When she woke up the next morning, she needed a few moments to grasp three things: one, she was not lying in her own bed, two, she was only scarcely clad and three, her head hurt like hell. With a groan she put an arm over her eyes. It would be a while before she touched Ruby's self-made liquor again.
She propped herself up on her elbows, trying as best as she could to avoid having to move her aching head. But when she realized whose bed she was in, she jerked up in a sitting position, causing a wave of pain to shoot through her head. Immediately she pushed her eyes closed and reluctantly she patted down her body, only now combining what waking up in another room than your own in nothing but underwear usually meant.
There was a soft thump when she let herself fall back down on the bed, realizing too late what effect that would have on her headache. Bit by bit she remembered what had happened the previous night and the feeling of shame that had been there just seconds ago was replaced by disbelief and, she had to admit it, arousal. She had come to Ram's door completely wasted and they had made out in a rather heated fashion. Just thinking about it made her blush.
Another thought caused her to jump in an upright position once more, and was – again – followed by a feeling of dizziness. Where was Ram? She was alone, she was sure, otherwise he would have already mocked her waking-up-routine. But he wasn't the only person that suddenly entered her pain-clouded mind. Brady. She needed to look for her daughter and see if she got through the night alright. A pang of guilt for leaving her alone filled her.
She had already gotten up and made two steps towards the door, when the fact that she wasn't wearing a sufficient amount of clothes to leave the room hit her again. Although she was sure that Lex would enjoy the show, she looked around for her clothes. She spotted her top on the floor next to Ram's computer, but her skirt posed more difficulty.
Finally she found the piece of fabric lying under the bed. Kneeling on the floor, she reached for it and pulled it towards her, taking the shoebox it was covering with it. She knew she shouldn't pry, but it wasn't like Ram would hide a body in a shoebox under his bed.
"Had a rough night, Rubs?" "Leave me alone, Lex." "Did someone keep you poor thing up all night?" "How about I get my baseball bat to get you some sleep? Now move!" Ruby hadn't even looked up at Lex, she lay with her head resting on her arms at a table in the corner of the saloon, trying to avoid everyone and the loud noises they were making.
"I take it back, you really don't seem like you got some lately, but you know that my door is always open for you." He had almost gotten her to move, but Ram interfered. "Lexy, how about you leave the lady be and annoy someone else." Lex thought about pushing on for a bit, but decided that bickering with Ruby was only half as amusing when she was barely conscious and grumpy. Shrugging his shoulders he went to the main table to talk to Darryl about expanding the casino.
Meanwhile Ram had sat down next to the girl, offering her a big glass of cold water. "So you girls had fun last night, I assume?" Ruby tried to shove him half-heartedly, but missed and almost spilled the water. "Why can't you guys just leave me here to die?"
Ram chuckled. "Oh Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Come on, be a good girl and get hydrated. It'll make you feel better, I promise." With a lot of effort he got her to sit upright and take a sip. Ruby gulped down the whole glass, but sitting up had made her headache only worse. "You are a filthy liar, Ram. I'm not feeling better at all." She hadn't bothered to style her hair properly, her long blond locks were hanging in a tousled braid down her right shoulder and her make-up was a mess. "Well, then let me tell you that this hangover attire suits you beautifully." "I can expand that baseball bat threat to you, too, you know." "You can, but I doubt you'd be able to actually hit me."
"Ruby, Ram, we'll start with the meeting, so get over here." Slade had been talking to Bray and Jay at their designated table for the council of war. He was at his position at the head of the table, while Bray sat to his left and Jay to his right. Ved had distanced himself from the group by sitting on the sofa, apparently lost in thought, while Lex and Darryl had ended their conversation of business to move up next to the others. Lottie and Brady had claimed the blackboard on the counter for drawing.
"Has anyone seen Trudy or Ebony today?" Jay asked, avoiding posing the question in Ram's direction. "I'm here, sorry. I overslept a bit", Trudy said as she came down the stairs. She picked up Brady and sat herself next to Ruby, who had once again rested her head on the table. Ram was sitting on the opposite side, next to Jay. "Ebony didn't come to bed yesterday, but from the state you two are in, I'm guessing she is passed out somewhere here, right?" Slade looked annoyed at the girls, but also relived as he had worried about his girlfriend's well-being.
"We had a bit of a girl's night, I'm afraid", Trudy said while she stroked over Brady's hair. Ruby on the other hand looked extremely uncomfortable all of a sudden. "We better start without her, then. Come on, Ved, get over here."
Just as Ved had sat down at the table in silence, a cheerful Ebony entered the room. "Morning, guys. Are you ready to bring down the bad guy or what?" While Ruby and Trudy closed their eyes in pain due to Ebony's loud greeting, the guys mustered her in a baffled fashion. "One of these three is not like the others", Lex muttered in Darryl's direction. "Ebony, where have you been? I was worried about you", Slade said reproachfully. Ebony raised one eyebrow. "I'm sorry, mum. I didn't want to wake you, so I crashed with Ruby. Isn't that right, Rubs?" A smirk appeared on her face when she addressed the blond saloon owner.
"I…I…right", Ruby responded flustered. Ebony went to stand behind the other girls, putting a hand on each of their shoulders, Ruby flinched at the contact. "Are you girls having hangovers? I'm so sorry for you, I guess I just can stomach more than you. Oh Trudy, how was the rest of your night? I hope you had fun without us, because Rubs here and I sure had a good time!"
Lex nudged Ram's side. "No way, man! Did you get some, last night? Congrats!" "LEX!" Trudy exclaimed, her face had turned a bright red, which only encouraged Lex. "You so did. But when I suggest you two share a room it was a stupid idea!"
"Enough now. Seeing as this will be a fruitless meeting, we shouldn't have it at all. I'm going out to see what is going on in the city. Ruby, Trudy, you better sober up. Ebony, you are probably still drunk, I can't babysit you out there, so you stay here. Ram, Jay, please try doing something useful for our cause and Lex, try not to get punched in the face. We'll meet again tonight!"
"I need to talk to you. I might have done something stupid." She had attempted to follow Slade's advice and sleep it off, but when she heard the slight panic in Ruby's voice as she was standing in her doorway, Trudy sat up straight, despite the pain it might cause.
"Please, Ruby, if the continuation of this sentence contains the name 'Lex' I might have to slap you." Ruby smiled slightly before closing the door behind her and sitting down next to her friend on the bed. "I was not that drunk!" She hesitated, her nervousness showing as she was wringing her hands. Trudy started to seriously worry about what had happened. "Are you alright, sweetie?", she said, stilling the movement of Ruby's hands by taking them in hers.
"I…I woke up in someone else's bed…naked." Trudy waited for her to go on. "But don't worry, it wasn't Ram, I mean he is kind of the best friend I have here after you, but I would never do that to you, your friendship means too much…" A smile tucked on Trudy's lips. "I know that, Rubs. Plus, I know that Ram's bed was occupied otherwise last night." She couldn't help the blush creeping on her cheeks. Ruby gasped in shock. "You mean, you two did, you know…it?"
She bit her lip as if to keep herself from smiling from ear to ear. "No, we didn't. We made out…a lot. But we didn't. He didn't want to take advantage of me while I was not completely sober." Ruby laughed. "And that guy is supposed to be the most horrible person to walk the earth."
Trudy's smile vanished. When she was with him, it was easy to forget everything he had done, but when she heard someone say it aloud, she couldn't help but doubt him changing a bit. But she didn't want Ruby to notice. "Yeah, well, but me waking up in my sort of maybe boyfriend's bed is not what you wanted to talk about, so who did you spend the night with? If it was Jay I might have to borrow that baseball bat of yours. And if it was Slade you'll probably have to go into hiding to avoid Ebony from finding you."
Now I was Ruby's turn to look sheepishly at her feet. "I don't think Ebony will be the one coming after me, since it was her I woke up next to." Trudy covered her mouth with her hands; partly because she was sincerely shocked, partly to avoid laughing out loud. She hadn't thought their drunken flirting would go that far.
The blonde girl looked like she wished to be swallowed up by the ground. Trudy cleared her throat. "So…You said you woke up naked? Do you remember, you know, how that happened?" Ruby let herself fall back on the bed and grabbed a pillow to cover her face. "You mean do I remember if we did something?", came her muffled response.
Trudy thought it best to let the other girl tell her what she wanted to tell on her own time and kept silent. "She went down on me and it felt amazing!" Ruby almost shouted into the pillow and now Trudy couldn't keep the laughter in any longer. "This is so not funny!", Ruby said as she threw the pillow at Trudy's head.
"If you really think about it, it is. It is brilliant! You have been fighting over Slade for weeks when the solution for it was this easy! There couldn't be a better way to resolve a love triangle, don't you think?" Ruby joined in her guffawing. "Thank you for making fun of my emotional breakdown."
"Honey, what good is a world without adults if you can't experiment and have fun without being judged?"
Trudy had tried to get a more detailed recounting of last night's events, but Ruby, still not sure what she should make of her close encounter with Ebony, was very reluctant. Both had deemed it a good idea for Ruby to try and sleep off the hangover and to talk about it later on in the day – if at all.
It would be the best for her to get some rest before the meeting, too, she had decided and Lottie had all too excitedly offered to take care of Brady in the meantime, but a soft knock kept her from closing her eyes for too long. For a few seconds she played with the thought of simply ignoring it, but it could have been Ruby who wanted to talk after all or Lottie changing her mind about playing with her little daughter. For all she knew, it could have been Ram, wanting to discuss something with her or maybe resume where they had left off the night before.
With her cheeks flushed from the last thought, she got up from her bed to find Bray on the other side of her door. It must have looked quite impolite to him as her bright smile changed into a frown upon seeing him. "I guess you were expecting someone else."
Her cheeks turned crimson. "No, no… I wasn't expecting anyone, but you were the last person I expected. Well, technically, I can't think of anything Ved would want to discuss with me, so he would probably be the last person." Trudy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm rambling, aren't I?" The smallest smile played upon Bray's lips. He nodded. "Come in."
Bray followed her invitation, but once she had closed the door behind him, neither of them seemed to know what to do next, so Bray took a peek outside of her window, while Trudy stayed put next to the door, the farthest away from him as her small room allowed, studying her hands.
"What are we doing here, Trudy?", Bray inquired after a few awkward moments of silence. She frowned again. "Do you mean here in Liberty or do you mean the general existence of the human species on this planet we call earth?" It was hard to decide who of them was more surprised by Trudy's sarcastic remark. "Seems like you spent a bit too much time with Lex and Ebony." She returned his chaste smile, but couldn't help but think that it was more the company of Ram that was slowly rubbing off on her.
"I'm sorry, I guess being hung over makes me a bit irritable. Can we start again, please?" He nodded. "I meant, what are we, you and me, doing?" "I still don't quite get what you are asking." He gestured between them. "Look at us. We aren't even able to talk to each other. I've known you longer than anyone else, even before the virus. A lot has happened to both of us, but something like that can't just disappear."
Trudy sat down on the edge of her bed. "I guess we have changed", she stated with a shrug of her shoulders. Bray took a seat next to her. "I want to apologize for what I said yesterday. You were right, I was out of line, it really isn't up to me to make your decisions. I guess I've always had some sort of protective instinct over you." He put his hand over Trudy's to show her that he was serious, but she pulled away. "You hurt me, Bray. Not with what you said about Ram, because you are right, he did a lot of horrible things to the people I love, but maybe I can help him change. No, the things you said about me, about not being able to make reasonable decisions. I'm done with people walking all over me, so either you see me as equal or you leave me alone."
"I respect that. It's just, with everything that is happening and with the possibility of returning to the Mall, I could really use a friend." Now it was Trudy who reached her hand out and put it in Bray's. "We'll get there."
"We need to act soon. The situation in the city is getting worse by the minute, the safe zone is turning into a maximum security prison! Time is running out." Slade had resumed his place at the head of their council of war. He had directed his last statement at Ram, which had earned him a scoff in return. "What do you want me to do? I need data to breach his security system, which your precious Jack doesn't seem to be able to deliver."
"I'm with Ram on this, Jack needs to work faster, he probably enjoys being Mega's number one student a bit too much", Ebony exclaimed, which caused Jay to throw his arms in the air out of frustration. "We all know you are more about brawns than brains, Ebony, but Jack can't just go in there and take everything we need and walk out. Do you think Mega gives everyone access to that kind of data? He needs to trust Jack before he can do anything. This takes time."
Trudy nodded in agreement. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you forced Jack to jump the gun on attacking the Technos' HQ? Almost got you killed in the end." Ebony glared at the girl sitting opposite of her. "Give me a break, it was Jack who wanted to check out that transmitter thing and how was it my fault that Ellie turned batshit crazy and tried to blow up the hotel?"
Before the discussion could get more out of hand, Bray interrupted them. "But what will we do once we've gotten through their computer protection? Won't we need more men?" Just then did they others realize, that unlike themselves, Bray had not had the time to get adjusted to the ubiquity of electricity throughout the city. Jay responded: "Even an army of 500 trained fighters won't do us any good as long the Technos can rely on their zappers being fully charged. It's like bringing a knife to a gunfight. We need to make sure the power is off before we can even get through the electric fence."
Lex took the floor next. "But still, Bray is right. Since we all have to trust our resident genius" – a sarcastic bow in Ram's direction, follow by the addressed mockingly drawing his invisible hat – "to actually be able to create a power blackout, we need to think about recruiting more people. I am the best fighter here, but even I can't take on the whole Tribe on my own."
Everyone granted Lex the annoyed eyeroll he had aimed for with his remark, but the atmosphere in the room was too tense to expand any more bantering. "What about the Ecos? They helped us before." All of the present Mallrats avoided looking at Bray, until Trudy reluctantly shook her head. "I don't think so, not after what happened to Pride. Hawk, their new leader, is blaming Amber for his death and practically banned her from ever returning."
"Pride is dead?", Bray asked, his voice full of disbelief. "Yeah, and it was one of those zappers that killed him. One reason more why we have to be really sure that the whole power system is disabled", Jay answered, even though Bray had directed his inquiry towards Trudy. "And even more reason why the Ecos won't help us", she added, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Bray, I can assure you, we will look for people to fight on our side when it is time, but right now, we need to find a way to hurt Mega where he is most vulnerable", Slade had walked over to Bray and patted him on the back reassuringly.
"I might have an idea", Trudy suddenly said, causing everyone to look at her. Ebony sighed. "Really, Trudy, again? We've been through this before." Slade put up his hand to silence his girlfriend and gestured for Trudy to go on.
She got up from her seat to walk behind the bar and returned with the shoebox she had hidden under the counter. When Ram saw what she was holding, he tensed. "You searched my room?" Trudy had expected him to be angry, but the threat in his calm voice scared her more than she wanted to admit. "No, I happened to stumble upon it when I was looking for something of mine." Ram had gotten to his feet. "You have no right to take this." Trudy took a breath to stop her hands that were still gripping the box, from shaking. Ram used that pause for another reproach. "Why would you search something that belongs to you in my room?"
She couldn't stop her cheeks from flushing crimson. In a lowered voice that everybody could hear nonetheless, she explained: "I was looking for my skirt, alright? You might remember, last night? Yeah, so I was not going through your stuff deliberately, I was looking for my clothes and found the box in the process. I'm really sorry and I know this must be hard for you, but I think this can really help us."
While Ram was silenced by Trudy's quiet outburst, trying to avoid her eyes at any cost, Lex and Ebony shared a smirk. "I knew it", Lex muttered for everyone to hear. "What's in the box, Trudy?", Jay said curtly, crossing his arms defensively before his chest. "Oh, I think someone's jealous", Ebony whispered loudly in Lex' direction. Slade banged his fist on the table. "Will you two shut up already?! Do you not grasp how serious this whole situation is? Either you say something useful or you say nothing at all, you get it?" While Lex just rolled his eyes, Ebony mockingly mimicked locking her mouth and throwing the key away.
After a moment of complete silence, Trudy put the box she had clutched in front of her like a shield down on the table and put the lid aside. She had not looked at Ram, but she could feel that he had stepped back from the table, turning his back on them. She took out the clothes. As soon as she realized what it was, Ebony had jumped up from her seat, causing her chair to fall over.
"Those are Java's clothes. What is this? If you tell me you opened up my sister's grave to get them, I'll shovel yours right next to hers." Ruby looked from Ebony to Trudy and then to Ram, apparently waiting for his reaction. But there was none, he had remained in the exact same position. "Don't be ridiculous, Ebony, no one dug up a grave", she said, her voice very quiet and calm, her gaze still on Ram. "We changed her clothes before we buried her."
The look she got from Ebony couldn't have been more incredulous. "Why would you do that?" The words came out in a quiver. "Because I wanted to keep something of her. And she looked so peaceful, her uniform just didn't seem right", it was Ram, barely audible. Ebony frowned. "So you decided to bury her how? Naked?" Ebony was pushing Ram on purpose, she wanted to lash out, to make them understand that she was hurting, too, and it seemed like he was ready to take her bait. "No, I got her one of my mom's old dresses. She looked really pretty in it", Ruby uttered and got up erecting the chair Ebony had knocked over, slightly putting her hand on the small of her back while passing her, a gesture that remained unnoticed by everyone else but sent a shiver down both their spines. She then kept on walking towards Ram, reassuring him with her presence that she was there for him if he needed her.
"It's just… We have her pass card, don't we? We could scare Mega into thinking that she changed sides, that she is reunited with R…the resistance." Trudy had thought about this plan a lot, but now, having to face both Ram and Ebony, all her self-confidence had vanished and it sounded more of a friendly advice that a proper suggestion. "Any suspicion would be off Jack and he could use her card without immediately endangering himself", she continued, trying most of all to convince herself.
"Oh, but you successfully located little Veddy, what happened to the plan to exchange Jack and him?" Ebony exclaimed, earning a confused look from Ved, who seemed to have been brought back to reality by the mention of his name. Slade had gone over to calm his girlfriend, but Ebony pushed his hand away. "What? This is not a plan! So we have my dead sister's clothes, do you want to send them to Mega as evidence that she turned against him? Like he would care!"
"No, I thought that I…" A reluctant look in Ram's direction. "I thought I could wear it and pretend to be Java. I could go with Jay when he meets with Amber tonight." The silence that filled the room seemed to weigh Trudy down. She knew she should not have said anything. Everyone always told her how she wasn't a fighter, how she just should stay on the sidelines, taking care of the kids. She was a mother, not a rebel. A follower, not a leader.
"It might work", Jay finally said, breaking the tension. "Amber said that she would send someone else if she couldn't make it, but it doesn't matter who of the Mallrats we meet, as long as we can show Mega that there is still someone fighting back."
"It is a good plan, Trudy, we'll do it! I'll come with you and Jay, I think Mega might have some pictures of me talking to Siva. He'll think that they all turned against him", Slade declared, looking from Ebony to Ram. "What do you say?" Ebony scoffed. "I don't need the help of my dead sisters to scare Mega . But do what you want, you won't listen to me anyways."
"Ram?" Trudy tried to catch his eye, but he refused to even look in her direction. "I don't want anything to do with this. Excuse me, I'll be working on our more important plans to take down Mega."