stay on her feet, but the pain was too much. She heard her dad and Blaze both scream "NOOO!" at the same time, but she couldn't help it.

Just as she thought she was going to die, five blasts from ray guns shot out from behind her and hit the approaching Dracs. More turned around, startled, but they, too, were taken out. Midnight turned around to see Purity and the four guys from earlier marching through. They looked professional, Midnight thought. They were in a V formation with Purity at the head. Then the tall afro guy broke off from the end and hurried to her.

"I'm Ray," he said, "and I'm a trained medic."

Midnight almost laughed with relief. A doctor, a real doctor, was something the Killjoys hadn't seen in awhile.

He helped her up and pulled her into an alley, away from the action. Then he took out some supplies from his jacket and started fixing her leg and arm up.


Once Purity and the guys got there, it was a lot easier for the Killjoys to take down the remaining Dracs. And they did so, without any difficulties.

After the fight was over, Dr. D approached the new kids, with a little wariness. They had helped them out, probably saved their lives, but he still didn't trust anyone he didn't know.

"Thank you for helping us," he said.

The redhead stepped forward and spoke up, "Not a problem. We hate BLI too."

"They're not Killjoys," Purity said. "It was a trap all along."

Dr. D had guessed as much, but he had assumed the Killjoys had been killed. "Were there ever Killjoys here?"

"Not that we are aware of," said the redhead.

Then the fourth member of their gang stepped out of an alleyway, supporting Midnight with one arm.

"She'll be fine," he said. "They were both just grazes. She's lucky."

"Everyone alright?" Midnight asked, glancing back and forth between her dad and Adrenaline especially.

"You're the one we should be worried about!" Purity exclaimed, running over to her. "You're freaking crazy, you know that, right?"

"Yes, in fact, I do," Midnight responded. "Thanks for bringing help." She turned to the four guys. "And thank you for helping. I'd've been toast!"

Dr. D winced.

"Who are you?" Blaze finally asked the question everyone wanted to know.

"I'm Gerard," began the redhead. "I'm nineteen years old. This is my younger brother, Mikey. He's seventeen. Our parents died in the bombings, but they had never liked BLI. We knew something was up. So we never took the pills. Then we came here, to Battery City, because there weren't many people. And that's where we found the others."

"I'm Frank," said the short one, "Eighteen. I found Mikey and Gerard living on the streets. I could tell right away that they didn't take the pills, cuz they were swearing like crazy. I hadn't met anyone else in Battery City that wasn't on them, so I confronted them right away. We became friends and fought Dracs the very few times we actually saw any."

"And that's where I come in," the one with the curly afro cut in. "I'm Ray, nineteen, like Gerard. Frankie over here took a hit to the shoulder. I happened to be passing by when I saw them in an alley. Gerard was bent over him, trying to fix the wound and stuff. But he wasn't doing a very good job, so I helped them out. And we've been together ever since."

Dr. D nodded. Their story wasn't all that unusual. Then he asked the question the four were hoping to hear.

"Do you want to join the Killjoys?"