Guldrin’s Gluttony: Family Bound by Speed & Food

The air was silent, Gisele didn't let out a breath, didn't relax her posture, and didn't show even the slightest shift in her expression. 

Smart. 

She knew the moment she let her guard down, things could go sideways. One wrong word, one flicker of weakness, and this delicate balance she was treading could tilt against her in an instant.

Guldrin, for his part, remained unreadable, his porcelain mask concealing whatever thoughts were twisting behind those cold, calculating eyes. He tilted his head slightly, studying her, his fingers flexing in a slow, rhythmic motion, as if measuring the weight of the decision before him.

Revy, leaning slightly against a crate, exhaled sharply through her nose, like she was unimpressed with the whole thing. But Guldrin knew better. Revy thrived on chaos, on brutality, on the kind of violence that left bodies cooling in the dirt before they even had time to scream. And yet, she was patient now, letting him decide the course of action. That, more than anything, spoke volumes.

Alisa, still lurking like a silent overseer, let a small smirk curve her lips. She wasn't concerned; why would she be? This wasn't her mess to clean up, not yet, anyway. If things went to hell, she'd simply step in and do what needed to be done, but for now, she was content to watch.

A maid's job is all-encompassing.

Gisele was still waiting. She wasn't stupid enough to push for an answer, but Guldrin could see it in the sharpness of her gaze, she was assessing, calculating, already planning her next move. A survivor.

Finally, Guldrin broke the silence with a low chuckle, barely audible.

Guldrin leaned in slightly, voice barely above a whisper, but every syllable was razor-sharp, cutting through the silence like a scalpel. "If you were anyone else, I wouldn't even be having this conversation." 

His voice remained steady, not raising, not lowering, just there, an unspoken reminder of who controlled the situation. "Do you understand?"

Gisele nodded once, slow and controlled. No wasted movement, no unnecessary resistance. 

Again, smart.

"Good," Guldrin continued, his tone shifting just slightly, still calm but carrying an undercurrent of something unreadable. "Then I guess we start with conditions…" His fingers dipped into his pocket, retrieving something small and thin. A single card. He held it between two fingers, letting her see it before extending it to her. 

"I assume you'll need to inform your superiors about what happened here, and that's non-negotiable. That's fine… They won't find anything, anyway."

He watched her expression intently, searching for even the faintest flicker of hesitation, doubt, or deception. A twitch of the eye, a subtle shift in breathing, anything that might betray her true intentions.

But there was nothing.

Not a single tell. No nervous swallow, no tightening of her jaw, no darting glance to calculate an escape route. 

Either she was exceptionally good at keeping her composure, or she had genuinely accepted without resistance. He wasn't sure which was more interesting.

Still, trust was not given freely. Not in this world.

"However," he said, letting the word stretch just long enough to create tension, "I will give you a simple test."

His voice was casual, almost indifferent, but the weight behind it was anything but. 

The tests were never simple. Not really. If she had any sense, she'd know that.

Without another word, he reached out what appeared to be an ordinary plastic card. It was matte black, unmarked, unassuming, something that could easily be mistaken for a generic hotel key or a corporate ID. He placed it gently in her palm, his fingers barely brushing against hers before pulling away.

The card itself felt smooth and slightly cool to the touch, no different from any other piece of plastic. But its true nature?

That was a whole different story.

"This," he said, watching her reaction closely, "is yours now. Hold onto it. Keep it with you at all times. That's all you need to do."

Simple instructions. No elaborate mission, no convoluted objectives. Just keep the card.

And yet, it was anything but simple.

On the surface, it was an unremarkable piece of technology, just a bit of plastic, something that could be tossed into a wallet or clipped onto a keychain without a second thought. But in reality?

It was a highly advanced piece of surveillance equipment, a technological masterpiece hidden in plain sight.

If she carried it near her phone? The card would clone the device in seconds, pulling every last piece of data, contacts, messages, emails, browsing history, encrypted files, everything. It wouldn't just copy the phone's contents; it would also upload them in real-time to Shiro's database, where the information could be analyzed, decrypted, and cross-referenced with everything they already had.

If she placed it near a laptop or desktop? Same deal. The card would quietly infiltrate the system, extracting passwords, accessing hidden folders, and mapping out network connections. No firewalls, no VPNs, and no security protocols could stop it. It was subtle, undetectable. A ghost in the machine.

Even credit cards weren't safe. The card could skim and duplicate them without so much as a tap. One accidental pass by a wallet, and it would have everything, card numbers, security codes, transaction history.

And security badges? Also cloned. A single moment of proximity was all it took. If she walked into a restricted area with an access card in her pocket, the real card might still be in her hands, but a perfect digital copy would already exist elsewhere, ready to be used however they saw fit.

It was an invisible leash. A test wrapped in a trap wrapped in a lie.

And the best part?

She wouldn't even know.

At least, not unless she was smart enough, or paranoid enough, to figure it out.

He watched her fingers curl around the card, her grip instinctively tightening around the deceptively harmless object. There was no way she could feel the weight of its capabilities, no way she could sense the thousands of invisible tendrils reaching into her digital life the moment it made contact with anything of value.

That was the beauty of it.

No flashy lights. No suspicious buttons. No complicated instructions.

Just a card.

A simple test.

And now, all he had to do was wait.

"This is the only way you'll be able to contact me, it has my number on the back. Give this number to anyone else, and it will change. Instantly. And if that happens…" He tilted his head ever so slightly, the motion deliberate and calculated. "Then we will never be on the same side again."

The weight of that statement settled in the air between them.

Gisele studied the card for a fraction of a second before tucking it away, the action smooth, practiced. "And that's it?" she asked, her voice even but carrying just the faintest trace of doubt. "I'm free to go?"

It didn't make sense.

Sure, they wore masks, causing her to have no way to ID them.

Were they truly that confident?

Did they think they could trust her?

Did they believe she had no loyalty to her superiors?

Or… were they simply so far ahead of the game that her presence here was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things?

Before she could spiral further down that train of thought, Guldrin chuckled. It was a low, amused sound, not forced, not theatrical. It was genuine, and that made it far more unsettling.

Letty, standing just a short distance away, felt something crawl up her spine at the sound. That laugh…

She knew that laugh.

Her gaze snapped to the masked figure, studying him, dissecting every detail. The way he stood. The way he carried himself. The way he spoke. It was impossible, ridiculous even, but the more she thought about it, the more the evidence piled up.

No. It couldn't be.

And yet, she wasn't the type to ignore what was right in front of her.

But she said nothing. Not yet. Not in front of this woman.

Instead, she stewed, keeping her expression neutral, eyes sharp.

Meanwhile, Guldrin tilted his head slightly at Gisele, still amused and watching. "Yup," he confirmed, almost casually. "You're free to go."

A pause. Then his voice lowered again, carrying something colder beneath the surface.

"But betray me… and no government bullshit is going to stop me from erasing you."

Gisele didn't flinch. She simply met his gaze, what little she could see of it past the mask.

"I hope we can work together peacefully," Guldrin added, extending a hand.

A simple handshake.

An unspoken agreement.

Gisele hesitated for just a fraction of a second before reaching out, gripping his hand with a firm, practiced confidence. It was the kind of handshake that exuded self-assurance, the mark of someone who had long since learned that any show of hesitation could be interpreted as weakness.

Guldrin's mind, however, wasn't entirely in the present anymore.

Oh sure, his body was still here, standing right in front of Gisele, his posture casual but his gaze sharp, watching her every movement, making sure she understood the unspoken weight of this moment. 

But his thoughts? His thoughts were already venturing elsewhere, drifting into far more interesting territory.

'I wonder… can I use my red lightning as an extension of my body and will, like in those cultivation novels?'

It was a ridiculous thought. Absurd, even. But then again, so was his entire existence at this point.

A sign-in system?

Interdimensional travel?

Abilities that shouldn't belong anywhere outside the realm of fiction?

A combat android maid?

At this point, reality had already thrown out the rulebook, so why not take things a step further? 

If the universe was determined to keep handing him impossibilities on a silver platter, the least he could do was to see just how far he could push them.

He rolled the idea around in his mind, the sheer audacity of it making him smirk slightly.

'Meh. I'll inject her with a small spark and see if I can sustain it. If she betrays me… maybe I can kill her remotely. If not, well… Oops. I shocked her while shaking her hand. Seems fair.'

There was something deeply amusing about the whole thing.

A handshake, something universally recognized as a gesture of trust, now twisted into a potential death sentence. A silent, hidden blade disguised beneath the surface of civility.

It was almost poetic.

Trust in one hand. A concealed threat in the other.

That was the kind of balance he liked to maintain.

Maybe that was why his two contrasting bloodlines work without issue.

But that was for future consideration.

His fingers curled ever so slightly around hers, his grip steady as he focused inward, calling upon the energy that now rested deep within him. It stirred at his command, responding like an obedient predator waiting for permission to strike.

Just a flicker. A whisper of power. Barely enough to notice.

And then, 

The moment their hands connected, he let it slip.

A tiny jolt, too faint to register as anything more than the kind of static electricity one might get from shuffling across a carpet. Just a harmless spark.

To Gisele, it was nothing.

A minor annoyance at best.

Her fingers twitched slightly, a reflexive reaction, but she didn't even acknowledge it. She barely noticed.

But he did.

The spark had taken hold.

It was there now, beneath her skin. Unseen. Unfelt. But present.

And most importantly?

It worked.

How?

He had no idea. And honestly? He didn't care.

It worked, and that was all that mattered.

What he didn't know, was this wasn't something just anyone could do and was tied to much more intricate reasoning, but that wouldn't be learned for a long time.

He released her hand, tilting his head slightly, studying her face for any hint of suspicion, any sign that she had noticed something, but there was nothing.

If she had felt anything, she hid it well.

Good.

Guldrin gave her a final nod, his voice calm but carrying an unmistakable edge.

"Go. Before I change my mind."

And just like that, she was dismissed.

Gisele didn't waste time. She turned on her heel, walking away with the same composed efficiency she had maintained throughout the entire ordeal.

No hesitation. No unnecessary questions. No justifications.

She just walked.

'Smart. Maybe I can use her… What would happen if I just shoved her into a portal, sending her to the other world? Rika would have a field day… Haha, maybe later.' He thought as he just kept watching her leave.

By the time she reached her white Porsche, she still hadn't so much as glanced back. She got in, turned the key, and in the next moment, the sleek machine purred to life before peeling away into the night.

Letty, however, didn't move.

Her gaze remained fixed on Guldrin, her body tense, her mind racing, replaying that chuckle over and over in her head.

And the longer she thought about it…

The more she was sure.

Even if it didn't make sense.

Even if it should be impossible.

That masked person was her son.

But if that was true…

Why the hell was he hiding it?

Maybe he will remove the mask now that it is just them?

Her hands clenched into fists. The weight of the realization hit her like a freight train, knocking the air out of her lungs. 

She had spent years raising him, knowing every little quirk, every little mannerism, and now, suddenly, he was standing before her, masked, secretive, and playing some game she didn't have the rules to.

Her stomach twisted.

It didn't make sense.

Yet, the evidence was right in front of her, clear as day.

That was his voice. That was his laugh. That was him.

But why?

Why the deception?

Why put on this ridiculous act?

And more importantly… who had he become?

She was still staring when he sighed, reaching up, and with a smooth motion, peeled off the mask, revealing the face beneath.

A face she knew all too well.

Guldrin.

Her son.

There he was, standing before her, bare-faced and unbothered, as if nothing about this situation was even remotely strange.

And instead of explaining himself, instead of offering any kind of justification for what he had just done, for the mask, for the lies, for the secrecy…

But, hadn't she lied to him?

He frowned at her.

"So, Mom… What the hell were you thinking?"

The audacity.

Letty's eye twitched.

Her fingers twitched.

Her entire soul twitched.

She had a hundred questions, no, a thousand, but that? 

That was what he decided to start with?

Oh, hell no.

Her palm connected with the back of his head before she even realized she had moved, the familiar smack of motherly discipline ringing through the air.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL, MOM?!" Guldrin staggered forward, rubbing the spot where she had smacked him, glaring at her like she was the one acting insane.

He might be tough, supernatural, and whatnot, but the psychological damage was immense, feeling the slap to his head.

"Oh, you have the nerve to ask me that? Really?" Letty shot back, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. "You're standing here after killing who knows how many people, in a damn mask, pulling some shadowy bullshit, and I'M the one who needs to explain myself?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, argh, you know what I mean!" He gestured wildly around the area as if that cleared up everything.

"No, Guldrin, I don't know what you mean," she snapped. "What the hell is this? You think you can just show up in some freaky-ass costume, kill people, threaten, act all mysterious, and I'm just supposed to go along with it?! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AT HOME!"

Guldrin opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Then sighed, shoulders sagging slightly.

"Okay, fair point."

"Damn right, it's a fair point."

He exhaled through his nose, pinching the bridge of it like she was giving him a headache, it was similar to her reactions in the past, which only made her more annoyed because she was the one losing her damn mind here.

"Mom," he said, voice lower this time, calmer, almost careful. "There's a lot I can't tell you."

Letty's fingers flexed, resisting the urge to smack him again.

"Try me."

He hesitated.

For just a flicker of a moment, he looked like a little kid again, her kid. The same sharp, mischievous, too-clever-for-his-own-good boy who had always been just a little too secretive, a little too independent, a little too... him. 

That look in his eyes, an uneasy mix of reluctant defiance and something deeper, something unspoken, made her chest tighten with an unfamiliar pressure. It wasn't just stubbornness. It wasn't just a refusal to speak. There was hesitation there, the kind that spoke of uncertainty, of an invisible weight pressing down on him, making him pause.

And then, just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

Guldrin shook his head, as if physically dispelling whatever had crossed his mind, breaking the illusion like a shattered reflection in water.

His expression settled into something unreadable, carefully neutral, but the tension remained in his shoulders.

"No," he said, voice quieter than usual, as if he was trying to find the right words even as he spoke. "I can't explain… Not yet." He let out a slow breath, eyes flickering toward the floor before meeting hers again. "It's not that I don't want to explain, but more like… I don't know what I can say or what I shouldn't say." His lips pressed into a thin line, frustration creeping into his tone. "There might be rules I don't know about."

Letty ground her teeth, the sharp pressure anchoring her to the moment as she forced down the thousand demands bubbling up inside her. She wanted to push. Needed to push. But there was something in his voice, something unfamiliar, that made her hesitate.

What rules?

Not yet.

Not 'never.'

Just… not yet.

She inhaled sharply, the breath dragging through her nose like the pull of an engine revving just below the redline, then forced herself to exhale slowly.

Fine.

For now.

But this conversation was far from over.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, locking onto his with a silent promise, she was letting this go, but not forever. She'd give him space, sure. Give him time, maybe. But answers? She was going to get those.

Before she could push further, though, before she could even fully process the direction this conversation had just taken, Guldrin's expression shifted. 

That unreadable tension melted away, replaced by something deceptively lighthearted, but she wasn't fooled. There was a flicker of something sharper beneath the surface.

"But Mom," he started, dragging the word out just enough to sound both casual and pointed, "enough about me, why are you working for a known drug cartel?" His tone was playful, but the amusement in his eyes was edged with seriousness. "Why did you tell me it was a business trip and then run off to do God-knows-what in God-knows-where while putting yourself in danger?"

Letty felt her jaw tighten.

Oh.

So that's how he wanted to play this?

For half a second, she considered snapping back, reminding him that he was the one keeping secrets, that he was the one with the cryptic bullshit and the unsaid truths hanging between them like storm clouds ready to burst. 

She had conveniently forgotten her multiple lies… 

But no. No, that was exactly what he wanted. If she got defensive, if she let him push her off course, it would give him an easy escape from whatever was lurking behind his own guarded expression.

Not happening.

She folded her arms across her chest, raising a single brow.

"That's funny," she said, her voice dry as the desert. "I was about to ask you the exact same thing."

Guldrin smirked, but it was barely a smirk. More like the ghost of one, something that never fully reached his eyes. "Well," he drawled, tilting his head slightly, "if we're playing the avoidance game, I gotta say, you're way better at it than me."

"Yeah, well, somebody had to teach you."

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Just silence, heavy and charged, stretching between them like a live wire humming with barely contained energy.

Then, Guldrin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with the kind of weariness that didn't belong on a fifteen-year-old. "Look," he said, voice quieter now, less teasing. "I meant what I said. There are things I don't know if I can talk about yet, and I don't want to lie to you. So for now... I can't give you the full picture." 

His gaze flickered toward her, something cautious there. "But I can promise you this, when I can explain, I will."

Letty studied him carefully, weighing every syllable, every micro-expression.

She didn't like it.

Not one bit.

But she also knew bullshit when she heard it.

And that?

That wasn't bullshit.

Frustrating? 

Absolutely.

But a lie? 

No.

She exhaled through her nose, running a hand through her hair before shaking her head. "Damn it, Son." She shot him a look, somewhere between exasperation and begrudging amusement. "You make it real hard to stay mad at you, you know that?"

Guldrin grinned, the expression small but genuine. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Letty let out a short, dry laugh. "I bet. No, I know."

She let the silence settle again, this time less tense, less ready to snap. Then, finally, she rolled her shoulders, shaking off the lingering tension.

"Alright," she said, tone shifting back to something lighter, more grounded. "You get a pass. For now." She pointed a finger at him, her expression deadly serious despite the casual edge in her voice. "But don't think for a second that I'm dropping this forever."

Guldrin held up his hands in surrender, his smirk returning in full force. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good."

Letty turned, ready to move on, ready to let things settle,

But then, just as she took a step forward, Guldrin's voice cut through the space between them once more.

"...You still didn't answer my question, though."

She froze.

Slowly, she turned her head back to him, one brow raising in challenge.

Guldrin stood there, arms crossed, his expression a frustrating mixture of smug amusement and expectant curiosity. He wasn't letting this go.

"So?" he prodded again, his voice laced with barely concealed mischief. "What exactly were you doing, Mom?"

Letty exhaled, long and slow, dragging the breath out as if she could somehow push the weight of the situation away with it. Her lips parted, but no words came. She shut her mouth again, jaw tight. 

For the first time in what felt like forever, she was actually at a loss. Her mind scrambled for a plausible explanation that wouldn't make her sound utterly insane or downright reckless. But there weren't many ways to frame what she had done without it sounding exactly like that.

Because it was.

"I… Brian… We…" She groaned and ran a hand through her dark hair in frustration. Damn it, this wasn't like her. She wasn't some nervous kid getting caught sneaking out past curfew. She didn't stammer, didn't hesitate. She was Letty Ortiz Toretto, and she sure as hell didn't get caught off guard.

And yet, here she was, standing before her smart-mouthed son, fumbling for words like a damn rookie.

There was no getting out of this.

Finally, she took a deep breath and settled on the truth, at least, the version she was willing to admit.

"I've been working with Brian to figure out how to bring your dad back to us," she admitted, her voice firming up. "I made a deal with the FBI. They needed someone to infiltrate Braga's crew, ID him, and help set up a sting operation. This was my introductory task."

Guldrin blinked. His smirk faltered just slightly.

"Oh… Braga… Oops."

Letty's entire body stiffened, her eyes snapping onto his face.

"What. Do. You. Mean, 'oops'?" Her tone was sharp enough to cut glass.

Guldrin scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking like a kid who'd just accidentally set off fireworks inside the house.

"Uh…" He shifted his weight awkwardly. "I may or may not have been… keeping an eye on you. Since you were acting all weird lately."

Her jaw clenched.

"One of your strange gifts and gadgets?" she asked, leveling him with an intense stare.

She knew those gifts were suspicious,

He nodded sheepishly. "Watched your confrontation with no-nuts McDead over there, watched your little chat with Campos, then watched you race, and then, well… I saw you get taken away for the job. Which, at the time, I thought was a kidnapping." He waved a hand vaguely. "So, naturally, I panicked a little, called in some help, and, uh… went to get you back."

Letty's eyes narrowed to slits.

"What kind of help?"

"Oh, right," Guldrin said as if just remembering something minor, like he had forgotten to mention what he had for breakfast. He turned slightly and gestured behind him to someone who had been standing just out of view.

"Mom, meet Revy, my big sister from my birth family and a highly reputable merc. Revy, meet Letty, my mom."

Letty's gaze flicked to the woman now stepping into clearer view.

She was lean, toned, and carried herself with a casual arrogance that screamed danger. 

Not the quiet kind, not the kind you underestimated, no, this was the kind of woman who looked for trouble just to see how fast she could put a bullet in it. The way her fingers twitched near her holster told Letty she was the type to always be armed and never second-guess pulling the trigger.

Revy flashed a wolfish grin, sharp and entirely too confident.

"Sup."

Letty's nostrils flared, her fingers twitching at her sides. This was getting better by the second.

She slowly turned her gaze back to Guldrin, her expression unreadable, but her patience wearing thin.

"You called in mercenary backup to come storm a drug cartel compound because you thought I got kidnapped?"

Guldrin tilted his head as if considering the phrasing.

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds dramatic."

Letty's eyes darkened. "Because it is dramatic, dumbass!"

Revy chuckled, crossing her arms. "Hey, don't blame the kid. You raised him too smart. Smelled bullshit from a mile away and did what he had to do." She jerked a thumb at Guldrin. "Honestly, I'm proud of the little guy. He pulled off some solid recon."

Letty glared at Guldrin, but he didn't look even remotely apologetic. If anything, he looked pleased with himself.

"You had no idea what you were walking into," she snapped. "Do you even realize how bad this could've gone?"

Guldrin met her glare head-on. "Oh, I had a pretty damn good idea," he said evenly. "Which is why I made sure we weren't going in blind." He gestured around them. "Besides, we're standing here, talking, and not currently getting shot at, which means we did something right."

Letty pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled sharply.

"You're impossible."

Guldrin grinned. "You love me."

"That love does not protect you from consequences."

"Eh, worth it?"

Letty shot Revy another look, scanning her from head to toe, evaluating.

"So, what? You're just suddenly in the picture now?"

Revy shrugged. "Guldrin and I reconnected, figured I'd stick around for a bit. You know, make sure no one messes with my little bro." She smirked. "That includes you, by the way."

Letty scoffed, crossing her arms. "I don't need a trigger-happy lunatic keeping me in check."

Revy grinned wider. "Lucky for you, I'm not only a lunatic, I'm an exceptionally well-trained one."

Guldrin clapped his hands together. "Alright, this has been fun, but back to the main topic, Mom, you seriously thought infiltrating a drug cartel solo was a good idea?"

Letty threw her hands up. "I wasn't alone! I had backup."

"Brian," Guldrin deadpanned.

"Yes, Brian," she snapped. "Who, for the record, has actual training and experience in undercover work."

"Yup, and where was he now? Yup, totally a great partner… Yeah, and last time he went undercover, it ended with him switching sides because he grew a conscience," Guldrin pointed out. "Not exactly reassuring."

Letty sighed again, rubbing her temples. "Guldrin, I did what I had to do."

"And so did I, shitty call Mom." he shot back.

They locked eyes, a silent battle waging between them.

Revy watched the exchange with mild amusement before finally rolling her eyes.

"Alright, alright, enough with the intense staring contest," she cut in. "Look, kid's got a point. This whole plan of yours? Kinda reckless. No offense."

Letty bristled. "I knew what I was doing."

"Sure, sure," Revy drawled. "And Guldrin knew what he was doing when he came after you. So, maybe cut him a little slack, yeah?"

Letty inhaled sharply but didn't argue.

She turned her gaze back to Guldrin. "This conversation isn't over."

"You said that already, Mom…" Guldrin rolled his eyes, he knew he would get into trouble but this, this was getting ridiculous.

Guldrin, either completely oblivious to the tension in the room or just flat-out ignoring it, carried on with his explanation like he was giving a casual recap of his day at school.

"Anyways… So, yeah, you got taken. I may have lost it a little bit. Tracked down the parking garage where the race happened, killed the guards, interrogated Campos, killed his bodyguard, and then tortured Campos until he told me where you were..." He shrugged, as if he hadn't just rattled off a list of completely unhinged, felony-level activities like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Along the way, I learned he was actually Braga, and, uh… yeah. He's dead now."

Silence.

Letty just stared at him, her brain trying to process the absolute insanity of what he'd just said.

Revy, arms crossed and looking thoroughly entertained, let out a sharp, amused snort. "Yeah, your kid's got a real talent for getting shit done."

Letty's fingers twitched, her patience fraying at the edges as she processed what she had just heard. Her son, her fifteen-year-old son, had just confessed to tracking down a dangerous cartel boss, dismantling his operation, and executing him like it was just another day at the garage.

Her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her fingers gripping at her biceps, trying to keep herself from absolutely losing it. She was staring at Guldrin, her expression unreadable, but the storm in her eyes was impossible to miss.

He, in return, just smiled, the same infuriating smirk that had likely been on his face when he had been in the middle of all that insanity.

"And what of my wayward daughter-in-law? Was she involved? You know what I don't want to know…"

"So…" he drawled, clearly not reading the room, or just not caring. "Do you think Brian will still be able to work out that deal?"

Letty exhaled through her nose, slow and controlled. She had to, otherwise, she might start yelling, and she wasn't in the mood to have a screaming match with a kid who had, apparently, just taken down an entire criminal operation in the span of a few hours. 

Her kid, all to save her.

"I don't know," she said, her voice too calm, too even. "Do you?"

Guldrin, to his credit, finally seemed to register that he might have overstepped. He scratched the back of his head, shifting his weight awkwardly. "Or do you think I, uh… might've fucked that up?" His voice dipped at the end, less confident now.

Letty's eyes narrowed, her expression darkening.

Revy, standing just beside Guldrin, let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, this kid is somethin' else," she said, shaking her head. "You gotta admit, he's got initiative."

Letty shot her a glare that could have frozen fire. Revy, of course, remained completely unfazed, grinning like this was all some kind of amusing joke.

The other woman, Alisa, had remained quiet, her gaze cool and assessing. Letty didn't like that. She didn't like either of these new people, especially when they had clearly been involved in whatever disaster Guldrin had just thrown himself into.

On one hand, this woman, Alisa had been introduced as their maid, and now she was here?

Revy, she was her son's, birth sister?

Guldrin, as if sensing the impending explosion, cleared his throat and quickly continued.

"Okay, okay, let's not focus on the whole 'I might have ruined a major FBI sting operation' part," he said, waving his hands. "Let's talk about the part where I saved your life."

Letty let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Oh, yeah, let's talk about that. Let's talk about how my fifteen-year-old son somehow managed to track down a cartel leader, kill him, and take out who knows how many people along the way." Her eyes locked onto him. "And let's talk about how you had no damn business getting involved in any of it."

Guldrin held up his hands. "I mean… I had a little business getting involved. You were taken. What was I supposed to do? Just sit around and wait for someone else to handle it?"

"Yes!" Letty snapped. "That's exactly what you were supposed to do!"

Guldrin scoffed. "Yeah, because that always works out so well. Have you watched the movies' Mom? Are you trying to give me a dark vigilante backstory?"

Letty took a step forward, her frustration boiling over. "Damn it, Guldrin, you don't get to play hero. You don't get to make those kinds of decisions."

"Pretty sure I already did."

She closed her eyes, inhaled sharply, and exhaled even slower. If he wasn't her son, she might have thrown something at him.

Revy let out another laugh. "Damn, kid, you got balls. I like that."

Letty's eyes snapped to her. "And you, who the hell are you? Why are you even here?"

Revy shrugged, her smirk widening. "Like I said, I'm his big sister. Birth family. Figured I'd drop in, and see what the kid was up to. Adopted, by the way, but I was there when the brat was born."

Letty's jaw tightened. She didn't like this. She didn't like any of it.

Guldrin continued as if he hadn't just dropped an entirely new bombshell on her. "Look, I get that you're mad, but I did what I had to do. You were in trouble. I wasn't about to sit back and let something happen to you."

Letty's hands curled into fists. "I am the adult. I am the one who's supposed to protect you, not the other way around."

Guldrin didn't back down. "And I'm the one with the skills to actually do something about it."

Silence.

The worst part? He wasn't wrong.

She had trained him, unknowingly, maybe, but she had. He had been raised in a world of fast cars, high stakes, and dangerous people. He had picked up things, absorbed lessons, and clearly, he had developed skills that no eleven turned fifteen-year-old should have.

That didn't mean she had to like it.

Letty pinched the bridge of her nose. "So what, you think this is just how things are gonna be now? You run around, getting yourself into insane situations, killing cartel bosses, and making international problems disappear?"

Guldrin grinned. "I mean, when you put it like that, it sounds kinda badass. But no? I hope for a peaceful life, but something tells me it won't happen?"

Letty groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "Unbelievable."

Revy patted Guldrin's shoulder. "Kid's got talent. I say let him stretch his legs a little."

Letty shot her a withering glare. "You are not helping."

Revy held up her hands, still grinning. "Hey, I'm just saying. You got a little assassin-in-the-making here. Might as well embrace it."

"Absolutely not."

Guldrin sighed dramatically. "Come on, Mom. It's not like I went looking for trouble."

Letty gave him a flat stare. "You tortured a man."

Guldrin shrugged. "He had the information I needed."

Letty blinked, feeling a fresh wave of exhaustion wash over her. She couldn't do this right now. She couldn't process all of this at once.

She exhaled and looked at Revy and Alisa again. "So, what? You two just… showed up? Decided to join in on whatever madness he had planned?"

Revy smirked. "Pretty much."

Alisa finally spoke, her voice smooth and measured. "I came to observe."

Letty narrowed her eyes. "Observe what?"

Alisa tilted her head slightly. "The little master."

Letty felt a headache forming. Great. Fantastic. Now her son had apparently drawn the attention of people she didn't even understand yet.

She rubbed at her temples, trying to force her brain to catch up with everything that had just been dumped on her. The pounding behind her eyes wasn't from exhaustion, it was from the sheer, unfiltered insanity of what she had just learned. 

Guldrin had, single-handedly and without hesitation, completely shattered an entire FBI operation like it was some cheap toy. Braga, Campos, or whatever the hell name he had been hiding under, was no longer an issue, because he was dead. 

Dead as in done. 

Gone. 

Which, under normal circumstances, would be fantastic news. Letty would have happily put a bullet in the guy herself if given the chance. 

But this wasn't just some street punk. He was a major player, a man with serious connections, the kind that didn't just vanish without repercussions. 

The deal that Brian had been trying to work? It was probably nothing more than ashes at this point, burnt to a crisp along with any chance of tying this all up cleanly. And now, on top of that, there were two new unknowns standing in front of her, acting way too damn familiar with her kid, and she didn't like it.

Not one bit.

She sighed, long and heavy, trying to will away the tension coiling in her shoulders. "I need a drink."

Guldrin, ever the opportunist, perked up immediately. "Ooh, can I have one?"

Letty slowly turned her head to look at him. Just a look. That's all it took.

"…I'll take that as a no." Guldrin deflated slightly.

Revy let out an amused chuckle, clearly enjoying herself far too much. Letty barely spared her a glance before shaking her head. "We're not done talking about this."

Guldrin, in that infuriating way of his, just smiled. "Didn't think we were. But mom, you gotta come up with something better than, this isn't over, we aren't done, etc."

That was the problem. He knew. He always knew. And he didn't even look remotely sorry.

She exhaled, slow and measured, trying to calm the storm brewing inside her. 

She had survived high-speed chases. 

She had been in shootouts that would have made grown men piss themselves. And yet, somehow, this kid?

This kid was going to be the death of her.

And he had the audacity to stand there, so casual, like he hadn't just committed murder, sabotage, and espionage all in one night.

Saving Jesse was one thing, but this… This was something completely different.

She ran a hand down her face, bracing herself for the full story. Because what little he had given her? That was just the appetizer. She knew how his mind worked.

Guldrin continued, filling in the blanks, telling her things she already knew but confirming suspicions she hadn't yet spoken aloud. How she had been meant to die, just another name on a list of people that Braga had decided were liabilities. 

How he, Revy, and Alisa had arrived first, how they had cleared out all the mercs before they could carry out their orders. 

How they had planned, methodically, efficiently, eliminating threats before they even knew they were in danger.

That part, at least, Letty wasn't surprised by. Guldrin was many things, reckless, frustrating, a headache wrapped in a human body, but he was never sloppy. 

If he came after someone, they were done before they even knew they were a target.

Still, that didn't mean she was okay with any of this.

"You realize what you just did, right?" she asked, voice calm. Too calm.

Guldrin nodded. "Yeah. I saved you."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Her fingers curled into a fist. "You didn't just take out Braga. You torched an entire investigation. You put yourself at the center of this mess."

Guldrin shrugged. "No one will trace it back."

Letty scoffed. "Bullshit."

He held up a finger. "Ah, ah. I was careful."

"You killed half the people involved," she shot back. "Do you think that just makes everything disappear?"

"Well, statistically-"

"Don't."

—

–

-

"And that's how we ended up here," Guldrin concluded, his tone unnervingly casual given the absolutely unhinged story he had just told her. His eyes darted toward her, as if expecting her to move on, to nod and accept that this was just another wild day in the life of their family.

She didn't.

Letty took a long, deliberate step toward him, her boots crunching against the bloodstained desert ground. "You tortured Campos."

"Yeah."

"He turned out to be Braga… You killed him."

"Yep."

"You wiped out an entire cartel stronghold, then came here, and killed who knows how many people."

"Pretty much."

Letty stared at him.

Guldrin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I get it. But do you really think Brian's deal would've worked? Would Braga have actually gone down cleanly? Or would something have gone wrong at the last second, and you end up dead anyway?"

Letty opened her mouth, then closed it.

She hated that he had a point.

She wanted to be angry, no, she was angry. Furious, even. But the cold, hard truth was that this whole thing had been a gamble from the start.

Would Brian have been able to pull off the deal? Maybe. Maybe not. And maybe, if things had gone another way, she wouldn't be standing here at all.

Still, that didn't mean she had to like it.

Revy, arms crossed, her smirk widening as she took in the chaos unfolding before her like she was front row at the most entertaining show in town. "Gotta say, kid's got guts. And he gets shit done."

Letty shot her a look sharp enough to cut steel, unimpressed and absolutely in no mood for Revy's particular brand of amusement. "Shut. Up. Not helping."

Revy chuckled, completely undeterred. If anything, she was enjoying this even more.

Letty turned back to Guldrin, her fingers twitching at her sides as she fought the urge to rub at her temples. "Alright. Let's say, for the sake of my sanity, that I accept this is over. That Braga, Campos, whatever the hell he called himself, is dead. That we don't have to deal with him anymore. Now, let's talk about the absolute mess you've made of our situation."

Guldrin tilted his head slightly, hands slipping into his pockets like he hadn't just upended an entire FBI operation, executed a cartel boss, and left them standing in the middle of a logistical disaster. "What mess?"

Letty blinked at him. 

Slowly.

"The fact that you just burned every single bridge we had with the FBI and the deal we were working on."

He considered that for a moment before shrugging. "So we run? Go visit Uncle Vince in Mexico? See his kid?"

"Uproot our lives and go to Mexico?"

"Yes? We can even invite Dad. He should be safe there, right?"

And just like that, the migraine she'd been holding off came crashing down on her full force.

Guldrin shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a subtle tell that he was bracing for impact. He knew. He damn well knew.

She inhaled sharply through her nose, her hands curling into fists at her sides before flexing open again, the only outward sign of the storm raging beneath her skin.

She should be screaming at him. Shaking him until he understood just how insane this all was. 

Until he understood that this wasn't a game, that there were consequences, and that just because he had the skill and the sheer, terrifying audacity to pull something like this off didn't mean he should have.

But the words died in her throat.

Because here he was.

Standing in front of her.

Alive.

Because he'd come for her.

Because he'd torn through an entire cartel to get to her.

Because, for all his recklessness, for all his madness, he was her son.

And that was the part that really got her. 

That infuriated her more than anything else. Because beneath all the frustration, the disbelief, the sheer, ridiculous absurdity of this entire situation,

She was proud of him.

Dom would be proud of him.

And wasn't that just the most aggravating thing?

She exhaled, pressing her fingers against her temple as if she could physically shove the headache away.

Guldrin hesitated. "…Uh, Mom?"

She inhaled again. Slower this time. Controlled. When she finally looked at him, her eyes were sharp, clear, and carrying the weight of every ounce of patience she no longer had.

"You brat… I… You are so grounded after this,"

He winced, but his grin was instantaneous. "Oh yeah, that's fair. At least Dad can come with us when we go see Uncle Vince, maybe Jesse would come as well. Aunt Mia? I am sure she will follow us, if she isn't meeting up with Brian at this moment… But after she learns of this whole mess, I assume anything to do with him will be over."

Letty swore under her breath. This was her life now. This was what it had come to. Cartels, burnt FBI bridges, and smart-ass kids pulling off impossible missions like it was just another Tuesday.

It was Tuesday.

And the worst part?

Somewhere, deep down, beneath all the exhaustion, she knew she wouldn't trade it for anything.

But damned if she was going to let Guldrin know that.

And then her gaze snapped to the other woman in the clearing, the one who had, up until this point, been watching with an infuriating level of amusement.

"And you?" Letty demanded.

Revy grinned around a cigarette she'd just lit, exhaling a slow, lazy stream of smoke. "Yeah, me. Hi."

Letty's jaw clenched so tight she thought she might break a tooth.

Next to Revy, another woman, Alisa the new maid her son introduced as a new hire, stepped forward. Unlike Revy, she was composed, and graceful, her expression one of genuine warmth. She offered a polite nod before speaking.

"Reporting to Mistress," Alisa said smoothly, her voice carrying the kind of eerie calm that only someone who had seen far too much could manage. 

"I am the caretaker of Guldrin Goldblood Toretto. His birth parents… Let's say they hired me years ago. You found my charge, and adopted him, and I couldn't be happier with how he turned out. For reasons, I can't get into, Guldrin just disappeared. Neither his mother nor sisters knew where he was. We have been looking for him for years, and I can't thank you enough for taking care of him."

Letty's fingers twitched again.

There were so many things wrong with this moment, she didn't even know where to begin.

Guldrin had a whole other family out there? A family that had been looking for him? A family that hired people to watch over him? And now, suddenly, two of them just show up in the middle of a goddamn drug cartel's bloodstained hideout like this was some sort of twisted family reunion?

Where were they before?

When he was alone?

And… hold on… Alisa just called her 'mistress'? 

This woman was supposed to be a maid. Not, whatever she is now.

Letty opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

Nope. No words. Not yet.

She turned back to Guldrin, narrowing her eyes. "You met them a few days ago?"

He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking very interested in the desert ground. "Yeah. Everything's been happening a little fast."

Letty let out a sharp breath through her nose. "A little fast?"

Guldrin offered her an apologetic shrug.

She turned back to Alisa, squinting. "Caretaker?"

Alisa nodded, clasping her hands neatly in front of her. "I was assigned to watch over him, to ensure his safety, and to guide him when necessary."

Letty's eye twitched so hard she was half-convinced she was developing some kind of permanent facial tic. 

She leveled a stare at Alisa, her patience hanging by a thread that was fraying faster than a cheap knockoff racing harness. "And where exactly were you when he was tearing his way through an entire cartel?"

Alisa, for the first time, hesitated. Just a fraction of a second, but Letty caught it. "...Circumstances prevented my intervention."

Letty's brow arched. "Circumstances," she echoed flatly.

Before she could drill deeper, Guldrin, with all the self-preservation instincts of a man who enjoyed standing on the edge of a cliff in a hurricane, decided to speak up. "More like she wouldn't intervene unless we were in serious need," he outed her without hesitation, crossing his arms and shooting Alisa a sideways look that was equal parts irritation and amusement.

Alisa didn't deny it. She merely dipped her head slightly, the smallest, most infuriating acknowledgment of guilt.

Letty clenched her jaw. She could not deal with this right now. She turned her laser focus onto Revy instead, who was lounging with all the carefree arrogance of someone who had long ago stopped giving a damn about the concept of consequences.

"And you?" Letty demanded, already bracing for the worst.

Revy, completely unfazed, exhaled a slow, lazy cloud of smoke. "Oh, I was there, I helped," she said, stretching out the words like they were the start of some ridiculous bedtime story. "And let me tell you, it was a goddamn blast. We were a big sister, little brother duo of chaos and death. Kid's got style, I'll give him that."

Letty blinked. "Helped," she repeated, her voice so devoid of emotion it could have been mistaken for a robotic response.

Revy winked.

Letty inhaled through her nose, held it for a dangerously long second, and then exhaled even slower.

She was going to strangle someone.

Preferably all three of them.

Maybe not Guldrin. At least not right now.

But the other two? Oh, she was seriously considering it.

Not here, though. Not now.

She needed more information. She needed to process this. She needed a goddamn drink the size of a transmission fluid reservoir, preferably something strong enough to make her forget the absolute lunacy she had just listened to.

But right now? Right now, she needed to get them the hell out of here before she lost what little sanity she had left, or police slash FBI shows up.

"Fine," she said at last, rolling her shoulders, shaking off the immediate, overwhelming urge to commit at least one homicide before the day was over. "We're leaving. Now."

For a moment, she thought they would actually follow orders for once. Just a single moment of naive optimism.

Then Guldrin opened his mouth.

"Uh, so... we kinda have a problem," he started, rubbing the back of his neck, which was never a good sign. "We brought two cars, and, uh... we also kinda need to burn this entire area down before we leave."

Letty stopped mid-step. Slowly, deliberately, she turned back toward him, her patience already screaming in agony.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice tight as a coiled spring. "What?"

Guldrin gestured vaguely around them, as if that explained anything. "I mean, it's the desert, right? Fire should be fine? No one's gonna care if a cartel operation just... disappears."

Letty pinched the bridge of her nose. "That is not how fire works."

"Okay, fair, but-"

"And that is not how law enforcement works."

"Also fair, but-"

"And-"

"Alisa," Guldrin suddenly interrupted, turning to the other woman as though throwing a lifeline. "You can start melting the bodies, the cars, everything before we leave, right?"

Letty snapped her head toward Alisa, who sighed as if this was the most mundane request in the world. Then, without so much as blinking, she lifted a hand and summoned fire.

Not a normal fire.

Not even a big fire.

A goddamn inferno.

Flames erupted, like she had reached into the air and ripped open Hell itself. The bodies, the vehicles, and even the damn ground beneath them started melting in an instant. 

The sheer heat hit Letty like a wall, forcing her to take a step back. The air warped, the temperature skyrocketed, and the entire area became an oven of death.

Letty's mouth fell open, eyes wide, brain momentarily shutting down.

She didn't even have words.

Alisa, on the other hand, had plenty.

"Oops," she said flatly, as if she had just spilled a glass of water. "I wasn't going to show you that… yet." She tilted her head slightly, the fire reflecting in her cool, composed eyes. "Well. Cat's out of the bag now. The supernatural is real. Congratulations, you know one of the most well-kept secrets in the world."

Letty snapped out of her shock, whirling toward Guldrin, who at least had the decency to look mildly sheepish.

"Please don't ask about it for now," he said quickly, hands up in surrender, as though that would somehow stop her from questioning why the hell one of his associates was casually melting reality.

Letty opened her mouth,

Then closed it.

Then opened it again.

Then closed it again.

She was going to explode.

Just not right now.

Guldrin, sensing his very survival hung in the balance, hurriedly pressed forward. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, pivoting hard away from the fire that was now consuming what was left of the area. "Mom, I drove here. You drove here. So, uh… who's riding with who? Do I drive mine home?"

The way he said it.

Like he was hoping, praying, that maybe, just maybe, if he was in a separate car, she wouldn't absolutely tear into him for, oh, she didn't know, waging war against a cartel to rescue her like some goddamn action hero.

Unfortunately for him, Letty was not feeling merciful.

She held out her hand.

Guldrin froze.

His key.

She wanted his key.

He hesitated, eyes darting between her and Revy, as if searching for some way out of this impending disaster.

But there was none.

Defeated, he dropped his car key into her palm.

She didn't even look at it before immediately tossing it to Revy.

Revy, the chaos incarnate herself, caught it effortlessly, grinning ear to ear like Christmas had just come early.

"Aww," she drawled, twirling the key between her fingers. "Guess that means I get to take your baby for a ride again, huh, kid?"

Guldrin looked like he wanted to die.

Letty? 

Before he could protest, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him toward her car, already launching into a scathing tirade that would not be stopping anytime soon.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING-"

Guldrin, trapped and helpless, could do nothing but brace for impact.

Behind them, Revy let out a howl of laughter, shaking her head as she strolled toward Guldrin's car, tossing the key up and catching it like she hadn't just watched an entire cartel burn to the ground.

"Man," she grinned, slipping into the driver's seat. "I love this family. Goldbloods' are great, but the kid found a good family in his time of need. This is gonna be sooo much fun to explain to Mama."

(Give me your POWER, Please, and Thank You! Leave reviews and comments, they motivate me to continue.)