Chapter 31- No POV
"Welcome kids of the city. We have great news. Power and chaos has returned to us," declared the queen of the Technos on the screen. Except, the Mallrats noticed, she was no longer dressed as the queen of the Technos, instead Java was dressed in tight revealing black leather with no Techno mark on her forehead.
As she stepped out of the camera someone else stepped into view, someone with a red streaked face and hypnotically pale eyes.
"Bray.?" whispered Amber questioningly not taking her eyes from the screen in shock
"Its him" Bray whispered sounding haunted
On screen Zoot's mouth twisted strangely, a gesture of victory and superiority, as if sensing the reaction of his viewers.
"Yes, I have returned to you, I have returned to my chosen city to bring power and chaos as I promised" he declared "With my queen" at this point the camera flashed back to a smiling Java, she had won and she knew it "And the new Locos, I shall rule this city as it should be ruled, in the new ways, in our ways" he ranted at the camera, his voice rising to a crescendo as if he had a crowd cheering him on.
The screen returned to the symbol of the Locos.
"We are so dead," commented Lex
Before anyone had chance to pass further comment the screen suddenly flashed back to life to show Zoot again
"Rats" Zoot said into the camera "I know you can hear this, I have something to show you. Meet me in three days at the place I will tell you of, if you want to get back what you lost" with that short threading message the broadcast ended
"Ebony!" Jay whispered in the silence that followed.
Mouse got up off the chair she had been sat in and wrapped her arms around Salene's legs
"That was him," she shrieked sounding panicked "That was the bad man"
Salene bent down so she was at Mouse's height
"It's ok" she told her "We wont let him hurt you or anyone" she told the little girl "ok?" she asked when Mouse seemed to have calmed down slightly "You and Sammy go and play" Salene told her "We have things to discuss"
When mouse had run off and Salene had stood back so Pride could wrap his arms back around her Salene asked
"What are we going to do?"
"First thing" said Lex "We post guards 24/7"
"Right" said Siva from next to him "Someone let Zoot in to get Ebony and they knew how to operate all our systems and alarms." She put enough emphasis on the 'our' to let everyone know who she meant.
"You think Taisan." said Bray
Just as Siva was about to start a tirade against Taisan Amber stepped in
"We don't know anyway" she said calmingly "But we do need to post guards"
"Are we going to go to this meeting with Zoot then" May put in
"We have to go" Jay said simply a if were already decided "He has Ebony"
"Wait a sec," said Lex "We're walking into a trap here"
Jay moved to stand in front of Lex aggressively
"A trap? Really? A trap d'ya think Lex" he said sarcastically "A trap is Ebony lying in a pool of her own blood and yet not being able to tell us who did that to her." Jay yelled at Lex letting out feelings of fustration he had been bottling up.
After Jay's tirade there was a nervous silence, even Lex didn't know what to say to that.
Suddenly Pride spoke up from behind Salene
"Jay's right" he said "Even after everything we still cant just leave Ebony there"
There was a general nodding and agreement, Lex looked as if he might disagree but for once he just kept quiet.
"Fine we go then," said Amber with a certain finality, the meeting was over.
The three days before the meeting were tense ones, the Mallrats were under constant threat of invasion by Zoot and the Locos. Jay took the whole affair quite badly, in the day time he threw himself into helping Patch prepare the hospital for when they could receive patients again but at night he sneaked out of the mall to look for Ebony, all the Mallrats knew he was doing it, but they couldn't stop him, he hadn't been a Techno general for nothing.
"Welcome kids of the city. We have great news. Power and chaos has returned to us," declared the queen of the Technos on the screen. Except, the Mallrats noticed, she was no longer dressed as the queen of the Technos, instead Java was dressed in tight revealing black leather with no Techno mark on her forehead.
As she stepped out of the camera someone else stepped into view, someone with a red streaked face and hypnotically pale eyes.
"Bray.?" whispered Amber questioningly not taking her eyes from the screen in shock
"Its him" Bray whispered sounding haunted
On screen Zoot's mouth twisted strangely, a gesture of victory and superiority, as if sensing the reaction of his viewers.
"Yes, I have returned to you, I have returned to my chosen city to bring power and chaos as I promised" he declared "With my queen" at this point the camera flashed back to a smiling Java, she had won and she knew it "And the new Locos, I shall rule this city as it should be ruled, in the new ways, in our ways" he ranted at the camera, his voice rising to a crescendo as if he had a crowd cheering him on.
The screen returned to the symbol of the Locos.
"We are so dead," commented Lex
Before anyone had chance to pass further comment the screen suddenly flashed back to life to show Zoot again
"Rats" Zoot said into the camera "I know you can hear this, I have something to show you. Meet me in three days at the place I will tell you of, if you want to get back what you lost" with that short threading message the broadcast ended
"Ebony!" Jay whispered in the silence that followed.
Mouse got up off the chair she had been sat in and wrapped her arms around Salene's legs
"That was him," she shrieked sounding panicked "That was the bad man"
Salene bent down so she was at Mouse's height
"It's ok" she told her "We wont let him hurt you or anyone" she told the little girl "ok?" she asked when Mouse seemed to have calmed down slightly "You and Sammy go and play" Salene told her "We have things to discuss"
When mouse had run off and Salene had stood back so Pride could wrap his arms back around her Salene asked
"What are we going to do?"
"First thing" said Lex "We post guards 24/7"
"Right" said Siva from next to him "Someone let Zoot in to get Ebony and they knew how to operate all our systems and alarms." She put enough emphasis on the 'our' to let everyone know who she meant.
"You think Taisan." said Bray
Just as Siva was about to start a tirade against Taisan Amber stepped in
"We don't know anyway" she said calmingly "But we do need to post guards"
"Are we going to go to this meeting with Zoot then" May put in
"We have to go" Jay said simply a if were already decided "He has Ebony"
"Wait a sec," said Lex "We're walking into a trap here"
Jay moved to stand in front of Lex aggressively
"A trap? Really? A trap d'ya think Lex" he said sarcastically "A trap is Ebony lying in a pool of her own blood and yet not being able to tell us who did that to her." Jay yelled at Lex letting out feelings of fustration he had been bottling up.
After Jay's tirade there was a nervous silence, even Lex didn't know what to say to that.
Suddenly Pride spoke up from behind Salene
"Jay's right" he said "Even after everything we still cant just leave Ebony there"
There was a general nodding and agreement, Lex looked as if he might disagree but for once he just kept quiet.
"Fine we go then," said Amber with a certain finality, the meeting was over.
The three days before the meeting were tense ones, the Mallrats were under constant threat of invasion by Zoot and the Locos. Jay took the whole affair quite badly, in the day time he threw himself into helping Patch prepare the hospital for when they could receive patients again but at night he sneaked out of the mall to look for Ebony, all the Mallrats knew he was doing it, but they couldn't stop him, he hadn't been a Techno general for nothing.
