When the Angels Came Down To Battery City (5)

CHAPTER FIVE

SORRY KID, BUT TIMES ARE HARD AND BLOOD AIN'T CHEAP

Click.

Party Poison swung the locker door open and it whined loudly on its hinges. "Funny," He said, "I remember these being a whole lot smaller,"

Before him was a lengthy hole that stretched on into an unimaginable depth, and worst still, it was pitch black. It appeared to be cut right out of the concrete; jagged edges, broken pipes and severed wires framed the enclave like warnings to all who dared enter. Grace's eyes were as wide as they could go, and she stared out into the abyss in horror.

"Kobra Kid? Come in, Kobra Kid!" Fun Ghoul said into his cell phone, shaking it as the red light on the screen flickered on and off. The feedback howled in Jet Star's and Party Poison's phones in their pockets. "Nothing," Fun Ghoul finally said, pocketing his cell phone too. "Must've flicked it off or something…"

"Well, no time to wait for him now," Party Poison said, still mesmerized by the chasm before him. With a swift flick of his wrist, he pulled out a bright red flare and snapped it on. A spark fizzled from its tip, hissing wildly and he flung it into the darkness. They watched as the light rose and fell through the immensely long chute. It flew, and flew and flew, until finally gravity pulled it down to the earth again. It fell a yard or so away, and it appeared as though the tunnel kept going.

"Are you kidding me?" Fun Ghoul scoffed. "Alright, this is definitely not a trick or something," He said.

"Okay then, Killjoys," Party Poison said, flicking on another flare, "Guess it's time to go down the rabbit hole," He stepped inside, the chipped and cracked concrete crunching under his boot.

"Poppa…" Grace whined a little, tugging on Jet Star's jacket.

"It's okay," Jet Star said as he guided Grace inside, following Fun Ghoul who looked far too excited about all this. "Daddy's here," Jet Star cooed to his child. Grace, like many other 7 year olds her age, didn't quite like the darkness at all, but found solace in the fact that her father was nearby, and that her father seemed to be pretty good at scaring away bad guys and monsters so far. They journeyed down about 10 meters before Grace took a split second glance backwards towards the door that was getting smaller and smaller behind them. She wondered if Kobra Kid was going to come racing up to the door any minute now…

Bloodshot was feeling dizzy; her fingers- both human and android, went in and out of focus before her. Blinking her eyes sleepily, she managed to key in a code on a small panel embedded on her wrist. The screen on her belt lit up, the scrolling message across it changing to read: "Systems charged". The robotic voice chimed in; "Systems charged at thirty percent… operations are normal."

She huffed, wiping her lips of the crimson liquid that stained it. She licked her long eye teeth that were also covered in the stuff. The taste was foreign; far too warm and fresh and real… and so unlike the bottled concoctions she was forced to thrive on. It wasn't good or bad; just strange. Bloodshot felt unsure about what she had done, and for a moment, guilt sneaked into her mind. A hot flush of emotion invaded her being and she hung her head forward, leaning a hand on the table before her as she sighed heavily, trying to regain her composure.

"What have I done?" She murmured to herself as she stared into the punchbowl.

"W-well, I think you bit me…" A voice from behind her spoke.

Kobra Kid sat upright behind her, a hand to his aching neck that sported a bleeding wound. He winced in pain. Bloodshot turned around suddenly and gasped, jumping back a little. "What's going on?" She hissed, bearing her fangs.

"H-hey now, d-don't bite me again!" Kobra Kid said, gritting his teeth in pain as he held up a hand to her. "N-none of that… please…"

"You're supposed to be dead…" Bloodshot huffed, unable to believe her robotically enhanced vision. "What the hell are you?"

"You bit me!" Kobra Kid said angrily, before cringing in pain from the wound on his neck again. Streams of blood pooled across his chest, staining his yellow singlet underneath his red racing jacket. "What the hell are you?"

Bloodshot cocked her head, examining the mess of a man before her as she blinked her piercing white-blue eyes in disbelief. "A V.A.M.P drone," She said.

"What?"

"You're supposed to be dead… how are you not dead?" Bloodshot demanded, her mind reeling at the impossibility that the man she had just attacked, bitten into and drank blood from was still alive and talking to her.

Kobra Kid finally opened his eyes and blinked up at her pathetically. With a shaky sigh, he pulled his hand away from his neck and saw how blood soaked his gloves were. "Do you have fangs?" He breathed.

Bloodshot stared back, dumbfounded. "Yes…" she replied.

"I bet you have venom on those, right?" Kobra Kid asked, pressing his hand to his neck again, wincing in pain a little.

"Why do you think I'm so confused as to how your heart is still beating?" She said.

"Well, I'm impervi- impervyo- impervee… um, venom has no effect on me," He explained. Kobra Kid was, believe it or not, telling the truth. After years of living in some backwater village in Thailand and working as an expert snack wrestler, Kobra Kid had been bitten by many a snake of many a length, colour and species. He had collected a whopping number of snake bite incidents; totalling at four hundred and fifty six, which was three hundred and thirty six times less than the number of times he'd suffered a blow to the head. After all those times Kobra Kid had deadly venom course through his veins, and after all those times he'd spent hours shivering in hospital beds, and yes- after all those times doctors pumped him full of anti-venom, Kobra Kid had worked up one hell of an immunity. In fact, his immunity was so strong that it gave him the ability to perform one of the act's most controversial and famous tricks ever: a wrestle battle between Kobra Kid and fifteen king cobras. "It's true," Kobra Kid said, grimacing a little as he applied more pressure to his neck wound, "You can bite me all you want, but I won't die… but uh- I'd rather you didn't…"

"What are you?" Bloodshot said quietly, cocking her head as she narrowed her eyes at Kobra Kid who panted as he struggled to stay sitting upright on the ground before her.

"I'm a… uh…" Kobra Kid suddenly struggled with words and lucidity. "I'm… passing… out," He mumbled before falling backwards onto the back of his head.

One hundred and twenty one…

He was out cold, and Bloodshot watched him, bewildered. "Um… mister…" She stepped towards him, inspecting him as he lay unconscious. His chest rose and fell with the tempo of his gentle breathing. Bloodshot placed a hand to her belt panel and typed on a couple of the symbols that glowed under the pressure of her fingers. A few windows popped up and the robotic voice kicked into gear again.

"Subject scan initiating…" It spoke as Bloodshot stepped towards Kobra Kid and placed a hand above his face. "Scan initiating…" The robotic voice repeated. A few beeps followed. "Scan complete," The voice said. "Subject is Kobra Kid, Killjoy, twenty eight,"

"Killjoy?" Bloodshot gasped, standing up. Her panel came to life, flashing a violent shade of red. She looked down and saw big bold letters of a word that reminded her of where she came from. The robotic voice sprang back into life, sounding almost furious as it belted out its battle cry;

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

After a fair trek into the darkness with only a flare to guide them, the Killjoys- one Killjoy short- happened upon a second door. "Deep in the belly of the beast now," Fun Ghoul whispered as quietly as his naturally boisterous voice allowed. "I guess it's now or never," He said and put a hand on the solid iron door.

"Where the hell is Kobra Kid?" Jet Star murmured, looking back to the small doorway of light in the distance. "Didn't he get the call?"

"Maybe he's hurt," Grace said, a gloved hand to her lips as she stared up at his father. "Can we go look for him?"

"Too late now, kiddo," Party Poison replied, his hand fastening around the laser gun in his holster. "And he'll be fine, that kid's got an immunity to snake venom and extreme head trauma the likes of which I've never seen," He shrugged, "Besides, like Fun Ghoul said… it's now or never,"

Fun Ghoul drew his laser gun and cocked it, releasing its safety. With a little lop sided grin, he held the handle and twisted it. "Killjoys," He said, rearing to go and bracing himself at the same time, "Set phasers to fun,"

The door swung open. It whined loudly on its iron hinges, as if it had been there for centuries- even though it was a very new installment. Party Poison was the first to charge in, his red hair making him look like a high speed fire ball out of hell. Fun Ghoul and Jet Star followed, Grace keeping as close as she could to her father; one hand on her helmet and another on her father's jacket tail.

All around them, high school students in over laced and over primped prom outfits were being worked on by OZ doctors. The doctors were dressed all in white, and had the Better Living logo blazoned on the chests of their white coats. They looked up from their forceps, syringes, wires and microchip implants, staring quizzically at the group of armed mercenaries who had just charged in.

The boys took a moment to survey the damage, and the sight made Jet Star's stomach churn. He held Grace close to him, shielding her eyes. "Look away Grace- just like we practised…" There were kids strapped onto gurneys and electro shock chairs with wires fused right into their brains through gut wrenching wounds. They looked like delicate massacred figurines from Pleasantville; asleep and looking astoundingly peaceful for the way their heads were being pulled apart. A few computer monitors flickered through Better Living advertorials, wires from the screens plugged into several teenage girls and boys.

"This is sick," Fun Ghoul murmured, his eyes darting around the room from over the top of his star spangled bandana.

"Take it easy, docs," Party Poison said, a rather ironic wild and devious grin growing on his lips. "We're here to see the wizard,"

The OZ doctors bolted, crashing out of their stunned state and into a haze of total panic. They stormed through the room, knocking over machines, heart monitors and carts- sending medical and not-very-medical equipment everywhere. Party Poison took aim as Fun Ghoul and Jet Star began shooting. Poison loved this part; this moment of total chaos where the fear was so thick he could smell it. In this moment that lasted minutes but felt like hours, he; Party Poison: Killjoy… was in total control. The feeling would've been enough to send a sane man howling to the mad house.

Thank God for those few loose screws rattling around up there…

Lasers flew through the air, blasting a few OZ doctors who went down with dramatic screams. They scrambled for the exit, but the boys were planted right in front of it- and they weren't up for budging anytime soon. Fun Ghoul spotted a doctor attempting to use his forceps as a weapon, and quickly dealt with him. A few kicks and a punch later, the doctor was flat on the floor, writhing about in pain. "Take that, you little mother fucker," Fun Ghoul snarled, pointing his laser gun right at the doctor's head. "One instant antidote to evil… coming up…"

BANG!

The doctor's skull obliterated into an explosion of red and Fun Ghoul smirked. He had forgotten how much difference a close range shot makes.

Grace covered her eyes and faced away as she always did during a gunfight. She tried to pretend the screams were something else, anything else- maybe they forged together into some kind of song… a nursery rhyme. Anything else would be just fine… that's when she saw a couple of doctors hauling out hefty laser rifles.

"Poppa! Poppa!"

Jet Star turned around in a panic and saw the OZ doctors running straight for them, laser rifles aimed at the ready. "God sakes! Poison!" He screamed.

Party Poison turned just in time and started shooting, dodging the counter fire. He jumped backwards, barely missing a laser beam that would've burrowed a nice old tunnel through his left eye socket; much like the one he had just travelled through to get here. With arms flailing, he crashed into a tray load of syringes, sending them flying through the air. "Ow… shit!" He grimaced, seeing that one had accidentally jammed its way right into his left shoulder. With a painful groan, he yanked out the needle, huffing through deep breaths.

"Poison!" Jet Star's voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up to see a rifle-armed OZ doctor running straight for him. Swiftly, Poison raised his gun and shot a hole through his chest. The OZ doctor faltered, stumbled backwards and crashed to the ground miserably.

Party Poison tried to move off the ground but his shoulder sent out a wave of nerve splitting pain throughout his whole body. "Oh! Fuck!" He screamed.

Meanwhile, Fun Ghoul had somehow managed to become backed into a wall, four OZ doctors staring back at him with a variety of painful looking medical paraphernalia in tow. "Geez guys," Fun Ghoul grimaced, lowering his bandana as he took in a few shallow breaths. He looked to the ground behind them where his laser gun was laying quite a fair way out of reach. "Give me a little space, will ya?" He said just as a doctor started up his bone saw. With a sharp breath, Fun Ghoul raised his right leg and kicked the doctor right in the chest, knocking all air out of his lungs and crushing his ribs inwards.

The other doctors pounced at him, a pair of metallic pliers just inches away from his eyeball and the abject destruction it would've surely caused if Fun Ghoul wasn't strong enough to hold them back. He shoved them backwards and the doctors fell flat on their backs. He went for the gun.

Jet Star punched an OZ doctor to the ground, and the Frankenstein wannabe dropped his laser rifle. He raised his laser gun and pointed it to the man's head, staring down at the crazed Better Living moulded soldier and feeling a surge of anger course through his veins. This man; this shell of a human being who spent his days perpetuating the evil dictatorship of Better Living incorporated could've just as easily been one of the men who took his wife away. Her name whispered itself into his consciousness, calling him seductively back into a vision of the past.

Rosebud…

Rosebud, otherwise known as Roselyn, stared back at Jet Star with horror in her bright green eyes. She fought and struggled against her captors who were dressed in white; a contrast to the bright red dress she wore.

Rosebud…

She wanted to scream; he could see it in her face, and in the way her mouth gaped open as she stretched out for her baby who lay between them. Grace cowered; she was only 5 and she had learned the art of fear so well.

Jet Star struggled as hard as he could, the white gloved hands around his shoulders and arms holding him back as he screamed for the love of his life. He cried.

"Jet Star!" Fun Ghoul screamed, pulling Jet Star out of his waking dream. Jet Star swivelled in his stance and saw an OZ doctor with an emergency axe running right for him. "Fucking duck!" Fun Ghoul shouted. Jet Star swung backwards. Fun Ghoul fired.

In the white flash that ensued, Jet Star swore he saw an image of his wife smiling back at him.

Rosebud…