Training

The girls sit in silence, reeling a little from the mountain of a lecture they were just given. Play-by-play, Tiffany and Hyo broke down each of their decisions and analysed the ensuing fight. What could they have done instead? What were the alternatives? How could they have leveraged on the situation? The questions piled up and solutions were given, stated like simple truths.

For the first time, Taeyeon wonders if they might actually die in this operation. After all, the mind reading chip is likely to be heavily guarded—a circumstance vastly different from their previous thefts. Stealing Lord Liveyrev’s Blue Sapphire had been a breeze—a simple matter of disarming the security cameras, looping the footage so the sentinels would be none the wiser. Slipping past the sentinels through the vents with direct access into the vault room. Taking the fastest exit down the wall in shadows. Taeyeon had thought they were pretty good at what they do, but this morning’s experience has proven that to be naught.

“Each of you will be trained individually by us. We will focus on what you need to work on the most. Results will be speedy,” says Tiffany. As if on cue, the door opens and the agents enter, walking to the front to face them in a straight row. “Time is of the essence. You need to get good. Fast. Let’s go.”

—

This is not Taeyeon’s idea of a good way to spend her morning and afternoon but Tiffany is a slave driver and she is not in a position to protest. After a torturous bout of stretching like a monkey to improve her agility had almost killed her legs, she is now almost dying in the sparring practice with Tiffany. And upon narrowly dodging a blow straight to her face, Taeyeon raises her hands to plead for a break.

Tiffany stands before her, her breathing only slightly heavier than before, and shakes her head. “You’re not fit enough. You gotta toughen up.”

“I never planned on becoming a secret agent,” Taeyeon grumbles, hunched with her hands on her knees. “I’m just a bored girl who takes things from people who don’t need them.”

“Too bad, paper girl. You girls got caught. And the only thing keeping you out of jail is this operation we need you for.” She taps on Taeyeon’s head. “Be tough. Get up.”

“Just give me a break. Five minutes. Please?”

“Two. Starting now.”

Taeyeon collapses on the floor, lying flat on her back with her eyes closed. She breathes slowly, trying desperately to catch her breath.

Tiffany sits too, folding her legs casually. “Actually you don’t fight too bad for a rich paper girl. Your Krav Maga lessons are really paying off for you.”

“How—oh, never mind. You guys really know everything. I’ll bet you guys even know about our childhood crushes.”

Tiffany laughs. “Maybe.”

Taeyeon opens her eyes to stare at the agent. “Do you?”

“No. But we know about your history with girls.”

“Does it bother you?”

Tiffany raises a brow. “Why would it?”

Taeyeon shrugs. “It bothers some people.”

“I’m not some people.”

“That’s cool.”

Tiffany grins. “You won’t be saying the same thing once I’m through with you.” After a glance at her watch, the agent kicks Taeyeon’s foot. “Time’s up. Get up.”

Taeyeon groans. “I swear it hasn’t been two minutes.”

“Two minutes in our world translates to one and a half in the real world. We do everything faster. In and out. Before the time is up.” She kick’s Taeyeon’s foot again. “Up. Before I yank you up myself.”

Rolling onto her knees, Taeyeon pushes herself up from the ground. “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Put your leg over the bar.”

“Why—”

Tiffany cuts her off, wasting no time in grabbing her leg and tossing it over the metal bar running across the wall about a metre off the ground. “Keep your legs straight.”

Taeyeon cries out in pain. “I can’t.”

Tiffany slaps Taeyeon’s . “You can. Just do it.”

—

“Te ves hermoso.”

“Te ves hermoso,” Yoona and Summer repeat in unison.

“Eres muy bella.”

For the past four hours, Yoona and Summer have been seated in the little lecture room, filling their brains with elementary Spanish.

“Tengo un pequeño problema con mi coche.”

“Tengo un pequeño problema con mi coche,” they repeat.

Seo nods. “Good. Now, let’s run through the basics of sentence structure.”

Yoona finds herself raising her hand to ask a question. It’s been a long time since she’s done that. “Why are we learning Spanish?”

Seo smiles. “We have observed that the two of you possess an affinity with linguistics. Therefore, it is only natural that the two of you will be nominated to be our Spanish ambassadors.”

“Spanish ambassadors?” Yoona queries. “What does that mean?”

“We need you to get the mind reading chip but we don’t know where it is or how to get it. You will get the information for us.”

“What does this have to do with learning Spanish?”

“Only three men in Psalemgio’s Elgoog have the necessary information and they happen to be Spanish.”

Yoona scoffs. “They’re not gonna give us the information just because we speak Spanish.”

“Oh, they will,” Seo replies with a knowing smile that has Yoona exchanging looks with Summer. “We’ll start from their secretaries.”

—

Yuri grunts when her fist misses Hyo yet again. Why is this girl so hard to pin down? She crouches, bouncing from foot to foot and fakes a right. Hyo remains on the spot, not falling for her trick and it exasperates her. “How do you do it? How do you read me so well?”

Hyo simply grins. “It’s a gift.”

“That’s not helping me much.”

With a sudden lunge forward, Hyo lands a punch on Yuri’s shoulder. “Speed.” Another spin and she’s twisting Yuri’s arm behind her back. “Decisiveness.” A push has Yuri stumbling across the room to keep from falling. “Instinct.”

“How do I get faster?” Yuri asks, panting from the physical exertion.

“Be light. Carry your weight.” Hyo dances a distance away, wearing the same cheeky grin. “Try to catch me. Come on.”

Yuri makes a few lunges, only succeeding in catching air at first but begins to anticipate. The way Hyo’s foot points, the weight on her foot. Trusting her instincts, Yuri lunges but adds a step and changes her direction just in time to grab Hyo’s arm. Using the benefit of her twist, she manages to press Hyo to the ground, pinning her down by her shoulder.

“I did it!” she exclaims, thrilled to have succeeded at last.

“Good job, Yuri.” Hyo grins as she gets up. “You learn fast. Now, let’s get outside and try something else.”

—

“YAS! GO GET HER!” Sunny yells as she pops a popcorn kernel into her open mouth. “JUMP ON HER NOW!”

“GRAB HER LEG!” yells Agent Amber.

Sunny turns to the agent and grins. “This wrestling competition is enlightening. Thanks for finding it for me.”

Agent Amber grins. “No problem. I’m here to help you. Let me know if there’s any other research you want to do.”

“I will, for sure.” Sunny turns her attention back to the wrestling show on TV and yells again, right away. “DODGE IT! DODGE HER YOU SUD!”

—

“A mi juicio, la comida está deliciosa.”

“What did you say?” Taeyeon asks, blinking in confusion at Yoona.

The taller woman smiles. “In my opinion, the food is delicious.”

“What kind of language did you speak?” asks Yuri with full of stewed pork.

“Spanish. We spent most of the day learning it,” Summer replies. “Éste es el pastel más exquisito del mundo.”

“And what did you say?” Taeyeon asks.

Summer grins. “I said this is the most delicious chocolate cake ever.”

“How are the two of you fluent in Spanish after a day?”

“Oh, Seo gives us plenty of incentives to learn fast,” Yoona replies casually. Almost too casually.

“What do you mean?” Taeyeon probes.

With a grimace, Summer leans close and speaks into Taeyeon’s ear. “Her glare will turn your blood into ice if you’re not learning fast enough.”

“Her glare?”

“That and her ruthless, brutal insistence that we stay focused every second of every minute of every hour.”

Yoona leans in too and adds, “There’s just no getting out of it. She’s there breathing down your neck and all you can do is learn and learn fast.”

Taeyeon steals a look at Seo, sitting at the other end of the dinner table. She sits straight like a poised statue and eats her food in a clockwise direction. She watches as Seo delivers the food to with precision and chews. How stressful it must be to be trained by her. Fortunately, her trainer is Tiffany. That’s a relief.

Dinner is eaten and the dishes are cleared and washed by each of them. Apparently, the budget isn’t high enough to hire a housekeeper. When everything is done, the agents bring them back to the lecture room.

“Some of us will be rotating around,” says Tiffany. “Tomorrow, I will be training Yoona and Summer.” Then, her eyes land on Taeyeon. “Seo will be training Taeyeon.”

—