“Didn’t you grow up fighting?”
“Yes, I did. Just means I’ve got more to teach.” Yates turned and gave Liliana a smile that hinted at the bruises she would start collecting soon.
“Great.”
Chapter 14
She hit the mat hard. Although, she somehow broke nothing, yet.
“Again,” Yates barked an order, standing over Liliana sprawled on the floor for the fiftieth time.
“Am I ever going to land a punch on you?” she groaned as Yates pulled her back to her feet.
“Maybe. If you improve.” Yates stood back and fell into a fighting stance, which Liliana tried and failed to copy.
Yates darted forward and jabbed her in the side, Liliana moving to block herself far too late. She moved forward in response and missed Yates’s shoulder, her fist flying instead. Yates grabbed her arm and flipped her over. She slammed into the mat yet again.
“Ow,” Liliana whimpered slightly, rolling onto her side and into a ball to protect herself.
“You were closer that time,” Yates stated, barely out of breath. “We’ll take a break for today. We should get something to eat.” They pulled Liliana up onto her feet again, and walked off the mat towards a side table with water bottles on it.
They were in the gym attached to Max’s secret base. Someone fully equipped it, everything they could need to get Liliana into shape for the mission. Liliana hated the sight of the room now and they had only been training for two days. Yates had put her through a strict exercise routine from the moment Yates had brought her back to the base. Her picture was still all over the media, which just stirred her on to try harder with each sparring match Yates put her through.
It seemed cliché but the first thing she did once she reached the water table was spray her face with the freezing cold water. Messy but effective.
“Do some stretches before jumping in the shower. I’ll get some food together,” Yates ordered before walking back towards the kitchen. Liliana knew Yates worked for Max and not her, but they were rather bossy with the mission. It was a side she hadn’t seen to Yates before. She groaned as she stretched out her sore muscles. She hoped she would see some improvement soon. She didn’t know how many more beatings she could take.
She limped into the shower and let the boiling water run down her aching back, washing away the sweat she built up. She noticed some bruises forming on her stomach and sides, and she was sure one looked like a handprint on her arm where Yates flipped her repeatedly. Max had better appreciate everything she was doing for him. She would make sure he knew everything.
When she thought about seeing him again, she kept flipping between kissing him so hard she knocked the stuffing out of him or yelling at him about everything. She wasn’t sure what she would do when she saw him again. She missed him. She loved and hated him, sometimes at the same time.
She couldn’t help but imagine Max in the shower with her for a moment. Water rushing down their skin. The fight over, back in their happy place. She could almost feel his hands on her skin, running around her waist to stroke her back, pulling her in close.
But she couldn’t let herself get distracted with what-ifs. It wasn’t worth it. Focus.
She finished up in the shower and headed upstairs for some much-needed feeding. Yates was an incredible cook, although Liliana didn’t always know what it was she was being fed. She didn’t mind; the food was delicious.
After eating what Liliana was sure was a healthy meal, she took to exploring the complex built underneath Hilltop. There were corridors branching off corridors. She did not know how big it was, although she looked forward to exploring it. It was as if every additional room she discovered was a new aspect to the Max she was uncovering.
So far, she had found a room stocked with shelves of papers and box files. A quick look at the papers told her they were research materials for new technological designs. She would need a dictionary at her side if she were to decode them.
After lunch, she found a new corridor to explore. The first room housed a reasonably sized pool. A pleasant surprise. It had been a while since she last went swimming. The next room pulled her in with its secrets. A large table, much like the one in the principal room she had just left, made for designing tools and technology. Lines crisscrossed the table with axes along the outside rim. A switch poked out of the side, prompting Liliana to press it. The table lit up.
“Is this where you make all your plans, Max?” Liliana asked the empty room. “How did you have time to do this?” she wondered. Looking to the side of the room, she saw racks of graph paper ready to be used for one design or another. A small desk stood next to the graph paper covered with pens, pencils, rulers, everything Max could need to make his designs.
“I see you found the design room.”
Liliana’s heart skipped a beat as she jumped a foot in the air, a high screech leaving her lips before she could stop it.
“Bloody hell, Yates. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry, Ms Masters.” Although Yates didn’t look sorry. In fact, they had a small smirk on their face, enjoying the shock they created.
“I was just exploring. I hope you don’t mind,” Liliana said.
“It’s fine,” Yates replied. “Mr Victor and I spent a far amount of time in this room. He designed the tech, I designed the suit.”
“So, this is where all the brainstorming went on,” Liliana said.
“And continues to go on. I’ve been experimenting with a design for you, Ms Masters,” Yates said, surprising Liliana once more.
“For me? Why would I need a suit?” She thought she would simply wear dark clothing during the prison break.
“If all goes well, you shouldn’t need a full fight suit,” Yates replied. “But I think it’s best we plan for the worst-case scenario.” Liliana nodded. It made sense when she thought about it.
“I’ve taken the designs from Mr Victor’s suit and made some improvements.” Yates pulled some sheets from a storage slot underneath the table Liliana had missed. “It sounds bad, but with Mr Victor losing his fight, it has given me lots of feedback for improvements.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate hearing that,” Liliana said with a small chuckle.
“I know,” Yates said, holding back a smile. They laid out the sheets of graph paper on the bright table.
The drawings showed various designs, all based on a full-body suit like Max’s. It had built in armour and space for weapons. Although she hoped she wouldn’t need weapons on the mission.
“You’ve been busy.”
“I don’t sleep much,” Yates replied, not very forthcoming on the personal details, as per the usual. “The plans still need some work. If you have any requests, I can see about working some in if you like.”
“How about a cape? Or would that look stupid because I can’t fly?” Liliana was getting ahead of herself. The idea of having a superhero suit was mildly intoxicating. She just had to remember that she didn’t have any powers, and if she was going to be fighting anyone, it was likely to be the apparent good guys.
Was she becoming a villain? Liliana shook her head. That was a question for another day.
“No capes,” Yates said, looking Liliana right in the eyes. “They look stupid and aren’t practical. Only for show.”
“Oh,” Liliana replied. She felt like she was being told off by her old schoolteacher.
“If I have time, I can see about adding a little flare if it’s really important to you. But no capes.”
“Okay. Thank you for all of this, Yates.”
Chapter 15
Liliana kept the self-torture going and switched the TV on, only to see her own face staring back at her again. They were still running the ambush of an interview she had been through a couple days before. She hated being at the centre of attention like this. What she needed to do was defer the focus off her, even if it put it back on Max. She couldn’t carry on with the mission with all eyes on her.
&
nbsp; As she sat on the sofa, trying to make a plan, she noticed her laptop resting on the coffee table at her side. Ideas sprang forward. If she needed to separate herself from Max, there was only one place to start, only one place the idiots in the city might actually believe her. Social media. She flipped the laptop open and hit the power button. She hated what she was about to do, but needs must. She opened her various social media accounts and changed her profile, showing herself to be single. She removed Max from all mention on her accounts.
Her heart raced as her accounts asked her if she was sure of the changes she was making, showing her Max’s profile picture. As if she needed reminding of their date night from a few months before. Max managed to get a half-decent photo of them both as she sat on a balcony overlooking the city. She clicked to confirm the changes as her heart broke once more.
“If you want to make it one hundred percent clear you’ve broken off with Mr Victor, you could make it look like his betrayal turned you off of men altogether,” Yates said from behind Liliana.
“You really need to stop creeping up on me like that,” Liliana said, almost jumping out of her skin at Yates’s voice.
“My apologies. I don’t do it on purpose,” Yates replied.
“But you have a good point,” Liliana went back into her profile settings and changed her interests from men and women to just women. “Do you have any other suggestions?”
“I think it might be best if you made it look like you were going along with your normal routine,” Yates replied, sitting on the chair across from Liliana.
“I can’t really do that after getting fired,” Liliana pointed out dryly.
“Of course. But you could start looking for a new job, you could go out to eat, meet up with your friends. Even Rose,” Yates suggested.
“A fruitless endeavour. I’m sure no one will want to hire me at the moment,” Liliana said. “But it would be good for appearance’s sake, I suppose.”
Resigned to her new course of action, she opened a document on her laptop that she hadn’t had to use for some time. Her CV.
“Better freshen up my CV, then.”
“I’ll make coffee,” Yates said, walking towards the kitchen.
“You’re amazing, Yates,” Liliana called after them.
*
The next morning, Liliana drove into town. Yates had lent her the compact car they used for city life. Liliana made a point of returning to her flat, if only to clear it out. While she wanted to fool the press into thinking she had given Max up, she didn’t like the idea of them knowing where she lived. Her plan was to make it look like she had got herself a new place to live, away from prying eyes, but she was just going to be staying at the base until they got Max back.
She glimpsed a half-dozen reporters and cameras waiting outside her building as she passed them to get to the building’s parking lot.
“Here we go,” she groaned to herself, grabbing her bag as she braced herself to power walk through the press.
“Liliana!”
“Ms Masters, have you heard from your boyfriend?”
“Why did you change your relationship status?”
“Have you turned gay?”
The reporters shouted over each other as she tried to get to her front door and leave them behind. The flash of the cameras almost blinded her as she fumbled with her keys. She managed to slot the key in as she told the press to leave her alone. She quickly slammed the door behind her, stopping anyone from forcing their way in behind her. She thanked whatever god was listening for the heavily tinted windows on the building’s front doors. The press couldn’t see her flushed face and tearful eyes. Being on this side of the news wasn’t anywhere near as fun as being the reporter. She suddenly found herself grateful that she harassed no one like that. At least she didn’t think she had been that kind of reporter. She hoped she hadn’t.
She dragged her feet towards the three flights of steps facing her. Someone had broken the elevator about a week after she moved in. It never seemed to get fixed for more than a couple of hours. It was good for exercise, though. The night before, Liliana arranged for movers to come pack up her apartment and put it all in a storage container she had rented. She just wanted to grab the essentials before heading out to show her face in public, conveniently, in front of cameras.
She unlocked her apartment door in a much less rushed manner, only to see someone sat on her sofa.
“What is it with people being in my home without me? First the police, now you,” Liliana complained half-heartedly.
“Sorry, but I knew you would come back here at some point and I wanted to see you,” Rose apologised, standing up to hug Liliana.
It felt good to hug Rose again. A small amount of normalcy in the weird world that was her life now.
“It’s good to see you, Rose.” Liliana gave her a squeeze before stepping back to drop her bag on the coffee table.
“How are you doing?” Rose asked, a concerned look crossing her face.
“As well as can be considered,” Liliana replied conservatively. Rose was her best friend and Liliana wanted to tell her everything, but she also wanted to keep her out of trouble. Rose had come out of the scandal relatively unscathed. Who was Liliana to drag her down with her?
“I saw what you did last night. Your relationship status,” Rose said. It was obvious that she wanted to ask questions about it. She was inquisitive, yet never wanted to cross a boundary. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Rose. I’ve just been thinking about it all.” Liliana wanted to avoid lying outright to Rose if she could help it.
Rose narrowed her eyes at Liliana’s reply, wanting more information. She sat on the arm of the sofa, facing her. Liliana just noticed how tense Rose was. Her shoulders were tight, raised slightly. Her jaw clenched, grinding her teeth.
“Are you okay, Rose?” Liliana moved forward to rest her hand on Rose’s tense shoulders. A glint out of the window distracted her momentarily. The sun bounced off of something familiar.
It all clicked together. At the same moment, Liliana’s jaw dropped slightly, and Rose shook her head slowly. She was being watched by more than just the press. Sentinel was outside. Liliana panicked internally. She was nowhere near ready for a confrontation; she didn’t have any weapons on her. No gear.
“I’m fine, Lils. Just a lot on my plate.” Rose brought her attention back to the present, not the potential future. Neither of them could be honest with each other. Sentinel could hear them if he focused hard enough. Was he watching Liliana? Rose? Both of them? They couldn’t be sure.
“Okay. Let me know if there is anything I can do,” Liliana said, hoping Rose caught her double meaning.
“I will. You have enough going on yourself. Job hunting, giving up men altogether. Busy week,” Rose tried to joke, making Liliana crack a small smile. Rose was getting her sarcasm back, bit by bit.
“Know of any jobs for me?” Liliana asked, trying to keep the tone light. She grabbed a suitcase from her hallway cupboard and packed some clothes, books, and pictures.
“Well, you could always apply for your old job. It would put a funny look on Tanya’s face,” Rose chuckled. Liliana just raised her eyebrow in response.
“Maybe once things have settled down, it’ll be easier,” Liliana replied.
“For the job or for your love life?” Rose asked.
“Both,” Liliana laughed at herself.
For a moment there, it almost felt like they were back to normal.
“Do you want to get a drink?” Liliana asked.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Rose sighed. They both grabbed their bags and Liliana’s suitcase, and headed back out of the apartment.
“Vinnie’s sound okay to you?” Liliana asked as they walked down the stairs.
“That’s on the other side of town. You sure you want to go that far?” Rose replied.
“It’s not one of our normal spots so the cameras shouldn’t follow us there,” Liliana explain
ed. “I have a car downstairs so it shouldn’t take us too long to get there.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Rose replied.
Rose was much less afraid to get rough with the press if needed. She barged her way through the group of cameras and pulled Liliana through behind her. It didn’t take long to get past them and into the parking lot.
“Nice car. Where did you get it?” Rose asked as Liliana loaded the suitcase into the boot of the car.
“Thanks, it’s just a rental.” That wasn’t a complete lie. She was borrowing it from Yates, she just wasn’t paying for it.
They sat in slightly awkward silence as they travelled across town. Occasionally, they drove past a screen showing the news, showing photos from outside her apartment building. They would not leave her alone. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to get a good photo of her car, so they couldn’t track where she was going. They pulled up outside Vinnie’s in time to see the closest screen switch over to a recorded montage of Sentinel working in the city, lifting concrete and talking to citizens. Liliana would not watch, but she saw a familiar flash of red hair show up on the screen.
“Rose. I didn’t know you spoke to Sentinel,” Liliana said. Rose was immediately put on edge once again.
“Yeah. He was helping the builders working on our office building when I left work the other day.” She fidgeted, rubbing her hands around and around. “He just started talking to me. Wanted to know about you.” Rose’s eyes darted around as she spoke, looking towards the sky. She made Liliana wonder if Sentinel was still watching. Close enough to hear every word they spoke, but far enough so they couldn’t see him. Powers work to his benefit, and to their cost.
“Should we go inside? Get some drinks?” Liliana opened the bar door and followed Rose in.
A wall of thunderous noise hit them as soon as they pulled the inside door open. The latest hits blared out of a dozen speakers placed strategically around the bar.
Liliana shouted over the din to Rose, telling her to find them a table while she grabbed them some drinks. She watched Rose disappear into the crowd as she fought her way to the bar.
Twisted Page 9