Chapter Six – by Tallulah

Cube shivered as the GGs dashed through the streets. It was starting to rain, and icy drops were speckling her skin. Above them the sky swirled, lashing itself like boiling water.

"Cube…" Beat gasped. "We'll find him, okay? Don't worry…"

"I'm not worrying," Cube snapped, her lips trembling, with cold, with misery, she didn't know. "I'm not damn worrying!"

She skated faster, her legs began to ache, but she ignored the tiredness in them and pushed herself on, away from the GGs, away from the skate park, away from the rainy life.

Finally she got to the garage. She wrenched at the door handle with damp, frozen fingers, ignoring the others as she dashed inside.

"Cube?"

It was Gum who'd called. Cube stared at her. The girl was sprawled across the sofa, her face flushed, a grin dancing across it.

"Cube, what is it?" Garam asked. He looked like he'd just finished laughing. The concerned face he was wearing at the moment looked like it had been put on too hastily.

Cube swallowed. "Combo. He's gone."

"No way," Gum said.

"Don't fuck around saying dumb shit!" Cube screamed, feeling her eyes burn with tears. "He's gone, okay?"

"Cube, we're gonna find him." Slate had reached the garage, his hair drooping with rain.

"Oh, yeah? The Love Shockers can't find their friends. The Noise Tanks can't find their friends. Why should we be different?"

"Because we're the GGs," Yo-Yo said. "We're da man. Men. We can –"

"Shut up!" Cube screamed, fury sticking in her throat. "Just shut up!"

She turned and ran into the other room, slamming the door shut so hard it rattled. Then she stood there, gasping for breath, trying not to think, trying not to panic, wishing she could just sleep and when she woke up it would all be different.

But she couldn't sleep, she knew that. She couldn't even calm down, she couldn't stop pacing, and she was clutching herself like she was freezing.

A handful of rain was flung against the window, and Cube scurried over to it and pressed her face against the cold glass. Shibuya-cho was damp and blurry, the streetlamps glinting on the puddles and overflowing gutters.

Combo was out there somewhere. He had to be. Had to be. He'd just gone off, to follow a hunch, buy some paint, get his skates fixed, something.

Shibuya-cho blurred even more. She blinked so fiercely her eyelids hurt.

And the view dissolved into Bantam Street…the sun searing across her features, the graffiti-covered trains clattering past, and pieces of vinyl record crunching under her knees.

Cube, what you looking at?

He's out there. I know he is.

But where? We been looking everywhere. He wouldn't have just run out on us.

Of course he wouldn't. The scorn had stung her mouth. He's been kidnapped. By those freaky suit guys. But I'm gonna find him. He's out there, somewhere, and he's okay.

She'd swallowed.

Right?

Combo hadn't answered, and she'd hated him for that.

She blinked, and Shibuya-cho returned, wet, the splashing faint through the window. Thunder.

He's okay, her mind argued. He's out there, somewhere, and he's not dead, not dead, not like Coin, this is nothing like Coin, Goji's dead, I saw him fall, and Combo's just lost and he's safe.

And then the rest of her brain didn't answer.

The GGs were sitting in a damp, gloomy circle.

"It could be he just found something," Piranha said. "And he's gone to investigate it."

Another flash of lightning outside, then thunder.

"It's kind of a coincidence if he has," Garam said. "No offence, but if like four people have vanished into that full-pipe already, and he goes there and then he disappears…well, what else could have happened?"

"But why? What's so freaky about the full-pipe?" Mew asked.

Beat shrugged. "That renegade knows. I'm positive he's got something to do with it."

"How could he have…clubbed Combo over the head or whatever he's done?" Slate said. "He's not tall enough, and he sure ain't strong enough."

Beat scowled, and didn't answer.

"Didn't he say something about a renegade vanishing, though?" Mew said, stretching out her legs. Her stockings clung to them, dripping water. "And how it was only gangs he hated?"

"Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?" Beat said. "He's not likely to confess it all."

There was another snap of thunder, and the lights flickered, then went out.

"Eep," Gum said.

"A power cut," Tab muttered. "Perfect."

"Anyone got any candles?" Beat said.

"I think Cube might, actually." Garam got up, his silhouette almost invisible in the shadow, and walked towards the door.

Which flew open.

Cube stood there, fists clenched, eyes damp.

"I'm going out," she said.

"Where?"

"The skate park."

"Cube, it's pissing down out there," Tab said.

Cube's chin jutted out as lightning flickered over it. "I'm going to find Combo. I'm not just going to sit around waiting for – for something. I'm going out there. Now."

Beat got up. "I'll come with you."

Cube shrugged. "Whatever."

"I don't know…" Garam said. "Look, it don't sound like the park's a very healthy place to be at the mo –"

"You would say that," Cube spat out. "Get over your stupid prejudice about this. I'm gonna find him."

She marched towards the door, threw it open. Beat followed her, and they dashed out into the storm.

It was not nice weather, Beat decided. Soon he was soaked, his clothes becoming heavy and hanging off his bones. Water seeped in through his skates and down the back of his neck and under his goggles.

Cube must be suffering as much as he was, but she didn't seem to care. Her rigid black figure cut through the rain, her skates slashing into the puddles. Beat found it hard to keep up with her.

Shibuya was completely black. The power cut must have gone through the whole city. Could it be Noise Tank-generated, Beat wondered. No…probably just the storm.

At last they got to Center Point. The skate park was completely empty, the ground covered with sheets of rippling water, the ramps and walls glistening.

"Right," Cube said. She looked like someone had attacked her with a hosepipe. "Let's move it. Into the full-pipe."

Beat swallowed. "Is that a good idea?"

Cube stared at him, rain running down her face. "Fine, leader man. Be a coward. I'm not."

She charged off into the darkness of the pipe.

Sighing, Beat hurried after her.

"Hang on…should have light in a mo…"

Gum listened as a match scraped.

"Yeah!" A flame popped into existence, shading Tab's face golden, and he lit the candle. "Who da man?"

"My line, Tabster," Yo-Yo's voice echoed from Gum's right. "Well, at least we can see now."

"Don't try looking at any girly mags," Piranha said. "You'll only set fire to 'em."

Yo-Yo snorted. "Give me a break, babe."

"Give me a break," Slate said. "Shouldn't we go after Beat and Cube?"

There was a silence, and another crash of thunder.

"What can we do?" Mew said. "If something…something's going to happen…"

"You saw Cube," Garam said. "She ain't gonna stop for nobody."

Gum sighed, and stared at the window, which was glowing in the dark room. It looked vile out there. The trees lashed and convulsed against the sky, and there was no light anywhere.

"I don't like this," Piranha said. "I don't like it one bit."

"None of us do," Slate said. "Don't worry. They'll be okay."

Piranha sniffed. "Combo wasn't."

"We don't know that. They might find him."

Piranha gave a little sob, and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Don't worry," Gum said. "They'll be okay. We gotta keep calm."

"I don't know…" Mew said. "I'm kind of scared too…I mean, what if it is Scorn or someone trying to hurt rudies? What if he comes after us now?"

The door rattled, and everyone jumped.

"It's only the wind," Yo-Yo said. "Right?"

Gum shivered. This was sort of freaky. And Beat and Cube and Combo weren't here, and she didn't know where they were…she wanted them to be all right.

Of course they'd be all right.

I hate you, too, the park whispered.

Her stomach was cold.

"Come on, guys," she said. "Let's not get jumpy. Put on the radio –"

"Can't," Garam said. "No power."

"Great." Gum sighed. She wanted noise, and music, to block out that whisper in her mind. "We gonna have to have a sing-song or something?"

Piranha snorted damply through her tears. "Let's make a campfire, shall we?"

"Ah, come on," Tab said. "She's right, we gotta keep cheerful." He took a deep breath. "Sheeee's just nuts about gu-um…"

"No, please, for the love of God, not your singing!" Piranha begged.

"I am deeply, deeply hurt." Tab scowled. "Okay, let's hear you do better!"

"I don't need to." Piranha gave a small smile. "I don't need to prove my superiority by singing."

"Yeah, cos you know you ain't got a hope in hell of being better than me."

"Tab, a tone-deaf duck with a sore throat is better than you at singing."

"Ah, come on, give us a tune, Piranha," Yo-Yo said. "With the radio being out and all. Can you do a little dance as well? Maybe with your clothes off?"

Gum found herself grinning as Piranha smacked Yo-Yo upside the head. For once they weren't wittering on about something she hated.

For once she was part of a gang again.

The only good thing about the full-pipe, Beat decided, was that it was dry.

Everything else about it – the cold – the echoiness – the dark – sucked.

"Cube?" he called. "You still here?"

His voice called back to him, here, here, here…

She didn't answer.

"Oh, nuts," Beat muttered.

He walked on down the pipe, heart thudding against his ribs. It should be silent, but it wasn't. There was splashing, and the hiss of falling rain, and odd thuds and creaks, and the hiss of skates…

Beat froze, his heart now pounding so hard he couldn't move properly.

"Cube?" he called, his throat dry.

Silence, and the person stopped skating.

Oh, shit.

"Combo?"

Still silence.

Beat tried not to panic. It wasn't easy. Panic seemed good. Panic seemed sensible. He wanted to run out of the full-pipe like it was on fire. Unfortunately, his terrified mind had decided he should freeze and hope he could camouflage himself in the wall.

"Who is it?" a voice called.

A female voice. But not Cube.

"Who are you?" he answered.

Clack of skates, and the other rudie crept round the corner. Beat's eyes had become used to the darkness, and he made out spiky hair and a scowl. Kell.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

Kell shrugged. "Might ask you the same question."

"I'm looking for my friend. My friends." Where was Cube, anyway? "What about you? Still searching for your girls?"

Kell shrugged again. "I guess."

"You guess? Either you are or you aren't."

"Let's say I am, then."

"Let's say?" Beat's eyes narrowed. "You know, Love Shocker, thinking about it, I don't see why I should trust you any more than I trust Scorn."

Kell snorted. "That dweeb? Give me a break."

"Well, why should I trust you?"

"I don't care if you trust me, GG," Kell said. She sounded calmer, Beat thought. Much calmer than she'd been earlier. "I'm happy with myself."

"Really? Not tearing your hair out cos Akina's vanished?"

Kell's face didn't change. "I've got my own thoughts on that."

"Yeah. You had a bitch fight with Akina and decided to bump her off? Or she's being a decoy, hiding out at your HQ to put us off the scent?"

Kell rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You are way too paranoid."

"Well, excuse me –"

"Beat!"

Cube's voice, coming from further along the pipe, urgent, terrified…Beat whipped round and started dashing down the tunnel. "Cube! Cube, where are you?"

No answer again. He ran, desperately, his damp feet squelching in his skates. The full-pipe was empty. Kell was left behind. He dashed, breath choking in his lungs, yelling Cube's name, and the walls shouted it back at him, and no one else replied.

At last he reached the end of the pipe. The rainy sky seemed to be spitting in his face. You lost her, buddy.

The darkness was clutching at his back. He didn't want to go back into it. He didn't want to get swallowed up like she had.

But…

I damn well won't lose her.

He turned to stare back at the pipe.

Then he gritted his teeth, and ran back inside.

Some time later, Kell strolled out of the pipe. Her spikes began to wilt as she stepped into the rain.

She stopped to look back into the pipe, and the shadow swallowed her face. She squinted a little, then nodded.

She'd skated through it several times, to make sure, and now she was positive.

There was no one inside.