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Everything around her was still dark, but she knew she was standing; she could feel the cold ground under her bare feet.. but she didn't know where she was, and couldn't see anything around her.. there was no sound.. it was like she was standing in the great hall of Charn, ages after life had sprung up and passed away. Leaving only ruins as monument to what was.. Then she heard something... it was like a whispering.. she focused on it, trying to understand what was being said, but she couldn't make it out.. Then suddenly she was aware that the voices she heard weren't part of her lucid dream, and she opened her eyes to the world outside.
She lay still, not wanting to attract any attention. Outside her cell she could hear what sounded like the deep voices of two men whispering. She focused all of her attention on it..
"Yeah.. this one used to be in team rocket... she's a little beat up, but she's still..."
"oh yeah? I think I might just have a ---" (she couldn't hear anymore, the air conditioning duct began spilling cool air out into the cell block once again drowning out their low whispers)
Then she heard the cell door open.. She bit her lip and hoped to god that they weren't going to torture her again.. She just couldn't understand what sick pleasure they got from watching her suffer..
"Rise and shine, sugar bee, daddy wants some honey.." she heard the guard say as he slowly ran his gloved hand down her bruised back..
This shocked her, and she struck out with all her might as they'd taught her to do during her team rocket training. Her kick landed on the side of the guard's knee sending him crashing to the floor. She got up about to continue the attack, but the other guard slammed her from behind. She hit the wall and fell to her hands and knees...
She always used to be such a strong girl, and she knew at one time she could have easily taken them both.. but she felt so weak now as she sucked in hard breaths trying to regain her bearings and get up to continue the fight before they could re-engage her.
She'd rather die than be raped..
But she was too weak and tired.. The weeks of beatings and days between adequate meals had taken a hard toll on her once strong, healthy body.. and before she could react both men were upon her.
She struggled to get away but it was no use, one man's full weight was already on top of her, securing her arms behind her back, and she could feel the other man position himself behind her.
The guard growled in her ear, "you're really gonna get it now you fuck'n bitch.."
Her agonizingly tired and weak lungs let out a pitiful scream as she felt the man behind her tugging at her clothes.
She shut her eyes tight against the tears that were already flowing.
Then she heard a woman's voice..
"Just what do you think you're doing?!"
She felt the guards get up off her, but she just continued to lay there.. ashamed that she was unable defend herself.
"If I ever see you near this girl again I'll kill you myself!" the woman said to many a "yes ma'am" as the guards retreated back down the hall.
As she lay still on the ground, she could hear the woman come into the cell and kneel down beside her.
"Hey there, you alright?"
"Better than I'd be if you hadn't shown up.."
She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and the woman said, "you look familiar.. what's your name?"
"Cassidy.." she said as she turned her head and looked into the deepest green eyes she'd ever seen..
Meowth began laughing, but Jessie back-handed his mouth shut.
"Why yes, we are, how did you guess?" Jessie said, a cute smile overcoming her features.
Flattery was still a deep weakness that Jessie couldn't resist.
"You guys just look like it." the waitress said smiling at Butch and James.
James just chuckled a bit as he put his arm around Jessie's shoulders, he could feel the growl she wanted to let out.
The waitress started to turn around then stopped and added, "Oh yeah, if you guys like to party, there's a rave down at Baker Street Theater tonight..."
"And you'll be there?" James asked with a confident smile. He felt Jessie pinch his leg down under the table, and he chuckled to himself.
The waitress, who looked to be a little younger than them, blushed slightly, and smiled, "well.. why don't you go and see for yourself?" she said, as she turned to get back to her other tables.
Butch had remained silent through the whole dialogue, taking no notice of the flirting invitation that had been extended.
Whenever Butch closed his eyes, all he that he could see was green eyes staring back into him..
Everyone was well used to this sort of thing by now: Jessie getting jealous and frustrated.
"Oooo... I should have ripped that little hussy's blue hair out!"
James just put his arm around her. As beautiful as she was, she could sometimes be so insecure..
Jessie just clung to him and sighed as they walked back to the mini van.
"So you're coming, right Butch?"
"Uh? oh, yeah." Butch said as James grinned.
"Good, sometimes I think you don't have nearly enough fun."
"I'm coming too!" Jessie said.
"Wouldn't have it any other way." James said as he winked at Butch.
The truth was, Butch hadn't been paying attention, and didn't even know what it was that James was talking about.
He thought about how absent minded he'd been and cursed himself..
The group had reached Metacity, the location of closest lab, that morning. Butch knew that he'd have to keep his mind clear of distractions when the time came to break in..
Butch never used the aim on his gun; he never had the chance. It seemed every time he'd ever needed to use it he only had time to shoot from the hip. Thankfully, it had never come back to haunt him..
Mondo sat on the double size bed farthest from the hotel room door. He was reaching down to pick a screw he had dropped up off the faded green carpet. Cassidy was lying on the bed nearer to the door, just to the right of the chair Butch was sitting on.
"You're going to the Rave, aren't you?" Mondo finally said as looked up from the disassembled 2-way radio he was holding.
"Oh yeah, of course I am" Butch said as he set his gun down on the small round table on his left.
"I'd like to go, but.." Mondo trailed off.
Mondo had always been rather left out when it came to team rocket activities: he'd been more like just a team rocket assistant, and less like a true member.
"Well then you certainly should come." Butch said with a smile.
Mondo just smiled back and nodded.
"Are you coming too, Cassidy?" Mondo asked her.
"Yeah.. someone's got to protect you guys I suppose.."
Butch was a little surprised, this was the first real sign of life that Cassidy had displayed in weeks. It always seemed lately she never wanted to go anywhere..
Butch picked up his pistol as he heard a knock on the door and cautiously peered through the peephole. He saw James standing outside, dressed in the same black clothes he'd worn the day before.
Butch lowered his gun and opened the door.
"Hey Butch, about ready to roll?"
"Yeah, Mondo and Cassidy will be coming too. Did you find out where the place is at?"
James laughed slightly as he responded, "yeah, I tortured the information out of one of the nice young women down in the lobby."
James always had quite a way with women..
"Oh yeah, and uh, you might want to shave too." James said handing Butch a can of shaving cream and running a hand over his cheek.
Butch felt the growing stubble on his chin, and James laughed as he walked away. Butch shut the heavy door.
They were all thankful that it was a much warmer night than the last few had been, and they were all dressed accordingly.
James was still wearing the blue T-shirt and black leather pants Butch had seen him in back at the hotel.
As usual, Jessie was dressed very provocatively: a tiny pair of shiny white vinyl shorts, and a tye-dye pink baby-t.
Butch held down a few chuckles: Jessie didn't even like taking James to the beach, where other girls could see James' well muscled arms, chest, and stomach; It was bad enough everyone could see his gorgeous green eyes and perfect lavender hair..
Butch supposed one could say she was a little on the jealous side..
The thing that made it all really funny though was how much the opposite James was: totally secure. He never seemed to mind Jessie's incredibly skimpy swim wear, and only laughed seeing all the guys that flirted with her.
They were a match made in heaven, Butch thought to himself... Everyone wanted them, everyone wanted to be like them..
Thinking about Jessie and James made Butch think about Raina.. wondering where she was, and what she was doing right now..
Butch was brought back to the moment, however, when everyone stopped.
"Well, I guess everyone needs to have fun sometimes..." James said as they looked up towards a run down looking building with a vertical neon sign in front that said in bold pink letters, "Baker Street Theater." There was a long line of people leading from the entrance and trailing off around the corner of the building opposite the direction they'd come from..
"Great, I knew this was a bad idea.." Cassidy said as she started to turn around.
"Hey wait a second, don't worry, it'll move fast. Besides, what'd you expect? Crowds of people is what makes a rave so exciting," James said as he grabbed the back of Cassidy's collar.
Butch disguised his surprise well, he'd never been to a rave himself, and didn't really know what to expect..
James led them past the front entrance as they headed for the end of the line.
"Hey guys!"
Everyone stopped and turned as they heard the excited voice come from someone standing in line as they walked by.
It was the little blue haired waitress they had met earlier. They wouldn't have easily recognized her now, as she was now dressed in tight black vinyl pants and a loose white blouse. She also apparently was a body piercing aficionado. She had a piercing in her eyebrow, nose, and if they'd given a slightly closer inspection, they'd have found on through her tongue as well.
"Glad to see you guys made it," she said with a smile and added, "I know the line's long, so you can just step in here with us."
Butch noticed that she was with two large, but relaxed looking guys, and a blonde girl with the same shade of blue eyes that looked to be about her age, but slightly taller.
"I dunno.. that might piss some people off.." James said looking back towards the end of the line, and forwards to the bouncer that was eyeing them.
"Don't worry about it, Dave's a friend of mine," she said waving at the bouncer as he nodded and turned away.
"Oh yeah, what am I thinking, I'm Angelina, but you can call me Angel like everyone else."
"I'm James, this is Butch, Cassidy, Mondo, and Jessie."
"Cool, this is Ariel, Mike, and Eric." Angel said pointing at the trio that was standing behind her.
Jessie seemed surprisingly calm.. Butch figured it must have been because Angel already appeared to have a boyfriend, and therefore was less likely to try to move in.
As they waited in line Butch confided to James that he'd never danced, and that he'd never done anything like this in his life.
James turned to Butch with a somewhat surprised look and smiled.
"It's easy man.. just watch me, and be natural.." James said as he grinned and patted Butch on the back.
"Just be natural.." Butch thought to himself... of course for James just being natural was fine, but Butch wasn't James..
After a few more minutes waiting in line they entered the double doors that marked the entrance and walked down a short dark corridor to another set of double glass doors.
Butch could feel the loud techno music already, and the strobe lights assaulted his senses as he paused to think about what he was getting into.
"Come on!" he heard Angel say as she nudged him on from behind.
Butch started forward again and entered the expansive main room.
All the walls were painted black, and there was a huge mirror ball hanging from the ceiling. Benches lined the walls, most of them occupied by people that appeared to be on the verge of unconsciousness.
Jessie and James were still ahead of him, and he watched as they merged into the crowd. Cassidy and Mondo had likewise disappeared.
Butch envied their freedom sometimes.. They always seemed to have a good time so easily..
He and Cassidy had never gone anywhere like this together.. Although they'd spent a lot of time together it seemed it was all work related..
Butch remembered stakeouts with Cassidy, and how they'd talked all night to make the time bearable and make sure they didn't fall asleep at their post..
Maybe it seemed boring at the time.. but Butch missed days like that.. hearing her laugh at a stupid joke, or slap him over a dirty one.
Or listening to her tell him about what it was like growing up in Veradin city.. or comforting her when she thought about her lost parents..
"Aren't you going to join them?"
Butch turned around, and saw Angel was still behind him.
"I uh.." Butch said a little embarrassed, "I've never danced or anything.."
"What? a guy like.. er.. well you can dance with Ariel, she'll teach you" Angel said turning to tap the blonde girl that was facing away from them on the shoulder.
Butch quickly whispered into Angel's ear "But isn't that her boyfriend?!"
Angel just giggled a little and whispered back, "no, that's her big brother. So be nice to her.. oh yeah.. I think she likes you."
"Big" was the right word thought Butch to himself as Angel whispered to Ariel.
Butch had almost never felt small next to anyone. In fact, being 6'2" tall and weighing about 220 lb. he was 3 inches taller, and about 40 pounds heavier than James.
Gengiess was the only special agent Butch could ever remember working with that left him in awe.. but Gengiess was a survivor of a different era..
Butch felt Ariel grab his hand and say, "come on," as she pulled him towards the sea of bodies.
Butch reluctantly followed.. he felt very self conscious.
When Ariel had stopped she reached up to Butch's ear, standing on her toes and said, "just do like me, and don't worry, no one will laugh."
Butch wasn't really sure why he was so nervous about doing this.. He knew she was right, they were in the middle of a thousand other thrashing bodies, and not one of them would be paying attention to him.
He watched as Ariel held her hands up, closed her eyes, and started moving... as he looked at her he thought she really was rather cute..
She had short blonde hair and was wearing a little silver dress that loosely fit her proportions, hugging her thin hips, and halted a couple of inches above her knee.
Her makeup was a little different, though, sort of pale, with black around her eye lids (which contrasted heavily on her light blue eyes), and the little pony tails near the back of the top of her head were a nice touch.
She opened her eyes and noticed him standing there staring at her and said, "don't just stand there.. move... it's not hard"
She continued to move her body as she stared back at Butch..
Butch finally closed his eyes and started moving... a little tentatively, but like he had so many times when he was alone with his cd-player and a good techno album.
Then Butch tensed up as he heard a small giggle.
"Hehe, I'm sorry, I'm just laughing because you acted like you couldn't dance."
Butch was a little surprised, but he finally began to relax. Within a few mixes Butch had forgotten that he was ever scared at all, and he was a dancing fool like everyone around him.
Butch frequently bumped into people, and people frequently bumped back, but no one seemed to mind, and he felt so good that it was like he was floating..
Every now and then Butch looked around and saw Jessie and James, or Mondo talking to a girl, but he didn't notice Cassidy anywhere.
Then Butch felt someone tug at his shirt and he looked down to see Ariel.
"Hey, lets stop for a few minutes.." She said as she took hold of his hand beckoning him to follow her.
Although he was sweaty, and his head felt a little light, Butch was having a great time.. He didn't think he'd ever had so much fun in his life.
Butch followed her out of the churning sea of ravers and over to one of the benches on the edge of the room, a blue light shone down on it, and she sat down and pulled him with her.
"I'm a little thirsty, Butch.. could you go get us a drink?" Ariel said pointing to a small bar area not far away.
"Sure thing, what do you want?" Butch said as he got up and she let go of his hand.
"Anything's fine.."
Butch nodded and stood up. As he was walking towards the bar he noticed Jessie heading in the opposite direction.
Butch stopped her and asked her if she was having a good time. She just smiled and said, "yeah, it's a blast.." then added, "looks like you're enjoying yourself too"
Jessie was referring to the large grin on Butch's face and the gleam in his eye, and indeed, he was having the time of his life.
"Well I'm headed for the lady's room, catch you later," Jessie said as she winked and walked off.
Butch chuckled to himself as he continued on to the bar. After taking a minute to serve someone else the bartender asked what he would have.
"Hmm.. what do you got?" Butch replied looking at the many bottles behind the counter.
"Anything with alcohol in it." the bartender replied impatiently staring at him.
The truth of the matter was that Butch, much like he had never danced, had never ordered a drink, he didn't even know the names of any.
"Just give me two of anything," Butch said as the bartender nodded and pulled out a couple of transparent plastic cups pouring a mixture of clear liquids into both.
"That's $4," the bartender said and Butch handed him the money wondering how 6 ounces of liquid with some ice in it could cost $2.
Butch picked the drinks up and looked around for the bench Ariel was sitting on. After a few seconds he spotted her waiting impatiently and walked back over.
Butch handed her one of the drinks and sat down. He was surprised to see her drain it in one gulp.
"Thanks.." was all she said.
Butch wondered if she was mad because he took so long.. As he tasted the contents of his cup and thought it was so bitter that the reason she swallowed it so quickly must be that it was the only way to possibly get it all down...
Then Ariel scooted over to butch and put her arms around his waist and asked, "hey.. you wanna get out of here for a little while.. so we can be.. alone.." as she looked up at him.
The words passed right through Butch with no hard effect, he'd been enjoying himself so much that night that it seemed nothing could bring him down.
"Sure," he said with the same smile he'd been wearing all night.
"Great!" Ariel said as she got up and pulled his hand to lure him after her.
As they were walking towards the door on the outskirts of the crowd Butch noticed most of the people had stopped dancing, and there there seemed to be a cleared out area in the middle...
"Oh shit.."
Butch saw James standing in the middle facing a very large, menacing looking guy with a shaved head that was wearing a red shirt.
Butch stopped in his tracks looking out over the crowd, and Ariel, who was still holding tight to his hand, jerked to a stop as well.
"Why'd you stop?" she said looking up though his face was still turned out towards the crowd.
"Shit.. I'd better get out there before James has to hurt the poor guy.." Butch thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, it'll have to wait.. that's James out there." Butch said pulling out of her grip and pushing his way through the crowd.
Butch could barely hear Ariel pout as he navigated the field of bodies, but he was too late..
Butch heard the sound of someone hitting the floor and stopped to look up and see James standing over the red-shirted man just as one of the the thug's friends tackled him from behind.
Butch finally reached the middle of the ring, and quickly picked the second assailant up off of James, tossing him on his head.
"Shit, James, what happened!"
"That guy's girlfriend was dancing with me, I told him I was sorry!" James said as three more of the guy's friends made their way to the center of the crowd and rushed to attack.
Butch caught the first one square on the nose as he rushed forward and launched the second one onto the DJ's stage as he attempted a tackle.
The third guy, who came at James, just stopped, not wanting to get decked or tossed. He held back for a minute, then tried to hook James on the side of the head, James easily ducked under the punch. The man was then sprawled out at James' feet after a hard shot to the soloplexes and a chop kick to the back of his neck as he bent over from the previous blow.
Butch and James tried to get out of the circle immediately after this, but were shoved back in by another 5 thugs that had come to the aid of their friends.
"Where are all these guys coming from? there's just too many of em" Butch thought to himself as he positioned himself near James' side for another wave of attacks.
Then Butch heard a familiar yell as two of the thugs were knocked out cold. Butch saw Jessie positioned behind where they'd stood, ready to take on more and smiled..
She may look sweet.. but man was she vicious in a brawl..
Butch kicked the nearest thug in the stomach and immediately whipped around with a spinning kick to the side of the head.
James' attacker wasted no time rushing him, but once again, James easily handled him and sent him crashing to the floor on a broken knee before being knocked out by a wicked kick in the head.
"Come on you three! We better get out of here before the police come!" Cassidy yelled at them as she entered the circle which was now covered with unconscious bodies.
"Right, lets get out of here!" said James as they all turned towards the door.
Butch didn't even bother to move though.. As he turned around he was greeted by the barrel of a revolver that was aimed at the group..
"Just stay where you are..."
The man holding the gun was about James' size wearing an army green chemical brothers T-shirt, his pink hair appeared to be the work of some sort of coloring process..
"You guys think you're something else, don't ya?" he said, a nervous grin on his face.
The man saw Cassidy slightly shift her position and pointed the gun at her.
"I said don't fucking move!"
"The cops will be here in a minute.. you'll get arrested too!" James growled...
"Not if we're all dead.."
Butch had never really been scared in a situation like this.. and he wasn't scared now.. but still, he swallowed and wondered what would get them out of this one...
Then two things quickly happened that made them jump in surprise...
They heard the crash of a breaking bottle, and the sound of a gun going off.
Butch looked down at himself, and realized he hadn't been shot.
He saw the man slowly fall down as James grabbed his gun and gave the man a swift kick in the side of the head to make sure he was out cold..
Butch saw Angel standing behind where the man was with half of a broken bottle in her hand.
"Follow me!" she yelled as she dropped the bottle and ran past them.
Butch turned to run and saw Cassidy sitting on the floor.. holding her right shoulder..
"CASSIDY!"
She looked up to him, and he could see the blood running between her fingers as she covered her wound.
Butch quickly scooped up her light body and ran after the others..
Angel was leading them to the back exit of the theater so they could escape the police, who had been called in for a brawl..
They ran out the door and into the alley behind the theater.
"This way!" Angel yelled as she turned to her right and began running again.
They ran for what seemed to be miles.. Butch's arms burning from the load he carried.
Finally Butch called out that they'd have to stop...
It had been raining since they ran out of the theater, and they were all soaked.
They were in another dark alley, a streetlight on the adjoining road cast woeful shadows over them as he set Cassidy down..
He couldn't feel her moving anymore.. and he didn't know if she was still alive.
His white shirt was now an uneven crimson, and tears slowly rolled out the corners of his eyes mixing with the rain that poured over his face.
He felt her wrist.. she was still alive.. barely..
"I'm sorry Cassidy.. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you," Butch said as he choked back on his own bitter tears.
Her hand reached up towards him, and he took it in his own as he listened to her faint breathing and held her close in his arms.
He wished he would have never gone to the rave.. Maybe if he hadn't, Cassidy wouldn't have either.. He wished he could give back all the joy he'd ever felt just so she wouldn't die.. not here.. not now..
Butch didn't know if he loved her, but as he watched her slip away from him there in that cold dark alley, knowing that after all the times she'd saved him he was powerless to help her, he felt like a small part of himself was gone too.
Everyone silently watched him kneeling over her. Her hand fell from his own, as his tears fell like the rain..
Angel stood there with them, the rain washing her tears away, and she mouthed something to herself as her eyes turned away-
The night has come to hold her young...