Across the Universe: A BFDI Oneshot Collection

Eye Candy

CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING — Mentions/implications of the following: anxiety, depression, PTSD, attempted rape, attempted suicide, attempted kidnapping, descriptive and vivid violence (seriously, folks, this one's spicy, so buckle up)

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT BLEW UP?!" Lea-Fee barked at the cowering radio girl, standing up from her chair and clenching her fists threateningly.

The girl's knees buckled as she raised her hands up in surrender. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am! Th-that's just what they said for me to tell you!" she squeaked. "O-only two of the supply convoy's crew made it out, a-and they said th-they're in an escape pod bound f-for Grassent!"

Fee plopped back down in her chair and covered her face with her hands, letting out a loud groan. "Bloody hell, can I get any good news this week?!"

"U-um..." the radio girl weakly croaked, "...th-the Demo's coming over to fight off the Neteos that attacked it, ma'am?"

Unfortunately, this only enraged Fee more and caused her to jump out of her chair again. "WHAT?!" her infuriated voice boomed. "Are you freakin' kidding me?! We have to call in one of our nine main ships because the convoy's escorts couldn't take care of it? WHAT KIND OF SOLDIERS ARE WE TRAINING?!"

The radio girl whimpered and fearfully took a step back. "I-I...uh..." she whispered. "Ma'am...I..."

Fee looked over to her and her gaze softened a little bit. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists once more, and let them go. "...I'm sorry, I—I'm not mad at you," she said in a low voice as she walked over to the girl, placed a hand on her quivering shoulder, and closed her eyes. "It's just...things have been really...stressful lately. I'm sorry."

The girl seemed to calm down a little bit, which was reassuring for Fee. "Well, um..." she said, stepping back and running a hand through her hair, "Vidd's still helping out in the garage, so...I assume I'm doing the shopping this time?"

She watched the radio girl nod and pull out a small paper with items listed on it. "They have the money at the gate," she added. "They said at least it's not as much as last time."

Fee took the paper from her, glazed over it, and frowned as she gave a sigh. "Markadom sure loves to spend its money, doesn't it?" she muttered as she slipped the list into her pocket. "Out of all the fortresses we've ever checked on, I'm pretty sure this one spends the most money."

"If you think the fortress's spending is bad, you should see the civilians'," the radio girl scoffed.

"Right. Anyway, tell them I'll be on my way in a few minutes. Just gotta get fixed up."

"Will do, ma'am."

"Good. Dismissed."

The radio girl saluted Fee before turning and walking away. Fee sighed again and flopped back down in her chair for a moment, taking several deep breaths to gather her composure. Once she felt okay again, she stood up, grabbed her blaster from under her pillow, and holstered it as she walked over to the mirror and glossed over her appearance. Her long, flowing green hair with golden streaks was as vibrant as usual as she glanced at her favorite golden star clip in her hair. She adjusted her dark brown, unzipped, short-sleeved, custom-tailored snug field jacket and took a moment to revel in its warmth. Her plain white T-shirt with black sleeves showed from underneath, and her form-fitting black leggings matched her black fingerless gloves and waist holster.

She slipped a pair of casual brown sneakers over her white socks and checked herself out one more time in the mirror. "Hmm...yup. As usual, I look super freaking hot..." she thought to herself, placing a hand on her hip and nodding.