"Well, if I'm old enough to die for your mistakes, then let's go. Can I bleed enough to fill up what the engine takes? I don't know. But if you're watching up above, they're teaching me to kill. Who's teaching me to love? Now, baby, isn't it crazy?" --- Gun.
---
Dead Again
Party's P.O.V.
I blink.
This can't be happening.
Paranoia is standing outside my office door, her palm pressed against the glass and a smile on her face. But there's something not right with her. The smile is too crazed, her blue eyes too wild. She dressed in dark colors so different from a Killjoy's usual bright attire. It was always a sign of rebellion. Could this be her rebelling now?
The song she'd been singing echoes in my head even though she's been silently staring for several tense minutes. I missed her singing, but I've never heard it like this. The lyrics have never been this dark and...well, evil. Jet Star shifts positions from beside me, but I don't look away from the figure outside my door. What's happened to her?
"Do we let her in?" Ghoul murmurs from Jet's other side.
"The door's not locked, genius," Kobra says just as softly on my left.
Ghoul gives him an indignant look. "Maybe she forgot how to open it. She's not even moving."
I find myself walking toward her. Kobra tries to grab me and stop me, but I smack his hand away and keep going. Paranoia's smile slips into a sinister smirk, and I almost turn around. No, you can't, I tell myself. You've gotta find out what's wrong with her. So I grip the door handle and pull it open, my body tense as I wait for her to make a move.
"Hello," she says smoothly, tilting her head to the side.
"Hi," I answer, just a bit breathlessly. I'm still in shock that she's here, standing in front of me. It's even more surprising to learn that she's been murdering Killjoys from the moment she got back. I just don't want to believe it's true.
She chuckles a little, looking down at her feet and then back up to my eyes. "What? You're not going to have me arrested? Lock me up, kill me on the spot?"
I step half an inch closer to her. She's only a few inches shorter than me. I don't have to look down too far. "Do you think I need to?" I ask softly.
She gives me a small smile. "If you're going to do it, I suggest you make it fast. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep up this conversation."
"Is that a threat?"
Paranoia shrugs. She suddenly squeezes her eyes shut and clutches her head with one hand. "What the hell," she hisses, but I think she's talking to herself and not me. She coughs a few times and then looks back up with a hardened expression. "Better do it now, Party."
I nod stiffly. Without tearing my gaze away from Paranoia's face, I hold out my hand and call for my brother. "I need your handcuffs." I'm expecting Ghoul to make a sexual joke, but instead he says nothing. Kobra's footsteps echo behind me. A cold metal object is placed in the palm of my hand, and then he retreats back to where he was standing before. To Paranoia, I say, "You're not going to fight me? You're just going to allow me to do this?"
She smiles, and it's the first normal expression I've seen her wear since she's reappeared. "Do what you need to do." She lifts both her wrists and watches as I clasp them together with the handcuffs. "Very nice," she murmurs.
"What is?" I ask.
She lets out a sudden cold laugh that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Korse is coming," she says ominously. Her lips part into a feral grin and she looks down at her wrists, straining against their hold. With an inhuman shriek, her blue eyes roll back and she collapses on the spot.
The color immediately drains from my face and I almost forget to dash forward and catch her before she hits the ground. One arm hits behind her shoulder blades and my other arm wraps across her stomach. Why did she drop so suddenly? It's like she fainted.
"Guys," I gasp, still staring down at her. "I don't - I don't know what's wrong with her."
"Move," Jet says automatically. He's in full-on business mode now. There's that serious look in his eye that he only wears when he's diagnosing someone. He pushes me back with one large hand and I stumble backward, bumping into Kobra and Ghoul. Jet catches Paranoia now and lays her down on the ground. Her head lolls to the side and he lays the back of his hand against her forehead. "Her temperature's normal."
I try to creep closer, but Ghoul and Kobra hold me back. "Let him work," Kobra mutters harshly.
Jet continues to inspect her, skirting around her hands that are still cuffed together, like he's uncomfortable with the idea of Paranoia being a prisoner. I can't say I'm too happy with it, either. She used to be so good. The rebellion was her focus - she did what was right for the other Killjoys. Now she's killing them? Oh, how the tables have turned.
"I can't find anything wrong with her," Jet says finally, sitting back on his heels. "She's in perfect health."
Ghoul huffs from beside me. "Besides the fact that she just slaughtered dozens of our Killjoys. Too bad there's not a machine we can use to check her mental state." I hiss angrily and elbow him in the ribs, hard. He yelps and glares at me. "You can't honestly tell me that you think she's normal right now, Party!"
"I never said I did!" I snap back. "But you don't need to talk about her like she's a random psychopath that walked in from the streets! She's our friend, dammit!"
Kobra places his palm flat against my chest and shoves me roughly backward. "You need to calm down. Both of you," he says through gritted teeth, eyeing Ghoul and I with contempt. "Arguing with each other is not helping anything."
Ghoul lets out a long breath and looks apologetically at me, but I ignore him and glare at Kobra. Kobra, in turn, ignores me and looks calmly at Jet. "What do we do now?" he asks.
Jet sighs and brushes Paranoia's hair out of her face. I almost snap at him for doing it, but another harsh look from Kobra stops me. Standing, Jet looks at me. "You need to go down and say something. Everyone is bound to be in hysterics right now. They need you to calm them down."
"But what about - "
He cuts me off. "I'll carry Paranoia to the hospital. Ghoul can come with me." He looks sternly at me. "Take Kobra with you and go calm the masses. It's part of your job, remember."
I nod stiffly, glance at Kobra, and then stride out the door. I have to step around Paranoia's unconscious body to do it, and my heart clenches uncomfortably in my chest. I can hear Kobra's brisk footsteps behind me, but I don't want to stick around any longer to see Jet and Ghoul walk off with her limp body. I can't handle that right now.
"Where's the best place to address everyone from?" I ask quietly as we walk to the stairs. We shut the elevators down when she started heading up to us.
"Probably the cafeteria. You can stand on a table." I can't tell if he's joking or not. "Or you could - Holy shit."
As we reach the bottom of a set of stairs, we find the body of Vengeance Fire lying in the middle of the floor. There's a puddle of blood beneath his body, staining his shirt and his jeans and his white hair. We don't hesitate to run to him. I kneel beside him, careful not to put my knees in blood. I grab his shoulder and shake it. "Vengeance. Wake up," I say roughly, not sure whether to panic or not. I'd grown to know him more since Paranoia's disappearance, but I'm still not sure whether his death will have any effect on me. "Wake up," I repeat, louder this time.
Slowly, his eyes blink open. "Party," he says weakly. "Where is she?"
"Jet has her. She's unconscious. Are you all right?" I speak so quickly I don't know if he understands me.
He tries to nod but winces instead. "I'm fine. She shot me, but she missed any vital organs, I think. She got my side."
I look up at Kobra, who is still standing. He's looking at Vengeance with a mix of emotions. I know he doesn't care for the man very much, but he's always been civil with him. He's never told me what got Vengeance on his bad side, but I've never thought to ask until now. "Kobra, can you take him to Jet? Explain to him what happened."
Kobra nods and quickly bends over to scoop Vengeance up into his arms, getting blood all over himself in the process. The white-haired man nearly screams, but he bites down on his bottom lip to stop himself. Kobra looks at me. "Good luck. We'll be watching you over broadcast."
We turn in opposite directions, Kobra toward the hospital level and myself toward the staircase that will lead me to the ground floor, and go our separate ways. Kobra's words "good luck" ring in my head. I'm certainly going to need it.
***
Kobra's P.O.V.
I don't speak to Vengeance as I carry him to the hospital. I don't think he could hold up a conversation anyway, considering the paleness of his face and the sweat that's glistening on it. And I don't really want to talk to him, either, so it doesn't matter. I've never liked him. He's always seemed off to me, like he'll turn on his friends at the most opportune moment. I've never talked to Party about this; he would only understand Vengeance's side. He did the same thing to us not long ago, after all.
"Kobra, what the hell happened?" Ghoul exclaims as we reach the correct level. Jet and Ghoul were standing and talking outside a closed door, but they stop as we approach. They both look equally shocked to see Vengeance's state.
"Paranoia happened," the white-haired man hisses through his gritted teeth, wincing in pain. I scowl, but quickly replace the expression with a neutral one. Jet points to an empty bed and I am prompt to lay Vengeance on it. I'm covered in blood, but it doesn't bother me much. There's only one thing on my mind.
"Can I see her?" I ask, looking to Jet for approval.
He looks hesitant for a moment. I almost play the "head of security" card, but decide against it. These are my friends. We're all on the same level. None of us is better than the other. So I just stare at him, waiting for a response, before he finally nods and points to the shut door. "She's in there. And she's asleep. Try to keep it that way, all right? If she wakes up, I want to be alerted immediately."
I nod stiffly and open the door, revealing a small room that is bathed in white and holding a single bed. In said bed is Paranoia, handcuffed to the metal bed frame by both wrists. I let my walls fall down as I shut the door behind me. I've never cared as much about staying neutral when I'm with her. Everything is different with her.
There's a screen hanging on the wall that I switch on. I use my security code to access the cameras, choosing the one showing the large mass of Killjoys in the cafeteria. Party stands on a table in the center, his arms hanging limp at his side as he looks at the fraction of people that we have left. I look at Paranoia's limp body. How could you do something like this? I wordlessly ask her. I'm upset, upset that this happened, but I can't do anything about it right now. And looking at her, lying there helplessly, I can't honestly say that I'll ever be able to do anything to act against her. Never.
"Listen up." Party's voice grows several octaves louder than normal to be heard above the clamoring. Immediately, all the Killjoys fall silent. "I know everyone is confused about what happened today. We've suffered some terrible losses, and several more of us are injured. Now, I can't exactly explain to you what caused this or who is to blame - "
"Paranoia Violence is to blame!" some man hollers, shoving through the crowd to stand directly in front of my brother. "I knew Harley Rose should have killed her when she had the chance!" It's obvious whose side he was on during the civil war.
Party looks exasperated. "I know how it looks. I do. But we can't jump to conclusions automatically. We know Paranoia has been missing for several weeks, taken right from under us. We received a transmission a few days ago that alerted us to the fact that she was with Korse and, from the sounds of it, she was being tortured. Korse - "
"Korse is dead!" the same man counters.
"He's not," Party says stiffly. "I spoke with him. He's as alive as you and I are. And you can bet that he's out for blood."
A woman steps forward, looking much calmer than the man. "Where is Paranoia now?"
Party presses his lips into a thin line. "She's unconscious in the hospital. I assume they have her locked up, so she won't be able to get out and attack again. She'll be in our custody and under constant surveillance until we can figure out what's wrong with her."
"And I assume she told you that I would be returning, no?"
My hands automatically grip onto the railing of Paranoia's hospital bed. It's Korse. He's there, standing just at the edge of the crowd. How no one saw him appear, I have no idea; they must have been too preoccupied with the day's events. He looks exactly the way I remember: bald head, frilly clothing, sinister smile.
And, just for a moment, I'm afraid.
I know what Korse is capable of. Party explained to me that he had designed Harley Rose and programmed her to turn Party against us all in order to alienate Paranoia and make her either disappear into the Zones again or do something radical that would make us all hate her and join Party's side. Obviously, he didn't factor in that Jet, Ghoul, and I would take Paranoia's side on anything. Even Party chose her over Harley when it counted the most.
Korse has spent all this time underestimating Paranoia. She didn't back down when he threatened her the day he kidnapped Missile Kid. She ran right into the fight when we tried to get the girl back, and continued to do so even after Korse shot her shoulder and reopened her wound. And, yeah, she went a little crazy after we "died", but she pulled through once she realized we were alive and went so far as to sacrifice herself to blow up BLI. She woke up in the diner all on her own, ignored all of our warnings, and came to find us in the city anyway. She challenged Harley, bested prison, rallied the Killjoys against her, and eventually killed her after Harley shot me. Paranoia has had to deal with so many problems in her life, and every single time she pulled through. I guess Korse just hasn't learned that lesson yet.
"I see Paranoia has had her fun with you. Taken her into custody, have you?" Korse grins. "How much longer do you think it'll be until she wakes up and attacks someone again?"
"That won't happen," Party says coolly. "We're going to fix her, and everything is going to go back to normal."
Slowly, the caferteria begins to clear until it's just Party and Korse facing off, the former still standing on a table. I would have thought the other Killjoys would have stuck around to help their unofficial leader, but I guess they've seen too much carnage today as it is. I can't say I blame them. All the same, I should really be getting down there to help my brother.
"What's going on?" a soft voice murmurs. Suddenly, I forget all about watching Party versus Korse. There's the sound of a creaking mattress. Startled, I jump backwards. Paranoia's sleepy blue eyes blink open, a hazy look swirling within them. "Kobra? What's the matter?" She sits up, watching me staring at her with a cautious look. Her gaze turns to the screen. "Holy shit - is that Korse?"
"You don't remember?" I ask, creeping a little closer.
She shakes her head. "Remember what?"
I come even closer, resting one knee on the bed so I can more adequately hover in front of her. I take her face in my hands and tilt it back and forth, inspecting her. She's still covered in dried blood from all the Killjoys she murdered. "You've been gone for a while. But you came back today, and you slaughtered dozens of Killjoys." I watch her blink slowly. "Don't you remember this?"
"Of course I do," she says simply, her lips parting into a grin. "Why would I not? It's been a good day."
Korse's voice floats through my ears from the screen. "I suspect she's waking up around now. You should go see to her, Party Poison."
"Yeah?" Party asks sarcastically. "And what will you do?"
I don't give myself a chance to hear Korse's response, because I'm already pushing Paranoia away and striding out the door. "Jet," I snap in a tense voice. "She's awake. Korse is in the cafeteria. I'm going to help Party."
Jet and Ghoul both look up from their places around Vengeance's bed. "Wait - what?" Jet asks.
I ignore him and stride down the hall, wrenching open the door to the stairs and sprinting down them, all the way until I reach the first floor. I pass no other Killjoys along the way. Probably all hiding in their rooms like cowards. Strangely enough, I can't bring myself to resent them.
Pokerface back on, I take long strides toward the cafeteria, my red ray gun already in my hand and clicked off of safety. "Need any help?" I ask in a lazy tone as I stroll into the room, my gaze hardened. Korse and Party both turn to look at me, my brother looking surprised and Korse looking completely unaffected. "What are you doing here?" I hiss as I come to a stop behind the bald man.
"I've come to check on Paranoia's progress," he says calmly. "It seems as though she's doing very well."
"What's the point of this?" Party asks, folding his arms across his chest. "What are you trying to accomplish?"
I scowl. "He's trying to turn us against Paranoia, Party. Like always." I give Korse an indignant look. "It won't work. It never does. The four of us like her too much to ever take anyone else's side." I look at Party with an even gaze. He stares back with a dark expression. "Some of us more than others."
Korse laughs that cold laugh that I remember from the weeks I spent trapped in BLI after Korse nearly killed the four of us and left Paranoia all alone. "Things have worked out better for me than I intended for them to. It appears as though the girl is turning the two of you against each other without any aid from me." His laughter turns into just a sinister chuckle. "Party Poison, how does it feel to know your girl is just as captivated with your brother as she is with you?"
Party flushes, but I keep a neutral expression, just like always. "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about," he snaps.
"Ah, you see, but I do. I have spent weeks with her in my custody, remember. I don't believe you've forgotten how she responded to Kobra Kid's words and not yours during that sole transmission, no?" He smirks. "And there have been other instances besides that."
I try to tune out what he's saying and not feel a twinge of hope in my chest. There's no way Paranoia said anything about me that wasn't strictly friendly. She is in love with Party. She told me so. And Paranoia is not one to lie about something so serious. Or is she? I ask myself. Maybe she didn't know how she was feeling at the time.
"Paranoia does not love me in the same way she loves my brother," I say tersely. "What we have is pure friendship. She has never felt anything more for me, nor will she."
Korse turns to be now. "Ah, but you don't deny that you have felt things for her?"
"I'm not like you. I don't get off from telling lies," I snap. "I am in love with Paranoia, and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm only ashamed that my brother feels the same."
"Shut up, Kobra," Party snarls through gritted teeth. "Now is not the time to be discussing this."
I fall silent, merely glaring at the two men - well, the man and the half-animatronic one. Party steps off the table and strides over to Korse, coming to a stop in front of him. "Tell me what's wrong with her, or I swear to God I'll kill you."
"She's been infected," Korse says smoothly. "Infected by a virus I created from my own mind. It puts her completely under my control. She does what I say whenever I say, and she has no regard for others' feelings or her own." He sighs. "Regrettably, it does have a few things that trigger it to start leaving her system. The poor girl suffers terribly from migraines when the situation presents itself."
Party lifts his chin a little. "Triggers, eh? What kind of triggers?"
Korse laughs. "Now, tell me: what would be the fun in that?"
"If you don't tell me, I'll shoot you right here."
"Oh, Party Poison. There are so many more important questions for you to be asking."
"How are you still alive?" I cut in, crossing my arms. "Paranoia said she shot you. And then the building blew up. You should be in a million different pieces right now."
He smiles. "It would appear as though your famed Paranoia has worse aim than you give her credit for. She shot me in the head, yes, but the blast merely managed to scrape my skull. Once she was safely out of sight, I stood from the ground and escaped to a radio station in Zone Three. That is where I released Harley Rose from, and where I waited until Paranoia was ready to be harvested from your clutches."
"How could you survive but Harley Rose couldn't?" I go on, stepping closer to him. "She was built the same as you."
"Ah, but she wasn't, you see." Korse taps his chin with his fingertip, a wicked grin on his face. "She was a crude version of me. Functionable, well adapted, and manipulative, yes, but not a full version of what she could have been had I had more time to work on her. It was difficult enough getting the real Harley Rose to the radio station. After that, setting the wires and chips within her body was more than easy enough for me to complete on my own." He shrugs. "Though she did scream a bit. In any case, she was weaker than me. A simple ray gun blast was all that was necessary for killing her off, as your Paranoia discovered."
Party catches on that he should be asking these sorts of questions. "What made her go crazy?" he says, phrasing it more crudely than I expected him to.
Korse chuckles. "A simple injection straight into Harley Rose's 'bloodstream' that creates hallucinations that can be controlled from the outside. Once Paranoia killed Harley Rose and got her blood on her hands, she was immediately subjected to the hallucination serum. From the radio station I could control what she saw and when she saw it. It was always my face she saw just out of the corner of her eye. When she was finally driven mad enough, I came for her. Told her that I could make the illusions stop, that I could fix it all for her. By that time, she was so used to seeing me that she just went along with it. I dosed her up, got her new clothing, and marked her as a changed Killjoy." He fully laughs now. "I don't suppose the two of you have seen her tattoo yet, have you?"
Party and I exchange bewildered looks. "You gave her a tattoo?" I ask.
"No, one of my other animatronics did. It was her choice for the design, though. It looks very nice, if I do say so myself."
Party breathes deeply and lets the breath go. "What're you telling us all of this for?"
"I don't suspect I'll be living much longer, do you?" he asks rhetorically. "You may as well have your answers from me now while you still can. Paranoia doesn't know the answers, after all."
"Then tell us how to save her," Party insists, but even I know his attempt is futile.
Korse sniffs. "I'd sooner die than tell you."
"I can arrange that," Party snaps. "Tell me."
Korse smiles. "No."
His body drops to the floor, a blast hole in his forehead and in the back of his head. We both shot him at the same time. Party pockets his ray gun and looks at me, a mix of emotions on his face. As per usual, my face reveals nothing. "We should burn him," I comment, looking down at the fallen body. "Just to be sure."
Party nods stiffly. "Let's go, then."
We drag the body together out of the cafeteria and into the street outside. There are bodies of Killjoys lying everywhere. I see a flash of bright blue and feel a pang of regret. She must have gotten to one of the Electric twins. Shaking my head to dislodge those worries, I focus on carrying Korse's legs and don't let go of him until we're well into the middle of one of the streets.
My brother draws a lighter from his pocket and drops it onto the body. Slowly, the flames start to lick at Korse's clothes and then his layer of skin. The flesh gradually melts away, revealing cords, wires, and outlets hiding just beneath the surface. Those catch fire as well, and everything begins to turn black.
I look up at Party and notice him watching me, a vein throbbing in the side of his neck. He's angry with me about my confession from before. And I know I'm going to pay for those comments later. But, for now, all I can do is watch the flames melt Korse's face away and imagine the same is happening to all my worries.