V had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole trip home, not that J noticed. She was off in her own little world, humming a vaguely familiar tune V could just barely pick up over the rushing air as they flew. It was rare to see their squad leader so upbeat, especially after a botched mission.
'It WAS botched, right? That's what N was punished for...' V thought as they touched down next to the landing pod.
"Ahh~, y'know, all things considered? I'm gonna call tonight a win!" J said with a bright smile.
V blinked a few times, not quite sure she heard correctly.
"...What?"
"Our reserves are full and we confirmed the existence of another colony in the city; that's a good night in my book."
"Then what the hell was that?" V demanded, pointing back in the direction they came from.
"Hm? Oh, that. Look, you can't let the small stuff slide just because it's not a big deal right now. Especially if it's indicative of a more serious problem, like insubordination. Even if he wasn't doing anything important, even if he didn't find anything in his area, he was still assigned to that area and chose to disobey those orders."
"He didn't," V said.
"Pardon?"
"He didn't disobey. He said he found a group of Workers just like the ones we did and followed them to our area. That's what he was trying to tell you before you shot him," V explained.
"Really? Huh. Well he should've opened with that, saved us all some trouble," J shrugged.
"He didn't 'open' at all; you got all screamy and stabby before he could say anything," V pointed out.
"Hey, when you've been in the same place a thousand times, you tend to anticipate what's coming next. Excuse me for being wrong this ONE time," J scoffed. "Besides, where is the group he was following? Either he killed them all before they could lead him anywhere important, or they got away while he was ruining our operation. Probably both. Just another failure to add to an ever-growing list."
"...I thought he was doing okay," V muttered.
On their last joint hunt she would've swore N outdid them both. Given that was probably due to him not playing with his food, but that kind of speed and efficiency was right up J's alley. Yet the numbers came back showing he was still lagging behind. Not as much as previous weeks, but still behind.
"So did I!" J agreed. "But the numbers don't lie and neither does this latest screw-up."
V merely nodded, though something in the back of her CPU was starting to wonder about the person who delivered those numbers.
"So, what happens if he doesn't make it back before sunrise?" V asked, trying to distract herself from thoughts that would put her in J's crosshairs.
"He will," J replied almost before V finished her question. "Once he eats he'll be back up within the hour and it's only a twenty minute trip if he shows some urgency."
"You sound so sure of that."
"He's come back from worse..." J froze when she realized what she said and the implications behind it.
Implications that V most certainly didn't miss. While she had never actually seen J's brand of "discipline" in person until tonight, she'd seen the aftermath of it plenty of times. Coming home to see N slumped against a wall and rebooting, or hobbling around asking if she had seen his leg, or even offline and laying in a pool of his own oil. But never had she seen him in so many pieces before. And the screams...
