Disclaimer: I do not own The Tribe or any characters contained within. I don't even have enough money to pretend to own it. But what I wouldn't give to own Zoot. .:Starry eyed:.
A/N: Here's one of my first non OC involved Tribe fics. I hope you like it.
Summary: AU What would happen if it was Ebony that was captured by the Technos instead of Jack in Series 4? Here's one possibility.
Author: Lenora
Rating: PG-13
The Loyalty of Ebony
"Good-bye Ellie," Jack said to his former girlfriend. He walked out the door to meet Ebony at the grate. Jack looked around at what had been his home for over three years.
Ebony walked up to him. "Ready?" she asked him. Jack nodded, a nervous feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. Ebony smiled when she saw the look on his face, he was just as nervous as she was. "Come on tough guy," she teased. Jack grinned at her as he followed.
A figure stood in the shadows watching them…
XxXxX
Ebony and Jack crept through the city, hiding from Techno and city dweller alike. They made their way to the stadium where Jack saw the cell tower they were looking for.
"Wow this thing is pumping out energy," Jack said, looking at the instrument in his hand. "I'm gonna get a closer look."
"Jack no," Ebony protested, grabbing his arm. She looked into his eyes, panic suddenly filling her. "I don't have a good feeling about this place," she whispered. "Let's go."
"I'll be right back," Jack said, squeezing her hand. He brushed a kiss against her knuckles. Ebony watched him sneak to the fence, a worried frown on her face.
After Jack started fiddling with the lock several robotic-looking Technos stormed out of the stadium and made their way towards Jack. Ebony gasped. "Jack," she whispered. When Jack didn't move she stood up and screamed, "Jack, behind you!"
Jack turned and he was able to deflect the blow that was aimed at him. Upon seeing and hearing Ebony, two of the Technos detoured towards Ebony. She fought against them until a third grabbed her from behind. Ebony looked at Jack and their eyes connected. "Ebony!" Jack cried. Ebony looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Run Jack!" she yelled. He shook his head. "Jack you red-headed geek. I can take care of myself. Go!" Jack hit the Techno in front of him with the device in his hand and he took off, heading for the Mall. Ebony stopped struggling. "Alright you got me. Take me to your leader." The Technos led her into the stadium, but instead of taking her to see the leader; they dumped her into a cell. "I said take me to your later you overgrown robots!" she yelled after them.
She sat in the cell for what seemed like days but was really only hours. It was only when Ebony attempted to sleep that the Technos came for her. They dragged her out of the cell and they deposited her in front of a boy with black hair fashioned into horns with red tips. He was also in a motorized wheelchair. Next to him stood two boys with white blonde hair. Behind him stood two black girls that were hauntingly familiar.
"What the hell do you think you're doing dragging me in here?" Ebony demanded.
"Well well, look what the virts dragged in. Well my beauty, I think we have every right 'dragging' you in here. We captured you trying to break into our compound."
"Who the hell are you?" Ebony asked.
"I am Ram, leader of the Technos. And you are my prisoner." The boy nodded at the taller blonde who grabbed Ebony by the upper arm and he held her as she began to struggle. "Welcome to hell my dear. And I am the devil." Her eyes grew wide as all the Technos' weapons began to hum…and they were all pointed at her.
XxXxX
Jack stumbled into the mall, panting. He bent over to ease the stitch in his side.
"Jack!" Ellie shouted, running up to him. "Are you alright?"
"Jack?" Salene cried, "What happened?"
"Where's Ebony?" Lex asked.
"We were attacked. The Technos captured her. We have to saver her!" Jack cried, straightening.
"Jack calm down, we must take stock of the situation. You can't just rush back out there," Pride said calmly.
"Not to mention the fact that you don't want us to get her back?" accused Lex. "You've always hated her. Good riddance you're thinking. Am I the only one that cares about her?"
"I won't say she's my favorite person Lex, but do you really want to rush out and risk your neck now?" Salene asked.
"I say good riddance to bad rubbish," Ellie said. She jumped when Jack grabbed her by the shirt and he pulled her closer.
"You don't get it! You weren't there! She sacrificed herself so I could get away Ellie! I'm the reason she's captured!" Jack let Ellie go and he stormed off to his room. Ellie followed him.
"I didn't know they were so close," Pride said.
"They've always got on. Ever since we had him spying at the hotel before the Chosen invaded. I didn't know she'd sacrifice herself to save him though," Salene said.
"Me neither," Pride said. He looked at Salene, a question on his face. "Could there be anything between them?"
"Couldn't be. Jack's been devoted to Ellie since Alice brought her here," Lex said.
"I don't get know, things change," Salene said. "People change. Like you Lex. I never thought I'd see the day when you turned into a respectable member of society."
"Ha ha. Now we have to get Ebony back. Like it or not she is our city leader. We can't just allow the Technos to keep her hostage." Salene walked up to him and she put her hands on his shoulders.
"We will get her back Lex. She's a Mall Rat, and we don't leave our own behind," she assured him. Lex half smiled at her before leaving to go out on patrol.
"I knew it would happen eventually," Salene sighed.
"What?" Pride asked.
Salene turned to look at him. "Lex has fallen for Ebony."
XxXxX
Ebony slammed into the ground as two Technos solders threw her into the dark cell she had been in before. Her face was swollen and bloody, her makeup smeared with sweat.
The taller blonde knelt down to where she was lying. "Come on," he said kindly, "just tell us who the boy that was with you."
Ebony's head shot up. "Never," she spat. I will never betray my tribe, she thought, not like that bitch Trudy. "I will never betray my tribe," she growled, defiantly. A laser beam shot out and it hit her, knocking her out instantly.
Ram sat outside her cell, his arm extended. "Foolish girl," he said slowly. "She will be an interesting addition to my collection, won't she Jay?"
"I think she will provide you with an interesting challenge, Lord Ram," Jay replied. "She will not be easily broken." Ram smirked, obviously pleased before leaving. As Jay turned to leave he caught a glimpse of a shape on Ebony's right hand. He lifted it to his face. "A pentagram." That should be easy enough to trace, he thought.
XxXxX
Jack rolled over in his bed, unable to sleep. He just kept thinking about Ebony. He couldn't believe that she had done that. Jack would have done it for her in an instant, he had always liked Ebony. He never trusted her all that much, but he had always liked her.
"Jack?" asked Ellie quietly. Jack looked at her; she was standing in the doorway of his room much like she had a couple weeks earlier. She sat down next to him on the bed. "Jack you should be celebrating. We're finally rid of that snake. Also…Luke isn't here anymore. We can be together again," she said, starting to pull off her blouse.
"No Ellie, we can't. You cheated on me! I trusted you and you hurt me. Besides I don't see how you can be so happy that Ebony's been captured. You were devastated that Alice was taken but you're ecstatic that Ebony's gone. I can't believe you'd be happy they have her." Jack looked at her, disgusted.
"Jack she's a snake. She poisons all she touches. You should know that," Ellie spat.
"SHUT UP!" Jack yelled. "SHUT UP! You don't know her. Not like I do! While you were back here ensnaring Dal into your little web, I was at the hotel getting to know the Ebony no one cared to see. And it's my fault that she's been taken. Just leave me alone Ellie," Jack said. Ellie squeaked and she ran out of the room. "Damn it," Jack sighed.
"Hey mate, you okay?" a voice asked from the doorway. Jack looked up, Lex stood there, leaning against the doorjamb. "Ellie just ran past my room crying. I could hear you yelling all the way from there. I heard you say Ebony's name."
"Ellie was mouthing off about Ebony again. Saying Ebony got what she deserved," Jack said quietly.
"Bitch," Lex muttered.
"Yeah she is," Jack agreed. "Ya know, it really doesn't surprise me that she said that. She's always hated Ebony."
"Hardly anyone has bothered to find the real Ebony under her tough exterior. I only got to see it after the Spike incident and also when we were working against the Chosen. I think Ebony is more vulnerable than she lets on." Lex looked at Jack and the two sat in silence for a few minutes.
"So, how do you plan to get Ebony back?" Jack asked.
"I don't know yet Jack," Lex said, leaning back against his chair. "But I know that we have to get her back. Right now she's the only thing holding this city together," he said, falling silent as he thought.
XxXxX
Ebony tossed and turned in her cell, whimpering with pain every time she moved. Her dreams were broken and fragmented, filled with images of Zoot, Bray, Lex, Amber, and Jack. The haunting laughter of Zoot filled her mind as she relived his torture of her all that time ago, but was equally filled with the smiling face of Martin. She could only imagine how he looked when he held his baby girl for the first and last time, she could also see him as he fell over the railing at the mall.
She could also see Bray in her mind's eye, fresh faced and smiling at her as they danced in a brightly decorated gym. She had known that she wasn't able to keep him when she first pursued him, but she had naively thought that she would be able to change for him. She had known as soon as she saw Amber that she was perfect for him, and she hated the blonde for that.
Lex's scowling image swam before her eyes as she remembered the first time she met him. He had such bravado trying to prove that he and his goons were worthy to be Locos, and if it hadn't been for Zoot seeing her eying the brunet, they might have been allowed to join. Zoot had always been a jealous lover. But then, so had she. Lex and Ebony had never really been free at the same time so they never had a chance to hook up, but Ebony was sure they would make a power couple if they ever did manage it. Lex had the same passion and energy as her Zoot, she mused, however, he was tempered by a conscience, something that Zoot had lost along with the rest of his Martin traits.
Jack…he was a sweet nerd. Ebony had never been attracted to the type before in her life, so when she found herself falling for him before the Chosen invaded, when he was spying on her in her own home, it had baffled her. But then again, she supposed that it was the fact that he dared to spy on her that attracted her to him. He's really grown up, she thought, smiling at the memory of him before they left the mall. "Jack," she murmured…
XxXxX
Jay stood outside Ebony's cell, just out of the line of sight. He smirked when he heard the name come from Ebony's lips. Now with a name to go along with the symbol, he knew what tribe the girl came from. And now Lord Ram could punish the tribe that dared to act out against him…
XxXxX
Unbeknownst to Jay, two other figures were standing off to the side of the cell and they also smirked when she murmured the name. They waited until Jay had walked off and the stepped before the cell. "So this Jack is someone important to you is he, sister?" one of the figures asked, removing the mask from her face.
"Then we must make sure to give him a welcome he will never forget, shant we?" the other asked, also removing her mask.
"But first…"
"We must repay you…"
"For the betrayal that you paid us," they finished together, their zappers trained on their younger sister…
XxXxX
"The Mallrats! They're the only ones with that symbol! And they have a Jack!" a pained voice cried out in the night. "They live in the Phoenix Mall! Sector 10!"
XxXxX
A smack was heard in Lord Ram's office. "You foolish girls! You lost me my bargaining chip!" he snapped, raising his hand to slap the girls before him again.
"Stop my lord," Jay said, stepping foreword. "You don't want to harm your wives, do you?" he asked, gently reminding the younger man that the two basically provided for his entire needs.
"No you're right Jay," Ram said, smirking at the pained girls. "I think this works out better for me," he said, wheeling back to show the crumpled figure of Ebony on the ground behind him. "I believe it's time to return her to her tribe…"
XxXxX
Jack and Lex were still awake, plotting on how to retrieve Ebony from the hands of the Technos when the alarms began blaring. They jumped up and grabbed whatever weapons they could and ran to the center of the mall.
They stared in horror at the group of Technos behind the grate. They began working on dismantling the gate as Jay stepped foreword. "Knock knock," he mocked, "anybody home? We've got a gift for you," he said, stepping aside to reveal the figure of Ebony being supported by her sisters.
"EBONY!" Jack and Lex cried, moving to run foreword, only to be stopped by Pride and Patch.
"What do you want?" Salene asked, the twins hiding behind her.
"Just to talk," Jay said. "After we're finished talking, you can have her back. She's given us all she can," he said, licking his lips and leering at the two being held back.
"You bastard!" Lex yelled, understanding what the blonde is insinuating.
"Who's Jack?" one of the sisters asked, scanning the meager amount of males.
"I am," Jack said, looking nowhere but the face of Ebony.
"Ooh poor baby," the other sister mocked, "she called for you, you know. Wanting you to save her, but obviously our sister picked the wrong sort to rely on."
"Damn it Java, Siva, let her go!" Lex yelled, surprising the twins and Jay at his knowledge of their names.
"Ooh…looks like little sister has a fan," Java mocked. She ran her fingers down Ebony's neck until she reached the other woman's chest. "Is this what you want?" she asked, mockingly squeezing the breast. "Do you dream about touching this at night?" she asked, leering.
"Enough!" Jay snapped, seeing a blonde girl at the top of the stairs. He saw her move something and the gate began to lift.
"ELLIE!" the group yelled, not believing that she was betraying them.
"I want my sister back!" she yelled, "take me to my sister!"
Jay nodded. "It will be done," he said, motioning for one of the Technos to escort her down from the mall. The other Technos kept their zappers fixed on the Mallrats, just in case any decided to be brave. When the blonde girl was in front of him, he looked at the Techno that had her. "Take her to the prisoners that were retrieved from this location before. If her sister was here when she was taken, she should be there."
"Yes sir," the Techno said, handcuffing Ellie before leaving.
Salene stared the blonde in the eyes. "You wanted to talk, then talk," she said, exuding confidence that she didn't feel.
"Give us Ebony back first," Jack said, still looking at her. He couldn't see her breathing, and she hadn't responded to her sister's taunting of Lex.
Jay looked at the sisters and he nodded. They walked up to Jack and dumped the deadweight of their sister onto the redhead. "Enjoy," they said, walking back over to Jay.
Lex and Jay immediately put her onto the floor gently and began checking her over. "I don't feel a pulse," Jack said, reaching for the place that Dal had shown him.
"She's not breathing," Lex said, checking for a breath.
"She's dead," they said together, tears forming in their eyes.
XxXxX
At that statement, it seemed like the sound had disappeared for everyone. If she didn't know better, Salene would have said that she had just gone temporally deaf. Sure she had often said that Ebony was better dead than alive, but she hadn't actually wanted the girl to die.
Every Mallrat felt the same sense of detachment after those fateful words. They didn't even react when the Technos herded them into their vans and drove them back to the stadium, Lex and Jack still clutching Ebony's dead body.
It was as if something had died within the collective soul of the Mallrats the moment Ebony had…
Fin
2nd A/N: Just to let you know, it wasn't Ebbie that gave up the Rats. It was actually one of the casino kids. Just thought you ought to know.