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"Thuuvir!"
The shout was punctuated by the deafening crash of a door being thrust open with magical aid, and followed by the echoing footsteps of the woman in heeled boots that now thundered into the room like the wrath of an angry god.
Doctor Mardok Thuuvir, lead scientist of the divine research wing of the Crimson Combine, looked up from where he was studying the parchment on his desk to face the fury that just stepped into his laboratory.
"Doctor Traust. What brings you to my humble office?"
"Cut the pleasantries! I want to know who authorized you to dare to take one of my subjects onto your little field trip!"
Taken aback, Mardok narrowed his eyes and looked at her over the rim of his glasses. Doctor Magnolia Traust rarely lowered herself to this level of emotion, but it was obvious to even the untrained eye that she was seething with cold fury. Her fins had turned an intimidating shade of blue, and her gills flared angrily with each breath.
"It is my responsibility to assemble the teams for field test missions, you should know that", he explained in a clipped tone.
Magnolia's visible eye flashed a freezing teal in the harsh shine of the magical lanterns that doused the inside of the facility in perpetual daylight, and she bared her fangs: "It was less of a field test and more of a massacre, wasn't it? And you included a subject that I had personally flagged down for an upcoming project, which was returned to me with an entire arm missing-" Her voice jumped an octave into a high trill full of disbelief "-and I want to know what brain-eating amoeba might have befallen you to take subjects from my wing, because I cannot think of any other reason other than plain sabotage." With the last word, Magnolia had crossed the space between them and slammed her hands onto the metal desk, staring into Mardok's face with her unblinking triton-eyes. Her honey-blonde hair dangled between them in the air, partially obscuring half of her face.
The drow sneered: "I am appalled by that accusation. Nobody could have predicted what happened."
"Except for all the people who aren't blind on one eye and can see the risk your little pet project entails."
Magnolia gleefully watched the scarred face of Doctor Thuuvir darken. His glasses reflected the light when he pushed his chair back, took his cane from where it was leaning against the desk and rose. He used to be tall enough to look down on her over his nose, but the incident left his posture a shadow of its former self. His eyes fixated her, one violet, one milky-blind, and she saw his jaw work.
"It is a risk that will pay off for the Combine, Traust", he declared. They stared at each other with barely contained hatred.
"Is that what you told the higher-ups to mask your negligence? Was there a charm person involved?"
"I recommend you keep your voice down, Doctor Traust, if you intend to keep your station."
"You can't threaten me, Thuuvir. You have no authority over me."
"And I have nothing to say to you, either."
He passed by her, leaning heavily onto his cane with every step. One of his elven ears twitched with annoyance when Magnolia spun around to follow him, with enough force to make her lab coat fly around her like a cape of billowing.
"You permanently handicapped my subject's physical capabilities because you couldn't keep your rabid dog on a leash!"
Mardok slammed his cane into the ground and snarled: "He's not a dog. He carries invaluable information about celestial binding!"
"And Iraklis could have been an invaluable asset to research extra-planar enhancements, but now he's damaged!"
Mardok turned and glared at her with his good eye. "What do you want? An apology? One of mine?" He threw up his arm that wasn't leaning on the cane in an overdramatic fashion. "Please, take your pick."
Magnolia flipped her hair back and hissed. "I don't want one of your divine little playthings. Iraklis had more bite than any of the scum I fish of the streets combined. He would have made the perfect soldier. And you broke him."
"I'm not going to apologize, Traust. We're in the same boat here. Kindling also damaged himself."
"Well deserved, I'd say!"
"He's more powerful than any of our other subjects!"
"Power is only worth something if you can control it. And you have proven time and time again that you cannot hold the reigns on your walking fire-hazard. He's a danger to the whole facility and-"
"Don't you think I know that?!", Mardok interrupted her, "I lost my partner to that thing!"
"And I can't believe they haven't cut your funding after the incident!"
Mardok's scarred hand tightened around the cane. Magnolia could see the burnt half of his face trying and failing to replicate the menacing expression of the other side, before the dark elf took another step closer. A single white strand had separated from the rest of his immaculate, slicked back hair, and now comically betrayed the storm brewing beneath the facade.
"How I get my funding is none of your business."
"Then don't touch my subjects, or I might make it my business."
Mardok opened his mouth as if to retort, then glanced at the door that still hung open on likely broken hinges, giving way into the hallway. His ear twitched again, then his eyes flashed with an arcane shimmer as he switched to mental communication.
Mr. Moreau holds my project in high regards, Magnolia heard Mardok's smug voice in her head, and I assure you he does not care about collateral damage.
Magnolia ground her teeth and balled her fists in rage. I don't care about what Mr. Moreau thinks, Thuuvir, she replied and used the message to drive a mindspike deep into his brain.
The cane clattered to the ground loudly as both of Mardok's hands flew up to clutch his head, and without its support he tumbled to the ground with a pained yelp. Magnolia watched him writhe at her feet for a moment, like one would watch a cell die underneath a microscope. Then, she lowered herself down to a squat beside him and said out loud:
"If you encroach into my jurisdiction one more time, I will make sure that the two halves of your face match each other again."
It spoke of Doctor Mardok Thuuvir's professionalism, that he could keep up appearances while being in immense pain.
"Duly noted", he spit out between clenched teeth.
The words could have just as well been the verbal component of a ray of frost.