“Yes, Mr Victor engaged Sentinel in combat, but it wasn’t in order to destroy the city. Mr Victor believed Sentinel had ulterior motives with the new superpowered Taskforce the Mayor announced. Mr Victor was trying to stop Sentinel before he could do any damage. But his plans fell through.” Yates ate a few bites of food before continuing. “Something occurred between Mr Victor and Sentinel just before the fight began. I saw they had an intense, but short, conversation. I believe Mr Victor tried to talk Sentinel down before resorting to combat. Sentinel must have said something to anger Mr Victor.”
Yates somehow relaxed as they spoke. They had this entire speech building up since the fight, unable to discuss it with anyone other than Liliana. She had never known Yates to speak so much in one conversation; they were usually a person of few words. This was a new side to them.
“What do you think Sentinel said to Max? It must have been something big if Max resorted to violence. That isn’t like him.” Liliana wished she had the answers. She needed to speak to Max more than anything else. Hear his side of the conversation.
“I don’t know, Ms Masters. I should have built a recorder in Mr Victor’s suit; we could have the proof we need to get him out of that prison if I had.” Yates was obviously blaming themselves for this.
“You couldn’t have known something like this was going to happen, don’t blame yourself.” Liliana reached across the table to take Yates’s hand in comfort. “Wait a minute. You built the suit?” Her eyebrows hiked up into her hairline. She did not know Yates had the skills to build something like that.
“Yes, I did. Mr Victor had some requests for the suit, and I carried them out as much as possible.” Yates said it like it was nothing. Humble to a fault.
“That’s incredible. I saw the suit on the news, and a little in person, I’m impressed.” Yates let a small smile through at the compliment.
“Thank you, Ms Masters, you’re kind to say that,” they replied, avoiding eye contact as they continued eating.
“So, what are we going to do about this? How can we get Max out?” Liliana asked, sure now more than ever that Max didn’t deserve to be locked up for the fight. “Did he keep any proof of what Sentinel was up to?”
“He kept some papers and some notes in the workshop. There might be something there we can use,” Yates replied, considering the options.
“Workshop? What workshop?” Liliana replied. She had been to his house, and all over this apartment, but had seen no sign of a workshop.
“He hadn’t around to showing you the workshop yet. Mr Victor was unsure of telling you about it and his suspicions on the superheroes,” Yates replied, shoulders hunched in uncertainty again. “It’s underneath the Hilltop property, not shown on building plans so the authorities shouldn’t be aware of it.”
“Okay, I’m going to ignore Max’s mistrust of me for now, that’s going to be a long conversation for a later date. Can we get into the workshop without the police knowing? They must have eyes on his house by now.” Liliana felt a plan forming, finally something for her to do. She was going to get Max out of prison somehow. She was going to talk to him again and get him to tell her the truth this time. No more secrets.
Chapter 10
After Liliana and Yates finished their dinner, they scouted out the workshop together, using the darkness as a cover should the police be nearby, monitoring the house as well. Yates drove them to the hillside, but they didn’t take the main road as Liliana expected.
“I thought we were heading to Hilltop?” Liliana asked, looking back at the turn she expected them to take.
“We are. Mr Victor keeps a separate entrance for the workshop. It’s come in useful for this occasion,” Yates replied, pressing a button on the wheel of the car. Liliana looked around them to see a small light on their right. The button Yates pressed had opened a small gap in the hillside, which got bigger as they approached. It was just big enough to let the vehicle into a dimly lit tunnel. The car’s headlights lit the path ahead as they sped through the tunnel.
Liliana wouldn’t have had the guts to drive so fast down a dark tunnel. Yates must have driven down here often enough to know where they were going so well. After a minute or two of not being able to see very far in front of them, a bright light appeared at the end of the tunnel. It sped towards them, briefly blinding Liliana.
Blinking furiously as her eyes watered from the sudden explosion of light, Liliana saw a vast car park around them. Yates reversed into a space, the tunnel straight ahead of them. Liliana clambered out of the car to look at the variety of vehicles around them. Her eyes were then drawn above them to see large windows into what must have been the workshop. Her jaw dropped as she took in the size of the operation Max was hiding beneath his house.
“This is some next-level, Batman shit here,” she exclaimed before she could stop herself. “How did Max hide all of this under here? It’s insane!”
“I remember Mr Victor saying something along the same lines when he discovered this cavern,” Yates laughed slightly as they watched Liliana’s reaction. “We worked together to build the workshop several years ago when the superheroes became more entrenched in the city. He wanted to be prepared in case things went sideways.”
“You’ve been together for a long time, haven’t you?” Liliana asked. She didn’t know too much about Yates, aside from their employment with Max.
“Nearly twelve years now. Since Mr Victor got into trouble in my homeland. He accidentally insulted a local leader while on holiday. I talked the leader down, thankfully. After that, Mr Victor asked me to come work for him, making sure he doesn’t get into that situation again.” Yates looked back on their history fondly, their loyalty showing through.
“Thank you for helping him. I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I am grateful for all you do to keep him safe. I would never have met him without you looking out for him.”
“It’s not always been easy. He does like to get himself into trouble without an escape plan in mind,” Yates chuckled, remembering their adventures with Max.
“So, what else do you have hidden away here?” Liliana was keen to explore the workshop. If Max’s suit was any sign, there must be loads of cool tech hidden here.
Yates led Liliana over to a doorway, a staircase leading up into the galley above the parking lot.
“There’s a fair bit of tech here. Failed experiments and theoretical designs. Mr Victor often took inspiration from the Supers, trying to replicate their abilities. He thought that if it came down to a fight between himself and a rogue Super, using their own abilities against them was the only way to stand a chance,” Yates explained. It made sense, but it sounded complicated. How could you replicate a Super’s powers? No one really understood how they came to be.
“Was he focusing on any Supers, aside from Sentinel?” Liliana asked.
“He was focusing on the more local Supers to start with. Sentinel has flight, strength, invulnerability. The big three, I suppose.” Yates walked over to an enormous desk covered with papers and tools. “Lightbringer has control over fire, so Mr Victor believed something controlling fire suppressants might work. It would have to be an intense form of suppression to combat the temperatures Lightbringer can create.”
“I don’t know how a woman who can create fires with her mind became a superhero. Sounds far too dangerous a power to be used. And how is it helpful in most situations?” Lightbringer always confused Liliana.
“For Glassier, Mr Victor designed a ball that will emit a wide spectrum of light, designed to counteract their invisibility powers. It acts fast enough that Glassier can’t work around it straight away. It has a limited effect, but useful if you need to move fast against them.”
Liliana nodded along with Yates’s explanation of Max’s work. How he got all this work done without her noticing, she did not know.
“If Max was working on all of this in secret, how much time did he actually spend at the office?”
“Mr Vic
tor has had several VPs taking over some of his responsibilities lately. Allowing him to take a step back from the day-to-day tasks and simply overseeing the company from afar.”
“More lies,” Liliana frowned, again questioning why she was doing this. Why did she still feel loyal to a man who lied to her from the moment they met? What was she going to do when she saw him again? At the moment, she felt torn between a kiss and a punch. Maybe both.
Liliana walked around the enormous desk, looking over the tech designs Max had been working on while she pondered their future, together or apart, when she noticed a small drawer on the side of the desk. She pulled it open, expecting to see some more design tools or smaller papers. Instead, a small box slide to the front of the drawer. Liliana picked it up and opened it to see a bright diamond set in a simple silver band. The air quickly left her chest as she saw the engagement ring sitting in the box in her hand.
“He was going to propose?” Liliana asked quietly. “Did you know anything about this Yates?” She turned to see a surprised look on Yates’s normally stoic face. “I’m guessing not.”
“No. Mr Victor had mentioned nothing about a ring to me. It must have been recent though; I had only collected some items from that drawer last week,” Yates replied.
“Last week. He was going to propose. I wonder if he was going to ask at dinner the other night.” Liliana was getting caught up in her imagination, her love for Max flaring in her chest as she pictured the moment, saying yes, planning a wedding with her Max. Her imagination took her all the way to saying their vows before reality came rushing back.
“He was going to propose without telling me the truth about what he was doing.” She had circled back around to anger. She was furious with Max. Furious that he didn’t think he could trust her with this. He knew they shared the same views of the Supers and how reliant the city was on them. Why didn’t he think she would share the same views on what needed to be done?
Alright, so she may have tried to stop him from confronting Sentinel head-on. That was an idiotic idea. But they could have worked together on an actual solution.
“How could he do this to me?” Liliana asked. Yates looked unsure if they should answer. This was not the reaction they expected from a ring discovery.
“I need to speak to Max,” she decided.
“How are you going to do that? Mr Victor is being kept away from visitors,” Yates asked.
“We’re going to break him out, that’s how.”
Chapter 11
“Right, people, we have less than an hour to get the final edits over to the printers for the morning paper. Get me your work in ten minutes or don’t come back,” Tanya, the hell-bitch-come-editor-in-chief, shouted over the heads of her minions under the marquee outside of Carl’s café. Rose, practically attached to her laptop, attempting to make some last-minute touches to some photographs for the many articles the surrounding journalists were working on. The pace had picked up since Liliana had left or been fired. No one was sure what had happened. She also wasn’t responding to Rose’s texts, and she was getting worried.
She hoped Liliana was just sleeping off the week’s events, but she still worried. She shot off a quick text again before finishing her photos.
“Ms Wilson. Are you done yet?” Tanya barked over the pool of interns surrounding her.
“Just finished now and uploaded to the server,” Rose shouted back.
“Good. I have several other photographers in the field today, so I don’t need you until the morning,” Tanya dismissed Rose with an icy wave of her hand.
Why did she work here? For her? Rose asked herself, taking a deep breath, stopping herself from telling Tanya what she really thought of her. Instead, she packed up her laptop and camera, telling herself that one day it’ll be the last time she put up with Tanya’s crap attitude. Rose didn’t even really pay attention to where she was walking until she almost fell over one barricade surrounding her half-destroyed office.
“Whoa there, ma’am. Careful where you step,” a familiar voice broke through Rose’s annoyance, in time for her to fall into the voice owner’s arms. Her breath caught in her throat for multiple reasons. The main one being the owner of the arms wrapped around her waist, stopping her from falling flat on her face and destroying the tech in her arms.
“Sentinel,” Rose stated, shocked to run into him for the second time in several months. Most people never run into a superhero unless they were in danger or were a villain themselves.
After a beat, Rose realised Sentinel’s arms were still on her waist, sucking in her breath as she jumped back from Sentinel. How was she meant to act around him? After hearing what Max had written to Liliana, she did not know if Sentinel could be trusted anymore. Was he even a hero?
“Thank you. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Rose tried to remain neutral. Movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention away from Sentinel, who was simply staring straight into her eyes. If she were the type to be attracted to men, she would blush and stumble over her words under his gaze. The movement turned out to be cameras. Sentinel was being filmed helping the city repair the buildings affected by his fight with Max.
“I recognise you. Aren’t you a friend of Liliana Masters? The girlfriend of Dark Warrior?” Sentinel asked, although he sounded like he already knew the answer.
“Yes,” Rose replied hesitantly. She did not know how Liliana wanted to handle the press. It was odd being on this side of the news. She was normally the one behind the camera. She could tell that the cameraman was very interested in her conversation with Sentinel. Shots of him interacting with ‘normal’ people must be worth her weight in gold.
“Do you know where she is? I would very much like to speak to her about Max,” Sentinel asked.
“I don’t, actually. I’ve been trying to get ahold of her. She got hurt in the fight, so I imagine she’s resting up,” Rose replied.
“Ah, I didn’t know she was hurt. Is she doing okay?” Sentinel asked. It almost sounded convincing that he cared, but something about him shouted fake.
“She’ll be okay,” Rose replied, not wanting to give out any specifics, especially on camera.
“Excellent. Well, if you speak to her, could you let her know I would like to speak to her? She can contact me here.” Sentinel pulled a card out from his suit somewhere and handed it over. Rose had never known a superhero to hand out contact details before. He must really want to see Liliana.
“Of course,” Rose replied, surprised. “If you could excuse me, I need to get going.” She backed off before he could ask any more questions.
“Ah yes, sorry for keeping you. Just be sure to watch out for any more stumbling blocks from here on,” Sentinel waved her off with a fake-looking smile on his face. He turned back to the camera, a smile shining across his face.
Rose walked off, feeling a lot more uncomfortable than the last time she met Sentinel. It was like she had just been wearing rose-tined glasses the last time. Now she could see the act he was putting on for the public, she could see he wasn’t the nice guy the city made him out to be. There was something unsettling going on under his skintight suit.
*
Moonlight shone down on the prison complex spread out across a half mile of land below the hill. Liliana perched low on the grass, binoculars in hand. Twelve-foot-tall fences surrounded the prison, with watchtowers at regular intervals. Seemingly impenetrable. Her resolve to get Max out admittedly faltered slightly before she pushed the doubt out of her mind.
This was about more than her love for Max. She needed answers, she needed to speak to Max. If she didn’t like the answers he gave, she could always leave him in the prison. Breaking in was the chief thing she needed to do.
Looking away from the prison for a moment, she noted down what she had seen. She and Yates had been scoping out the prison for a couple of hours now, realising how big a task they had set for themselves.
Yates was easy to get on board with the prison break idea. They
had down to the planning quickly after they decided. They both agreed that Liliana needed to avoid talking about Max in public to keep the attention away from what they were doing. If she started shouting about the truth about Sentinel and Max, then the police would suspect they would try a prison break. It hurt, but Liliana would have to speak out against Max to save their cover.
“Shift change, 01:30 am. Seems to be a thirty-minute handover period,” Yates stated as Liliana noted it down. Yates appeared to have switched to military mode as soon as they began planning the prison break, which only raised more questions about their background. Questions Liliana didn’t feel comfortable asking just yet.
“How long do you think we should do recon for? This is all very new to me,” Liliana asked quietly, not taking her eyes off the prison.
“A week or two, I should think. Enough time to understand shift patterns. Prisons have to be strict with their operation so we shouldn’t see any deviation from the pattern,” Yates replied. Now they explained, it all made sense to Liliana. Now she felt the heat in her cheeks, embarrassed she felt she had to ask the question.
Liliana felt like she was in a spy novel, trying to stay under the radar by day, scouting out a prison by night. It still didn’t feel very real to her. Her boyfriend was trapped somewhere in the building they were watching, going through extreme interrogation, possibly by Sentinel himself. They had yet to spot Sentinel arriving or leaving the prison, but they expected him to visit Max at some point. In the past Sentinel had made a point of seeing his enemies behind bars. Liliana thought he did it to make sure they were being kept safely behind bars. Not anymore. Now Liliana saw his motivations for what they really were, a publicity stunt. He wanted to spend as much time in front of the camera as possible.
Sentinel must have been loving the exposure he was getting after his battle with Max. The cameras had barely left him alone ever since Max was arrested. Liliana watched the news, seeing what Sentinel was up to most days, but she hated the love and adoration Sentinel was getting. It was all so unfair to Max. They weren’t even trying to understand why Max would apparently become a supervillain, no attempt to discover the truth of things. Just throw him in prison and praise Sentinel. It was all so twisted.
Twisted Page 7