Big Bad Robo-Type Dudes
For the next few days, things were kind of quiet around Tokyo-to. The GGs began to go out tagging more regularly.
Then it happened.
Combo and Cube were tagging the bus terminal. Cube was feeling a little more on her feet.
"Combo?" she said as she tagged the two taxis parked under a billboard. "Do you reckon that maybe I'm gonna be okay?"
"Well, there's been no sign of Kell and Onishima, has there?" Combo called down from the platform above her. "Maybe they ran out of batteries. Let's finish tagging and get back. I got some big bowl of curry waiting for me back home."
"Whatever you say. I'm done down here. You done up there?"
"Yup." Combo leapt down and landed next to Cube. "Come on, kid."
Cube grinned. Combo had been the one person she could lean on during all this. Slate had been so mad with Kell that he was permanently tense, and she couldn't forgive him for taking up with that ice guy. But Combo had just been the same as always – dependable and safe.
Suddenly there was a bang.
Combo leapt forward and shoved Cube to one side.
Cube fell, and as she did, there was a massive explosion. She felt the heat on her skin as it threw her across the ground.
Then everything went quiet.
Cube froze. She didn't want to look round.
A charred box landed in front of her vision. Combo's ghetto blaster.
Trembling, Cube sat up and made herself turn and see what had happened.
Combo was lying there. Well, most of him.
Cube looked to where the shot had come from. There was a large metallic figure standing on top of a building. She squinted. She couldn't make out anything more than a silhouette, but whoever it was…hell, it was big. Much bigger than Combo.
Then it turned, and dashed away over the rooftops.
Cube turned her attention to Combo. Quickly she got out her mobile phone and called the garage.
"Hello? This is Beat speaking."
Cube opened her mouth to speak, and found she couldn't.
"Who is it? Kell, if it's you, get lost…"
"Beat – get the Tabs. It's Combo."
Soon the Tabs, Beat, Gum, and Slate, were racing into the bus terminal.
They saw Combo.
"Shit," both Tabs said simultaneously.
"Oh, boy. Who the hell did this?" Beat asked.
Cube shrugged. Slate dropped down next to her and carefully placed an arm round her. She was trembling.
"Neo-Onishima," Future Tab said.
"Who?"
"I was hoping he wouldn't get created." Tab sighed. "He's the reason our dimension fell. He's the heavily upgraded version of Delta Onishima. We are talking serious bad-ass guy here. Just before I went back here, he killed Beat, Potts and Gum."
He turned back to Combo.
"It's okay," Slate said to Cube. "It's okay."
"No. No." Cube shook her head. She was breathing very fast. "It's not. He pushed me out of the way. He took it for me."
Slate didn't answer. He couldn't think what to say. Combo had always been his best friend. Before the GGs. Before Cube had arrived. He felt tears sting the back of his eyes, and quickly blinked them away. He had to be strong.
The Tabs were bustling around Combo, checking his body with various scanners and other pieces of medical equipment.
"Well, what can you do for him?" Beat asked.
"There's two things we can say. One, he's dead and there's nothing we can do. But two, we can reanimate him as a cyborg. It'll be a tough job, but I reckon we can handle it. Right, Tab?"
"You bet, Tab."
"Right. Then get him back to the garage and get busy."
"Don't worry, we'll have him up in no time. He'll be fine."
Slate watched as the others began to transport Combo back to the garage. He couldn't get up. He sat there, his arm round Cube's shoulders, his mind numb from shock.
Combo went into intensive care as soon as they got back to the garage. The Tabs put on their operation outfits and went to work.
Cube and Slate waited outside the operation theatre as the day wore on. There was no news from the Tabs. Slate was becoming increasingly worried.
He looked over at Cube, who was sitting a few feet away. She was crying silently. He hadn't dared talk to her. She'd seemed to be relying on Combo so badly. And now –
It was too hard to speak to her. He didn't know what to say.
"Slate?"
Cube's voice was husky from crying. He turned to look at her.
"He'll – he'll be okay, right, won't he?"
"Sure he will. He's got the Tabs." Slate tried to sound hopeful, but he could hear his voice sinking.
"Oh, Coin…" She fell into his arms.
She usually called him Slate most of the time. Coin was reserved for moments of emotion. This definitely qualified
"I just want him to be okay…" she sobbed as he held her. "I just want him to be okay…"
It was three o'clock in the morning when Future Tab came out to them.
Slate could feel the chair digging into his back. He blinked, and sat up, yawning. "Well? What's going on?"
"I have some good news and some bad news," Tab said.
Slate gently elbowed Cube, who had been dozing next to him, and she rubbed her eyes.
"What?"
"Well, the good news is, Combo's stable. We've placed him in stasis. The bad news is…he's not alive. We can't animate him without a molecular reanimation unit. Otherwise known as a bionic heart. I don't have one 'cos I used it on Combo in the future, and Present Tab doesn't have one because Koji never gave him one because he detected the flux in the continuum caused by my arrival."
"So what does that mean?" Cube asked. "What can we do?" Slate could feel her shivering. There was a thin line of streetlight shining in through the window, catching her face and glinting on her tears.
"Well, you personally can't do anything," Tab said. "But I think I may be able to provide a solution to our dilemma. I might be able to recreate the time machine I used to get here, and go back to my own future."
"What good would that do?" Slate said.
"I could see if I could find a bionic heart there. It's the only way. They're not in existence here, and won't be for another three years or so, and we don't have that time."
"Okay. Do what you have to," Cube said. "Can – can we see Combo?"
"Sure."
Cube and Slate walked into the operating room. Combo lay in the middle of it in a glass coffin like the ones Kell and Onishima had been in.
"Combo?" Cube walked forward.
"He can't hear you," Present Tab said. "But feel free to talk to him anyway."
Slate came to stand next to Cube, and they both stared down at their friend.
One side of his face had been metal-plated. He'd lost an arm, and it had been replaced by a metal, clawed appendage.
"Tab? Why the claws?"
"I like claws," Present Tab said coolly. "And we might need them, if Kell attacks."
Slate gazed down at the coffin. It was lit by a dull blue light which cast shadows onto his and Cube's faces.
"Will he be…different?"
"Only physically. Mentally he'll be happy as a clam. We managed to save his brain. Just like Koji did with the Terrible Two."
Slate felt rage flicker inside him at the mention of the two horrors that had carried out this atrocity. Tab seemed to voice his thoughts. "Boy, what I'd do if I had them right here, right now…and a couple of giant robots to back me up, of course."
"I'm gonna stay here," Cube said. "In case anything happens."
"But nothing will happen –" Present Tab began, and then was cut off as Future Tab clapped a hand over his mouth. "Come on, me, let's – uh – go and – uh – polish the scalpels, okay?"
They clattered out.
"Don't worry," Slate said. "We'll get them for this."
And for what they did to you, he thought, but didn't say. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Sure." Cube sat down next to the coffin.
"Are you gonna be okay?" He couldn't help remembering the mention of scalpels, and knowing how depressed Cube was gonna be…
She must have guessed what he was thinking. "Slate, I'm not going to do anything. I have got to be there if – when he wakes up, so don't worry. Just go to sleep."
Slate kissed her, and walked out.
But he didn't go and sleep. Grabbing a few paint cans, he dashed out to the night.
The next day, Beat was woken by his clock radio, and by Professor K's voice booming into his ears.
"This is Jet Set Radio in the morning! And in our first news item, the police station has been completely and utterly tagged – again!"
(A/N: See Down And Out.)
"This tag ain't so pretty as the last one, but it's still got its own sense of style. It depicts Captain Onishima and his – ahem – associate Kell getting decapitated! Some rudie's sure got a grudge out there! So alla you kits, kats and dawgs out there, stay cool and keep tagging!"
(A/N: Ta, Disk. Kits, Kats And Dawgs is his line.)
Beat sat up straight. Huh?
Okay, who mused, who went tagging last night?
Me – no. Tabs – no. Combo – no. Duh. Cube – no. Garam and Piranha – no – I heard the noises from their room next door. Yo-Yo – nope – was trying to get into Mew's room again, and Mew was barricading the door, so not her either. Gum – no – Gum was in here last night…
Beat hauled his mind back from the gutter and carried on his roll-call.
Hmm. Slate. Where was he last night? I'll ask him. Maybe he knows.
His thoughts were interrupted by a bang from the lab, and one of the Tabs yelling, "You fool! You absolute idiot! I said a low, get this, low charge, but nooooo, you had to go and put it on full power, didn't you? – you blew up the whole project! Great! Brilliant, me!"
"Well, excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!" the other Tab retorted. "When you said, 'Put the power on, Tab,' did you specify? Noooo. Am I in the wrong? Nooo. Is this all your fault? Yeeeees!"
Beat got up and walked out into the lab where the two Tabs were standing nose to nose glaring at each other.
"What are you guys doing?"
"What do you think we're doing? We're having an argument!"
"What are you building?" Beat asked, looking at a smoking contraption sitting on the lab table.
"A time machine."
"Why?"
Future Tab quickly explained the problem with Combo. "So I'm going back to my future to see what I can find."
"But isn't that a little dangerous?"
"Yeah, but it's the only thing I can do."
"I'm coming with you," Beat said.
"No, you're not."
"Why not? I'm the leader and I say I'm coming."
"Yeah, well, in the future, you're a mouldering corpse right now. And I don't want you to become one in the present as well."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Cliché," muttered Present Tab. "Anyway, no one's going anywhere until we've got this thing fixed, no thanks to you, me…does that make sense?"
"No. And it wasn't my fault, it was your fault."
"Okay, I'll leave you two to it," Beat said, preparing to leave. "But I'm still coming, okay?"
As Beat closed the lab door behind him, he heard the explosions and insults begin to fly again.
An hour later…
Beat, the Tabs, Cube and Slate all stood before the powerful machine. Future Tab had been particularly pleased with it. It was a lot more sleek than the last one.
"This is it," he said. "I'll see you guys in approximately 2.5 seconds. If all goes to plan."
"Okay," Beat said. "Let's go, Tab."
"What do you mean, let's go?"
"I'm coming too."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am." He gripped Tab's arm. "Let's go."
Tab sighed. "You are an almighty pain in the butt, you know that? Let's go."
The two rudies stepped forward. Present Tab started tapping at the keyboard attached to the machine. Beat started to hum the Digimon time-travel music.
A blue vortex opened up before them.
Tab took a deep breath. "Beat – let's go back to the future."
They leapt into the vortex.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!"
Beat screamed his head off as they tore down a huge blue tube of light lined with strange chain-like patterns. Every atom in his body was being wrenched apart as he and Tab roared through the circuits of time.
Tab seemed to be flickering before his eyes like a badly-tuned TV. His boiler suit changed colour and sped through the spectrum. Everything was getting faster, and faster…until Beat's vision was obscured by a gigantic flash of white light.
When he came to, the scene was incredibly different. Almost the exact opposite of what he'd been through.
The air was cool and heavy, and spattered Beat's skin with dust grains. He blinked, trying to clear the flickering lights from his vision. Once he'd done that he wished he hadn't. There wasn't anything worth seeing.
They stood in the centre of what might have once been a room. A few charred bits of iron wall stood upright against the withered sky.
In the corner was a twisted, blackened heap of metal. Beat walked over to it. Its glass panel had been smashed, and the tags and graphics on it were scratched and burnt, but he could still recognise it.
The GGs' pinball machine.
"Oh, boy." Beat turned to Tab. He was feeling pretty dizzy, and under that was a numb horror of what must have happened – what would happen. "This isn't…"
"Yup. I told you this wasn't gonna be pretty."
Beat looked around, shivering. "Do you know where to start looking?"
"Sure. Where Combo's body now lies. The bus terminal. Come on."
Tab picked his way through the rubble. It crunched under his skates. Beat followed him, unable to believe that this shell of a building was the place he'd come to call home. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
"Do you know the way?" he asked Tab, who was walking some way ahead.
"We both do."
Beat looked around at the shattered buildings. "How? How can you tell?"
"Beat, this is the street where you first met me and Gum. You know the route. Just walk it, okay?"
Beat looked around them. They were walking down a pavement which had been cracked and torn like paper, surrounded by empty, derelict ruins. And it was silent. Painfully, horribly silent. All he could hear were the sounds of his and Tab's skates.
They walked past a twisted metal structure that still had scraps of paper impaled on it. The billboard he'd once wall ridden on. Next to it were the remains of a rail.
A memory echoed in his mind.
He faced the girl, trying not to act too smug. He could see she'd thought he wouldn't be able to do it. Jump onto a car. Geez, did she think he was just out of kindergarten or what?
She glared at him and said, "Not bad. Now try this next run."
She leapt up onto the glossy railing and ground along it, sparks flying from her skates. She jumped off at the end, and faced him, hands on hips, her shadow thrown across the smooth tarmac. "See if you can do that!"
"No problem." He leapt onto the rail, and shot along it, the hiss of his skates mingling with the city sounds. As he reached the end, he leapt, wall-rode off the billboard, and did a method-back flip before landing just in front of her. Her eyes narrowed in the sunlight.
Beat blinked. The golden image faded.
"Come on!" Tab yelled, his voice faint. "I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to!"
"Coming." Beat followed his friend. They walked past what should have been the bridge. Most of it had disappeared. Only one flight of steps was left, leading up to nowhere.
As he and Tab slowly made their way past the wrecked buses, they came upon what appeared to be the mutilated remains of a car. Tab paused.
"Here's where it happened. Where we lost Combo."
"Where's the heart?" Beat could see blood spattered across the ground. And pieces of twisted metal. He could just make out a bionic hand.
"Here." Tab was rummaging around in the car. He held up a cube with several ripped wires hanging loosely off it. "Now let's get out of here. I don't want to think about who we might meet."
"Why, and who would that be, Tab dear?"
Beat saw Tab turn a shade of dull grey. They both turned – and saw Kell standing a foot away from them, twirling a dagger idly on her fingers.
"Shit. Beat – I think it's time to run."
"Why? We've got all the time in the world." Kell stepped a little closer, and glanced at Beat. "Funny – I thought you had a bionic eye. Hang on, wasn't I the one that gave it to you? Oops. Sorry. But I think you looked kind of cute with it. So –"
Kell leapt forward, brandishing her knife. She swung it across her body, aiming at Beat's head. Beat desperately dived to one side. The knife caught him savagely in the eye.
"Beat! No way! This happened before!" Through the haze of pain, Beat felt Tab grab his arm and start to run him forward.
"Keep running, boys. I'll catch up with you later. Once I've got another dagger. This one's sort of old. I think I need something bigger. Like a chainsaw. Don't go too far, though – I need the entertainment. Life's been so dull since Cube died. Toodles!"
Beat could vaguely see out of one eye as they raced towards Park Street. His vision was becoming hazy. He felt steps catch at his feet, and looked down to see that they were climbing the steps to the playground. Tab stopped next to the bruised remains of the elephant slide.
"Tab…what are we doing here…" It hurt to talk. It hurt to think. Heck, it hurt to live.
"Watch." He pressed the elephant's eye. A door opened up on one of the legs. "In here."
Beat felt himself being led down a winding spiral staircase. When he managed to get his vision back he was looking at the interior of a high-tech laboratory.
Then it all went dark as Tab stuck a hypodermic needle into his arm.
Meanwhile in the past…
Benten-cho residential district.
Mew bent over to force a stone out of her skate, and heard Yo-Yo wolf-whistle.
Quickly she straightened up, and yelled, "Will you knock it off? You never do it to any of the others – why me?"
"Well, you're just the most beautiful. And kind. And gentle. And sweet…you're the best!"
Mew could have sworn she saw a trace of sincerity run across Yo-Yo's normally sneering face – but then it was gone, and she snapped, "Yeah, right."
"And of course, the most bootylicious butt in Benten-cho –"
"Ohhh…just wait till I get my hands on you!" Mew snarled.
"Can't keep your hands to yourself, eh? You naughty girl! Hey, I know I'm cute, but –"
Mew gave what could best be called a feral growl, and launched herself over the roofs towards Yo-Yo, fists flailing.
Suddenly Yo-Yo yelled, "Mew, Onishima's in the sky!"
"Oh, yeah, like that's gonna save you now, bug-boy."
"No, Mew, he's telling the truth! Look!" Gamma came round the corner of the rooftop towards them.
Mew turned, and saw a giant image of Onishima's dome-encased head floating in the sky.
"RUDIES OF TOKYO-TO!" it roared. "YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED! WE WILL NOW TURN THE VERY PUBLIC AGAINST YOU!"
A slightly quieter, female voice rang out. "UH, ONISHIMA, HONEY…AS TERRIFYING THREATS GO, THAT ONE REALLY SUCKED."
"SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO MAKE A LIVE TRANSMISSION HERE! ANYWAY, UH…PREPARE TO BE ANNIHILATED! FIRE!"
Mew looked in horror as a purple beam shot out of the sky and hit the dead centre of Tokyo-to. When it struck, a massive dome-like corona of light burst out from the point of impact and spread out across the city.
Mew stared as it came closer and closer. It passed over her, Yo-Yo and Gamma, leaving them seemingly unchanged.
Then she glanced down at the people walking in the streets. They had changed. Their eyes were glowing red with hatred as they stared up at the rudies.
"Uh…guys?" Yo-Yo said. "I think now would be a good time to run."
They dashed across the rooftops. Skylights were opened and people began to pour out after them.
"Quick! Onto the telephone wire!"
Gamma leapt, followed by Mew and Yo-Yo. Looking back, Mew saw someone hurl a stone.
"Yo-Yo, look out!"
Too late. The stone struck Yo-Yo's temple, and knocked him off the wire, down into the street of rabid people.
"Get going, guys," he called faintly up as the relentless tide of citizens bore down on him.
Gamma and Mew leapt from one wire to another, and then down into the subway. Quickly they began to hurry through it. Then they saw a crowd heading towards them from the other direction.
"Ah, shit," Gamma said. "Quick, grind onto the banisters!"
They each leapt onto a banister and ground past the multitude, leaping off at the other end and racing up the ramp out into the walkway district.
It looked pretty empty. Mew ran under a walkway, following Gamma. "Make for the station," he gasped. "We can hide by the rails…"
Mew nodded, and kept running. Once she glanced back, and saw the mob hot on their heels. A sob caught in her throat, and she forced her aching legs to run faster.
Suddenly someone threw a brick from a walkway above them. It caught Gamma on the head, and he dropped like a stone.
Mew looked desperately back at the mob. They were coming closer. She could make it into the underground…
…but Gamma couldn't.
She dropped down next to him, and feverishly tried to revive him. It was no good. He was out for the count.
The crowd reached her. Someone grabbed her wrist and punched her in the face. She felt blood spatter from her nose, speckle her lips. Hands grabbed her. An elbow came down onto the back of her neck. She felt herself falling, and crumpled over Gamma.
Alex skated down Center Street, wishing she didn't have to have people being mad with her all the time.
Shackler kicked a bus, wishing it was Blizzard's head. How dare that dumb freak steal his girl?
Blizzard gloomily tagged the elephant slide and froze a swing. No one ever wanted him near them. And who could blame them? It was just like that guy – his brother? – had said. He'd been created as a killing machine.
Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him, and turned. Lots of people, dashing up into the playground. What did they want?
Then he saw the feral hatred in their eyes. He felt fear setting into his stomach. He was going to have to fight – but he didn't want to – he couldn't trust these powers. But the rage on the faces of the mob told him if he didn't fight, he would die.
He'd do neither. Placing his hands on the ground, he created a huge pillar of ice beneath him. As he rose into the air he debated adding turrets, but decided that that would be showy.
From his vantage point he had a better view of Shibuya-cho. He could see Alex being beaten savagely by the angry mob, and Shackler punching out with one hand, and supporting himself with the other, as if he had a broken leg.
Blizzard winced as Shackler was overrun by the swarm of people. Then he saw Alex fighting off five foes single-handedly. But she was beginning to tire.
Then a fist shot out and punched her in the eye, and she fell.
"Alex!" Blizzard yelled.
She looked up and saw him. "Blizzard…" She was promptly caught across the back of the head by a hubcap, and crumpled to the ground.
Blizzard sank to his knees on the ice. Tears stained his face and froze as they hit the ice. He'd failed again. What would the others say when they heard? He was gonna kicked out of the GGs for sure.
It was all his fault. Why didn't he just end it now?
Carefully he created a blade of ice. Holding it to his throat, he prepared to slice.
Beat opened his eyes. The world seemed different. His vision seemed to have a greenish tint.
He sat up. Tab was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, playing on a Gameboy.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine. What happened?"
"I had to repair your eye. I mean, that was pretty freaky, seeing as I already fixed it once. You really have a tendency for losing eyes, you know that?"
"Well, sorree. Can this eye do anything? You know, X-ray vision and stuff?"
"Yeah…it's got the usual. X-ray, telescopic, scanning, you know…Try this. Look at me and concentrate on everything you know about me."
Beat stared intensely at Tab. Suddenly the view turned even greener, and words started to scroll across his vision.
First name: Tab…Second name: Unknown…Occupation: Rudie…Gang: GGs…
The list scrolled on. Beat discovered that Tab had four birthmarks across his chest, and had two bionic eyes incorporated into his visor.
"Cool."
"Now see if you can look through the wall of the lab. Better look up or you won't see much, though…"
Beat stared up at the walls, and visualised looking through them. Then his view turned red. He could see through the walls.
And what he was seeing was not good.
The elephant slide, above them, was surrounded by four robots and a single cop.
"Tab, get down!"
Beat leapt across the room and slammed Tab onto the floor. Bullets burst through the slide and hailed down to where they'd just been standing.
Tab pulled Beat to safety behind a desk.
"Tab, we're trapped. How're we going to get out of this one? It's only a matter of time until they plug us full of lead."
"Not to worry." Tab pressed a secret panel on the wall. The wall slid back to reveal a tunnel. Tab and Beat began to crawl along it. Slowly it sloped upwards until a ladder appeared and they began to climb up it.
Tab pushed back the trapdoor at the top of the ladder and climbed out onto the unfinished roadway, which was pockmarked with craters. The firing behind them ceased.
Below them, one of the robots pulled out a rocket launcher and aimed it at the side of the elephant. There was a momentous explosion as the secret door was blown to ashes.
"Down here!" The officer stomped down into the lab. Quickly Tab covered the entrance to the trapdoor with a brick-filled garbage can. Not wasting any time, they ran.
"Ouch!" said Gum as she was thrown heavily into the cell.
She looked around. She couldn't believe it. All the GGs except for Cube, Combo, Future Tab and Beat were there, plus Shackler, Alex and Gamma.
"Guys! How did this happen?"
"The general public attacked us," said Present Tab, nursing a black eye. "Man, this guy got me good with a brick…"
Gum looked over at the others. Everyone had various injuries. Garam and Piranha were sitting next to each other, tending to the cuts on each other's bodies.
"Will you guys stop being cute?" Gum snapped.
"Well, sorree."
Mew was nursing Gamma, and Yo-Yo was trying to nurse Mew as surreptitiously as he could.
Gum looked around the cell again. This was the old Poison Jammer base – the abandoned factory. Onishima and Kell had placed bars over the central pit in the middle, which was where the GGs were now. She couldn't see any sign of anyone other than her friends, though.
Then she heard the sound of skates, and she saw a bladed silhouette enter the factory.
"Hi, honeys…"
Gum heard Mew whimper.
"Well, well, well, it's Queen Bitch herself," Gum said loudly.
"Well, well, well, it's Little Miss Tough Guy." Kell's voice echoed mockingly through the bars.
"So, Kell, you got all of us now? What are you going to do with us?"
"Oh, I don't know…mental torture…psychological torture…physical torture…death. Does that sound good to you, lovey?"
"Just peachy." Gum tried to repress the rage in her throat.
"Uh – Kell," Tab said, "Psychological and mental torture are the same thing."
"Shut up."
"I'm not scared of you, Kell," Gum called.
"Excellent. Because you're coming out first."
Kell unlocked the door. Before Gum could dodge, Kell had grabbed her wrist, dragged her out, and relocked the door behind them.
"So what're you gonna do? Your Majesty." Gum noticed that the factory doors had been pulled shut and locked, blocking out what little light there was.
Kell was studying the pit. When she turned round again, her face was a mask of fury. "Where's Cube – and Beat – and Combo?"
"Uh – I don't know. I thought they were here," Gum said sweetly. "Ah, what's wrong, you goofed?"
Kell dragged her away from the pit and through a door on the left wall, into a large room covered in Poison Jam tags. Then she stopped, and very slowly extended a claw and traced it down the front of Gum's minidress. It cut through Gum's dress and bra, and the cool air hit her skin.
"Oh, I don't think I goofed. Sure, I can't have fun with Cube…yet…but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with you." Calmly she retracted her claw into her finger.
"You touch me and I'll break your arm."
"I don't think you can do that, Gum. Don't worry." She reached out and caressed one of Gum's breasts, her touch casual. "I mean, if Cube can handle it, I'm sure you can, tough girl."
Gum swung out her fist in a wide arc. It caught Kell squarely on the jaw.
"Oh, dear, that really, really hurt. That your best? It's going to take a lot more than that to stop me." Kell gripped Gum's shoulders. "So I wouldn't bother fighting if I were you. You'll simply get more damage."
"Am I supposed to be scared?" Gum sneered. That was a blatant lie. She was scared. She was terrified. But there was no way she was going to let it show.
Kell pushed her roughly back against the wall, and then kissed her. Gum struggled to shove the cyborg away, but Kell was too heavy.
"Don't bother." Kell held Gum's wrists together behind her back with one hand and stroked her breast with the other.
Gum could feel the terror threatening to rise up and destroy her like a tidal wave. Desperately trying to fight it, she yelled, "Let go of me, you sick lesbian freak!"
Kell laughed. "That's a new one on me. Honestly, you're so much more tense than Cube. She just lay back and let me. But you…I mean, are you scared?"
"Like hell I am." Gum tried to ignore the sensation of Kell's hands on her body. "I'm just grossed out because you have all the seduction skills of a slug with halitosis."
Kell slapped her across the face. "Nice manners you've got."
"They're my speciality."
Gum felt Kell's fingers reach between her legs. She clenched her fists and desperately tried to break the cyborg's grip on her wrists, but it was no good.
"Why, you seem to be quite enjoying this," Kell murmured. "Doesn't take much to make your pussy pout, does it?"
"What's…that supposed…to mean?" Gum tried to keep her mind on the words she was speaking. If she didn't she knew she'd notice properly what the cyborg was doing to her, and then – she didn't know what would happen in her mind, but she knew it wouldn't be good.
"Well, you didn't think you'd got a nice reputation, did you?"
Don't feel. Just listen. "I don't think…you're the right person to be…to be talking about reputations, cop-lover."
"You know they all think you're a whore." Kell's voice was soft, happiness catching in every breath. "You strut around in that minidress, 'accidentally' flashing your underpants every time you fall over…and give the GG leader a tongue sandwich on every street corner…and now, well, you act like you're hating this but your body sure ain't backing up the story. There's enough juice down here to clean a floor with."
"You're the only whore in this room…" Gum forced her eyes to notice the lines of sunlight falling onto the floor, the beer cans lying crumpled in the corners, the faded edges of the tags on the walls. Anything. I'm not gonna be able to keep this up, she thought. I'll crack. I'll have to feel it, and then my mind'll snap, and she'll love it.
"What's wrong?" Kell's voice was mocking. "Am I going too fast for you? Don't worry, it won't be over any time soon."
Gum felt tears sting her eyes and quickly slammed them shut. But that was worse. Now there was nothing to distract her from what was going on. Kell was close to her, all over her, her fingers generating sensations that ran through Gum's skin.
"Can't you handle it?" The voice was like acid, each sentence tracing out new scars. "That surprises me. Still, I should have guessed you weren't as tough as you acted…"
"And…you think you're tough?" Gum could feel Kell's body pressed against hers. Terror was building in her throat. Despite her best efforts, she could feel what was going on only too clearly, and nerves all over her body were tense and itchy. Slowly she was being pushed into hysteria.
I've got to do something, she thought, and said, "You're not tough. You're not…I was on that roof when you fell off it, and I seem to remember you weren't acting so brave then. Something like, 'No! No! Get away from me!' " She adopted a high, mewling tone, and then winced as Kell grabbed her hair and pulled back her head.
"You shut up," she snarled. "You shut up right now."
"Is that the best you can do? You know I'm right." Gum couldn't stop the words. "You're a coward at heart. So you screwed me. So what? You're a sex-obsessed, bitchy, twisted cow and you don't scare me –"
She felt the jagged edge of Kell's buzzsaw pressed against her throat.
For a moment everything went very quiet. Gum swallowed, very carefully, and prayed.
Then the buzzsaw was moved away. Gum let her breath out very slowly. She was beginning to feel dizzy. Dimly she heard Kell say, "No. It'd be fun, but I wouldn't want Beat to miss it."
Gum could feel herself trembling, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to stand up. Frantically she tried to regain her balance, but it was no good. She fell onto her knees, and heard Kell laugh.
"What's wrong, sweetie? A little tense?"
"Leave me alone." Gum heard the plea in her voice, and hated it.
Kell laughed. "Kiss my skates, honey."
Gum swallowed, rage and fear coursing through her veins.
"Well, go on, do it." Gum felt the buzzsaw touch her shoulder. "I don't want you to die, but I can cut off a limb and then bandage you up. I don't think you'd find that very cool, would you?"
Gum wanted to try and fight, but the thought of the pain she'd suffer made her tremble. Very slowly, hating herself, she bent over and kissed the Love Shocker's skate.
"Good. Now the other one."
"Please don't make me," Gum whispered, and immediately wanted to kick herself. That wasn't going to do anything.
She felt a sharp scratch down her back, and looked up to see the buzzsaw speckled with her blood.
"That was a shallow cut," Kell said. "Now do it unless you want something worse."
Gum forced herself to kiss the other skate, and wished she was dead.
"Given up." There was satisfaction in Kell's voice. "You know what? Cube seems weak, but when you hurt her she has strength underneath. You…well, I guess it's the other way round." She pulled Gum to her feet, pushed her forward, twisting one arm up behind her back. "I knew you wouldn't be able to hold out."
They stumbled down the steps. Kell unlocked the door, and said, "Okay, let's see…I want you, Mew sweetie, you, ginger, and you, Noise Tank. Get moving or I'll cut her throat."
Gum felt the saw touch her skin again. She saw Mew, Yo-Yo, and Gamma get to their feet and walk towards the door. As they reached it, Kell dropped Gum, who fell to the floor, grabbed Mew, and said, "Don't try running, guys.
"Oh, and by the way…" She stopped and turned to face the prisoners. "If anyone does get lucky and gets out, I'll kill one rudie for every five minutes you're gone. There's a lot of you here I know nothing about and care even less, so I'd play nice and stay put."
Then she dragged Mew forward, and as Gamma and Yo-Yo followed, relocked the door behind them.
Gum knelt on the floor, shivering, and feeling the tears she'd held back spill out of her eyes and down her face.
"Gum, are you okay?"
Present Tab touched her arm tentatively. "What did she do?"
Gum shook her head. "I…I don't…I don't want to talk about it." She looked down at her clothes, and saw she was practically naked. "Does anyone have anything I could wear?"
"Here." Data took off her Noise Tank jacket and handed it to Gum.
As Gum slid it over her ruined minidress she could feel everyone watching her. She glared round at them and snapped through her tears, "Stop it! Just stop staring at me, okay? I'm fine…"
She couldn't seem to stop crying. Her face felt like a waterfall.
"Don't be dumb." Tab sounded furious. "I can guess what was going on up there."
"Oh, that's great." Gum's voice shook with tears. "You think I'm pathetic as well. Well, fine. Go on, admit it. I know I'm weak. She knows I'm weak. You know –"
"Stop it." Tab took her hand. "Stop beating yourself up about it. She's a bitch and she wanted to hurt you. If you didn't do what she wanted she'd have mutilated you. It's not your fault."
Gum sniffed and wished she could stop sobbing. But in a way she was grateful for it. It helped her not to think. Not to remember.
"Did she – did she actually rape you?" Slate said from the other side of the cell.
Gum closed her eyes and nodded. She felt Tab's grip tighten.
"What's with you?" she asked. Her voice was hoarse.
"You're my best friend, how do you think I'm going to feel? I'll kill her!"
"Cube handled it," Gum said bitterly. "I didn't."
"Cube didn't handle it any better than you're doing," Slate said. "You haven't tried slitting your wrists yet."
"Don't worry," Tab said. He hugged her. She could feel anger in his arms. "She's just one crazy psycho. You've got all of us."
"For how long? She said herself she's going to kill us all."
"Then we'll go down together, okay? We're the GGs. With supporting gangs, of course. She's just jealous because she's got no one. Even Onishima hates her."
Gum tried to smile.
"And you've got me," Tab said smugly. "What else can go wrong?"
"Don't say that," Gum said. "You don't know what's happening up there now."