Chapter Ten

"Perfection", the word rolled off Ebony's lips mocking her as it bounced off the walls around the small room that was now her prison. Everything that she had ever wanted in life was so near to her that she could almost touch it but she had denied that anything was wrong in her life, denied that there were things that weren't perfect in her life, and that was how she had ended up here. Wherever here was.

"I guess that I should have known that one day my lies would catch up with me", she said into the darkness as she forced herself to stand up and brace herself against the wall for support.

"All my life I lied to people, to get what I wanted, to deny others what they wanted but when I finally got what I wanted all that I had to do was to be honest and it would have all been fine, but I just couldn't do it", she finally admitted to herself.

Over the past hours that she had spent in this dark room she had finally realised why her relationship with Slade had gone wrong, because she insisted on saying that everything was perfect when it wasn't, if she had just admitted that they had had a few problems and dealt with them then and there then they could have never got to big and as such she and Slade would still be together.

In that moment Ebony vowed that she would get out of there and she would find Slade again and make him understand how much she loved him and give her a second chance but at that moment the chances didn't seem very good for her.

Try as she might Ebony couldn't work out how she had got wherever it was that she was.

As she thought back she could remember her fight with Slade and him leaving, she could remember falling to the floor in a sobbing mass and then she had felt someone's hand on her shoulder, she had looked up hoping to see Slade and then … nothing.

"Damn it", she swore, there was no way to remember what had happened to her, to work out where she was and no light to work out a plan of escape.

She knew that she had only been there a few hours although it felt like an eternity as her eyes still felt slightly puffy from crying and she only felt slight pains in her stomach from lack of food, yet she was sure that there would be worse to come.

With nothing else to do she collapsed back down to the floor and waited to see if there would be any change to her present predicament.

Eventually her eyes closed and she fell asleep for a while as when she woke up she was rested and could see light streaming into the room which revealed that it was a small bedroom which was not particularly badly furnished yet without even turning around Ebony could tell that there was someone else in the room with her.

Clenching her fist she turned around to see who was there only to be confronted with the image of … Bray.

"Bray?" She screamed in mild surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Bray looked at Ebony without much feeling, he missed Amber and was probably missing the birth of his son although he had to admit that after he had returned to the city in time to read Ebony's letter to Lex he had a little more respect for her than before.

Yet he couldn't forget that she had banished him and his pregnant wife, "What's the matter Ebony? Thought that I would never return as you decided to banish me?"

"What?" Ebony wondered, it seemed like an eternity since she had been in the city, in fact she could barely even remember what had then been such a great triumph over her arch rival Amber.

"Oh", she mouthed as she realised what he was referring to, yet she couldn't feel sorry. There was just something about looking at him which brought the old Ebony back to the surface, "Well I'm not going to apologise for it. You got on the wrong side of me and paid for it. I've changed since then, believe it or not but the main thing is that I'm not just going to roll over like a good little puppy and take being locked in this room. Now tell me, where the hell are we?"

Bray rolled his eyes and leant back against one of the walls, it was the same old Ebony, he couldn't believe that he had thought that she might have changed, no she would was and always would be a manipulative bitch, but what really sickened him was the fact that she seemed to revel in it.

Before he had at least hoped that she didn't really like being like that but now he saw the truth, she was evil and loved it. She would never change.

Deciding that it was at least to have Ebony as the bad guy in residence, Bray explained, "We are in a holding bay out side the city. When you abandoned the city to the ravages of the Technos they started to take prisoners. When Amber and I returned they captured us but the slave traders intervened and kidnapped some of us. We are being sold next week to however will have us. Those that aren't sold to people will be taken to the Techno mines; there you will die for sure".

"What? Then why didn't the Mall Rats try to fight them?" Ebony asked unsure of what she was hearing, "You know you guys, the Mall Rats defeaters of the big bad. What's the matter? Loosing your touch?"

She just couldn't believe that there was a new tribe in power that the Mall Rats hadn't got rid of.

"We didn't' have a way in. Before there has always been some link and with this new tribe there was none … well there was one. Your sisters yet that didn't make any difference as you weren't around to exploit it. The Techno slave trading is pretty much over now, two days after we were captured there was a change in power, or so the rumour goes. The guy who was in charge (Ram) got booted out of power by Java and some dude called Megan or something like that".

"Mega", Ebony corrected without thinking, "But why didn't anyone see that coming?"

"What?" Bray gasped, "I said that that was only a rumour, you can't be sure of anything in here, how did you know his name? Damn it, I knew it, you sold us out to them didn't you Ebony? What was it? For old times Java and Siva offered you a chance to escape?"

Ebony rolled her eyes, "Look I know that it is hard for you Bray, but for once in your life do me a favour and stop being a dick head. I am not the kind of girl that just sits back while her sisters move in on her territory. I knew that some dudes were landing but I didn't know who it was or that Java was with him. Come to think of it, if I had known I would have stayed just to make sure that she buggered off. As for Mega of course I know about him, he and Java have only been together since they were five of something like that".

"But wait a minute how did I get here?" Ebony asked, "I was nowhere near the city".

"I know but some of the men went into the next city to drum up publicity and when they came back they saw you in Liberty and knocked you out before you could do anything. They were bragging about how easy it was until one of them got killed but the others are still bragging about how easy it was to capture you", Bray informed her.

"Oh where they now", Ebony fumed her eyes darkening as she thought about the ways that she was going to make them pay.

"Ebony whatever you are thinking stop it right now", Bray said nervously almost.

"What why the hell should I?" Ebony argued.

"Look Ebony I know that we have had our differences but you have to see that they have too many people for you to be able to fight them, they will kill you if you go against them, or worse. Your only hope is to get brought and then over power just him on your own", Bray explained. He felt terrible about what he had to tell her, but there was just no getting around the fact that she had to know.

The colour drained out of Ebony's face as the truth finally sank in, she was locked in a room and couldn't get out until someone choose to let her and she couldn't fight her way out of her. She had from being on tip of the world to being at the mercy of someone who didn't care about her and she didn't know what would happen next.

All that Ebony knew was that she would get out of there, and make sure that she took her revenge … whatever that might entail.