A gentle breeze worked its way over the garden, touseling Ishtar's hair as it hung loosely around her shoulders. A few petals drifted past, carried by the wind. She rest her hands in her p, Levi sittio her attentively as she waited. She could feel the suing against her neck, the light tingling withiiny glittering particles in her skin. She kept her head up, her eyelids shut. The bandages were gone. She wondered for a moment what she looked like, sitting there in that wheelchair. A narcissistic thought, but it carried with it a spark of imagination that was tantalizing. She wanted her eyes back soon.

  The gss slid open again and two sets of feet came out. Marta’s and a new sound, dired even strides with a small hint ency to them. Restrained. She’s holding herself back. How iing that someone’s mood or state of mind be picked out by their footsteps. I should keep this in mind iure, she thought. Her head turowards the sound and her lips spread into an easy smile. She and Sonya had an agreement o talk aloud about me, about Sonya’s role as Ishtar. It was dangerous for both of them.

  Ishtar kept her expressiole and rexed, She doesn’t know that we split. Let’s keep it that way. Time for a performance.

  “...Sonya?” Car’s voice had a slight tremble to it, breathless, almost awestruck.

  “Chairwoman!” Ishtar said brightly, breaking into a winning smile, “It’s been a while. Do you like my new pce?’ she raised her good hand aured around herself, “I’d give you the tour but, you know,” she trailed off and waved her hand in front of her eyes, “A blind tuide is pretty sh-”

  She was cut off by the sound of heels g against the ground and drawing rapidly near. Levi rose a out a growl but before even the familiar could react, arms were ed around her neck. Lips pressed against hers. She was startled for a moment, a tension rising iomach that she didn’t quite prehend but knew she had to put up a good act. She returhe kiss as best she could, keeping it soft and chaste. When their lips parted she felt a hand rise to her cheek and brush back her hair.

  “From afar you were breathtaking but,” Car said before swallowing hard, “You look terrible, darling.”

  “Do I?” Ishtar asked, tilting her head towards the retreating heels of Marta and the sound of the door shutting. She turned her head back to Car, “Marta’s very good with make-up, so I figured I would look at least presentable.”

  Car didn’t respht away, she just held Ishtar’s fa her hands. What is she looking for?

  “Your face, you look so… weary,” she said softly before sliding bad taking one of Ishtar’s hands, she kissed her knuckle, “I’m so sorry it took so long for me to e see you. I-”

  Ishtar reached up and touched the woman’s face, expl her features with her hands, she rahumb beh the woman’s eyes and along her cheek. Her lips quirked into her best approximation of one of Sonya’s sardonic grins, “Speak for yourself, when was the st time you slept?” she asked.

  Car went quiet and Ishtar felt a bit of heat against her fingers. Blushing? Why isn’t she saying anything? Is she expeg me to say something? Their dynamic is…

  “Car?” Ishtar asked, putting a bit of warning into her tone, “When did you st sleep?”

  “Two hours, yesterday,” the woman muttered.

  “Two hours?” Ishtar balked, “You’re lucky I don’t send you to bed right now!”

  She felt the woman rex a little uhe rebuke. If she had eyes, Ishtar would have rolled them. Masochists, I’ll never uand them, Ishtar thought irritably, Damn you Sonya and your ‘tastes’. She pined before pulling her hands away from the woman's face. Car wilted a little at the ck of touch but said nothing, just staying where she was. Ishtar reached down and brushed against the colr the woman always wore, her fingers stopping over the gemstone.

  “You’re so quiet,” Car ented, “Are you angry with me?”

  I don’t feel anything for you either way, Ishtar thought, You’re speaking to the wrong woman.

  “Of course not,” Ishtar said instead, “It has been a long few days. My body is… rec still. It is going to take some time before I am able to heal fully.”

  Car hesitated for a moment, Ishtar could feel the woman looking around, examining her surroundings before she spoke; “Even with your other abilities?” she asked hesitantly.

  Ishtar resisted the urge to frown, “I will be fine,” she reassured her, “Amos says he has a solution for my eyes and I have found some inroads towards fixing the damage doo my body. I will be bay feet in no time.”

  The chairwoma out a sigh of relief, “That’s good,” she said, resting her hands on Ishtar’s p, “Maybe its because you’re tired, but you seem different today,” Car said, “Maybe I’m tired.”

  “You are tired,” Ishtar shot back, “How bad is it?”

  Car forced out a ugh, “I suppose you’re right,” she said and the out a sigh, “It’s bad, Sonya, really bad. The eernational unity wants a war, even the US is ready to send troops to Mississippi. Heroes are on edge and Vilins are running rampant, they were emboldened by the prison break,” she reached up and squeezed Ishtar’s hands, “Was that- I mean- I shouldn’t ask, right?” she murmured.

  “It was that or lose millions more,” Ishtar said quietly, “A choice was made.”

  Car rested her head against the back of Ishtar’s hands, “I know, it worked acc to Bck Lotus, but nobody’s going to thank you for it,” she said. Ishtar felt lips on her knuckles araihe urge to shiver, the ractically worshipped Sonya. To someone who respected only pride and strength like herself, it was… uling. She did not want her subordio treat her this way.

  She swallowed back her thoughts and pressed for more information, “So the war hasn’t broken out yet?”

  “It’s almost iable at this point, everyone’s shouting but nobody really wants it to happen, even after Tokyo. Liberty could do it again for all we know, blow up the south or something. We’ve sent ultimatums to her, demanding that she step down and surrender. At the very least a war crimes trial rather than throwing troops and heroes at her, or at least e to the iating table to see what be done,” Car said, “She even respohis time with ditions about talks.”

  That was a surprise. Ishtar raised her eyebrows, “She responded?”

  “Yes,” Car said and she felt the woman look up at her, “What she’s asking for is pletely unreasonable.”

  “What does she want?”

  She hesitated and squeezed Ishtar’s hands again, “She wants the talks to be held in Abama, close to her territory. She wants you to be there so she see you, she’s g that you’re lying about her people attag you,” she began while fidgeting with Ishtar’s fingers.

  “Surprising, I would have expected her to take credit,” Ishtar ented.

  “Me too,” Car said before clearihroat, “She um, she also wants a certain high profile supervilin to be there,” she trailed off awkwardly, “Ishtar.”

  Ishtar barked out a cold ugh, “Really now?” she chortled, “How iing! I wonder what her angle is. It smells like a trap to me,” she said thoughtfully, “That’s hirious.”

  “You think it's funny?” Car blurted, “Sonya, this is beyond serious. If we get her to sit down to talk, maybe we avoid at least a war. There has to be some kind of hope that level of violence be avoided,” she insisted, “What’s gotten into you?”

  Ah, I seem to have made a mistake. Would Sonya not have found the situation amusing? Yes, she would have, she frowned, But she would have measured the response, given the circumstances, I went too far.

  “Your whole way of talking is weird too,” Car said, pulling her hands away, “You’re so formal, it’s cold. The way you’re sitting, how calm you are, just… everything. It doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t uand why you’re ag like this. It’s like you’re a pletely different persht now!”

  Ishtar was taken aback, Observant. Though a romantic partner would be more atteo small details, she reasoned, Do I deflect? Ishtar pursed her lips a little, No, she’s too focused on it now. Ah, what a blunder. She thought and opened her mouth to speak before shutting it agaihroat tightening. Right. Lies aren’t an option.

  “Sonya?” Car said hesitantly, “Did you just-”

  Troublesome. I suppose the game is over.

  “Sonya?”

  Ishtar turo face the woman, her expression cold even with her eyes shut. Her lips set in a line, her hands in her p and her jaw set. She said nothing as she heard the woman take a few hesitant steps backwards.

  “...Sonya?’ Car croaked.

  Ishtar let out a sigh and shook her head.

  “Y-You aren’t Sonya,” Car stammered, “Who are you? What did you do with Sonya?”

  It sounded like the woman was about to cry. She heard the click of something and she air. Levi growled and she lowered her hand to stall the hound. Ishtar tilted her head to the right and spoke in quiet warning, “Whatever that is, put it down, you’re upsetting Levi. Chairwoman.”

  “N-not until you tell me who you are!” she half-sobbed half-shouted.

  Ishtar’s voice was a bde of ice, a heavy hammer, and a fiery biblical testament all in one. Blood curdling and final in a way that elicited imaginings of a headsman's axe.

  “You know my name, Chairwoman.”

  Something heavy cttered to the ground and Levi darted forward. He returo Ishtar and pced the weight in her p. Ishtar ed her fingers around it and smiled, “You were given this after your predecessor died,” Ishtar murmured, running her fingers along the guh, “They told you to keep it with you at all times. You hought that you would have to draw it here of all pces.”

  “Ishtar,” Car breathed, “But you- Sonya-”

  “Sonya’s mental strain was far more signifit than you realize,” Ishtar said, “I have been around for quite some time. Chairwoman. You maintained a borderline ignorance of the situation, with the two of you never openly speaking of me, but you knew.”

  “I knew Ishtar was a role she pyed,” Car said sharply, “Not… this.”

  Ishtar frowned, “This isn’t her fault, and I would advise you to be more careful in how you speak about it around her if you know what’s good for you, Chairwoman. I promised to protect that silly girl from any and all harm and if that includes you I am more than capable of doing so, even in this miserable state.”

  “You… promised?” Car asked.

  “Yes,” Ishtar said, her tohick with chilly warning, “And you of all people should know what that means. I have all of her abilities, for both good and ill.”

  There was a long pause, a silehat seemed to stretch out as the woman’s hasty breathing slowed. Finally, though, she stepped forwards and stopped in front of Ishtar. Ishtar tilted her head up with a frown. Her fingers ed around the gun in her p. This woman. I knew she was too sensitive, if she tried to hurt Sonya’s body I will- she felt a hand touch her cheek, it was… warm. Ishtar cleared her throat and the woma back down to where she had been throughout the earlier part of the versation.

  “I’m sorry,” Car said with surprising siy, “I don’t… fully uand this.”

  Ishtar scowled, “What is there to misuand?” she demanded, “Sonya threw her morals and what amounts to her soul aside in order to save you people,” Ishtar growled, “The pressure of a world on her shoulders, visions of an apocalypse, nightmares every night, the ramifications of her as on her psyche,” Ishtar tilted her head, “Something had to give.”

  “Then you’re still her, in a way.”

  Ishtar turned her head away, “Barely, I am my own person for the most part now. I share memories with her, we talk, I observe. I prefer to avoid social entas so she remains at the fore.”

  Car’s hand froze, “Then why are you out now?’

  “Because Tokyo was a blow too far,” Ishtar said, “She’s… rec.”

  The womaed her head in Ishtar’s p again and Ishtar felt somethi and hot drip down the back of her hand. “I should have been there more for her,” Car croaked, the grief thi her voice. Ishtar wondered what it must feel like to feel that way, it sounded painful. She tried to imagine failing Sonya so pletely that silly girl was gone forever. Perhaps perspective is necessary, she thought as something welled up in her chest, a choking feeling that made her hair stand on end. It hurt. It ached. She hated that feeling. It was agony.

  Ishtar raised her good haantly aed it on Car’s head, “You-” she began before clearihroat, “Sonya will recover. I’m keeping an eye on her.”

  She felt the woman sit up and look at her, “You sound more like a big sister than a split personality. You two are so… different.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” Ishtar said with a small smile, “Have you calmed down?”

  Car sniffed, “Y-yes, I think so.”

  “Then take yun, I don’t want it,” Ishtar said ftly and poio the heavy on in her p. She felt Car snatch it up, heard a click of the saftey re-engaging and the shuffle of her putting it away. Ishtar shook her head, “You’re lucky Marta wasn’t watg. Though I suppose your rea was… uandable.”

  “I’m sorry,” Car said mutely, “I thought you were a shapeshifter or something. The thought of kissing someone wearing her face like that was… it was too much.”

  Ishtar snorted, “Far be it from me to judge you for a slip that didn’t do any harm,” Ishtar pointed out with a shrug, “I would ask that going forward, now that you know, you refrain from kissing me when I am in trol. I reciprocated to keep up the act for your be but I don’t particurly enjoy physical affe.”

  “...oh, oh my gosh,” Car wheezed, “I’m so sorry.”

  “And stop apologizing, I hate that,” Ishtar grumbled, “You’re the leader of the anization I nominally oppose, show some bae, girl.”

  “You’re a hard woman,” Car said with a weak ugh.

  “I’m a supervilin, a proper one,” Ishtar said ftly, “That es with a certain level of pride and de.”

  “I see,” Car said quietly, “So what now?”

  “Well,” Ishtar said thoughtfully and broke into a smile she imagined might have looked signifitly less sinister with Sonya behind it, “Why don’t you tell me about this invitation Liberty so graciously extended.”