A/N: Hey again, and, as ever, thank you :)

N1ghtAngel: Thanks for the review! Ha, yeah, I'm pretty sure you heard about every single rewrite of chapter 6 that I did! And, yes, yes, more chapters very soon (still catching up putting them up here!)

Right... Next chapter! The title for this comes from the amazing Danger Days track, Destroya (fucking love that song)

I don't own the boys, just the girl.

Chapter 13 - Brother, Protect Me Now

Rave woke up with a start. She couldn't remember what she's been dreaming about, but she had a feeling it was better than way. "Hey, shh, it's ok." Rave looked and saw Kobra Kid sitting near the end of the bed, he'd leant forward, a hand on her shoulder, comforting, the look in his eyes a slightly worried one. She frowned, "Kid, what-"

Sitting back, and Kobra Kid's eyes dropped to the bed. "You… You've been calling out Poison's name for the past ten minutes…" Guess she knew what she'd been dreaming about. And now she felt horrible, Kobra Kid shouldn't have had to hear that. "Oh, God, Kid, I'm so sorry." He shook his head. "No. It's ok. I'm… I'm scared for him too." Seeing any of the Killjoys scared was always, well, scary. Hearing them admit it was just as bad. And right now, they were all terrified. Oh, of course, Jet Star and Fun Ghoul wouldn't show it, and even Kobra Kid had been hiding it pretty well (since the phone call, of course), but Rave had seen it in them all. A certain look in their eyes, a hesitation to everything. An uncertainty. We can't loose Poison, we all need him so much.

"Kid." Rave said, carefully. He looked up slightly, waiting for her to continue. And, once again, Rave wasn't sure if she wanted the answer, but she had to know. "What happened, last night? When…" Kobra Kid looked away again. "Rave. Don't." He didn't want to re-live it, didn't want to think about it. But of course it wouldn't leave him alone. A gun pointed in his face, but that wasn't the one that scared him. "Kid. Please." Rave interrupted his memory. But she was asking him to go through it, all of it, again. "Please." She said, again. "I need to know." Kobra Kid looked up at her. She had a right to know, didn't she? A heavy sigh, "Ghoul had just left." He began. "I could tell how worked up Poison was, worse than before. You know he drives fast anyway, but… This felt… More reckless. It didn't feel like he was in control. Not of the car, not of himself, anything. Everything about him felt… Wrong. Me and Jet… We both kept quiet. We both knew something was wrong, but… After the fight with Ghoul…" There'd been a fight? Fun Ghoul had told Rave they'd 'decided' that he'd come back to get her. He'd lied. Rave slowly realised that the bruise on Fun Ghoul's face that she'd been ignoring must've happened then. She couldn't blame him for lying though, he'd only done it so she wouldn't worry. Ha! Nice job…

Kobra Kid was still talking. "I just wanted to tell him to slow down. Or let one of us drive for a while. I didn't dare. Wish I had…" Kobra Kid paused, closed his eyes, continued, "None of us even saw it coming."

What it was that they'd hit, none of them knew, and then everything was a blur. Somehow, at that point, in those few precious seconds in time, Party Poison got control back over the car and stopped them from crashing head on into the rocks roadside. He couldn't, however, avoid slamming into them sideways on. The only one of them on that side was Kobra Kid. Without a seconds thought for himself, Party Poison was on the other side of the car, checking his brother.

"We all got out OK. I was in the worst shape, and, well, I'm alright." Completely without thinking about it, Kobra Kid rubbed his arm, winced. Of course Rave noticed. "Kid?" She said, carefully. Realising what he was doing, Kobra Kid paused, dropped his hand. "I'm fine." He insisted. "Kid." Rave said, a little more sternly. "Rave…" It was nearly a plea. "Kid." She replied, firmly. "Jacket, off, now." Rolling his eyes, Kobra Kid finally did as she asked, once again wincing as he slipped his jacket off. Then he held out his arm for Rave to see. She gasped and she saw the angry and sore looking mess of bruises on his forearm. "Oh… Kid. Why didn't you say anything?" Kobra Kid shrugged. "We had other things to worry about." Rave ignored him, fetched the first aid kit, realising Kobra Kid had somehow driven with that arm. "You're lucky it's not broken." She told him. "Otherwise I'd be really mad at you." Rave sat back down, taking Kobra Kid's arm again, started tending to it, she knew she couldn't do much, but she'd do something. A few minutes silence and then, "What happened after that?" Kobra Kid should've known better than to think he'd been let off the hook. Another sigh, and the he continued. "Poison… I think the shock of the crash snapped him out of his… Whatever. He looked… Normal. Worried. Worrying about me."

They were all out now, dusting themselves off. "Are you sure you're alright, Kid?" "Yes! I'm fine! Poison, I've told you." Coming up to his brother, hands on either shoulder, Party Poison inspected him carefully. "You're bleeding." He said, glancing at the top of his head. Kobra Kid shrugged, trying to shrug Party Poison off, then swiped at the blood he could feel trickling slowly down. He succeeded more in spreading the blood than getting rid of it. "It's fine, Poison, honestly." Eyes narrowed, Party Poison still looked at him sceptically. Opened his mouth to ask him something else, but then

"Jet saw them coming. Poison barely had time to turn around. But he did, and he took out the first Drac before it could take another step closer."There was more than just that one, of course. And soon the three Killjoys were surrounded. Only a second taken to assess the situation, and then they threw themselves into the fight. Party Poison's gun, naturally, the first to fire.

"But then… I was so fucking stupid."

Maybe he should've paid more attention to his injuries. His arm was aching, so he'd switched his gun to the other hand, it wasn't as easy, but of course he'd practiced before, so he managed it. But maybe he should've paid more attention to whatever the fuck had happened to his leg. He was down before he knew it. Barely had time to look up before he saw one of the Dracs closing in. Fuck. Then, out of nowhere, Party Poison came between them, standing, protectively in front of Kobra Kid, shooting and killing the Drac quickly. Pausing to check if there were any more, Party Poison could only see one more Drac, which was being finished off by Jet. So then he turned, a chastising smile for his little brother, holding out a hand to help him up. Before Kobra Kid could take it, two more Dracs appeared. They had Party Poison in their grasp before even he could react. He struggled, of course he did, going down without a fight was not an option. Then, pushed to the floor, on his knees, Party Poison only went still when he felt one gun pressed to his back, another to his head. As he tried to lift his gun, seeing if he could get any kind of shot off, a foot came down, hard, on his hand, Party Poison cried out, dropped his gun.

Kobra Kid watched, horrified. Somehow his brain wasn't thinking quick enough, clouded with panic and fear. He tried getting to his feet, but found it too difficult, so instead he simply raised his gun at the nearest Drac, the one whose gun was at Party Poison's back. As soon as he did though, he found that Drac's gun was no longer on his brother, now squarely pointed at him. He stared at the gun in his face, but that wasn't the one that scared him. He looked straight past it and to Party Poison, who raised his head just enough to meet Kobra Kid's gaze. That same, determined look as always in his eyes. "Let him go!" Kobra Kid didn't know where the strength in his voice came from. He felt like it should be shaking. Then, the Drac with his gun still on Party Poison spoke, and it was with that usual, distorted, computer generated voice they all spoke with, "Give it up, Killjoys. We only need one of you, but we can easily kill the spare." Kobra Kid knew he was the 'spare' but he couldn't find the emotion to be angry at that, it wasn't important. Kobra Kid looked back at the gun pointed at him, trying to assess the situation. He probably could get the shot off on this one. But what were the chances that that wouldn't get Party Poison killed? With that gun where it was… His eyes back on Party Poison. Trying, desperately to get his question across: Poison, what do I do? Party Poison tried, once again, with just a slight shake this time, to struggle free. Kobra Kid's eyes widened as he watched the Dracs hold on him tighten, twist. Party Poison bowed his head, hiding his pain, but Kobra Kid saw it. The Drac moved his gun off Kobra Kid, grabbed Party Poison by the hair and yanked his head up, he grimaced, but didn't make a sound. "Make a choice, Killjoy. It could cost your brother his life." Fuck. How did they know that? How did they know they were brothers? Party Poison stayed defiantly silent, then the Drac tugged harder. Party Poison closed his eyes, curled his lip in pain. Kobra Kid felt helpless, not knowing what to do. Party Poison was staring directly at him. And then, finally. "Put the gun down, Kid."

"What?" Kobra Kid couldn't believe he'd heard those words. Surely he hadn't. "Kid. If you shoot. They'll kill you. Put the gun down." Kobra Kid shook his head. "No. Poison, I can't-""Kid! I am not being the fucking reason for you dying!"

"But you expect me to be yours? Not fucking happening." Then, unexpected, a little scary, but still welcome, Party Poison smiled, just slightly, slyly, knowingly. "Doubting me, little brother?" And then, although it hurt so damn much, and it scared the life out of him to do it, Kobra Kid slowly lowered his gun. The Drac let go of Party Poison's hair, viciously throwing his head forward. "Wise choice." Just as the two Dracs dragged him to his feet, Party Poison kept his eyes on Kobra Kid, still with that small smile. Trying to reassure him.

As he watched Party Poison get dragged away, Kobra Kid never felt so helpless, hopeless and angry.

Jet Star came running over, he'd only seen the end of things, and couldn't believe what he'd seen. "Kid? What the hell-?" Finally, Kobra Kid managed to get himself to his feet. Great, why couldn't he have done that sooner? He was heading to the car, searching for something. Jet Star followed, asking so many questions. Finally, Kobra Kid found what he was looking for. The phone. It was answered quickly. "Ghoul. Get the fuck back here. Now!"

Kobra Kid looked close to tears. Hot, angry, indignant tears. "It was all my fucking fault." Rave shook her head. "No. It wasn't." She told him, gently. "You know what your brother's like. Always protecting others first.""But if I hadn't needed protecting-""Stop it." Rave said, firmly, moving closer, a gentle hand on his cheek. "Kid. It was not your fault, you were injured, nothing you could do about that. And your decision to listen to Poison is why both of you aren't dead right now."

"What if he-?" She didn't mean to slap him. But there was no way on earth she was letting those words pass his lips. "Don't! Don't you dare. Party Poison is fine. He will be fine and we're going to get him back. Do you understand me?" Kobra Kid looked up at her, a certain, welcome fire in his eyes. Smile on his lips. "Yes ma'am. I understand." He said. Rave nodded. "Good. Now what was it you did to your leg?" Kobra Kid rolled his eyes.