Ready to go for the ride

Mary was happy to have Kim’s help in starting a conversation with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy.

“What’s up?” Vivian was surprised to see Kim come and talk to her of her own volition now that the party was over. Yes, the other girl was stuck with Vivian for the rest of the day, but that didn’t mean Kim had to talk to her.

The fact that she did was an immediate warning sign to Vivian- what had she done now?

Her eyes landed on Mary and she tensed. A smile fought its way to her face amidst the sea of frantic emotions swirling in the heiress’s heart, and she tried to pretend like it was no big deal that the other girl was here.

“Hey, Mary!” She said, hoping that her nervousness wasn’t showing. “You and Kim, huh? Yeah, I heard you guys were close! Look, uh… if this is about that whole thing, where I offered to hire you as my own private chef, I was just kidding around, that’s all! …Oh, I mean, not that… that makes it better, or anything, but, umm, I have Octavia to cook for me, so… I’m sorry for suggesting it?”

Mary had no idea what Vivian was flailing around about. “No, uh, actually, I was flattered by your offer,” she said.

Vivian was taken aback. She blinked rapidly and looked at Mary like she couldn’t be sure if the other girl was serious or not. “Wait… you’re not joking?”

Mary shook her head. “No, of course not! I mean… you’ve eaten at fancy restaurants all around the world, I imagine! Food prepared with quality ingredients I’ve never even heard of before… So to offer me a job as your private chef, knowing that… it’s really complimentary!”

Kim thought that maybe Mary was missing the point.

“Oh, well, gosh, I didn’t expect you to be so happy about it!” Vivian’s forced smile turned sincere and she beamed at the other girl. “In that case, I do apologize for saying I was just joking! The truth is, your food is really high-quality, Mary, and I’d be pleased as could be if you’d become my chef! …But I also understand you want to cook for Nick, so I’ll rescind my offer. I’m touched, for his sake, truly I am,” she said sweetly, placing her hand over her chest.

Mary blushed. Hearing Vivian’s praise, it really made her feel-

“Mary.” Kim loudly cleared her throat, getting Mary’s attention. She quickly turned and looked at the other girl, stunned.

“Eh-eh?” Mary stammered, caught by surprise. Kim gave her a sharp look.

“…Our reason?” She reminded the other girl. “Kind of on a time deadline, here?”

Mary blanched. Oh, how could she had forgotten!?

“R-right!” She squeaked, shaking her head. She turned to Vivian with renewed determination scrawled all over her face. “Vivian!”

“Y-yeah?” Vivian was a little stunned by the forcefulness of the other girl’s cry. She went back to feeling nervous and worried about the look in Mary’s eyes.

“Kim and I… we want to go talk to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin about something,” Mary said. “But Kim’s stuck with you because of the transformation she got for using Sick Day, so if possible, could you-”

“Oh, you need me to come with?” Vivian’s face lit up. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? Sure thing, Mary, I’d be happy to help you with whatever you need!” She assured the other girl with an easy smile. “Just say the word, and I’m there!”

Mary sighed in relief. She didn’t expect Vivian to be so… easy to handle.

Kim wasn’t surprised, though. “See?” She said, “I told you, Vivian’s always willing to help out if you ask her.”

Vivian looked at Kim, touched. She placed her hand over her chest. “Kim!” Tears welled up in her eyes. “That’s so sweet of you to say! Well! To be so kind as to reach out to me like that, it’s really something special of you-”

“She’s so desperate for people to like her that she’ll basically do anything you ask if you beg her enough,” Kim clarified, coldly ignoring Vivian’s kind feelings.

The heiress clutched her chest and swooned. “Aww… but I understand.”

She wasn’t that hurt by Kim’s statement, since she didn’t sense any malice in the other girl’s words. Kim was being honest and sincere, and that wasn’t something to be angry about.

The truth of it was that her intuition was right on the money. It was a bit of a shortcoming of Vivian’s, she could admit.

“Well… let’s not get too overwhelmed, shall we?” Vivian flashed a cheery smile. “Personally, I’m just happy to help out if you need me to!”

She slapped her chest. “Let’s get a move on, shall we ladies?”

Then she gasped. “Wait, uh… Kim, that, that wasn’t an order, so… uh…”

Kim rolled her eyes in exasperation. Mary just looked confused.

But when she saw Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin heading for the door, her priorities shifted and suddenly she was focused on the task at hand again.

“This way!” She cried, rushing after her.

Vivian and Kim looked at one another in surprise and followed the frantic redhead.

“Waaaaaaiiiiiiiittttt!”

Mary caught up with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin in the hall. The sharp-eared girl whirled around in surprise, sensing Mary’s presence before she could even shout out. She took a defensive stance out of reflex, but once she saw the flushed face of the panting girl, she relaxed.

“Sorry… I… I’m not… in any shape to run…” Mary felt like she was going to throw up, and it wasn’t from morning sickness. Ever since the transformation that had given her a curvier figure- complete with large breasts- her physical athleticism had taken a bit of a hit.

And she wasn’t exactly running marathons before that transformation, either.

By the time she could breathe normally and stand up straight to face the other girl, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin already looked at her with exasperation in her eyes.

Mary swallowed her nerves and confronted her directly.

“Listen, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, I need to talk to you about something… …Will you listen to me?” Mary asked, looking at the other girl with a pleading gaze.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin blinked. She was slightly surprised by the determination she saw in the other girl’s eyes. Mary wasn’t someone she spent a lot of time thinking about, but when she did, she didn’t think very highly of the other girl.

But for Mary to chase after her with such sincerity, just to have a conversation… it really made the assassin feel like…

…Flipping her off. She stuck up her middle finger with a sneer, and looked at Mary like the other girl was a joke.

Mary wasn’t amused.

“What, do you think that’s funny?” She demanded, stomping her foot and glaring at the assassin furiously. “Well, I’m not laughing. I’m serious, here! Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin! I want to have a real, serious conversation with you!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scrunched up her face into a scowl and lowered her hand. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side, giving Mary a look that told her that the other woman would rather be anywhere other than here.

Mary couldn’t really blame her. She knew that the mute girl saw her as a rival, and she hadn’t forgotten the way she’d been looking at her all through the dinner.

But when someone looked lonely or sad, Mary couldn’t just leave them alone. She was a meddler at heart, even if the other person wanted nothing to do with her, and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was about to find that out for herself.

Whether she wanted to or not.

“Hey…” Kim came up to join them, with Vivian in tow. (Octavia was still helping clean up after the party and get the tables in order.)

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin reacted immediately when Kim appeared. Her whole body language changed, and even though she still wasn’t smiling, she relaxed into the other girl’s presence and gave her a nod.

Mary took that as a positive sign. But she didn’t say anything until Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin indicated she wanted her to talk, which might not even happen. She was too hesitant given the circumstances.

Which was why she was glad she had Kim here to back her up.

“Listen, I know you and Mary don’t exactly get along,” Kim said gently. “But you trust me, don’t you?” She asked, hoping the answer was yes.

The mute girl sharply nodded. Her eyes flashed with understanding and she looked at Kim with an expression that seemed to say “Do you really have to ask such an obvious question? Of course you know the answer to that!”

It brought a smile to Kim’s lips. She immediately relaxed.

“Well… I know that if Mary wants to talk to you, it must be about something serious,” Kim explained, nodding to her friend. “Couldn’t you just hear her out?”

Vivian wanted to say something, too. The assassin was her roommate, after all. But she’d learned from her past mistakes. Speaking up now would probably just make everything worse, and since she didn’t want to make the three women here upset, she just kept her mouth shut and provided moral support to the others.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wore an expression that Kim found hard to read. The way the other girl looked at her, like she couldn’t be sure whose side Kim was on, sent a stab of pain through Kim’s chest.

This wasn’t about sides or anything like that. Mary was just trying to help her. They were all on the same side, weren’t they?

Evidently that wasn’t the case when it came to the assassin.

Mary watched Kim closely and saw the look of doubt flicker across the other woman’s face.

That was the only thing she needed to know. She turned her attention back to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and gave her a firm stare.

“Listen,” she said, placing her hand over her chest, “I know that we got off on the wrong foot- obviously, we did. But- you’re important to my husband. And that means that you’re someone who I would like to get the chance to know, if you’ll let me.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin bristled at the mention of Nick. Mary expected as much, given what she knew about the other girl. But she didn’t let that stop her and she pressed on.

“Nick might not have noticed because his attention was on Rose during the party, but I saw it,” she said gently. “You were… feeling lonely, weren’t you? Because no one was talking to you? …No, it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s wary expression morphed into a furious glare. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist in response. Mary immediately knew that she was in for a tough confrontation, but she refused to back down.

“Do you wish that someone would throw a party for you, like that?” Mary asked. “…No one ever has, have they?”

“Huh?” Kim looked at Mary in surprise.

“No one’s thrown a party for her?” Vivian questioned.

Mary couldn’t believe that it had taken so long for her to figure it out. No wonder Echo had mocked her so severely before. If her other self had realized it so easily, Mary should have been able to as well, if she hadn’t been so focused on keeping the peace.

“…You were created in a lab, weren’t you?” Mary knew that it was wrong of her to drudge up these painful emotions in the other woman, but she needed to show Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin that she cared about her feelings, she was on her side. Even if it stung a bit. “So, you’ve never had something like a party. Or friends to throw it, have you? Not even a birthday party…”

Mary couldn’t imagine what that would be like. To not even have a birthday party thrown for you even once.

Rose had been lavished with praise and adoration from all the other members of the harem and from Nick.

But Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had never gotten anything like that before.

No wonder she’d been upset. No wonder she’d been so jealous.

The poor girl…

A sharp cracking sound startled Mary and she jerked back in surprise.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had punched the wall so hard she’d put a hole clear through the damn thing.

She slowly withdrew her fist- which was completely unharmed- all the while keeping her eyes focused on Mary.

There was a look of fury and contempt in them that Mary had never seen before. It was like the assassin thought Mary had insulted her or something like that, but that was crazy!

“I-I didn’t mean it to sound so… so mean!” Mary shook her head quickly. “I just… uh… wanted to say I was sorry, that you never-”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stomped her foot on the ground and swiftly shook her head back and forth. The veins in her forehead throbbed, and things looked like they were going to take a turn for the ugly.

“Okay, who, hold on a second,” Kim said, stepping between the two of them before things could get any worse. “Let’s all take a breath, okay?”

She turned to Mary first, knowing her friend could be more reasonable than the other girl. “Mary, let’s not say stuff like that to people. I know you’re just trying to help, but it’s obviously distressing her, so… yeah?”

Mary bit her lip and nodded. She knew Kim was right… she’d just been so determined to help the other girl, that she couldn’t help herself.

With that settled, Kim turned to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. The trickier of the two women to mollify.

“…I get why you’re pissed,” she said bluntly.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face softened and she looked at Kim in muted surprise, not expecting a response like that.

Kim shrugged. “I mean… come on,” she said, gesturing to Mary. “Her saying stuff like that about you, I’d be kind of upset, too. It’s like when I’m dealing with Vivian. Sometimes she just says the wrong thing, and I lose my temper.”

Vivian didn’t like being dragged like that to prove Kim’s point, but if it worked, it worked. This was bigger than her pride.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin continued to watch Kim carefully, like she wasn’t sure whether or not she could trust her. And Kim was someone she cared about! That was how sensitive this topic was to her, clearly.

“…Mary doesn’t have the right to drag up your past,” Kim pointed out. “But she really is just trying to help you.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin bit her lip. She looked sharply at Mary, and a shadow crossed her face.

“I’m sorry,” Mary said immediately, seeing the pain in the other girl’s eyes. “I didn’t… I shouldn’t have said that. Talking about how you’ve never even had a birthday party, that wasn’t okay of me to bring up at all.”

Even if she was just trying to help…

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin clearly agreed, judging by the intense expression on her face and the way she furiously shook her head.

Vivian blinked.

“Hey, wait…” she realized, seeing something in the other girl’s expression that she thought maybe Kim and Mary had missed. “They’ve got it all wrong, huh?”

Kim scowled. “Vivian, this isn’t the time for you to butt in,” she said, her voice taking on a warning tone as she looked at the other woman.

But even though Vivian may have been trying to make a good impression on Kim today, she wasn’t going to back down when she was in a situation like this.

Like Mary, she could be very stubborn when she set her mind to it. And the furious nature of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s denials, the intensity of her emotions…

“You’re upset because Mary’s making up a bunch of lies, ain’tcha?” She asked, taking a step closer to the assassin.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened in surprise, and for the first time she looked at Vivian without hostility in her gaze.

“Wh-what?!” Mary gasped. “No! I-I don’t lie!”

Vivian shushed her and took another step closer. “I mean, she’s saying all this stuff about how you didn’t have anybody who cared about you enough to throw a party, about never having so much as a birthday party, but… she’s not telling the truth, is she now?”

Vivian laughed and flashed Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin a smile. “You’ve had birthday parties before, haven’t you?”

Silence filled the hallway as Mary looked at the heiress in shock. Kim was taken aback as well. Neither girl knew what to make of Vivian’s statement. The thought that someone had thrown a birthday party for Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin in the past, that was…

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stared at Vivian with a vacant look in her eyes. Her mouth hung open in disbelief.

Then, slowly, tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes, and her body began to shake. She slowly nodded her head as the tears streamed down her cheeks, to the utter surprise of Kim and Mary.

She… she’s crying? Mary didn’t know what to make of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s tears. Tears like those…

Had she got it wrong?

“I could tell when I saw your expression before,” Vivian said sympathetically. She extended her hand to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “When Mary there mentioned birthday parties. Well… you know? When I was little, nobody ever came to a single one of my birthday parties. Can you believe that?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at the heiress in shock.

“To be clear, I’m not talking about the celebration my dad would throw for me every night on my birthday,” Vivian clarified. “Those were always packed full of folks! A bunch of people I’ve never met before heaping a whole buncha lavish presents on me, singing my praises… …But a birthday party? Streamers, balloons, all that stuff? No, never really had one of those myself. …You ever get the chance to share your birthday cake with somebody, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?”

Vivian was on the verge of tears herself.

The assassin bit her lip and slowly nodded her head. She wiped the wetness from her eyes.

“Was it fun?” Vivian asked her.

Another nod.

Mary felt like such a jerk. But while Vivian was connecting with her roommate for real for the first time, she found that she was perfectly happy with this outcome. As long as Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was happy, this was good enough for her.