Locke slept in the flat that was the Raid Parties hideout. He couldn't bear returning to his own apartment right now. Not after seeing Lunastra, Ellie, again. He needed to be near his family. Nick, Kayla, so he came to the hideout where they lived. Neither of them worked in the light of society. Kayla did her job as an underground doctor and Nick was Locke's eyes and ears on the streets, spotting trouble and taking care of it. So he didn't work either.
As morning rose Locke awakened and made his way to the kitchen in his pajamas. Kayla and Nick were already awake and eating at the dining table with three plates of chocolate chip waffles set out. "Morning boss." Nick said with a raised hand. His voice muffled over a mouthful of waffle.
Kayla rolled her eyes before giving Locke a smile. "Good morning Locke, how are you?"
"Good, thank you Kayla." Locke replied glumly as he sat down in the seat with the final plate of waffles. His thoughts went back to last night and how he abused Ellie's feelings for him to get the upper hand in the conversation. He didn't enjoy it but he decided long ago to separate Locke and Typhon. When he put on that mask he would be cold, calculating, and willing to do anything it took to get the upper hand. Harder than it sounded.
He must have been wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Because as Locke was about to bite into his first Waffle Nick grabbed it. The two men locked eyes and a serious expression took over Nick's face. "Hey man..." He began. Was Nick about to comfort him? Locke thought. "Leggo my eggo." Nick finished with a serious tone as if he was about to fight Locke over the Waffle. Silence fell over the breakfast table for a moment as Locke stared at his idiotic subordinate. Nick, Jevel... His Jester. And so, despite himself, he let out a small chuckle. One that soon turned into an all out laugh as he let go of the Waffle to clutch his stomach.
"What the hell? That shit's so old." He shoved his friend and took back the waffle before tearing into it heartily. Kayla let out a snicker as Nick smiled brilliantly.
"There ya go Boss, can't have you acting all glum n'shit when were about to go murder human traffickers."
"Thank you Nick, I guess running into Ellie last night was more damaging to me than I thought." Locke replied.
Now it was Kayla's turn to speak. "We've been over this Locke, you have nothing to feel guilty about, it's her fault you two didn't work out and it's her fault that she can't let you go. You weren't responsible for anything."
Locke didn't reply, instead he turned his attention to the task at hand. "What did you find last night?" He asked Nick.
"Before I hit the hay I found three of their hideouts, two of which seem to House slaves..." his voice trailed off. "I had the unfortunate luck to come across a few of them being "trained." It... it wasn't pretty.
"What's the training method?" We need to know since this also pertains to his power.
Nick bit his lower lip, but proceeded nonetheless. "Red telekinetic whips wrapped around a body part of the slaves. Their very presence seems to give those attached to it an immense amount of pain. The-" he stopped and made a pained grimaced. "There were women who were being forced to take some sort of pill then subjected to the torture. Whatever that pill did to them it turned the pain into pleasure and-"
"That's enough Nick, thank you." Locke replied. Stoically he rose from his seat as he finished the last of his breakfast. "I'll contact Glass and the others, they should be mobilized by now, we'll need to strike before Scar notices. "Did Ethereal find their main base of operation?"
"Yes, I got the message from Glass this morning. We move on them tomorrow tonight." Kayla answered.
"Reaver wasn't happy. You know... about the plan to keep Scar alive." Nick added.
