Angels From the Neon 9
Part 8
Mikey’s blast dissipates harmlessly on the concrete, leaving a small black scorch mark behind.
“Fucking hell Mikey, I thought you’d be happier to see us.” Slurs Gerard before slipping out of Frank’s grip entirely and crumpling over onto the floor.
Frank follows him down with such force that Mikey can hear the crack of his knees hitting the ground from the other side of the car. He hunches over Gerard, one hand fisted in the front of his jacket. He looks so tired that Mikey can hardly believe his eyes are still open.
“Gerard.” Frank mumbles, shaking him slightly. In the faded light, Mikey can only just make out a thin trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.
“Gerard…” Frank says again, and the sound of the absolutely wrecked whisper is what finally spurs Mikey into action, abandoning the gun on the roof of the Trans-Am and all but running over to the fallen form of his brother. He skids to his knees on the opposite side of him from Frank, ignoring the pain of his skin scraping along the concrete floor. Now he’s closer, Gerard looks half-dead - bloodstains mix with dirt and dust and bruises on his face, there’s a rip in the sleeve of his jacket and he smells like a mixture of singed hair and burnt out electronics. Mikey hears the crunching gravel as Ray hurries over to join them, but now he’s here Mikey can barely take his eyes off Gerard breathing shallowly on the ground between them.
“He’s alive.” Mikey murmurs, glancing quickly at Ray - standing at Gerard’s feet with his arms folded and Frank, who’s now swaying noticeably.
Ray nods. “I’ll wake Grace.” He says, “She can travel up front with us.”
“Frank.” Mikey says quietly, looking down at Frank’s fist, holding onto Gerard’s stolen Drac jacket so hard his knuckles have turned white around the bloody scrapes. “Frank, you can let go now. It’s all okay, you’re both safe. Let me and Ray take care of it.”
Frank blinks slowly. “Gerard.” He says for a third time. This time though, it lacks the tone of panic and desperation that had been evident in the other two. Mikey puts his hand on top of Frank’s fist and very, very slowly Frank slips sideways to land on the floor next to Gerard.
For a second, the sheer relief makes Mikey feel like joining him, but instead he stands up and helps Ray sort out the car.
***
Somehow, between the two of them Ray and Mikey manage to manhandle Gerard and Frank into the back of the car. Neither of them wakes up during the process, they barely even stir. Frank still looks far too pale under his layer of grime, but apart from the blood on his face and a darkening bruise at his jaw he looks relatively unharmed.
It’s Gerard Mikey’s more worried about at the moment anyway - not that this is a new thing. He looks like he’s been in a fight, and lost badly. Mikey wonders briefly what happened during their escape from the clinic but he can’t think about things like that at the moment. They need to leave, put Battery City and their utterly shitty fucking day in the rearview and never think about it ever again. The minute they get back to the diner, after Frank wakes up, there’s gonna be a whole load of questions being asked.
Mikey keeps checking on them in the mirror as he drives down dark desert roads, speeding away from Battery City and everything in it as fast as possible.
He’s probably driving too fast for the night, slumped in the driver’s seat which is pushed back as far as it’ll go, hands on the wheel, arms locked straight out in front of him and his foot pressed to the accelerator so hard he wonders if he could push it right through the floor.
“Mikey.” Ray says from the passenger seat, Grace curled up back asleep on his lap. “Mikey, they’re both okay you know. It’s fine.”
Something about Ray’s quiet assurances make Mikey relax a fraction and he eases up on the speed.
Ray exhales slowly. “Fuck, I’m glad they’re both okay.”
Mikey checks the mirror again; Frank and Gerard are still slumped up against each other in the backseat, still completely out of it. They look like they’re going to sleep for a long time. “Yeah.” He replies. “God, yeah.”
***
Neither Frank nor Gerard have woken up by the time Mikey pulls the car to a stop behind the diner even though he drove the long way home, staying clear of the major routes, and it’s been daylight for several hours. Grace is also still asleep, and Ray opens the door silently and carries her inside.
Mikey stays in the car, craning round the driver’s seat to look at Frank and his brother. They both look like shit. Gerard in particular looks like he’s run face first into a solid brick wall. He wonders how they’re going to get them both back into the diner, or if they should just let them sleep in the car. Unpleasant as it is though, it looks as if getting a cricked neck is going to be the least of their problems.
He takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly; letting his hands finally loosen from the steering wheel and slip off into his lap. Logically he knows that they’re now all as safe as they usually are - for the moment anyway - what will happen when BL/ind start trying to track them down is anyone’s guess, especially now they seem to have made a name for themselves as the only ‘runners to have ever broken into and out of the supposedly secure facility in the middle of Battery City and of course, according to Ray it seems as though BL/ind aren’t the only ones taking an interest.
He’s so deep in thought that it startles him when Frank speaks.
“It was me.” Frank says mournfully, remaining perfectly still tucked up against Gerard’s side.
Mikey blinks, he can’t work out what Frank’s talking about. “What?”
“If you were wondering about Gerard.” He replies quietly, looking away like he can’t quite meet Mikey’s eyes. “It was me. I hit him.”
Mikey doesn’t say anything right away, he just watches Frank for a while. His hand is curled tightly in the fabric of Gerard’s sleeve, his battered knuckles look painful and it makes him wonder how much it’s hurting Frank just to keep up that contact. All the hair that had grown out while he’s been living with them in the zones has been clipped unevenly but closely right down to the skull on one side of his head and the small silver box looks like it’s been set on fire, only barely singeing Frank’s scalp. It’s burnt black and totally wrecked. Mikey doesn’t think they’ll ever have to worry about it activating again.
Most interestingly - for a given value of interesting anyway, since the only people Frank has been around in the last few hours are Dracs and Mikey’s brother - is the ring of bruising teeth marks around Frank’s neck.
Mikey sighs. He should have been expecting something like this, should’ve told Frank this could happen but he hadn’t and now all he can do is tell Frank the absolute truth because now he’s awake and he knows they’re all safe it looks like the guilt has hit him all at once.
He swallows in an attempt to keep his voice steady. “He used to trick me into hitting him too.” He says, pleased and surprised at how calm he sounds.
Frank still doesn’t move but his eyes flick back to Mikey’s briefly. “He ASKED me.” He mumbles. Mikey thinks he sounds like he needs more sleep but Mikey gets the impression he’s not going to until he knows Gerard is going to be okay. Mikey knows that feeling well.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He says as forcefully as he can manage. He can’t let Frank blame himself for this, it won’t do anyone any good and Mikey knows that having his brother’s blood on his hands has cost him more than enough sleepless nights already. “It’s the drugs.” He explains, “It’s… nothing can touch you, nothing MEANS anything… I dunno, I don’t think I can explain it right but…” he shrugs. “I think it makes him feel alive.”
Frank hunches over as much as he can without disturbing Gerard and Mikey leans forward. “Two things we do better in the zones, Frank - violence and sex.”
Frank finally looks at him properly. Mikey smiles. “I’d have been more surprised if you hadn’t.”
A faint smile wobbles its way onto Frank’s face
“He loves you, Frank. He’s always loved you, even when he didn’t know who you were and now you’re here where you should be he’s going to be okay. No, BETTER than okay. We’re all gonna be fucking SHINY.”
Frank’s smile solidifies into a tentative grin. “Yeah, I guess.”
Mikey’s just about to reply, but he’s had a lifetime’s experience of knowing when his brother’s awake so he simply pushes open the car door to get out. “I’ll see how Ray and Grace are.” He says and heads towards the diner without looking back - There are some things he doesn’t want to share with his brother and he gets the feeling that whatever’s about to be said, he’s not a part of it. Frank knows what Gerard needs to keep him sane now, and he’s able to do a much better job of it than Mikey could ever hope to do.
The thought cheers him up even more.
He lets out a long, deep breath and stares up at the inky night sky above the diner. They’re all home safe for now, and Mikey can feel the clench of worry - the murmur of GerardGerardGerard that he’s carried with him for years - loosen and slip away. He feels lighter already.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gerard’s collage is wilting in the humidity of the diner. Mikey is hunched over the gas burner as Gerard walks in from the desert, adjusting it as the tank of water above starts to boil. It’s not going to help with the brackish taste but it’s better to be safe than sorry. His brother smiles up at him as the door bangs closed and Gerard nods in reply to the unvoiced question.
The radio is on in the corner, Mikey found the signal earlier and Dr Deathdefying has been pumping out all kinds of music for the whole evening.
Frank is sat at the table with Ray and Grace and Gerard stands by the door watching him. He feels strangely itchy under his skin but he can’t place the feeling.
Frank throws his head back and laughs loudly at something Grace has said.
Gerard smiles.
Another piece of the collage peels away and flutters unnoticed to the floor.
Bonus Tracks/Enhanced Content
Fanart:
The Drac stares down the barrel of Gerard’s raygun, blinks once and raises its hands in surrender by reflectedeve
Fanmix(es):
'Fanmix' by x3fixmein45