Strangers

Exhaustion

Fritz POV

I had walked out and stated my deal with the two lovebirds. I was in the hallway being passed and ignored by nurses and doctors. I glared at everything in my path. I rubbed my face and basically deflated, nearly having a breakdown in front of everyone. I mentally slapped myself and put my game face back on.
I was exhausted.
I wasn't being payed enough for this job. I was only expected to command the base in Norway for a month or two before Red was expected to return. Now I had to deal with the new base here at the hospital and the main base, along with the fates of seven people. I mumbled and cursed as I made my way to an office I was given to manage everything and keep the two snow leopards inside. I was practically the Red Leader himself. Save for the ally negotiations and battle plans. I made a mental note to ask Red to train me for every situation, because its obvious that I'm not holding this up too well. I wondered if I should have a chat with Emil, she's smarter than me in these circumstances. I whined and slammed my head on the desk. I heard a small low meow behind me from Valkyrie. I raised my arms up with my face still on the desk.
"I'm fine, I'm just tired..." I muttered. I wiped a yawn off of my face and was about to get back up to give Emil a visit before I heard the office door open. I whipped my head up and immediately set my face into a glare to greet whatever low life had appeared to ruin my plans. I saw Gunter standing awkwardly at the door, closing it behind him.
Oh boy this'll be fun...
He didn't look happy. I shivered a bit but kept my composure.
"Do you need something?" I asked coldly. This is what Red does right? Wait no. "Whatever it is it can wait, now get out of my-" I was quoting what Red had said to me on my first day at the base, but I wasn't able to finish.
Gunter had slammed both hands onto the desk and had a fixed death glare on me. I didn't show it but I probably pissed myself.

I don't want to be here...

I coughed and nervously smoothed out my hair before speaking. "What?"
Gunter stared me down as he pulled out a paper. I remember telling him to either write or speak up if he wanted to communicate with me, saying that I couldn't understand his Doctor Strange spells...even though I had studied ASL since I was a child for my deaf grandmother and translated for three events before coming to work here.
I brushed off the thought and guilt and read the paper.
"I want to speak to my sister" i read.
"No." I said plainly looking up at the giant with a grin.
He growled and hastily wrote "Why?"
"Because I said so, until Red Leader is back I really don't have the authority to let you do that." I lied, using the best excuse I could think of. Gunter actually paused a bit to think about it, writing down something else. He gave me a cold expression as I read it.
"If I find out that Emil is in danger or hurt I will be coming for you."
I shot out of my seat, still having to twist my neck uncomfortably to look at Gunter.
"Go ahead and try, that's if you can even find her." I snapped.
I felt myself pulled off the ground and over the desk by my uniform. I heard paper fall onto the ground as I was kneeling on the surface. I flinched, waiting for a hit. But nothing came. After what seemed like forever I heard a small chuckle, I cracked my eyes open to see Gunter smirking down at me and I froze. I stared up at him in horror as he looked down at me, knowing well that he had managed to scare me. I heard growls from the cats behind me that snapped me back into attention.
I snarled and shoved him off of me, landing a kick in his gut at he lost balance and fell to the floor. I turned away from him and hopped off the desk, walking towards the door.
"Try that again and your dear sister Emil is dead." I said before walking out, not bothering to look back at his expression and not caring to know how he would handle Tyr and Valkyrie.
I ran down the hallway, ignoring stares and murmurs. I entered a staircase, nearly tripping to my death as I was going down but managed to live. After about four flights of stairs I stopped to catch my breath, spotting the door I was looking for. I opened it to reveal a dimly lit storage room.
I locked the door behind me and nearly burst into tears out of embarrassment. I passed cabinets stocked with canned goods and shelves full of cleaning supplies and a small bed. Stopping underneath the lightbulb illuminating the table at the center of the room. I waited as a woman at the table who was watching some channel turned around to look at me. She immediately burst into laughter at the sight of me and wheezed before finally speaking up.
"Oh goodness what happened with my brother this time? Your blushing harder than a tomato!"
I pouted and sat next to her, covering my face and grumbling.

"Emil...help me..."

Enjoy this change in personality for my little bastard cat man