Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XV

Kara's footsteps slowed, as her smile faded. "Wait... what?"

Aru could feel Kara's burning stare. "Aru, you need to be completely honest with me. I have no idea how entangled you are with Supermundus, but, you need to tell me everything. Now."

Aru cast a furtive look at the general passersby, and said quietly, "Not here. Not now."

She grabbed Kara's hand, and hurried to the building.

————

Mini and Brynne were already in the apartment when Aru and Kara had reached.

Presumably, they were arguing.

"And you have no idea where Aru is?!" Aru heard Mini demand.

"She hasn't texted, or called, she said she had come back for aspirin!" Brynne said angrily.

"What if she's kidnapped? She could be dead in a ditch, Brynne, Aru has absolutely no impulse control—" Mini fretted, her voice growing more frantic.

Aru decided to open the door, partly to save Mini from suffering an inevitable heart attack, and partly to respond to the mean thing said about her.

"RUDE!" She huffed, opening the door, and crossing her arms.

Mini's eyes narrowed in anger. "Where were y—" Her vehement exclamation was lost when she caught sight of Kara.

"What's the biochemistry teacher doing here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aru cleared her throat to undercut the awkwardness in the room.

"Mini, Brynne.... meet my older sister, Kara."

————

Silence once more. Brynne and Mini stared, dumbfounded.

"Kara? Aru said you went missing a year ago..." Brynne said faintly, her gaze flicking from Aru to Kara and then back to Aru.

Kara cleared her throat, and said, "I wasn't "missing", exactly... I left of my own accord. "Missing" implies I was kidnapped."

"Why did you leave?" Mini asked, crossing her arms.

Kara didn't answer, but Aru did for her. "Supermundus. They were chasing her the same way they're chasing us."

"They still are chasing me. I had to change my identity, uproot my life, hurt my family because of this godforsaken enterprise." Kara's voice didn't have the guilt it had in her office. She sounded determined now. Focused.

"I began working for them when I was eighteen. I left nine years later, unable to report them, since by then, I had helped them commit crimes too. They put a hit out on me, I had to disappear."

Kara took a deep breath, before sinking into an armchair.

She twisted her fingers like a cradle. "I found out what they were doing, and tried to take them down. I was working with Subala Shakhuni before he was... you know." She made a finger pistol and mimed setting it off.

Aru felt sick. Her sister... had to go through all that.

Mini's mouth was set in a grim line, but her eyes glimmered.

"You've worked for Supermundus, right?" She asked, looking Kara straight in the eye—dark brown meeting gold.

Kara nodded.

"So you must know quite a few things going on, right?"

Kara nodded once more, and said, "But it was never enough to convict them. We didn't have evidence. Plus, the NYPD..." she trailed off.

"We're familiar with them," Mini said darkly.

"But, don't you see?! You know loads about Supermundus, so maybe we can get hard evidence on them, enough for them to be convicted!" Mini finished excitedly.

Aru felt her mental wheels turn and click.

She felt a smile twitch onto her face, and said, "Ladies, I hereby declare this investigation... REOPENED!"

Kara smiled, and said, "Is it weird that I missed this part of Aru the most?"

Mini, who had pulled out her phone, nodded gravely. "Very."