There was a knock on the door. I was busy in my room, looking through a 'BLI-approved' magazine. Nick would get the door. It was probably Mom and Jordan coming home hungover after a night out with friends before crashing at Sharon's place or whatever. I never thought of there being much point in them going on a "night out" – since BLI came to power, all alcoholic substances were immediately destroyed and anyone caught smuggling anything alcoholic, were sent to The Main Building.

Once you went into The Main Building, you never came back out alive. Yeah, Battery City was becoming deadly. Especially since the security tightened after the stunt pulled by a gang of masked Killjoys. Apparently, the Head Exterminator – Korse – had been furious, killing two Draculoids and a Scarecrow agent in his fury. Nothing a good couple of Happy Pills couldn't sort out though and within five minutes, he was back to his normal, ugly and cold-hearted self. I wondered what Korse had been like before BLI as I flicked through the magazine. Mom gave them to me but told me to take no notice of whatever bullshit they said – as long as I pretended to be sucking in the content, it should keep me safe.

"Hello?" Nick. A murmur of voices. "Alright. I just… I, err… could I please have to moment to explain to my sister about the… situation?" Another murmur. "Thank you." The front door closed before Nick's footsteps bounded up the stairs.

"What's up?" I asked in a bored voice, flinging the magazine across the room as Nick barged in. I was used to this but it did annoy me most of the time.

"We've got to go," he simply said, grabbing my school bag from underneath the bed, tipped all my books out and began stuffing clothes into it. He shrugged me off every time I tried to stop him, telling me to make myself useful and pack lightly.

"I would if you told me what was going on!" I hissed. My tone of voice made him stop and glare directly into my eyes. Suddenly, he grabbed the front of my top and shoved me into the wall.

"How dare you blame this on me!" he shouted in my face. The accusation puzzled me. What was he talking about? Before I could ask, Nick's hand hit my cheek, leaving a stinging red mark. Dumping me on the floor with tears flowing from my eyes, Nick continued with his work before storming off into his bedroom, leaving me to curl into a little ball and sob quietly.

A sharp sting on my arm made me yelp. There was a voice but it felt like it was coming from too far away and the small amount I could see was a little fuzzy. The words were muffled and they stopped just as a sweet smell began clouding the small part of my consciousness that I was clinging onto.

-x-

A set of heavy footsteps woke me up. I kept my eyes closed and my breathing normal anyway.

"How she doing?" That had to be Kobra Kid.

"Stable." I wasn't sure of the owner of this voice but it was familiar, and defiantly a male voice.

"… How long do you think until –?"

"I don't know," came the annoyed reply. A sigh. "I'm sorry Kobra, it's been a long day and I've had to juggle the radio station and the crazy shit that goes along with it, and Sleeping Beauty here."

"It's alright, I'm just worried."

"I understand." A pause. "So how's Party been holding up?"

"Fine, I guess. He runs out of things to talk about so he just says ridiculous things like about what he'd do if this… wasn't going on. If the bombs had never fallen and BLI had failed in their, what he calls, "world domination plan". Pony just fusses with the records and Jet cleans like there's no tomorrow."

The other man laughed.

"Seriously Dr Death, you should see how clean it is! Even you would be impressed."

Dr D! Holy shit! I could've squealed in excitement if I hadn't heard an odd beeping noise beeping faster and faster. My heart rate! I concentrated on my breathing to subtly slow down the wild rhythm of my heart.

"What's wrong? Is she okay?" Kobra asked nervously. A grunt from Dr D.

"Looks like Sleeping Beauty here is awake."

I opened my eyes shyly. Kobra Kid was sitting on a chair opposite my right hip, looking paler than the last time I'd seen him. He smiled as he took my hand in his gloved one.

"Hey," I said, sounding like a frog.

"Drink this," said Dr D in his gruff voice, shoving a plastic cup underneath my nose. I drank a little of the warm liquid.

"Thanks Dr D," I said, sweeping my eyes up and down the radio presenter. He wore dark shades and a dark blue (almost black) bandana over his forehead. His clothes were a simple t-shirt, trousers, leather jacket and boots, all of which were black. I also noticed that he had a stubble along his jawline and chin, which I could see becoming a small beard.

After a few minutes of asking how I was and giving me a quick check-up, Dr D ordered I go outside and get some fresh air. Kobra muttered something under his breath, to which the other man gave him a stern look.

"Can you get up on your own?" Kobra asked. After a few tries and a little help, I managed to stand on my own two feet.

"Whoa!" I gasped as I nearly toppled over thanks to my shaky legs. I had just managed to grab hold of Kobra to steady myself. "How long was I out?"

"Two days. I'll still want to keep an eye on you for the next couple but I reckon you should be able to use your gun again in less than a week," Dr D answered, taking something from the holster hidden by his body and tossed it towards me.

At least my hand and eye coordination are good, I thought as I caught the object. It was my ray gun. There was a faint scratch on the side but as long as the gun still worked, I didn't care. I hoped I could test it out soon. Didn't want to loose my skill what with Draculoids crawling around the place. I thanked Dr D for keeping it safe before giving the gun a subtle peck on its handle. Hey, it was important to me!

Kobra Kid led me into the Diner, which I hadn't seen much of, yet there wasn't anything totally miraculous about it; it was a simple Diner that housed four adult Killjoys, an illegal radio presenter and myself. Jet sat on one of the Diner's chairs behind what used to be a bar, with a red-headed man opposite him. This had to be Party Poison. Two opened cans of what I recognised as Power Pup had been pushed away from the both of them, forks sticking out from the top. When Jet noticed me, he smiled and gave a small nod in greeting before turning his attention to the piece of paper Party held out in front of them, but once the red-haired Killjoy leader himself caught sight of me, he quickly rolled up the paper and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Poison, what are you doing?" Jet complained.

"We can't discuss it here anymore," he answered simply before walking away, Jet following.

"Sorry lil' one," the afro haired Killjoy apologised as he passed.

"What's that all about?" I asked Kobra, hopping onto Jet's vacant seat.

"Nothing." Kobra pushed an abandoned can of Power Pup. When I gave it a disproving look – that shit was literally dog food! – he gave me an ultimatum: Power Pup or the soggy rice. Grasping the fork, I took a small nibble of the brown slop. It tasted as bad as the rice, but instead of the aftertaste, it burned my tongue like a hot curry. Kobra watched me try to swallow the Power Pup while he shifted the rice from side to side on his bowl.

"Hey, if I'm eating dog food, you can eat the rice!"

We sat in silence for a few moments before I asked me something that I'd stupidly only just realised and now I was itching to know the answer. Kobra seemed to know something was up too.

"What's the matter?"

"Well, its just that… you are the Fabulous Killjoys, right?"

"Right…"

"Forgive me if I'm being rude or anything, but.. aren't there four Fabulous Killjoys?"

There was an awkward silence for a moment. I could've kicked myself and just as I began scolding myself mentally, Kobra answered, "yes" so quietly, I almost didn't hear it.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is the other one? Fun Ghoul, right?"

Party answered me.

"He… he was kidnapped by Better Living Industries and that bastard Korse!