Central City, Central City HQ, Break Room
March 4th, 1916, 9:37 AM
'Coffee'
The break room in Central HQ was always faithfully stocked. You wanted crackers? Top shelf, third cabinet. Coffee filters? Same place. Sugar? Middle shelf, first cabinet from the left. Actual coffee, not that watered-down crap that Captain Smith always drank? Under the third cabinet, second drawer down.
But, when Major Thompson searched said cabinet, the coffee tin, usually on its glorified pedestal, was missing.
Her world came crashing down around her ears. NO! Not the coffee! What kind of monster-
Major Thompson spotted an unassuming mug, resting on the scrubbed wooden table a few steps away. Her eyes narrowed into evil slits as she stood up.
She roughly grasped the handle of the mug and inspected the last dregs of its contents.
She cocked an eyebrow at the dark brown flecks at the bottom, but when she sniffed it, she could feel indescribable rage build up inside of her soul.
Whoever took the last bits of coffee was going to suffer her withdrawal-induced fury.
_000_
The second Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings opened her sleep-ridden eyes, a dirty coffee cup was shoved just inches in front of her face. She started impressively violently, shoving her chair back almost a foot.
She could feel her chair begin to tip back from the force of her start, so to brace herself, she rammed her forearms into her overcrowded and overworked desk.
Her eyes followed the trembling hand holding the cup up to a blue-clothed arm, and further still up to Major Thompson's heavily shadowed, deeply furious face.
Major Thompson gritted her teeth and growled her words from behind them, "Did you do this?"
Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings scoffed and turned her head back to the piles of paper, but again started when the off-white cup was again shoved under her nose.
"Answer. My. Question." Major Thompson snarled. "All of the coffee in the break room is gone. Did you do this?"
True terror lit up behind Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings' eyes. "N-no. If I had drunk coffee, do you think I would be able to sleep?
Flashbacks to when Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings was only Major Hutchings and had her first cup of coffee ever flashed through Major Thompson's mind. She cringed. "No."
As Major Thompson turned to leave, Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings let out a relieved breath of air, but Major Thompson wasn't done with her yet. She turned her head to the side ever-so-slightly to the left, and spat, "Do your goddamn work, ma'am."
Lieutenant Colonel Hutchings blanched and leapt to the task, just as the wooden door shut, leaving her alone in the office.
_000_
Sergeant Major Abernathy groaned and grunted, but her white-gloved fingers still stayed six stubborn inches from "Military Discharge Records~ 1880-1900". She scowled at the innocent, brown leather-bound book, and then at the innocent-looking stool a few feet away from her. She decided to swallow her pride.
Settling the stool just underneath the location of the file she needed, so it brushed against "State Alchemist Exam Results ~ 1800" on the lower shelf, she didn't hear a slight rustling on the other side of the bookshelf.
Sergeant Major Abernathy made a small noise of victory as she grasped the book and turned it over in her hands, but that noise quickly became a loud scream.
An extremely angry face was inches from hers.
She tumbled off of the stool, as the quintessence of grace, and landed right on her tailbone.
"Ugh," She groaned, rubbing the injured spot. "What the hell, man? You always sneak up on people like that in the records room? Almost gave me a heart-"
The Sergeant Major's angry tirade trailed off as the person came around the shelf, sacrificing the barrier between them.
It was the Major, holding a coffee cup like it was the vilest thing in the world.
"Oh, come on, Major, don't make a habit of that, you almost killed me-" Sergeant Major Abernathy stopped abruptly as said coffee cup was shoved under her nose.
"Did you do this?"
Sergeant Major Abernathy raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Drink the last bits of coffee."
She gave the Major an incredulous look. "Major, I hate coffee. I drink tea on a regular basis."
Major Thompson nodded solemnly. She patted the Sergeant on the head, stood up, and walked away without another word.
The Sergeant rested her hand on her head where the Major had touched it, her face twisted into a look of utter confusion.
_000_
Warrant Officer Wilson snickered evilly. Just around the corner from where she was hidden in the shadows, two very confused subordinate officers were attempting to disentangle their papers from the huge net hung above them, nine feet in the air.
That would teach them to disrespect a superior officer.
Sure, she knew she was supposed to be an adult. She was an adult. Just not a very adult-y one.
She contented herself with watching them flail and whine a bit, before she turned around, and came toe to toe with Major Thompson.
Warrant Officer Wilson choked and whitened. She immediately snapped her right hand up to her brow in a neat salute.
"That wasn't me-" She began, glancing at the exasperated officers.
"Where were you at 9:30 this morning?" Major Thompson asked.
"Uh," Warrant Officer Wilson floundered. She had spent most of her morning setting up the net instead of doing her work, and she had just denied doing so. She sighed and dropped her hand from her brow, instead stabbing her thumb at the chaos around the corner. "I was setting that up."
She squeezed her eyes shut, ready to either be chastised or for the Major to begin laughing raucously. When no sound came, she cracked one open.
She was alone.
Warrant Officer Wilson frowned. "Huh."
She decided to go back to watching the officers, an evil grin splitting her face once again.
_000_
Lance Corporal Breedlove and Captain Porter yawned in sync. Both had matching bruise-like circles under their eyes, though Lance Corporal Breedlove's hair was still flattened on one side from her pillow, while Captain Porter's hair was flattened in the back instead.
Lance Corporal Breedlove groaned some indecipherable grievance and tapped her forehead to the table.
"That was not a good idea." She said, the words muffled by the wood surface. Captain Porter yawned in reply.
"Wha-" yawn "-what else do you think we could've done? The deadline was today. At least we got it in on time."
Lance Corporal Breedlove stated, "But at a heavy price."
"Heavy price? What would you rather suffer, the Lieutenant Colonel's anger or sleep deprivation?" Captain Porter asked, as snide as was possible on three hours of sleep.
Lance Corporal Breedlove was quiet for a minute. "Sleep deprivation," She admitted.
"That's what I thought."
They continued suffering in silence, until Lance Corporal Breedlove's deep breaths became ones of sleep, and Captain Porter became aware of a dark-haired head rising up from the side of the table like a prairie dog popping out of its hole.
Captain Porter's exhausted body could only manage a sharp inhale and widened eyes at the sight of the Major.
She gave her a sloppy salute, and asked. "Why're you creeping around like that, Major?"
The Major answered by abruptly standing up and slapping the base of a battered coffee mug to the table.
"Who does this belong to?" She demanded.
Captain Porter blinked slowly several times before she comprehended what the Major was asking her.
She shrugged. "Lance Corporal?"
"Mmm?"
"You know who this mug belongs to?"
Lance Corporal Breedlove peeked one bleary blue eye out from the shadows of her hair.
"Eh. Everyone owns the mugs. Everyone uses them. They're all given to the break room by people. I gave that one." She nodded at the mug. She closed her eyes once more slipped back into deep sleep.
Major Thompson brought the mug back up to her eye level and gave it a contemplative once-over.
She gasped loudly enough to make Lance Corporal Breedlove jolt awake, and slammed the mug back onto the table.
"Thanks, Lance Corporal!" She exclaimed, racing out the door.
The silence filling the room after the Major left was all-encompassing.
That is, until Captain Porter began to snore like a hibernating bear.
_000_
The coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup weren't piled to one edge, like someone was tipping it up to drink from it! They were all scattered around, like someone was stirring it while they were drinking!
There was only one person who drank their coffee like that.
Major Thompson threw open the huge oak door so violently that it slammed into the wall.
Seven pairs of human eyes and one pair of canine snapped up to her.
She pointed an accusing finger at a certain Colonel, and growled, "You."