InsaneJournal

Who: Zel (Merritt) and Millie
Where: Millie’s house
When: Monday morning (Backdated)
What: Family reunion
Why: Millie learns her granddaughter is alive
Status: Complete
Ratings: Mature. Death.

Somehow Zel had managed to calm down, after Merr’s advise she didn’t fight anymore. She was still freaked out, and worried for Jason. Especially after his last hit. Zel had told Merritt to make sure he was okay, that she needed to know he was okay. So for the drive she made small talk, until they reached the crazy old lady’s house. Swallowing down, Zel came to step out that car, fully dressed, since the elevator. Her hair was long and jet black as she came to step into that house. Slowly she glanced around, trying to see if anything stood out to her. But so far it just looked like a regular house. Which was disturbing in its own right at this point, since nothing was as it seemed in New Dublin. She also took note of the area she had entered. The red. “Fucking great…” Is all she said as she sighed deeply. -- On the surface, Millie’s house definitely looked ordinary. The front door opened into an entryway that gave virtually no clues about who she was or what she did. It was, however, equipped with some signal blocking technology, which kept her conversations private. It was the same technology she had installed in her car. She might not have been as tech savvy, but Nathan usually had at least a basic understanding of what was needed. The end of the short hallway opened up to a living room, though, where she’d thoughtfully set out a plate of cookies. Not wanting to disturb or scare the girl, she’d used china plates, instead of one of her boys, as was her normal custom. The boy who was normally her plate, Joe, shifted uncomfortably on the couch, looking dejected. Millie herself was just bringing out two glasses of nice cold milk when Zel arrived. Beaming at the girl, the old woman handed the cups to the nearest Jonathan and went to get a closer look at the girl. “There she is!” she said excitedly. “You look just like your mother. Except for the look in your eyes. Your father used to give me that look, too. It’s probably why he never wanted us to meet.” Despite wanting to, Millie resisted the urge to hug Zel, instead inviting her to have a seat. There were plenty of options: two couches and an oversized chair occupied the room, which she’d meant as a gathering place. “Please, have a seat, and help yourself to a little snack. We have some catching up to do.” -- The first thing Zel noticed was the boy on the couch, as she arched a brow. Seeing the cookies was next and then the old woman. Seeing her excitement and the way she approached her, had caused Zel to step back holding her hands out to stop the old woman.”Look lady.. I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not your fucking granddaughter.” Zel was on edge, and with that Warp and Shok in her system, well this whole morning was luckily not to have her go into a seizure or something. “You two fuckboys.” She said pointing towards Nathan and Jonah for the moment. “Attacked my boyfriend.” Zel didn’t really have time to process the fact that she called Jason her boyfriend. “And I swear to whatever thing you believe in, If he’s badly injured, I’m killing you and them.” Sure Zel killed her father out of self defense. In reality the young woman wasn’t a fighter, she was a hacker. But seeing Jason on the floor, well that sparked something inside the blonde for the moment. But she did note the way this woman said she looked like her mother but with the look of her father. Zel wouldn’t know really much about either parents. “So, if you’ll kindly fuck off I need to go back home.” -- Hearing that her Jonathans had attacked a man, she looked at them, which spurred them both to jump into hasty explanations. After listening to them both for a moment, she held up her hand. “You’re both grounded since Arthur’s likely got a bad headache. Jonah, you’ll be getting an upgrade to help you aim better. Off you go.” Both men looked terrified, momentarily glancing at Zel as if she might say something to stop their punishment, then they left the room. “I am terribly sorry for that, Zel. They were given strict orders not to hurt anyone.” She picked up one of the cookies and took a small bite as she sat down and motioned to another seat. “Now, I know you have a lot of questions, and I’ll happily answer as many of them as I can. As for how we’re related, it’s through your father, obviously. My deviant son decided to turn his back on me, and then told me you were dead. All these years we’ve missed together.” She shook her head sadly. “I could have taught you how to properly defend yourself. Although, I am rather proud of the scratches you left on Jonah. Looks like you got a few good blows in.” -- Zel held a screwed face at that moment as she listened to this woman tell two grown men they were grounded. And the look of fear in their eyes was noted by her as well, as the mention of an upgrade. But when they left and she came to apologise Zel narrowed her eyes. “You’re apology isn’t fucking accepted.” She said as she came to stare at this crazy woman who seemed all too calm for her liking. “Look, I could give a rats ass how you think we’re related. We’re not. This isn’t some happy family reunion. We’re not going to hug and I’m not having you touch my hair.” She replied as she crossed her arms. Zel still refused to take a seat. But she did have a point, Zel wasn’t a fighter and if this was going to be part of her life, she was going to need to be ready for the next time. Her thoughts went back to Jason for a moment as her features soften a bit. But she came to shake her head, which caused her hair to go from black to red. “The only question I have, is how long do you plan on keeping me here?” Zel wasn’t sure what it was. But just being in the house had her head hurting. And not in the way it hurt when she tried to reach Merritt either. This was different. And Zel couldn’t pinpoint why. -- “Oh, I know. Charlie saw to that. He robbed me of many things over the years, but a chance to watch you grow up is the only thing I regret losing.” She took another bite of cookie, feeling just as calm as she looked. “That boy. He was always a bit of a problem child, but I never thought he’d stoop so low. Believe me when I say, I would never have left you in that house under those circumstances if I’d known you were alive.” Joe pulled his knees up to his chest and dropped his chin on them, hugging his legs. Millie reached out and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder for a moment, her attention never leaving her granddaughter. She might be capable of severe cruelty to anyone, including her boys, but she didn’t want them feeling badly when they’d done nothing wrong, and Joe had done nothing wrong. She just couldn’t let him do his normal job for this particular meeting. “To be honest, it was Charlie’s Will that triggered the message telling me you were alive. If you hadn’t killed him, we never would have this opportunity to meet.” Any opportunity to mend fences with her son had long since passed, and he’d turned down her every attempt at doing so. “That being said, I don’t plan to keep you long. I just need to make sure certain people realize you’re now under my protection, dear. You should be out of here by this afternoon, if you really want to be. Of course, I’d like to see you stay for longer, and the invitation to return will always be open. You are welcome here at any time. And yes, I’m aware you don’t want to be here yet and you think that’s a ridiculous invitation.” “Oh! Look at me, prattling on about silly little things and I haven’t even told you whose protection you’re under yet. My name is Millie Green, and a long long time ago, I ran the Daggers, who are now part of the cybermen. Feel free to drop my name if you get into trouble with one of the little gangs. That usually does the trick.” -- Zel ran her hand over her face for the moment. Even with the mention of her father’s name didn’t get much of a reaction from her. “Look.. Millie. We’re not family. Takes more than blood to make someone family, and you. I don’t fucking know you, and your first impression is shit.” She said as she crossed her arms for the moment. “So far, all I know is that you’re nuts...And why the fuck are you petting this kid? And the other two? What the hell is going on in this house?” Zel snapped slightly, since the whole thing was weird to her already. But when she mentioned protection and Cybermen, she came to slam herself with her palm on her face slightly. “Fucking great… Look, I don’t need your protection. No one is after me, I’m a nobody. A face in the crowd that’s it. Nothing special to stand out over.” She came to exhale deeply as she brushed the red hair from her face. “Whatever relationship you and Charlie had, is between you two, I could care less. So don’t talk about my life, like you know anything about it. Because you don’t know shit about me. No one does, and I like to keep it that way.” -- The old woman considered her words for a moment, then shrugged. “You’re right. I might be nuts. It’s been known to happen to people when they have as many upgrades as I do. You’re also right about you getting the wrong first impression.” She smiled a bit at Zel’s question about poor Joe. “Joe is having a difficult day. Nothing more. Nathan and Jonah looked at you like that hoping you’d ask me to be merciful to them, help ease their punishment. Those boys will be dealt with appropriately for that. You can see to it, if you’d like. The only rule is that they’re not to be killed.” Shaking her head, Millie sighed. “That used to be your life, dear. Now your face is plastered all over the news, right beside Charlie’s face. He had a lot of friends who won’t be as gracious as I am about losing him. To be honest, I’m considering giving you one of my boys to help watch over you, but I’m sure you’ll object to that. As it is, though, even faceless, you’ve gotten yourself tangled into so many gangs it’s nearly impossible to for you to be invisible. Working for the wire, shacking up with Camelot, befriending the Child you buy from, and having Cyberman blood running through your veins. Until now, you’ve done a fine job of keeping things on the quiet side, but you were never just a face in the crowd.” “You’re right about that, too,” Millie said sadly. “I don’t know much about you at all, and blood doesn’t make family.” She didn’t even try to convince Zel otherwise, or try to create some false pretense. She’d already said all she really needed to say about their current relationship, and Zel seemed to be rejecting any future relationship. “As I said: you should be able to go home this afternoon. Until then, make yourself at home. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, explore, relax. The Jonathans are all at your disposal for whatever you can dream up. They’ll even teach you some better self-defense techniques if you’d like.” -- She was right about one thing, her trail was all over the news and so was her face now. But when she heard Millie talk about she had with other gangs, she arched a brow for the moment. “..How do you know that..” The thing with Jason, she could understand because he was at the apartment, same with where her loyalty rested when it came to the five gangs. “Stalking isn’t a cute trait to have, especially for an old bat like yourself.” Zel added as she crossed her arms. But when she offered one of those boys to watch her, she shook her head. Even as Millie stated she’d reject the offer, Zel had to be sure of it. “Keep your playthings away from me.” She said shaking her head. Hearing she would be let go until the afternoon, Zel narrowed her eyes for the moment. “You do know, they’re going to find me. And arrest you. No matter who you’re linked with.” She said crossing her arms. Least Zel hoped they’d find her. She wasn’t sure what Jason was doing or how far Merritt had gotten either. When she mentioned watching the punishment though she arched a brow. “No see, I want to kill that fuck, for hurting Jason. That’s what I want to do. So unless, you plan on doing that whatever ‘punishment’ you plan on doing isn’t worth anything to me.” Already steps came to have her look toward that boy for the moment. “Oh for fuck sake.” Is all she said shaking her head as she came to look around the livingroom for a moment. Thinking. “..Okay, Millie. Let’s say I buy this whole lost grandmother bit, what exactly do you want from me? Just my company? I’m not all that great.” -- It had taken longer than he’d liked to figure out how to reach her after he’d lost her three blocks into the car ride. At least it had given him time to check on how Jason was, not that he really cared as the man wasn’t one of his clients but Zel cared… and he just felt compelled to and overwhelmed with concern for him. He’d also sent the pictures of the two men to a member of the Top Five after reporting her captured as well as leaked them her tracking signal from the court issued chip. Speaking of the courts, the moment she crossed into a known Cybermen neighborhood his phone was being blown up by the DA who was threatening a warrant for her violating the terms of her bail. It was a leverage ploy to start settlement negotiations to avoid a trial, which suggested that Digger had done good work. Instead, he sent over footage of her kidnapping. And the DA backed off. Of course the footage given didn’t have a good image of the guys faces… he couldn’t risk the cops getting involved… yet. And without information about what they were going up against, they weren’t going to send guys into a known aggressive area… yet. ”Fuck, Fuck, finally.” Merritt appeared standing behind Zel, only visible to her, only heard by her. ”Okay, instant headache.” He held his temple and almost went away again but took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. ”Jason’s okay.” He informed her. ”A bit bruised up, but he’ll be fine. Also, we have you location and your friends are trying to figure out a way to get you out without getting the cops involved. But if need be I have the DA on speed dial and I can have armed officer there in a snap.” He informed her, reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder if he could… instead just held it over her shoulder instead. -- Handing Joe the rest of her cookie, Millie patted his back. “Go tell everyone there’s going to be a debriefing,” she told him. Joe took the cookie and munched on it on his way out of the room. As he passed out of sight his voice could be hears shouting for the other Jonathans to gather up. Looking back at Zel, Millie noticed a blankness to the girl’s expression, almost like she was looking at something no one else could see. “Zel?” she said. “Are you alright, dear?” Hearing several sets of feet approaching, Millie stood with a sigh, and nodded to Zel. “You might want to have a seat now. We’re about to have a meeting, and your voice is going to be very important.” -- When Merr had appeared, Zel came to look in his direction. Hearing that Jason was okay, and that the two that took her had their faces already sent to the cops she sighed deeply for the moment. ”...She has a lot of boys here…” Zel wasn’t aware that she zones out when talking to Merr, so when Millie addressed her, she shook her head almost snapping out of it. “What?” Is all she said as she noticed about twelve of males coming to the living room. “What the fuck…” Is all she said as she came to take a step back and fall into that couch as she came to stare at Millie and those males around her. “My voice?” Zel wasn’t sure what to expect from the old woman, but she was already getting the impression she was more than what she seemed. Which seemed to be the normal in New Dub with people. Still she brushed red hair from her face. “The hell is this about?” Asking as she glanced towards Millie, or rather Merritt for the moment, unsure what was going to happen. Where Zel sat at, she noticed the boy from earlier shooing the others away as he came to take a seat on the floor near her knees, which already had her looking at him and the others a bit screwed. ”What...the...fuck….” -- ”It’s your call.” Merritt said. Looking around as the men entered. He didn’t like the amount of chrome he saw. At least her in the red made sense. ”You want me to get you out -now- I’ll make the call.” It was actually hard to give her that option. She was his client. It was his job to protect her. But because of their other connection he knew he could trust her to handle herself- to a point. -- As the twelve of Millie’s boys made their way in and arranged themselves around the room, Joe definitely took it upon himself to keep the others from getting too close to Zel and giving her any more reason to freak out. Nathan and Jonah still looked very unnerved as they were led to the middle of the room, one vatjob standing over them as they sat on the floor. “This is a debriefing, dear,” Millie explained. “From what you’ve told me, Jonah and Nathan were bad boys when they went to fetch you. I need to hear the whole story so I can decide how best to punish them.” The silence around the room and the sombre faces spoke volumes about the seriousness of the situation. Each young man knew their obedience was paramount. It was groomed into them from the moment Millie reached out to them, whether they came from other little gangs, or were rescues, or whatever the case may be. It was abundantly clear to each of them that Millie was more than capable of making them regret their mistakes. Oh, she was merciful with them, too, but they all knew that certain things were simply not tolerated. In many cases, the lessons they learned were etched into their bodies as more gleaming implants and upgrades. “Zel, I’d like to begin by hearing your side of things,” Millie said. “What exactly happened when they got to your apartment?” -- ”Not yet…” Is all Zel said, as she shook her head and looked back to the room. Wait, a trial… Is all she thought as she looked to Nathan and Jonah sitting in the center. It was a fucking jury, held by Millie which already spoke volumes as to how the old woman handled things. Still, when she asked Zel to explain what happened the young woman simply stared at Jonah more so than Nathan. “Well… After freaking out I hid behind Arthur. Nathan kept talking to me, but him.” She said pointing to Jonah. “Kept staring at Arthur. The way you stare at someone when you know you’re going to pick a fight with them.” Zel had said Jason’s nickname, to make it know that the one they attacked was the King of Camelot. “Either way, after basically being forced to come here by Nathan telling me that Jonah is going to ‘rip my precious king apart’ I really had no choice in the matter of coming now did I. It was either stay and have them kill Arthur, or come willingly. And when then when I did come and he still tried to defend me, the final blow was what caused Jason to not get up…. I don’t even know if he’s alright.” She replied as she came to exhale for the moment. Of course, Zel knew Jason was fine. They didn’t know that. Still, she glanced to Millie, or rather to Merritt as she looked back to the other two. “I don’t like having people I...c--know threatened.” -- While Zel spoke, no one else even stirred. The Jonathans were all as still as statues, and just as pretty, too. When the girl finished, Millie waited for a moment before speaking again. “Nathan. It’s your turn.” Looking at Millie, Nathan pinched his lips together for a moment. “We got to the apartment and there was an elevator. When we got off, she was scared, like you said she’d be, but then she called for Jason. Arthur, I guess. He came down and blocked her. You told us to bring her back, so we asked her again and they tried to kick us out. It happened kinda quickly, then, but Jason told her to run, and that’s when Jonah used the darts, but Zel tripped. So Jonah took care of Jason while I went upstairs. I’ll admit I threatened Jason’s life. You said not to hurt her, and it seemed like the best way to get her to come with us without her getting hurt.” He looked over at Zel, then. “I am sorry for that, Zel.” “Jonah?” Millie said. “What do you have to say?” The bigger man looked around for a moment, eyebrows pulled together, clearly aware that he was in big trouble. “It was like Nathan said, and Zel was close. But that guy looked like he was ready to start a fight from the beginning, and that last blow, well, it was because he was gonna get back up and keep fighting. I didn’t hurt him that bad, though. I was careful. He’ll have a headache. That all.” His gaze kept flicking between Zel, Millie, and sometimes the other boys. -- Zel came to narrow her eyes at both Nathan and Johan. “”Fuck you.” Is all she said towards Nathan when he tried to apologize. But when Johan looked in her direction she rolled her eyes. “What did you expect him to do? Two strange men entered my apartment basically telling me to leave with them.” Her arms came to cross over her as she leaned back in her seat. “Careful my ass, you wanted to fight. Don’t lie.” She huffed slightly, and highly annoyed at this point. “So you’re a liar and you’re a brute.” She replied to them both as she looked over to Millie. “Are we done here?” She said looking towards Millie and Merritt once more. ”She said, I can leave this afternoon. Not sure what this whole trial is about now.” She said as she came to shake her head and lean back in that couch. -- Millie took a moment to consider everything. Jonah had always been a bit eager for action. It was one of the things that made him pair well with Nathan, who tended to talk his way through most situations. After a moment, she sighed. “Nathan, your grounding stands and I’m adding speech restrictions. Next time, perhaps you’ll think a bit more before you speak.” Turning to Jonah, she looked sadly at him. “Jonah, we’ve spoken before about your self-control.” Without another word, she pulled a knife from her arm and held it out to Zel. “You’ve been wronged, and you’ve expressed a desire to kill him. The punishment is yours to carry out.” -- Zel came to arch a brow at Millie. But when that knife was handed over to her, all Zel could do was take it in her hand and stare at it for a moment. She did express wanting to kill him… Twice at that. Emerald eyes came to shift towards Millie for the moment. ”...Turn away Merry…” Is all she said as she came to blink once more. Emerald hues coming to look back down tot hat knife as she gripped it tightly. For a moment, she thought about Jason, and that code he swore by. How Camelot protected. But Zel wasn’t Camelot, now was she? Slowly her frame came to a stand as she walked towards those two males on the floor still. She didn’t say anything towards Nathan, since he wasn’t the one who was fighting Jason. Swallowing down she’d come to crouch in front of Jonah. Her head tilting to the side slightly as she placed the tip of that knife to his chin to have him look at her for the moment. Unlike the killing of her father, Zel was very much aware that this was pure murder and not self-defense. Though, she was kidnapped so it could still be considered as much. Merry would make sure of it. “A King’s job is to protect his people...But a Queen’s is to protect her King.” Is all Zel said as the blade of that knife came across Jonah’s throat, while her hand gripped at his hair and yanked his head back, to ensure he would bleed out. -- ”Zee! Don’t. I can’t protect you from this.” Merr said, his voice pleading. He turned away as she walked over. He could feel the anger and rage. ”Jason is fine. He’s not even going to the hospital. You don’t have to-“ His eye closed, he didn’t have to look to know when she finished, he could feel it. And he knew it wasn’t as satisfying as she hoped it’d be. Merritt hadn’t even realized that he felt her better or that the headache had subsided. The lights in the house all turned out at once. The entire room left black for a full thirty second before the TV sparked to life, the blue light from the display spread eerily across the room. An image of a blue skull amid binary code. The Wire’s logo present in the lower right quadrant of the screen. An electronic chorus of voices (a discerning ear would be able to pick out five) spoke. “You have one of our contractors. You have one hour to return her to the offices of Carter, Wynn and Yates. We recommend you do not dally.” -- As she approached, a look of utter calm passed over Jonah's face. Oh, he was scared, but he knew there was nothing to save him once Millie made a decision, and death at the have of an angry young beauty was surely more merciful than whatever Nan had in mind for him. Nathan and the rest of the boys looked in with sadness at losing a brother, each of them taking to heart the lesson of obedience and the lesson that Zel was an honored guest at all times. As she pulled his head back, Jonah gave her the slightest nod, then it was over. Millie watched the whole exchange in silence, rubbing Joe's back when he shifted closer to her, offering him some measure of comfort. When the lights went out and that message played, though, a different kind of mood filled the room. The old woman sighed unhappily. “Well, that was a waste,” she said. “Someone call for a cleanup. Nathan, it's time to prove yourself. Go get the car.” She turned to Zel, then. “They gave us an hour,” she said. Would you like something to eat before you go?” Whatever the girl might think of her, Millie wished only the best for her granddaughter, and she hopped that one day, the red-haired girl would understand. -- When the knife hit the ground, and Zel came to her feet, she watched as the room went dark. But when that screen came on with that logo, she couldn’t help but smile. She was going home. Which is all she wanted at this point. But as eyes shifted toward Merry she sighed a moment. ”You’ll protect me from me… You always have…”. When Millie addressed her on something to eat she glanced to the cookies, only to take one for the moment. “I still think you’re batshit crazy. And I need you to know… My loyalty is and always will be, the Wire.” She informed the old woman as she watched the boys scatter. Still unsure why she had them around, but that would be for next time. -- The logo flashed white to blue again in pulse with the words. “Once ours is returned, everything will be returned to normal.” The screen cut off and the lights slowly came back on, but the headache Zel and Merr were having didn’t return. — At Zel’s statement, Millie smiled a bit and shook her head. “I’d expect nothing less, dear. It’s like I told you: I only wanted to meet the granddaughter my son chose to hide from me for all these years. It’s a shame it all went south so fast.” Turning to the television, she scowled. “Oh, relax, Five. She’s on her way.” -- When Millie informed the five that she was on her way, she came to smirk for the moment. Actually taking a bite of that cookie as she looked to the old woman. She still wasn’t sure about her. But Zel was curious. “I might be back.” She informed her as she crossed her arms after finishing that cookie and waiting for the boys to gather themselves to take her back. --