A/N: Ok, anyone still READING this fanfic has my official permission to throw large, heavy objects at my head! It's been over a MONTH since my last chapter! I can't believe it!
002: I could say something, but it's too easy.
:death glare: You have no say in the matter, your opinion doesn't count. In any case, I'm SO sorry for making everyone wait like this! There's only one or two more chapters after this though, so I'll try to post them a lot sooner!
002: Keyword there being 'try'.
Disclaimer: Alas, I am penniless when it comes to anime rights! Or rather quarterless, I've got a huge jar of pennies sitting right next to me. And yes, I had to use the word 'alas'. It's a writer thing.
The nine newer cyborgs sat gloomily in the same depressing room they had left. The mood was, if anything, even more despondent than before.
"I should've guessed. If we learned anything from World War II, it's that you can't make deals with madmen." Nick groaned, leaning back against the stark white walls.
"According to Black Ghost's research files, we were the first generation of cyborgs to be fitted with compliance chips, so we couldn't rebel like the others. The first set of files were deliberately doctored in the hopes I'd check up on them. This was all one huge set-up, and we fell for it. Hard." Tegan announced, closing her slim laptop.
"I see. So the people we found had done nothing wrong except break away from their 'creator'." Casper replied sadly, sliding his rosary between his fingers.
"Basically. However, the good news is that those electrical currents that hit the Seabird when we were in the air could have easily shorted out the chips. But since there's a very good chance we'll be stuck in here until we die, it doesn't really matter." Tegan added with a sigh.
"Wow, what great news. Just our luck too." Maggie muttered under her breath. The gloomy mood was contagious.
"Those other guys, they're being held in this base, right?" Tabby spoke up suddenly. She had been strangely quiet the entire way back.
"...I suppose so..." Eric answered, taken rather aback by the odd question.
"Ok then, that makes things easier." Tabby said nonchalantly, standing up.
"Wait a minute, what're you trying to do?" Maggie asked the younger girl suspiciously, knowing a stupid idea when she saw one.
"I'm just gonna set things right, like Casper's always saying we should be doing." Tabby said defensively, holding up both hands while simultaneously stepping towards the door.
"Tabby..." Indira began warningly, but the other cyborg had already slipped through the door and out into the hall.
"Huh. Always knew you were a bad influence on her." Gio remarked to Casper.
With a long suffering sigh, Tegan also stood up.
"Oh no. I know that look, you're going to go after her!" Nick told Tegan sternly.
"We have to! She's one of us, and we can't let her go get killed. Besides, the chips were really the only things stopping us from leaving. The door'll fall in seconds." Tegan shot back.
"Yeah, that and the hoards of soldiers just waiting for something to shoot at! She's a walking target out there!" Maggie added.
"C'mon, she just a kid. Besides, I'm gonna go crazy if I have to stay in here for much longer." Gio chimed in earnestly.
"Fine! Just remember this for when we're surrounded by Black Ghost's minions!" Nick shouted. Even if this was the stupidest plan he'd ever heard, Tabby was right for once. And he really needed a good stretch, too.
"Yay!" Dolley shouted ecstatically as Jack grew to nearly ten feet high and kicked the door in.
"Well, THAT'S certainly an auspicious start..." Casper muttered to himself as they followed the little girl out into a quickly growing group of confused minions.
Elsewhere in the base, Tabby was wandering around the base, having gotten lost several feet from their own holding cell. To make up for this, she had stuck her head through every door she passed, which had resulted in a rather large contingent of minions chasing her, among other things. But a large explosion somewhere behind her had caught their attention, and so the young cyborg had gone back to the door theory. However, to avoid further suspicion, she had started walking along the ceiling. This made it rather hard to reach doors though, an effective paradoxical situation.
"Stupid Black Ghost! Who needs this many doors?" Tabby grumbled to herself as she came into a room with a great many hallways leading out from it in all directions.
"...Crap."
As she pondered which hall to choose, a group of soldiers ran through into one of the hallways, shouting to each other.
"Come ON! Pick up the pace! The rest of the squadron are already there with the prisoners!" One shouted as he ran past.
With a shrug, the cyborg followed them to their destination. Tabby had always been an impulsive person anyway.
"Great. Black Ghost is not only evil, he's a cheapskate." 004 grumbled from the newest prison cell Black Ghost had herded them into. Literally.
"The captives should be safe from the emergency here! Now if only we knew where the rest of our squadron is!" A muffled voice from outside cried.
"Whatever the circumstances, just be thankful Black Ghost still considers us valuable enough to be saved from whatever this new emergency is." 001 lectured him, a rather odd experience considering 001's physical appearance.
"Does it matter? We're still prisoners, and there's no way Black Ghost will let us escape again." 004 muttered half to himself, staring mournfully at the tight iron bands locked around his hands and knees. Black Ghost had taken special measures to ensure than none of them could use their powers and escape. Again.
"Something will come along, it always has before. This 'emergency' thing could be just the distraction we need!" 006 declared, trying look on the bright side of their rather dim looking situation.
"Oh, and I suppose any minute now someone will come by, stick their head through the door and offer us a way out, huh?" 002 sniped skeptically as the others lapsed into silence, the bare white room not having a pleasant effect on morale. Black Ghost's various hideouts were not their idea of a good time.
Outside, the faint sounds of what could have been (and indeed was) a very one-sided fight could be heard, then abruptly stopped. Suddenly, a young girl's head popped through the steel door, looking around curiously. Naturally, this caused the nine cyborgs to jump.
"Finally found this place! ...Hey, this is only a few feet from where Storage was! I HATE this place!" The head said, sounding rather annoyed.
009 was the first to realize what was going on. "You little..! Black Ghost sent you to finish us off, didn't you? I'll bet YOU'RE that 'emergency' everyone's so worried about!"
"...What's with you? None of the guards saw me. Well, at least the ones that are conscious right now didn't see me." The head responded, sounding puzzled.
"Really, 002. What ARE you talking about?" 008 asked his companion.
"She's one of those other cyborgs, the ones that captured us!" 002 shouted, his short temper rising considerably. Naturally, all the other cyborgs started talking at once. That is, until the head suddenly disappeared from the door.
With a hard yank, Nick and Tegan pulled their young friend from the door.
"Tabby! What the hell are you trying to pull here!" Nick shouted angrily, holding the girl up by her shirt collar.
"That HURT, jerk! You coulda just tapped me on the shoulder or something!" Tabby glared at the pair standing in front of her balefully.
"That's not the point! Didn't you stop to think about this at all before you went through the door?" Nick berated her.
"It was a good idea in theory! Besides, we're all fine." Tabby protested.
"In theory, communism works! And we're now all being hunted by Black Ghost's goons when we blew up the door to look for you! The others are all back 'dealing' with the situation!" Nick snapped.
"So break THIS door down and enlist the other cyborgs. If they really are rebels, they'll be glad to help bring down Black Ghost." Tegan said calmly, speaking up for the first time.
Nick and Tabby both turned to stare at her.
"Yay! Good idea!" Tabby shouted after several seconds as she plunged one hand into the inner mechanism of the lock and began to feel around.
"Oh no. No, no, no. Not yay! Not more people getting involved..!" Nick moaned, putting his face in his hands as the lock literally exploded with a loud click.
"See? Good idea, unlike Communism. That was a low blow, my friend." Tabby told him, smirking as the two of them launched into another argument. With a sigh, Tegan cleared off what used to be a door and started to remove the various restraints on the cyborgs.
"Look, I hate to sound ungrateful, but we have no idea what's going on, who you are, what you want, or even if we can trust you– " 009 began hesitantly, the entire scene proving even more confusing than usual when they dealt with Black Ghost.
"First off, you can't trust us, but we can't trust you either. Secondly, you're being offered a chance to help bring down Black Ghost and maybe even convince some of us to join you. Thirdly, you don't really get a choice, so I suggest you follow us instead of waiting to be picked up by minions, seeing as how we're currently all after the same thing." Tegan told him bluntly.
"She's right, you know. We might as well help now and ask questions later." 004 said with a sigh as he stretched out his cramped muscles.
"That seems to be the way we've always done it anyway." 007 added, getting up to follow the rapidly receding Nick and Tabby along with the rest of the cyborgs.
Whew! Hope the extra long chapter sort of makes up for the wait! R&R now! Thanx!