Ram pecked Amber on the cheek, whispering into her ear, causing her to giggle. She nodded to whatever he said then pulled away from him, jumping and yelping when he smacked her bottom as she walked away. She pouted at him before running off up the stairs.

He then turned to the gathered Mallrats, taking in their expressions of shock and in some cases, distaste and concern. He began pacing as he spoke.

"Lovely girl, that one. A bit dodgy on the mental side, but a mouth so sweet…well Jay, I don't have to tell you how sweet. According to my intelligence information, you until recently, you have been very aware of how sweet little Amber can be. Not that I blame you for the change mind you, that Ellie appears to be a fine specimen as well. Wonder if her mouth is as sweet; only one way to find out really." Ram ceased his pacing, smirking at a struggling Jay, being held back by Pride and Lex.

"Temper, temper, Jay. You should watch it; if you keep this up, you might not live until your trial. How much fun would that be?"

Caught off guard by Ram's words, Jay ceased his fighting his friends, glaring at his former leader. "What trial?"

Ram clapped his hands together. "Oh haven't you guessed? Your, well both you and Mega actually, will be tried for treason, what more fitting punishment is there for those who would plot against their leader than a very public execution?"

Ebony laughed and Jack winced, recognizing her tone. That wasn't a happy laugh at all. He tried to catch her eye attention, to tell her not to aggravate the madman, but she would not be deterred.

Ram arched a brow and said very carefully. "Have I said something to amuse, Ebony?"

Ebony shifted in her seat, stroking her bump and glared at him. "What haven't you said or done to amuse, Ram? There your stand, oh-so-pleased with yourself because you were able to prey on the mind of a mentally unstable girl. Go right ahead, I hope you throw out your shoulder patting yourself on the back. Just don't expect us to be impressed at your cunning or your little show. You're no match for the real Amber and you're certainly not superior to any of us."

A nerve ticked at Ram's temple and he clenched his jaw tightly as he stared at Ebony, his eyes boring into her slight form. Then he smiled—a creep smile and then licked his lips, beginning to pace anew. Unconsciously around the room, his soldiers' grips loosened on their weapons, stepping down their readiness to fire on his command.

"You still continue to surprise, Ebony. I should have known pregnancy wouldn't have softened the spitfire I've heard so much about. " He skidded to a halt, spinning in the same motion to face her.

"My Javie is not very fond of you, you know. Something about you being spoiled and always getting your way." He shook his head. "She just doesn't understand, does she? Getting your way is good, great even. But I digress—what were we on about? Oh right, me preying on Amber."

Ram paused, pulling up a chair and sitting on it backwards. "You don't mind if I sit, do you? Right, Amber. Such a delicate flower, wasting away here at the Mall, receiving none of the care and attention she should have. All I did was listen and talk to her. She gets so lonely sometimes; she misses Bray terribly. How could I not make the noble sacrifice and be what she needs? Iif she feels the need to fill me in on all that I've missed since I've been gone, so much the better. If she wants to show me with al little affection that she's been holding inside, better still. You missed a rare opportunity here, Jay, my man, but hey, your loss is certainly my pleasure."

The blond began to struggle again and Ram rather dispassionately raised his arm, firing upon Jay, before continuing to speak, ignoring the other boy's now unconscious form.

"As I was saying—yes, Ebony, I took advantage of situation, I admit it. As the whether or not I would have been up to Amber in her former glory, we will never know, will we? That ship has sailed, long gone to parts unknown. However—" He stretched out the word. "However, I do object to your claims of my lack of superiority to you all."

"I mean, just look at you all there at my mercy. Just like old times, no? Speaking of old times, surely you Mega and even Jay could have figured out before now just who was responsible for the attacks on this precious City. The old 'sound and fury' routine kicked up a notch or ten. Oh sure some kids died, I was never as careful about that as Jay was, but you really can't make omelets without breaking a few eggs."

He stopped speaking, listening to outraged gasps and whimpers from Siva and Mouse.

"Oh don't look so surprised; this is nothing new, which is why I am disappointed that no one picked up on my little play on words."

He received blank and unfriendly looks.

He shook his head. "Maravaj? Flip it around, what does it spell? I do so hate when I have to spell it out like that."

He shook his head again, rising from his chair. He nodded to one of his soldiers. "Cache, secure the prisoners. The night grows late and I have a wife and a mistress to see to."

Ram did not wait for a reply, nor did he look back as he headed up the stairs. He missed Cache kicking Lex as he directed all the Mallrats to gather in front of the fountain, where they would all sleep tonight.

"Javie, my love, I've finally returned to you."

Ram sat on the bed, leaning over to kiss Java, frowning when she turned away from him.

"Javie, don't be like that. I know it's a been a while but you know I was coming to get you; I just had to wait for the right moment.

She swung her head to face him, her eyes flashing fire.

"Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?"

He pulled back, recoiling from her snide remark, then spoke softly, slowly. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play the innocent with me' I smelled your scent on her."

He froze, thinking quickly. "Javie, I'm so sorry. You know that I love you, really I do. She meant nothing to me, I swear."

"Save it for someone who cares, Ram. I think you should leave. I'm tired and I need to rest.

She faced away from him, and after a moment or two, he left without another word.

"I don't care how tired you are. You are not leaving until this entire floor is spotless." Java barked at Mouse, who whimpered from her place on the floor.

"Leave her alone; she's just a child." Ebony called from the entryway to the café.

Java turned, her eyes automatically zooming to Ebony's belly, before she met her younger sister's eyes, almost imperceptibly concealing her brief flash of pain. "Well if it isn't Ebony, Patron Saint of downtrodden children.. If you want her to stop, you could easily take her place. She crossed her arms, smirking at the younger girl. Her eyes widened slightly when Ebony approached the little girl, taking her brush and nodding at her to leave. Mouse protested, her eyes falling to Ebony's stomach and Ebony just smiled and shooed her away.

Ebony then dipped the brush in the water and began to scrub, her belly almost touching the ground as she worked on all fours.

Java's heels clicked loudly, echoing as she walked over to stand next to Ebony. "Isn't this touching? You, finally where you belong: at my feet."

Ebony sighed tiredly but did not stop or look up from her work. "Gloat all that you want. It's called sacrifice, Java, something you do for those you care about, but I would not expect you to understand."

The older girl scowled, silently fuming at the back of her sister's head. She knew all about sacrifice all right—in fact, it was slowly driving her mad. In the two weeks since Ram had returned to power, his 'meaningless" fling had turned into a full-fledged affair, with Amber roaming the Mall with a permanent bliss-filled expression, every now and again sporting a new love bit or bauble from Ram. Java had said nothing on the subject, grimacing and bearing it, and locking away the increasingly sizable trinkets that graced the pillow on the other side of the bed each morning.

She had long since stopped crying over the situation, rather turning her inner bitterness and pain outward, lashing out at those around her, particularly her sisters. She doled out her venom to Trudy, May, Ellie and to a lesser degree, Salene. On the other hand, as far as she was concerned, it was as if Amber no longer existed. If Java was in a room and Amber entered, Java looked through the other girl, if Amber spoke, Java ignored everything she said, as she had not spoken at all. It would have been comical to watch if the circumstances had been different.

But the reality was anything but amusing.

"This is bull!"

Jack started at Lex's outburst and almost dropped his hammer. "What?"

"I said this is bull." Lex did drop his hammer, his hands resting on his thighs as he stared at Jack. "This whole thing is bull. In two days, Ram is going to execute Jay and Mega and we're building the stage while tofu-boy braids the rope. If that isn't a load of cow manure, I don't' know what is."

"But what can we do? We can't attack Ram or his soldiers. For one, we'd be dead inside a nanosecond and for two, the girls…"

He did not need to say more. They all knew why they were here, willing to construct this macabre spectacle for Ram's so-called justice. The lives of the girls were being held over their heads. The continued well-being of the female Mallrats in exchange for the labor of the boys. Heaven forbid his precious soldiers would sully their hands with manual labor. In addition, it satisfied Ram's sense of irony to have the demise of the 'traitors' engineered by their friends.

"I don't know, but we have to do something! What about Mega and Jay's old lasers, maybe we could—"

Jack shook his head no. "The soldiers found everything when they searched the Mall. There is barely a bit of copper wire left, much less a laser."

"Ugh!" Lex drove his hammer into the floor of the stage, creating a small hole and sending bits of wood down on a couple of soldiers having a cigarette break in the shade beneath the platform.

"Hey!" The dark-haired one called out, dusting debris from his hair. Lex peered through the hole then turned back to Jack.

"Serves them right, smug s."

"Uh Lex, I don't think—"

"And neither does your friend. The whole lot of you Mallrats are more trouble than you're worth and not a functioning brain cell amongst you." Ram's lieutenant, Cache stated, his tone most unfriendly.

Jack tightened his grip on the hammer in his hand as he got Cache's meaning and half a beat later, Lex grunted and in one fluid motion, came to his feet, hammer raised to strike at the soldier. Unfortunately, the blow never landed, though Lex's body did, with a thud, as it suffered a level 4 blast from Cache's laser. Jack rose to go to his fallen tribe mate, then froze at Cache's softly spoken works.

"Don't move, unless you want some of the same." Jack glanced up to see Cache's arm now trained on him.

"I-I just want to make sure he's okay." Jack said.

"You get back to work and let us worry about him." The officer said a few words into his communicator and soon a couple of soldiers came over, lifting Lex up and taking him away.

Before he left, the officer had a few words for Jack. "Nothing is going to prevent Ram's show in two days' time. I suggest that if you don't want to be a part of it, you make sure that this structure is complete before then."

It was a very subdued group that sat in the café having lunch. Ebony sat at a table with Trudy, holding her hands and trying to get her to stop crying. Salene talked earnestly to May and Ellie, trying to calm them down. Mouse and Sammy sat with Brady and Bray, Jr., making silly faces and noises to keep the younger kids entertained and quiet. Siva shuffled from table to table, topping off tea cups with boiled water. She dropped the kettle, splashing herself and Trudy, who cried out, but Siva didn't notice as her entire focus centered on the newcomers to the Mall.

Her mouth opened in a silent cry and her hand quivered as she extended it, while the other rested almost negligently on her stomach. She made to run towards them, but Trudy and Ebony held her back.

"Let me go, I have to go to him, I have to—" She reached out as if she could get to him by will alone

She was trying to reach Lex, who had been thrown to the floor and groaned as he attempted to push himself to his feet, moving slowly and awkwardly.

"Let this be a warning to you all. Don't defy us, we will not tolerate it, under any circumstances." The forceful second in command to Ram spoke with absolute finality, his face an emotionless mask. The mask remained in place as he raised his arm, firing upon Siva, who had somehow managed to extract herself from Ebony and Trudy's arms and had run towards either Lex or Cache. Whoever it was, no one would ever know, but it was immaterial when compared to the larger issue of Siva's collapsing on the floor.

The laser blast had caught her on the shoulder, immediately incapacitating her and preventing her from trying to break her fall, which unfortunately meant that the most prominent part of her body bore the brunt of her unsuccessful battle with gravity. Shouts of 'No!' echoed around the room and the gathered Mallrats ran over to the fallen girl.

As if his beating was a thing of the past, Lex lunged to his feet, lunging at Cache, landing several blows before he was dragged off by the soldiers who had carried him in. Cache got to his feet, dusting himself off and glaring at Lex. "Two strikes and you're out Sheriff. You think I was kidding? You've just bought yourself a place with the traitors onstage the day after next." He nodded to the soldiers restraining Lex. "Take him to central hold. Put him in the Presidential Suite."

The soldiers complied, dragging the combative Lex out of the Mall. Cache then looked at the Mallrats gathered around Siva, meeting the eyes of Ebony. "It was not meant to be like this, I'm sorry. But I will not tolerate insubordination, from anyone."

Very precisely, he made an about-face and exited the Mall.