(A/N) Hey all, time for another update for Phase Two: Betrayal, and it's another anna1795 on the trot, as we've got chapter from the other Virginia sibling, Agent Virginia! As I mentioned in the last update, we're looking for applicants for Agent Connecticut for the second half of this fic, and for Phase Three, everything going to plan! The application form is now up on the forum – The Freelancer Collaboration – so go have a look and apply!

PeoplexLikexGrapes: Yep, Anna is officially the reference queen! And hey, everything is awesome! ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter Eighty – Reprisals

Agent Virginia

Written by anna1795

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." - Newton's Third Law

To General Marcus Rogers,

As a psychologist, it is my duty to uphold patient confidentiality. As a fellow parent, however, I feel it necessary to address some concerns that I have about your daughter and my patient, Jessica. She has been very unresponsive during our weekly sessions, and sometimes has not said anything for the entire hour. Many factors indicate that this may be in relation to some sort of traumatizing experience or series of experiences. As Jessica and my son are both in the same first-grade class, one of the possibilities seems to be some problem with bullying. I would like to set up a meeting with you to discuss this matter so that my counselling for Jessica does not become a regular necessity.

Sincerely,

Dr Albus Cerio, Ph.D, Franco-7 Child Psychology Services

"Agent Virginia, I am very disappointed in you."

If it isn't one thing, it's another, Virginia thought tiredly as she stood at attention while the Director sat behind his desk. Her armour smelled of blood and sweat from the extraction mission and having to carry West to the Med Bay, and it was making her slightly nauseous having to stand in it. Behind the Director, Carolina looked nearly immaculate, with only one lone scuff mark on her arm. It was only the three of them for the debriefing, but to her, it might as well have been in front of the entire ship with how much shame she felt. Keep it together, Virginia. Just swallow it and get it over with. To calm herself down, she resorted to rolling her eyes; she'd heard all this before.

"As a result of your inaction, you failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity to eliminate at least one of our primary targets in the Crimson Sun, if not two," the Director continued, tapping the pads of his fingers together. "They were right there, in your sights. Why did you not engage?"

'Just like you rehearsed on the way here,' Virginia thought before breathing out slightly. "Because Agent West Virginia was injured, and needed assistance to extraction, sir," she replied stiffly, staring ahead. Carolina had her arms crossed and was staring at her from behind her helmet. It was anyone's guess as to what she was thinking or what she even looked like, but Virginia didn't want to. She didn't even want to be here.

"Why didn't you indicate to one of your fellow agents that they should take the shot, Agent?" the Director asked, his glasses flashing in the light of his office.

"Because I was the only one carrying a sniper rifle, sir."

"Then, why didn't you indicate to said fellow agents that West Virginia required assistance while you took the shot?"

Was this really necessary? He already knew the answer. "…reflex, sir," she ground out, glaring unseen from behind her visor.

"Reflex," the Director repeated, standing up and beginning to pace. "Reflex from where, Agent?"

"Because West Virginia is my sister, sir, it's familial reflex for me to want to protect her," Virginia answered, trying to keep her temper. Think happy thoughts, Jess, happy thoughts. Peace, quiet, tranquillity. Peace, quiet, tranquillity…

"I see," the Director said finally, continuing to pace. "Your 'reflex' never allowed you to consider that the best way to protect your sister was to do your job, take the shot, and allow another agent to perform the duty that any of them could instead of abandoning the one purpose that only you were in a position to fulfil? From your statement then, Agent Virginia, it appears that this 'familial reflex' is a weakness in the battlefield. Your lack of foresight to the long-term consequences caused you to fail the objective of the mission."

"The objective of the mission was to retrieve the hostages from the Crimson Sun, Director," Virginia pointed out, protesting. "Aside from Nevada's possible defection, which I believe is as realistic an idea as Penn sleeping with a cuddly teddy bear at night, how did I fail?"

"By failing to take the shot at Arkansas, Pennsylvania, or Lieutenant Harper, you allowed them to escape, meaning that they are able to recruit more soldiers to their cause and pose a greater threat to us." The Director turned on his heel and faced her. "By turning around to rescue West Virginia, you've let the danger that faces us to go unhampered, and even increased."

Everything's my fault…per usual, she started to think before choking that idea. I told myself I'd stop doing that. "Director, why didn't we have other agents with sniper rifles, then?" she asked, forcing the heat out of her voice. "Instead of just me."

"A logistical error that, as a result, may be rectified in the future." The Director sat back down again. "But that is beside the point. We are evaluating your performance, Agent Virginia, and your performance suffered from this 'reflex' that you claim to have."

"I'm sure that Agents North and South Dakota possess that same reflex, sir," Virginia mumbled under her breath. Her heart clenched painfully in shame at her failure, still.

"I am hoping to rectify and retrain this 'reflex', then," the Director continued, pulling up a file on his screen. There was a lot of typing that scrolled by, and she barely caught any of the words on it. "We cannot afford this weakness in the battlefield. Do I make myself clear, Virginia?"

"I…" Virginia paused, her mind racing. The Director was determined to make her, make them all, better soldiers. However, that might mean sacrificing her relationship with West. It was the only thing that she had left, after Massa… "I can't promise that, sir," Virginia said finally, sighing, banking on the truth instead of lying through her teeth.

"Care to explain your reasoning, agent?" the Director asked calmly after a moment, though she caught the furious flash of his glasses at her resistance, and she was only too happy to explain.

"You can train me to be a better soldier, sir, but I'll never stop being a sister to West."

"…I see," the Director said finally. "Agent Virginia, you are dismissed for now. I will call you again when I require your services."

"Yes, sir," Virginia saluted him and walked out the door before collapsing against a wall, holding her head. The headache that had been building up for the past few days was starting to get even worse. The lack of sleep might have something to do with it. Tiredly, she trudged down the hallway, taking off her cracked helmet and dumping it in the repair bin for later. She didn't even bother with the rest of her armour, though, and just moved towards the mess hall. Since West wouldn't wake up from surgery for a little while, she had some time to at least ease the gnawing in her stomach. Her mind still kept racing, though, from her discussion with the Director.

Keep it together, Jess, she thought to herself again as she started towards the double doors to the mess hall. Happy thoughts, remember? Kittens, little kids, flowers, Beethoven's Fifth, Aunt Delilah, Dad, Eddy, the family dog…

"Hey, Virginia!" Just what she needed… South stood up from where she had been sitting in the corner and moved between Virginia and the food line. Damn, and the pizza had looked mildly appetizing for once. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your wonderful performance," South sneered at her. She also had failed to take off her armour, as had most of the others in the room. Wyoming, Minnesota, Georgia, Utah, and Florida were looking with interest at their exchange, and Florida was already making to stand up.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, South," Virginia responded with exhaustive effort. Happy thoughts…Evanescence, cheesy movies, lemonade, milk, bland cereal, sour milk, rotten food, cold baths-

"That wasn't a compliment," South snapped. "God, are you as much of an idiot as your sister?"

"My sister's no idiot, South." Rusted nails, steel-toed boots, torn backpacks, muddy notebooks- "At least, not as much of an idiot as you."

"Witty retort, Einstein," South snickered, her hands on her hips. Virginia's headache was only now approaching borderline intolerable, and a tune that she hadn't heard since elementary school was running through her head, unbidden. Dummy, dummy, Jessie is a dummy…

"What do you want, South?" Virginia ground out through clenched teeth. Dummy, dummy, Jessie is a dummy… Florida was finally starting to walk over.

"Say, how does it feel to be a washout?" South asked with false sweetness. "I mean, you completely missing that shot at Ark's head? Those three guys were just like sitting ducks, weren't they?" Dummy, dummy, Jessie is a dummy…

"Hey, now," Florida jumped in on their discussion. "West was more important at the time. She needed help. Isn't that right?" he asked Virginia, but she didn't hear him so well. Her head was starting to pound, now. Dummy, dummy…

"Cut the shit, Florida. Virginia couldn't take the shot, and she knows it," South retorted hotly to the older man. Dummy, dummy… "Since she couldn't handle it, she should've let one of us know, and we would've actually done a good job instead of having to sit on our asses again for those guys to start killing people."

Dummy, dummy… "You were there too, weren't you, South?" Virginia asked softly. "You saw that the shot was open, so why didn't you take it?"

"Excuse me?" South hissed. The two women stared at each other hotly.

"I mean, if you had really wanted to shoot Ark, Penn, or Harper, why didn't you? You could've taken my place on the Leaderboard," Virginia pointed out with a shrug. She made to move around the seething blonde. "Seems to me like the fault is as much yours as it is mine." Her headache didn't go away, though. If anything, it got worse. Painful thoughts and memories as well as the little ditty were practically being screamed inside her skull. Punch to the stomach, stealing my lunch, low test scores, Eddy's death, that double mastectomy that Mom tried to schedule for me, Dad's death, DUMMY, DUMMY…

"If you want to go that route, then fine!" South snapped, turning to face Virginia. "Why didn't you team up with Massa when those three asses were escaping, and finish this before it even started?"

The whole canteen was silent. Every face was turned towards the two women, to see Virginia's reaction.

"Both Mich and Massa are dead because of you," South yelled. "And you're doing a shit job of making up for it now, you useless coward."

There were no more tears to be shed. She'd gotten rid of them long ago at Massa's funeral. There was only regret and grief that she'd been trying to heal, and South had torn open that still-fresh wound with a rusty knife. Before she could even think, South was flying into an empty table from Virginia's backhand to her face. Everyone was gaping at her, but she didn't care. Whatever shame or regret she had been feeling was locked inside her heart in a titanium box, and it was beginning to melt from the red-hot fury that was boiling Virginia's blood.

"That's for the name-calling and backstabbing," Virginia hissed to South before turning to head out of the mess hall, her appetite abandoned. In hindsight, this was a stupid thing to do, to turn her back on South Dakota. She certainly was feeling it with the sharp kick to her back, sending her to the floor. Old injuries from her first chase after Harper flared up again.

"That's for stuffing my face in mac-and-cheese," South retorted, getting into a fighting stance. There wasn't even a warning this time; Virginia blinked, and everything was red.

The two charged at each other, and Virginia growled as she grappled with South, trying to gain ground by pushing against South's hands. People were moving out of the way, though some idiots were staying behind to watch and cheer on the catfight. Florida was shouting something (probably trying to get them to stop), but she didn't hear it. Her ears were pounding from the massive headache, and all her attention was focused on South and not losing ground to the stuck-up blonde bitch.

"I can't believe I ever tried to defend an ungrateful, selfish brat like you when you first got here!" Virginia growled, finally able to say some things that she'd wanted to say for a long time.

"I never asked you to defend me!" South shouted in her face, straining against Virginia's hands. "I never needed some moronic has-been looking out for me then, and I'm certainly not looking for it now."

"I was trying to be supportive and nice! I gave you a chance that you never gave back to me!" was the returned snarl.

"You don't win by being nice! You move forward by being strong, and you're going backwards, fast!"

With a grunt, South pushed forward, but Virginia regained her footing and aimed a kick at South's torso, sending her backwards in return. South retaliated, and Virginia's throat exploded in pain from the armoured fist that South had jammed into it. Coppery blood bubbled into her mouth, and Virginia knelt on the ground, a fist to her mouth. She coughed wetly, unconsciously, and a thick clot of blood sprayed into her hands. 'Damnit, that hurt!'

South didn't even have the chance to feign a look of regret before the bloody fist was smashed into her nose. She flew backward again and flipped over one of the tables. Florida ran to Virginia while the other guys finally stood up and started making their way over. "Are you alright?" he asked hurriedly while Virginia wheezed. Her breathing was ragged, and she couldn't speak. Her throat hurt so much, and all that she could taste was blood. Georgia and Wyoming were helping South to her feet while simultaneously holding her back, and Utah was looking between the two groups, possibly wondering who to help. The door opened behind them, and Virginia whipped her head around to see North, York, and Kentucky racing in.

"South, stop!" North yelled over the Freelancer grunts shouting for the fight to continue, and that should've been another cue for Virginia to have kept her eye on her opponent. The blonde tore out of Georgia's and Wyoming's grip, and Virginia was flat on her back while kicks connected with her back and torso. On instinct, she curled into a ball, trying to get away from the offending feet. Don't hurt me, a small voice in the back of her head pleaded, sounding like a six-year-old version of herself, and memories flooded back. Her armoured boot kept connecting with her back painfully, reigniting injuries, both very old and all too new. Please, stop…Don't hurt me, Mom…

Finally, Virginia had enough fooling around. She grabbed South's ankle and twisted. Hard and viciously. The blonde woman yelled in pain and fell on her back, and Virginia let go. She stood up shakily, trying to spit out the blood that was flooding her mouth and making her stomach ache. Nausea flooded her in a tidal wave as she tried to stand up straight, and she almost fell again. Florida held her up, offering a strong arm to her.

The door opened again, and a bristling Carolina stalked into the room, breaking up the party. The grunts all shut up and pretended like they hadn't been looking on with feral interest. "Someone get South to the med bay," she barked at the Freelancers in general, but North was already ahead of the game and rushing to his sister. Virginia watched him flatly. There was no twinge in her gut as she watched him help up South, no unrequited desire flaring in her heart…not anymore. She'd been such a fool to have thought that it would've worked out. "Virginia, you're with me," Carolina continued, tapping the floor with her boot impatiently.

"Carolina, it's not her fault," Florida started.

"The Director needs her to try out a new training regimen right now."

"Now?!" Florida asked incredulously. "She just got punched in the throat!"

Thank you, my knight in shining armour, Virginia thought faintly, trying to stand up straight. As if unconsciously emphasizing Florida's words, she coughed again, and her glove was spattered with a coating of viscous blood.

"We don't have time to waste," Carolina retorted flatly and unsympathetically. "If we're gonna be going after the Crimson Sun again, we need to be on top of our game, work through anything. We're starting with Virginia." She tilted her head sharply and started out the door. Virginia tried to say that she would be fine to Florida, and she hoped that the resulting garble could be translated as such. She stumbled after Carolina. Everything in her body hurt, and she could still taste blood in her mouth. She hoped that she'd at least broken South's nose.

"You shouldn't let South get to you," Carolina said finally, quietly as they walked towards the Training Room. Virginia was so startled by the remark that she almost forgot to pick up her damaged helmet from the repair bin as she passed it. Hell, she almost fainted from the shock. "She's only sour that the job's not done."

Again, my fault. Virginia tried to say something again, and at least her voice sounded less like a drowning man. "-stupid-" was the only intelligible word, however.

"Yeah, it was stupid of you to get all worked up," Carolina conceded. Her face was completely impassive. "That's what we're hoping to fix…among other things." Virginia's cold heart sank at the realization. The Director must have finished planning his training regimen, complete with working out that 'familial reflex'. West won't suffer from this, I promise, Virginia promised herself as she crammed her stuffy helmet on her head. The two women walked into the training room, and Virginia's aching gut joined her heart in dropping to her feet. Maine and Alaska were doing stretches in the corner. Shit, Virginia thought. Her head was just one massive headache, not helped by the fact that flecks and smears of blood were on the inside of her visor.

"Agents, thank you for joining me today," the Director's voice was amplified, and Virginia resisted the urge to cover her aching ears. "Now that Agent Virginia has decided to finally join us, we will begin a test for a new training regimen. I know that you'll all do your best to succeed." The jab at Virginia stung a little more than she'd usually have allowed it to, and she tried to shrug it off. It didn't go away, but continued to nag and gnaw at her.

"Let's begin," the Director instructed, and Carolina moved out of the way while Maine and Alaska turned to face Virginia. "Agents Maine and Alaska, I would like for you to pretend that Agent Virginia is Agent Pennsylvania. Agent Virginia, you will do the same for Maine and Alaska."

The last thought that Virginia was able to think while Alaska and Maine charged at her was 'Jessie, you're a dummy.'