Until Your Heart Stops Beating

[ghostlafey]

(Since The Clowns fell under the radar when I wasn't online durning the fight, I decided they just decided to stay at Aftermath's hideout in Zone 2. Apparently Angel was with them...? But either way, they're in zone 2, plotting another strike against BLI. If anyone wants to join this thread, feel free. The more the merrier!)

Attention all Killjoys! This is The Clowns. We are currently at at safehouse in zone 2. Where are you?

*The transmission fades to static, and Neon kicks the sand beneath her feet, sending up a small cloud of dust. The twins, Mercury and Solar are standing at her side, sureying the surrounding wasteland.*

I feel useless, just sitting around here. What if there's Killjoys in trouble, Killjoys we could help. What if Ghost is in Battery City somewhere, hurt and stranded?

What good would we be? We don't know the layout, and it would be the three of us against however many BLI agents there are in the city. If we stay here we can at least plan, and wait for other Killjoys. And if none arrive we'll go to them.

*Mercury sighs, but doesn't press the issue.*

It might have been a good idea to go with Aftermath and Bunny when we had the chance.

Maybe you're right, but we stayed here. We promised Aftermath that we'd look after this place until he got back.

And who knows when the hell that will be.

I'm going a little stir crazy here. Can't we at least go out and do a scouting mission, take a look around?

You know as well as the rest of us how unsafe that is. We're too close to the city to just be running off. If we go out we need a purpose, like a rescue mission.

Sometimes I think we should have just stayed on the Island...back in good ol' zone 32.

*Solar nods her agreement, and Neon blows out her breath in an irritated manner.*

We had to come here. You knew right from the start, when we chose Ghost, that we'd be coming back here with her, to where the real action is, so we could actually help.

I know. And I'm glad we did. But this sand...this desolation... *She trails off, and they all fall silent, watching the sun set over the nuclear desert.*

[ghostlafey]

Clowns? Come in Clowns. This is Nix. Are you there? Neon? Mercury? Solar? Come in.

*Mercury jerks awake, staring wildly around and wondering where the staticky voice is coming from. Then the transmission comes again and she relaxes slightly.*

Nix, this is Mercury. Where are you?

Mercury! Good to hear a familiar voice! I can't seem to get through to Ghost. Do you know where she is, or what happened?

I'm sorry...no...I don't know where she is, or what happened. We've been trying to get through to her...to anyone really, but there's been no response so far.

Oh...ok. I'll keep trying.

We will too. Where are you?

Uh...Bunny's zone 1 safehouse. The one you guys all rescued me from when I was stranded out here. There's a few of us. It was sort of the main safehouse for people just getting out of the city. And I was here because I know inside info on BLI.

Well, if you're looking to get farther from the city you're welcome to join us at Aftermath's hideout. It's in zone 2.

Aftermath...as in Incendiary...or Cendi? Ghost's friend?

Yeah, that's the one. He took off though, with Bunny. We're not sure what they're up to.

Ok, well...we might come to join you in zone 2. We were told to stay here though, until we heard otherwise, but we haven't heard anything. The regular communications that we had going just stopped, so we're thinking it might be in our best interest to get out of here.

We'll be here. Not going anywhere else, as per Neon's rules. Speaking of, I should go relieve her watch duty. I'll talk to you later, Nix.

Bye. Nix out.

Mercury out. *She stands up and clips her radio to her belt, grabbing her gun from beside her pillow. Stretching, she heads outside and walks up to Neon. The pink-and-blued-haired Clown looks up at her approach, and smiles tiredly.*

Come to take over watch?

Mhmm. You go get your rest now.

*Neon sighs gratefully, and heads to the door. Before she can get inside, Mercury speaks again.*

I got a transmission from Nix just now. Says she and some other Killjoys from Bunny's zone 1 safehouse might be joining us within a day or two.

Thanks for letting me know. And I'm sorry about being so...paranoid. It's just, we don't know this place as well as the rest of the Killjoys, and I care about the both of you too much to just let you wander off into danger.

*Mercury nods.* I understand.

*Silence falls, and Neon goes inside, leaving Mercury alone under the cold desert moon.*

[ghostlafey]

*Solar is keeping watch as the sun rises over the desert. A chill wind is blowing and she pulls her bandana over her face and secures her aviators to keep from choking on the sand or being blinded by it. Inside she can hear Mercury and Neon begin to stir, the former mumbling something about coffee. With one last look around she heads inside.*

Sorry twin, no coffee here. You drank the last of it yesterday morning, remember?

Fuuuuck! Curse you, caffine addiction!

*Neon laughs at the two of them, and begins to search through the cupboards for something to eat.*

Well, if we don't have coffee, do we at least have something half-ways to be real food?

Looks like...no. There's just PowerPup, PowerPup, and look! More PowerPup!

Son of a draculoid!

I second that!

I know guys, I know. But at least we have food and fresh water.

*Their radios crackle with a static-filled transmission.*

This is Nix. Coming your way. Be there soon. Keep a look out for a beat up blue car. That'll be us. Nix out.

Finally, some more people!

*A couple hours later a cloud of dust can be seen in the distance, growing steadily closer. Out of it appears a little blue car, and when it comes to a stop outside the safehouse Nix jumps out of the driver seat, looking a lot more at ease then the last time The Clowns had seen her.*

Good to see familar faces again! The others decided not to come so I left without them.

Good to see you too, Nix.

How you been keeping? What's it like so close to the front lines?

I've been...ok. It's nervewracking being so close to the city again, but I'm glad I could help.

Wish we could have been up there, but we had to stay here and help with hacking. Better that way I guess, because we don't know the layout of the city at all and we're new to the zones.

*Nix nods.* So still no word from Ghost or any of the others?

Not yet. We keep trying though.

Well, I'll help as well. Could just be a glitch in the transmissions, but the silence is starting to worry me.

It's starting to worry us, too.

When was the last time you tried?

Just after we got your transmission, actually.

Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to try again.

Go right ahead.

*Nix unclips her radio and sends out the transmission.* Attention! Ghost, come in! This is Nix! Arson, come in! Bunny, come in! Muze, come in! Anyone! Where are you?

And now we wait...

[ghostlafey]

It's like we're the only people left...

It is, and it's kind of terrifying.

Let's not think about that. Could be that BLI sent out signal jammers or something, so we couldn't communicate. We just have to find a way around them. Too bad Muze isn't here. She's a pro at hacking.

Maybe we should head out, see if we run into anyone...

Except that 'anyone' might be BLI. It's not safe to go running around the desert, and we all know it. None of us are familar enough with the zones.

*Mercury scowls, irritated.* Yes, I know. But I'm getting sick and tired of sitting hear, doing nothing, with no news. Isn't there anything we can do?

Well, we haven't really explored this place. Maybe Aftermath or someone else who was here had something along the lines of blueprints for Battery City, and left them here. We could look, and then stragegize if we find any. At least then we wouldn't be sitting around, bored as hell.

And what would we strategize, exactly, if we were to find such blueprints?

No need to sound so condesending! Jesus!

Well at least I'm not a fool!

Guys, guys! Shut up and quit fighting! We're all in this together! And I personally think that Solar has a good idea. We should be trying to figure out what to do. And even if there's nothing here that's helpful to us, at least we tried.

*Neon rolls her eyes and goes to head outside. At the door she turns to look at them over her shoulder.* I'm going outside to keep a lookout. Enjoy your search, and come talk to me when you realize there's nothing here that's going to help us. Aftermath would have told us if there was. *With that she walks out, disappearing from sight.*

What's got up her ass? She was much nicer last time I saw her.

She's just worried and scared. I don't blame her, because I am too, but she always gets very uptight and confrontational and bossy when she feels that way.

And she never had much taste for adventure anyways. We had to beg her to take on Ghost, because she knew we'd end up leaving the Island and coming out here, and she didn't want to. She'd have been perfectly content to stay in our little safe haven forver.

That's not exactly fair, Mercury.

Maybe not, but it's true and you know it.

*Solar nods, then stands up.* C'mon. If we're gonna look around for anything useful we mind as well start now.

Yeah. It's not like there's anything else to do.

Where should we start?

Hmm...well...what if we divide up and cover different parts of this place and then reconvene in a little bit?

Sounds good to me.

Good plan, twin.

*The three of them split up and begin to search the hideout. There's not much to cover, but it takes them a while. Nix takes the kitchen area, Solar heads into the back where none of them have really been before, and Mercury tackles the sleeping areas. As she checks under beds and turns over matteresses she notices a slightly raised floorboard. She approaches on hands and knees, and pries it open. Under it is a carved out piece of the foundation, stuffed full of papers. Most are handwritten and almost impossible to read, so she skips over them, but a few are typed out and look official. There's also a rough sketch titled "Battery City" which she grabs as well. Heading back she calls to the others.*

Guys, I think I found something!

*They join her and crowd around, trying to get a look at the papers.*

Wait! Let's get Neon in here. I wanna see her face when she sees these!

*Solar's grin in a carbon copy of Mercury's as she calls outside.*

Oi! Neon! You might wanna come back inside!

*Neon's voice drifts in.* Why?

We found something you should see.

*They can hear her huff in an irritated manner, and then she comes back inside, facing them with her arms crossed.* Ok, so what is it?

*Gleefully, Mercury shoved the papers at her, watching her facial expression go from annoyed to somewhat embarrassed.* Soooo...whatcha think?

I think...that I was wrong. And I'm sorry. Well, not sorry for being wrong, but sorry for being so uptight. I just...I don't want to go haring around the zones when we don't know where we're going. I can't take the chance of any of you getting hurt.

We understand. But this changes things. Now we have an idea of what Battery City looks like. We can make a stand against them!

Uh, you guys are forgetting that I used to live there until just recently. I'm better than a piece of paper if you want the layout of inside info. And as much as your enthusiasm is admirable, it's not safe to storm the city with only four of us.

Who says we have to storm it? There's gotta be some secret way in, and we could do a sneak attack or something!

That could work. Only problem is...they're most likely keeping an eagle eye on any entrances or exits that they know about, and I don't know of any that they don't know.

Well, does the map have any marked?

*Neon persues the map for a moment, then looks up, a slight grin on her face.* Yes, it does. Nix, take a look and mark any that you already know about.

*Nix takes the map and looks around for a pen. Mercury hands her on. For a few minutes they watch as she crosses out a majority of the entrances. By the time she's done, only three are left unmarked.* Ok, so these three I don't know about, but the others are well known and will be guarded for sure. If we're going to do this we'll have to stake them out carefully though, and from a distance, in case they're being watched too.

Are we really thinking of doing this?

I'm for it. Now we have this map we know where we're going and it's not so dangerous. We'll have to make a plan though. We can't just go running in.

Good! Thank god you're for this, Neon.

Ok, so let's spend the next few days brainstorming plans, then we can head out.

Sounds good. Nix, are you ok with going back to the city?

*Nix looks scared, but nods.* I'll have to face it one day. Why not now? If we can do some damage, all the better.

Good way of looking at it!

*Nix smiles weakly.* I think I'm going to go get some sleep. Wake me up if you want me to take a watch.

*The Clowns watch her go.* I hope she can handle this.

She's Ghost's sister, and even she's even half as strong she'll hit BLI like a hand grenade.

Well, I guess we'll find out.