Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

Chapter 1

Author's Note: Yay! My first fanfic! I hope it is enjoyed by all. I currently have a few chapters written, but I'm not sure if I'll upload them all just yet. Anyways, here is chapter 1. Enjoy!

*Alkaline Insanity*

                As soon as I was sure they wouldn’t see me on their tail, I grabbed the keys off the peg in the shed and jammed them into the slot on the bike we had stolen from some ghosted dracs a few weeks earlier. A smile crept across my face as the motorcycle roared to life beneath me.

                “Stay here!” I yelled to Missile Kid over the roar of the engine. She knew my plan, and let me tell you, the ten-year-old was NOT happy about it.

                “What if dracs show up and take me, huh? I don’t even have a ray gun!” She complained. Poison had let her use one before, when he was afraid she would be in danger, but she wasn’t allowed to keep one on her. Only in extreme emergencies did he let her have one.

                In answer to her question, I turned the key in the bike’s ignition to ‘Off’, and propped it against the outside wall of our current hideout, an old diner. I walked into the shed behind the diner and returned a few seconds later with two ray guns in hand. A purple on for me and a standard-issue white one for her. I offhandedly tossed it to her, and she caught it with ease.

                “Whoa!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get this?” She could hardly contain her excitement; a huge grin plastered itself across her face.

                “Stole it off a ghosted drac a couple of days ago. Not that any of the guys know…but yeah. I’m sick of them leaving me behind. I found out where they had stashed my ray gun a few days ago, so I decided to jack their bike and go with them. They can’t deny my epic fighting skills forever.” I said, smiling slyly. “Also, Show Pony was planning on stopping by at some point today anyway, on his way back to Dr. D’s place. You can tell him where I went if you want, because at that point there won’t be much he can do about it.” The prospect of escaping and going on a mission with the guys, whether they wanted me there or not, was more than exciting. I was as excited to go on this trip as Missile was to get her own ray gun. I mussed her fluffy hair and hopped back on the bike, sliding my gun into the old leather holster on my hip that I had been longing to use.

I had missed this feeling. Feeling…dangerous. But capable. I had my weapon back, and I had wheels. I turned the key in the ignition and kicked the bike once again to life.

“Bye, Missile!” I yelled as I roared off into the sandy desert.

Party Poison, Kobra Kid, Fun Ghoul, and Jet Star had taken off in the Trans-Am, a car Poison has had since before the war. It was starting to get beat up, but they still drove it everywhere. As long as Poison was driving, that is. He was the only one who had ‘permission’ to drive it. And by that, I mean, he won’t let anyone else drive his crappy car. So everyone else used one of the two bikes we had stolen off of some ghosted dracs, or the van we managed to steal from the outskirts of Battery City. And by ‘we’, I mean them.

                They wouldn’t let me go anywhere anymore. Ever since…I couldn’t bear to think about it. Every time I did, tears pricked at my eyes, and I couldn’t help but hyperventilate a little. ‘Focus, Aly.’ I thought to myself. ‘This is no time to completely lose it.’ I tried to focus on the vast expanse of sand and rocks ahead of me, squinting through my Killjoy mask in the brilliant sun. If I crashed this thing and hurt myself, that would mark the end of my perfectly planned escape.

                It frustrated the hell out of me that they treated me like this, but I knew they were only looking out for me. I had been pretty unstable after what happened, and I know they just didn’t want me to hurt myself. Or anyone else for that matter. But it had been close to a year since I’d been on a mission, and despite the fact that just thinking about that night makes me want to hurl myself off a building, I had to focus on keeping my cool. I knew that it might have been the only way they would let me go out again. But the guys were still skeptical, especially Poison. So they had left me at home with Missile Kid, yet again.

                Missile was used to being left behind, because she was only ten. She knew that she’d be able to go when she was older. But I WAS older. I was 25. They had no right to keep me bottled up in the diner like that. I needed to go out. I needed to kill some dracs. My mind and body craved it.

                As I drove on, the sun rose higher in the sky and I was dripping with sweat before long. I removed my right hand from the handlebars and placed it on my forehead so that I could wipe away the perspiration that was starting to drip into my eyes. As I did this, the bike swerved wildly, and my hand shot back to the handlebar, my fingers locked around it in a death grip. Slightly shaken, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. As I did, I started to notice a small dust cloud on the horizon.

                It was the Trans-Am, I just knew it. Now I just had to tail them without any of them seeing me. And that was NOT going to be an easy task…