Chapter Text
Kate threw the almost empty disposable cup in the public trash can before entering the abandoned building that had become her temporary home. It was okay, a step down from her place on Coryana, but a step up from Cartwright’s basement. She didn’t have a bed, but she brought a hammock with her that was now set up, both ends tied to separate pillars in her hideout, it was one of the few things she took with her. Her brother, Ocean, gifted her with plant seeds before she left, nothing fancy, only useful stuff like avocados, radishes, pole beans, chamomile flowers, and English lavender flowers. There was not much she could do with the seeds at the moment, she already wasted some of her low spending money on coffee while spying on her sister, she wasn’t about to let herself lose more to get dirt.
She started to set up the rest of her limited supplies in her temporary home. She started with her weapons, taking out her favorite first. It was a Japanese Wakizashi tanto knife that she forged herself, it was her favorite because she forged the gem from her necklace into it. She used the knife to pry open a broken radiator, and removed most of its components before placing her sniper rifle inside the compartment, and closed it. She placed her bags of seeds with the phone that Safiyah gave her under one of the loose floor boards before carving a “S” on the wood and putting it back into place.
Kate then took out her red notebook where she had written details about her sister down, from her back pocket. From her front pocket she took out the receiver that connects with the tracking device she had planted on Beth. She sat on the floor, leaning against a pillar taking notes for hours.
It was Tuesday, from 9:30am to 10:45am Beth was in the Science and Mathematics building at Gotham University, on the south west side of the fourth floor. From 11:00am to 1:45pm she was on the south east side of the second floor, she waited until 2pm and then left to her penthouse at 132 George Street on the east side of floor ten, in the Crows district.
Kate then looked at a previous note at the top of her page, it read “bodyguard” next to it, followed by “Mary Hamilton and Beth?” Kate made a new note to place a tracker on her sister’s bodyguard as well.
“So how do you girls feel about agent Moore?” Jacob asked his daughters while at the dinner table.
“She’s okay I guess” Mary said nonchalantly
“Alright and Beth?”
“Uhm yeah, sure whatever you say” Beth responded, her eyes glued to the mashed potatoes in front of her, scooping them up with her spoon only to let them fall back onto her plate over and over again.
“You okay kiddo?”
“Mumhum” Beth responded, her eyes still fixed on her uneaten food.
“Hey dad do we know any mute people?” Mary asked, earning the gaze of everyone, even Beth.
“What?”
“Well at the coffee shop on campus, we saw someone who seemed familiar but couldn’t tell from where, and they were mute, so I thought defining characteristics and all. So do we?”
“How do you know that this man is mute and not deaf, Mary?” Catherine jumped into the conversation.
“Okay, first of all I said they, trying to not assume gender here, and because when their name was called, they nodded and picked up their coffee.”
“Her name was Kate” Beth finally said
“Gender” Mary asserted not taking the hint
“I would have remembered them if their name was Kate” Beth asserted
“No Mary, I don't think we know her-them.” Jacob quickly corrected himself
The next day all three of the sisters returned to the coffee shop. Kate didn’t plan on wasting more money today, she saw the help wanted sign before she walked in, and she wrote a request for an application on her black notebook. Mary and Beth ordered the same drinks they got the previous day as agent Moore watched them from the entrance. As Kate approached the counter she showed the question written in her notebook to the employee.
“Um well the only positions we have available right now are front of the house, which is mostly just customer service.” The cashier responded, which made Mary’s head turn toward their conversation
Kate nodded her head slightly, as a way of telling the cashier to keep going
“And our customer service jobs require someone with good communication skills, and I don’t feel like you have that.” At that Mary’s jaw dropped, she didn’t even know these people but she was suddenly filled with the overwhelming desire to hug one of them and punch the other.
Kate just simply nodded yet again, this time with a forced smirk and sad eyes. She went to take a seat at one of the tables near the entrance to try and slip a tracker onto her sisters bodyguard but Mary blocked her path.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you, it was messed up” Mary told the stranger “I’m Mary by the way, she/her” Mary said with a smile.
“Kate she/her as well” Kate signed to her step-sister, who didn’t know she was her step-sister
“I’m going to be completely honest, I have no idea what that means,” Mary replied, still smiling.
“Kate she/her” Kate wrote in her book before showing it to Mary.
“Nice to meet you Kate, me and my sister Beth” Mary pointed to her which made Beth feel slightly uncomfortable “we come here almost every morning at this time if you ever want to join us.”
“Thanks, that sounds really nice” Mary saw her write. The pair then walked over to Beth, who still seemed uneasy, and Mary introduced the siblings to each other.
“Kate this is my sister Beth she/her, Beth this is my new friend Kate she/her.” Kate never intended to become friends with her, but it could have its advantages. The twins then shook hands to greet each other, it had been ten years since the last time they touched and Kate felt it, so did Beth but she didn’t know what it was yet. “And this” Mary pointed to Sophie who was now approaching them “is agent Moore, pronouns?” She asked once the bodyguard was close enough.
“Not now” Sophie said to Mary.
“Okay” Mary replied while rolling her eyes
“Who are you?” Sophie turned to Kate before asking.
“Kate she/her” Kate held up the same note she used to introduce herself to Mary
“You have a last name?”
Kate nodded
“Can you say it?” Sophie asked, impatience.
Kate shook her head from side to side.
“Easy there, no need to be aggressive” Mary told Sophie.
“Ya Sophie, chill.” Beth chimed in.
“How do you know my first name?” Sophie asked surprised, during the confusion Kate clipped a tracker onto Sophie’s Crow blazer.
“I look at your file on my dad’s laptop” Beth replied nonchalantly while taking a sip from her frappuccino “What?”
“That’s a huge invasion of my privacy” Sophie responded her gaze cold, not showing any emotions.
“Sohail” Kate ripped the page out of her notebook and placed it on the table the group was gathered around.