ASBO-Boy - Gunpowder, Treason and Plot: Part 2

Sunday 6th November 2016

The blue-faced girl called Malady was busy trying to heal Squeeze's broken nose.

"It's no good. You'll have to zap me again." She turned away angrily and spoke to Arc-Light who was overseeing the proceeding. She was wearing civilian clothes over her skin-suit; clothes had also been found for Squeeze and Bark to wear. With a look of distaste Arc-Light complied and a pulse of electricity leapt from her hand into Malady's chest. Squeeze had been watching them do this for ten minutes and still found it disconcerting. For some peculiar reason, Malady could only 'suck-out' other people's illnesses and wounds when she was either in pain or euphorically happy.

"Couldn't you just try and make yourself happy?" Squeeze asked.

Malady shook her head, her face drawn in frustration. Once again she tried to draw out the wound. Squeeze felt a tingling sensation replace the pain in his nose and watched in mild-horror as the wound manifested itself on Malady's face. "Again!" She spat as the pain creased her brow. Arc-Light zapped her again and the wound healed itself.

Squeeze touched his nose and wiggled it experimentally. It was fixed. "Sorry to have to put you through that." He muttered guiltily as Malady flattened her hair which was beginning to frizz.

"No worries." She replied jovially, helping him up. Squeeze brushed himself down and looked around. The 'Underground' base was in fact someone's house on the edge of Brynmill park. The meeting room was in the basement. They town house belonged to Malady's parents.

Her room was pink-themed and the walls were covered in posters of pop-stars and glossy celebrities. Most prominent was an enormous picture of The Elementals above her bed – the government approved band of PROBO scum he'd assumed that the 'Underground' hated. "It's for the inspections mostly." Malady had explained. Squeeze remembered the random police inspections that had meant he'd had to keep his paint cans buried in the garden. "Besides," she whispered conspiratorially when Arc-Light had gone, "I like their costumes."

"Who is that one?" He said pointing at the girl in the purple cloak.

"Oh, that's Siren. She's the newest member – and the prettiest. I like her the best. Not that I like any of them really." Malady enthused. "She likes to be known by her real name – it says so in her interview in the Evening Post. I think it's Nia."

Squeeze did a double-take and looked again at the girl in the poster. It certainly looked a bit like her, but then again his memories of Nia were dim.

"Anything wrong?"

"Nope. Just déjà vu."

**

Gwen and some of the others were in the living room of Malady's house and were chatting over a dawn tea-break. Squeeze entered to find them discussing plans spread out over a coffee table. They stopped talking as he entered behind Malady, who half skipped into the room declaring him "All better!"

"Excellent," Gwen said, offering him a plate of biscuits. Squeeze hadn't been in a room with so many people in such a long time that his manners had devolved. Sheepishly he took a biscuit and stood at the edge of the circle.

"We've been discussing things all night and we've come to a conclusion about you and your friend Bark." She continued, sipping her tea, "We have to administer some tests to make sure you're totally free of the drugs and then we'll let you in on our plans. We need as many able bodies as we can."

Squeeze nodded and stepped away so that they could continue their discussion. In the kitchen he found Bark sipping from a mug of coffee. He was wearing a hoody and jeans over his skin-suit. "My brother kept them for me. They're bit tight though. You're welcome to borrow some – they'd fit you a bit better."

"Thanks." Squeeze nodded. "So. We're free."

"Yeah. I suppose we are." Bark replied. The words didn't seem to fit properly – we're free – it all seemed so unreal. Out of the window they could see the red, early morning sun. There was dew on the grass and the air looked sharp and cold.

"So. What are you going to do?" Squeeze asked. Thinking about his parents, jobs, prospects – the future. There was no way they could get work or even show their faces without being recognised. They'd have to spend their entire lives hiding.

"Fight back." Bark replied after a time. Squeeze nodded, the answer seemed obvious really, there wasn't much else they could do. "They've put up digs for us in the basement. We'll stay here with the Others they've gathered together. I think they're planning something big and I want to be a part of it."

That settles it then, Squeeze thought.

"I don't think I ever said thank you for following me into the Hounds and rescuing me from the helicopter." Squeeze said. Bark knocked back the dregs of his tea.

"Don't mention it." He replied gruffly, patting Squeeze on the back. He leapt down off the kitchen counter. Squeeze stood there, rubbing his jumper against the Hound skin-suit. "Just remember you owe me one, yeah?"