"I haven't seen Blank in like a week." Lyra injected between taking a bite of her, honestly awful looking, cafeteria dinner.
"Right. Last time I've seen her was in the bus after that mission. - Asha added. - Maybe she's finally getting punished for something?
"Bullseye." Martin exclaimed, balancing a tray with his only working hand. He put it down with a clank, spilling his drink in the process. "Fuck."
"You've got some inside information? If I see her goddamn face somewhere near me she'll get to taste my fist." Cam was for once in her life eating in the cafeteria instead of spending every waking hour in the medbay. Ever since their return from the Liberty Fountain she was taking care of Ivanka and working on the vaccine. She told them they'd had some trouble with the formula and she was working on it so long that she could not look at the white walls anymore. Asha suspected Cam felt guilty for idolizing the Doctor who turned out to be a huge dick post mortem.
"She's actually stuck babysitting."
"So she has a newbie in her team?" Lyra asked, drawing everyone's attention. "What? I did hear your comments on my first day."
"Oops." Asha did not sound apologetic, she knew Lyra had no hard feelings about that.
"What I meant by "babysitting" is that she's assigned as the Doc's daughter's bodyguard."
"What?" everybody at the table exclaimed.
"The girl really wanted to go out on missions but Dylan told her to fuck off, since he needs her alive to do tests. She threw a tantrum, he told her to stay in the base and assigned Blank to both protect her and enforce some rules for her. Which is also a perfect punishment for Blank, since she won't be able to go out either."
"This punishment is bullshit, she deserves worse. Also, why the fuck would Jazz need protection inside the base? And even if she does need it who who would pick Blank to take care of anybody?" Cam was going off, clearly a mixture of lack of sleep and a first hand experience of results of Blank's actions were doing their job.
"For her it has to be hell. No missions, just trailing behind our guest? She must be going crazy." However Asha knew that was clever of Dylan. Under the guise of punishing Blank gave Jazz some sort of protection against the mole. Of course there was no guarantee that Blank was not the spy or that she would even do her job right. Honestly, Asha had been thinking about who might work with the cult and Blank always came to mind, especially since she managed to take two agents out of commision in a very short time. At the same time she suspected the mole would at least try to be less suspicious and Blank was the least inconspicuous person she knew. Dylan was right to keep some information to himself, ever since Lyra told her about the situation she felt slight paranoia gnaw on the back of her mind.
"Mhm. Director probably just wants Blank to be occupied. Maybe she'll actually behave. - Lyra added, surely similar thoughts going around her head"
Suddenly there was a beep near the table next to them along with several others in the cafeteria. Gavin, sitting close by sighed heavily.
"Another portal."
"Guess I'm not going this time." Cam said, checking her own pager. Asha and Lyra also did not get any notification.
Soon the room almost emptied out, leaving only a handful of agents behind. Asha realized that most of the agents left in the base were the injured ones and their partners, and for some reason a cold shiver ran down her spine. However, nobody at the table seemed to mind as the lighthearted banter continued. They finished eating and Lyra and Asha waved to Cam and Martin, who moved the opposite direction, towards the infirmary, along with Nina, trailing some distance behind them.
"You seem to be distracted. Is it because we didn't get to go on a mission again?" Lyra asked when the others were out of sight. It was incredible how well she knew the agent after such a short time together.
"Perhaps." she responded, shrugging. The strange tension that appeared earlier didn't want to leave her shoulders, but she didn't want to damper her partner's good mood because of a bad feeling. "I'm not that mad about it."
"Now that we're partners we need to trust each other. You can tell, me anything, Asha." the agent cringed while her partner grinned at her. It was the equivalent of throwing villain's words in his own face, except they were not enemies.
"Really, it's nothing. Maybe I'm just tired."
Lyra wrinkled her nose but said nothing, and for a moment Asha debated telling her about her bad feeling, but she forgot all about it when she saw two people rounding a corner and heading their way. It was unmistakably Jazz with Blank, who was dragging her feet behind her. The younger girl waved to them enthusiastically and jogged closer. However she slowed down when she noticed Lyra, who leaned from behind Asha to see what was going on. Since there was no way to pretend she was not coming towards them, Jazz awkwardly joined them and stood close to Asha, not really looking at Lyra at all.
"Hello, Jasmine." the occultist greeted her with a warm smile but the girl said nothing in response, just jabbed her foot into the ground. "I'm glad to see you're doing fine."
Blank greeted them with a nod from a distance, but stopped at the end of the corridor in front of a snack machine. She was clearly in no mood to talk.
"Where you going, girls?" Asha asked.
"Blank's partner wanted to talk with her in the cafeteria. And since we're apparentely inseparable now, I need to go with her"
"And how are you finding your bodyguard? You and Blank getting along fine?"
"She doesn't seem to like me." Jazz said, pointing her gaze towards the agent's face and keeping it there. Was she really going to ignore Lyra throughout the whole conversation?
"I think she doesn't like the job, not you." Lyra chuckled, once again getting no response. Asha looked disapprovingly at Jasmine, raising one of her eyebrows in questioning manner. The girl finally sighed and lowered her eyes onto the occultist's boots, and Asha counted that as a win. "I know we started off on a wrong foot. I'm Lyra."
The occultist extended her hand, prompting Jazz to move slightly back with a look of disgust.
"I know who you are." she stated quietly after some uncomfortable silence, looking at the occultist with steel gaze. Lyra dropped her hand and her smile faded. "You introduced yourself when you came to bribe my father"
Both agents were stunned. The silence was once again absolute and Asha wasn't sure if she wanted to immediately evacuate from the premises or stay and watch this trainwreck of a conversation happen.
"How do you... ?" Lyra asked.
"I sneaked down to the living room to eavesdrop when you came. We used to get visits from the Protection Unit from time to time and I loved listening to them. I was sure that was the same thing as always, but lo and behold, when I peek in it turns out there are a bunch of hooded figures in our house! They all introduce themselves nicely and start chatting with my father like old friends. Can you guess who was the one to speak first?"
"I apologize for that. We came to your father with a certain offer..."
"I know. I listened to the whole thing. You disgust me. How could you buy off my father and destroy humanity's chance at a vaccine?"
"It was him who agreed to destroy it. We simply asked if he would."
"And if he said no, would you have killed him?"
Lyra was silent for a moment.
"That's why I left the cult. They... we were doing awful things and I've always had problems with accepting that."
"That's not how it sounded back then. You sure were spouting your beliefs in a very confident way. I remembered you best since you talked the most. There was something in your eyes that gave me the chills. This... fanatical light, that made me terrified of what you might do if anybody disagrees with you. You were speaking so freely and confidently about the "end of the world" and how his help would be 'invaluable' to 'the greater cause'. How you're sure 'the Great One' and 'Leviathan' will be pleased with his actions." the occultist flinched at that, and Asha made a mental note to ask her about some of these things.She was learning a lot from Lyra about the cult, but she could still not understand why people wanted to join them. Jazz continued the tyrade, despite Lyra's visible discomfort. "That was only a few months ago and you're expecting me to believe you had a change of heart? When I was trapped in that cage and I saw you standing there I was sure you came to kill me."
"Jasmine, I wouldn't..."
"Don't lie."
Lyra closed her mouth and rubbed her arm, ashamed by the whole situation. She'd never struck Asha as a murderer, but judging from her reactions there was truth to Jasmine's words. The occultist turned her back to them.
"I'm sorry about your family. I think it's best I go."
"Wait a second." Asha finally decided to intervene. She didn't want them to leave it like that. "Lyra is working with the Protection Unit now. Whatever she did in the past in not important anymore. Some of us did awful things before we joined in and they were all forgiven, why would this be a different situation?"
"You haven't seen her back then. You've only known her for a few weeks but you're defending her?"
"Bold words for someone who based their entire opinion of someone on the five minutes meeting they eavesdropped on and 'a look in her eyes'. Despite everything you're still a guest here, not a member, yet you're insulting my partner." Asha spoke with authority that nobody probably expected from her, but she was sure she was right about Lyra.
She felt the occultist's surprised eyes bore a hole in her skull, while Jazz, on the other hand, was astonished. She must've been sure that the agent would be on her side since she talked shit about occultists earlier, but she wasn't about to let anybody insult the person, who saved her life and the mission.
"You're defending this... this monster? I thought you would understand. After you said all occultists are vile and disgust you?"
"I did not say that! Even if I did, Lyra is different from all of them." Asha barred her teeth and leaned forward. She was getting really worked up with the conversation. She suddenly felt a hand grasp her arm and looked down at her partner's sad eyes.
"Don't." Lyra said softly, holding onto her sleeve for a split second as she let go of Asha's arm. "Don't defend me. I don't deserve it."
"Of course she doesn't" Jazz scoffed and Asha felt her blood pressure rising.
"You do." she said firmly, keeping the eye contact with the occultist. Even if Lyra used to be an evil person, even if she did all the horrible things she was accused of, she still deserved to be treated better. She was a part of the organization. Asha turned her back to Jasmine. "Let's go, I'll walk you to your room, Lyra. Take care, Jazz."
The girl tried to protest, but Asha was already heading down the corridor with Lyra's hurried footsteps behind her. Jasmine did not follow, which Asha was thankful for, since she was afraid she would actually throw hands with their very important guest. They stopped in front of Lyra's door and the agent huffed out a shaky breath, trying to get rid of some of her frustration.
"Goodnight." Lyra said quietly, trying to squeeze past her to the door, but Asha did not budge.
"Do you want me to kick her ass?" she asked bluntly.
"What?"
"I asked if you want me to deck her." she deadpanned. Lyra looked at her partner's completely serious face and smiled unconvincingly. Asha wanted to drag some banter out of Lyra to make some light of the situation, but the occultist was clearly not in the mood.
"No need. You shouldn't have defended me, you know. She was right... about everything."
"Lyra... c'mon. Jazz was just being an asshole. You're not at all like what she said. I know you."
"Do you, though?" the occultist said, almost too quiet for her to her. She finally managed to pass her partner and enter her room. "Goodnight, Asha."
The agent stood in the empty corridor, wanting to lean her head on the cold wood and scream in annoyance. She could never find the right words to diffuse tense situations. She needed to find a way to show Jazz that Lyra was not that bad.