Phoenie crossed her arms and frowned. “Mr Gibson, that looks more like an overly fancy instrument than a weapon,”

“It’s a guitar-blade,” said Kaori, “My dad customised it just for Joel,”

“Man, Herman Shimomura’s a proper legend,” said Joel, “I’ve heard stories of him killing demons while belting out guitar solos at the same time!”

“If you say so,” said Phoenie. How anyone could be suckered into believing such obviously fabricated hype she didn’t know – but then it was Joel Gibson. She had visions of him freaking out over a broken string after blundering his ‘weapon’ against a wall. The sight of the two final figures, accompanied by some kind of scuttering robot, renewed her hope for adequate protection.

“Look, I ain’t about to get caught sneaking around again, okay?” said Theseus. He was wearing armour beneath his trademark leather jacket and had a bandoleer primed with a variety of palm-sized, colour-coded grenades slung around his torso. “Everything in here’s all I could cobble together, weapons-wise,” he explained, thumbing towards the spider-shaped robot standing by his feet, “Slugs, laser, plasma, the works. The hell I’m gonna get saved by some damned teachers this time,”

John looked as equally prepared as his partner-in-crime. His usual glasses had been replaced with a more impressive helmet, loaded with neon lights and sensor arrays, while a backpack covered in flashing displays and control inputs cut through the still twilight air with a gentle humming. At his side hung several other devices, both long and small, while one arm was a mass of cells and computer screens.

“I’ve learnt my lesson,” he said, holding up his cyber-arm for all to see, “There’re enough systems and networks here to counteract any virus and enough sensors to detect a colony of ants two miles away,” he paused, looked sheepish and blushed, “Well, maybe not quite the last part,”

“Where did you get that stuff from?” asked Andromeda, poking on of the devices on his arm with a curious finger.

“My old man,” said John, “Most of it anyway. He’s been leaving more and more things sitting around ever since that Godhand incident. Told me I should start learning if I wanted to go gallivanting off with you guys again,”

Theseus was less open about his sources, as Phoenie expected, “Some guys outta town owed me one,” he said, avoiding eye contact. Phoenie only hoped he’d not made some kind of arms smuggling deal with Godhand and that treacherous wretch he called a ‘girlfriend’.

“Well, it looks like we’ve assembled quite the little troop,” she said, casting aside her suspicions smiling with pride at her army of rebels, “Let’s move on out!”

***

It was the first time Phoenie had ventured into the Raven social networking establishment, ‘the World’s End’. She’d never had the slightest inclination to descend those cold stone steps and step through the foreboding metal doors before now. The placed reeked of death and disease, its walls scrawled with the cataclysmic names of depressing musical groups whose lyrics were filled with tales of violent tragedy, its floor a sticky mass of discarded fliers, boot-crushed cigarette ends and empty boxes of contraception tossed aside by shallow nymphomaniacs. The Ravens were anchored in the destructive past and lived for the moment, convinced tomorrow may never come. Phoenie may not have had much hope for the world, but at least she wasn’t so self-obsessed that she abandoned her future just to enjoy today.

Joel, Kaori and Lyra, however, looked at home in the Raven dump. Lyra’s ragged clothing matched the state of the walls, while Joel and Kaori’s desperate clinginess as they held on to each other symbolised the insecure fears prevalent in all true Ravens. Even Kaori’s cloak was embodied with fancy designs, as if she were afraid she’d end up dead and wanted her body to be found wearing the most beautiful clothes possible.

Chapter 48
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