Ray nodded though she disliked the somewhat condescending tone but she understood it was out of compassion. She tilted the gun to aim at the first can, it felt very different than the type she was used to. Aiming, she stood on her toes and fired, narrowly missing the first can.

"Okay, Ray-" Thorn began and the girl lifted her hand to silence him, she knew now how the gun fired compared to the pistol and slowly aimed once more, relaxing her shoulders.

BANG! The second can was sent flying and she turned towards the third. Naturally she wasn't the quickest of shooters but her accuracy was decent and she didn't shudder from the recoil. No one could blame her from wanting to get the shot right after the first blundering mistake.

BANG! The third can toppled over and she beamed slightly. She doubted she'd be as good with moving targets but reasoned that she would just have to stealthily try and help her brother.

Ghoul and Static's jaws slackened, and Party murmured, "I don't think you need many of my tips, actually. That was amazing. I wish we could give you some moving targets. Just remember to think of the gun as a part of you, not just something you're holding." Party walked over, threw a Power Pup can behind him, twisted around and shot it clean through the middle. He grabbed another and tossed it in the air, offering for Ray to shoot it.

Ray's lips tightened slightly as she attempted to shoot it. She missed of course but, she hadn't been expecting any better, she was a rookie and instead of flying through the can, the bullet shot past Thorn almost grazing his ear.

"Woah, woah, I'm gonna sit over here, okay...Far away from the bullets," He stepped over to one of the tables and sat down, breathing a sigh of relief. That girl defiantly knows something the little brat. He thought in a paranoid state.

The girl shrugged her shoulders slightly, she wasn't ashamed or anything, she knew those skills would be acquired in time. Sadly, she didn't have time.

Party grinned, "You've got a dead shot. We just have to practice aim towards moving things. Dracs usually sit pretty still during firefights, but if we're breaking into BL/ind, we'll be on the offense. You'll have me, Static and Thorn and Ghoul, though, so you'll be safe."

Fun Ghoul felt a pang of guilt in his stomach.

(Can Party find a BL/ind tag or paper in Ghoul's jacket and freak out?)

(Sure I mean they're your chars...Also maybe when Ray gets captured, she can be given this type of collar thing that enables her to speak somewhat but it goes on her thoughts so she can't control what it says very well...It could also have secret functions, like a tracker or electric shocks?)

Ray nodded though she seemed a bit off, as if trapped in another world. Her hand moved to rub her throat again as she flicked the gun before writing, 'You got a normal pistol? I don't really want this one. Not yet anyway, I'm not good enough yet, besides I'll probably trip and kill someone if I'm carrying that thing.'

(ooo that sounds cool go for it)

Party reluctantly nodded, motioning for everyone to come inside. Party searched through his room and rummaged through an old box that'd been wrapped shut for a reason. He dug through it and found it - a red raygun, with a cursive "deluxe" designed along the short barrel. He gulped and stood, walking out of his bunk and over to Ray, leaning down and handing it to her carefully.

Meanwhile, as Fun Ghoul caught a glimpse of the raygun, he flinched and his knees buckled. He didn't let anyone notice, though, and pushed himself upright. "Party," he barked, "You can't give her that gun!" Party glared at Ghoul in shock, to which Ghoul spluttered, "It's Kobra Kid's! Your brother's!"

"And he gave the Zones hope, Ghoul, and in a little time i've known Atomic Ray, I feel like she will give the deserts and Battery City the will to fight, to be free. I want her to have Kobra's gun," Party confirmed and Ghoul reluctantly nodded.

"Alright."

Ray awkwardly took the gun after several moments of blushed guilt which resulted not because ofbGhoul but because she felt guiltt for knowing she was going to run away with someone's prized possesion in a few hours time.

"Kssk." She attempted to show her gratitude and pulled Party into a hug, "Kssk." She murmered unnerved by Ghoul's glare.

Party hugged back, glaring at Ghoul to tell him to shut up and deal with his decision. Party stood upright and murmured, "We're going to find your brother and take down Korse, okay?" He walked over to Ghoul and hissed quietly, "And you need to be more tolerable. I don't know what's gotten into you, but please just be nicer."

Ray tilted her head and nodded, walking back over to Static her eyes narrowed at some sort of shape protruding in Thorn's pocket, a card of some sort but she reasoned that since the jacket was stolen, he probably had all sorts of things in there.

Some sort of high class doctor walked up to Korse carrying two items, one was a simple black dress it was short and colorless with a bowed headband and came with a pair of dainty looking shoes. The dress itself had no sleeves and instead had thin straps that would fit a fragile build. The second item appeared to be some sort of large metallic collar with some led lights around the side that flashed when something was being computerized, around the back of the collar was a thin wire about the length of a single strand of hair and a sticker that would attach itself to the side of someone's head.

"Will these do?"

Korse grinned and nodded.

Fun Ghoul had taken off his own vest while Static had gone out to meet Mad Gear and Action Cat to scrap some parts for a vehicle he was working on. Party was doodling on his own notebook when he looked up and his eyes skimmed the sight in front of him: after Ghoul had distractedly turned to put down his old raygun, a BL/ind identification card had fallen out of his vest pocket, reading the words
"Killjoy Spy" and then, under it, "Authorized to Kill".

Fun Ghoul heard nothing but the click of a gun, and when he whirled around in the old room, he saw the barrel of Party's yellow raygun, pointing towards his head. Party himself looked indescribably hurt and betrayed, and he growled, "You're going to explain exactly what happened to you back at Battery City, Ghoul, or I'm going to ghost you right here, and I'll find Thorn and take care of him too."

Thorn and Ray were sitting seemingly happy outside. They didn't have the same connection but, Ray was at least attempting to understand him better. He had a passion for keeping everything tidy and the girl would notice him make strange noises at the slightest of things that were out of place. It was annoying however, Ray tried to compliment him on his attention for detail.

'Do you like to draw?' She wrote.

"I'm not good at art, never really liked it. I mean I like other people's art I just find doing it myself stressful."

'I'm not that good either. I can do it on occasion. Cato was the artistic one. I was just the sidekick.'

Thorn's teeth gritted at this, he hated being the sidekick right now, he hadn't had a wash in over a day and his suit was starting to crease. Why should he have to wait for Ghoul's say so on everything?

Fun Ghoul bit his lip guiltily - an emotion he thought Korse had taken - but he grabbed his own gun off of the small table he'd thrown it on. "I'm at an advantage here, Party, and you know it. You know you'd never shoot me. They changed me - I don't have pity. I don't have mercy." Party was shaking in anger and shock - how could Ghoul do this?

"Leave and take Thorn. Now." Party hissed. Fun Ghoul just stood there and shook his head.

"You're going to be quiet about this, and I won't hurt anyone." Ghoul murmured calmly. But Party stepped forward urgently and raised his gun to shoot, and Ghoul shot his gun, skimming the leather on Party's shoulder, making him yelp and stagger backwards in surprise.

When Ghoul came running outside, Ray's immediate reaction was to stand up and ask him what was wrong however, her actions were made for her as she was dragged to her feet dropping her notebook.

"What happened?" Thorn hissed as he expertly grabbed the girl, one hand moving to swipe the gun away as she writhed whilst the other worked to keep her in place. She was a fighter but he'd had several years of training and soon a gun was pressed against her skull, "Listen kid, if you want you and your friends to live, you'll stop struggling got it?"

Slowly, Ray looked up, her eyes filled with tears as she attempted to scream but her voice came out barely above a whisper, "Kssk."

She thought these people were her friends! Where was Party? Had he been shot? Quickly, the voiceless girl tried to compute the situation.

"Get in the car!" Thorn yelled distractedly as he threw the runt in the back seat, locking the doors. She hit the ground with a thud, her right eyebrow bleeding from the impact. It took her a while to rise and by then the engine had started. Banging on the window, she wept struggling to scream Party's name.

Fun Ghoul got into the car and began flooring the gas pedal, a horrible, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he recalled the look of heartbreak on Party's face and heard Ray's cries. Something felt wrong, and he hadn't felt this emotion in years.

Party, meanwhile, hissed in pain as he got up, grabbed his gun and bolted outside. He knew he had a horrible burn from the grazed lazer that had hit his arm, but - they'd taken Ray.

Ray's heart raced as she looked around wildly, hair overshadowing her red pinched face, she had to relax, if she didn't she was going to have a panic attack. After several minutes of banging on the window, Thorn turned to look at her, the barrel of her own pistol pointed in between her eyes, "Sit down." He ordered.

For a moment she did not move jaw set in stubbornness and then she thought about Cato, what use would he be to BL/IND without her existence? She would endure a painful death if it meant she could see him again, tell him that she tried.

Reluctantly, she did as instructed, trying to look strong despite the heavy feel of betrayal. 'I'm going to suffer...Worse than Cato. He would've had a better chance of surviving without me.  Pulling her knees towards her chest she stared into the mirror watching Ghoul's face.

Occasionally in the mirror, she would meet Fun Ghoul's eye and she couldn't help but sniffing again out of sympathy for Poison.

Thorn sighed and looked at her ignoring the feeling of guilt, she may have just been a kid but she was old enough to know that her actions could not go unpunished. In fairness, Thorn didn't know why the boss wanted her alive, she didn't look like she was keeping any secret information and even if she was it wasn't as if she could tell them anyway. He doubted Korse would have the patience to wait for her to write it all out.

"You're lucky kid," Thorn said, "Well no, you aren't but, not many people get to meet the boss. I suppose you must have done something terrible. Let's call him shall we? He'll be excited to receive the news!" The car stopped and Ray's heart raced as the window opened.

"Look who we've got! Why don't you say hello Rae-Rae?"

Ray's heart leaped in her chest-A bald man! Trying to look formidable, she stared him directly in the face and slowly raised her middle finger angrily, blood dripping from her eyebrow.

Korse grinned and nodded in praise at Thorn before walking over to Ray.

Fun Ghoul felt sick.

Ray scrambled backwards in her seat, "Kssk!" She said, voice box screaming. A hand landed on her wrist and she let out some sort of yelp as she was dragged from the car. Her heart raced as his large fingers pressed around the wound on her neck and the sixteen year old tried to slap it away.

Korse got his servants to drag Ray out.

(This is Ray:


Ray's eyes challenged his as she was pulled away by one Drac. She stared into the Drac's eyes and her jaw dropped in awe at her lifeless gaze. Before she was pulled inside, she looked around trying to figure out exactly where she was.

Knowing the man was behind them, she didn't dare try to escape however, her eyes ran over a  door that read 'Prisoner: Name: Cato' In her panic, she ripped herself away from the Drac and sprinted through the door. The cell must've been one of those one's where the occupant couldn't see out but the onlookers could see in. She stared at him, his face was unrecognizable covered in bruises and cuts; his once blue tinted hair was patchy and made him look ten years older. Blood drenched his hands and arms from wounds that looked simply agonizing.

Cato! She wanted to scream but the words did not come out. She pressed a bloody hand to the glass and began banging as hard as she could but the tears drenched her face and she grimaced looking up at Korse with a weaker more obedient stare. She would do anything for her brother and carefully, she wrote in blood on the glass,

'I'll do what you want. Don't hurt him'

The adrenaline had worn off now and only fear remained, she remembered those unforgiving eyes and her eyebrows furrowed as she fought back the tears of her torn past. It was him. A single tear of terror rolled down her cheek and she flinched as he came closer scrunching her eyes shut.