The Secret Service ~~~

3 - Can I Have Answers With My Breakfast?

Chapter Three - Can I Have Answers With My Breakfast?

The fire in the kitchen blazed, keeping out the October cold. It sat against the back wall, between all the worktops and cupboards, and was made of grey stone. An item that had been here for as long as the mansion.

Lucas watched as the helpers maneuvered through the kitchen. Bridget was filling cups with water, tea, coffee, and orange juice. Maddox was filling plates while his twin, Manius, was distributing them. Lucas had known all three helpers since they'd first arrived, when they had come together, about three years ago.

New recruits had been wanted then, but none of them had stayed. Before, it had been Petra and Lucas, and then after too. They'd managed, having only tried once to gain new recruits - until now - but it hadn't worked.

Not everyone enjoyed being in the field or wanted to be there even if they did enjoy it - being in the field was taxing in more ways than one sometimes, and so, it wasn't for all. And so these three now helpers had chosen back then to be more home based, still completing work, but that which was less immediately life-altering. Though, if anyone crossed them, Lucas knew, they could all defend themselves.

Petra coughed from the other head of the table, a massive piece of furniture that spanned the entire kitchen floor in the centre with enough seats to fill a party. This wasn't a party, more a congregation of recruits, and that was at best.

"Now," Petra raised her coffee filled cup, "A toast."

"To what?" Emma, the girl untameable red hair, asked.

Petra didn't look at her. "To us being here, to the start of something special, to the completion of the first training exercise." Her green eyes hit Emma, and everyone else, then. "To becoming new recruits. You take your pick."

Everyone raised a glass of something, sharing a vacant look - they wanted to know why they were here. Lucas remembered being put through the paces the same way his first day. The task had been different, but the rest was a mirror. He could see himself in all the faces around the table, and he could remembering wondering what the hell was happening.

But, when Lucas, Petra, with others, had arrived, nothing had been dragged out this long.

"Now, down to business," Petra said, her green eyes flicking to Lucas.

"Yeah," he agreed, answering verbally to the question she was sharing through looks.

Now was the time.

Bridget, Manius, and Maddox seemed to notice the exchange and slowly left the room. The door closed behind them. Though they were no longer field workers, they were still part of this team's dynamic - but they chose to excuse themselves, as if being there for and sharing in important moments didn't belong to them anymore. As if it was no longer for them to experience. They'd chosen their path, as Lucas had chosen his, just because it was different didn't mean they were different. They weren't any less than everyone else. Not to Lucas.

"Why were we locked in our rooms?" Emma asked, blurting it out into the silence.

"And why did we have to climb out of our windows and down the side of the building?" Kade asked next. He was the boy whose weakness was his sister - Lucas remembered.

"You climbed out of a window?" Rory, the sunshine girl, asked.

"You didn't?" Ari asked back. She pushed her glasses back up her nose.

"We found some stairs," June shrugged, her shoulders catching the ends of her turquoise hair.

"Stairs?" Xavier muttered. His painted nails tapped absently against the table. "We used the fire exit."