Renegades: A New Dawn

by Primal WolfBlood

In Part 3 of The Renegade Chronicles, follow the Renegades as they try and recover from the shocking end to The Renegade Revolution, and continue their lives with more action and suspense than ever before, as they learn who the true enemies are, and finally confront Segolia once and for all, to end their clash with each other.

59. Building Dynasties

Renegades: A New Dawn

Chapter LIX: Building Dynasties

That evening, on the Eurostar

Maddy and Astrid were discussing the main event. 'I was surprised at how good he was to be honest, when he's focused he's a real competitor. If I didn't have the read that he'd be on his usual Giant Rex bullsh*t, I could have been in trouble. But I think I've now shown that I'm not just a champion, I'm the champion.' 'You were awesome, I've never seen you so focused like the past two duels. You're just amazing when you're like that! I mean I could never.' 'To be fair, you were pretty ruthless yourself.'

She just shrugged in response. 'He needed dealing with, and I happened to be the correct person at the right time.' 'Well I think that between us, we've got rid of him for good.' 'That's the idea, make sure that he's never coming back to get in our way.' 'I just want to defend my title, earn it like anybody else, and prove that I'm better than everybody else. Of course, it would help if somebody was to accept my challenge to a Matchplay duel, not mentioning any names BLAIR' she said deliberately loudly for the tag champion to hear on the other table.

'I told you, I'm too busy. Maybe in a few months, I'll do it. But right now I've got bigger priorities. I can't focus on your challenge, and if I don't focus, I'm going to get steamrolled, and I don't intend on doing that.' 'Come on, just take a couple of events off from being a tag champion, make an earnest challenge, and THEN get steamrolled.' This conversation seemed to have sparked something in Maddy's mind though. 'Talking of not hearing sh*t, what was Declan talking to you about back there?' Astrid didn't say anything, but Rio passed over her phone, showing a video of the conversation.

Three minutes after the show went off the air

Astrid had just walked backstage when she encountered Declan, applauding. 'Look, if you want something, spit it out. Otherwise I don't need a stalker.' 'I wanted to offer you… an opportunity. You are clearly not appreciated in this company, at least at the level of a champion.' 'So what - you want me to defect?' 'The Leo Federation was created to give duellists a fair opportunity, an opportunity where they were appreciated for what they brought to the table as oppose to what they did previously. I believe that if you came over, you would be a major star.'

Astrid smiled at the thought, but quickly came back down to earth. 'I appreciate the offer, but I worked too hard to win this title. I need to stay to prove that I deserve the title.' Declan nodded, and gave the slightest hint of a smile. 'I respect your honesty. I simply ask that you come to a virtual meeting, this Thursday, so we can discuss the situation. Regardless of your choice, I only ask that you consider it.' She politely nodded, and stated 'I will, thank you.'

The next morning, at the base

Maddy was ploughing through some paperwork when there was a knock on the office door. Slowly, as she gave permission, Phil walked in, dressed in all grey. 'You wanted to talk with me?' 'Could you close the door please? Private meetings tend to want to stay private.' As he quietly pushed the door shut, she signalled to the chair opposite, and he sat down, pulling his chair in close as he did.

'I want to talk about Freja.' 'Look, Rome wasn't built in a day.' The context of this conversation was different though. 'Coulda fooled me. The transformation in her attitude in the past few weeks is like night and day. She's acting so much more maturely.' 'That's what I wanted. I told her, look I can't just do everything for you, you need to find an identity and you need to grow up basically. I'm not offering you a contract unless you can prove yourself.' 'And…' 'And… what?' 'Has she? Proved herself?' His reply was somewhat stoic. 'Not yet. I like what I'm seeing though. She's well on the way to doing so.'

The conversation then shifted to… other topics. 'You know you can be honest with me, right? I mean if something's going on, you can tell me.' 'Of course.' 'Freja's apparently developed severe amnesia, and appears to have totally forgotten that Lydia is her sister. In fact, she's convinced that Belle is her only sister. You wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?' Realising that he had no reason to say otherwise, Phil told the entire story.

'I can confirm I was responsible.' 'Ok, why?' 'Because it's for her own good. Lydia has been trying non-stop to disrupt what I'm trying to achieve here. You've seen how much Freja has grown, I certainly have seen how much she's grown. But Lydia won't stop getting in the way, she's convinced that what I'm doing is somehow corrupting her, I… I don't understand it, you'd have to ask Lydia exactly why she thinks that, but I knew that I couldn't let her disrupt what we're doing here.'

'Did Freja agree to any of this?' He responded by playing a recording. 'This is a snippet from just before I rewrote her memory.' Maddy then listened closely. 'What's that noise?' 'Train, we were on the way from Paris to Le Mans at the time.' Belle's voice then started. "You wanted to talk to us?" "Yes, after what happened earlier, I think we need to make a change." This alarmed Freja. "Wait… you're not allowing her to break this up are you? Because I'll do whatever I have to in order to keep learning from you."

Having listened to the recording, Maddy made some notes. 'So what's the plan with Freja?' 'Continue her development. They've got this title duel come up, great opportunity to see where they are. In general I just want to see her taking responsibility, we don't want to lose Fun Freja but she needs to be able to flip that switch and step up when she needs to. I fully intend on restoring those lost memories, but right now is a critical time in this development. This partnership benefits them both, Belle has really started to find her voice a bit.'

'And what happens if I tell you it needs to stop?' 'Then we'll have to continue our training away from the rest of the club.' 'You're quitting?' she responded in disgust. 'No, not quitting. We would have to do all our training away from the club, but that is far from quitting. I am not letting Lydia or anybody else ruin what I am achieving here.' Still unconvinced, she had one more question. 'One final question - how much of her "growth" is due to any form of hypnotic trance? Be careful, I know when you're lying.'

His posture relaxed, and he leant in. 'Aside from altering her memories, she is under no active spell. How much previous residuals count for, I can't say. I have no way of measuring that. I don't believe it's making a significant difference though. I caught her in a really bad situation a few weeks ago, I haven't said anything simply because she has asked me not to, and I don't want to break that trust. She asked to be put back under the spell and I refused because she has to grow without it.'

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Maddy had a decision. 'I'll speak to Lydia later, in the meantime you have permission to keep this going. I don't like it, but if Lydia won't cooperate, then needs must.' He just smiled and nodded. 'Thank you.' As he went to leave though, there was one warning. 'Be very careful. Belle needs to be considered in any decisions as well.' 'Nothing is done without consultation of both of them.' After he left, she shook her head. 'This is gonna be fun.' She then got on the tannoy. 'Lydia McKinna to the President's office immediately. That's Lydia McKinna to the President's office immediately.'

A full 15 minutes later, Lydia walked into the office, looking very surprised to be invited in. 'You wanted to speak to me about something?' 'Yeah, shut the door.' 'Err sure, what's up?' As she sat down, Maddy spoke to her. 'You have made an absolute embarrassment of us while we were in France. We are ambassadors for our beliefs, we are here to spread the word and teach people. We are here to reign victorious, and to show people how passionate and dedicated we are to the cause. We are NOT here to threaten the founder of this club with an antique, and then push a heavily pregnant woman into a fountain!'

'Look, I'm sorry, but' 'No buts. Hannah has a herniated disc in her back and had to spend the night in a hospital bed.' 'I didn't mean to hurt her, I just want them to stop messing with Freja's mind, you know what they've done now don't you?' 'Yes, I know what he's done, I was just in a meeting with him.' 'So what are you doing about it?' 'We'll get to that subject once I've given you a formal written warning. Let me tell you something - if anything had have happened to Hannah or her baby, my unborn brother or sister, you'd be walking out that door and not coming back for a long time.'

'So I have to tell you now that you are in breach of Rule 2.4:2, assaulting an associate member of the Renegades, and Rule 5.1, behaving in a manner which is otherwise unforthcoming with our aims. As this is your second punishable offence in less than 6 months, you're being given a 2nd strike which is a written warning. The warning will repeat much of what I have said here, and will be in action for six months. Any further offence may result in suspension of some or all privileges.' Cheekily, Lydia then enquired 'Can I appeal it?' 'The warning?' She nodded, and Maddy rolled her eyes. 'Technically, yes, but considering the appeal will go to Phil and Hannah, I would recommend you just take the warning. I could very easily have suspended you.'

With that, they moved on. 'Right, the subject of Freja. Freja is trying to earn a duelling contract with Phil. As part of that, he wants her to grow up mentally.' 'She's never going to, she's Freja.' 'You'd be surprised, she's developing quite rapidly.' 'Ok.' 'But throughout the process, you have constantly been belittling her, trying to split her away from him, and interfering where it isn't needed. You have actively been obstructive, and have been provoking a negative reaction. As such, Phil has put Freja under a hypnotic spell'

'Told you!' 'The next time you interrupt I'm suspending you for dissent.' This threat shut Lydia up. 'He's put her under a hypnotic spell to forget anybody who tries to negatively interfere with their training.' 'What about Belle being her sister?' 'That is to improve cohesion and teamwork. Now I'm sure if you want to discuss it with him, he will. In the meantime he has assured me that this is a temporary measure.' 'So what…' 'I'm telling you to keep away from Phil, Belle and Freja unless you want to actively help them. Now if you have any more concerns that are actual concerns and not just being overbearing, please tell me. You're now free to go, your written warning will be with you by the end of the day.' Lydia stormed out, slamming the door in the process.

Jade's flat, Washington

Jade was cooking lunch when she heard the door shut. As she looked over, Rio was walking in, carrying a large black book and a bag of groceries. 'Hey, you didn't have to pick all our shopping up.' 'Well I might as well while I'm down there.' 'So, how was the meeting?' Rio briefly popped her head around the door. 'Pretty good, she thinks that I've come a long way with my speech, we're working on a few things but going sorta well.'

'That's great' she replied while throwing a tea towel over her shoulder. 'What's cooking? Smells gorgeous.' 'Just cooking up some lamb for kebabs, thought we could have lunch while sorting the memory book. You get the book?' Rio just lifted it up onto her hands, presenting it to her friend. 'Do we really need something so big? Weighs a ton!' 'Well if we're going to be putting in pictures then we might need something big. Besides, doesn't harm.' 'You told my biceps that?' Rio then noticed something strange.

'Where's horny?' 'You mean Blair? She's in the shower.' 'How long's she been in there?' Jade just giggled. 'Why?' 'Because she takes ages in the shower' Rio remarked, emphasising the amount of time. 'Well, she's been in there about half an hour, so she should be out soon.' Just then, they heard footsteps, and shortly afterwards, Blair came down the stairs. 'Hey Ri, when did you get back?' 'Few minutes ago.' Jade then looked over. 'She's only gone and got a week's worth of groceries on her way back from the therapist.'

Having forgotten about this, Blair pushed her hair to the side. 'Sorry I totally forgot.' 'It's ok, you were asleep and I didn't want to disturb you.' 'You didn't walk the full half hour did you?' 'No, I was going to but Ant pulled up when I got to the top of Telegraph Street, turned out his sister works there. And then I got the bus back, because I was dropping off at Lenssmith to pick this up' she stated confidently while picking up the book again.' 'I didn't know any buses went near here.' 'They don't from the therapy centre, but the 69 stops a nice distance away.'

After they all laughed at the pun, Blair patted Rio on the head sarcastically. 'You're too young to be making jokes like that.' 'Hey, I'm only a few months younger than you!' 'Seriously though, where does it stop?' 'Just halfway up Jenson (Avenue), think it goes to Jarrow. Now can I put these in here, my arms hurt.' Jade stepped to one side, allowing Rio to lift the heavy bag onto the kitchen counter.

A few minutes later, Blair brought the book into the living room, where Ally was sat drawing dinosaurs. As she saw Blair walk over, she confidently stated 'I'm going to get it this time.' 'You got it the last three times.' 'They weren't right though.' As Jade gave her a knowing look, Blair walked back out of the room again, muttering 'We're not discussing this right now' as she did, concerning Rio. 'Discussing what?' Jade then pulled her to one side.

'We think Ally might have Autism.' 'Seriously?' 'You don't believe me?' Rio's face then turned to confusion. 'No, seriously as in I told you as much months ago. Hell, I think I mentioned it to Blair before you two started dating. But she's right, now's not the time to discuss it.' As Blair came back down the stairs, they all entered the room together, Jade carrying a tray full of kebabs. 'Now I know you can't handle the spice as much as me and Blair Rio, so the mild ones are on the left.'

Ally then walked over. 'What you doing?' 'We're creating a memory book. You know your Auntie Astrid?' 'Yeah!' she exclaimed in delight. 'She taught you about her headband didn't she?' 'The one she passes through her family.' 'That one.' 'Well, we thought… sorry, Rio thought it would be nice if you had something that you could pass down. One day you can even add your own things to it. Because I'm not going to be around forever, Jade's not going to be around forever, Rio probably is because she's made of stardust or some sh…, but you know, it would just be nice for you to have something to look back on.'

As they opened the book, Rio suddenly had another thought. 'I'll be back in a minute guys.' As she left the room, Blair and Jade looked at each other and shrugged. 'Any idea what she's up to?' 'None at all.' The mystery would soon deepen, for as Rio came back, she was carrying an old, dusty shoebox with her. She walked in, and sat down on the floor with it in her lap, causing Blair to get intrigued. 'Now will you tell me what's in that box? I've been wondering for months.' She smiled, and said 'You could have just asked.'

She then opened the shoebox, revealing some pictures, not amounting to more than two dozen, and a handful of other items, including her silver ring. 'This is all the pictures I have of my parents. Obviously I was only eight, and when they died most of their belongings were taken by other family members… well except me and Reginald obviously, nobody wanted the kids. This is all I have of them.' As Blair put her arm around her, Jade got a permanent marker out. 'Ok, let's start with the Kastle family then.'

Outside the base

Phil was just walking back to his car when Lydia ran out, and blocked him from getting in. 'Right, I've had enough of this childish behaviour, I want to get back to my wife. If you've not got anything interesting to say then go away.' 'Not until you fix whatever you've done to Freja so she remembers that I'm her sister, not that… that freak Belle.' Clearly far from interested, he just pushed her out of the way to get into his car, only for a desperate Lydia to slam the door on his arm.

'Fuck! Right, now you've got my attention. I explained the situation to Maddy, everything is above board, everything was cleared up with her.' 'She might be blind but I'm not, I know this is all to split us up. You want your little sex slave all to yourself. And I'm not having it, I won't stop until she remembers me again.' 'From where I'm stood, you don't have much to complain about. Because the moment you cause problems, I can go to the Police and tell them how you assaulted a pregnant woman with a deadly weapon. And the Police don't know you're related to Freja, they don't know anything about this situation. So I suggest that you back down, otherwise it's you who loses.'

'Because the truth is, I fully intend on having her remember you again, just as soon as you stop standing in the way of her development. Stop being part of the problem, and be part of the solution. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to talk to Maddy, and get permission to wipe her memories forever. And don't even pretend I wouldn't do that, I would do it more than happily if it meant protecting my investment. Because I've not just invested money in these girls, and I'm not about to stop just because of you. So your choices are fall in line, or say goodbye to her as you knew her.' Saying this, he got into his car, and drove off at high speed, tyres kicking up gravel as he did.

West Yorkshire Probation Services, Leeds

Belle was walking from the train station to her parole meeting, with Freja struggling to keep up with her. 'You know that my legs are only short!' Belle then stopped to let her "sister" catch up, tying a cow-print scrunchie into her ponytail as she did. 'Where'd you get that old thing? Never seen you wearing it before.' 'I borrowed it from Blair a couple of weeks ago, no idea where she found it.' 'Is it far to this place?' 'About five minutes, or 20 at the speed you're going, you sure you're ok?' 'Yeah, I just hit my knee off the base door.' 'Don't forget, you need to use Maddy's name for it' Belle stated while sniggering, causing Freja to roll her eyes.

'No way am I calling it the "Ladies And Boys Information Archive". I don't even know why she keeps renaming it after different sexual organs anyway, I'm still not over the Freaking Awesome Living Library Of People In Another Network, I mean the fuck does that even mean?' 'Nothing, you know it means nothing, it's just Maddy trying to entertain herself, because apparently Hangman's no fun if there's a lack of people to actually hang.' 'I still don't know how she got an entire gallows into the office, nor what made her think it was a good idea.'

As they pondered this, they continued walking through the rainy Yorkshire streets to the parole centre. Arriving there, Belle turned to Freja, who understood what was going to be said immediately. 'You want me to stay out here?' 'It's not that I don't trust you' 'I totally get it, you need to do this yourself. You've been alone throughout all of this, and you need to show yourself that you can finish it by yourself.' Freja then pulled her in for a hug. 'You got this.'

Walking in, Belle made a beeline for the receptionist. 'Belle Draper, I've got a meeting with my parole officer at 12:45.' After clicking through a series of submenus, the receptionist smiled at her. 'Take a seat, Jessica will be with you shortly.' 'Thanks.' She then sat down, and just lowered her head, taking deep breaths to keep herself calm. Nearly 10 minutes later, she heard a voice. 'Hi Belle.' She looked up, and saw her parole officer stood there, smiling. 'Hi, sorry.' 'It's fine, do you want to come in?'

As she walked in, Belle looked at the plain white room, and thought briefly of how much it reminded her of the mental institute she had once been in. 'Take a seat.' She sat, and the door was closed. 'So how have you been?' 'Yeah, alright, feel like I'm starting to get my life together again. Just really hoping for all this to end so I can properly move on.' 'I understand. We'll just have a chat about how you're getting on, and then look at our options.'

'So when you were released, the conditions of your licence were that you did not interact with the Zula family in any way, when you were given dispensation to go abroad that you were accompanied by Mr. Robinson at all times, and to provide proof of taking your medication.' 'Yep, and I've got receipts to prove that I've been purchasing my meds at the right time. There was a period of two days when I didn't have any left, but that's just because I was unwell.'

She passed the receipts over, and let her officer inspect them. 'These all seem to be ok. Now there's something I need to talk to you about - a few weeks ago, there was some footage of you attacking an individual with a toolbox?' 'I'm sorry, I was defending myself. Claude raped a good friend of mine a few months ago, and he's repeatedly threatened to do the same to me. So when he punched me, he just really rattled me, I don't have any memory of what happened after he punched me.'

'I have received a doctor's report stating that you suffered a severe concussion from that. I've also been having some therapy since then, and I've taken up Muay Thai to try and sort out any anger issues.' 'Thank you. I also have a testimony from Mr. Robinson's wife Hannah, stating that you have been working significant hours in their shop, and apparently they have received a number of feedback cards from customers praising your attitude.'

'I didn't know about the feedback cards, but it's really nice. It just started off working a few hours in there because Rio, another girl who works there, had been diagnosed with a terminal brain condition. But when she came back to work I was asked to stay on. I feel like it's given me some structure in my life again.' 'And finally, how do you feel mentally?' She took a breath at this point, having barely breathed throughout. 'I really do feel like I've got my life together again. I just really feel like I need to move on, because every time I come back here I'm reminded of what I did.'

This was the moment, as Jessica started making some notes, before clicking through some other notes on her computer. Finally, she had a decision. 'Thanks for holding on Belle. From the evidence I have received, I am confident that the incident in Dublin was an unfortunate, but completely isolated incident which was caused by the actions of another individual. While I would advise you to avoid these situations, I don't believe they make you a danger to the public. I also believe that you have been making great strides to set yourself up for success after your probation is over, and that you have at all times acknowledged your faults and your crimes. Therefore, I have no issue in clearing your parole period to run its course. You don't need to come back after this.'

Belle exhaled loudly at this. 'Thank you.' 'Please understand, our job here is to ensure the safety of the public. If we don't deem you to be a danger, then we have no reason to keep you coming back. Thank you for all your cooperation.' 'Absolutely, thanks.' Belle then quickly walked out, and seeing Freja waiting, she hugged her. 'I'm free.'Freja offered a high five, and stated 'Right, where's the nearest dessert parlour? We're going to celebrate!'

Back in Washington

Rio was revisiting old memories. 'It's funny, because when they died, I was almost numb to it. I guess because I spent so long in a coma myself, it was almost old news.' 'How long were you out for?' 'I think it was something like nine weeks. I know that I was pronounced dead twice, and then came back shortly after. But when I left the hospital, I realised that… it was just us, me and Reginald. All we had was the mansion, because that was the only thing that was left specifically for us.'

'You ever see any of your family again?' 'No, they probably all think I'm dead. The last I knew most of them had moved away.' She then started to think. 'I know I've got one uncle who died last year, drank himself to death and then drowned in the bath, another one got diagnosed with Dementia before his 40th birthday, and I've got a cousin who now works with safari stuff in Kenya. Other than that I don't really know.'

As she produced a picture, Blair looked over at the woman in the picture with jet black hair, standing over a baby. 'That your Mom?' 'Yeah, and the kid's me when I was eight weeks. Me and Reginald looked almost identical for a while, so she always had me wear pink and him purple. Whenever we'd go anywhere, even when we were older, we'd wear those colours, it's just how things were.'

Jade then picked up her marker again. 'Do you know anything about where your parents were born or anything?' Rio paused for a time, and then came up with an answer. 'I know my Mom was, like, 43 when she gave birth to us, they'd been trying to conceive for a decade.' 'So about 1953 then?' 'Yeah, her birthday was March 29th as well, I remember that because when I was still living in Idaho it's the only time I'd go down to her grave, Graveyards have always kind of freaked me out.'

'Well next time you want to go, you've got us to go with you.' 'Thanks guys' she mumbled, wrestling with emotions. 'So do you know when your Dad was born?' 'September 3rd 1945, the day after VJ day. Apparently his Mom went into labour while listening to Truman announce the end of the war. Aside from that there's not a lot I can help with, I don't know a lot about their families. But as you know from Le Mans, my Mom was the celebrity chef of the time, even cooked for President Reagen once.' This seemed to trigger something in Blair, who reached over to her bag and pulled out a dusty book. 'I forgot, we found this in a thrift shop in Paris, we think it might be something to do with your Mom?'

Rio looked at the book, and looked shocked. 'She was working on an Autobiography when she died, we figured it had been thrown away. I remember the first draft was completed, but she died before it came back from her editor. You seriously just found it?' 'Yeah, I didn't think anything of it, but then I heard commentary talking about "Nana Kastle".' Rio responded with the biggest hug you ever did see. 'I never thought I'd see this.'

As they continued to load the book with pictures, Rio talked more. 'We'd always go to church on a Sunday, they were really passionate Catholics. Not passionate like your parents Jade, more… I remember that they believed in working hard. My Dad always used to say that God didn't care what you did with your actions, as long as you devoted yourself spiritually to him. He gave us free will because he loved us.' Jade then moved the book over. 'You want to put the first picture in?' 'Thanks.' Rio gently stuck in the first picture with masking tape pinning down each corner.

In the Arena

Due to being at home, Phil had called a virtual conference with Freja and Belle. 'Right, I know you've both been getting a little restless regarding contract situations, so I wanted to give you an update.' Freja was being more direct though. 'Just tell us what we need to do?' 'Long story short, what you're currently doing. I want to see you replicate that in competition. I've seen you both, you're duelling at a high level. But you need to do that in combat.' 'So we're going the right way at least?'

He smiled at them in response. 'You're absolutely on the right tracks. We'll see how you do in the next couple of events, but I promise you're going to be given full honesty from me regardless. I understand you've been duelling each other a lot?' Belle then nodded, slightly embarrassed. 'Yeah, she's been kicking my arse. It was 5-2 to her yesterday, 4-0 today.' Freja then tapped her on the back. 'It's not your fault that I keep opening Cyber Emergency. Or that I opened Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit for Scout that one time.'

Seeing that Belle was frustrated, he offered some positive feedback. 'It's not just results I want to see, but performance. And your performances have been excellent quite frankly. I've seen some of the footage from yesterday, and you've been throwing everything at the wall. So don't get down on yourself. Now to see your progress, I've arranged a little impromptu duel for you tomorrow against Blair and Rio.' Freja looked dismayed at the revelation. 'We've got no chance of winning that.' 'Remember what I said - performance as well as result. I want to see how well you duel. Now I'll catch up with you tomorrow, ok? In the meantime, just continue doing what you're doing.'

As the call ended, Freja looked at her "sister". 'Hey, fancy a coffee?' 'No thanks, I… um… need to be somewhere.' She then walked away as Freja shouted after her. 'Hey, I didn't upset you did I? I'm sorry.' With Belle gone, Freja sat on the benches. She felt like there was something she should be remembering, but for the life of her, she just couldn't work out what that was. Eventually she got bored of the feeling and also left.

In Washington

As the girls continued to fill in the memory book, they moved onto the Goocheneyad family. And it turned out there was an ulterior motive for Jade writing. 'Fun fact: I'm the only one who can actually spell my surname.' This appeared to surprise Rio. 'So I've been spelling it wrong the entire time?' 'More to the point, you never spell it the same way. You have spelled it right before, but I think you just get bored halfway through and choose the letters randomly after that. And Blair's only just got over there being no "Chain" in my surname.' 'It's not my fault that your name is so long.' 'Which is why you should learn to write it in Persian. Then it's real short.' 'I don't speak Persian genius. In fact even Maddy can't, and she speaks everything.'

Jade then produced a picture of a heavily bearded man wearing the sharpest suit imaginable. 'That your Dad?' 'Yep. Ismael Moses Shahin. He worked as a teacher in Idaho, but then we moved so he could join an Orthodox church in Qa'em Shahr.' 'So with your parents, was it just the religion stuff that was the issue?' Jade looked at her girlfriend, then took her hair down before lifting it up to reveal a burn covered with thick scar tissue. 'What… the hell' Blair exclaimed while seeing it.

'I was thirteen and I stole an orange to rebel against their suffocating rules. He responded by trying to brand me. You don't know pain until you've had a 900 degree branding iron melting your skin. That's when I knew I had to get away. It's not like it was even in his beloved religion, he was expelled from the church when they saw it. It's weird, I was branded because of religion, but when it happened, the only place I could find solace was religion.' Blair then gently touched the burn. 'Does it… hurt?' 'Physically no, either that or I just stopped feeling it.'

'So… what about your Mom? Was she there?' 'She saw everything, but she was too timid to say anything. Arzu Dinah Shah, born in Baku in Azerbaijan, moved to Tehran as a baby, then moved to Park City in Utah after meeting… him, then they settled in Twin Falls shortly before I was born. I don't have any pictures of her, she generally wasn't allowed to take any pictures of herself.' Rio then had a question. 'Wait… where did your surname come from then? Because neither of them had it.'

'It's my Grandmother's surname. She briefly took me in when I was kicked out of the family house before I decided that I had to leave the country. Nobody else in the family approved of the way they treated me, and I still have some contact with her through my Uncle Mahmood.' Seeing how much Jade struggled with talking about her father, Rio had an idea. 'You got any pictures of your Uncle?' 'Yeah loads, he's a professional model. A lot like Freja, but without the cute cheetah print that she promised to get for me a few weeks back.'

'Well why don't you put his picture in instead of your father's? Because he sounds way more like family to be honest.' Jade looked at her and smiled. 'You're a genius.' 'First time for everything' Rio replied sarcastically, while Jade grabbed a photo of her Uncle, and placed it on the page. 'Must admit, I don't actually know his real name. I think Mahmood is his surname, but I don't know what his first name is.' After the picture was stuck in, she produced a picture of her Grandmother, before putting the numbers "1923-2014" below it. 'I'm… sorry' Blair whispered, but Jade didn't seem particularly upset.

'It's fine, it's not like I didn't know it was coming. Even before I left Iran, I knew that she was refusing treatment, she had brain cancer.' 'Did you manage to go to her funeral?' 'Yeah, I wore a full face veil so nobody could tell who I was, luckily Uncle Mahmood said that I was his cousin Farah.' 'Let me guess, he doesn't have a cousin?' 'Oh, he does, but Farah actually lives in Dubai, she owns a Realtor there. Helps that she REALLY likes me because I set her up with her now husband when I was 10. Bit weird, but we still talk often. She even wired me the money to return to America.'

'That's a point, you never even told me how you managed to afford to come to the UK and afford your visa and everything.' 'Well Rio gave me the money to come over here, and quite a bit more which she won't let me pay back to her' 'Because I don't want the money back. I just want to have you in my life again. But I wasn't responsible for the visa.' 'No, Phil was.' This caught Blair completely off-guard. 'Seriously?' 'Yeah, we had a bit of a heart to heart while we were in London, he basically just asked if I loved you, and when I said I did, he walked off. Next day I found out he'd sorted a six month visa for me.'

As they finished putting Jade's family into the book, they moved onto Blair's. 'So you were adopted after birth, right?' 'Think I was about 6 months old.' 'How did you get your visa then?' 'Mine was dead easy because I was born in Manchester. Hilariously at the All Stars, I'm going to be even more local than Phil, because I was born literally 10 minutes from the Manchester Arena, he was born about ¾ of an hour away on the other side of the city. Talking of, I'm totally taking you to Curry Mile for our next date Jade, it's got such an awesome reputation.' 'Can't wait, you know I like to… spice things up' she said while kissing her beloved.

'So what do you want to know?' 'Honestly, I think I'm good, your Dad told me most things, but I can always cross reference.' 'Sure, I mean he probably knows more than me, but I'll try.' 'So Gary David Flannigan, born 1965?' 'Is that what he told you?' she stated with shifty eyes. 'He was born on 29th December 1963, but he's obsessed with saying he's younger than he is.' 'Any idea where?' 'Born?' 'Yep.' 'Somewhere Ann Arbor way. Moved to Shelby for work in his 20s.' 'I have it down as Dexter?' 'Yeah, that's only about 8 miles away, I know he lived in Arbor.'

'So your Mom?' 'Anna Alice Davis III, born in Montreal on 12th May 1970.' 'Yep.' 'Any idea about Wilma?' 'Born March 13th 1913 in Detroit. That's where I'm done, I know Gary's Dad died aboard USS Scorpion.' 'Yeah, David John Flannigan born April 3rd 1940 in Detroit, lost at sea on 1st June 1968. Anything else?' After several minutes of thinking, she came up with one more name. 'Oh yeah, Alex. This one I can tell you - Alexandra Blair Ana Flannigan, yes she did adopt my name as her middle name, born 30th June 1994 in Roanoke, Virginia, they were on holiday when Anna gave birth.'

Finally with the book completed, Blair set up a camera, and the four of them stood for their photo. As the picture was taken, she had a suggestion. 'We can even turn this into a yearbook, just update it every summer.' 'Not to mention every Christmas as well!' Ally added, making Rio smile. 'I love that idea. You're continuing it when I'm gone though.' Blair suddenly turned around, and stated 'Nothing like that, thank you. You're gonna outlive all of us.' They hugged, and stood for another picture.

Afterwards, Blair and Jade embraced once more. 'See, we're not just a family' Jade whispered, before kissing her, and whispering again 'We're the family. The best family.' 'I guess when you think about it, your parents and mine made mistakes so that we didn't have to.' Jade smiled, and said 'Come here you', before dragging her onto the sofa, making them both laugh. As they did, Rio and Ally looked on in mild disgust, and then Rio suggested 'How about we leave them to it and go and get some pancakes before the open day?' 'Ok, but you're paying.' 'Cheeky!' Rio laughed, as they quietly walked away.

At the base, in Meeting Room 2

Following on from their encounter in Le Mans, Astrid was having a virtual chat with Declan. 'So what do you want?' 'i told you - I want to invite you to the Leo Federation, to be our figurehead, our superstar, if you will. See, our federation was founded on the stars of today and of tomorrow, rejecting the notion that the champions of the past must be given a free pass in the present.' 'And you want me specifically because…' 'I firmly believe that you are the single top duellist in this industry right now. I have seen your power and your progression first hand, I have witnessed the way you survive assaults, the way you dominate opponents, the way that you fight through pain time after time to emerge victorious'

'Can we save the advertisement for later?' 'I apologise, I am simply laying out why it is you I have approached. The point I am making is that I have seen how.. Underappreciated you are as a champion.' 'That's a polite way of saying it. Look, all I want is to be given the chance to show that I am the best, that's all I ask for. I don't ask for politics, I want no part of this whole backstabbing company war nonsense, all I want is to duel because that is what I do best. In the WDC, I get to challenge myself against some of the greatest competitors in the world. I just had two of the best duels of my career in the past couple of weeks. What do I get from you other than some more pleases and thank yous?'

Declan smiled, and pushed his glasses up. 'The fact you're asking means you have interest.' 'Interest doesn't mean anything. I acknowledge the same facts I acknowledged previously. If you want me, you're going to have to offer me a challenge like I've never seen. And I don't mean Tokyo Dangerous, nor Lightning Boy. If you offer me that, then I will strongly consider an offer. Because I don't want money, and I don't want fame. I want a rush.'

'And a rush you will get. See, I have seen you duelthree of the Enforcers, some of the greatest competitors of all time. I wish to give you the opportunity to duel the last of them, in order to prove that you are indeed, the greatest duellist of all time. And I already have made plans for a Matchplay duel between yourself and Blair, your greatest rival if you don't mind me saying so?' 'Yep, that's what I'd call her. You might want to negotiate with her manager for that.' Declan seemed to have a contrasting opinion though. 'That won't be necessary; as he has said before, his job is to deliver what his clients ask for. If Blair desired a duel with you enough, I'm sure that it could easily be delivered.'

It was this that appeared to peak Astrid's interest. 'Deliver me top quality opposition all the time, and we can do it. How do we get the title over there?' 'Well there is a little known clause with the WDC Championship' 'Being?' Astrid replied, apparently getting bored of the business talk. 'If a champion defends their title successfully on five occasions, then they no longer can be stripped of the title for… shall we say litigious reasons. Few people know because they don't read the legal documents that come with the title.' 'They never presented me with these.' 'Yes, I do wonder why' Declan responded, showing an understanding of the concept of sarcasm. 'So all you have to do is retain your belt four more times, then we can look at signing you over.' 'We'll see.' She then cut off the call.

In Washington

Blair was alone in the flat with the others having gone to a school open day, enjoying a quiet afternoon catching up on her reading of the Art of War. The peace was shattered though, when there was a firm knock on the door. 'And this is what happens when you tell Jade not to order any more pans off the internet. Coming.' As she opened the door though, it wasn't a delivery person, but Belle, who passed her scrunchie back to Blair as she answered the door. 'You didn't need to come round just to return this old thing, I mean if you want you can keep it.' 'I… need to talk to someone about everything that's going on.' Seeing the pain in her face, Blair's stance melted. 'Come in, I'm home alone at the moment.'

As they sat down together, Blair leaned her elbow on the back of the sofa. 'So what's eating you up?' 'It's just… I don't want to lose my sister… I mean Freja… I mean' 'I get it, you're enjoying having someone there for you.' 'It's just my family, were all so supportive right up until the moment I got convicted. Then I was suddenly cut out of the family. I never realised how much I missed them… until Freja started being my sister. Then I learned just what it means to me. And I heard Phil and Lydia talking earlier about this being temporary, and I just…' Belle then burst into floods of tears. 'I don't want to let her go.'

Blair didn't say anything to begin with, but instead literally gave a shoulder to cry on. 'I can guarantee you, you're not about to "lose" her. In fact I don't think she's going to give you the choice about that ' 'It's not like we even really spoke before all of this.' 'Look, when you did that whole speech in front of the club, Freja told me afterwards that she was going to try and get to know you. And all this was way before anything with you as a team. Thing is, you don't need to be related to be sisters.'

'I mean you kind of do.' Blair laughed at the response. 'What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to be related to feel like family. Take me and Rio, the way we interact you'd think we've known each other all our lives.' 'You haven't?' Belle inquired, surprised. 'Try about 8 months. Well sort of a little more than that, cut a long story short, I may have stolen some money from her in Heathrow Airport. Am I glad I don't need to do that anymore. Point is, your friendship with her will just evolve, it won't end. Quite honestly, I think Freja can already see that you're more of a sister to her than Lydia is now. If you want my advice, just keep doing what you're doing, show her that you're going to fight for her.'

In Norden

Phil was standing outside of the shop when Marc Jacobs pulled up in a shiny black Mercedes-Benz, the matte black paint gleaming in the sun. 'Nice to see you.' 'And you, hope you found us alright.' 'Not bad, took a little detour around some back roads.' 'Yeah, the back roads are quicker, but they can be quite confusing. There is a main road which is easier, Wakefield Road, but it's also the main road in and out of the Pennines, so it's always gridlocked. You want to come in?' 'Absolutely.'

As Marc walked around the shop, he appeared to be impressed. 'How long did this take to build?' 'A little under three months, it was basically built from scratch, it was pretty much just an old barn before then, you can probably tell from all the beams.' 'Cost?' 'Somewhere in the region of 50-60 grand, but that's because there was already planning permission for an eatery here. It was a slow start, but now it's doing good.' He then leant over to one of the till operators. 'Alice, could you put two fresh Banana shakes through? Thanks.' 'No problem Mr. Robinson' the teenager replied, smiling.

A few minutes later, the two men were sat down, talking. 'So we saw Rio win the Baltic Championships, you along with her and Blair are tag champions, it's going well for the Dynasty at the moment.' 'Absolutely, Rio was absolutely fantastic in the Baltics, it's never the ability that she lacked, it was the confidence in herself to win and keep winning. Now you see her, you wouldn't recognise her from the hesitant, nervous competitor at the start of the season. Because sometimes, you just need someone in your corner to remind you, you're not some rando off the street, you're a professional, you earned your place.'

'Now a lot has been said about your management, and I think there are some misconceptions, based on some comments you've made regarding your clients being "investments". Could you maybe clarify these comments?' 'Happily. When people hear Investment, they just think I'm talking about money. Now if you're talking about how much I spend in coffee shops when we need somewhere quiet to talk,you're probably right. But an investment can be a lot of things. I'm investing my time, I'm investing my knowledge, and I'm investing emotionally. Because I absolutely care about them doing well. If they do well, I do well.'

'And now you appear to have new clients in Belle and Freja, how did this come about?' 'Belle approached me after the Arena course finished, and she asked if I could give her a little bit of advice. I was incredibly impressed by her attitude, and just fancied taking her on as a project, because I think she's got all the tools to be a top duellist. She just needs the experience of competing at that level, because it's not like she's come through the ranks like, say, Blair, she had literal weeks of experience before the course. As for Freja, I see her as a bigger project in many ways, for reasons that I'm not really at liberty to discuss here.'

'So there's no means testing for these courses?' 'We believe that the means testing should be done by the person themselves. They choose a course to sign up to, and if we find that they are struggling, we will have a word with them about dropping them down to a lower course. All the information on the topics studied are available on the website, and is provided in the online entry pack. I'm not going to name names, but we had around 10 people across the courses who dropped down because they couldn't hack it on the course they were on.' 'And do they lose money for it?'

'No, most of them hadn't paid a majority of their money yet, because we give them a few weeks to finish payment. But in a hypothetical scenario, we'd refund them the difference in price between the course they were on and the one they're dropping down to.' 'How much money do you make or lose on the courses?' 'In terms of financial, we're making a 30-35% profit on them, but they're paying for our time as much as anything. We're starting planning for the next courses in the next few weeks, with a view to launching them in early September.'

'And the prices?' 'Will be cheaper than last time. We were in a difficult financial time when we launched the courses, because we were still paying off the house, work hadn't finished here yet, and various other bits. Other than that there's not much I can tell you, that's mainly what we're meeting over.' 'By "we"?' 'Myself, Hannah if she's in a situation to do so, Kheerat who's a financial advisor and contributor for us, and a couple of people from the WDC and LFD.' 'From both?'

'Yeah, it's one of those things where we're basically playing the field, because the most important thing is getting the right agreements for us.' 'Would you be able to tell me anything else?' 'Confidential I'm afraid, we've got a non-disclosure agreement until anything is signed by both parties with both of them.' 'Now you mentioned Hannah, I can see she's not here.' 'She is, I think she's just in the kitchen, I told her to take time off but she refused.' 'With the baby obviously quite close, do you have a plan regarding schedule?'

'Not really, I want to be a stay at home Dad where I can but we'll just see where we go. We have talked about it a bit, but it's not like we were looking for answers there.' 'More just a general conversation?' 'Something like that. It's not really something that we've stressed too much about, at the moment we're taking things day by day.' 'Any idea on the baby's gender yet?' 'No, it's a surprise. We'll know when everyone else knows.' he stated while laughing.

'So to get back to the topic of management, we've not talked about Blair much. She's the World Number 1, she's duelling almost as well as she ever has done, when does she turn her eye to the WDC Championship?' 'That's up to Blair. I think there are some things that need to be cleared up regarding what I do. I coach them, I advise the, I negotiate things on their behalf, and I support them. I don't tell them what direction to take in their careers - that is up to them. If Blair wants to go after the WDC Championship, she can tell me, and I will make that happen one way or another.'

'So if Blair or Rio or anyone you manage was to tell you tomorrow that they wanted to go after the WDC Championship' 'I would support them 100%, and immediately work out what I can do to enable it. Sometimes it will take time, that isn't down to me, that's just how the industry works, you have to earn things, unless your name is Finn, in which case you can just waltz back in.' 'Just as an aside, what's your opinion on the situation with Finn and Astrid?' 'Quite frankly, I don't know what he's dodging if he's so convinced he can beat her. Finn's always been full of shit, and that's something which hasn't changed.'

'So going back to our topic, in a hypothetical scenario where you and Blair, or Rio or anyone got the chance to go for the WDC Championship' 'You're asking what would happen if we were in a Top Contender's duel against each other?' 'That's correct.' 'We would go at it and see who deserves the shot. I'm not about to give up personal ambition, we're going to duel 1-1 or whatever it is. The point is, they all understand that as long as I am an active competitor, I am going after these prizes as well.'

'To close out this chat, I just want to ask if you've got any kind of philosophy regarding management?' 'Just that anybody can be the best if they are tutored in the correct way. There's very little linking the four I currently manage, aside from the fact that I manage them. What links them is that they work hard, they are taught to make the most of their potential, and they see results. That's the philosophy.'

In the base

Maddy was still in her office when there was a knock on the door. Knowing there was a meeting scheduled, she instantly stated 'Come in.' As she did, Frances walked in, hair up tight, wearing thick rouge across her lips. 'You wanted to see me?' 'Close the door, then we talk.' Obediently, Frances did just that. 'So what did you want to talk about?' 'Damien's trial is coming up next week. Obviously you've been hired to represent Mam in the trial.' 'I have.' 'How's it looking?'

'We have a very strong case. As of this morning, he appears to have no reasonable alibi, we can prove him to be abusive and devious, we have numerous witness accounts stating that he was in the car on the day of incident, and the fact that he has fled the country twice to evade standing trial suggests that he stands very little chance of getting away with it.' 'Well do whatever you have to in order to get him locked up for life. Do I make myself clear?' 'Yes, I will follow your every order.'

'Now I also need to discuss Rhydian, his bail hearing is coming up.' 'It appears probable that the judge will make him serve the rest of his term in custody, I reached out to a contact I have where he is, and got them to rough him up on your command. I've also put a restraining order in place from his earliest possible release date, so he can't come within 1000m of you or contact you.' 'Good. Tell your contact to get him dealt with real bad in there.' Frances just smiled in response. 'Whatever you desire.'

Alpharic Legends Chapter III

'Chapter 3: Prelude to the Ultimate War: The alpha felt as secure and powerful in her position as she ever had done. Time after time, her machinations worked for the best, her people loved her, and she even drew the respect of some enemies, their ire masking their admiration for what she had achieved with wisdom well beyond her years. But the forces were building, and her enemies were gaining strength. For every new plan to keep them away would only draw them closer.'

'The greatest battles were yet to come, for friendly sparring sharpened tools, but also induced weakness. Weakness which those closest could draw on to encourage themselves to strive for better, but also that those plotting could exploit. Traps were being laid, truths were hiding in the gentle darkness, and ego clouded judgement. The Alpha felt almighty, when in fact she was at her most vulnerable.'

Next time: Astrid's homecoming leads to an all-Renegade Champion's Showcase, Freja pulls double duty, and Bolton's machinations reveal themselves in Renegades: A New Dawn Chapter LX: Blockbusters