"So long as you prevent her from touching you, you could beat her in a fair fight easily," Emilena nodded, standing up. "Lily still has no combat skills whatsoever, it's just that she can drain your body of energy or put you into cardiac arrest with the tap of her finger." She crossed to the bar and started washing her glass. "I'm ready when you are, to be honest. I've never been one to delay the inevitable, and who knows? If all goes well, maybe I'll have time to actually enjoy relaxing in your elegant house."
-------------------------
Flora nodded. "I can call Bailey, of course! I wouldn't want him to think badly of you, you two are some of the kindest people I know."
She followed them into the house and, sure enough, there was an old-fashioned rotary phone sitting nearby. After several failed attempts to figure out how to dial rotary, Flora managed to reach the operator and put in a collect call to Nigel Bailey. “You got a lot of nerve calling me up under her name.” Flora was surprised by how bitter he sounded; she’d never heard him this full of barely-repressed rage. “I’m tracking your line as we speak, and you’re not gonna like who I’m sending your way.”
“Uhh, Nigel, it’s me.”
“Flora!?” Bailey snapped in equal parts anger and surprise. “Is that really you?”
“Hi...” Flora answered quickly.
“Flora, I am so sorry for not listening to you,” Bailey started. “You repeatedly warned me not to leave you with those crackpots, and I ignored you. I got distracted by the money, they were offering to shelter you on the cheap. But I guess we got what we goddamn paid for!”
“Umm...I mean, I know I said a lot of mean things about them…” Flora looked back at them nervously. “But-”
“I’m getting you out of there,” Bailey assured. “Where are you? I’m sending my guys, you warn those dykes not to lay another
finger on you or it’s the last thing they’ll ever--”
“--Bailey!” Flora interrupted. “You’re wrong. They're good people.” Stunned silence answered her. “Rose has my best interests at heart, and so do Marita and Marie.”
“But-but-but they dragged you into multiple shootouts! With
cyberterrorists!” Bailey stammered. “You told me one of them tried to
rape you!”
“Marie meant it out of love.”
The neurocotics in Flora’s system sent her heart aflutter, and as she gripped the phone she imagined it was Rose’s soft hand. “Don’t send thugs, Nigel. I want to stay with them. I...I think I love them too.”
Bailey whistled. “You’re suffering from PTSD,” he answered. “Some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. You don’t even sound like you. Flora, I got you into this mess, and now I’m getting you out.”
“Bailey--!” Flora heard him hang up on her. “Crap.” She hung up the line. “Um, Bailey’s still not happy. I think we might need to watch our backs going forward…” she confessed to Marita and Marie.