Triumphant return?
I started writing this thinking it would be a prologue for a multi-chapter Jupiter backstory fic, and it probably still will, eventually, but it stands well enough on its own.
Implied TBHShipping. WARNING for violence and language.
Words like "treason" and "insurrection" glare conspicuously from the handwritten note on Commander Jupiter's desk (Why a note? Just so she has to waste time shredding it later?), and also "your problem" and "deal with it personally." The younger woman dumped in a crumpled heap on the office floor was beaten back and hard not too long ago, her body broken so badly she didn't even have to be bound. Lord Cyrus clearly did not need any help defending himself. He could have finished the job easily, but instead he decided to shove it off on her, which means that something is up.
"Why?" Jupiter asks, brandishing the note. "Why do this? You were the best in my command. Not one of the best; the best. I can tell you that now that you obviously won't have the chance to spread it around. You were on track for promotion, and you threw it away for this. What the Hell is wrong with you?" She lets go of the paper, and it glides down to land over the other woman's eyes.
"Just kill me and get it over with." She's way too calm. Enviably calm. It makes Jupiter want to break more than her bones but, unfortunately, there's no need for that. She could just be a bit better at hiding it than I am, she reminds herself. Or in shock.
"I'm still your commander, and I asked you a question." She gets no response, so she steps on her subordinate's leg where it bends unnaturally just below the knee. The other woman gasps and tries to squirm away, but Jupiter keeps her pinned down. "Answer me."
"Because I don't care about promotions anymore," her captive spits through pain-clenched teeth. "Because I don't want to have anything to do with you people after what happened to Tom."
So that's it: a physical lesson on sentimentality, always one of Lord Cyrus's favorite subjects. Thing is, she's almost certain he doesn't actually mind; it keeps her wrapped around his finger, so why should he? Which means that he's probably doing this just to torment her, for her own good.
Bastard.
She takes the weight off, and the woman on the floor lets her breath out through her teeth. "So you've broken the rules before." And this is no small part of the reason why those particular rules - the ones against extraprofessional relationships - exist in the first place. Terminate one agent, lose two. It quickly leads to a big mess and a bigger waste. "That's good to know. It makes me think this is less of a loss than I'd believed."
"I did no such thing. We never acted on it. It was just there. You can't stop it from being, even if you know better." She manages to lift her head - the note flutters away - and looks Jupiter square in the eyes. "Not that a person like you would know anything about that."
Oh, bad move, Jupiter thinks as she draws her pokémon from the pouch on her leg. If only you hadn't gone there, I probably would have killed you before doing this. She doesn't particularly like what that says about her (You aren't in control. His voice. She can hear the disappointment. If it isn't one thing, it's the opposite.) but no one has to know. Her golbat and skuntank come out and she says, "Chow time," and steps out of their way.
The sane, polite thing to do now would be to get out of the room as quickly as possible (like Mars would) or at least discretely turn her back (like Saturn or Lord Cyrus would), but she doesn't. And she really shouldn't be smiling, because that's completely inappropriate, and no one else is like this you damned sadist bitch what the Hell is wrong with you? But it's okay. Lord Cyrus will forgive her because he understands she's only human and what that really means, the stink and the taint and the wretched powerlessness (but not so powerless she can't make a formerly strong, stoic woman die moaning and begging for mercy at her feet). And he knows she's better than most, more self-aware, or else why would she be a commander? So he'll forgive her. He always does.
Bastard.
Implied TBHShipping. WARNING for violence and language.
Words like "treason" and "insurrection" glare conspicuously from the handwritten note on Commander Jupiter's desk (Why a note? Just so she has to waste time shredding it later?), and also "your problem" and "deal with it personally." The younger woman dumped in a crumpled heap on the office floor was beaten back and hard not too long ago, her body broken so badly she didn't even have to be bound. Lord Cyrus clearly did not need any help defending himself. He could have finished the job easily, but instead he decided to shove it off on her, which means that something is up.
"Why?" Jupiter asks, brandishing the note. "Why do this? You were the best in my command. Not one of the best; the best. I can tell you that now that you obviously won't have the chance to spread it around. You were on track for promotion, and you threw it away for this. What the Hell is wrong with you?" She lets go of the paper, and it glides down to land over the other woman's eyes.
"Just kill me and get it over with." She's way too calm. Enviably calm. It makes Jupiter want to break more than her bones but, unfortunately, there's no need for that. She could just be a bit better at hiding it than I am, she reminds herself. Or in shock.
"I'm still your commander, and I asked you a question." She gets no response, so she steps on her subordinate's leg where it bends unnaturally just below the knee. The other woman gasps and tries to squirm away, but Jupiter keeps her pinned down. "Answer me."
"Because I don't care about promotions anymore," her captive spits through pain-clenched teeth. "Because I don't want to have anything to do with you people after what happened to Tom."
So that's it: a physical lesson on sentimentality, always one of Lord Cyrus's favorite subjects. Thing is, she's almost certain he doesn't actually mind; it keeps her wrapped around his finger, so why should he? Which means that he's probably doing this just to torment her, for her own good.
Bastard.
She takes the weight off, and the woman on the floor lets her breath out through her teeth. "So you've broken the rules before." And this is no small part of the reason why those particular rules - the ones against extraprofessional relationships - exist in the first place. Terminate one agent, lose two. It quickly leads to a big mess and a bigger waste. "That's good to know. It makes me think this is less of a loss than I'd believed."
"I did no such thing. We never acted on it. It was just there. You can't stop it from being, even if you know better." She manages to lift her head - the note flutters away - and looks Jupiter square in the eyes. "Not that a person like you would know anything about that."
Oh, bad move, Jupiter thinks as she draws her pokémon from the pouch on her leg. If only you hadn't gone there, I probably would have killed you before doing this. She doesn't particularly like what that says about her (You aren't in control. His voice. She can hear the disappointment. If it isn't one thing, it's the opposite.) but no one has to know. Her golbat and skuntank come out and she says, "Chow time," and steps out of their way.
The sane, polite thing to do now would be to get out of the room as quickly as possible (like Mars would) or at least discretely turn her back (like Saturn or Lord Cyrus would), but she doesn't. And she really shouldn't be smiling, because that's completely inappropriate, and no one else is like this you damned sadist bitch what the Hell is wrong with you? But it's okay. Lord Cyrus will forgive her because he understands she's only human and what that really means, the stink and the taint and the wretched powerlessness (but not so powerless she can't make a formerly strong, stoic woman die moaning and begging for mercy at her feet). And he knows she's better than most, more self-aware, or else why would she be a commander? So he'll forgive her. He always does.
Bastard.