It had taken a little longer than two hours for the Killjoys to reach the limits of Battery City. They'd had to stop by Dr. D's radio station and call in a favor. A getaway vehicle was necessary in case their plan didn't work out quite as smoothly as they hoped. They'd also used Death's phone to call up another friend, Cherri Cola, at his radio station and ask if he would help them out on their mission. But he'd declined. Once they'd taken care of the last things they needed in preparation for the rescue mission they were off. The sunlight that had started coming over the horizon was covered by a thick layer of clouds that gave the sky the appearance of still being night. Gerard already started missing the desert sky. He shook his head to clear any thoughts of it though. That was behind him. Forward was the only option now. The boys found an underground entrance near the inside of the gates and drove down into the tunnel, knowing full well that everyone inside BL headquarters would know of their arrival.

They descended down into the cement tunnel which was lit by blue florescent lights. The windows of the Trans Am were rolled down and Gerard could smell the dank, underground air that whipped through his hair in the car. He glanced over at the dash, his eyes returning to the picture of the girl that Ghoul had tapped there. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel, accelerating. The rest of the boys fidgeted a bit, trying to prepare for what was ahead. Frank pulled on a pair of leather gloves and Ray straightened his eye patch. Every once in a while they would see a Better Living propaganda sign projected up on the brick walls saying things like, "We can fix you" and "We can handle it from here" or even "Keep smiling." They've got the whole damn city under their control, thought Gerard. And it was true. BL used fear tactics to control people. Gerard guessed it was something to do with the masks they made people wear. The masks probably put them under the impression that they were fighting something much more terrifying and that BL were the ones helping. BL, those monsters, they all need to be stopped. In the distance Gerard could see BL's first security station. It looked like they had seen the car coming too because the Scarecrow on duty threw down his paper and the other Draculoids with him ran for their guns. Gerard saw Mikey glance over at him out of the corner of his eye as he sped up. The Trans Am flew through the gates, sending the Dracs everywhere. Gerard glanced back to his friends.

"I do hope they've got something better than that because that, was pretty pathetic." The others looked out the windows at the bodies in the street. As they pulled out of the tunnel Gerard turned and parked the car up in front of the central building. There were lights flashing inside and there seemed to be a lot of commotion.

"Looks like that security station alerted everyone back at headquarters already" Said Mikey. "There goes any advantage of surprise we had."

"Oh well, let's just storm the place. That's what we came prepared to do anyways" Frank said, drawing his gun. The four Killjoys began to march towards the building. There was no going back now. The clouds finally gave and rain began to pour down on them. But they continued to march with their backs to the city, knowing full well that their every move was being monitored inside. When the four got near the doors, several scarecrows jumped out preforming the much anticipated surprise attack. In one synchronized motion the Killjoys fired their guns at once and after a few shots from each man, the whole ambush was taken out. The boys filed into the building, shooting at any straggling enemies. They quickly navigated their way to the main control room, taking out anybody in their path. Behind the glass wall they could see men scrambling for their guns. They burst into the room and started firing at every enemy. Gerard saw the Grace sitting on the floor in the midst of all the commotion. He ran over to her and took her in his arms, a look of relief washing over his face. They hadn't harmed her and she was safe.

Now the only thing left was to get out.

"I think we killed most of the Dracs coming in here," Ray said. "If we hurry maybe we could avoid any more confrontation on the way out." It was only a small hope but no one in the group really wanted to stick around and wait for the Draculoids to come to them. So keeping the girl in front, the group marched quickly back the way they came, going back down the hallways at a steady stride. Finally the main entrance was in sight and they rushed towards the doors.

It was then when Gerard heard heavy footsteps behind them. All together they turned and drew their weapons to face who was following them, only to have a laser shot right between their heads. All together they felt their hearts sink a little. Because their attacker was none other than BL/ind's top Scarecrow. Korse. Keeping straight faces they all started firing back, determined not to let this seal their fate. The main entry was now swarmed with Scarecrows and Draculoids alike and the result was chaos. There were lasers flying everywhere and shouting from both sides. The little girl sat in the midst of the mess and covered her ears to block out the sounds of the fight.

"Poison!" Mikey yelled and Gerard ran in to their usual fighting formation—the two of them fighting back to back. Left and right they took down the enemy. Gerard saw Frank firing from behind a wall off to the side and Ray was fighting off a small group of his own. Each person had only the goal of making sure they didn't take back the girl. But despite all their efforts, the numbers of the Dracs still intensified.

Gerard and Mikey split up, each deciding to take on their own group. Gerard saw a Draculoid near him taking aim at the fight. Before the monster could fire, Gerard grabbed its mask by the back and pulled it off. Something clicked in that instant with Gerard as he saw a man fall to the ground. The man that wore the monster's mask that cried out in pain. The "monsters" that there were fighting weren't monsters at all. They were men, being controlled by BL. Gerard threw the mask down and took a couple steps back to survey the fight before him, another sudden realization dawning on him. BL used the masks to control people with fear. Did the masks not also have a reverse effect? Were they not currently fighting men who they believed were monsters? Their actions were also motivated by fear. BL was controlling how everyone acted, despite what they had first believed. An eye for an eye makes everyone blind. Through the conflict everyone had become blind. And BL/ind had used that to their advantage. They'd turned it into power.

Gerard's mind was racing through these thoughts and failed to notice Korse. Mikey unfortunately noticed too late as his brother was cornered and pushed up against a wall. His screams did nothing to attract his brother's attention. Gerard was now staring down the barrel of Korse's gun. A million thoughts ran through his mind: his brother struggling in the midst of the fight, the promise his friends had made that they would get Mikey out of there if something happened to him, the girl he'd promised to save, his friends who'd all been dragged through so much but had stayed by his side over the years, and the fact that he could see the truth now. He no longer wanted to be blind. Korse forced him against the wall with one hand and held his BL issued, white gun up under his chin.

"You've been blind you know, Korse. BL has blinded us all" Gerard said, knowing with a slight regret that anything he said now would not change Korse's brainwashed mind. Korse gave him a terrifying grin, his eyes gleaming with victory.

"Keep running, Killjoy."

"Yeah, we'll see."

Still smiling grotesquely, Korse pulled the trigger of his gun. Gerard was dead before he hit the ground.


Gerard. The girl let out a scream as Mikey watched Gerard's body slump to the ground. Gerard. He thought again. No. This couldn't be true. He wasn't dead! Couldn't be! Nothing could kill his brother. Gerard was indestructible. The thoughts that ran through his mind did not match what his eyes were seeing. His brother was dead. His brother that had taken care of him since he was little. His brother who'd taught him how to drive. Who'd taught him to fight for his beliefs. His brother who'd promised he'd always be at his side. His brother…

"NO!" he yelled. "YOU. KILLED. MY. BROTHER." He fired his gun with every word. He ran over to Gerard suddenly feeling pain explode in his stomach. "YOU KILLED-"he knelt down beside him as the Dracs continued to fire. "Gerard…" He was slipping fast. The last thing he saw before the Dracs delivered the final blow was his brother lying across from him. The picture didn't look right. Party Poison wasn't supposed to look lifeless. Some people say that the dead look like their sleeping. Mikey gasped once before he closed his eyes for good.

What a stupid thought. Gerard didn't look like he was sleeping. He just looked dead.


Shit, Frank thought as he watched Mikey go down. He'd failed. He'd promised Gerard he would get Mikey out safe and he couldn't. What kind of friend was he? He searched around frantically for Ray and the girl. He knew he couldn't fix what had already happened, but he could at least try and prevent two more deaths. He had to set this right in his own way now. Frank ran towards Ray and the girl and pushed them towards the doors. Ray became alarmed when Frank tried to shut the door behind them but he gave a nod and knew that his friend understood. Someone had to get the girl out but there was no way they could all leave together. They both knew what they needed to do to make the wrongs right.

"Hey Frank!" Ray yelled from behind the glass doors. Frank looked back at Ray one last time, knowing it was probably going to be the last time he saw his friend. "Give em' hell kid!" he yelled his last words of encouragement to Frank. Frank turned back towards the enemies rushing towards him. Oh yeah, if he was dying today, then he sure as hell was gonna make it count. He ran at the Dracs, firing at as many as he could. He needed to be sure to give as much time as possible for Ray to get away. One of the lasers hit his hand but he kept moving forward, his determination never faltering once until the moment one of the beams hit his chest and he dropped dead along with the rest of his friends.


There was the van pulling in just in time to take the little girl back home. Ray fired at the enemies that had come outside. The fact that they had left the building at all meant that Frank was dead. He was the last of his friends still alive.

Although Ray knew he probably could have made it to the van with the girl, seeing how it was only a matter of seconds away, Ray found that he didn't want to. The killjoys were his friends and his family and it felt wrong to leave them behind. So Ray decided that for his last few seconds he would provide cover for the girl, and give her enough time to run to the van. One laser hit him in the chest and he stumbled backwards onto the hood of the Trans am. At least, he thought as the world faded to black around him, at least this is not a bad place to die. The last thing Ray heard was the screech of the van's tires as they took off. The rain from earlier had turned to mist but Ray barely felt it as the last of the four fabulous Killjoys slowly drifted to death.

At least their failure had been a success.

"Grab your friends and hold them close. 'Cuz we got no room for heroes…

And no room for ghosts."

-Dr. Death Defying

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