Walking up the stairs, they passed several floors filled with apartments that were used as the living spaces for Sanctuary. They encountered no people, as most people were sleeping at this hour; the only ones awake were on the ground floor for security purposes.
It wasn't very comfortable in these apartments, as at least three people were living in each of them, despite only being designed for two people at most. But it was still much better than living on the street, not to mention a lot safer.
They kept walking until they reached the top floor, where Nova had an apartment all on her own. In fact, the entire floor was Nova's. All the other apartments on her floor had been rebuilt for several community purposes: interrogation, meetings, and a few had been merged to create a sort of cinema.
They walked to the end of the hallway, where Nova knocked on a door and waited while Alita smiled happily.
In fact, she was happy; after all, it wouldn't be long before she and her sister could stop pretending and finally be sisters again. For years now, they barely had any contact as sisters, as Nova wanted to prevent any more rumours from spreading.
But Alita hated it; she wanted her sister back, and now, she finally had an opportunity to make it a reality.
The door opened to reveal a beautiful woman who bore some resemblance to Alita but not enough that anyone would think they were related.
She clearly had no trouble showing her body, at least to other women, as she was almost naked apart from some panties and a crop top showing her toned stomach with a slight six-pack.
She had dark red hair in a long ponytail, something she did on purpose to make herself look distinct from Alita's short hair, despite the fact it made fighting harder.
Her face was gorgeous but not as cute as Alita's. Instead, it was mature and cold, like she had seen the worst humanity had to offer and came out the other end.
She was a little taller than Alita, at 1.8m (5'11) and was generally just more voluptuous, with larger breasts, thighs and ass. That said, she still looked very athletic, with every part of her body toned and perky.
Despite finally seeing the sister she had been worried to death about, she remained stoic, only possible because she had already been informed about her sister's return and had already used a few minutes to calm down,
"Alita, there you are. I generally don't like when people return after two days or more, but since we're still a few hours away from actually reaching 48 hours, we can forego the interrogation for now.
I will still require an explanation, however. And what are those clothes? Nola, you live with Alita, don't you? Go and grab some of her clothes, would you?"
Nola quickly nodded, "Will do, Boss!" Before she prodded Alita's side while whispering, "Good luck."
Alita smirked as Nola walked away, and Nova invited her inside.
When they were inside, Nova had her back turned to Alita while Alita looked around and said, "It's been a while since I was in here. When was the last time you and I were able to be alone, just the two of us? Huh, big sister?"
Instead of answering, Nova turned around, showing a livid expression, "Damn you, Alita! I thought I lost you. Why didn't you listen to me!"
Alita was genuinely surprised at her sister's emotional outburst, as it had been a long time since she last saw anything but her stone-cold side.
Alita smirked, "Wow, sis. It's been so long since I've seen anything but that stone mask that I'd almost forgotten what you looked like angry."
This only seemed to aggravate Nova, "Can you take this seriously!? I don't know what happened to you out there, but your health monitor went haywire and only recently has it turned back to somewhat normal numbers. Don't you know how worried I was!?"
Suddenly, she got quiet and seemed almost scared, "A- And what about your clothes? You weren't, you know?"
Alita smiled despite the fact that her sister was angry; she enjoyed seeing Nova show some emotion again after so long. Besides, she knew she was only angry out of love.
So, instead of answering, Alita walked closer to Nova and hugged her, "I'm fine, big sis. And no, I wasn't raped." While inwardly thinking, 'Not exactly, anyway.' Before continuing,
"I'll tell you everything that happened, but calm down first, okay?" She smirked, "You don't want to show Nola you have actual emotions, right?"
Nova had carefully maintained her cold personality over the years, and only two people had ever seen her show much emotion, Alita and Molly, with Molly also being the only person in Sanctuary who knew Alita and Nova were sisters and the one who reported any updates from Alita's health monitor to Nova.
But even then, it had been a while since Alita and Nova could be so close to each other.
Nova hugged her sister tighter and asked, a little strained, "Are you really fine?"
"Better than ever!" She replied, while inwardly thinking about all the dirty things Ivar would do to Nova and wondering if he'd let her join in.
They broke up when they heard a knock on the door, causing Nova to turn around and calm down a little while Alita went to open the door, revealing Nola with some of Alita's clothes in hand.
Nola looked past Alita at Nova's back and smirked, "Need any backup?"
Alita took her clothes and shook her head with a smile, "I'm fine. The boss is really a sweetheart on the inside."
Nola rolled her eyes and whispered, afraid Nova might hear her, "Sure she is."
Alita snickered, "I'll tell her you said that."
Frightened like a little rabbit, Nola jumped back, "Don't you dare! I can't believe I hoped for your safe return!"
Suddenly, Nova appeared next to Alita, seemingly having recovered her stone mask and asked, "Tell me what?"
Alita smiled, "Oh, Nola was just saying what an amazing boss you are, and she hopes to be like you one day."
Nova raised an eyebrow and looked at Nola, "Is that so?"
Seeing Nola nod her head like a chicken eating grain, Nova said, "Well, train hard, and you'll get there. Regardless, thank you for the clothes; you should get back to the guard post now. I'll get Alita's story on my own."
Quickly shooting a grateful look towards Alita, Nola quickly nodded before she made her escape, "Yes, boss!"
After Nola was gone, Nova looked at Alita, "So what did she actually say?"
Alita rolled her eyes, "Nothing you wouldn't be perfectly happy with. She was just questioning your inner sweetness."
Not losing her stoic expression, she said, "I have plenty of inner sweetness. Now go and get out of those… what are those, anyway? And put something more comfortable on."
Alita mock saluted, "Yes, ma'am, boss-lady, ma'am. Also, what do you have against these clothes? I made them myself using clothes intended for a large man. Don't tell me I have no future in clothing design?"
Inwardly bursting with happiness that nothing happened during Alita's adventures to dampen her spirit but outwardly remaining stoic, Nova rolled her eyes, "Enough with your antics and get going."
But Alita didn't go yet and instead smiled, "I'll go but on one condition."
Nova looked suspiciously at her sister, "What?"
Still smiling, Alita answered, "It's been so long since we could be alone together. How about I tell you everything while we make dinner together like we used to? I'm sure you ate already, but I could really use some food myself."
Nova sighed and actually broke her mask to smile, "Sure, that sounds nice, Alita. I've actually not been able to eat much since you disappeared, so I'm a little hungry now aswell."
Alita clapped her hands, dropping the clothes she was carrying, "Yay!"
Honestly, while she mostly intended to use this sweet family moment of cooking together to dose her sister's meal with sleeping pills, she was also happy to do these things together with her again.
However, instead of causing her to feel guilt, it only increased her determination to follow Ivar's orders. After all, although they could cook together now, it would probably be a long time before they could do so again normally.
But by having Nova join her in servitude, they could spend more time together!
Then she started thinking about cooking naked together with Nova while Ivar watched, and she gained a perverted smile as she rubbed her thighs together, causing Nova to look at her weirdly, "Alita? You okay?"
Quickly shaking herself free from these perverted thoughts and storing them away for later, she picked up the clothes from the floor and went to the bathroom, "I'm fine, big sis! I'll go change. Can you pick out something to make that we have ingredients for?"