A Winding Road to Revenge

Tea with Some Terrorists

Luke wasn't quite sure what had happened.

The conversation with the tattooed woman had been strange. He was fairly sure she didn't even tell him her name and she'd seemed angry before they even spoke.

He was in R.A.I.G's Headquarters. The place and the group that the government had been trying to take down for years. The group that had been responsible for burglary, vandalism and murder.

And for some reason, he had chosen to stay.

Luke couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why - whether it was that he finally had a chance to help the city he'd been watching fall apart at the hands of people like his father or whether it was purely to spite his old man.

Either way, there was no going back now.

It was hard to imagine himself that morning - packing his bag, leaving the note for his dad to find and just...leaving. He wouldn't see his room again, or his house, or his dad, or his friends from school. But Luke found himself unexpectedly okay with that.

Luke wondered if his dad had found the note. He tried to picture him reading it, running to call someone because his son was gone, maybe even just running into the streets to see if he was anywhere close by, screaming his name into the air.

He knew none of that would happen though.

Benedict Daniels would read the note, shake his head, and go find some way to sweep his runaway child under the rug.

Just as he was coming to terms with the potentially life-threatening decision he had just made and his fathers lack of affection, another woman came into the room. She was far more smiley than the first one and looked less like she was seconds away from driving a knife through his skull - which seemed like a good start.

She had short bright purple hair tucked behind her ears, displaying more earrings than Luke thought someone could fit on their ears, and a top with more straps than Luke thought a top could have.

She walked right in and sat on the end of the bed.

"Hi, you must be Luke ?"

He just nodded equally intimidated by her forwardness as he had been with the other woman's general threatening aura.

"I'm Zetta. Rowan didn't scare you too much did she?"

He shook his head slightly, assuming Rowan was the tall tattooed lady he had just spoken to. Zetta laughed and leant back on her hands.

"You're a brave one then," she said, "Scares most people shitless."

Luke didn't mention that he had had quite a rough couple of hours and a tall tattooed woman with an angry expression was honestly the least terrifying thing he had dealt with all day. He'd never been on public transport before in his life and asking for a ticket was far more stressful than it should've been. Then he had to walk around a part of the city that felt like a different world to him.

Oh and then not to mention being knocked out and waking up in a warehouse belonging to terrorists.

"Well, we'll get you sorted out proper after tea," she said, giving his leg an affectionate pat. "Lucky you came on a Tuesday."

"What's lucky about Tuesdays?"

"Oh he speaks!" she exclaimed and Luke's cheek flushed red. "I'm only teasing," she said with a smile. "Myra cooks on Tuesdays and her chicken biryani is to die for!"

Luke hadn't realised quite how hungry he was until Zetta had mentioned food and his stomach seemed to agree as it let out a large growl which made Zetta laugh.