Hot, humid, sweltering, sweat inducing. All the discomforts of home,
with the odd arid wind thrown in for good measure. Think happy thoughts? The
happiest thought at the moment was a frosted pint of beer, moisture beading
the outside of the glass, creamy white head clinging lovingly to his lips as
he drank deeply of its icy cold, thirst quenchingly tart depths.

       The glaring sun beat harshly through the windows of the dusty old car,
as they kept look out over their quadrant of the desert before them. Catching
sight of movement up ahead, he rubbed his eyes and blinked, sure he was
hallucinating. No, there really were people up ahead, and they were coming
his way. Snatching up the mic, he called in the report to base.

      "Delta alpha 763-771. Unknown vehicle headed for intercept course with
this unit ETA 7 minutes and closing. Unknown number of occupants. MPV type
vehicle. Standby for update." Having radiod base, he got out of his car and
wandered over so he was visible to the oncoming vehicle, trusting his still
unseen partner to cover him if the contact looked like being hostile.

______________________________________________________________________________

     Driving across the expanse of desert lovingly called Delta Alpha, the
occupants of the seven seater car were not overly suprised when a man appeared
out of nowhere, and understood well enough that there would be a second person
still out of sight at present.

    Pulling up, they all got cautiously out of the car, keeping their hands well
away from their holsters and pockets, just to make it obvious that they weren't
intending harm to anyone. Approaching the man, they all nodded to him, then the
driver spoke.

    "Hello, I'm Phantom Demon, that's the wife, Kooky Killer, and the kids,
Bella Morte, Crash Cola and Gasoline Gunner. We're from over in quadrant Beta
Tango. Came here to make contact with Doctor Deathdefying. Could you direct us
to his radio shack?"

    The other man, cocking his head to one side, said "Why would you imagine I
can tell you how to get there? What makes you think I know the way?" Phantom,
chuckling, just shook his head. The red haired kid, Crash Cola, stated "How
about because you look just enough like your wanted posters to id you as Party
Poison, I'm guessing that somewhere nearby is Fun Ghoul, your usual partner
in crime. I AM right, aren't I?"

    Staring at her, then her sister when she started to laugh, he whistled, the
signal for the second killjoy to come out of hiding, and looked to where Ghoul
was coming from. Ghoul, puzzled, came over, blaster drawn, to have it waved down
by Poison.

    "It seems these Killjoys want to find Doc Deathdefying. You think I should
tell them how to get there?" Poison looked to Ghoul as if he would think it a bad
thing for them to do. "What you want find the Doc for?" Good question, but YOU won't
get an answer from them. Kooky, folding her arms, said "How bout you just radio
him and ask if you should let Kooky and family through to him? I believe you'll
be LEADING us to him, rather than just directing us. Go, call, now. I dare you!"

______________________________________________________________________________

     Striding back to the six of them with a definate spurt of temper in his gait,
Ghoul snapped "I don't know who the fuck they are, but it's like the dame said,
Poison, we GUIDE them there, not just direct. He's going to send another pair
of scouts out to take our place here." Poison just stared at them, mouth hanging
open.

     Placing a finger under his jaw, Kooky pushed his mouth shut. "Careful, we
wouldn't want you dehydrating on us now, would we?" Snapping his mouth shut,
Poison glowered at her. He clearly didn't like not knowing what was going on,
and he obviously didn't. Smiling at him, they went waltzing back to the car and
climbed in.

_________________________________________________________________________________

     When they got to the radio shack, to the amazement of Ghoul and Poison, the
Doc was waiting outside, and came to greet them, sweeping first Kooky, then the
three girls up into hugs, before slapping the shoulder of Phantom, he was clearly
on very good terms with them. Coming forwards, Poison clearly wanted an explanation
as to who they were, and what was so important about them getting them there.

     THe Doctor, looking from one to the other, chuckled and said "Kooky, didn't
you tell him who you were? Shame on you! Poison, meet my former boss, and your
inside informant, Kooky Killer, former consultant surgeon, her husband, Phantom
Demon, ace mechanic, and their delightful daughters, Bella Morte, 25, weapons and
nursing, Soline, or Gasoline Gunner ,to give her her full name,23, weapons and hand
to hand combat, and Crashy, or Crash Cola, 21, explosives and munitions. Treat them
well, they know more about desert survival than you do."

     Poison, and Ghoul, looked frankly gobsmacked, as if the fact that the inside
information that they had long relied upon coming from a female wasn't possible.
Was it really so impossible to imagine? However, the news update that they brought
was not good, and would ultimately decide the outcome of the whole killjoy's mission.

____________________________________________________________________________________

     Going inside, they all grabbed drinks, courtesy of the new arrivals having the all the
spare space in the car stuffed to the gunnals with supplies, they would eat well that
night. Talking in muttered, muted voices, the Doc and Kooky, going into the radio
room, were deep in serious talks when two more people arrived. Kobra Kid and Jet
Star, walking in, halted in suprise at seeing Poison and Ghoul talking to a strange
man and three young ladies.

     Smiling over at the new arrivals, the girls spokesman, Bella, blue hair trailing
down her back like a river over a cliff edge, said "Hi, you must be Kobra Kid and Jet
Star. I'm Bella Morte, This is my middle sister, Gasoline Gunner, and my baby sister,
Crash Cola. That's Dad, Phantom Demon, Ma, Kooky Killer is in the radio room with the
Doc." And, going forwards, they shook hands with the two, somewhat suprised men.

    Beckoning them over, Crashy handed them drinks and sat back down, almost on Ghoul,
making room for the new arrivals. Soline, seeing this, went one better, and sat on
Poison, to Bella's amusement. Crashy, not to be bested, sat on Ghoul, so Bella, looking
around, sat on jet. Phantom and Kobra just laughed at the looks on the mens faces.

    Kooky and the Doc, coming back out of the radio room to find all three girls sitting
on three of the five men looked at each other and Kooky said "Leave it to my girls not
to let grass grow under their butts."

________________________________________________________________________________________

    Taking all five men outside to the car, Kooky, Phantom and the girls had them help
to unload the fresh supplies that they had brought with them. With ten of them, it didn't
take long to take everything in and put it away. Then Kooky came to one particular box,
and she took it back into the main room, set it onto one of the booth tables, and started
to pull things out of it, asking who had requested them. This should have been interesting.

    Because changes were happening to the faces of the fabulous killjoys, they were getting
darker as extra blood flowed into their faces with memories of some, specific requests made
to the random, unknown stranger that supplied their ... intimate needs. Now here were four
females supplying those very goods, and calling them up to receive them.

    "Who wanted the spare medium sized shorts? Here you go then, Poison. And the Short Jeans?
I'm guessing you, Ghoul. The extra long jeans? 28 ins waist? Kobra, here. That would mean
the 32 ins waist ones are yours, Jet. Doctor, I'm supposing you wanted the razors? No? My
mistake, you wanted pretty pink ribbons instead, didn't you? Alright, aftershave? I brought
a selection, take your choice guys. Spare toiletries are in that bag there, you can share them.
The rest of this stuff, I'm afraid, are supplies for the food, supplies and medical cabinets."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

     "Right, fella's, the good news is that the drac's are weakening their hold over zones
Delta gamma through gamma xray. The bad news is, we, as a family, just barely got away with
our lives, and are now as much on the wanted list as you guys. So, this is the last update
I'll be able to supply for you all. I did leave a bugging mechanism in the med systems which
gives me some sort of limited access to the info I used to supply, but not much. We need to
find a new residence, and we need help to set it up. Any idea's to get us started?"

    Looking from face to face, they could see blank expressions or considering looks on the
faces of most, but Kobra, rubbing a hand over his chin, looked up and said "The old stone
grange out on sector Gamma Epsilon? It's in a safe zone, there are still a few natural resources
out there, and it's not so far out that we can't help if you guys need it." Looking at the Doc,
who was nodding, Kooky started to chuckle, the Doc, Phantom and the girls all joining in too.

    Hysterical laughter from the girls brought frowns to the faces of the famous four, as the
Doc stated "Kobra, it's far more likely that you four, or even I would need them, than they us.
I taught you all you know about desert survival? Meet the ones that taught me. I did tell you,
Poison, Ghoul, that they knew more of desert survival than you did."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

   three days later, and two dusty, body filled vehicles arrived at the old grange. True, it
wasn't much to look at, but therein lay part of it's charm. It DIDN'T  look much, no-one in
their right mind would want to live there, that made it perfect. The famous four, taking a few
days to help with the move, were suprised that Kooky and the girls didn't imediately start
cleaning the Grange, but instead investigated the basement and attic, leaving the main floor
untouched.

   Seeing the puzzlement on their faces, Phantom said "If it looks like someone just passed
through, there's less likelihood of a drac attack. Attics and cellars are always safer, for that
very reason. You'll see." Following Kooky and the girls to the basement and root cellar, they
saw with suprise that they were roughly barricading windows and blocking out light.

   Then, when that was done, they moved things around so that the room looked almost undisturbed,
while still having space to move, live and store their goods. Going up to the attics after,
they did exactly the same, moving hidden objects, makeing a home, hidden within an abandoned home.
Intregued, they watched as floor pallets were set up, along with boxed clothing, mecical supplies,
food and other such nescessary odments.

   Going back to the root cellar, they started to tunnel away, in a very precise direction, not
haphazardly, like for an escape tunnel, this was going to a definate place. Wonderind where, Jet
approached Bella to ask. Just as he did, a loud BOOM, and a scream came from outside, and Bella,
Crashy, Soline, Kooky and everyone went running to see what was wrong. A horrrific sight met their
eyes.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

   Near the out house, was a small fire now burning fiercely, and a scarlet faced, singed haired
Poison lay writhing on the ground close beside. Barking orders, Kooky immediately took charge.
Spraying a fine mist of water over Poison, she directed the four men on how to remove him, safely
to the kitchen of the Grange, and organised the girls into teams to help.

   Getting into the swing of the routine so familiar yet strange, cutting off his clothing to
get the heat away from already tender skin, poor poison almost lost his dignity had not Soline
suddenly swirled a cool cotton cloth over his almost exposed nether regions, to booing from her
sisters, and a relieved sigh from Kobra.

   Ordering the men to proceed with the tunnel to the water reservoir from the root cellar, Kooky
and Bella concentrated on fixing Poison the best they could. Three hours after finding him screaming
by the small fire outside, the job was done. Poison, now conscious, was embarrassed about not
wearing anything in front of the girls, so Phantom lent him a pair of soft, well worn jogging pants
and Kooky provided a baggy tee. Scarlet faced, Poison could not put them on alone, and the only one
NOT busy at that moment, was Soline.

   Blushing wildly, the pair of them, as Soline helped Poison put on the clothing. Unable to prevent
herself catching sight of the lightly scorched perfection that was Poison's body. Flushing as red as
Poison's hair, as soon as he was decent, Soline fled the room.

   In the coming day's work on the tunnel was completed, leading to an underground spring of fresh water
that no-one had known about, but evidently, Kooky and family had seen signs of. Curious, and useful.
With that done, and a disguise over the entrance so if they were raided there was a safe hidyhole, the
family proceedded to give much appreciated instructions on desert survival to the men, while Soline,
having already gotten an eyeful of Poison, was elected his carer by Kooky, on the pretext of saving him
more embarrassement, in reality because of a growing affection between the two. The future was looking bright.