Ch. 66 | Revolt 7

Uden leaned back in her chair, satisfied with how things were going. She had nearly wrestled control of things back into her hands, and barring any sudden complications, she doubted the situation would get away from her again.

There was, of course, one complication she couldn't entirely account for.

Alysa.

Thankfully, punctuality had never been one of the girl's strengths, and considering she was already late, there was a decent chance she might miss the entire confrontation. The irony of Alysa being absent from an argument centered almost entirely around her wasn't lost on Uden. Still, she knew better than to count on it. Alysa had an unfortunate talent for appearing at exactly the absolute worst moment and making an already difficult situation considerably worse. The girl was a living embodiment of gasoline being poured on the flames.

Uden's gaze moved towards Narun as she decided to ignore Janis's remark completely. It was better to let it fester. If she makes any more emotional outbursts, it would only serve to make Uden look better.

“What about you ? You in on this too ?“

“Yes,” Narun replied flatly, making it clear he had no intention of engaging in any real conversation with her.

“Hmm. Interesting.“ Uden replied.

Narun did a good job of killing the conversation, so there was nothing else for her to say.

“Listen…“ Bereth starts just as she was about to address Oba.

“Either Alysa gets fired, or we walk, there are no other ways this is gonna end, so let's cut all the posturing and be frank about this.“

“Very well–

Just as Uden started, the door swung wide open, pretty dramatically too.

Oh fuck. She really had the picture-perfect timing, didn't she? At showing up at the absolute worst possible time. Uden thought to herself as she cursed under her breath.

Uden closed her eyes, already dreading as to what mess Alysa was going to make out of her attempt to stamp out the rebellion without completely destroying the whole squad in the process.

Alysa walked into the room with her head held high. She looked mildly annoyed, as if the whole rebellion thing was inconveniencing her. She was short and petite, so much so that she looked like a child among the people gathered in the room, her brownish-blonde hair was tied into familiar twin tails. As unassuming as she looked, the atmosphere in the room shifted the moment everyone’s attention turned toward her.

Yurui Wells followed right behind her.

She was wearing a clean standard-issue training uniform. Good, it would appear that Alysa had already provided her with a change of clothes. One more item to cross out on an ever-growing checklist of things to do. Captain Uden noted with a thin smile.

The new Third Officer hesitated a little at the doorway as she took in the scene, realizing a second too late as to what she has gotten herself into. It could be a good learning moment for her if we were not at risk of the whole squad imploding in on itself.

Uden's gaze lingered on her for a moment.

As curious as Uden was to see whether Yurui could actually live up to Maevis's recommendation, at the moment Alysa demanded her full attention. She had no idea what Alysa was about to do, and that uncertainty alone was enough to put her on edge. This time, she intended to keep a close eye on her and step in before she had the chance to undo everything Uden had spent the morning trying to accomplish.

There was too much at stake to simply let her do whatever she pleased.

As much as Uden loved the girl, even she had her limits. A line had to be drawn somewhere.

Uden was already thinking of excuses she was going to have to tell Alysa later.

Not like that’s gonna work. Uden thought as she reclined in her seat further. She was going to have to make some concessions, well as much as she possibly could, considering that she had already made every single concession available just to appease Alysa.

A smile tugged at Uden's lips.

I guess I’ll just have to buy her some more of those games she plays. Works every time Alysa gets royally pissed off at her, which is admittedly pretty often.

Alysa, oblivious to the world around her, looked from Bereth to the papers on Uden's desk.

Her expression flattened.

"Oh."

Janis turned toward her.

"Yeah. Oh."

Alysa folded her arms.

"What are you all doing in here ? Are we having some sort of get-together?"

Something in Uden's temple began to throb.

"Alysa." She said, barely keeping it together

"What ?" Alysa asks sounding a bit annoyed.

"Don't you start with me, I’m already in a foul mood." Uden shot back.

You are always in a foul mood, you old cow. Alysa thought to herself as she stared at her captain.

Astonishingly, she still seemed completely oblivious to what was happening around her.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll just do as I’m told.“ She scoffed.

You fucking––

Uden almost lashed out at her before gathering herself. Stupid little thing didn’t even realize that she was doing all this for her benefit.

Uden's fingers curled tightly against her palm. God, it would be so easy to simply fire Alysa and put an end to this entire mess on the spot.

The girl really ought to be thanking whatever higher power had decided to look out for her. Even Uden, probably the staunchest, and the only supporter Alysa had left, occasionally found herself wondering how much easier life would be if she simply shoved her off the nearest cliff and called it a day.

“You better,” Uden muttered under her breath.

She looked back at Bereth.

“We should continue our talk now that the disturbance has been dealt with.“

“Who the—

The look Uden gave her made Alysa shut up for once.

She then looked back toward Bereth with full confidence of Miracle Inc. Security force captain.

“We should continue where we left off.“

Janis, the temperamental bitch that she was, just couldn’t let the fact that she got completely glossed over slide unchallenged.

Maybe it was the fact that Uden was still playing her mind games rather than accepting their demands, or maybe it was Alysa walking in that further soured her mood.

Whatever the reason, she walked up to Uden's desk and slammed the resignation papers on the desk, right in front of Uden's face.

"How much clearer do you need us to make it ? Either Alysa goes, or we do."

Right at that moment, Yurui Wells, standing near the back of the room, flinched as though she’d just been burned.

Out of nowhere, the girl felt something wriggle inside her brain. Her vision started going blank, and the last thing she heard before passing out was.

“Hey, you’ve been in charge for a while now, let me at it. It’s my turn.“

Though she couldn’t be sure if she actually heard it or if it was simply her mind playing tricks on her.

By the time I snapped out of it, I was standing in front of Uden’s desk with both of my transformed arms raised in front of me.

Between them, clenched tightly in my hands, was the woman they called Janis.

Several people had already grabbed hold of me, desperately trying to pry my armored fingers away from her throat. From the way she was choking, they were probably the only reason she was still breathing.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck

The fuck just happened.

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

I could vaguely hear people shouting around me, but my thoughts were racing too fast for any of the words to register.

The only thing that cut through the noise was a steady tapping.

My eyes followed the sound and found Captain Uden behind her desk, tapping her pen against the wood while resting her head in one hand. She looked thoroughly unimpressed.

“It’s nice, and all that you are standing up for me, but that’s awfully unnecessary. If there comes a time where I need a rookie to protect me from one of my own subordinates, I’d sign and deliver my own resignation papers myself.“ She finally spoke up, looking as disinterested as before.

Heat rushed into my face until I could feel droplets of sweat going down my cheeks.

“R-right. S-sorry. My bad…” I muttered, finally letting go of Janis.

The poor woman collapsed on the floor and started loudly gasping for air.

“What the fuck ?" Marcus asked, now standing a few meters away.

I looked around carefully, and to my horror, it wasn’t just Marcus, everyone else were standing a good distance away, eyeing me suspiciously.

Oh shit. I think I might have just fucked my second chance at life.

I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, blinking hard as I tried to keep the tears from spilling over.

Alysa let out a chuckle.

“Damn, that fucking rocked. I’ve been waiting for someone to choke that bitch out.”

Several people shot her angry looks, which only made Alysa grin wider.

“Something tells me we’re gonna be the bestest of friends.”

I’d always wanted a friend.

A best friend sounded even better.

I just hadn’t imagined I’d get one by nearly strangling someone to death in front of a dozen people.

Somehow, that felt very on brand for the new me. What’s next ? Am I gonna get promoted by beating someone to death ? To be honest wouldn’t even be surprised if that actually happened. Which was really telling as to what kind of place I had ended up in.

I thought as I stared blankly at the ceiling, wondering what fresh disaster was waiting for me up ahead.