A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for the late update. I have written this chapter a while back but my beta reader had been travelling during the holiday season. I'll try my best to update as often as possible. Anyways... I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thank you so much for being patient with me. I have changed jobs and I feel that this year will be a great year for me. There is only a few chapters left for this story. Once this is done, I will start working on the sequel to Reset called Redemption. I know it's been a long time coming. I hope you guys will enjoy that story as well when it comes out.
The information on her opponent's fighting strategy had been a godsend. Regina kept the pieces of intel under her pillow. She would work on deciphering Vasiliev's go-to finishing moves every single day. Even though the fighter's fighting strategies changes according to the opponent, studying the Russian fighter's past matches gave Regina an insight into how the opponent would counter certain moves so that the former Queen of the Cage could try to set up some of the same moves for Vasiliev to react in a certain way and Regina would not be caught by surprise.
The match was still two weeks away and Regina had been training diligently in her room. She had already shed off her excess weight thanks to the diet forced on her and the training she's been doing. Gold had been monitoring her weight to make sure that she would hit the minimum weight of the category.
Her meals now included proper food but were mostly carbohydrates based. Gold knew that Regina was probably working out in her room to prepare for the fight so he purposely avoided giving the prisoner any protein for her muscle recovery. Little did he know Belle had been supplying Regina with protein shakes.
Regina was sprawled on her bed, drinking protein shake from her water bottle while planning strategies when a light tapping on her door made her jump. It was hours past lights out. Gold had never made it a habit to skulk about the hallways catching the fighters who were up beyond lights out. He couldn't care less if the fighters were not getting enough rest as they were all adults and not children at Summer Camp. The young fighter knew that her manager would never knock on the door. He would just unlock it and barge in. So the only possible person on the other side of the door would be Belle.
Leaving incriminating evidence of her daily routine right where they were, Regina rushed over to the door.
"Hello?" The fighter asked through the door, not wanting to name her regular visitor in case it was somebody else on the other side of her door.
"It's me," Belle whispered through the keyhole. "I wanted to see if you were up."
"Yes. I'm wide awake."
"Good."
Belle did not say anything else. Regina was confused. Did the FBI agent just want to check to make sure that the fighter was not sleeping?
Seconds later, Regina heard the lock on her door unlock. Belle opened the door just enough to peer in through the crack. She wasn't surprised to find Regina wearing only a white tank top and small plaid pyjama shorts.
"What are you doing here?" Regina whispered at her unexpected visitor.
"I was gonna go down to Gold's office to find more evidence. I thought you might be interested to use the gym facilities while I'm there." Belle flashed a wide smile.
"What if Gold catches us?"
"He won't be up for hours. I gave him some sleeping pills."
"Is that how you avoid sleeping with him?"
"This was the first time he brought me up to his room."
"Really?! I'm surprised he had any self-control."
"He… didn't."
Belle sounded upset. Regina felt it would be better if she did not pry but she had an inkling as to what Gold might have done to his secretary.
"Hang on, let me change," Regina said bringing the FBI agent out of her thoughts.
"Hurry."
The fighter did not wait for Belle to close the door before she stripped off her tank top and put on a sports bra. The FBI agent couldn't help but stare at the muscular body before her. Regina had definitely lost all of her excess fat. Her body was toned although it did not have much definition.
The agent kept watching as two huge globes that were surprisingly proportionate to the rest of the body disappeared under the tight fabric of the sports bra. Her eyes trailed upwards to see chocolate orbs staring back. Belle gasped and closed the door.
Regina tilted her head to the side in amusement at Belle's reaction. So, the FBI agent is gay. She concluded. The fighter chuckled before she searched for her MMA trunks.
The two ladies headed down to the gym without saying a word to each other. Partly because they did not want to draw any attention to their late-night activities. Gold may be in deep sleep but his loyal supporters may expose them if they were not careful.
Regina did not want to waste time tying her hand wrap so she brought her gel knuckle guards instead. She put them on as they descended down the stairs. The fighter carefully did so while trying to not drop her boxing gloves that she had tucked underneath her armpits. Once she had her knuckle guards on, she proceeded to put on the gloves even though they were still one floor away from the gym. Her excitement on being able to practice on real sandbags didn't go unnoticed by the undercover agent. Belle knew that she didn't have to do her this favour but she was glad she did.
The FBI agent turned towards Mr Gold's office and disarmed the security alarm before unlocking the office door with a key the manager had given her to access any documents as part of her secretarial role.
She knew exactly where to look for evidence. She stumbled upon a suspicious folder on the computer that was encrypted. Her mission was to copy the folder and send it out to the tech department to decrypt it. She hoped that the folder had all the evidence she needed for the case. She had already ensured it wasn't Gold's porn collection as that could be found on the desktop of his computer screened plainly labelled as 'Porn'. She also clicked on that folder to make sure it did contain porn and not a way to hide incriminating evidence.
While the file was being transferred, she searched the office for any other documents that could be used against the vile gym manager.
As Belle was busy rummaging the file cabinets, Regina was in the gym for her work out. The fighter walked up to her favourite punching bag. It had indents on the sides where she had spent years creating them. The height was perfect and it had the right amount of firmness. Even though all of the punching bags were of the same brand, make and were bought at the same time, Regina felt that this particular punching bag was perfect.
She looked around to see that she was alone before she grabbed the punching bag in her arms and hugged it tightly.
"I've missed you." She whispered softly to the inanimate object.
The fighter released the bag and pushed it forward causing the bag to swing away from her. She then kicked the side of the bag upon its swing back towards her. The bag changed direction and swung to the left.
The feeling of punching the punching bag was so exhilarating that she kept punching harder and faster. For the first time since her Venus FC match with Emma Swan, she felt back in her element. This was when Regina Mills felt alive. This was where she felt like home.
*.*.*.*.*
Satisfied that she had searched every inch of the office, Belle ejected the storage device from Gold's computer and kept it in her bag. She placed everything back to its original location and locked the office door. She proceeded to arm the security alarm.
The FBI agent could hear Regina going at the punching bag in the gym. She smiled to herself as an idea popped into her mind. She walked over to her desk and pulled the bottom drawer open.
*.*.*.*.*
Regina practised some of the moves she had planned to use in her upcoming match. She had been working on the punching bag for about half an hour. The exhilaration she had felt earlier turned into frustration as she wasn't able to practice reacting to moves. All she could do was imagine Elsa Vasiliev's moves in her head and reacting to them on the bag.
"Need a sparring partner?" a voice from behind Regina asked surprising the fighter.
Regina turned to see Belle dressed in Dragon Claws T-shirt and MMA Board shorts. Her long tresses tied into a tight bun.
"Depends. How good are you?"
"I'm trained in four martial arts including Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which was why I was assigned this case. I used to also teach Taekwondo to the new agents at the Training Academy."
"Okay. Let's see what you've got. Grab some gloves." Regina pointed to a shelf where spare grappling gloves were kept.
Belle walks over and grabbed two pairs. She tossed a pair to Regina who caught it with ease after removing her boxing gloves.
"Hang on! I don't have my mouth-guard with me." Regina remembered.
"Oh. Right. Where are they?" The FBI agent asked.
"In my locker. Let me run and get them real quick. Do you need one? I may have a spare."
"I've got mine right here." Belle fished out her mouth-guard from her pocket.
"Why do you have all this stuff?"
"Perks of working here." Belle shrugged.
Regina shook her head and chuckled. The magnitude of her impending fate forgotten at the moment and she felt relaxed and free. She ran to her lockers to retrieve the protective gear.