After dinner most people migrated to a room they referred to as the ‘Den’. Despite being an open area in the middle of a warehouse, the worn furniture, various LED lights and neon signs made the Den feel surprisingly cosy. Several people were lounging around - drinking, chatting, playing games of darts, pool, and cards. There was a big screen on one wall that was quietly playing some old sitcom, watched by a small audience.

It all felt so welcoming.

Zetta had seemingly given herself charge of him because she took him by the arm and pulled him onto the sofa next to her. It was a well worn sofa and he found himself sinking far into the cushions. Shaun pulled a chair over, along with the dark green haired guy that Luke had seen Rowan talking to earlier. He leaned forward and offered Luke his fist. “Leon, he/him.”

“Luke, um, he/him.” he replied, bumping his fist. Leon gave him a nod and then flopped back in his chair to talk to Shaun.

“How's your head doing?” Zetta asked.

“It’s alright, it hurts a bit.” His cheek was itchy and burned a little. His head throbbed but only if he moved it around too much.

“Reckon you're going to have a wicked headache when you wake up tomorrow.” Luke formed a grim smile. “Don't worry, it happens to the best of us.” Zetta looked over at the far-right corner of the room where he noticed there was what seemed to be a makeshift bar area. “Aila!” A short girl with long black hair turned around. “Anything new?”

Aila waved a hand in acknowledgement and ducked down to search through the bottles. She then made her way over with her chosen drink. “Can I interest anyone in a swig of-” She squinted at the bottle- “some kind of off-brand Buckfast?”

“You can count me out.” Rowan had appeared behind the sofa he and Zetta were sitting on. She made her way round and pulled over an old leather armchair. Once she’d sat in it with one leg swung over the other, Luke decided she needed some sort of fluffy pet to stroke to complete the supervillian vibe that she was currently displaying

“Suit yourself,” Zetta replied, taking the bottle from Aila’s outstretched hand and taking a swig. She screwed her face up as she swallowed. “My god, that's awful!”

Rowan gave Zetta a look of ‘told you so’.

Zetta went to pass the bottle to him before pausing. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“None for you then,” she said, leaning over the coffee table to pass it to Leon. Luke just stared at her with his brows furrowed. After her initial reaction he hadn't wanted any but now he felt a little put out. “What?” she exclaimed at his look. “I might have a criminal record but I still have morals - you’re too young.”

“Trust me,” Leon piped up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re not missing out.”

Luke gave a shrug of agreement and then turned back to Zetta. “So if you aren't allowed near the paperwork stuff, what do you do here?” he asked.

“Zet just gets her boobs out and bullys people into telling her their secrets,” Shaun said. Luke thought he would be joking and let out a breath of laughter but a look over at Zetta suggested otherwise.

“Really?”

Zetta just laughed. “Flash your cleavage, give him a kiss and a man will tell you almost anything. Honestly it's concerning.”

“Especially considering they are allowed to run countries,” Aila commented from where she’d settled on the floor next to Shaun’s chair.

“Hey, I don't think that's quite fair.”

“Obviously she doesn't mean you, Leon. If a woman flashed her tits at you, you’d shit yourself,” Aila replied.

The group sniggered but Rowan looked less than amused. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked as if she was trying to remember something. “Leon, aren't you meant to be cleaning the guns away from this morning?”

“Well I was going to leave it till tomorrow.”

“Might need them tomorrow.”

“Yeah, good point boss. I'll just um…go.” Leon got up and ruffled his hair awkwardly. “Well it was nice meeting you luke.” Rowan watched him leave with a mild glare.

“You could’ve let him do it tomorrow,” Shaun said.

“I asked him to do it today, it wasn't like he was doing anything else useful.” She pulled a hip flask out of her pocket and took a drink.

“So getting information is that easy?” Luke had turned back to Zetta in an effort to repair the atmosphere that Rowan had spoiled.

Zetta let out a bark of laughter. “Some people actually are that easy, but most of them you just need to sprinkle in a little threat here and there,” Zetta said. “You'd be surprised what men tell you when you threaten to tell their spouses how they've spent their evenings. Especially when you can say their names and where they live. Nothing scarier than a woman who knows things.”

“You’ve only ever had to actually follow through once, haven't you?” Aila asked and Zetta nodded.

“The Wilson Scandal? Was that you?”Luke asked. It had been such a big story. Evar Wilson had been head of the international trade committee until it was revealed that he enjoyed spending his evenings off with women in clubs and bars just outside the wall. Of course his wife up and left him but even worse was the fact that the ‘anonymous source’ had stated how loose lipped he got once he’d had a drink or two and he was subsequently removed from the committee due to being classed as a security risk.

Zetta did a dramatic bow. “My finest moment. Bloke gave me a whole speech about empty threats and told me to piss off - his mistake really. You learn one thing from me Luke, NEVER underestimate a woman. Ever.”

“Here here!” Aila said, slapping her hand on the table.

“Men are definitely the easiest to get to talk,” Zetta continued. “Women on the other hand, generally need a little more...persuasion.”

Luke didn't find out what other persuasion Zetta used because Myra walked over with two other people he hadn't met yet.

“Hey Luke! Thought you’d like to meet our tech team.”

“I'm Orchid, she/they.” Orchid had very short curly hair which was a pretty shade of pastel pink. Luke couldn't quite figure out how old she was and the yellow overalls with a red striped shirt were not helping. She had a kind smile and a nose covered in freckles.

Luke’s idea that the group would all look like stereotypical criminals with tattoos and shaved heads was quickly being thrown out the window.

“Henry Keels, he/they, but call me Keels.” They leaned over Zetta to shake Luke’s hand firmly.

Keels was tall and dark, his hair short and very curly. His most striking feature though was his left eye - it was bright white, unnaturally so, and the iris was a vibrant blue which was a contrast to the warm brown colour of the right one. Keels obviously noticed him looking because he winked and then sent the eye whizzing around much faster than an eye should.

Luke was a little taken aback and then also embarrassed that he had been caught staring. “Sorry, I didn't mean to stare.”

“It's all cool man,” they said and the eye slowed to a halt. He then proceeded to tap his finger against it - the action made Luke flinch. “Not real.”

That made a lot more sense.

“I will never understand why you don't just introduce yourself as Keels?” Shaun said, passing the bottle of not Buckfast back to Zetta as he spoke.

“Because my poor fathers don't deserve being judged for apparently naming me ‘Keels’. Only I get to judge them for naming me Henry.”

“Henry’s not that bad,” Luke said.

“It makes me sound like a forty year old man! I’m only twenty one!”

Luke wondered why he was so bothered about being seen as older than twenty one as his outfit made him look rather like an old university professor. He thought that it was probably best not to mention this

Orchid and Myra squeezed onto an armchair together. Keels sat on the arm of the sofa and put one arm around Zetta, who leant her head on him. This caused Luke some confusion because the way Rowan had been looking at Zetta he assumed that there was maybe something going on between them.

He was usually wrong.

But then he watched Rowan give the two of them a quick look out of the corner of her eyes and thought maybe he wasn't entirely off-base.

He would find out what the deal was later.

“What have you all been talking to the new kid about then?” Keels asked. “You know everything about us now Luke?”

“Not really,” he replied, “Just that men are very easy to get information out of.”

Keels, Myra and Orchid laughed.

“It's an important thing to know,” Orchid said, haphazardly tracing circles on Myra’s knee.

“What else do you want to know then?” Keels asked him. “Fire away!”

Luke had a million questions but they all left his head the second he was given an opening to ask. He thought hard for a moment. “Are you actually going to overthrow the government?”

“That's the plan eventually,” Rowan answered, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She’d been so still and silent that Luke had almost forgotten she was there. “But something of that scale requires immense planning and a level of manpower that we simply don't yet have. Real life is not some action movie.”

“So what do you actually do?”

“Raids on supply runs and Eden storage facilities mostly - the colony has more food and other resources than they know what to do with but people here stab each other over a loaf of bread.”

“We take what we can use, sell most of the excess and then give away anything we have left,” Zetta added. “We also spend time gathering intelligence for these raids and also for our smaller acts of vandalism and general rebellion.”

“And we also torture, and sometimes kill, some of their officials and other government staff and connections to gain this intelligence,” Aila said bluntly, leading Luke to believe that perhaps she’d had the most to drink so far. “And by ‘we’ I mean it's usually Rowan.”

Rowan just shrugged, “Collateral damage.”

Luke thought of all of the memorials and outcry that had been caused by various high-up government workers going missing or winding up dead.

The woman responsible was sitting in front of him, drinking and showing no remorse.

“What I don't understand is how you havent been arrested yet?” he asked, shaking the previous thought from his head.

There were several laughs from around the table.

“The question we are all wondering,” Shaun said.

“Police drones can't come close to us due to radar towers surrounding this area, we are a blank spot on their map.” Keels explained. “And they have no reason to venture out this far from the city otherwise. This whole site is abandoned. Well, apart from us.”

“We also try not to make a habit of getting caught,” Rowan said, taking another drink from her flask. Zetta smiled and batted her eyes at Rowan, who reluctantly passed the drink to her.

R.A.I.G definitely appeared far more organised and far smarter than he had been led to believe. They weren't just committing random acts of violence to be a nuisance. They did what they needed to do to survive and to try and make a difference - no matter how small.

“It all started with me and Rowan smashing shit up as teenagers,” Shaun said. “Still not sure how but we grew from there. This is our main hub but we’ve got guys all over the city.”

“It started with you two?” Rowan definitely seemed like the leader but it surprised him that Shaun had, at least at the beginning, been her right-hand man.

“No need for the tone of surprise mate,” Shaun replied, soundly just a little offended. “Me ‘n Rowan go way back.”

“Yes, don't remind me,” she said bitterly with a roll of her eyes. The pair of them shared a look. Rowan’s said ‘please shut up’ and Shaun’s was more along the lines of ‘christ, I’m sorry.’

Luke made a mental note to ask someone about the tension between the two of them later.

“I met Rowan in jail when we were eighteen,” Zetta said proudly. “I was doing a year for petty theft and Rowan stopped this bitch who was attacking me in the yard. What did you do to get time again?”

“Arson,” Rowan replied rather nonchalantly.

“Oh shit yeah!” Shaun laughed, all traces of the previous brief and wordless confrontation gone. “We set fire to the look out post by the wall.”

“That was a pretty good one,” Rowan admitted, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

“Then you all crashed in my garage once you got out,” Orchid said.

“It was a very cosy garage,” Keels replied. “Especially once I arrived and there were six of us in that tiny place.”

“Bloody cold though,” Aila muttered, giving a brief shiver as she spoke.

“You didn't sleep in it in the winter,” Zetta said, “You were still staying at home.”

“Prison was warmer than that garage,” Rowan remarked.

“Wait, you lived in a garage?” Luke asked.

Orchid turned to Luke and he could see that she was mildly offended. “Yes we did because it was my home and I offered it up to my friends.”

“And it was a very nice home.” Myra said, kissing their hand and smiling sweetly.

“Could you not have got some heaters or something though?” Luke added, trying to make his question a little less…he wasn't even sure what he was trying to do.

“We had a grand total of about twenty five pounds between the six of us,” Shaun scoffed.

Luke seemed to be digging himself a bigger hole so he shut up.

“Game of darts anyone?” Keels asked quickly, eager to change the subject before an uneasy silence could form.

“Rowan will just win again!” Zetta complained.

“Sounds like excuses to me, Brookes,” Rowan said as she rose from her chair.

“I’m still not playing.”

“Suit yourself,” Shaun said, getting up to follow Rowan and Keels to the dart board. Aila held up her arms and he hauled her to her feet, keeping a tight hold as she wobbled.

Luke watched them walk away. “I’m sorry,” he said to Orchid, “I didn't mean anything I-”

“It's alright kid, you can’t help the life you've lived,” she said, cutting him off. They turned towards Myra. “Want to head to bed, love?”

Myra nodded and the two of them left, both smiling and bidding him good night.

Despite this, Luke’s stomach still squirmed. “Think i fucked up already,” he groaned. Zetta scooted over a little and threw an arm around him.

“Don’t worry about it, Orchid has survived a lot, I'm sure a posh prick’s naive comment doesn't matter.”

Luke was coming to the realisation that his background was not going to escape comments anytime soon.

“Is this meant to make me feel better?”

“Is it working?”

“No.”

“Then no it wasn't.” Zetta drummed her hands on her thighs before standing up.“C’mon, you've had a long day, let's find you a room.”

They made their way back to the medical room so that Luke could grab his rucksack. Zetta told him that they had a bunch of clothes and stuff in one of their storage areas and that they could go through it tomorrow for anything he didn't have. Then she began to lead him through various corridors and open areas - some looking very well used and lived in, others looking a little more disused with half finished repairs and sheets thrown over things. He had no idea of the true size of the building - in fact he came to the rather unsettling realisation that he didn't actually know where he was or what the building looked like from outside. All he knew is that they were far away from the Colony and the rest of Dòchas, and that the building seemed to go on forever.

Luke was really hoping that he didn't have to share a room. He wasn’t sure what the sleeping arrangements were like and he quite fancied still having his own space.

“This could work.”

Luke stopped as Zetta poked her head in what looked like an old storage room under a set of metal stairs. She clicked the light on and went in, starting to pile some of the boxes outside of it to make room for him. After she seemed satisfied that she had made enough room she dusted off her hands and turned to him. “I’ll find you an air mattress or something for now and we can give it a proper clean and stuff tomorrow.” she said before stepping to the side of the door. “Go make yourself at home, I'll be right back.” She flashed him a smile and then walked off.

Luke hovered hesitantly in the doorway. It was small and dusty, probably big enough to fit a twin-size mattress in the corner with just enough room to walk around it. He walked in and took some boxes off of the battered office chair just opposite the door and then sank into it - ignoring the creaking and cracking sounds it made when he did so.

The room did need a clean - cobwebs hung from the ceiling, a small collection of black smudges seemed to be climbing up the wall from the skirting board, and there was still a pile of junk in the far corner. There was no window so the room was lit from a single fluorescent bulb in the centre.

Luke hadn't been expecting any level of luxury but his heart sank a little at his new living arrangements. He’d told himself he was prepared for this when he had made his choice earlier - if he couldn't handle living in a glorified cupboard, how on earth would he handle anything else that was about to be thrown at him.

Maybe his decision had been too quick.

Luke was still contemplating his life choices when Zetta returned - air mattress and pump in hand, kind smile on her face. It was the kind of smile that could make anybody feel better. He got up to help her.

His life crisis could wait till he’d had a good night’s sleep.

Or however well a night’s sleep someone could get on an air mattress that would most definitely have him waking up on the floor.