The Razer Beams pt 2: Battery's Downfall

Author's Note: Reminder, this work and it's predecessor, "Prisoners of the Desert" are loosely based off the album "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" by My Chemical Romance. Vague concepts (I.E Dracs/BLind, etc) belong to MCR. Specifics such as certain characters (I.E Radio Razer/Raena Thompson), story plot, and established timeline are my own. Thank you!

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"Are you crazy?! That's a ton of Dracs, and a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W!"

"Rae-"

"Do you have a death wish? We're not splitting up anymore! They already have Blue and Reaper!"

How had everything gone so wrong so quickly?

Their orders were simple-get in, extract the target, don't get ghosted. The alarm being triggered had turned their plan to split up into a problem. Razer and Mayhem occupied the 2nd floor of BL/IND headquarters, Blue Sun and Solar Reaper now on display in the plaza below, surrounded by the enemy.

"Rae, you need to get out of the City. You have the battery, and once they realize that Blue and Reaper aren't alone, we're dead. We can't let them get that battery."

"We're not doing this!"

"We don't have a choice-"

"Like Hell we don't," she cut him off, pulling their mask down and checking their gun's battery. Not enough, but it'll have to work.

"Razer, stop!"

"You're not doing this without me. So are you gonna keep yelling and give the Exterminators our position, or are we going to make a plan?!" they snapped in a low voice.

Mayhem sighed and kept watch while Rae surveyed the plaza. "Reaper blew out the front door, leaving it open for a firefight. We take cover in the Lobby, clear a path. You get them outta my way. I'll take care of the rest," they explained, a hand settling against their throat.

Mayhem checked his own blaster. "We'll pick up some from the ones left downstairs. They should be good and charged."

The two headed silently down the stairs, back to back. They reached the lobby and managed to duck down on either side of the doorway without being seen. Mayhem scanned the crowd for the right target.

"There," he said, picking out the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W in charge. Rae recognized Dane's black, white-sleeved jacket and helmet, and nodded. Take down the head, and the rest will follow.

Rae took the shot. In all the years Mayhem had known them, they'd never missed. That streak paid off. Dane hit the ground with a hole in her head, eyes to the sky.

All Hell broke loose as the remaining Dracs scrambled to find where the shot had come from. As the scene went Costa Rica, the tag-team managed to drop about 20. Rae landed some close-range blasts echoing off the sounds of gunfire and preserving their throat, but until they got the way clear, anything bigger would risk their team.

Mayhem jumped, shouting to move as the enemy made them and began storming the building, calling for backup. They retreated to the hallway, continuing fire as the soldiers focused on them, forgetting about Blue and Reaper. The two used the distraction to weave through the crowd, finding themselves weapons and joining the fight.

While running back with Mayhem, Rae had tripped over one of the corpses. Mayhem stopped when he heard the painful shout, dropping Dracs like flies and pulling them from the floor, racing to the hall.

"You hit?" he asked, noticing the way they held their shoulder.

"No, think it's bruised. I'm fine." They continued shooting left-handed, though not as accurate. Still, the lasers hit their intended targets.

"You shoulda ran the other way. I'm telling ya, that chip is more important. We could have handled this once you took out Dane. You need to-"

Mayhem's shouts over the laser fire fell silent, and Rae's eyes followed his to the sight of Blue being held by a Drac by the throat, gun to their head.

Rae had never seen the light in someone's eyes go out faster.

"No..."

"Shit, Rae, get down!" Mayhem shouted, pushing her to the floor and rising to take down the Dracs running towards them. Rae pulled herself together and searched for Reaper, finding her across the Lobby.

"I'm clear, get behind me!" Mayhem just managed to duck and cover as she cupped a hand around her mouth and screamed. The Dracs grabbed at their ears, brain damage killing them before they even hit their knees.

Rae choked up, rubbing a hand against their throat and gasping for breath. "Hey, you did good. Save that for later. We can take 'em the old fashioned way for now," Mayhem reminded her, gesturing to his "borrowed" blaster.

Dracs continued to pour through the doors, and Rae knew they had to get Reaper out of the fray. She moved with grace, taking down two Dracs for every one that burst through the doors. Together the three made quick work, but it wouldn't be long until The Director sent in more elite soldiers to dispose of the rebels.

"We need to get outside. We're too held down in here," Rae explained.

"Yeah, but we need to get Reaper out too."

"Then start praying and get moving!"

With a quick plead to the Phoenix Witch for safety, the two rose and charged, guns blazing and Rae blasting at a safer volume but still enough to seriously wound anyone directly in their path.

Reaper saw them running and followed suit, but ran head-first into a Drac. She cried out as they swarmed her, and Rae barely saw her go down before the Dracs backed away.

Reaper lay on the floor, still as the desert air.

Rae stopped Mayhem dead in his tracks and let out another horrific scream, taking down the one swarm. "What are you-?"

He stopped asking as Rae ran over to Reaper's side, gently prying her mask from her face, before doing the same to Blue. The two shared an understanding glance as they ran outside.

"Come on, if we can just get back to the bikes, we can hit the Getaway Mile and get back to 4," Mayhem shouted, shooting over his shoulder while ducking into an alley. Rae stopped and let loose a blast that sent the glass of a few nearby windows flying into splinters on the ground.

How in the Hell did that only slow them down??

The two kept running, taken aback by the city sirens. "Please be advised, Killjoys have escaped Better Living Laboratories and are loosed in Battery City. All citizens are to remain indoors until the threat is neutralized. If you cannot get indoors and see these rebels, do not engage! Repeat: Do not engage!"

Rae switched gears to blasts powered by the sound of the sirens, laughing with the mental note to thank Better Living for saving their voice. The two ran side by side, and burst through the alley into the warehouse parking lot where they had stored their two bikes. Rae's heart ached as they remembered holding onto Mayhem while he drove his, Solar and Blue occupying the other, and realized they would no longer need to ride the bikes in pairs. It's just the two of us now...

Mayhem strapped on his helmet and kicked his bike into gear, turning to Rae. "You didn't lose it did you?!"

They undid the button on their vest pocket and pulled out a rectangular battery sat in a black case stamped with the familiar BL/IND smiley face. Dr. D hadn't gone into detail about it's significance, just left them with the warning to "not lose that battery, or we're all done for."

"Good, let's get mov-"

Just as Rae kicked Reaper's bike into gear, Mayhem fell over, smack onto the pavement, his chest steaming with a laser burn. His bike clattered beside him.

Rae instantly saw red, looking up to meet the swarm of Dracs headed their way, and let out a scream so raw and amplified that tears were brought to their eyes, ears pounding and throat screaming in protest. They watched the Dracs drop like flies, until they stood alone in the lot, surrounded by corpses.

One, they thought, with a familiar face.

Dropping to Mayhem's side, Rae slapped his face gently as he began to slip away. "Hey! You don't get to do that to me now, Mayhem! Come on, get up," they pleaded, reaching for his hand.

"Rae...Damn it, stop that! Shit!" he hissed as they jostled his chest, gently setting him back down with tears in his own eyes.

"Razer, listen to me. You take that, and you get it back to Dr. D, you hear me? And here..." he paused, pulling his own mask off his face and setting it into their hand.

"God, Mayhem, no! I'm not doing this. Blue and Reaper were bad enough, I can't-"

"Razer, you have to. It's a chest wound, Rae, I can already feel it. I'm not gonna be much good out there. I can't shoot or ride myself, and you can't ride and shoot at the same time. Please, Rae, get that damn battery outta the City! Run, and don't stop running until the Witch catches up to you. Don't let them take you, you understand me?!"

Tears filled their eyes as they gently slipped the mask from Mayhem's fingers, the fingers of their other hand ghosting over spot on their shirt underneath which lay that little locket.

"I love you, Raena. Always have..." he stopped, choking on blood dripping down his chin before he went still.

"...Always will."

Raena tucked the mask into their pocket with Blue and Reapers', before swinging a leg over Mayhem's bike and hitting the red line as they spun and made way towards the gates. One quick blast sent the two newly-replaced guards at the city gate flying, and Rae rode right past them, not turning back once as they soared through Zone 1 and reached the border of 2.

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"Finally, I was beginning to think ya'll had-"

Show Pony fell silent as his eyes made contact with the lone bike and its rider, turning and shouting into the shack for Dr. D before roller-blading towards Rae. Dr. D rolled his chair outside, face falling grim as he took in the sight for himself.

Rae swung off the bike with Pony's help and they approached Dr. D, pulling the battery from their pocket and dumping it into his palm.

"We got it..."

Their tone was empty as they pulled out 3 familiar masks.

Dr. D's eyes widened at the sight of them, and he pulled them into a hug, a rare gesture from the DJ. "I swear kid, I had no idea. They weren't supposed to have more than 30-sum workers in there, maybe one or two Exterminators. I would never have sent ya if I didn't think your team could handle it. I am so sorry."

Rae hesitated, before a sad smile painted their face. "It's not your fault, D. Sometimes we just...get bad intel, or maybe they were alerted by someone at the gate before we got there. Either way, we got the battery. It wasn't for nothin'."

The next morning, Dr. D and Show Pony drove Rae to the mailbox. They had never had a reason to go before, and so they stopped to admire the graffiti, small tokens left behind for the Witch, and writing.

With a heavy smile, Rae took each of the masks and slid them one-by-one into the box.

"Blue Sun. Solar Reaper..."

They fell short at the last one, pressing a kiss to the nose and holding it to their chest as tears mixed with desert sand. "Master Mayhem...Alex Bishop."

They slid it into the box and closed the lid with the familiar rebel slogan heavy on her tongue.

"Killjoys Never Die."