Thank you so much for all of the reviews!! I'm sorry this took me so long, but its been one thing after another at my house, and I haven't gotten much of a chance to write. But since it's finally done- here you go.
I stare through the gates at the building that I used to think of as home. Manticore doesn't look the same anymore. The pure white, symmetrical building used to seem orderly and efficient. Perfect. I used to think it reflected on everything inside of it like a mirror. The soldiers and doctors all worked in unison, with perfect precision, the way things were meant to be done. Perfectly. Looking at it as I'm escorted in, though, it just seems hard, lifeless. Even my dilapidated apartment building had a certain…warmth to it. I abruptly stop my train of thought, and the wave of sorrow that comes with it. Thinking of what I don't have will get me nowhere. I need to be concentrating on the here and now. Like how I'm going to get through my debriefing with Lydecker. I start heading down the hall towards the barracks to further consider this, but am stopped by one of the soldiers around me.
"You're not going anywhere. We've got orders to take you directly to Colonel Lydecker." I swallow hard. Lydecker only has people come straight to him after a mission if he's seriously pissed, and when Lydecker gets mad, he gets dangerous. It must have shown in my face because the soldier looks pretty pleased with himself. Bastard. I give him my best superior look.
"Then why are you still standing here?" He scowls.
"This way." The others gather around me as we head towards Lydecker's office, giving me the uncomfortable feeling of a prisoner under guard. Funny, I've never felt like that before. We stop in front of Lydecker's door, and the soldier who spoke to me before turns and knocks sharply.
"Enter." Just his voice sends a shiver down my spine. We walk in and stop simultaneously a few feet away from where Lydecker is sitting at his desk. I've never seen him look at me like this. I swallow and stare carefully straight ahead.
"We brought her sir." I personally thought that was pretty obvious, but apparently the head soldier saw the need to spell it out. He and Normal would get along great. I almost smile at the thought.
"Very good. Dismissed." All four of the soldiers salute and head out the door, leaving me, still standing at attention, alone with Lydecker. I study him cautiously. He's staring hard at a blank spot on his desk, his hands gripping the edge with white knuckles. He almost looks like he's in a trance. For a long time he doesn't speak, and the wait before the storm only makes me more uneasy. Finally he looks up at me. His eyes seem to be trying to kill me where I stand.
"Well soldier, how did it go?" His voice is dangerously pleasant; a snake trying to convince the mouse to come closer. I take a deep breath and adopt my military attitude.
"The mission was unsuccessful sir." His eyes bulge, then narrow to slits, his hands tighten even more on his desk, my hearing picks up bones grinding in his hands.
"What?" It's a bare hiss.
"I was unable to locate the target Logan Cale sir. I found no trace of him anywhere. My guess is that he left for somewhere safer." The rim of the desk breaks under his grip, but he ignores it.
"He would only have left if he knew he thought he were in danger. Why would he think that X5452?" His voice rises with each word.
"I don't know sir." He loses all pretence and hurls the piece of wood at my head.
"Because you were SLOPPY that's why! You let him find out you were there!" Panic grips me. Did he know…"But YOU couldn't find HIM! A norm! After all the training you've had, somehow none of it managed to get through your thick head! Explain this to me!" I open my mouth but he keeps going over top of me, his voice a half octave lower, his face inches from mine "Because of your incompetence, I have to face the committee on why a Manticore soldier failed. Why Eyes Only has moved, and has already started bringing Manticore out into the open, and nothing has been done about it!" He studies me for a second, a deep, burning hatred in his eyes, and I start to really feel scared. I've gotten used to him yelling at me over the years, it rolls off of me like water now, but he's not yelling now, but that look… he's never looked at me like that before. He gets so close to me that his face is inches from mine. He lowers his voice a half-octave. "You are a disgrace to me, to your training, and to all of Manticore." He looks at me so hard that for a second I'm sure he's going to kill me, and it takes all of my will power not to back away. I take a deep breath and wait for the blow. It doesn't come. Instead, his temper spent, he straightens and moves away from my space, the fire in his face replaced by coldness. "Report to Room 57C for your disciplinary measures immediately. Dismissed."
I give a crisp salute and leave, 'the picture of military discipline' I think sourly. Room 57C. I slump against the wall and take deep, steadying breaths, grateful that no one is around to see me. In Manticore, there were different levels of physical discipline, depending on the seriousness of the offence, and each level had its own room. Out of all of them, Room 57C was the worst. I was in for a very long night.
By force of will, I make myself move, one foot in front of the other. When I finally get there, I knock once, then go in. Such is my wonderful life.
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