24

It was early in the morning. The sun had just peeked out behind the horizon, painting the sky in various crimson colours. The day was still so young that a layer of thick mist covered the city. Jay profoundly enjoyed these early mornings, because they were quiet and came with the promise of a fresh new day. Furthermore, it gave him a chance to get some work done, without constantly being interupted by an endless row of questions, problems that needed to be solved and last but not least; that frustratingly pesty little brother of his!

It was only yesterday that he'd had to pull him out of a fight - with one of their own men, for godsake! Jay never understood what Ved's problem was. He had been such a sweet child when they were younger - sensitive and caring. At one time, before the virus, his pet turtle had died. He had forced the entire family to attent the funeral, which he had made a huge deal of, with a speech and flowers and candles. He'd even made Speedy an insanely decorative tombstone. It had taken him months to mourn the turtle. But when the virus had spread and his parents had past away - especially his dad, to whom he was very close - that had changed him. He'd become dark and distant. And most of all - angry.

Jay had tried everything to help his brother to deal with the grief and the anger, but Ved did his outmost to reject Jay and seemed to have made it his life's mission to torture Jay in any way he could think of. Sometimes Jay wondered if Ved somehow held him responsible for the deaths of his parents or something.

This morning, Jay had been up a few hours before the sun rose, but now he pushed his chair back, stretched and looked out of the window at the bright morning. He decided to take a break, wanting to get some fresh air to clear his head before the others woke up and all the commotion started anew.

He went out of the main entrance, coughing loudly and threatheningly at the two guards, who had dozed off on their night shift. They both scrambled to their feet hastely and embarresed, mumbling their apologies. Jay sighed annoyed at their incompatence, but decided that it was too early to have your day ruined by two morons, so he went on briskily and climbed a small hill. At the top he had view over the whole city. He closed his eyes and breathed in the crispy, cool air and listened to the birds chirping joyfully in the nearby trees.

"Beautiful morning, don't you agree?" someone suddenly said beside him, making Jay gasp out in surprise. He had been so sure that he was all alone out here, especially this early in the morning.

"Ebony!" he said and tried to steady his galloping heart, that had jumped into a race from the fright.

"Sorry," Ebony said and laughed a little, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's quite all right," Jay said, and couldn't help but laugh slightly himself.

"You're quite the early bird," Ebony said, looking up at him.

"I enjoy the peace and quiet," Jay said, looking out over the city. Then he glanced down at Ebony, "Anyway, I could say the same about you."

"I'm a morning person myself - although, sometimes, it's because I haven't gone to bed yet." She grinned cheekily up at him and he smiled and shook his head at her. They stood for a while, both just admiring the view and the sunshine that caressed their faces.

"Just out for a morning stroll?" Jay then asked casually.

"You could say that."

"It's quiet a long way from the city, wouldn't you say?" Jay glanced sidesways down at her with a smug expression.

"What can I say - something must have drawn me here," Ebony replied and flashed him a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. Jay looked back out over the city and felt his heart start up a new race - this time is wasn't out of fright. He tried to control it, but found that it was impossible. He cleared his throat and shifted uneasily - he always liked to be in total control of himself. For some reason, Ebony seemed to throw him off his otherwise perfectly controlled balance.

"Well, now that you're here," he said, keeping his eyes on the city, "We might as well go inside and look up your friends on my computer."

"They're not my friends," Ebony reminded him. She didn't want Jay to think that either Bray, Lex or Jack were her boyfriend. That would be bad for business.

"It's stictly business," she assured him.

"Alright," Jay said. He led them down the hill and into the building. The other technos were starting to wake up and there was a few groggy-looking men walking around. Jay found a computer room that was still empty and sat down behind a computer. Ebony stood right behind him, howering, as he typed the keyboard with skilled, knowing hands. He wasn't worried to let Ebony watch, as he knew it wouldn't make much sense to her. He was writing in codes with all numbers and letters in seemingly random order.

After a while, he could sense that she started to get bored, as she sighed and started to walk around the room slowly. He found the list containing all the data of the people plucked out from this city and shipped away to work. There were pictures of each single one, with their name, age and current location.

"Come take a look," he called out to Ebony. She walked over to him, stood close to his chair and leaned down beside him to take a look at the many pictures.

Jay caught his breath when she did this, at the closeness of her. He could feel her braids caressing his shoulder and arm and the warmth that radiated from her skin. She smelled devine. He forced himself to focus on the pictures on the screen and the job in hand, "Do you recognise any of them?"

Ebony didn't answer for a while, just stood looking at them as Jay slowly scrolled through the pages, to reveal more pictures.

"No," she said when they had looked at them all. Her voice was strangely small and weak. Jay wondered if she was surprised at the amount of people that had been taken away or if it was something else. He dared not look at her, afraid to find anger or even disgust on her face.

"I promise you, they're okay and are being taken care of," he said, putting on his work-tone, to hide the emotion in his voice.

"That's good. I want all of my cityfolks to be safe and well - till they return" Ebony said, seeming to have found her normal, strong voice again. Jay said nothing, wishing not to inform her that they might not all come back. There was always some of them who never made it back. It was part of the price for this whole operation.

"Well," Ebony said and straightened back up. She put a hand on Jay's shoulder, "Thank you for this."

"No problem," Jay said stiffly. His skin was burning under her touch, even though it was on his shirt. He felt immensly disappointed when she removed it, leaving his shoulder cold and empty. He was beating himself inside for letting some woman affect him this way. He felt silly and awkward and he didn't like it one bit.

"I'd better get back to the city," Ebony said behind him. Jay spun around his chair, desperately rummaging his brains for an excuse to make her stay. Just for a bit longer, his heart screamed. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. This was an unacceptable behavior from his side. He couldn't let her have this much power over him, making him slightly crazy and out of control.

"I'll show you out," he said and got up. He turned the handle of the door and pushed it open, gesturing for Ebony to go out first, like the gentleman he was. He then followed her down the hallway, looking at her with a frown on his face, as he wondered what it was about her that had him so mesmerised. At first he had fallen for her looks. Her olive skin - so fine and smooth, with those cute little apple cheeks. And lips, bright red and luscious - and so kissable…

But as he had gotten to know her a little, he'd begun to strongly admired her character too. So strongwilled and fierce. She was the strongest woman he had ever met. She was funny too. And god she was smart! Extremely clever and quick-witted. She simply had it all.

He led her out of the main entrance and walked her a little further down the road to the city, not wanting to let her go just yet. They stopped when they reached the end of the road and Ebony turned around to face him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you find your not-friends," Jay said, sending her an apologic small smile, which Ebony returned with a huge warm one.

"That's okay," she said, "I appreciate your help anyway." She stared into his eyes, "I really do." Then she reached up and placed a swift, sweet kiss at the corner of Jay's surprised lips.

Then she flashed him a heartmelting smile, turned around and walked away, leaving behind a shocked, heartflutteringly delighted Techno General.

—

It was a bittersweet feeling that filled Ebony as she walked down the pathway towards the city. This little visit had been both very sucessful, but also brought sadness.

On one hand, her work on Jay had worked out better than suspected. Although Jay was a controlled, strong man, she could easily see how she affected him. It was no surprise, she had used all of her best seductive skills and womanly assets to try and win him over. And she felt like she was succeeding.

She had paid great attention to the little cracks that had started to form in his well-controlled facade. How he sometimes held his breath when she touched him, and his stolen glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking. And he hadn't pulled away or told her off when she had innocently kissed him as a thanks. Overall she was satisfied with the progress so far and was certain it wouldn't be long before he crossed over to their side.

On the other hand, she felt distressed. Back when Jay had asked her if she recognised anyone on the computer, she had lied. She had seen severel people she knew - including all of the missing mallrats. She had decided that it would be better not to tell Jay, as he was still the enemy and Ebony knew it was best to keep certain things to herself until she knew if she could trust him. Then she would tell him the truth.

She had tried to see where they had been taken to, but the text under their picture just said 'Shipped away' or 'flown overseas' and then some strange name of location that made no sense to her. She could only pray that her plan with Jay would succeed so that she could ask him about the locations later and bring them back. Now she needed to go back to Amber and the others and tell them what she had seen.

The sun had risen and stood high on the sky, bathing everything in warmth and light. It was a beautiful day, Ebony thought, as she walked down a set of stairs that lead to a gravel path. She was still in the county side and the birds sang cheerfully above.

There was a sudden movement just behind her and before she could turn around ans see who it was, someone grabbed her arm and threw her down to the ground. She landed on the dirt, scraping har arms on the gritty ground. Cursing loudly, she tried to scramble to her feet, but before she could, the air was knocked out of her as someone kicked her rips and made her tumble over anew. She felt her head hit the ground and gasped with pain. Black dots appeared before her eyes. She rolled over on her back to try and see her assaulter.

It was a man - tall and dark against the sun, so that Ebony couldn't see his face. She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Now she could make out his outfit; black combat boots, black pants with a belt, black shirt with the red zipper and then his face, which Ebony now recognised with grim realisation.

It was Smith - the Techno guard who she had quarrelled with before. He stood towering over her, his ugly face twisted into a scornful sneer.

"Well, well, well," he snickered, "look who it is - our fearless cityleader."

He started to slowly circling Ebony and everytime she tried to stand up, he kicked her down with his boot. Ebony was boiling inside. If she had just heard him coming from behind, she would have been able to fight him off. She would have kicked his ass all the way back to the hell dimension he came from.

"What is this?" she demanded hoarsly, still on the ground. She had stopped trying to get up - it was simply pointless. He had the upper hand, so she just lay still, till she could come up with a plan.

"Oh I felt we had unfinished business, which I have now come to settle," Smith said, strolling lazily around her. He looked maddingly pleased with himself, which made Ebony's blood boil even more.

When he reached her left side he suddenly kneeled down, putting a knee on Ebony's chest to hold her down. The weight of him on her chest hurt fiercly and made it difficult to breathe. Ebony tried to pry him off, but he was too strong.

"Such beautiful, red lips," he said, smiling evilly down at her, "I can't deside whether to kiss them - or to hurt them." He put his head down closer to Ebony's, increasing the weight on her chest in the process, "Maybe I'll do both."

Ebony couldn't breathe at all now and she clawed desperately at his leg to make it move. She suddenly raised her hand and qucikly, as a snakebite, scratched him across the face. He reeled back, groaning in pain.

Ebony gasped as air filled her lungs again. She was too weak to get up, so she just looked at Smith, while she tried to steady her breath. Her lungs ached from the lack of air and the strain of gasping in oxygen. Her nails had left deep, red lines on his face; some of them there were oozing blood. He was looking down at her with a furious expression.

"And here I was thinking we could do this the civilised way."

Ebony snorted at the obvious lie. Smith didn't seem like the kind of guy who sat you down and talked through the issues, nice and quiet. He was more the 'I'll-beat-the-sense-into-you' kind of guy. She wondered dreadfully what was in store for her next.

"Ram won't be pleased when he hear how you treat his precious cityleader," Ebony said, trying to stall time while she desperately tried to come up with a plan. Smith strode over to her in three long steps and kneeled down again - this time on top of her. He put his knees onto Ebony's struggling arms to pin them down and wound his hands around her throat in a choke.

"Good thing Ram won't know what happened to his precious little cityleader - as she'll go mysteriously missing."

Underneath him, Ebony was starting to panic. She usually had these things under control, always got the upper hand in any situation, but this time she was really in trouble. The grip around her throat tightened and she felt how her windpipe was sqeashed shut, preventing any air from entering. She felt so scared, lying there, unable to move, unable to fight back, just completely helpless. And slowly dying.

But she also felt a rage she had never felt before. Is was the feeling of helplessness that enraged her the most. It was so completely unfair, her not being able to fight back and defend herself. Not being able to move an inch and not being able to breathe. But most of all she was furious that she was going to die.

The black spots were back in her vision. This time they were accompanied by sparkling stars, except these ones hurt. They prickled and cut into Ebony's eyeballs, almost matching the screaming pain in her chest from the lack of air. In fact her whole body ached.

There was a blur in her vision, but Ebony couldn't tell if it was the black dots, racing around like crasy, of if it was something outside her mind. Nevertheless, she heard a sudden sound, like wood on something hallow, and then the weight was removed from her body, and the hands around her neck dissappeared. For the third time that morning, Ebony gasped violently for air.

It was a few seconds before those pesty black spots dissapeared from her vision. She blinked the few last ones away and focused her eyes on the turmoil and shouting that was happening around her. The first thing she saw was Smith; he was standing on his feet, back turned at Ebony. She could see a nasty wound on the back of his head, that was bleeding. He was breathing heavily and staring at someone in front of him. Then suddenly he ducked, just barely avoiding a large piece of wood, that was swinging over his head. Ebony traced the wood with her eyes, from the bloody tip, all the way up to the two hands that was holding on to it in the other end, up the red leaderjacket-covered arms and stopped at Slade's face.

"I know I promised not to try and rescue you again," Slade said, looking at her with a glint in his eye, "but I'm gonna have to break my promise on that."

He must have been the one beating Smith off of her, Ebony thought dully. She tried to get up on her feet, to help Slade, but her head hurt and she felt dizzy, so she slid back down against a tree trunk. She watched, dazed, as Slade trew the wood away and put up his fists, ready to fight with those instead. They circled for a while, eyeing each other, then Smith leaped forward, taking a hit on Slade, but missing as Slade stepped back. Smith had put so much force behind the action, that when he failed to hit, he stumbled forward instead. Slade took advantage of this and sent down a blow on his back, which caused Smith to fall to the ground, groaning.

While Smith was scrambling around on the ground, trying to catch his breath, Slade ran over to Ebony and kneeled down beside her, "You okay?" he asked, concerned, putting his hand on the side of her head.

"Peachy," Ebony mumbled sarcastically.

"You're hurt," Slade stated, seeing the cut on her forehead.

"Slade..." Ebony murmured, weakly.

"Schh, don't talk, try and relax," Slade said absently, now inspecting the scratches on her arms with a frown on his forehead.

"Slade..." Ebony tried again.

"What?" Slade said, finally looking at her.

"Smith." She raised her hand and pointed behind him. Slade looked back a saw that Smith had gotten on his feet and was now dragging himself towards them.

"Oh," Slade said, then turned back to Ebony, "Sit tight for just a moment, luv." Then he jumped up and went to face Smith. This time he didn't waste any time, but walked towards his opponent, then ran the last few feet to get some force behind his attack, and then placed his fist right in the middle of Smith's face. He was immediately floored, now bleeding from both the back of his head and the front. He lay completely still, only his chest moved up and down slowly. He'd been knocked out.

Slade quickly went back to Ebony and got down in front of her, "That should do it, I think."

He helped her to her feet and supported her as she stood. Ebony's head felt like someone was hitting it with a sledgehammer, so she closed her eyes and groaned, "My head - it hurts."

"I know a place nearby," Slade said, and without further ado, he picked her up - like a bride - and carried her. Normally Ebony would protest against such a thing - she was much too proud and independent to be carried anywhere, but right now she was hurt and couldn't find it in her to object. So she just let him carry her. But instead of heading for the city, he took her further west, somewhere into the countryside, to a small abandoned wooden house, hid in between grassy hills. Ebony was only vaguely aware of where they were going. She had her eyes closed, holding on to Slade's neck the best she could. She wasn't too worried about where he took her - she trusted him.

Somewhere on the way, she fell asleep, or fainted. Either way, when she woke up she found herself lying in a wooden bed, with blankets covering her. She felt warm and cozy and safe. Her head didn't hurt too much any more, so she lay for a while, eyes closed, just relaxing and waking up. She was suddenly aware of a scent that filled her nose and made her mouth water. Something roasting over fire. So she opened her eyes and slowly sat up.

"Hey you," Slade said and smiled. He was sitting by the fireplace, slowly rotating a stick with some fish on it, to roast them over the fire. It was dark outside, indicating that Ebony had slept through the most of the day.

"Hey," she said hoarsly and coughed. Her throat felt raw and sore. She got out of bed slowly, as her whole body ached, and went to sit next to Slade on a stool.

Slade found a tin cup from the small cupboard in the kitchen area and poured her some tee from a pot, hanging over the fire.

"Here, drink this," he said and handed her the cup. Ebony took it greatfully and carefully sipped the warm liquid. It tasted of herbs and flowers, but had a slightly bitter aftertaste.

"Drink up," Slade said and smiled at her wrinkled nose, "It'll do you good."

For once, Ebony did as she was told, although she didn't want to. But she emptied the whole cup and declined when Slade offered to fill it up again.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked him, looking at the moon, which shone brightly outside the window.

"All day," Slade said, stirring a spoon around in small cauldron, also handing over the fire. It smelled divine. Ebony could feel her stomach churn from hunger.

"What is this place?" she asked, to distract herself untill the food was ready. She looked around at the small wooden house. It was one big room, without any other rooms. There was only one bed, which stood in the corner, with a small bedside table and an oil lamp. At the other end was the kitchen. It consisted of a long wooden counter, with a porcelain sink in the middle and cupboards hanging on the walls. Pots and pans were hanging on the wall to the left. In the middle of the house stood a long table, with chairs around it - wooden of course. All in all, primitive, but cozy.

"This is my house. It's were I live," Slade said, poking around in the fire with an ironpoker to stir up the flames.

Ebony frowned, "But I thought you lived in Liberty."

Slade took time to put some more wood onto the fire before answering, "I did. But I moved here recently - for personal reasons."

Ebony was intrigued and was tempted to jump into a fullfletched interrogation about this, but decided that that would have to wait until another time, when her head was more clear.

"Are you feeling okay?" he then asked, looking at her with concerned eyes.

"I feel fine, just a bit groggy," Ebony said. She suddenly remembered the sharp pain she had felt in her forehead when falling to the ground and automatically raised a hand to it. She got up and walked over to a small mirror that was hanging on the wall by the bed.

She was shocked when she saw her own reflection. There was a small gash on her forehead, which had been cleaned and stitched up. She had scrapes on the side of her head - those looked clean too. But what shocked her the most was the red and purple marks around her neck, where Smith's hands had tried to strangle her. She felt sick to her stomach, thinking back at the moment, when she lay there on the ground, certain that she was going to die. A lump formed in her troat.

"I cleaned your wounds," Slade suddenly said behind her. Ebony looked at him in the mirror, tears pressing behind her eyeballs. Fortunately, Ebony had the ability to hold those suckers in at all times and she had practised it to perfection. She swallowed hard.

"Thank you," she just said.

"Don't mention it," Slade said and smiled at her. Ebony turned around and looked him in the eye.

"I really mean it," she said softly, "Thank you for everything - for this," she held up her arm that Slade had bandaged, "for saving me. Everything."

"You're welcome," Slade said quietly. Ebony stepped closer, then reached up and kissed him. Slade instantly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. They stood locked in an embrace for a while, then Slade pulled away and looked down at her.

"You must be starving," he said, and Ebony was immediately reminded of her screaming stomach, so she nodded eagerly. Slade took her hand and led her to the table. Here she sat down while Slade found plates from the cupboard and got the food from the fire. There was the grilled fish, which he had caught from the stream outside the house, and a vegestable stew. He poured more of the tea into Ebony's cup without asking her and then sat down himself.

They ate till they were both full. Ebony was impressed by his cooking skills. The fish tasted delicious and went well with the vegestable stew. Afterwards she helped him wash the dishes in water from the stream and then they got pillows and blankets from the bed and put them down on the floor by the fire.

There they cuddled up and watched the flames lick the wood. The little sounds of wood popping and ember crackling was very soothing. Despite all the horror and pain Ebony had felt this morning, she was now warm and comfortable and safe, wrapped in Slade's big strong arms.

"You know I have to continue my work on Jay," she said quietly after some thought. Slade didn't reply immediately, obviously not liking the thought of Ebony flirting with another man.

"I know," he muttered, "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"It's an important part of the plan to rid the town of these creeps," Ebony said, glad she was sitting with her back leaned against him and couldn't see his face, "I almost have him where I want."

Slade's sat silent in the wake of her words. It concerned Ebony. She had to somehow convince him that he shouldn't worry.

She twisted so that she could look up at him, "It doesn't mean the same to me, as it does to him."

Slade glanced down at her, then smiled crookedly and kissed her softly. After a while they broke apart and Ebony leaned back against him.

"Just...don't go too far," Slade said, tightening his grip around her just a bit and burried his head in her hair. Ebony smiled and knew exactly what he meant.

"I won't - I promise."

As they sat there, Ebony began to wonder. I was strange. She could understand why Jay fancied her. She had done her outmost to seduce him - secretely so, but still; she'd had to pull out all her best skills and use all the experience she'd had with men (and that was quite a lot) - poor Jay never stood a chance.

But Slade... He had been given the cold shoulder from the beginning. Ebony hadn't even flirted with him. Not intentional that is. And she had been rather cold, only having her masterplan on her mind and not wanting to be disturbed or hindered by some biker-dude. Especially not a cocky, devilishly handsome one like Slade.

And despite all that, Slade still found her wonderful. She didn't get it. But hey, she wasn't complaining. She had never met anyone that matched her recklessness and passion like he did. Who could match her intellect and, more importantly, could keep her on her toes - and, occationally, could put her in her place.