Disclaimer: Tribe is property of Cloud 9. The only elements belonging to these authors are Cassandra, Ayla, and other folks like that.

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Alice sat in the corner of the cage, twisting her hands as she tried to alleviate the chaffing the shackles were causing. K.C. sat beside her, rolling his eyes as The Guardian was off on yet another tirade about Zoot.

"I swear, Alice, there's but so much more I can take of that lunatic," he said. Alice nodded.

"I couldn't agree with you more, K.C," she said. She sighed and stopped twisting her hands, deciding that no matter what she did, the shackles were going to pinch into her skin. "Hey, K.C?" She asked. "When you were at the other camps, was there anyone else there?"

"Just some kids, and Bray," K.C replied.

"You didn't see Ellie?" She asked. K.C looked at her and shook his head sadly.

"No," Alice looked down. "But, she's probably out there somewhere," he said, doing his best to assure her. "I'm sure she's okay," he reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. "And we'll see her and the others again when we get out of here," he said. Alice smiled, taking hope from his words.

"I hope you're right," she said.

"This is a test from the Almighty Zoot. He wishes to test my faithfulness in amongst the trenches of these heathens. I shall not abandon you Zoot; your testing makes me stronger and only more worthy to preach of your glory."

Alice looks around to see if any guards are nearby. She brings up her shackled hands and brings both of them in direct contact with The Guardian's forehead.

Alice lets out a sign of relief. "Much better" she said as The Guardian slumped back unconsciously. The other kids in the cage muttered their thanks to be finally rid of his constant babbling, if only for a short while.

"Go, Alice," K.C cheered as he chuckled.

"I never get tired of doing that," Alice said as she smirked proudly in response.

The two friends sat back and looked off into the distance, same as they had been doing since they had been brought into Techno custody. "Do you think Amber finally had the baby?" K.C asked.

"Well, it's been long enough, so I would hope so," Alice replied. She sighed, "I just hope she had the baby far away from this mess,"

"I didn't get much time to talk with him, but the first thing Bray asked me for was news about Amber. He told me there had to be a way out of this, I hope he was right."

"Our Bray, forever hopeful," Alice muttered. K.C. sighed.

"She's probably with the baby," K.C. began, looking off. "She might've gotten away………..And Trudy helps her with the baby. I mean she has already been through it and everything. And now Brady could have someone her own age to play with, well closer to her age." he smiled.

"I bet those two are like peas in a pod, always together. Brady walks off somewhere and you see this little thing crawling behind her." Alice laughed.

"Do you believe that?" Alice asked, laughing at how silly that sounded. K.C. frowned.

"Maybe I do, it's better than thinking about this place," he replied indignantly. Alice sighed and tilted her head towards him, resting her head against the cage near his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she apologized. K.C tilted his head towards her, resting his head against hers. The two of them were the only Mallrats in this place, they had to stick together.

"It's okay," he replied.

"I just want everyone to be safe; I don't care much about what they are doing so long as they are not behind bars like us. It's the best thing I can hope for at the moment." Alice said staring off into the distance.

The two sat there for a while, thinking about their friends when the door to the cage opened. K.C. and Alice sat up to see what was going on and saw a few Techno guards. One was holding the door open as two of them shoved a guy in. The guy weakly stumbled to the ground in a defeated heap as the door was closed again and the guards walked off. K.C and Alice watched the guy.

He was on his knees, slumped forward with his hands and forehead touching the ground. His body shuddered before he simply lay on his side, facing K.C. and Alice. His face was covered in dirt, the only part seemingly clean were lines from his eyes that traveled down to his chin, evident that he had done a fair share of crying. Alice and K.C. peered at him and their eyes widened as the face became clear in their heads.

"Bray?" Alice asked, surprised. His vacant eyes gazed up at her and K.C. Alice smiled broadly.

"Bray, I can't believe it," K.C. exclaimed.

"Alice…….K.C……" he muttered, before fresh tears rolled down his face.

"Bray, what is it? What's wrong?" Alice asked. K.C. leaned over and took hold of Bray's arm, pulling him towards him and Alice. Bray aided him weakly by pushing his feet on the ground, pushing himself backwards. "What is it?" Alice asked again.

"I……..I heard some of the guards talking," he said. "They said that there was something wrong in the city………there was some……….some type of explosion or something…..The city's been destroyed….." K.C. and Alice looked at each other, shocked. "Amber…..She……" Bray brought his knees up to his chest and rested his head in his hand, his fingers buried in his hair. "She could've been in the city, I-"

"No, no, you don't know that," Alice said, although she began to worry if Ellie had been there.

"Alice's right," K.C. said. "You told me that the last time you saw her, she was in that barn you two found……She might've stayed there…..or found the Eco Tribe. Hey she managed to get out and survive an explosion before, maybe she has just gotten good at that sort of thing." Alice elbowed KC, who winced. "What did I say? It's possible."

"It's called tact you should use some every now and then." Alice scolded KC.

Bray shook his head. Ever since he was taken by the Technos, he had worried about Amber and his baby constantly. She had been in the middle of having the baby when he was taken. What if, with no one there to help her, something happened to the baby? What if something had happened to her? These thoughts only fueled his desire to get out of the prison camps even more, but with hardly any fellow prisoners willing to risk their lives at the hands of the Technos, the former rebel leader was unable to orchestrate an uprising.

He held onto the hope that Amber was out there somewhere, safe, taking care of their healthy child. But after he heard of the city being destroyed, that hope seemed to vanish.

"Bray, you don't know what might've happened. Who's to say anything actually happened?" Alice asked. "Those Techno twerps might've been making it all up. It isn't like they are above playing mind games with people."

K.C. gripped Bray's shoulder tightly, making the older male look up at him. "We all thought Amber was dead once, Bray," he reminded him. "Remember that? We were all so sure Amber died with Zandra, but she didn't, did she? You found her once, and you'll find her again." Bray let his head fall back and rest against the chain linked cage wall. K.C. was right, there was a time that all the Mallrats had thought that Amber was dead and buried. But she wasn't. She was found by Pride and became Eagle. Bray squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to hold onto the sliver of hope K.C's words provided. Maybe a miracle would happen again and he would be able to find the woman he loved against all odds. But whatever happened Bray knew he was not strong enough to withstand the loss of the only woman he ever truly loved a second time, not to mention the loss of a child he had yet to meet.

Alice couldn't stand seeing Bray so defeated. She had to do something to cheer him up.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" She asked. K.C. gave her a look that said 'why are you bringing this up?' Alice ignored him as she gave Bray a smile. "I bet it's a boy," she said. "A little strong willed terror, just like his daddy. I bet he crawls about, going anywhere he can, giving poor Amber the runabout," Bray laughed slightly at that. Alice smile widened, seeing her words were having the right effect at him. He looked at her, hope in his eyes.

"Maybe he has Amber's eyes," he said. "And my nose,"

"Yeah," Alice said. She watched as Bray looked off with a slight smile, imagining his child. "And when we find the others, he'll crawl over to you and latch his tiny hands to your pant leg."

Bray had always known that Amber was a woman strong enough to fend for herself, and this was part of why he loved her so much. He used to think that between himself looking after Amber and what she did on her own, nothing could happen to her. He prayed to whatever glimmer of hope, of whatever remnants of a twisted deity that lay out in the universe that this was still true. He had been broken left without hope of escaping this place, without the hope of seeing Amber again. But his son or daughter could still be out there somewhere, could he really live the rest of his life not knowing what the child looked like. Could he ever be truly satisfied until he had searched every corner of the earth for Amber and their child? He owed them more then that, he owed himself more then that. And now he had something which had not been present at the other camps, allies. Maybe this situation was not so hopeless after all. Perhaps his chance of finding Amber once again was one in a million, but that sliver of a chance was enough of a reason to continue on living and more importantly a reason to go on fighting.

"Are you sure bringing up the baby was a good idea?" K.C. asked Alice, keeping his voice low.

"Look at him," Alice replied, pointing out his soft smile. "He's too busy thinking about his baby to be negative," she said.

"If you're sure," K.C. shrugged and leaned back. On the other side of Alice, The Guardian slowly regained consciousness and sat up. His eyes fell on Bray.

"The brother of Zoot," he said, his lips stretching into a sick smile. "This must be a message from the divine himself,"

"Oh, will you shut up?" Alice growled. The Guardian ignored her as he went on and on about the greatness of Zoot and how Zoot would come to his aid once all heathens were converted.

"And here I thought we were done with this loony," Bray muttered.

"Well you can hit him if you want, usually makes me feel better." Alice commented.

"I'm too tired for violence," Bray sighed. Alice shrugged.

"I'll do it then," she said. She raised her arm and slammed her elbow backward, hitting The Guardian right between the eyes and cutting him off mid-rant as he slumped backwards again.

"Nice to see you haven't lost your touch, Alice," Bray said.

"I do what I can to keep sharp around here. You never know when an opportunity might present itself." Alice said quietly feeling rather proud of herself.

"Hasn't happened yet though, these Technos are pretty tight with security. Haven't seen them slip up once." KC commented looking around to make sure no guard were listening in.

Bray seemed to be in deep thought. "Maybe we are looking for the wrong thing." he said

"What do you mean?" asked Alice

"We keep waiting for them to do something wrong, we aren't looking for the best time to make something go wrong for them." Bray said seeming to get more upbeat.

"I'm intrigued," Alice said. "Go on,"

"It feels just like old times," K.C smiled. Bray smiled, starting to feel like things would finally be all right.

"Up for doing a little distraction?" Bray asked K.C, causing the younger man to grin.

"Always," he said.