Scarlett and her team arrived back to base relieved to have stopped yet another Cobra master plan. They were in the main hanger unloading the supplies from the mission as well as making sure the vehicles and jets were returned to their rightful spots. They were in good spirits, due to the success of their mission. Many other Joes had come to the main hanger to congratulate the team and hear stories about what had gone down.
Scarlett finished checking in the artillery and turned around to see Duke standing with the other members of the team. She quickly ran over to join them.
"Welcome home, Joes. Good job as always." Duke congratulated the team. The teammates cheered and some patted Scarlett on the shoulders for being a great leader. Scarlett smiled softly at the compliment. Duke directed his attention towards Scarlett, "Can I talk with you for a moment?"
"Sure," Scarlett replied and followed Duke a few feet away from the others, "I'll have a full report for you in a bit after I go over things," she said predicting what Duke was going to ask her.
"That's fine, though I do have a pressing question." Duke firmly spoke with his hands behind his back.
"What's that?" Scarlett asked concerned. She looked over at the rest of her team who were giving each other worried looks.
"Well, I'd like to know why 5 Conquest X30s left and 4 came back?" Duke inquired.
"We lost Slip Stream's ride. That turned the battle for us. Cobra's new air battle platform was pretty tough, but Slip Stream took it out." Scarlett tucked a loose piece of her mane behind her ear as she explained.
"How? By ramming his plane into it?" Duke asked incrediously.
"Admitedly it wasn't the first idea I had, but it worked." Scarlett replied unsure of where Duke was taking this.
"Do you have any idea how much those planes cost?" Duke continued. Scarlett froze for a minute. Cost? Duke was concerned about cost? Since when? She blinked, wondering if Duke was for real. She could feel the eyes of her away team focusing on her. This was not a conversation to have in front of them. He should have asked her into his office so they could talk about this one on one. Her blood began to boil thinking about how unprofessional he was being by reprimanding her in front of her troops.
"No, I haven't actually been keeping the blue book prices on them in my head. You know how it is, you drive them off the lot and they lose 10% automatically." Scarlett replied putting her hands on her hips.
"You lost more than 10% on that one. That was a multi-billion dollar airplane the tax payers lent us and now we don't have it anymore. That probably wasn't one of your best strategies." Duke full out exploded.
"You know Lt. Hauser, I'm not sure it was the best either, but it worked. I brought my team home safe and Cobra lost way more- including their new battle platform. If memory serves, defeating Cobra is the mission objective." Scarlett firmly stood her ground.
"We've got to keep the bottom line in mind too. We don't have infinite resources." Duke reminded her sternly.
"A certain Sgt. Hauser once said that as long as Cobra lost at the end of the day and his team came home safe, he didn't give a damn what got destroyed because we'd always get another one. I also remember Sgt Hauser crashing several jets on his own and with Ace. The phrase '5 in one week equals a new record' rings a bell." Scarlett retorted.
"We're not debating my record. We're discussing your judgement call that destroyed a piece of equipment and potentially put a team member in jeopardy." Duke narrowed his eyes.
"Listen here, Lieutenant, at no time did I dismiss the risk to Slip Stream. I knew the risk. He knew the risk. It was a calculated one that paid off. We're soldiers; we're trained to do this job. Maybe you've forgotten that little fact behind that desk upstairs." Scarlett continued to defend her actions.
"You're out of line!" Duke barked
"And you're coloring outside yours!" Scarlett barked back.
"I'm the commanding officer of this team, and I'm demanding you to respect that." Duke brought his voice back to a normal reserved level.
"Why don't you give me something to respect then, besides hot air dressed up in officer's clothing?" Scarlett challenged, linking her eyes with his.
"That's it! I won't have that tone!" Duke pointed at her in disgrace.
"You'll have that tone and then some. Now, if you don't mind, I have a report to fill out and a team to debrief—although I'm sure they got an earful since they're standing right here. If you happen to see Sgt Hauser somewhere in your office, tell him he needs to remind you what it means to be a GI Joe." Scarlett replied getting in his face. Duke took a few steps back feeling speechless. Satisfied, she spun around and began to walk out of the hanger.
"You're not walking away from me!" he yelled.
Scarlett craned her head around to look at him, "Get used to this view because yes, I am." She turned her head back letting her ponytail whip around.
Duke stormed over to her and grabbed her arm, "That's an order, soldier. Stand down." He hissed.
She glared at his hand on her arm and then shot a cold look to his eyes, "You're my commanding officer, but so help me if you do not remove your hand I'll remove it for you, Hauser. Nothing gives you the right to talk to me the way you did back there," she spoke in a calm fashion, icicles dripping off each of her words. He dropped his hand but still stood agressively.
"These give me every right!" Duke pointed at his new luitenant bars on his uniform.
"Those give you the right to lead this team. You should take a lesson from Hawk in how to manage things. No heavy hands. No dress downs. And if you want to get upset about being talked to in a certain way, you basically just dressed me down in front of my team and said I threw their saftey to the wind. I did not do that!" Scarlett analyzed the argument that had just taken place. She felt emotionally exhausted and knew she couldn't keep her cool much longer. "I thought we were going to try and work together. But if you're going to rip me a new one every chance you get….I don't see the point of continuing the façade that everything will be ok. Everything is not ok! And I'm sorry I yelled back but I've worked too hard to just let you walk all over me." Tears pricked her eyes signaling a breakdown was coming soon. "I have to go," she muttered and quickly exited the hanger without waiting for Duke's permission. Duke lowered his gaze to the floor, letting her words sink in.
"Duke we're sorry about the jet." Slip Stream apologized after an awkward pause of silence. Duke jerked his head towards the voice, forgetting that the team was still standing there.
"Soldiers, you're dismissed." Duke commanded not offering any words to the apology. The team slipped out, leaving Duke alone. He ran his hands through his hair disgusted by how he handled the situation and by her attitude. The team was definitely headed for failure if they both continued to act in this fashion. He quickly turned and punched the closest thing to him, a tool chest, leaving a dent in the side. His anger began to subside and his head cleared. Last time she had made an effort to resolve things by coming back to his office, now it was his turn to extend the olive branch.
He kept a brisk pace to Scarlett's quarters hoping to catch her there. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Several moments passed and he knocked again. Still no answer. He turned to leave when the door opened to Scarlett wearing a bathrobe. Her hair was wild and loose around her face.
"I was just about to take a bath," she said explaining the change in wardrobe.
"I just want to talk." Duke tried to persuade her to let him in. She sighed in annoyance and let the door swing open, her agreement for him to come in. He entered, closing the door behind him. She stood before him with her hands on her hips, waiting for him to say something.
"You kind of nailed my balls to the wall in the hanger." Duke complained.
"You didn't do too much better to me, you know. I led those people. I've got to keep some kind of authority. If you had questions about what I did and why I did it; that should have been handled in private." Scarlett fumed.
"Yes, I should have." Duke agreed. Duke's honest answer had caught her off guard. She folded her arms in front of her chest, wary of his intentions.
"I felt humiliated back there. Like a child being scolded." Scarlett said with a wounded look on her face.
"Why is it so easy for us to take the low road filled with verbal landmines?" Duke sighed frustrated at the situation.
"Because we have history. We know exactly what to do and say to hurt each other and I'll admit it, I've exploited that, and on some levels enjoyed it." Scarlett honestly answered lowering her arms.
"Me too, and we're both wrong for doing that." Duke frowned. He raised his eyes to meet hers and saw her nod in agreement, "So how do we fix this?"
"We need to trust each other and stop making accusations based on the personal feelings we have. If we continue to tear each other down, the team is going to get torn apart too." Scarlett replied sullenly. They both looked at each other struggling with the idea of having to trust each other after all this time. Scarlett's eyes burned through Duke and he dropped his gaze as if he had been staring directly at the sun.
"I don't know if I can…." Duke spoke with a clenched jaw. Scarlett pulled his arm with a jerk which got him to look at her again.
"You're going to have to trust in my judgement and my capablities, just like Hawk trusts in you. You've got to know that I have this team's best interest at heart and that is the sole motivational factor in my decisions. If you can't believe that, if you can't trust in that, there is no way to get around this." Scarlett pleaded with him.
"You've got to believe the same about me. I may not be on the field as much as I want, but I'm still fighting for this team behind that desk. It's a different battle, but I do what is good for the team." Duke countered her plea with one of his own.
"I'm willing to try if you are." Scarlett said willingly.
"So are we going to try this truce again?" Duke asked extending his hand for her to shake on it.
"No, this time it's a promise." Scarlett vowed and shook his hand forcefully. She met Duke's eyes and could feel that he was just as fueled by determination as she was to make this work.
"I'll let you get back to your bath now." Duke said as he headed towards the door.
"Sure, now that the water's cold." Scarlett pretended to sulk.
"It could be worse. You could still be on the mission with no bath." Duke reminded her.
"Thank you, Mr. Glass-is-Half-Full." Scarlett mocked as she shooed him out. She closed the door behind him and sighed. Hopefully, they would preach and practice what they promised from now on.