Anarchy's Mystery

Chapter 14

A day after Jake had been brought to the Renegades headquarters, a guard marched into Alannah and Winston's cell and set to undoing her chains. Alannah and Winston shared confused glances. He pulled her by her chains and left Winston chained to the wall.

"Wait, where are you taking me?" Alannah's glanced back at Winston, only to have the door slammed in her face. The guard ignored her, three more joining him and grabbing the chains. "Come on, have some faith. You're making me curious. I'm not gonna leave. Where are you taking me?" She was ignored again and got the hint. They soon reached a room where they took her in and chained her to a chair behind a table.

"Oooh, now I get a fancy desk." Alannah sarcastically remarked, taking note of the plain metal slab on legs in front of her. Her chair was also chained to the floor and the table, so to leave, she'd have to take the whole room with her. Or, so they thought. The guards left the room, closing the door and leaving her alone. "How stupid are you people?" She muttered, setting to work on the chains. Without being bothered to teleport from the room, Alannah pulled out a bobby pin from the base of her hair and started picking the locks. One by one, they clicked open and she was on the last one when she heard the door's lock opening. It swung open as she undid the last lock and all the chains fell with a clatter to the floor. Captain Chromium, the Dread Warden, Natalie, Adrian and the rest of Adrian's team stood in the doorway, gaping at her.

"Well, this is awkward." Alannah broke the silence, leaning back in her chair, watching the scene unfold in front of her. "Hi. For those of you who I haven't met yet, aka Adrian's team, I'm Alannah Stewards, I'm 20 years old and a known Anarchist who, to put it simple, is locked in Renegade cells - or was until about a minute or two ago - because I joined the Puppeteer to stage an attack - which I didn't hurt anyone in, just to plead a bit of innocence here - and they locked me up for it. So that's the story of my life, well basically all that you need to know about it, and all that you will know about me." Alannah smiled sweetly at the frozen Renegades who hadn't moved and were still staring at her.

"What, do I have something on my face?" Alannah batted at her face, pretending there was something there, replacing the bobby pin in her hair as she did so.

"Remind me why we thought it was a good idea to leave her alone in here again?" Adrian asked, looking really confused.

"She was only alone for at most a minute! How could she have undone all her chains in that time!?" A girl with bleached white and black hair exclaimed, glancing at the others. Alannah rolled her eyes.

"I'll have you know, being an Anarchist isn't always exactly easy, so I'm not exactly stupid." Alannah kicked the chains away from the table and leaned back again. "So, what do you do-gooders want. I'm a busy woman, I'll have you know. And you do have quite a large group here, as I'm sure you know." The Renegades walked into the room and Hugh, Simon and Natalie sat down with the others spread behind them. "So?"

"Alannah, we need to talk." Simon started.

"Apparently." She dryly replied, staring at the ceiling. She played with her hair, as if she were going to tie it up.

"Hey, does anyone have a hair tie I can borrow?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she faced the Renegades again.

"We really need to get back on topic, Impaler." Simon insisted.

"Here you go." Natalie quietly said, handing her a hair tie from her wrist.

"Thanks." Alannah replied softly, sending her friend a smile.

"Do you two know each other or something?" Hugh burst, leaning forwards. "After asking about her yesterday, Alannah, I thought you might but the way you two are acting..." The two girls looked at Hugh and then at each other and burst out laughing. They never thought they would ever be in this situation.

"Are you crazy?" Alannah cackled.

"Do you really think-"

"That we-"

"Out of any two Renegades and Anarchists-"

"Would actually-"

"Know each other?" They finished together, laughing.

"How absurd!" Alannah giggled. "She's such a princess! After all, she is a Renegade, and Renegades and Anarchists are hardly ever friends!"

"I've only seen her when I locked her up in a cell!" Natalie replied, their laughs finally subsiding. The others watched the two girls go back and forth and then looked over to the Captain.

"Then why did you ask where she was yesterday, Alannah?" Hugh asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Because she seemed nice when she brought me here, and I thought she might be nicer and get that dirty rat out of my cell." She replied, her tone turning icy.

"That brings me to my next question. What do you have against Jake?" Hugh leaned back and crossed his arms.

"I used to know him when I was younger and he was always horrible to me. He broke my arm when I was 11, and always kicked and bullied me. Part of the reason I became an Anarchist, actually. They were always kinder than he was and I didn't know many people." Alannah confessed, her eyes pinned in a glare on the wall above her interrogators. "Kinder than the Renegades who kicked me and forced me off the streets like I was just a piece of trash." She shifted her glare to the Renegades. The Renegades were then silent until Simon got the courage to speak up.

"What drew you to the Anarchists?" He asked softly, as if he was nervous.

"I already told you, and I don't like repeating things so pay attention, 'cause I'm only gonna say them once." Alannah tightened her newly tied up hair and began watching the ceiling again.

"So... let me get this straight." Adrian began, everyone's focus shifting to him except Alannah, who kept her eyes on the roof. "You joined a powerful villain gang because they were kind and you didn't have any friends."

"Okay, that's not what I said." Alannah's gaze fell on the Renegade, and he shrank back from her new glare. "And it doesn't matter, anyway. What's done is done." She looked away from the Renegades and gaze fell to her clasped hands in her lap. "Can I go now?" Her voice went quiet and she didn't look any of the Renegades in the eyes, missing their worried glances to each other, minus Natalie, whose eyes never left her friend, willing her to look up. Finally, after what seemed like ages of silence, Alannah looked up and met Natalie's eyes. The two friends locked gazes and didn't seem to notice the others in the room. "Please." She whispered, and everyone was shocked to hear her finally say something polite, and the begging tone and the tears in her eyes allowed them - compelled them - to return her to her cell, but took Winston for questioning. When they finally left her alone, she allowed herself to actually cry. What had happened to her?

Sorry for a bit of a wait, but I think (I can't promise anything, cause life) the next chapter will be up soonish cause I know what I want to do. Thanks for reading lovelies!