It had been only two days since Beatrice and Artemis's last encounter with Kumi, now loitering at a coffee shop on campus. Artemis stood by, hands behind her back, helmet off as Beatrice nursed a drink and croissant. Beatrice awkwardly looked up to her tall compatriot, chewing on her food. "So... do you-- actually, no. Dumb question, sorry."
Artemis stared. "Are those good?"
Beatrice looked at what she had in front of her. "This?'
"Yeah."
"Well... the... this is a frappuccino." She gestured, then pointed to the croissant. "This is a... bread dish called the croissant."
Artemis nodded, "Can...?"
"Uh... sure." Beatrice raised the drink and croissant to Artemis, who grabbed both.
Artemis sipped the drink first, ears fluttering curiously, intrigued by the taste before going for another one and handing it back to Beatrice. "That... isn't bad."
"Try the croissant."
Artemis took a bite and looked pleasantly surprised, smiling a little before handing it back to Beatrice as she had done with the frappuccino before it. "Mhm~! I like that one a lot."
"What about the drink?"
"I... It was comforting; it made me feel... it was cold, but it made me feel warm? Does that make sense?"
Beatrice nodded, "Yeah... that's about right. I often find comfort in a good frap here and there as well." A young woman, blond—clearly a student of the Academy—bumped into their table, causing her food to fall onto the floor and Beatrice's frappuccino to spill all over her shirt. "Oh, Gods! Fuck!" Beatrice groaned.
Artemis stood there, perplexed for a moment before grabbing as many napkins as she could, attempting to remove the newly formed stain on Beatrice's chest. The student snickered to themselves, sitting with a group of friends as if nothing had happened. "I'm going to go talk to them."
"Nah, don't."
"W-Why?"
Beatrice shrugged. "We got bigger things to care about, right?"
"But..." Artemis's eyes narrowed. "I'm not dumb enough to believe they hadn't done that on purpose."
"Me neither." Beatrice stood up, "I'm gonna dry myself off, wait out here."
"But..."
Before Artemis could get another word out, Beatrice rushed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Artemis went to follow, but something caught her attention, causing her to turn around slowly to the vague silhouette sitting before her, right across from where Beatrice would've been sitting. Cloaking... Artemis thought to herself before speaking aloud.
"What are you doing here? Come to finish what you started in the De Oro territory?"
It looked almost as if a layer of skin, invisible to the human eye, unfurled like a cocoon, revealing a beautiful Emoren woman with dark skin and pale, golden eyes, a smile spread across her lips. "No, I wanted to have a proper introduction with you in particular."
"Introduction?"
"I know I... 'introduced' myself, but... it was more of a test, I think you would call it. I have to keep jumping from place to place-- I'm not exactly freely allowed to be wandering, y'know?"
"I'd imagine, especially since you are after the life of my client."
"We really are alike. Putting it in such a cold way-- makes me think why you're even bothering to protect the girl. Why are you doing that, actually? Why stoop to that level?"
"I could ask you the same question? Why stoop so low and target such a young prospect?"
"However, you're not that much older than her," Kumi smirked. "Sit down, let's have a proper conversation. One of many, I'd say."
"Many? I'd say I am prepared not to allow you to escape here alive."
"That'll be..." Kumi sighed. "A difficult thing to do."
"I would imagine, but I am willing to commit to such risks."
"So dedicated. Why?"
"Why?"
"Yes, why? Why are you so dedicated to your 'duty'?"
"What are you saying to me?"
"I want to have a more private conversation later. Somewhere less public, if that makes sense."
Artemis grew increasingly frustrated with Kumi's antics. "Why?"
"Because I want to speak to you about the truth of our reality. I'd like to pose questions and have a debate! I want to understand your mind and for you to understand mine!" Kumi's arms were outstretched, wide. "I've found one of my own out here in some Academy working under a stuck-up noble... similar to me. I wouldn't want this to end so simply by having a 'fight' with one another; instead, let's show each other our motivation, our honesty, and our strengths through words. Is that hard to understand? This is a rare opportunity."
"I'm not like you."
"But you are."
"I haven't brutally mutilated a student of this Academy to act under their identity."
"We do look similar..." Kumi mumbled under her breath.
"What?"
"I can't shapeshift." She smiled. "I'm an outcast... just as you were..."
"I've had enough of this conversation."
"I hoped we'd have a longer one, but I suspected that this specific debate would end unsuccessfully, which is why I will be stubborn in my pursuits."
Artemis sprang forward, the table beneath her splintering with her fist, Kumi jumping from her chair, narrowly avoiding Artemis's attack, a great wind following it that shook the windows of this cafe, then she spoke into a receiver in her neck. "I have found the Assassin! I repeat, I have found the Assassin, send all--"
Kumi, one moment, landed onto the table behind her, and the next, the remnants of a shattered window flew out into the bar across from her, sprinting as fast as she could, away from their moment of conflict. Artemis followed, furniture and objects being shot into the air from her wake as she launched herself forward, out the window, bounding toward the smaller Sangilo Warrior.
Soon, the Academy was flooded with guards, or ALTAQIA soldiers, and copters hung overhead. Kumi had no other choice but to stop in her tracks, standing in front of an army of men, guns leveled at the Assassin.
Artemis soon arrived after, looming above her, knife at the ready. "Stop running. Surrender. We don't have to do this."
Kumi chuckled. "You're right, we don't have to do this. We don't have to be at each other's throats. I pose you a question... why? Why serve for people who believe you to be less than them? To be a brute, or a murderer? A war criminal?"
Artemis's face dropped, a look of recognition on her face. "Just... make it easier for both of us. They won't kill you-- they'll keep you for interviews at the very least, and we'll talk then. That's what you want, right?"
"Except we wouldn't have the opportunity to speak on equal terms, plus... if I'm captured, I'm dead already."
"Put your hands in the air!" A demand from the soldiers now flooding into the area, slowly enclosing around Kumi and Artemis's conversation. "Put your hands in the fucking air, right now!"
Kumi scanned the ALTAQIA regiment around her before smiling over at Artemis. "We can't have a fair conversation like this."
"No!" Artemis cried out, time slowing for her, lunging forward as Kumi's skin became cloaked, the environment melting around her, invisible to the human eye in the amount of time it would take to blink.
The army scattered in response, audibly cursing to themselves. Artemis took off to the nearest alleyway, hoping and praying that she'd find Kumi there, ending this sooner rather than later. She sniffed her surroundings, like a hound set on a trail, head whipping around to detect any anomalies in the air, any refractions, or a vague form of an object, her eyes becoming even more slitted as her surroundings sharpened.
Her head snapped up to a distortion in the air, and her hands latched onto a small indent in one of the building's walls. Artemis lunged forward, tackling the figure to the ground. Artemis is caught mid-tackle, both sent into a spiral against the ground; Kumi is then lifted straight into the air and slammed into a nearby trashcan, denting the metal.
"Stop running!" Kumi and Artemis's faces were inches apart, with a smug expression on Kumi's face. "Stop!" Artemis demanded.
"They'll kill me, y'know? The people who hired me. I'm simply just trying to survive."
"How are you so sure of that?"
"I'll tell you everything if you let me go..."
"No." Artemis's expression soured.
"Then I'll have to do this the hard way."
Artemis got ready for a fight, but was instead met with an EMP implant Kumi had in her Spinal Pauldron, exploding outward within the alleyway, completely rebooting Artemis's armor and her own cybernetic implants. In that split second, Artemis lifted a pistol to Kumi's face, and the gun went off.
Artemis dropped to the floor, body seizing up from the electrical currents being emitted from Kumi, who loomed above the massive woman now, halfway up the building she was attempting to escape from previously, remnants of blood from where she had stood. "You hesitated again. You could've killed me just then, but you relent. You continue to be like me."
"I-I..." Artemis gritted her teeth, pain shooting through her body.
"It's because we are sisters in arms, no? Bias is a scary thing. The whole reason why we're here is because I fell to my biases." And with that, Kumi left.
After a minute or two, Artemis went back to the destroyed cafe to retrieve Beatrice, who was forced to head back to their dorm room. Beatrice shook her head, throwing herself onto the couch, hand over her face. "Two public displays, like this? This lady is quite bold, isn't she?"
"Yeah... I don't know what she's thinking." Artemis shook her head disapprovingly. "I hit her earlier... Almost took out an eye, but she managed to escape. I was too slow."
"No sympathy for your fellow... woman?" Beatrice chuckled.
"What do you mean?"
"You found another Sangilo, and they seem not to be emotionally numbed like the rest of your compatriots. I'm surprised you're so normal about this."
"I'm being normal?"
"More... reasonable, y'know?"
Artemis broke out into a chuckle, surprised by Beatrice's words. "I... those are surprising words coming from you."
"What? I can't be curious? You're clearly not like how I thought you'd be, I ain't a dumbass, y'know?"
"No..." Artemis smiled. "I appreciate it."
"What? Did you think I was still gonna be bitter about you being some war machine in mortal form or something? You clearly aren't actually like that-- you've saved me twice now and you've proven that you're... normal. You're an actual person. I was ignorant, there! You heard me admit I was wrong for how I was treating you a week ago!"
Artemis nodded to herself. "I... no... You were justified in feeling the way you did. I've done bad things after all." She crossed over to her room, almost trudging her feet along as she took off her armor.
"It's clear to me, though, that there is more to you guys than I thought. You guys... I was being an ass. I should've thought about your circumstances more."
Though Artemis appreciated the sentiment, she couldn't help but feel disgusted with herself, regardless, even more so than she already was. If she knew what I had truly done after the Blood War... would she carry the same opinion that she has of me now? Artemis looked down at her hands, which began to shake involuntarily. She grabbed her wrist to stop herself, a pained expression on her face.
"Kalleck has always said to be open to those willing to change." An offhand comment by Beatrice, who, bored, began working on a blueprint, tablet in hand.
"Open..." Artemis muttered under her breath. "Have I really changed?" The answer seemed obvious, yet... is it? The Scalpers, she didn't hesitate to hurt them without consideration for their lives. Was that a bad thing? Evidence of her relapsing into her old ways, or is she overthinking it? No... I guess I have changed. I was bothered that I had become complacent, but... that's good, isn't it?
***
Another day passed, Beatrice following behind Artemis as she entered the Opera House. Beatrice grimaced, "Why are we here?"
Artemis looked over her shoulder. "Well... you asked what I do with my free time... um... I go here."
"Oh... yeah. I forgot. I also-- yeah, you've been talking with Breinhen, haven't you?"
Artemis nodded. "Yes, we've become acquainted."
"Shit..." Beatrice sighed. "I'll bite the bullet, whatever."
Almost immediately, the bearded Breinhen smiled widely, arms open as he turned to them both, sitting at a piano. "Beatrice! Woah, didn't actually think you could do it, Artemis."
"What?" Artemis cocked her head.
"N-Nevermind-- Beatrice!"
Beatrice rolled her eyes, a longer sigh exiting her mouth, arms drooped to her sides. "H-Hey... Breinhen..."
Breinhen stood up, crossing over to the brown haired girl, arms remaining outstretched. "I haven't seen you properly ever since..." His expression dropped to something more somber. "Ever since Kalleck passed."
Artemis looked curiously at Beatrice, who looked up to her, ready with a response. "He used to watch me when I was in elementary."
"Oh~!" Artemis let out an impressed hum.
"Known him since I was a kid."
Breinhen held his arms out even wider than before. "So? Beatrice!" Both hands clasped Beatrice's shoulders. "Have you come to play piano again?"
"No, I came because Artemis wanted to come here."
"Aw... okay." Breinhen let go, chuckling to himself. "Anyway, Artemis-- I asked you to come today because I had an amazing question for you-- I also... have food!"
Artemis's ears and tail visibly perked up. "Food?"
"Yep!"
Artemis searched the room with her eyes, "Where? A-Also," Her attention shot back to Breinhen, "What question?"
"Hold on!" Breinhen rushed to the other end of the Opera House, grabbing various bags of what looked to be small styrofoam boxes filled to the brim with a BBQ feast, and he placed them all down onto one of the various benches scattered across the virtually empty Opera House. "The question I had was... Artemis."
She was already behind Breinhen, reaching out to the bag before her, practically salivating. "Yes?"
"Would you like to try singing?"
Artemis's ears flutter, "Y-yeah... I-I would. I... I was drawn to the singing of your choir, so... I'd love to try! P-Please teach me how to sing, actually!"
"Absolutely!" Breinhen shouted triumphantly, "Okay..." He proceeded to rub his hands together, looking around the room speculatively. "Where should we start first?" Breinhen paused, "I've been thinking about it recently-- the best way I could think of when teach you how to sing."
"O-Okay."
In the background, Beatrice had grabbed one of the stacked chairs pushed to a corner of the room, sitting on it, observing the two from afar.
"I am curious, though." Breinhen went on to say. "We'll probably need to get a read on your current vocal range first. See if you aren't already naturally talented, and such." Breinhen chuckled at the comment, sitting down at the piano set at the very end of the Opera House, right smack dab in the middle of a stage.
"Um..." Artemis stepped onto the stage, looming over Breinhen. "How will we determine that?"
"We'll have you sing some songs!"
"Sing? Songs?"
Beatrice raised a brow, cocking her head to the side. "That's how you're gonna do it?"
"Yeah! We'll have her sing songs, like... karaoke!"
"Okay... riddle me this, Artemis. What songs do you know of?"
Artemis rubbed her chin, thinking for a moment. "I... I know a few orchestral arrangements and... maybe one song that involves singing? A couple, I think?"
Breinhen nodded, "First... we'll have to expand your music tastes." Breinhen smiled before turning over to the food that had just been sitting in the middle of the room this whole time. "Also! Eat up, girls!"
Beatrice pointed at herself, confused. "Me too?"
"Yeah! Of course! I got enough for both of you guys." Breinhen snickered.
"Fuck! Don't mind if I do!" Beatrice cackled, immediately ripping through the bag, grabbing whatever smelled the best right at first contact, while Artemis politely looked through each of the boxes, grabbing whatever she preferred and putting it into one massive bowl.
Breinhen started eating his fill as well, his mouth now full of food, and he pointed to Beatrice. "Okay, so..." He paused to chew. "Beatrice, have you like... shown Artemis some stuff? Like... movies, or anything?"
Beatrice, midway through her end of the meal, looked up. "What?" Like Breinhen, she paused to chew as well. "What are you talking about? Why would I?"
"Well, you guys can do friend things, y'know? Hang out, watch movies, plus, it'd be good for Artemis to access more stimuli that way since she's been lacking that for like... her whole life-- it's been your whole life, right?"
Artemis looked around the room and blinked. "I have... heard of movies before, but..." She stopped talking, refocusing back onto her bowl of meats, pasta, and grease.
"Wouldn't it be nice, Beatrice?"
"Uh... I don't really watch movies, though..."
"Yeah! But it's a good opportunity, no? To watch movies together, maybe some anime, maybe... I dunno-- some other things. Whatever young girls and boys do."
"You act like you aren't literally thirty years old. You're pretty young yourself, my dear Breinhen." Beatrice waved absentmindedly, her fork almost dropping to the floor due to her loose grip. "Why don't you just do it? Why do I have to babysit?"
"I am twenty-three years old, y'know?" Artemis looked to the two. "You don't have to speak about me like I'm a child."
"Yeah, but you're practically an infant culturally, so..." Beatrice shrugged.
"But I'm not?" Artemis became visibly frustrated. "What makes me, as you'd call it, 'culturally an infant'?"
"Like... uh..." Beatrice paused, jaw slack, eyes looking up to the marble ceiling above. "Like... you don't know shit about the culture of today? Like... you don't know well-known music, movies, shit like that, yeah?" A beat, "Then like... You have to be told like... what is or isn't inappropriate. It isn't your fault, yeah? But... y'know?"
"I'm not following."
"People see the mortal body in a sexual light, girl! And you know, understanding that means that you're culturally an infant!"
"I feel like those two sentences shouldn't follow the other, but..." Artemis shrugged. "Isn't the social norm amongst people regarding nudity due in part to the fact that some are embarrassed by their forms, either that, or because it exposes the flesh, leaves them vulnerable to attack?"
"That's such a primalistic worldview, Artemis! What are we, cavemen!?" Beatrice laughed.
"I... I do not understand."
"Look, Artemis, you have to understand that you are... I'll just say it. You're hot! You are a lot of people's fetish!"
"Fetish...? I am not a God or equivalent to such."
"No! I mean, people would look at you in a sexual light, does that make sense?"
"I..." Artemis shook her head, dumbfounded at the words coming out of Beatrice's mouth, not understanding a single thing.
"Do... okay." Beatrice put both of her hands up. "Artemis, what do you think of when I say the word 'sexual'?"
"So... people are having an instinctual, psychological response to my body when it's exposed?"
"Yes! How do you think things lead to mating, girl?"
"Am... Am I supposed to mate wi--"
"No! You should mate with someone you love! But people will desire to mate. Does that make sense?"
Breinhen shook his head, face in his hands. "This is... this conversation took a bad turn real fast."
"What's bad about it!? I feel that this is a necessary conversation to have!" Beatrice chuckled.
"I... I beg to differ?" Breinhen shrugged.
Beatrice had opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of the holo of her built-in Pauldron ringing. "Huh?" She blinked, her eyes displaying an image of her father. "Shit!"
"What?"
"S-Sorry, I have to take a call real fast!" Beatrice set her food aside, rushing to the other end of the Opera House for some privacy. Once she arrived, she answered. "Yeah?"
"You're Beatrice, right?" The voice was not that of Duke Holden, but of someone else. A much more feminine voice greeted her. She instinctively spun around, but was interrupted. "Stop. I just want to talk. I won't hurt you, nor am I able to hurt your father. I just wanted to introduce myself properly, without the interruption of your caretaker, or Artemis."
"W-What are you...?"
"There is a small bit of wall. Go over there."
"Why should I listen to you?" Beatrice was fearful for but a moment, but was now calm, returning to her rebellious nature. "Why not scream to Artemis? Sick her on you like a hound?"
"I have information for you. Simple as. I'm not here to hurt you, at least, not yet. And even then, I doubt I'd be able to get the chance to do so. I'm at a disadvantage."
"How did you connect to me on my Pauldron like this?"
"What technology do you think is provided to those of us who are Sangilo? Especially those of us who are Assassins? It's an operating system on my own Pauldron that allows me to impersonate someone in your list of numbers, simple as that. It's great for distracting people without a phone."
"What info do you have? What's so important that you're going so far as to do this?"
"It's about the Benejestria. Plus, I figured a formal introduction was in order, as I've formally introduced myself to my sister already."
"Sister?"
"I'll not say more until you come on over. I'm right behind the wall."
Beatrice sighed, debating her options. "Just say it now, I'm already looking at the wall."
"Okay... fair enough. You're right to be cautious, and I believe that pushing further won't get me what I want." A pause. "The Benejestria sent me, but I'd assume that was obvious."
"No, not really..." Beatrice swallowed hard. "Jackal spoke to me about it before... when I was sixteen. Was it really the Benejestria who ordered the hit on my brother's life?"
There was silence for a moment. "Yes."
"Were they the ones who framed his wife?"
"Your father didn't help much with that, did he?"
"No... no... It's why I'm not on the best of terms with him, but..."
"Regardless... pleasure to meet you." Kumi waved behind the jutting wall she had mentioned earlier. "I'm Kumi."
"Why... why are you doing this?"
"Survival. Unfortunately. This didn't go how I had planned it, bye!" Immediately, she went into cloaking herself.
Beatrice spun around, looking at Artemis in particular. "Kumi was just here!"
Artemis's tail and ears shot up, practically jumping out of her chair, food in her mouth, eyes searching the room for any movement. "Did she just leave!?"
"I... I think so..." Beatrice retreated over to Artemis's side, scanning with her. "S-Shit... I'm so sorry, I-I should've called out sooner--"
Artemis sighed. "It's alright. You're alive, that's what matters."
"I-I wasn't attacked or anything but..."
"But?"
"She's my assassin, right?"
"Yes."
"I just felt it was right." Beatrice sighed, sitting back down in her seat.
Breinhen watched all of this unfold with a wide-eyed stare. "What? What just happened?"