Chapter Text
"Moving? Whatd'ya mean, 'moving'?!"
Miss Pauling shifted and pushed her cat-eye glasses up higher on her nose. "You are being moved to a BLU team at Upward, effective immediately. Shall I repeat myself again, or are we good here?"
The lanky woman groaned and scratched at the nape of her neck. "I've been here for goddamn ages! I'm the best trainer ya'll've ever had up here, you said so yourself!"
"Used to be, Miss Tanner, used to be." The assistant sighed, leaning on the table across from the violet sniper. "You've gotten rusty after so long out of combat, and the Administrator wants you replaced."
Silence filled the room as the Sniper sunk down into her chair. She buried her head in her hands. "And there's nothing I can do to stop the transfer?"
Miss Pauling sighed, and Lenore looked up in surprise. "No, not this time, I'm afraid. A replacement has been found, and he should already be on his way."
The purple-clad assistant rifled through her briefcase and dropped a neat pile of blue shirts in front of the forlorn woman.
"You know the drill," she quoted, almost mechanically. "You may supply your own uniforms, but you must remain in team colors." She pulled out a small baggy of yellow and blue patches, shaped like crosshairs. "You must keep a patch on your person at all times. It does not matter if it is visible. It is simply used for--"
"Used for identification purposes, an' any other side effect is purely coincidental, an you should understand what to do on account of your trainin' and credentials or whatever, I get it already!" The sniper cut off Pauling and grabbed the baggy. "This ain't my first rodeo, hun, I've been moved before." She blinked rapidly to hold back the angry tears she knew were coming.
Miss Pauling snapped the briefcase closed and picked up her clipboard, walking past the Sniper to the door.
Pause. Sniper felt a soft hand on her shoulder, and a soft voice that she had never expected to come out of the blunt woman.
"I'm, uh, I'm sorry about you and your Medic. It wasn't my decision to make."
The hand was gone, the room was empty.
The Sniper screamed and her vase shattered against the door.