Cw: memories of trauma, torture, blood, details for gore, desensitization, fight or flight
Summary: Tatali has to settle in, it will take some time for her to get used to such treatment from the members of 141.
The shower was rejuvenating, she was no longer caked in dirt or dried blood. She smelled like strawberries and cinnamon, not the best combo but she wasn’t complaining anything was better than her state before. Tatali had cut her hair that had grown far too much for her liking. She was use to keeping it short so that’s how she cut it keeping the length right below her ears, it was dark brown in the right light but seemed even darker by under the fluorescent lights of the base. Kate waited patiently, the two hour shower barely seemed to bother her as she scrolled through her work email. Tatali got dressed in some of the clothing in the locker for her. She dressed in simple pair of cargo pants, long socks, boots that she cuffed her pants above, a black large hoodie that was obvious a man’s, and a black tactical vest with numerous of empty pockets.
Tatali quietly moved toward Kate not wanting to make her wait any longer, Kate looked up slightly before doing a double take at the younger woman before her. Kaye seemed surprised by how much different Tatali looked without the dirt covering her face, hiding most of her features. “All set?” Kate asked standing with a small smile. “Yes.” Tatali confirmed with a subtle nod, Kate once again guiding her through the unfamiliar halls of the base, many people passing eying her curiously. “Today since we don’t want to overbear you with so much at once we’re going to let you settle in and get ready for a long day tomorrow.” Kate instructed from in front of her, Tatali barely paying attention as she took in every detail of each hall they moved through so she didn’t get lost when and if she was ever on her own. After some walking they reached what seemed to be a common room before dorms down a hall. “Most of 141 stay here in this section of the base Soap, Gaz, Ghost and so on. This if your room 548 same as your locker back in the locker room, fridge doesn’t have much but it’s fresh.” Kate informed, Tatali zoning in on the information that was being fed to her. Kate was really nice, much nice than anyone else she came across in this field. “Soap and Gaz should be on their way, I have to go but if you need anything there’s a phone in your room you can call me.” Kate explained before peeking at her watch, on cue Soap and Gaz came shuffling through the double doors. “Nice to see you boys, I gotta run. Make sure she eats something.” Kate ordered pointing between the two who saluted stupidly making Kate laugh before heading off.
Tatali’s eyes wondered the hall around them, the warm lights in the section of the base was almost comforting? “Wanna head to your room?” Soap spoke up, her eyes snapping to her left to look at him. Tatali pursed her lips before nodding, swiveling on her heel and counting the doors as she went finding her room furthest from the main double doors. The door was unlocked as she made her way into the big space of the room. It wasn’t too big, but it was bigger than the cell that held her only hours ago. She took in the space..a small kitchen, the phone Kate mentioned earlier, a mini livingroom, a bed and most importantly a window. Tatali was so tired of the dark and the cold, at least as a prisoner here she would be treated with some actual normality rather than a wild animal like with the Hutu.
The Hutu were an army of woman who had the idea that taking down corrupted business in South Africa was what would benefit the economy which it did in the beginning but power changes peoples perceptions and twists their minds. So the woman that were fighting to pave a way for their people became the one who needed to be pushed out of power. Tatali was raised by the Hutu since she was 12, Kate said she was 26 now? Tatali had been trained to kill since age 12, was initiated into a ‘squadron’ at 13, followed every order—excelled further than most until age 24 before she spent another 2 imprisoned by a different group who called themselves the Red eyes. The red eyes she knew nothing about only that they were rivals of the Hutu and they had managed to capture their best solider. Two years of torture, no contact with the outside word or her people, none of it felt real. It all felt like a foggy memory or fading nightmare, she hadn’t come to terms with anything that had happened to her while she was captured with The Red Eyes. Her body dealt with the trauma by simply storing any type of emotion other than fighting deep into her mind. She had been running on fight or flight for quite some time now.
Even now— the loud clatter of dishes pulled her from her thoughts that left her froze in the middle of the room. Her hand subconsciously moved to the empty holster on her vest before her head lurched in the direction of the noise. “Sorry sorry.” Soap mumbled from the kitchen, Gaz watching her closely his own hand on his weapon out of reaction to her reaching for noticeably nothing now. Tatali slowly lowered her hand before turning it over to show Gaz she wasn’t a threat. She repeated the action with the other since Gaz seemingly wasn’t convinced. Gaz relaxed slightly his hand moving to his chest to rest along the lining of his vest. Tatali moved into the kitchen eyeing Soap, did he know what he was doing? “What are you trying to make?” Tatali asked, her voice was quiet and raspy almost robotic as it seemed to hold no actual emotion. Soap showed her the pack of meat and vegetables before he looked over at her. “Stir fry, ever had it?” He asked her softly as he oiled the pan. “No, not that I could remember.” She retorted leaning back against the counter to watch him. “Lucky for you I make the best stir fry out here.” Soap gushed making Gaz scoff. “Yeah lucky for us, nearly burns down the kitchen every time trying to make anything else.” Gaz quirked teasingly making Soap groan. “It was that one time!” Tatali watched as the two began to bicker her mind drifting again, the pair becoming background noise as she was swallowed by dark thoughts.
“Tell us where to find Fyti and we might just let you go.” The guard growled as she stared at him, her eyes void as blood dripped from the wound in her leg. The handle of the knife still protruded from her thigh, it had just missed the femur bone which meant they made a huge mistake. She could still move, and if she could still move—she could still kill them. “Still not gonna answer eh?” He questioned earning silence from the woman who watched his every move. Tatali was calculating his next move before he even made it, most of the guards were predictable leaving all possibilities closed but one. The other guard who stood near the door was nervous and she only knew that because he kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other and his hands fidgeted with the key ring on his belt every so often. “Maybe i can carve it out of you..” he stated approaching with another knife. Tatali slowly planted her feet as he drew closer preparing herself to slaughter him.
Her eyes dropped to his legs, watching as he stalked closer and closer. “Eyes up here girl.” The male sneered grabbing her chin roughly forcing her to look up at him. Tatali felt her eyes reach his own and she smirked. “Amused are ya?” He asked making her smirk fall instantly. “Yes amused because I’m going to kill you.” She finally announced before peeking around the man before her to the guard by the door. “Even you.” Before anyone else could get a word out, she pulled her hands through the shackles the sweat and blood being a good lubricant for her release. Tatali let out a scream as she pulled the knife from her leg and drove it into the guard’s knee and twisting a satisfying pop and him shouting in pain filled the room. Tatali leaned forward in her chair driving her shoulder into the man's sternum, knocking him back enough to get the space she needed to take the knife from his hand and bury it into the soft flesh behind his chin. "Hold that for me." She snickered as his body dropped to the ground. Tatali pushed to her full height of 5'8 as she watched the man at her feet bleed out. She nearly forgot her audience until she heard the soft click of his gun loading a bullet into the chamber, her eyes narrowed at the trembling guard. He was young, almost too young for her to feel morally okay about killing him.
"If you lower the weapon i won't kill you. You can turn around and-" a shot rang out, Tatali managing to move out the path of it with ease. She took shelter behind the hefty cart of torture devices as the boy released his whole clip stupidly into the side of it. "I really didn't want to do this." She told him as she heard him fumbling with the keys to the door. Tatali rose from behind the cart, her mind filled with a new found anger at him trying to run away after trying to kill her. Coward. She took hold of the cart before ramming it into the back of his legs pinning him to the door, her hand selecting a pair of scissors. "Please no, don't!" He screamed as she drew closer to his crumpled form. "Next time, you better kill me." She concluded before driving the pair of scissors into his eye socket, his screams ceasing immediately.
"Tatali! Hey! Can you hear me?"
Her auburn pupils dilated before constricting again as Soap brought her back to reality. "What?" She asked looking at him, concern written in his features as Gaz watched from his place behind him. "You've been staring at the same spot for almost fifteen minutes now. Are you alright?" Soap asked making her shift under his hand, he carefully pulled back. "I'm fine." She confirmed catching his eyes again, he decided to let it go before holding out a bowl of piping rice and stir fry. "Thank you." she said taking the bowl before taking a seat across the room near the window, Gaz and Soap watching her for a moment before sharing a look.
The food smelled good, almost too good. She looked over at Soap and Gaz who were sitting together at the island chatting, their mouths full of food and funny spoken words. Tatali slowed raised the fork to her mouth before taking a bite, it was her first full hot meal in years. It tasted like- she couldn't quite describe it. Too many flavors to pin point, not enough time to think as she became overloaded with just taste alone. Soap did make a really good stir fry.
