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Paying just one little visit to the Institute wasn't going to hurt, right?
Kate clutched the keychain in her hands tightly.
It wasn't like revisiting it threatened her life at all.
The Emergency was over. The Institute was completely empty, at least, to her own knowledge.
"Curtain must be far away from it, at least." she thought to herself.
"He's somewhere else, doing who knows what."
It's not even like she had any reason to go back there. No danger to defeat, no rooms to break into, no reason to do what she does best: outsmarting the shit out of those bad guys.
But her curiosity almost always got the best of her.
And part of her wanted to stop herself. After all, last time she let that happen, she fell off a cliff and almost died.
At least, she wasn't going to go without help again.
"Why do you want to go back to that horrible hellhole again anyways?" Constance asked, and Kate realized she hadn't explained just why exactly she wanted to go back.
"Why do you care- I mean, yeah! Yeah. I'll elaborate. I owe it to you." she sputtered out. She was going to have to get out of the habit of not letting anyone help her.
She took a deep breath in.
"So, unless I'm not being informed of things, which would be odd because I'm essentially an important asset of this group, we don't actually know what happened to the other kids from the Institute."
"S.Q. must have left with Curtain. After all, I mean, that's his son. But you're right, we don't know anything.. I didn't even think about that. ", Reynie pointed out. "Those kids might have been a bit mean, but none of them deserve the brainsweeper.. or worse."
"So you guys wanna come with me and uh.. figure out where they are?" Kate asked.
Sticky's hands trembled at the thought of the brainsweeper. "I- Yeah. We'll come. I owe that to you because I let you break into the server farm by yourself."
"Relax, George. She forgave you a loooooooooongggg time ago." Constance whined.
"I'm coming too, Kate. I think you're gonna need us on this one. We won't let you go alone." Reynie said.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaanddd what about youuuuuu, Constance?" Kate asked, giddily.
There was a long silence in the room as Constance thought about her answer.
"..So?" The kids were growing impatient. "Your answer?"
And finally, she opened her mouth to speak, and chuckled.
"….Kate. You miss Martina, don't you."
Kate went bright red. "W-What makes you think that?"
"She gave you that tetherball chain thingy.. and you're holding it. Right now."
"So? What if it gives me comfort? What if I'm comforted by the idea of being friends with a-"
Constance groaned loudly. "I don't get you. Martina has a brain the size of a pea and an ego the size of not your average elephant. But I'll come, if it makes you shut up."
Kate let out a sigh of relief.
"I…I do NOT talk about her that much. I swear. But uh, thanks guys. Really means a lot."
"No problem, Kate. We're going there, whether we get out dead or alive." Sticky said.
"..Alive, George.", Constance yelled.
"..Aw crud.. alive, yes. Alive."
Once the society arrived to the Institute, Kate decided they'd split up to look for people.
This was mainly an excuse.
She wanted to be able to confront Martina by herself, without anyone watching.
And something in her head just told her that if she was anywhere on this campus, she'd be on the tetherball field.
So she waited there. And it felt like hours until she finally heard that familiar voice she'd been missing.
"Wetherall."
Kate quickly turned back to look at Martina.
"Oh, hey Martina!"
Martina looked back sternly.
"..What are you doing here?"
"Uhhh.. for practice? I just maybe thought I'd-"
"School's closed up. No reason to bring yourself here. I'm here to clean things up, actually."
Kate sat there awkwardly, fidgeting with her fingers. How else was she going to explain that she actually came here to see her?
Well, there was no point in hiding it anymore. She was going to go for it. They didn't call her Kate "The Great" for no reason. Her fears were not going to get the best of her.
"You know, uh, Martina, I actually came here to apologize. For uh.. accidentally framing you."
Martina turned to face her.
Kate looked away.
"So.. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, or betray you. I was on a mission! Trust me, I-"
"Kate."
"I've always wanted to be your friend, I didn't mean to frame you, I really didn't-"
"Kate."
"I didn't mean to use you, or take advantage of our friendship, it's not like that, I swear-"
"Kate! Listen to me!"
Kate looked back at her. "Martina, I'm really so-
Martina pulled her into a hug.
"Shut up, nerd. You're forgiven."
"I- Wait, really? I haven't even explained myself yet-"
"Doesn't matter, Wetherall. You and your little roommate weren't being very vague about it, after all."
"Ah, damn it. "
Martina pulled away and sighed.
"Actually, I think I need to apologize. Which is.. new, considering I've never tried being nice to anyone but you in my entire life. It's.. understandable why people disliked me. I might have gotten a little out of hand. But, I'm just gonna say it.. I'm sorry, Kate. I never even stopped to consider that my Messenger duties were hurting people. You were trying to save the world, and I contributed to the end of it. I was so focused on staying at the top, that I had no idea we were bound to fall anyways."
Kate giggled.
"How poetic. No worries though. I know you didn't know. After all, you guys were all just students under Curtain's control, and he's a really powerful manipulator, so I really don't blame you."
Martina smiled softly at her.
"Thank you.. you know, I meant what I said back at the tower. You're the best friend I've ever had. A person of honor."
"I know. I definitely heard you say that.", Kate responded. "This is all new to me too, I don't think I even made friends back at the circus."
"Wait, a circus?" Martina laughed.
"Yes, a circus. I ran away from the orphanage after my father left to join the circus." Kate giggled.
"..I'm only gonna believe that because it's you."
Kate snorted. "What have you been doing here, anyways? Where's all the other kids?"
"I.. don't know. All that I know is that I didn't wanna go wherever Curtain went. Obviously he needed his precious Messengers to help him. He was using me. So, I'm just chilling here."
"..Are you alright, over here? It's really just you?" Kate asked.
"Enough with the sympathy, Wetherall. It's not ideal, but I'm okay. Been better, I'd say, but I don't think I've ever really been happy with my life before. I'm honestly better off without that wretched top student title." Martina chuckled.
Kate looked at her friend, concerned.
"..I'm not buying that whole "I'm okay" ordeal you've got going on. Are you sure you don't just wanna go back with me and the rest of the Society? I'm sure Benedict would be more than willing to take you in."
"..You'd really be willing to take me?" Martina asked.
"..Yeah. I would."
Martina sat there for a second, trying to process the information.
"..I can start getting my things packed then! It's a deal. I'll get going. Thank you, Kate." Martina smiled.
"No problem, Martina. It's honestly the least I could do after everything. I'll see you in a bit, then?"
"Yeah. I'll see you."
Kate waved as she started to take off.
But Martina turned back to her.
"Oh, one last thing, before I forget."
Martina pressed a light kiss onto Kate's cheek.
"You're the best, Wetherall."
And off she went, with that usual confident walk she had whenever it was Thursday or whenever she had Messenger duty. Except this time, it was genuine pride.
Kate sat there, stunned.
Somewhere in the distance, Constance stood watching, when this happened.
Her mouth went wide.
"GEORGE! WHERE'S MY 10 BUCKS?"