----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liza shuffled her feet along the polished wooden floor, taking her sweet time as she made her way down the corridor, she'd got in late to school but she didn't care. It was time for maths, she HATED maths .It wasn't because she couldn't do it but because the class was so damn boring, the students were thick and the teacher was a bitch.
Looking up from her feet she stared down the long corridor with its pristine floors and panelled walls. Liza went to one of the best private prep schools in London, the class sizes were small, the facilities excellent, but anyone who would say it was another world to a state school was oh so wrong. The teachers could still be nasty and the kids could be nastier still, but Liza wouldn't complain about that, she revelled in it.
Liza was 8 years old and already she was building up a miniature version of her fathers' empire; she had a gang, and it was unwise to start on her gang. Lizas' father was born into the mob one of London's most notorious gangs, the Krays. After the Krays' got broken apart Lizas' father took over their contacts and was now the unofficial owner of London's underworld, running organised crime from their comfy home in Belgravia. Lizas' reputation came mostly off the back her father, but she was partial to trouble herself.
Finally reaching her classroom she opened the door to be greeted immediately with a very stern looking teachers face only inches away from her own.
"Ms. Robinson." The teachers' proper accent was dripping with venom. "I suppose you think that you can wander in here whenever you like? Sit down and get on with the work on the board at once."
With a scowl Liza flopped into her usual chair and gave her teacher the finger behind her back, opening up her bag she lazily got out her books and started doing the sums on the board. It took her around 25 minutes to do 45 minuets worth of questions and she spent the rest of the lesson throwing small bits of paper at her teacher, so by the time the bell rung for morning break it looked like she had major dandruff.
Liza skidded out of the door and sprinted down the hallway as soon as the bell rang to avoid punishment for her late arrival. Slamming through the double doors she jumped the 3 steps down into the playground and calmed her pace down until finally she was walking once again, to a group of kids who sat on the climbing frame at the end of the playground. Two of them were boys, still dressed from a morning's rugby lesson, their legs caked in mud and hair tussled, the other two where girls.
"Alright?" one of them said and shuffled up to make from for Liza on the slide. Liza sat at the top and nodded in reply
"Yeah, nearly got killed by Ms. Jay again this morning, the woman's such a witch." Liza said, brushing the hair out of her face. One of the boys scoffed back a laugh "She's just worried that if she teaches you anything you'd take her job."
That made Liza grin; she looked sideways at the boy. His name was Hugo, he had been one of Lizas' closest friends since she first started school at 3 years old, he could basically finish her sentences for her.
The day passed without much happening worthy of any note, which is until the last lesson. Lizas' Last lesson was PE and the girls separated from the boys to play the good old English game that was Netball. Honestly Liza would rather of been playing rugby with the boys but she was stuck in the goal circle with a girl whom she despised in the utmost. Laura Archibald was goal shooter and Liza goal keeper, Laura was no doubt going to grow up to be one of the popular slag's in senior school, she was sporty and already, at the age of 8, she was wearing make up and cooing over girls magazines.
Standing with her arms crossed Liza had a 'don't bother me' expression plastered over her face yet Laura insisted on talking to her about petty things and making jabs at her and her family.
"Why aren't you talking? Embarrassed I suppose, every time you open your mouth I think I've suddenly been kidnapped and taken to Hackney." Laura sneered, her accent crisp and snooty. "But yours is nothing compared to your mums, seriously, my ears bleed when I hear her-"
"Shut your face." Liza interrupted her, and Laura's' mouth curled up into a smirk.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't understand you…" Laura cupped her hand to her ear mockingly.
Crunch.
Lizas' fist slammed into Laura's nose causing a spray of blood to stain her neatly ironed polo shirt. Pulling back Liza stepped away from the now weeping girl and growled at her "You can say anything about me but don't bloody insult my mum."
The game play had been focused on the other end of the court, but now the ball begun to come back up to their end of the court the teacher noticed Laura, who had sunk to her knees clutching her nose helplessly. The shrill, piercing sound of the whistle stopped all players in their tracks as the teacher ran up to the pair.
"What's' going on here!?" she demanded roughly before crouching down and putting a hand on Laura's quaking back.
"She...she punched me in the nose!" came the muffled reply between sobs. Liza could see the burly woman slowly turn red as she helped Laura up; she was going to explode into a massive lecture any minuet.
Deciding it best to be out of reach Liza stepped back a few paces in time for the teacher to start. "You are in so much trouble young lady! Come with me, your going to the principle for this. You've broken Archibald's' nose!" she made an attempt at grabbing Lizas' arm but missed when she realised she was out of reach. When she made a step forward Liza ducked out of the way.
"I'm not going, she bloody asked for it!" she retorted angrily "She's been insulting my mum all lesson!"
The teacher glared pointedly and took a deep breath "Robinson, don't make things any worse for your self. If you don't come with me now we'll get your parents up here immediately."
Liza replied with an equal glare a looked around to the exit of the netball courts then back at the teacher. "You dare." The teachers' voice rose with slight shock that a student would even consider it. That was the only incentive she needed; Lizas Nikes made a sharp squeak as she darted for the door, no one moved out of sheer shock so Liza made it out of the hall unhindered but she caught the sound of the teachers shout echoing out of the hall when she realized what had happened.
Liza ran full pelt out of the sports complex and into the play ground, she was of average fitness but the adrenalin that flooded her system helped overcome that barrier as she struggled to scale the old brick wall perimeter with the help of a tree. Dropping over the fence she could hear the shouts in the playground as the teachers were alerted. The school backed into Holland park and Liza ran through the park until she reached the end and sat on a bench breathing heavily.
"Oh, bloody hell!" She muttered to herself as she caught her breath. She brushed herself off and winced slightly at a scrape on her knee she'd acquired when scrambling over the brick wall. Looking around the park was empty, the teachers wouldn't think that she'd actually ran away, they'd be searching the school so she was free to go home if she wanted, her dad wouldn't be bothered. Getting up she strolled casually down the pavement, trying to keep a low profile, she realised that an 8 year old girl walking on her own in the middle of the day would look suspicious but it was fairly empty so she was ok.
Shepard's bush tube station was starting to get busy at 3 o' clock and Liza had no trouble attaching behind a woman in the ticket queue and pretending to be an independent daughter who likes to get her own ticket, the person behind the counter looked too tired to care. Liz thanked god that she was young enough to get free tickets and followed the lady through the barriers, hopped on the central then district lines back to Sloane square. She'd done it enough times to look like she knew what she was doing. When she got out of the tube station she sighed with relief and began running once again, dodging the Ladies-who-lunch and business men as she approached her street.
------
Turning the corner she stopped in her tracks, the small cobbled square where her house resided was lit up with blue flashing lights, filled with two police cars and an ambulance.
Liza turned white; whatever had happened it wasn't good, either her dad had gotten busted or there was a break in or…wait, what was the ambulance for? A shot of cold ran through her system and she ran up to the scene, tore through the police tape and attempted to get to the ambulance only to be stopped by a beefy police man grabbing her around the waist.
"What do you think your doing? This is a crime scene!" he said gruffly and held her at arms length, his eyebrows knitted together.
"This is my house! What's happened? Where's my dad? What are you doing?!" she demanded, her voice cracking slightly with worry. The officers' face turned from anger to worry and another police officer approached, this time it was a woman, she looked at Liza then to the clipboard in her hand.
"Daughter, Sarg. Liza Jane Robinson, age 8." She said by way of explanation. The man let go of Liza and rubbed his forehead, sighing wearily. Liza glared at the two adults and opened her mouth to ask what was going on again, when two ambulance people came out of the house carrying a body bag on a stretcher, then another, then another…..
"No….." Lizas' voice cracked.
Liza sat shaking in the Sergeants office at the Police headquarters, the polystyrene cup in her hands held a steaming cup of tea that quivered every time her body wracked with another shiver. She stared at the floor, her eyes empty of emotion, the coldness sunk in. She was alone, she had no one… no one.
"No one." She muttered and bit her lip. They'd killed everyone, her mum, her dad, her uncles and even her Grandma. She took a sip of her tea and set it down on the coffee table besides her, ignoring the renewed presence of the councillor. Her Nan, she was such a laugh…they'd been sick enough to kill an old woman, she'd probably of been sitting in her favourite chair watching Trisha or something.
"She couldn't even bloody walk!" Liza stormed, tears welling up in her eyes and she jumped up and laid into the plastic chair that was in front of her, kicking it across the room and breaking the flimsy plastic off the metal frame.
"They bloody killed her and she was bloody old!" she gritted her teeth and kicked the chair against the wall before she was pulled off of it by a pair of strong arms. She thrashed about but the arms held onto her.
"Calm down, I know its such a big loss Liza but getting angry isn't going to-" Liza interrupted loudly, stopping the lady in her tracks,
"That's alright for you to say! I bet your families alive isn't? You've got your own house I bet! I know what's going to happen to me; I'm going to one of those homes where the orphans go aren't I." she fumed "I'm stuck with loads of idiots for the rest of life, living in a bloody dump! I bet you get to go home after this, sit down, and think about how lucky you are!!"
The lady stayed silent and Liza was sat down in a chair where she hunched over and fumed, breathing heavily and calmed down slightly, she didn't give a toss what the lady thought, she didn't want counselling. A sigh echoed in the room followed by the scraping of a chair.
"I'll see you again in a day or two, hopefully you'll be prepared to talk then, and you need to, you've been through a lot." And with that Liza was left with the police officer in the room, the silence almost painful before they got up and opened the door and motioned with their hand "Come on, I'll drop you off at the home, you'll have to get your stuff in a couple of days as some of its being analysed for evidence."
Liza walked silently out of the station; it probably wouldn't be the last time she would be there.
The home was a far cry from what Liza was used to. Her room was around the size of her old wardrobe, the wallpaper was peeling off the wall and the bed was like sleeping on the floor. Her stuff had been unceremoniously dumped in the wardrobe and she'd managed to stuff her most valuable bits in her locker and put on a padlock.
Liza sat on her bed and stared at the opposite wall, which was covered in Mc Fly posters of the rooms other occupant, she grimaced in distaste, the lead singers head was magnified way too much for someone that ugly. The girl she shared a room with was called Amy, she was 10 years old, nice enough and they got on quite well despite a clash in music taste.
It was Lizas' second week at St.Josephs Care home and there wasn't much to keep her from loosing her sanity. The house parents were underpaid and you could tell, they wouldn't give a child the time of day unless their leg was chopped off, even then they'd give them a plaster and tell them to get one of the older kids to sort it out. When they were in a bad mood everyone had to watch out and it wasn't unknown for someone to get slapped around if they got in their way, Liza had been on the end of one of those punishments today and she'd had enough. For once the halls were quiet, it was 6.30 and everyone was down at dinner except Liza, she was banned to her room for getting a report home about her behaviour at school.
Getting up Liza fished through her bedside table collecting spare change and then took the money that was in her locker and stuffed it into her jeans pocket. Her bag was already made up; A rucksack full of warm clothes and junk food.
Putting on her coat she grabbed her bag and slipped it on her back, she would show them. Opening her door she walked down the hall and crept down the stairs to the ground floor. Sneaking past the dinning hall she nearly jumped out of her skin as the front door opened just as she rounded the corner. Peering back around the corner she saw her councillor hang up her coat, Liza pulled her head back quickly, she could of sworn that she'd seen her. Brushing it off she ran light-footedly to the house office. Listening at the door she opened it slowly and peered in, confirming it was empty she went in and shut the door. Making a beeline for the desk she picked up the phone and pulled back her sleeve, typing in the number she'd scribbled on her hand at school. The dial tone seemed to go on for hours before anyone picked up.
"Childline, how may I help you?"
Liza smiled and turned on the waterworks "H-hello" she sniffled into the phone.
"What's wrong dear?" the kindly voice on the other end of the line asked.
"Its my House parents, they keep hitting me, I've been hit 3 times today and so have my friends." She sniffled again "Ones even hurt their wrist."
The voice on the end of the line seemed preoccupied before they spoke once again. "Don't worry, we'll get someone around there, which care home are you in?"
"St. Josephs in Balham." Liza said, she was getting nervous that the house parents would be back from dinner soon.
"Ok, don't worry, you all stay out of their way and we'll get someone to help you as quickly as we can."
"Thank you." Liza said and hung up the phone rather abruptly, casting around the room for her next step in the plan. Rummaging through a filling cabinet she found what she was look for, the keys to the house mini van, closing the door she sighed in relief.
Footsteps sounded through the thin walls and the chatter of the house parents echoed down the hall, the sound made Liza freeze. She turned round and fiddled with the window, opening it and throwing herself out and shutting it with a speed she didn't know she possessed. She laid on the ground under the window breathing heavily, the adrenalin pumping round her body; once she recovered she scampered around the building to the mini van. Putting the key in the door she opened the car and got in, being careful not to slam the door, which ended up being pointless as when the engine started it roared noisily. She had trouble reaching the pedals but managed to hit the accelerator enough to get it going out of the car park and onto the road.
It was then that it suddenly hit her; it was quite daunting driving down a busy street when you'd never drove before in your life.
She very soon learnt how to use the breaks as she pulled up at a round about.
"Oh crapppp." She said to herself, biting her lip as she judged when to pull out. "I'm sooooooo dead." flooring the van around the roundabout, earning her a blast of a horn from a done up ford fiesta.
A ten minute drive felt like eons when you were in a stolen vehicle and barely able to see over the steering wheel, Liza cursed her age as she tried to remember the way to the station. Pulling into an alleyway Liza jumped out of the van and took the keys, she looked around and pulled her hood up, it was getting dark and she wasn't in a good part of town. Deciding it was best to hurry up she jogged down the road and to the police station, before she opened the door she got the terrible feeling this wasn't one of her most well thought out plans.
Amy stared out of the window of her and Lisa's room, directly above the car park; she had left dinner earlier than everyone else and for good reason. She watched Liza and the minibus tear out of the car park behind the home, peering around the curtains so she wouldn't be spotted. As soon as Liza had gone Amy ran to the toilets, picking up a pencil case on the way and locking herself in the last cubical. Her pale face was illuminated by the glow of a PDAs screen that she had slipped out of the pencil case, her fingers clicking on the buttons to bring up a GPS system.
As her eyes followed the moving dot on screen Amy fiddled with a free hand in her back pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. The paper was scribbled over in Lizas' hand writing, it was her ideas of escape which Amy had extracted from Lizas' "secret" space in the top of their shared wardrobe.
She's going through with it!
Amy had been on her last week of a recruitment mission when Liza had been transferred to St Josephs and as soon as she had sent her profile back to CHERUB she was ordered to monitor her, Amy didn't hold it against them, this had been much more exciting than the mission that got her into this hell hole.
She flicked the bottom of the phone down with a slip of her hand and pressed the speed dial, holding the PDA to her ear. One, two, three rings before the reception answered.
"Agent number?"
"0402" Amy said impatiently
"Thank you, transferring to Chloe Blake." The women's voice replied and the ringing began again, only to finish almost as soon as it began.
"Amy?" Chloe's voice was muffled; she was most probably eating, which made Amy roll her eyes.
"She's on the move, following the plan I sent to you." She replied hurriedly, her tone hushed "Better get our contact around here so we don't loose her once she reaches the station, I'll follow on foot or I'm going to run into some trouble as an accomplice in this."
There was some rustling on the other end of the phone as Chloe replied "I'll get him to the station strait away, get out as soon as possible otherwise we'll be in hell trying to get you out in the mess she is going to cause. You got everything ready didn't you?" Chloe's tone was calm but Amy knew, even after only a year as an agent, that things that happened that were out of CHERUBs scope of thought made mission controllers twitchy; and this girl's plan they hadn't counted on.
"Of course." Amy replied, she had already gotten up from her perch on the toilet and pulled out her readily prepared rucksack from behind the old cistern, swinging it onto her shoulders after she shoved the pencil case into it. Unlocking the toilet door she could hear footsteps in the corridor below reaching the stairwell up to the girls corridor.
"I've got to go, I'll report as soon as possible." Amy finished in a whisper, shoving the PDA into her trouser pocket and pushing open the window of the bathroom enough for her to get out before leaping down out of the second story window , rolling to absorb to harsh landing.
CHERUB Agent: 017855
Given Name: Liza Jane Robinson
Agent name: Liza Francis Anderson
Birthday: 13/9/90
Nationality: British
Ethnic group: Caucasian
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Green
Build: Slender
Birthplace: London fields hospital
Circumstances: All close relatives either estranged or killed in a raid.
CHERUB initiation date:
Set Languages: Spanish, Arabic, Russian
Basic training commences: To be confirmed