Liberty hummed to herself as she unhooked the grappling hook from the edge of the roof and hit the button to have the line retract back into the body of the grappling gun. With a smirk, she continued across the roof, leaving behind the raised voices she could hear down in the alley. She paused at the other edge, then dropped down into the interior courtyard, flipping on her way down and landing on one knee with her fist hitting the ground in her trademark 'super hero landing' she used when returning to HQ.
Brushing herself off as she stood up, she glanced around the courtyard riding the high that came from a successful mission. She still felt the sense of pride she had when she had first toured it after the renovations. What was once a lackluster garden was now a fully equipped training yard, with weapons racks, practice dummies, and sparring circles. Someone was always here honing their skills at any time of day, and now was no exception. However, it didn't resemble what most others would recognize as 'traditional' training. While a couple of men were scattered here and there, most of the participants were women.
Liberty watched with satisfaction as, in the training ring closest to her, a girl in full skirts that had been restrained from behind by a man twice her size in the Screaming Eagles uniform, hooked her foot around his calf and pulled while jabbing back sharply with her elbow, throwing him off balance and ultimately sending him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Then with a flick of her wrist, a thin blade slid out from under he sleeve. She pounced on the man lying on the ground and held the blade to his throat.
She smiled and tipped her head in acknowledgment when the girl glanced her way and winked at her. She put extra emphasis on expressing her approval with her eyes, as she still wasn’t sure if people could tell she was smiling under the mask covering the lower half of her face.
"I almost had you that time, Ruby," the man said with a chuckle when she offered her hand and helped him up, tucking her weapon away. "Welcome back, Lady Liberty. Cap'n was looking for you a little bit ago. Something about a meeting in the Hall." He nodded respectfully at her and then turned back to his sparring partner after delivering his message. "One more time?"
Lady Liberty. Who knew that her real name would become her code name? Melisande had been the first one to point out her need for anonymity in the early days. It had become obvious to them all, practically from the first day that 'Serena' had no intention of sitting back and acting administratively over this enterprise she had started.
The day the renovations were finished, the first thing she did after they completed a tour of the completed building was to jump into impromptu hand-to-hand drills with one of the dummies in the new training yard. Breaking it in, she had called it. They had all frankly been shocked at her fighting style's fierce efficiency and her obvious skill. Only Erica had calmly watched.
As Serena's personal maid, she had watched as her mistress spent hours a day exercising and building up stamina while she had been confined to her room ‘recovering’. She also had to help her lady tend to the wounds she had incurred when she had insisted on training with the Blanc guards to sharpen her hand-to-hand skills. The young lady hadn't been able to talk them into showing her more than rudimentary swordplay, though, so she was still very rough with an actual sword. However, she did excel with knives to everyone's shock. When she then challenged Dame Gwendolyn to spar without fear, they knew she would not be sitting on the sidelines in a drawing room or office.
For her part, Gwendolyn had barely eked out a victory, and she knew that had only been a matter of superior stamina and familiarity with the weaponry. Serena had come at her with the sword as if she were beating her with a club, and the swift and brutal strikes would have done some damage if she hadn't had so much practice at parrying and riposte.
To outsiders, the girl seemed so meek and mild that she almost embodied the role of a quiet lady. Only when speaking to her confidants had she shown her passion and fire, and that was what had drawn them like moths to her flame.
She had a vision and drive that made you want to achieve things with her. She made what seemed impossible feel like it was possible if they just worked together. It was the true power of a leader, and Gwendolyn had respected her for it, beyond the hand she had extended to her and Winnie. However, with the revelation that she could also hold her own in Gwendolyn's sphere, her respect for the girl had risen even further, and she felt that she had found some real common ground with the young lady. So she had taken her under her wing.
With her displays of skill and with Gwendolyn now stepping forward to train her further, none of them could object to her actively participating in their operations. Which led to Melisande mentioning that she might need an alias. She would still be operating in high society, and with her parents able to confine her if they chose, it was best that her reputation as a quiet and kind girl be maintained. She had the idea to use her real name as her alter ego, and thus Lady Liberty was born. Who knew her real identity would become her alter ego?
By now, she should have fully assimilated into Serena's life and become an equal mixture of herself and the young lady, but inside, she still distinctly felt like herself with just a little bit of Serena mixed in for spice. While she answered to the name Serena, it was Liberty who was doing the answering.
Her ‘family’ seemed to adjust to this new version of their daughter a bit easier than she would have expected. They actually seemed relieved that she was changing into a more assertive lady. Now that she had proven that she was not a danger to herself, they gave her a free hand and access to whatever resources she wanted. While she couldn't say that she loved them the way she did her OG family back home, she was certainly fond of them. They were good people who loved their daughter. Of course, her brother hadn't returned from the estate yet, so that might cause a bit of a problem if he wasn't as welcoming, but that was a problem for some day.
Chuckling to herself, Liberty headed across the yard, weaving past a few more sparring pairs and past a row of training dummies where women were practicing hand-to-hand combat, some in full gowns and dresses, others dressed like her in tight-fitted trousers with corsets and fitted blouses. She was proud that the women in skirts were just as quick with their movements as the others. If this world was going to force them to dress in pounds of fabric, they would learn to protect themselves despite the layers.
And a full skirt could hide a variety of handy weapons, Liberty snarked to herself as she watched one of the women pull a metal rod out of a cleverly concealed slit in her skirts and flicked her arm out to extend it to its full length before using it to continue attacking the dummy.
She would always be grateful to Melisande for introducing her to so many useful team members. A boutique owner and designer who wanted to broaden their horizons, the underappreciated daughter of a family that specialized in chemical manufacturing, and a blacksmith who was feeling left behind by the alchemical boom that was taking the Empire by storm. Even the brilliant young physician who was being ostracized from the medical community for daring to *grasps pearls dramatically* treat the poor!
All of these had caught Melisande's discerning eye and been brought into the fold. Their skills, mixed with Winnifred's genius and Liberty's knowledge of modern advancements, had already paid off in so many ways. The guild marketed the inventions that they were willing to let the world know about and made a tidy profit from them. Things like the baton, her grappling gun, and the mechanism that Ruby had used for her blade, as well as a few other ‘special projects’, were for their private and exclusive use.
When she thought of it, she was kind of like this world's Bruce Wayne now. She was a rich heiress who had an alter ego that went out on missions, a genius who made her all the gadgets she could wish for, and a secret base to launch her plans from.
Maybe I should ditch the cloak and ask Winnie to make me a cowl. Though that would probably be a hassle with this hair…
"So the prodigal daughter has finally found her way home." The voice drew her out of her thoughts as she arrived at the line of bushes that grew tall on the far side of the courtyard. Gwendolyn unfolded herself from the shadows next to the door hidden behind the bushes. She shook her head at her and sighed lightly. "I thought you were specifically not supposed to go after that mark during the day?" Liberty opened the door and smiled at the woman before bowing and gesturing for her to enter.
"He was going to put the formula into production tomorrow and was intending to drop it off at his mistress’s home tonight for her to pass it on. We already know what he gets up to when he's there, and I did not want to witness that live." She shuddered as she entered and closed the door behind herself, then glanced around the small closet full of gardening tools.
She pulled on the rake hanging next to the door to engage the mechanism and watched the wall of shelves in front of them slide to the side before continuing down the winding stairs that were revealed.
Yup, definitely Batman. Could Erica count as my Alfred? Maybe I could finally get her to let go of the pinafore and switch to a tailcoat. That would look pretty sharp....
"I was doing some recon on his place when he decided to go out shopping for a gift for the poor woman and left the documents in his carriage. He went to a third-rate jeweler, by the way. Cheap custard. For what he puts her through, that girl deserves way more. He spent forever in there, probably arguing for a discount. Left his carriage, with the documents tucked in his basic stitch hidden compartment under the seat, with only two guards. It was like he was begging for me to steal them. How could I resist?" She smirked and pulled back her hood, letting it drop and removing her mask.The stairs led to a short hallway that ended in a large set of heavy double doors. Liberty tapped out a cursory knock on the doors, then flung them open with a flourish. "Honey- I'm ho-ome!" She chorused loudly, causing some of the figures seated around the table in the center of the room to jump slightly in surprise and others to chuckle indulgently.
The room itself was large, almost half the size of the building above it. The walls were all lined on the upper half with corkwood and dark wood paneling on the lower portion. Maps, schematics, and sketches of notable people. All of them were pinned up on different panels. There were even strings of different colors connecting some of them. The room was dominated by a large, round table ringed with high-backed chairs. All but four of the seats were currently occupied. Gwendolyn headed around to her place at the table as Liberty paused on the way to hers to drop a bundle of papers in front of Winnifred.
"Got your baby back, Winnie. Your Uncle won't be turning your formula into your cousin's cash cow." She whispered to the woman and patted her on the shoulder before dropping into her seat. "Oh, and took the new corset design out for a spin. Worked like a charm!" She unhooked her cloak and dropped it behind her completely, leaning to the side to better show the woman a slash in the corset that hugged her waist. "Took a dagger straight to the abdomen, and it didn't even get past the second layer!" She said excitedly while the other woman pushed up her glasses and bent over in her seat to inspect the small tear in the fabric. "Full force from a trained guard, though I will say they weren't as good as ours. I think we've almost perfected the strengthening of the fabric. Just a little fine-tuning left. We should work on expanding the colors, too. I know you had some problem finding blue dies that were compatible with the chemical treatment...." She trailed off after noticing how quiet the rest of the room had gotten while the other woman nodded along with her.
"I thought this was going to be a quiet nighttime grab, not a daring dash that got you stabbed and brought guards to our door." Samuel entered the room through the smaller door on the opposite side of the room and slid into his seat. Liberty winced at the sarcasm in his tone and straightened, squirming in her seat a little under his sardonic gaze.
"I just had a charming discussion with the City Guards, wherein I had to deny them entry and access to search our premises for, and I quote, 'a cloaked fugitive that stole an item of importance from a nobleman'. Our lack of cooperation was not appreciated, and it took me longer than I liked to finally get them to use logic. Grasping the reality that if they couldn't tell me how the miscreant could have entered our building, they had no grounds to search it seemed to be beyond them. Luckily, threatening to hold them financially responsible for any leaks of our upcoming products or private business information was finally able to make them see sense and take their searches elsewhere.” He removed his silver rimmed spectacles, took out a small white cloth, and proceeded to absentmindedly clean the lenses. “Though Sir Robert Tallow did look almost apoplectic. I do wish you could have seen his face, Winnifred. It was rather gratifying." He sighed, but the corners of his mouth had lifted into a small smile as he glanced at Winnifred.
"I am sorry about that, Sammy- but was that any reason to call a meeting of the League?" The mention of the ridiculous nickname that Serena insisted on calling their group caused a series of groans from the members spread out around the table. When they had first come together and started to hold these meetings, she hadn't wanted to pass up the chance and declared that they needed a name for their group. There had been significant pushback.
"Come on! It's a great name. It will help people to recognize us and not treat us like just some street gang. Who wouldn't love the Justice League?" She couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. If only they knew who she was referencing. Liberty figured that if she was going to get a secret identity and access to gadgets like Batman, why couldn't she complete the fantasy?
But which one would be Aquaman… She pondered.
"At this point, having another discussion about your whimsical naming preference may be a bit moot, Liberty." Samuel rapped his knuckles on the tabletop to draw back her wandering attention. "You'll never guess who paid our offices a visit today."
Comments (0)
See all