Chapter 10 – by Tallulah

"Come on, Mew," Yo-Yo said. "We may as well try and enjoy ourselves a little."

"I don't want to go out to that skate park," Mew sniffed.

"But you just said yourself it was Scorn and Kell, and they're safely locked up with the Poison Jammers. So it's all okay now. And anyway – and I never thought I'd say this – I think I overdosed on porn. I'm all light-headed."

Mew grinned a little, fingering her Hello Kitty necklace. "Well…okay, I guess I could. It's perfectly safe, isn't it? Right, Piranha?"

"Yeah, go enjoy yourself," Piranha said. "I'm stayin' here, though. Just in case – well, you know."

In case anyone turns up, Mew filled in silently, and sighed.

The skate park was humid, buried in sunlight.

"It looks okay," Mew said, staring round. "Where'd you wanna go?"

Yo-Yo grinned. "The PJs are pretty busy at the moment, I should think. Let's surprise them with a decorating job on Chi-gane."

"Don't be an idiot," Kell said, looking from Scorn to the broken window and back again. "We'll be screwed if we go out there."

"I guess." Scorn turned away from the window and flopped down against one of the tables.

Kell leant against the wall and sighed. It was getting hot in here, and she kept sneezing on the dust.

"But who could be doing it?" she said.

"I don't know. If I did, I'd set the Poison Jammers on them." Scorn leaned back and closed his eyes. "A Love Shocker tank top…the full pipe…doesn't care who it kidnaps…I don't know…why the hell wasn't this happening before? What is it about the skate park?"

Kell shrugged. "I'm bored already," she muttered.

"Only just built," Scorn said, more to himself than Kell. "Built to reward us rudies. Opened by Onishima…"

He stopped, and sat up.

"That's it," he gasped.

"What?"

"I'm going out there."

"No, you'll be sliced and diced and turned into a horror movie tribute!"

"But I've got it!" Scorn leapt to his feet. "I've got to check something…I can prove it…yes, look, I'm going out there, but trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"Why're you so keen to prove yourself?" Kell snapped.

"Because I don't need gangs to run around proving my innocence. I can do it myself."

"Well, fine. See you in the afterlife." Kell scowled.

Scorn pulled a chunk of split wood off the side of the table, stood up on the table as it wobbled precariously, and beat out the rest of the glass of the window with the chunk.

"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing. I was okay about being stuck in here while there was no hope – but this – this is so easy…I know how to get us innocent."

"No, you don't," Kell said. "You just don't want to admit a bunch of gangs got the jump on you, so you're breaking out to do the equivalent of flipping them off."

Scorn ignored her, putting his hands on the windowsill and heaving himself up, over, and out. Kell sighed, and yelled, "Fine, well, don't expect me to provide an alibi for you, jerk!"

There was no reply. She groaned.

Mew stretched. After tagging Chi-gane, she and Yo-Yo had been chased through Chi-benten by three enraged Noise Tanks, lost them in Lost Angles, landing some tags there in the process, taken a short cut through Shocksville (which was practically empty, given that two Love Shockers were missing and one captured) and were now gasping for breath near the entrance to the full pipe.

"You're right," Mew said to Yo-Yo, giggling. "That was fun!"

"I'm always right. Course it was fun, kitty."

Both of them glanced at the shadowy tunnel next to them, and then at each other.

"It's safe now," Yo-Yo said at last.

"Course it is." Mew stared at the pipe.

"We were there," she whispered, "and it was – it was right next to us. It was watching us…it probably waited until we ran so we wouldn't notice Slate was gone…"

"You mean he," Yo-Yo said. "Scorn, remember?"

"Yeah. Sure."

They stared at the pipe again.

"Come on," Yo-Yo said at last. "It's pathetic to be scared of a pipe."

Mew swallowed. "Right. Let's go."

They slowly stepped into the shadows.

Scorn dashed through Shibuya, wishing his Poison Jammer outfit wasn't so big on him. And so smelly. And so…Poison Jammerish. But he'd been right, no one messed with him. If they smiled at the bagginess of his clothes, he just had to look at them and they backed off.

He had to get to the skate park. If he was right – if – which he had to be, it felt right, he could see how it all worked – then he could show all the rudies he could find. Then he and Kell would be off the hook, and he could go back to enjoying the skate park and pissing people off.

And he could get out of this damn uniform for a start.

Nearly at Center Point. Nearly there.

Mew stared up at the sunlight shining through the gratings, and smiled. The pipe was blissfully warm, making her think of sunbathing, swimming, summer evenings. They were right. It was safe now. The evil – no, not the evil, the jerkiness, Scorn and Kell weren't evil – had gone.

Soon the others would be coming back. She grinned. They'd be back, safe and sound. She just had to wait a little.

Maybe they were down here. She looked round. Yo-Yo had stopped to get a stone out of his skate, and she couldn't see him.

It'd be something if she could find the others.

"Guys?" she called. "Hey, can anyone hear me?"

Her voice echoed down the sunlit pipe. But there was no answer. Shrugging, Mew skated a little further down, and called again.

And something heard her.

Scorn crept into the park. Right. To the full pipe. And quick. They'd be bound to recognise him sooner or later, and then it would be flaming torch mobs again. Kell was right, it would have been safer to have stayed behind. But this was too good a chance to pass up.

Mew sighed. Maybe the others weren't here. But where could they be?

She sank down on the warm ground, next to the thinnest part of the pipe.

Then she heard a sound.

Scorn skated through the pipe, trying to think. He was kind of nervous now. If he was wrong…

Or even worse, if he was right, and he vanished too…

"Idiot," he told himself. "All they are is locked up someplace, probably ready to kill for some porn and a cheeseburger. That's not terrible."

Anyway, he hoped that was all they were.

Surely…

Nah. Killing rudies…

But it wasn't impossible.

He suddenly felt queasy. He should get out of here. Now.

No. He'd come this far.

He skated on.

Mew sat up a little, and peered round the corner, telling herself nothing was wrong.

"Hello?" she called.

No one there. She breathed a sigh, relief filling her body like cool water. She'd just wait for Yo-Yo –

Hang on.

What was that?

Scorn rounded the corner. He was coming up to the thinnest part of the full pipe now. Where could it be happening? Matrix had disappeared round here, he was sure he remembered Beat saying so.

And there was a shadow on the concrete, a human figure.

He moved closer.

Sweat bursting up on her skin, Mew tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

"So this was how it happened," she whispered. "But that means…"

That meant she was in danger. She had to run. But she couldn't, her body had decided to go for the freeze-in-terror approach, and was doing it well, her lungs were locking like concrete, her legs wouldn't move. She gritted her teeth and tried to force herself to move – and something grabbed her arm.

Scorn saw the girl, and heard her scream.

"What –" he began, and dashed forward, and then he never was clear about what happened next. He grabbed the girl's wrist, trying to stop her being dragged away, and she screamed and screamed and whatever was dragging her was stronger than he was. His muscles ached.

And then he was dragged forward a little, and he saw it…

Their fingers were parting. He clutched her dress, at the shoulder, but it was no good, his nails screed down the fabric as his fingers tangled in a necklace…

And then a foot slammed into his stomach, kicked him off the girl, and he flew towards the concrete wall, and then everything went all dark and star-filled and nothingy.

Yo-Yo heard Mew screaming, and ran, pushing his legs to the limit.

She's okay, he told himself, she's gotta be, she won't have – well, nothing will have happened, boy am I gonna yell at her for scaring me like this –

And suddenly the screams stopped.

Good.

Except that they'd been cut off, and that couldn't be good, ever.

He skidded round the corner, and stopped.

Sprawled on the ground, blood dribbling from an icky-looking wound on his head, lay Scorn, unconscious.

And he was clutching something silver.

Yo-Yo bent down, and suddenly felt very, very sick.

The guy was holding Mew's necklace. The chain was snapped.

"Hey, what's all the screaming about?" a familiar Australian voice called down the pipe.

Yo-Yo couldn't speak. He couldn't think.

Tracer, Hexadecimal and a Poison Jammer came strolling round the corridor.

"We heard yelling," Hex said. "What – oh, shit!"

Yo-Yo turned to face them.

"What's happened, mate?" Tracer asked.

"He – he took Mew," Yo-Yo said, wondering as he did why he was saying this. Because Mew wasn't gone. She couldn't be gone. Not her too. They'd said this was safe. It had been safe.

But it wasn't now.

"I came round the corner and found him lying here, clutching her necklace."

"He doesn't look too good," Tracer said, staring at Scorn. "Maybe we should get him to hospital or something."

"Are you crazy?" Yo-Yo yelled. "We shouldn't get him to a hospital, we should get him to a hitman! He's just kidnapped Mew, on top of everyone else, and you want to save him?"

"Yeah," the Poison Jammer said. "We shouldn't take him to hospital, we need him to act out House On 13th Street II –"

"Shut up!" Yo-Yo gripped his temples. "Just shut up about that dumb movie for one bloody second!"

"Hey, cool down," Hex said.

Yo-Yo restrained himself from hitting her with great difficulty.

"Fine," he said at last. "You save his fucking life, but I'm out of here. Because if I spend one more second anywhere near him, I am going to kill him."

And he skated away.

Gum followed Garam into the garage. Piranha was sitting there, playing pinball alone.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" Gum asked.

"Tab, Yo-Yo and Mew went out to the park again," Piranha said.

"Oh, great."

"Any luck with your Onishima-terrorising mission?"

Gum shrugged. "We've made progress."

Suddenly the door flew open and hit the wall. Gum spun round to see a furious-looking Yo-Yo standing there.

"She's gone," he gasped. "And that renegade, he – it was him."

"What?" Piranha whirled round from the pinball table. "Mew got nabbed by Scorn?"

"It can't have been him," Gum said.

"Oh, yeah?" Yo-Yo snarled. "He was at the scene of the fucking crime, Gum!"

"No, he wasn't, he was holed up in a derelict house in Shibuya," Garam said.

"Prove it."

"All right, we will!" Gum snapped. "Come on!"

Kell looked up as the door to the room was unlocked, and the four GGs burst in.

"What – what the – where the fuck is he?" Gum yelled.

"Scorn? He went out the window," Kell said. "Said he had a hunch as to who the bad guy was, and scarpered."

"See?" Yo-Yo said. "I told you it was him. And it could've been her as well, you don't know that she didn't go out and come back in again!"

"Geez, gummi bear, don't you get tired of talking out of your own ass all the time?" Kell snapped, yanking up the collar of her Poison Jam shirt as it slid down her shoulder. "What's pissed you off, anyway?"

"Mew's gone," Garam said, glowering at Kell. "Pity you and renegade couldn't have stayed put, then we'd actually have some proof you were innocent."

"I am innocent," Kell retorted. "Unless you're a paranoid psycho like dough-boy there –" She hooked a thumb at Yo-Yo. "In which case I'm the Anti-Christ."

Yo-Yo opened his mouth, but Piranha cut in, "Hey, cool it, you guys. Kell's right, there's no proof it was her."

"Thank you," Kell said.

"But as some people ain't convinced, she can stay here a little longer, right?"

"She can get out," Yo-Yo said. "Like he did."

"Not if we take the table away," Piranha said calmly. "The windows are too high up then. That suit you, Kell?"

"If it proves the gummi bear wrong, I guess we have to do it." Kell rolled her eyes.

"I ain't wrong," Yo-Yo said, curling his fists. "And as soon as I prove it, you're dead."

The sun was setting as Yo-Yo, Piranha and Tab trailed down to the park.

"Maybe we shouldn't go back here," Tab said at last. "I mean – Mew…"

"Yeah, but Scorn ain't gonna be doing nothing for a long time, he looked like shit, and Kell's locked up," Yo-Yo said, kicking a stone, which rattled along the road and ricocheted off the wall. "So we're safe."

There was a heavy silence, and then Piranha said, "But what if it wasn't –"

"It was, okay?" Yo-Yo glowered at her. "It was her, and now Mew's gone too. And whatever's happening to her you know she can't take it –"

"Hey, lay off her," Tab said. "She's a GG too."

"I know that," Yo-Yo growled. "That's the point. She's a GG and those punks took her away. There's five of us left now, you realise? Half. This keeps up we'll all be gone."

"No, we won't." Piranha shivered, the burning sun glowing in her eyes. "Look, all every rudie needs to do is not go into the full-pipe. And if it was Scorn and Kell, then we're safe anyway."

They reached the park.

"I don't like it," Tab said as they stepped through the gates.

"What, it's too quiet?" Piranha snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Oh, real funny. No, it's too tense."

Piranha glanced round the park. It was about half-full. Little groups of rudies were splashed over the concrete, whispering, glaring, shouting at each other.

Tab was right. The air hummed with tension, like it would break any moment.

Yo-Yo looked round for the Noise Tanks, and charged over to them, Piranha and Tab following.

"What'd you do to Scorn?" he asked.

"Took him to Shibuya Hospital," Tracer said. "Look, don't go nuts – if he's it, when he wakes up he can tell us where everyone is."

Yo-Yo scowled, but didn't argue.

"Look," Piranha said. "I was thinking maybe the full pipe should be put outta bounds or something."

"Who're you, Onishima?" Slash sneered.

"Oh, and you want to lose another member?"

"Okay," Tracer said. "Let's talk to the other rudies. See what they think."

Some time later…

The full pipe entrance and exit were blocked off with piles of street debris – old traffic cones, barrels, miscellaneous bits of wood.

"That won't stop anyone," Slash said.

"No, but it'll point out to any rudies we should really stay out of it."

"I don't see why we should," Hex said. "Scorn's in hospital and Kell's in the sewers."

The GGs kept their mouths shut.

"Nothing'll happen," the Noise Tank continued. "We're safe, and this is just panic."

"What the fuck're you talking about?" Yo-Yo yelled. "We all thought it was safe this morning, and now Mew's vanished!"

"Yeah, well, Scorn escaped, didn't he?"

"Maybe he's done that again. Or maybe Kell's out now. This full-pipe is dangerous, okay?"

"Let's just test that, shall we?" Hex said. "I'll skate through it from here to the end. If I come out okay, we take down the barrier and stop actin' like headless chickens. If I don't, then maybe you got a point."

Everyone watched as she stepped over the barrier and into the black pool of shadow that was the mouth of the full-pipe. The clack of her skates on concrete faded as she turned a corner.

"Come on," Tracer said, swallowing. "Let's get to the end of it, to meet her."

They skated round to the full pipe exit, shadows stretched out behind them over the orange-tinted concrete, and waited.

And waited.

The full pipe remained silent.

"No," Tracer said at last. "No way."

"Told you it was dangerous," Yo-Yo muttered.

Tracer whirled on him and smacked him hard in the mouth. "Just shut the fuck up!"

Yo-Yo pressed a hand to his mouth, rubbing away blood, and slammed the other one into Tracer's stomach.

"Stop it!" Piranha yelled.

"Why should he?" Megabyte growled. "Maybe you deserve it, maybe it was you GGs after all!"

"What?" Tab yelled. "Are you nuts? We just lost five members, or did you have a power cut to your brain?"

Megabyte raised his fists. "Kell lost two members, and that didn't stop anyone suspecting her."

"Well, maybe it was you lot!" Piranha snapped. "After all, you lost a bunch of people too! Or maybe it was the Poison Jammers! Or Onishima! We don't fucking know! Just quit it!"

A silence fell over the park as the daylight slipped away.

"Whatever," Tracer at last. He turned to the other Noise Tanks. "Come on, guys, let's get back."

"Just call her," Megabyte said. "Maybe she's goofing around."

Tracer shrugged, but walked over to the full pipe, and hollered Hexidecimal's name into the darkness.

No answer.

Gum angrily threw paint onto the bus. She was shaking with fury.

So it had taken Mew now. Mew who cried easily and was cute and – and oh, lord, what the hell was happening to her?

Wouldn't you like to know?

The voice – familiar now – hissed through her brain like smoke.

Maybe you should come down and see.

"Get stuffed," Gum said. Man, she needed more sleep.

Close your eyes and watch. I can show what's happening to them.

"No."

Close your eyes.

"No!"

A high scream tore through her head, a familiar scream, Mew, Mew, Mew…

"You two-bit dirty cowardly bastard!" Gum yelled. "You're sitting there hiding in the dark taunting me, you wouldn't dare do that if we were face to face!"

But we will be, Gum-chan. Face to face for ever and ever…

"Gum?"

She jumped, and turned to face Garam.

"Who are you talking to?"

Gum shrugged. "No one."

Someone.

Hearing voices now.

But who?