"And you?" Kate began, looking at Metal Face.
Metal Face recoiled at that. And goodness was he terrified. It was absolutely hilarious.
"That's why you guys are together isn't it? You're all aliens."
That was a bad move as they looked at her with an unfair harshness.
"Okay, let me rephrase." She said defensively. "We've all been out of the planet at least once."
That improved things.
"They let you out the planet?"
"Yeah, but I was born on American soil."
"And your bone structure and growth levels?"
"Steroids, as much as anyone else."
Kate pulled out her far smaller screen and pointed it at them.
It had the massive list of Mother's food recommendations and things Kate didn't want to think about.
The boys burst out laughing.
"I still haven't got your name." Kate said.
"It's Liam. Where am I from?" Liam asked.
"Ares, Huoxing station."
"Bull! Shit!" Liam declared. "No way you knew that."
Kate stepped up to him in a flash, all but jumping over the screens to get on Liam's chair and stepped between his legs. They were near nose to nose, she cupped the metal free cheek where there was no metal.
"Huoxing station is from the darker side, it means you got the eye fix. I could see it because of the gold glittering while you were in the shadow of the school even though it's like 90 degrees right now."
"How?" Liam hardly managed.
"Mother mostly. Also I got a Cousin from there. One of the only few that isn't a monster. Means you got to be one of the nice ones too." She said pinching his good cheek. "Doesn't explain the fully body cast though."
"Complicated." He said, unable to fully move, which caught Kate by surprise.
"Hey, let's not have any of that!" Ella demanded. "I remind you guys that you're talking to a crazy person. She wants to kill a person."
"Okay. So?" Said Liam, clearly 'playing along'. Nope, there'd be none of that!
"No. Gentlemen, I am actually being completely serious. I already showed her. So…"
God, being Mother so convenient. It got Kate's words, plans and needs across. The blunter, the sharper it was, the more room she seemed to earn in order to keep things going. Being Mother was like being an avalanche.
She was already right in front of their faces and terrifying them like she'd shit her pants and rub it all over them. Kate retreated to sit on their little table and opened her screen to them.
"Can I move this footage to your big boys?" Kate asked, playing with the letter B in a way that would make Mother proud or get Kate arrested for lude acts.
It was Liam who moved first.
Permissions Granted.
Kate flicked her wrist, and in a flash all four screens created a massive, layered viewing of a loud and dramatic video of the worst day of Kate's life.
========================================================================
Next time:
Pain without voice. Heat without fire. Kaitlyn wakes to a nightmare: locked limbs, metal restraints, and strangers in suits who treat her more machine than girl. Her body rebels, her mind claws for freedom—but the agony only deepens. Inside a sealed room where humanity fades into circuitry, something irreversible begins. She can't scream. She can't run. But her eyes are open. And when Kaitlyn opens her eyes… the world changes.