Ch. 54 | New Beginning 12: Girl Behind the Door 2

I looked around the room again, finally shifting my attention away from Alysa and taking a better look at the others. Maya had gone rigid beside me, one hand still wrapped around my arm. Marcus looked pissed enough to bite through steel, while Narun had dropped his gaze toward the floor with the exhausted expression of someone who had already lived through this exact scene for too many times. Even Oba, sitting off to the side as usual, seemed quieter than before.

Seeing them like that only made the anger crawling beneath my skin worse.

I pulled slightly against Maya's grip. “Don't worry about it. I'll deal with her, and then we can get back to training.”

Maya's fingers immediately tightened around my arm.

Across the room, Alysa stared at me as though I'd just announced that I planned to fight the ceiling. “You'll deal with me?” She didn't even sound angry, more like surprised or dumbfounded.

“Yurui,” Maya whispered.

“What?” I glanced at her, but her grip only tightened further.

“You don't understand. She's our—”

“Vice captain,” Marcus cut in from behind us, the words dripping with enough sarcasm that I almost expected them to materialize out of thin air and hit the floor.

Alysa's face brightened instantly. She tapped the small insignia pinned to her shirt and lifted her chin. “Exactly. Vice captain. Important person. Me.”

There was something almost impressive about the amount of smugness she managed to pack into those few words.

She wagged a finger at the rest of us. “Which means if I say watch duty is nap duty, then it's nap time. That's called effective leadership.”

I stared at her for a moment.

Maevis really hadn't been exaggerating the stories, if anything, she might have undersold them a little.

“Okay, so you’re the vice captain. That doesn’t mean you get to go around treating everyone else like they’re little ants beneath your feet.” I said, a little surprised by how confident I sounded.

Alysa blinked. “I don’t?”

My fingers started trembling with frustration, and I clenched them into fists before I could do something stupid that I would come to regret later. I swear to God, she might actually be the most insufferable person I had ever met.

I’d spent years imagining what I might say if I ever stopped lowering my head and walking away, if I ever stood up for myself and took action. Turns out imagining that was a lot easier than going out and actually doing it. Imagine that. My heart hammered against my ribs, and every instinct the Academy had drilled into me was screaming that opening my mouth would only make things worse.

“What are you gonna do about it, huh? Tough guy.” Alysa tilted her head, a small smirk tugging at her mouth.

My hands clenched hard enough to make my arms tremble. So much for suddenly becoming fearless. Still, being scared didn’t mean I had to back down.

“You know what? I may not be the bravest or toughest person out there,” I said, my voice cracking slightly despite my best efforts, “but I’m glad I’m not a pathetic little scumbag like you.”

The words left behind an uncomfortable silence, and for a second I wondered if I’d finally gone too far. Maya had gone completely still beside me, while somewhere behind her, Marcus choked back what sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Even Narun seemed to have had enough, dragging a hand slowly down his face.

Alysa wasn’t laughing.

Whatever smugness had been on her face disappeared, leaving her staring at me with a completely flat expression.

I kept going before the part of me screaming for self-preservation could take over. “I've been here less than a day, and I've already watched you treat your own squad like garbage. From everything Maevis told me, this isn't exactly unusual either. Honestly, I think they'd probably be better off without you.”

For the first time since she'd walked in, Alysa actually looked offended.

“The fuck did you just say?”

Now I’ve done it. Let’s just hope that I won’t come to regret my little outburst later.

A vein stood out along her temple as she stepped closer. “Who the hell are you to tell me anything about my squad? I don't even remember seeing you here before.”

I stared at her, genuinely unsure whether my mind was fucking with me or there was something wrong with her memory. I could’ve sworn Maya had introduced me as the new officer, like, what, five minutes ago?

Maya had caught on to it real quick because she hurriedly stepped between us. “I already told you. Yurui is Otis's replacement. She's the new Third Officer.”

Maya shot me an apologetic look as she turned back to face Alysa. I kind of felt bad for her now, knowing what she had to put up with, probably on a daily basis too.

Recognition finally flickered across Alysa’s face, and just like that, most of the anger drained out of it.

“Oh. Otis.”

She snapped her fingers. “Right. That one.”

Oba’s face dropped.

Alysa glanced toward him. “I think it was the friend of yours, right ?“ And then shrugged. “Shame about what happened, I guess. He was kind of annoying, though.”

Something in the room changed the moment she said his name. Marcus went rigid beside me, and Maya’s hand slowly slipped down my arm. Even Oba had gone tense, his whole posture suggesting he was one bad comment away from going at her himself. Whether she noticed or simply didn’t care, Alysa had already moved on. Her attention settled back on me, eyes dragging slowly from my face to my shoes before her mouth curled in distaste.

“I don’t like this one either.” Alysa lifted her chin as if she was looking down at a little child.

“I’m standing right here, you know.” I shot back, more annoyed by the way she talked around me than the insult itself.

“I noticed.” She replies, her eyes sliding past me toward Maya. “Get rid of her.”

For one horrible second, I could feel my entire existence drop into the ground.

Get rid of me?

Did she mean fire me? Just like that?

The job, the fame, the money, the prestige, the good life in the fancy part of the town—all of it flashed through my head at once.

Maya seemed nearly as shocked as I was. “You can't just fire an officer because you don't like her.” She said, looking dumbfounded.

Alysa's eyes narrowed.

“Oh yeah, well I just did.“

“Officer appointments and firings go through the suits. You know that.” Maya tried to keep her voice steady, but I could feel the tension in the hand still wrapped around my arm.

Alysa stepped closer until there was barely any space left between them. She was shorter than Maya, but somehow that only made the way Maya stiffened more unsettling.

“Careful how you speak to me, vermin.”

Maya swallowed.

Alysa tilted her head. “You’re getting very comfortable telling your superior what she can and can’t do.”

She took a slow step to the side, never quite taking her eyes off Maya. “You know, I’m starting to think this squad might be lacking a little discipline.” Her mouth curled slightly. “Maybe we should work on that, hm?”

Nobody answered her.

For the first time since Alysa had walked in, the room seemed genuinely terrified rather than merely scared or nervous. Maya was still holding herself together, but whatever little confidence she had left was completely gone by now. Her shoulders had gone limp, and the hand around my arm tightened until her fingers started digging through my sleeve.

That was when it really sank in.

She wasn’t just frustrated with Alysa. She was genuinely afraid of her.

The realization killed whatever hesitation I still had. I shifted forward, putting myself a little closer to Maya without really thinking about it.

Alysa noticed immediately.

Her attention slid away from Maya and settled on me instead, followed by the faintest curl of amusement at the corner of her mouth. “What?” she asked. “You feeling left out?”

I opened my mouth, already halfway to saying something I’d probably regret, when a sharp electronic chime rang out from the security room behind her.

Alysa’s expression changed.

Another chime followed almost immediately, this one longer and more urgent, and suddenly whatever problem she had with Maya or me had seemed to vanish from her mind altogether.

“Oh, shit.”

She whirled around so fast one of her twin tails snapped across her shoulder.

For a second I thought there might actually be some kind of emergency.

Then she bolted for the security room, as a loud scream followed after her.

“My game!!!” She shrieked as she crossed the threshold.

I could only stare as she threw the door open and disappeared inside, leaving the rest of us standing in the middle of the room, shocked and at a complete loss for words.