Killjoys Never Die *UNDER EDITING*

No More Power Pup

-Party Poison's POV-
"Are you alright?" I asked Sunshine Diamond. Her face was whiter than the Drac's uniform.

She slowly nodded, and then said, "We need to kill them. They're not going to tell us anything, so let's just shoot them. The less BLI knows about my brother's kids, the better."

I couldn't agree more. If we let that Drac go, they'd just run back to BLI and tell Madame Director everything. I knew for a fact that Atomic wouldn't want his oldest son's face on a wanted poster that would be plastered all over Battery City. Sure, Gear Monkey wasn't a little kid, but all of us adults had had to grow up before it should've been time. We'd lost homes and families when Better Living Industries started their reign of control, and all we had left was each other. Fun Ghoul and Jet-Star had always been friends of mine and Kobra Kid's, back when we had normal lives, back before everything detonated. Now we fought a battle against an enemy who refused to raise the white flag.

I looked over at Atomic and saw his fingers tighten around the handle of his ray gun, causing his knuckles to turn white. I noticed that Gear Monkey didn't have a ray gun, and I knew why. You're only a kid once in your life, so Atomic Dragon and Witch Hazel wanted Gear to live without the constant thought that he'd killed someone.

I could understand that somewhat. I wasn't Girl's father and neither were the rest of my group, but we knew what it was like to try to sleep when the face of the Drac you shot haunted your dreams. That was something none of us wanted to put Girl through, not until we felt she was ready.

"There will be plenty of carbons on his head once The Director finds out," the Drac droned.

"Trust me," Atomic growled, "She won't." He raised his gun and shot a red beam straight through the Drac's skull. The body lay on the floor as blood gushed out from both sides of the wound.

I'd noticed that Gear Monkey hadn't watched. Whether he did it because he was scared or because he knew it was something his parents would've wanted him to do, I didn't know.

Jet and Ghoul dragged the lifeless Drac outside where the bodies of their former comrades lay. Then they torched the pile and came back inside. Battery went to a supply closet, found a mop and an old bucket, and began to clean up the mess.

Atomic put his gun back in the holster at his waist, and turned to check on Gear. "Are you okay?" he asked. The fatherly concern in his voice was unmistakable.

"I'm fine," Gear replied in a carefree fashion, "But we've got a serious problem."

"I agree," Toxic spoke up, "BLI knows you've taken this place as a hiding spot."

"Maybe they don't," Atomic mused.

"What makes you so sure?" I asked.

He turned his attention to me. "When I came up here, they were grabbing supplies. If they'd been looking for us, they would've been a lot more rowdy."

We stood there silently, running our hands through our hair or stroking chins. Thankfully, some of the hair on my face had started to grow back. I didn't let it grow into a full beard, but a five o'clock shadow was better than the smooth face BLI had given me.

My stomach twisted in knots at the thought of them cutting and coloring my hair. What little appetite I had was now replaced by a sick feeling. They'd literally stripped all four of us of our individuality. Jet-Star and my little brother looked extremely different. I knew that they'd probably just wait until their hair grew out again before trying to do anything with it. Fun Ghoul actually didn't look bad with short black hair. It had been around that length before all of this mess started.

A loud noise broke my thoughts, one that I recognized as the now-familiar sound of Atomic Dragon's stomach. "Sorry," he said, blushing.

He seems pretty insecure about himself, I thought.

His wife stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, causing a smirk to spread on his face. He was a pretty tall guy, maybe even a little taller than my brother, I observed absentmindedly.

At that moment, Girl came running up the stairs with Moonlit Blood in tow. She stopped in front of Atomic, having to crane her neck to look up at him. He squatted down to her level to make things easier on her. "Me and your kids are hungry," Girl announced.

He smiled and replied with, "That's good, cuz so am I." He stood back up and looked at me. "This place is practically stocked with food, so help yourselves. Just make sure there's enough left over."

I nodded. We didn't usually gorge ourselves anyway.

"Power Pup, here I come," Kobra grumbled. He really hated the stuff, and seemed disappointed at being resurrected only to eat the disgusting shit that had kept us sustained for most of our lives.

Atomic patted his shoulder and smiled. "There's more than just Power Pup, man. It's a grocery store, not a pet store."

Kobra gave one of his rare smiles and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Destroya," he said before heading down the aisles in search of something good.

I shook my head. "And people say I'm the dramatic one." I smiled, letting my mask drop around my neck.

"You are!" Jet and Ghoul retorted in unison, smiles breaking out across their faces.

I couldn't help but smile as well.