“So does this mean I’m lucky enough to be your boyfriend?” he asks grinning at me.
I smile up at him, “Yeah, it does,” I cuddle up to him, feeling extremely happy that I’m officially his girlfriend. He holds me close and we stay in each other’s arms for a while.
“I’m so happy I met you, Star,” he tells me. “It’s hard having relationships with all the freedom fighter stuff goin’ on, but I really think it’ll be different with me and you ‘cause we’re both freedom fighters.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun when I’m fully trained and we can work together.”
“My bro doesn’t think so,” he admits. “He wasn’t really happy about it when we started going on dates…”
“Doesn’t he like me?” I ask, feeling hurt because I thought of him as one of my friends, even though he will one day be my sort of boss.
“‘Course he likes you, who wouldn’t? He was just annoyed with me, thinkin’ I’d distract you while you were trainin’. He just wants you to do well so I guess he wanted me to stay out of the picture.”
“But that doesn’t mean I won’t work hard,” I say. “Being a freedom fighter is really important to me.”
“I know, but he just thinks if we start workin’ together things might get awkward and we really need to concentrate if we’re on a mission. I don’t think it’ll affect you, I think you’ll be a great freedom fighter when you’ve finished trainin’.”
“I hope so. Maybe we can go on some of your missions together soon?”
Rickie grins, “Definitely, it’ll make it way more fun,” and then he starts kissing me again.
“I really hope things work out for us, Star,” he says a while later. “I really like you and I can’t let anythin’ stop us from being together.”
“Me neither,” I agree.
“I’ve never seen you around before we met at the base. Did y’ live somewhere in the city?” he asks.
“I lived at the sanctuary, I was taken there when I was a baby,” I answer, feeling myself missing it again as I remember the past.
“So are you trying to track down your parents now you’re back?”
“I wanted to for years, but I can’t. They were caught and executed the day I went to the sanctuary,” my eyes start to water and all I want to do is cry instead of being so strong. Being around a place where we had once lived together only seems to make it hurt more.
“I’m really sorry,” he sounds sympathetic and hugs me.
I rest my head on his chest and cry for a while, feeling the tears escape and sadness wash over me, “I miss them so much.”
Rickie holds me close while I cry, “I know it must be hard loosin’ both your parents, especially knowin’ what happened; but you can get through it, I know you can.”
I wipe my eyes, “thanks.”
“When did you find out?”
“They told me when I was thirteen, I’d been dreaming of meeting them again one day until then,” I admit, feeling like I could tell him everything that I’d kept bottled up for years. “I just feel so alone Rickie, its hard growing up without a family.”
“It’s okay,” he reassures me. “I know you might not have your parents, but all the other freedom fighters are a sort of family to you now; and I’ll always be here to look after you.”
I snuggle into his chest, feeling happy, safe and loved. “Thanks Rickie, that means a lot to me.”
“It’s no probs,” he strokes my hair affectionately and I feel more relaxed.
“What about you?” I ask, feeling curious. “Did you grow up as a freedom fighter?”
Rickie laughs a little, “I wish. Me and my bro ran away from home when I was fourteen to become freedom fighters.”
I look up at him in surprise, feeling sad, “Won’t your parents miss you?”
He shrugs, “my stepdad won’t, he used to hate me and Carl and we hated him ‘cause he worked for Snider……maybe my Mum missed us but like that matters.”
“But it does, she’d be worried,” I insist. “Couldn’t you at least tell her where you are so she knows you’re okay?”
He sighs, “I can’t Star; if our stepdad finds out where we are he’ll tell the location to Snider.”
“Maybe your mother won’t, she wouldn’t want to get you and Carl arrested.”
“Trust me, there’s no way she’d stand up to my stepdad,” he answers, sounding annoyed. “That’s the reason we ran away. He was trying to get us to work for Snider like him; we obviously didn’t want to and we tried to tell our Mum that, but she didn’t dare stop my stepdad and would have let him force us to, so we had to run away.”
“That’s awful,” I say, feeling sorry for him. It must have been horrible having to choose between his family and being a freedom fighter. “I bet you miss her though.”
“Not really, if she won’t stand up for her own kids then what’s the point missing her,” he says, but I can see in his eyes he does miss her deep down, even though he refuses to feel or believe it.
I start to feel kind of sorry for Rickie’s Mum. It must be harsh knowing her children chose to run away and never see her again, and from the sounds of things it seemed as if she was being bullied into the choices that were made.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” I apologise, starting to feel guilty for feeling sympathetic for someone who had obviously hurt Rickie and Carl in the past.
“It’s ‘kay, I don’t mind.”
“So you and Carl have been freedom fighters ever since?”
“Yeah, it’s been so cool finally being able to have our own opinions and doing what we really wanna do.”
“When did Carl become leader?”
“Last year, I know he’s pretty young for it but our previous leader was executed and we needed a new one. Everyone voted for Carl to take over that role and he chose me to help him out.”
“I bet it’s hard having so much responsibility,” I say, thinking about it.
“Yeah it is for Carl I guess, but it’s kinda borin’ for me. I like bein’ out where all the action is, making a real difference; not telling everyone what to do and going to heaps of boring meetings. At least I only have to help him out, I’d hate doing it all the time, but my bro likes it.”
After spending a few hours at the club, Rickie takes us back home.
I’m walking on air as Rickie walks me back to my flat and we share a goodnight kiss outside my doorway. I feel sad and lost as I watch him walk away to his own flat, but my heart is still filled with love at thinking that we’re finally in a relationship.
I start to daydream about him until I see Sarah coming over to my flat and crash back to reality.
“Where were you?” she asks. “I was so worried when I couldn’t find you; I thought you’d been arrested by the police who raided the bar.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologise. “I was with Rickie…I know I should have phoned you.” I feel ashamed; obviously my mind had been so busy thinking of Rickie that I had completely forgotten to check whether my best friend was safe.
“Well at least you’re okay.”
“Where did you go after the club was raided?”
“I did a runner back to here,” she answers. “Wasn’t it scary? I’m so glad the police didn’t chase after me.”
“Lucky for you they were too busy following me and Rickie,” I say and I can’t help but smile.
“They really chased you?” Sarah’s eyes are wide with shock. “Star, you could have been arrested!”
“I know, but we didn’t. Rickie managed to lose them and we got away.” I tell her everything about tonight and she looks impressed, despite being worried about how dangerous it had been.
“So where did you and Rickie go later?” she asks grinning. “You were away ages.”
I blush, “we decided to go on our second date.” I tell her about the rest of the night, feeling really excited all over again, and she grins and gives me a hug.
“I’m so happy you two are together n
ow,” she says. “I knew you would be one day.”
“Let’s just hope Carl doesn’t mind too much,” I say, feeling a little nervous. I don’t want us to fall out and I hope he will eventually accept that his brother and I are together and that we can make this work.
“Why would he mind?” Sarah asks.
I sigh, “Rickie said Carl wasn’t exactly happy about it when we were going on dates. He thinks I should concentrate on training rather than other things.”
“Well it’s too late for that,” she jokes. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine about it, just give him time.”
Chapter 9
The last few weeks of freedom fighter training pass so quickly it’s hard to believe that I arrived here one and half months ago. It’s been a hard week of practicing and Rickie even helped me out with computer hacking for a few nights and finally I managed to do it right.
Today we finish our final lesson, so from tomorrow we can finally start working as freedom fighters.
“Now that you’ve all been trained you can have freedom fighter equipment,” Bryan announces and gives us each a black rucksack, containing a bullet proof jacket, a sleeping dart gun and a small navigation system.
“You’ll also need this,” I look at the small device he has given to me.
“What does it do?” asks Sarah, examining hers.
“It’s an emergency tracker,” he explains. “If you’re in danger or caught you press the red button on the device. It will immediately send a signal here and we’ll be able to track your location and come and help you. It also records your movement so we know where you are at all times during a mission.”
“Cool,” I say and put it in my bag. I can’t wait to try them all out.
We all leave the hall, feeling excited to start some real work tomorrow.
“Bryan’s offered to give me lessons on flying a helicopter so I can become a pilot,” Sarah tells me. “I’ve always wanted to learn that.”
“That’s great,” I say, feeling happy for her. “I’m going to carry on doing self-defence classes.”
Bryan has signed me up with a martial arts instructor and freedom fighter called Mick, who will be able to teach me some advanced stuff.
Rickie is waiting for me outside and grins when I appear.
“Hey, how was your last day of training?” he asks.
I smile, “It was good, I can’t wait to start tomorrow.”
He pulls me close and gives me a kiss. “Maybe we can celebrate? How about a pizza and movie at my place?”
“Okay,” I reply.
“My bro is out so we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
I hear Sarah giggle at this and I blush. Rickie grins, not looking embarrassed at all.
“Come on, let’s go,” he takes my hand and leads me away.
“I’ll see you later, Sarah,” I say, remembering we have agreed to go out later tonight to celebrate.
“Okay, have fun Star,” she calls after me.
We reach Rickie’s and Carl’s flat and after he’s unlocked the door, I follow him and look around, since it’s the first time I’ve been inside.
“Your flat looks really cool,” I comment.
“Yeah, it is I guess,” he falls back onto the sofa, takes my hand and pulls me down next to him.
I fall onto the sofa and giggle, snuggling up to him. He puts his arms around me and looks into my eyes. Suddenly I’ve forgot all about ordering a pizza or watching a movie and I think Rickie has too.
He runs his fingers through my hair and kisses my lips. I kiss him back and put my arms around his neck.
We lay on the sofa kissing and cuddling for a long time until we hear the door unlock and open. Rickie jumps away from me startled and looks over to see Carl standing at the doorway, looking over at us.
“Hey bro,” Rickie greets him and smiles.
“Hey,” Carl says and looks over at me. “Hi Star.”
I smile at him and feel myself blush with embarrassment. The last thing I wanted was for my new leader to arrive home and find me kissing his brother on the sofa.
Carl walks by and goes into his bedroom without saying anything else to us; I’m not sure whether he’s annoyed or just embarrassed.
Rickie grins at me, “busted,” he says quietly.
“It’s not funny,” I say, although seeing Rickie’s grin makes me smile too.
“Don’t worry, he won’t mind. He knows me and you are together.”
I lay in Rickie’s arms, feeling happy and warm as we snuggle up again. Rickie holds me close and strokes my hair again, but we don’t try and kiss just in case Carl walks in on us again.
“I’ll phone and order the pizza and you can pick the movie,” he says.
“Deal,” I grin and start to flick through the movie channel, trying to find a good action film for us to watch.
Chapter 10
The next day I decide to go and talk to Carl. Although he knows about me and his brother being in a relationship, especially after he caught me and Rickie kissing on their sofa yesterday, I still think we should clear the air about it.
I still feel troubled by what Rickie had said about Carl not being happy about us being together. I don’t want things to get awkward between us so I think it would be better to talk it through and make him see that I could concentrate and work well as a freedom fighter, whether Rickie was my boyfriend or not.
I approach his office, feeling more nervous now I’m here.
“Hi Carl,” I say as I see him working at his desk.
He looks up at me, “hi Star, what’s up?”
I suddenly feel shy, not knowing what to say, “Carl, you don’t mind about me and Rickie being together, do you?”
He looks a little embarrassed, “I suppose not, if you’re both happy then there’s no problem.”
“Okay,” I say and feel better now that I know he doesn’t disapprove as much. “I promise not to let it get in the way of work, being a freedom fighter means a lot to me and I’ll work really hard at it.”
“That’s good,” he replies and looks relieved at my reassurance. “There’s a meeting at ten, make sure you’re there, okay?”
I nod in answer.
“And Star, I’m happy you got through training, Bryan says you did really well. I would have congratulated you yesterday but you were pretty busy,” he grins and I can tell he’s teasing me about the kissing session.
I smile back, “thanks.”
At ten o’clock I attend my first freedom fighter meeting. Everyone gathers in the conference room and I sit in the chair beside Rickie. Bryan is stood at the front facing us all, and once everyone has arrived he begins, “I’ve got bad news guys. Our spies tell us that Lord Snider is creating some microchips that will be used as tracking devices. He’s planning to attach them to children so that if they are taken to the sanctuary he will be able to know its location.”
“That’s horrible,” says Sarah beside me. I nod in agreement. Having innocent children captured by Lord Snider would be a disaster.
“So we’re not allowed to take any kids there?” asks Rickie. He looks pretty sad and I start to feel it too. Children would be in danger if they had to stay in Twilight City with no safe place to hide.
“I’m afraid we do have to put a hold on delivering children there,” Bryan tells us sadly. “We can’t risk the other children’s safety, but what we can do is try to prevent the microchips being planted so we can eventually take children there again.”
“But we’ve got to act fast,” Carl tells us seriously. “These microchips could also be used to track freedom fighters, so all of us could be in danger. Our best shot is to destroy the factory that makes them.”
Bryan shows us a map on the projector board of each factory located.
“We still have to make sure no one has been micro chipped so far just in case any of our locations have been discovered,” Bryan tells us, looking worried.
Sarah looks really anxious, “
Do you think the children who were taken to the sanctuary yesterday might be micro chipped?”
“There’s a chance,” answers Bryan. “I’ve already designed this,” he holds up a small device. “It’s a microchip scanner, if anyone has a microchip attached to them, this will detect it. You can use it to check the children at the sanctuary.”
“Okay, we need volunteers for people who are going to the sanctuary,” Carl says, getting us all organized for the plan. “The rest of us will have to check around the city for anyone who could be micro chipped and warn people on what’s happening.”
“Come on Star, let’s go to the sanctuary,” Sarah begs me. “I’d love to see what it’s like.”
“Okay,” I agree, because I would love to be there again, it was a place I still remember as home after all.
“Put your hands up if you fancy a trip to the sanctuary,” Carl instructs us.
Rickie, Sarah and I raise our hands, along with five other freedom fighters.
Carl quickly jots down our names, “Sorry Rickie, you need to come with me. We have other business to attend to.”
Rickie looks disappointed.
“I’ll get some transport as soon as I can and let you know,” Carl tells us. “The rest of you need to go with Bryan, we’ll each cover an area of the city.”
Everyone quickly goes into action and I give Rickie a hug, “I’m sorry you can’t come with us.”
“S’ok,” he shrugs. “I guess I’ll see ya later.”
Chapter 11
We drive to the sanctuary in a minibus and an hour later we arrive and I get that warm feeling of returning home as soon as I see the gates.
The volunteers let us inside and I smile as I look around at all the familiar sights. All the kids are outside in the sunshine, having fun on the playground or running around in the woods playing hide and seek.
It feels weird being here again, thinking of the past and feeling sad that it’s no longer my home.
There are a few volunteers outside supervising and they all look happy to see me, giving me hugs and asking how I am. I feel tears in my eyes and wonder why I ever felt so alone inside in the past if I had such kind people taking care of me.
One of the volunteers rings the lunch bell and all the kids run over to the picnic area to eat sandwiches and crisps.
“It must have been so cool living here,” sighs Sarah, gazing at all the cute little children eating together. “Aren’t they all so sweet?”
Freedom Fighters: Twilight City (Book 1) Page 4