just an everyday girl.....,

Well, i'm not sure how to attach files, so i'll post the next installment here like the rest.
This, she knew, was why she had such trouble getting and keeping interns. The last one she had with any staying power had left during the rebellion. Holi couldn't blame her, she knew she had left to follow her partner. Her blind devotion was reminiscent of her relationship with Deborah when they were young; despite the distances of adulthood, she supposed, it was still reminiscent of their relationship.
“Are you going to speak?” she asked the now silent interruption, never looking up from her work. “There's a man outside, looking for mother.” “Assuredly, my dear, under this mask I do not look like Mother.” There was a particularly difficult connection that was troubling her, the electronic synapses that functioned the scent receptors. This was necessary for the medicine to accurately identify the poison from the good tissue, but each pill would disintegrate after only one use due to the receptor's introduction to the corrosive liquid.
“yes, I know. When the guard at the gate informed him that mother would not see him, however, he asked for her partner. When she informed him that mother didn't have a partner, he insisted that he see the woman in the mask then. Keturah thought he must know you then, and called in.”
“You don't need to be someone important to know I wear a mask.”
she was toying with an organic compound that might act as a resin covering the receptors. It was delicate work applying it however. “Tell him to call in and make an appointment if he wants to hire our services.”
“That's what Keturah told him. He is refusing to leave though. He keeps saying that if we would only tell you or mother that it's Daniel, you will see him.”
“i know many daniel's. I don't particularly care to see any of them right now.” there, the resin was applied, and once it dried it would be placed in a tank of acid to ascertain durability. Finally, she turned to look at her assistant. She could see the girl cringing slightly, and made a mental note to replace her. Assistants weren't useful if they were visibly afraid of you. That was part of why she had first bonded so with Vashti, who had seen through her from the start. She remembered the first time she'd met the girl, only eleven. She had come for a physical, looked at her with large inquisitive eyes, and queried, “why do you think people are afraid of you?” “amused by the question, she had responded, 'I guess because i'm scary.” “well”, and it was here that she became first acquainted with the mischievous smile she would later know so well, “i don't think so. So i'm not going to be scared. i've decided to like you, and .i don't change my mind.” “We shall see,” holi had intoned ominously, but inside she'd been delighted. It had been her plan to make Vashti her assistant, but the girl had proven so adept at the family's greater work that she couldn't be spared. Instead, slowly, Holi had grown to love her almost as a daughter. She could still see her, as she grew, perching on the edge of the exam table, ebony hair thrown back carelessly and eyes afire with excitement as she described the intimate details of her last night's work. Or smiling slyly as she purposely teased Holi, and then laughing outright as she pulled a flung knife from the wall. “How do you not react at all when I do that,” Holi had asked one night, deftly catching the hilt on the engraved piece Vashti tossed back. She liked to throw knives, when she was truly angry it vented frustration and when she was in a good mood it was fine sport. Yet even Deborah flinched ever so slightly, after all their years of partnership. It was human. Vashti, however, did not, and this puzzled the scientist within her. “i know, Hols, that you would never hurt me. So I don't need to be afraid.” With that she'd jumped off the table, and kissed the cold glass of Holi's cheek. “i'm wiped though. Best off to sleep with me, more death and destruction tomorrow.” In her memory, Oholibah froze that moment for the thousandth time, examining the careless wave and wide smile for any sign, any glimpse she'd missed of what was to come. For the thousandth time, she saw none.
“Doctor?” Few in the family received the honor of knowing her name. Her culture believed in hiding faces and real names from all but the closest family and friends. Though she'd abandoned her people and planet years ago, she could bring herself to abandon the culture that had identified her during her young life. At the moment, the fact that this particular whelp's strident and nervous tones had shattered her private revelry not only reinforced the idea that this girl would never be in that private circle, but also solidified her resolution to replace her as soon as possible. Which wouldn't make mother very happy; she'd passed her on to Holi partially because the girl was a very inept fighter. “What do you want me to do? How do we make someone leave, when he won't?”
Holi clenched her jaw, almost tangibly swallowing the caustic retort, “you're a member of the universe's most feared assassin clan. It's sad that you have no recourse for convincing someone to leave.” Instead she stood, deciding that to get out of her new assistant's presence at the moment was probably in both of their best interests. “Tell Keturah that i'll be right there.”
Chapter 4
Daniel tried to squelch the shudders threatening to course through his frame. He shouldn't have come, but he had felt a face to face meeting would be his best chance of success. Still, though he had known what Deborah did, he had never had to face it. Standing here, facing down a young woman who he knew would need no gun to stop him if he made one wrong move, he wondered if this might be the stupidest move he had ever made. He looked at the slick black sphere in front of him, completely smooth, unmarred by any visible window or door. It was clearly intended to disconcert anyone who came, as was the tall woman glaring at him, her uniform appearance of black mask and suit stripping her of any visible humanity. Logically, he could reason that were she a senior member she wouldn't have acted as uncertain as she had thus far in their interactions. Then again, logically, he knew that even the most inexperienced sisters could kill him before he could protest. The best could do it before he even thought to be afraid.
The girl, clad in a form fitting black leather with no adornments and the black tiger's head mask which fueled so many nightmares, suddenly spoke. He knew she was not speaking to him, as she spoke in a language Deborah had once told him no one in the galaxy could speak but the sisters. He had asked how she knew no one had ever cracked it, teasing. She had replied, deadpan, that anyone who had was already dead, and this kept most others from even trying. Even the girls voice was designed to instill fear, low and monotone, processed carefully through the mask to allow room for no emotion, no human connection. He shuddered again when this voice was suddenly directed to him, in the common language.
“One of our leaders is coming to see you. If mother doesn't know you as well as you say, I would flee prior to her arrival.”
“i ought to have fled long ago,” he chuckled wryly.
“Probably.” She responded, shrugging her shoulders noncommittally. He knew her nonchalance wasn't feigned. To her, he felt certain, it made no difference whether he lived or died. She had tried to warn him. Ignoring this was his choice.
If he had thought before that he was frightened, the apparition which emerged a moment later through a hole which seemingly materialized in mid air convinced him that he hadn't known what the emotion was. She was dressed exactly as the guard had been, except for the mask. Where the tigers head normally was, a black hood attached to velvet cloak, and hung low over a shadowed face. When her head lifted, to peruse him, though, was when his stomach dropped. In place of a face was a pure white canvas, molded in the shape of a human visage but lacking the distinguishing markers of humanity. The effect was as of a marble statue come to life, solid and unfeeling. “Sister.” Even in speech, though the marble lips parted, no throat shone through. Her voice was the same as the others, dry, inhuman. “Doctor.” The girl responded. “Is this the man?” She had turned away from him, and spoke of him as if he weren't there. He didn't dare argue. “Yes, doctor. He claims mother will want to speak with him.” “Do we allow people to walk in and demand to see us?” He could, for the first time, see emotion from the girl, as she shirked away in what must be fear. “No, doctor.” He felt there must be a reason why the more senior member was speaking the basic language, probably to humiliate the girl in front of him. “It is good that this man is not dangerous. If he were, and you left him within our perimeter, it would not be him you had to fear.” “Yes, doctor.” “Now alert the family that we have a non-hostile who will be escorted through the halls between the gate and mother's office.” “Yes, doctor.” Only then did the statue turn his direction. “You are fortunate, sir, that it was not someone more experienced on guard duty today. Come with me.” With that, she turned and disappeared. For just a moment, Daniel wondered if he really wanted to follow her into the blackness. Muttering a prayer under his breath, he walked through the door.