"My sister." Gen said, the dark eyes gaining a deathly emptiness, her every syllable a clear gunshot.
Kate's heart did a backflip and splat, its cost who would have to be reset.
"What?"
"I am a twin. My twin was better than me. But I think," Genevieve put her stylus to her lips thought better, and put it down. It spun in her fingers so expertly it began to blur under the raw speed. She cleared the lump that had formed in her, "I think that that, ironically, was the problem. Growing up, she beat me a lot. I got used to getting beat. And on a night like tonight, when the big beating came, I took it better than most and without shame. But also Kate, these things happen once a month. Not every week or every day. Literally everyone is given time. A week, something, anything you idiot!"
"Where's your sister now?" Kate asked.
Gen eyed Kate, and Kate got it. Gen's little demand was supposed to be the end of it. She'd opened her soul a little, and if Kate was a two in terms of self esteem then Gen was a seven. A seven had a right to dictate whether a seven wanted to talk or not, but that seven had called Kate a fat ugly bitch. She hadn't said the word per se, but it was implied. As a trade-off for Gen not getting knuckles to the throat Kate got to keep digging.
Gen grunted, the lump had made its return.
"She's still around." Gen said.
"Name?" Kate asked, without missing a beat.
"Elsie."
"Is she a part of this world of yours? On any level?"
"No."
"What does she do now?"
"Work, study."
Kate just stared at her, dark eyes stared back at Kate. There was a coldness to Gen Kate hadn't expected, but Kate would not back down. It wasn't a Mexican stand-off. They were Valorant GTS 47s with hybrid engines rammed together. Their engines roared, the commitment and rage of metal forcing each other with no give or mercy. The dual force of will so intense the ground would cave in before they did.
Kate reached out, which made Gen blink. Kate grabbed her hand and squeezed. Not to crush but to be firm, to be the bigger sister because, if there was one thing she was, it was a bigger sister.
"You don't know me yet." Kate began, "I've been kicked out of a lot a bullshit in my life. I am not the kind of girl to run. Even if I lose." Kate pulled Gen's hand and pressed in to her lips. Her free hand held the back of Gen's neck. Kate was going mad but knew the signs and was running on automatic, because she knew she could. She pulled Gen up, Gen fully absorbed, unblinking. There was no doubt in her mind. "Then I just lose, and if a fall, I fall, even if my body is as sensitive and weak as it is now. Even now every muscle hurts. But even so, do one thing for me. If I fall, be there. Even if you don't stay, I'm not your responsibility, but you know what it is to be responsible. Even so. Catch me."
Kate's other hand cupped the underside of Gen's chin and pulled her up to her lips and dove into her.
There was a coolness to Gen, not a stillness, she was no porcelain doll. She was alive, and they connected with her pushing, pulling and controlling before Gen, rather amazingly steered into the skid, pushing her lower half forwards while at the same time flowing backwards in line with Kate's dominating charge.
Her momentum and eagerness was being used against her like some sex thing? No, like wrestling! Was Kate big wrestled? No. Kate knew wrestling. It was more, it was judo, but without the force? Akido. It was akido!
Kate, despite not trying to, on any level, burst out laughing right into Gen's mouth as she fell over her on the thin bench they were on.
You're laughing at her.
Your fat's crushing her.
Screamed multiple voices only for it to be Gen who kicked out a leg onto the other wall and with her extra-long legs and thick boots, she could do it while her hands were on Kate's waist. Gen giggled back into her mouth making a bubbling fart noise between them before she eyed Kate like she was behind schedule and needed to catch up. Kate obliged quickly.
There was a banging on the door followed by the beep of a key card being rejected.
"Your time's up. Go public now! I want to see what's happening there. Worker women!" There was impatient finger snapping. "Do your worker women jobs and investigate the suspicious activity in there."
That was more than enough to make the two of them jump up, only for Gen to walk right into Kate for an incredible kiss, her forcing herself so hard that, if Kate had been worried about breathing, she would have been choking, Gen was at risk of awakening a new fetish. She already had was too many.
"That was bad of you. Very bad. But you vin, I cannot convince you." Gen sighed having returned to some suave French accent and held Kate's hand kissing it. "I vill not promise to stay, but, I vill be d'ere. I vish you health and victoree."
Kate felt like she could see Gen's darkness of eye actually clear up, like it had been a mirage. Like she'd dreamed the whole event. Gen took a last long drawn out pull and stuffed the stylus between her cleavage. She straightened up into the woman Kate had first met.
Private mode Deactivated.
You have 30 missed called from four sources.
End of Part 2
==============================
Kate's not here to make friends—she's here to survive. But when she meets Ella, the haunted girl with space in her bones and secrets in her sleeves, survival starts looking like a two-player game. "I desperately need you to help me kill this girl," Kate says. The mission's begun. The mask is cracking. And the clock is ticking down.