It was still morning at the team’s base. Magnus and the others had just left.
Since Lana was under Magnus’ protection, Emily didn’t push her too hard, and the others followed her lead. But Dakota was Emily’s direct deputy, and the whole near-defection ss had been spearheaded by her. Emily couldn’t just let it slide, not if she wanted to save face. So she handed out punishnt.
Dakota didn’t leave with the others. Instead, Emily reassigned her to ride in a regular car as an ordinary team mber, claiming it was for three months of reflection. Whether she could return to her old position would depend on her attitude after that.
Now Dakota was stuck with the worst bunk - right by the toilet, top level too. She felt bitter. Sure, she and Lana had made so bad calls, but their intentions weren’t wrong. Taking such harsh punishnt now? It felt like a slap in the face. Emily made a mountain out of a molehill.
"If it hadn’t been for , would Lana have followed you all so easily?" she fud silently, glaring at the worn-out mattress. "Now that we’ve joined you, you’re tossing us aside like yesterday’s trash?"
She knew she made mistakes - fine, punish her. But to act like she never did anything right? Like her intentions ant nothing? She swallowed the lump in her throat, nose stinging with the cold and a creeping sense of injustice.
No fire had been lit in two days. The place felt like a freezer box. She hadn’t even been in this car for long, but she already missed her old one. The blanket was reused and barely warm. She wrapped herself tight, fighting the chill, wiping away the tears threatening her eyes.
That’s when she heard the ladder creak. Soone was climbing up. Her eyes snapped open. This was the rear of the car; the front windshield was far away, and she couldn’t see clearly in the dark. She barely made out a figure - a woman, for sure. Had to be. The group’s only man was out.
"Who is it? What do you want?" she asked warily, sitting up.
Victoria popped her head onto the bunk with a wide, easy grin, flipping the blanket and sliding her legs in, settling opposite Dakota. She handed over a warm object. "Chilly, huh? Here, take this."
Now that she was up close, Dakota could see it was a hot water bottle. She was freezing - even her teeth were chattering - so after a brief hesitation, she hugged it to her chest.
"...Thanks," she mumbled, barely audible.
Victoria said nothing. She leaned in closer instead, eyes scanning Dakota’s face with a kind of amused curiosity. Dakota didn’t know what to make of it. The team had more than a few won into other won. The way Victoria stared made her nervous. She looked away.
Not that Dakota wasn’t good-looking. Victoria’s gaze swept thodically across her features - small nose, soft lips, big expressive eyes. Not bad overall. Nice complexion too.
Then Victoria’s hand slid under Dakota’s pant leg and skimd across her thigh.
Dakota let out a small gasp and jerked her leg back instinctively. Victoria grinned, clearly pleased, and nodded like she’d verified sothing. "Yeah," she muttered, "smooth."
Dakota glared and tossed the hot water bottle at her. "I’m not who you think I am. Get out."
Victoria just giggled, tossed the bottle back into the blanket, and pressed it gently against Dakota’s feet with a smirk. "What do you an ’who I think you are’? I just ca to give you a hot water bottle. Why so jumpy?"
Dakota didn’t buy that for a second, but raising her voice wouldn’t help. She’d just been demoted - starting fresh on the wrong foot would only make things worse.
Lowering her tone, she narrowed her eyes. "Then how do you explain the staring and the hands? What exactly are you trying to pull?"
"Seriously? Just teasing you a bit," Victoria said with a playful grin.
Dakota’s face turned cold. "You do realize I’m the deputy leader of the Second Squad, right? Aren’t you worried I’ll punish you?"
"Oh, how could I not know? You’re the deputy leader of 2nd Squad," Victoria chuckled. "And I also know you all deserted the team, got dragged back by Captain Magnus, and now you’re stuck here for three months of soul-searching, right?"
"We didn’t desert! We did it for the team!" Dakota was fuming and started explaining. She went on for five or six minutes straight. Victoria just sat there smiling, not interrupting once.
Maybe it was the long rant or just the frustration - Dakota was panting hard, chest rising and falling, eyes locked on Victoria. And Victoria? She just smiled and tossed out, "Your diction’s pretty clear."
Old habit from her days as a strear - Victoria always noticed things like that.
"Did you even listen to what I said? We weren’t trying to betray anyone!" Dakota snapped, grabbing the warm water pouch tighter in her arms.
"I heard you," Victoria nodded slowly, eyes drifting up to the ceiling, her tone low. "But even if I get it, does it matter? There’s over 8000 people in the regint, all watching. You really think Emily or Sophia won’t have doubts about you all?"
"They know what really happened! They know we were trying to help!" Dakota cut in, her voice pushing up again.
"Yeah... they know," Victoria murmured, still staring at the ceiling.
The room went quiet.
After a bit, Dakota spoke again, hesitant. "So you think... they probably do have sothing against us?"
"Who knows..." Victoria said softly. She peeked through the curtain, looked around, then dropped it back and leaned in toward Dakota, whispering, "You ever noticed sothing... odd?"
"Like what?" Dakota frowned, leaning forward.
Victoria whispered in her ear, "Why do you think all the won around Captain Magnus are so damn pretty? All of them."
Dakota froze. Nas flashed in her mind - Emily, Sophia, Charlotte, Liana - all of them gorgeous. Not one exception. Not one.
"You think that’s just coincidence?" Victoria whispered again. "Out of thousands of won, the ones in charge, the ones trusted, all stunning? You really think that’s random?"
Dakota used to work as a correctional officer - she’d seen the dark side of people, was used to second-guessing everything. Now Victoria’s words wouldn’t stop echoing in her head. She looked at Victoria, confused. "But you’re beautiful too. So why...?"
"?" Victoria let out a long sigh. "I’m a mother. A kid’s my whole world now. You know how those bastards think... to them, I’m used goods."
As she spoke, tears slid down her face. She started telling Dakota about her daughter, Daisy - every word slicing through her like broken glass.
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