AN: Thank you to the reviewers and to all those people keeping up to date with this fic. I'm really enjoying writing this and I have a surprise coming in the next intermission which I'm really excited to write. Please drop a line or two in the comments section below to tell me what you think of the fic so far.

Chapter 13: The Reservoir

PART ONE

Corn took care in unwrapping the cloth from around Gum's leg, slowly pulling off the material, making sure it didn't stick to the bloody wound. She was shivering slightly in the early morning cold, pulling her camel-coloured sweater around her body tighter as Corn discarded the stained bandages and applied the disinfectant gel he had found in the kitchen cupboard along with the other medical supplies. He re-wrapped her leg in silence, only stopping momentarily at the sound of her sharply in-took breath as the cloth touched the wound. She sighed as he continued, reaching into the black handbag at her side and fumbling around, eventually taking out a battered looking pack of menthol cigarettes. She lit it with a pink clipper, inhaling and exhaling a stream of smoke into the cold, misty air.

"You took up the habit again?" Corn asked, breaking the long silence between them.

She shrugged, exhaling another breath of smoke. "I figured it wouldn't really matter since we seem to be on a suicide mission anyway." She stubbed out the end on the brick wall beside them, tossing the butt onto the floor. "I've been craving the stupid things for three years."

Corn smirked as he stood up, offering his hand to pull Gum to her feet. A sliding sound made them both turn towards the entrance to the underground as Beat and Trixie came out of the flats. They kept their distance from each other but Corn noticed something in the way they moved, the angle in which they held themselves. He smiled knowingly to himself as they approached on skates.

"Hey." Trixie said to the pair, her eyes moving from Corn to Gum.

"Morning." Corn replied, considering if he should tease them and deciding against it. "How was Kibogaoka?"

"Pretty fun." Trixie smiled, turning to look at Beat briefly. "We didn't find the Love Shockers though. We searched everywhere. Have you seen Yoyo?"

Corn turned to Gum, sighing. "Not today, I guess he's still asleep. We were out at the Skyscraper District yesterday, me, Gum, Yoyo and Felix, trying to find the Noise Tanks' hideout. We split up because Gum twisted her ankle pretty bad and needed to get back and in the park we nearly got spotted."

"By a Noise Tank?" Beat's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Corn exhaled slowly. "It was a close call. I hope Yoyo managed to avoid them."

The underground entrance slid back once more, making the four of them jump as Felix entered the Garage.

"Hey dudes." He said easily, joining them on the platform. "How's it going? How's your ankle?" He turned towards Gum who nodded slightly.

"Okay thanks. Did you and Yoyo get back okay last night? We should have checked up on you when we got in but it was pretty late."

Felix shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, why you ask?"

"Gum and I came across a Noise Tank in Pharaoh Park last night, nearly got ourselves caught. You didn't run into them did you?"

Felix felt his heart rate rise in his throat but he tried to stay calm, shrugging once more. "No. We didn't see anything. Yoyo's pretty exhausted from it all though, I spoke to him just now and he thinks a few of us should check out the Heights for a base since the place is pretty abandoned these days."

Corn frowned. "Is he okay?"

Felix smiled. "Sure. I think it was all just a bit too much for him. Hey, Gum if you're feeling better and your ankle's okay you think you'd be up for a little trip?"

Gum turned to Corn, expecting him to protest. Instead he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure." She replied. "If that's what Yoyo wants."

"Great." Felix smiled. "I gotta feeling he might be onto something with the Heights you know? There's a lot of old buildings out there…a lot of places to hide."

PART TWO

The ground was cold beneath him and somewhere in the distance the steady rush of water could be heard; water bouncing off metal and echoing. He could hear someone crying, far away and for a moment he thought he was back in the tunnel beneath the earth, in the darkness with the Rhyth-Rush hybrid waiting for him to come with them. He snapped awake at once and there was a moment of terror were he thought he had gone blind before his eyes adjusted a little and he realised he was in some kind of cage and there was someone else in there with him. His heart dropped as he thought again of the creature from his dream, but as he moved closer to the figure, crawling along the cold cement ground, he could make out her features in the dark.

"Cassie?" He whispered. She stirred from her sleep, her eyes suddenly snapping open in terror. Her whole body slumped away from him. "It's me Cass…Yoyo."

Even in the gloom he could see her eyes widen in recognition. "Yoyo?" She asked uncertainly, her brow furrowing into her forehead. "Did the Noise Tanks get you too? Or was it him?"

"How long have you been here? We thought you were in the Garage."

"It was him. Felix. We had an argument…I guess you all heard…and I left the room to let him sleep after he brought back Rush. When I went back in he tried to apologise…saying he was real sorry for what he said to me." She paused to gather herself, breathing out slowly before resuming. "He held out his arms to me and stupidly I believed him…that he really was sorry. Only when I embraced him he hit with the bedside lamp, it really fucking hurt but I just fell."

"Jesus Cass…"

"I know. So he keeps hitting me and I try to scream but I can taste blood and I freak out, you know? Eventually I passed out; I guess he must have finally got me good. When I woke up…I don't know how long I was out…maybe he drugged me, I can't remember…I was here. There are others here too…I can hear them sometimes, crying or screaming. I don't know what's going on."

"I'm so sorry Cass." He reaches out his hands to cup her face in the dark, her cheeks are wet and she places her hands over his. "He got me too you know? Felix. We went to the Skyscraper District to figure some shit out. I guess he's been working for the Noise Tanks all this time."

Cassie shakes her head, moving her hands to her lap. "He wasn't always this way. He used to be kind and loving. It was when Rush got kidnapped he changed. I think he wanted to be leader, maybe for a while now, and he thought he was in with a chance. You probably don't know this…it was before Rush was taken, but we began to worry about you. All of us…Trixie and Felix and Rush…we thought you were going to leave us. You started acting so distant with us."

"I'm sorry." Yoyo sighed. "I was never cut out to be the leader, you know. I guess it all just hit me at once…how I don't have it in me. I'm not Corn or Beat or Gum. They were always so brave…still are…and I'm just a coward who ended up here by accident."

Cassie smiles, Yoyo can see it in the dark. "We've never thought you were a coward Yoyo. You know we look up to you. These last few days…since Rush was taken, you've changed so much." She squeezes his hand. "I'm so proud of you. And I'm sure the others are too." Her smile fades as she looks around the cage, too small to stand up straight in and made of some kind of metal. "I wonder what they want with us…those machines. I haven't seen them yet. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I wonder where we are."

"I know." Yoyo said quietly, looking around the room. "I figured it out when you were talking just now. Listen…what do you hear?"

Cassie closed her eyes and listened. "Water…running water. Like a stream I guess."

Yoyo nodded in the dark. "Or a water treatment plant. I can smell it too…very faintly. Have you ever noticed the smell in the Heights or Kibogaoka Hill? There's the scent of the sewers and also something aquatic, kind of metallic. I can smell it here. I'm guessing the Skyscraper District was a decoy…or they moved once they figured we were on to them. If I had to put money on it, I'd bet on the Heights…somewhere in the old box factory perhaps."

"Fuck." Cassie cries in the dark. "The others would never find us here. You can see it from Kibogaoka, sure…but you have to get a boat to it right? They built it over the water."

Yoyo nodded. "Trying to save space in the days of overpopulation. At least if they do figure it out they have one advance over the Noise Tanks."

Cassie frowned. "What that?"

Yoyo grins. "Robots and water don't mix."

PART THREE

"What gave you this hunch about the heights?" Garam asks, skating over the old rooftops. Corn is a few yards up ahead, tagging an old shed with a rendition of a Dali painting. Felix and Gum are trailing behind; her leg still hurts like a bitch and is beginning to bleed again.

Felix shrugs, noticing the way Gum is limping from the corner of his eye. She will ask to go back to the Garage soon and the others will insist…he doesn't have long. "We haven't really checked it out yet and no one lives out here anymore…I suggest we head on over to the old railway towards the sewers."

Garam nods. "There's the old elevated housing district up there…I haven't been in years, I doubt anyone even tags up there anymore." He motions for Corn to lead the way and they skate around the corner, leaving Felix alone with Gum.

He smiles and turns to her. "Are you okay to go on? I'm sure we're close this time."

Gum nods. "I guess so. My leg's kind of fucked but if there's a chance that Jazz's up there…" She follows Felix as they skate slowly along the path, winding around the old houses and boarded up stores.

"She must mean a lot to you." Felix says, listening to the sound of Garam and Corn's skates getting further into the distance. They turn a corner and come across what remains of the old railway. In the first decade of the century it had stretched along the entirety of the district, carrying the products from the box factory to Shibuya where they could then be transported across the whole country. Now all that remained of this relic was the small section which connects the two sides of the Hill together. They skate slowly along the metal lines, avoiding the wooden struts between out of habit, knowing they blunt the wheel of their skates.

"Yeah." Gum nods. "She's godmother to my daughter…Molly. We met back in the days of Rokkaku during a game of Death Ball. She's been like a sister to me ever since." She stops at the end of the railway line to tuck in the bloody edge of her bandage which has fell lose. "I have to believe we can get her back." She stands up straight to look Felix in the eyes.

He looks back calmly. "I'm sure you will see her very soon." He says turning towards the reservoir. Corn and Garam's skates have now faded completely and he looks upwards towards the elevated platform in the distance, hoping they have already reached the top. He skates over to the edge of the clearing where the ground drops to make way for the water and smiles as he hears Gum following close behind.

"I always loved tagging in this part of the Hill…especially at sunset when the rays seem to reflect of every surface. Of course now all the houses are boarded up…but there's still the reservoir." She instinctively looks down at the calm water below.

Felix smiles softly. "That there is." He reaches over towards her, placing his hands gently on her back. As she turns towards him he pushes, hard. There's a moment of confusion as she looks at him with hurt eyes, before she topples over the edge of the cliff, falling into the murky water with a splash and a scream.

AN: That's all for now folks. Please review and favourite this story if you like it! I'm pretty busy with work at the moment but hopefully the next update will come very soon!