When Croissant spoke again, she spoke evenly. Her tone of voice did not falter, even though, in truth, she'd never been more anxious than in this very moment.

"Yith. We need options," she said, simply. At the same time, she reached back and took out her trust sledgehammer. Ol' Reliable.

And points it straight at "Texas."

"Texas" smiles.

Yith clears his throat. He's still sitting down, though with his body turned, he could see the imposter still standing in the doorway and facing all three of them. "Options?" He asked, running more than a few calculations in his head concurrently. "We talk. We can't act without more information."

"H-how did she… how did she get through?" Sora looked around for a weapon she could use. Something blunt, something within reach. She distracted herself by looking around the room for something to be used as a baton, because she didn't want to slow down and give her brain the opportunity to correctly gauge why this complete stranger had just waltzed into the safehouse. She knew, deep down, how it had been so easy. But she didn't want to say it. Yith is the one who speaks up for her.

"Because she looks exactly like Texas," Yith replied, tilting his head as he watched the woman stand there, a dozen meters away from them all. "That's why the security system didn't flag her. The facial recognition…"

"Is this some kinda Arts? An illusion or whatever?" Croissant gripped the handle of her sledgehammer, her knuckles bone-white.

"BUZZ!" The woman who looked exactly like Texas crossed her arms in a big X in front of her chest. "That means you have two more guesses."

"Who are you?" Was Sora's immediate inquiry.

"That's the wrong question," the imposter replied. "You should be asking: are you going to hurt me? And the answer is no. Not unless you do exactly what I say."

"You're suggesting that it's in our best interest to obey you," said Yith, still staring.

"That's right. Let's not make this complicated. I want her to see this," the imposter held up an envelope, small and scarlet, "and then I want her to meet me at 7th and 27th. Simple, right?"

"And those are all of your demands?" Yith asked.

"Yithy, we gotta… we gotta do somethin'. We gotta get Texas." She shook her head with a scowl. "The REAL Texas."

"The REAL Texas! Bah." The imposter took a few steps forward and placed the red envelope onto the table between them, beside the wall. "When she's finished, let her read this. And remember: 7th and 27th. I'll be there all night."

"I understand." Yith nodded. "We'll make sure she gets the message. You may go."

"Go?!" Sora finally decided on picking up a computer keyboard, wielding it over her shoulder like a longsword. "Yith, we can't let her go! What if she tries to kill us?"

"If she wanted to kill us… then she wouldn't have let us see her," Yith said, carefully. He watched as the imposter Texas nodded firmly, and then turned away. In the brief lull, it was easier to see just how much she resembled the true Texas. The woman wore a black jacket, with a crimson triangle printed on the back, inside of which was the icon of a black skull. She wore matching black slacks, and ankle boots. Despite her resemblance to the true Texas, her expression held something eerie and malicious. Something heinous, yet hidden just below the surface. Texas never smiled like that. This was not Texas.

And yet…

"See you soon."

And then she was gone. The sound of her footsteps faded with her departure, simple as that. Half a minute later, Sora drops the computer keyboard to the ground, and she releases the breath she didn't even know she'd been holding in.

"What the HELL was that?"

Croissant clicked her tongue, and adjusted the visor on her head. "Shoot… this is gonna be trouble. Texas ain't never told us she had a twin sis."

"Could that really be Texas's sister? She wouldn't just… keep something like that from us, would she?"

"Lying through omission." Yith cast his gaze back to the computer monitor. "She's under no obligation to share anything personal about her past, ever. All of us are the same. Texas did nothing wrong, but this encounter poses a problem for us. Texas needs to be made aware of what just transpired here."

Croissant walked over and picked up the red envelope that Texas's doppelganger just left behind for her. The Forte was tempted to open the envelope herself, and empty its contents. But… There was something worrisome about all of this. For now, Croissant simply turned the envelope around, finding nothing noteworthy about the slip itself, other than its weight.

"7th and 27th," Sora repeated aloud.

"There's a laundromat there," said Yith, "with rooming on the second floor. A combination laundromat/motel. A few stores… nothing outwardly suspicious."

Croissant looked up from the envelope. "Any traffic?"

"As far as I'm concerned, there aren't any mafia to worry about there. That block is full of legitimate businesses… unless something's changed in the past few days," Yith thought aloud. He winced at the laptop, then sighed to himself.

"Well, as important as this is… I think we ought to let Texas know about this once we're sure she's in a good mood. So… once Exusiai's fallen asleep, we can call her down to take a look at this."

Sora, Croissant, and Yith exchanged glances. Everyone was uncomfortable with this.

"So it's like I said. This is gonna be trouble," said Croissant, "an' if so, we do what we always do."

"Y-yeah," Sora stammered, "if Texas needs our help… we… we've got this."

Yith leaned back in his chair. All of them, help Texas with something like this? Somehow he knew it would be an impossibility. This felt… different. Much too different.

And he didn't know it then, but he was exactly right.