avalononline | Ninth: A Tactical Decision (Text; anon)

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Ninth: A Tactical Decision (Text; anon)

(TW: Murder/Sororicide, Betrayal, DR Spoilers)

[The last few months had given Mukuro a lot to think about- especially with regard to her own death back home. One part still didn't make any sense to her:

What had she done wrong? Why had Junko killed her?

...It was with those thoughts swimming around in her head that she sent another late night message to the network.]

27 AUG XX, 0324

Reviewing the strategy from a recent battle at home. I want to understand the rational for the decisions taken.

A soldier is engaged in a stealth/undercover mission. However, they have made a mistake that risks the operation's success, and have not realised their error.

The mission commander is in a position to eliminate the operative to preserve their mission, without exposing themselves in the process.

Is that course of action reasonable? To put it another way- under what circumstances would you consider sacrificing one of your own men to ensure a mission's success or to prevent it's failure?

Don't feel you have to answer.

🔪

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[ Oh no, one question in and she's drawing on her own experiences. ]

The only acceptable situation would be when lives are at stake. Specific, immediate lives, people you can point to and say "if we don't do this, they're dead." You don't throw a life away on a 'probably'. And it's never okay for a commander to sacrifice someone who works for them without their consent. For one thing, that's murder. The only reason soldiers are exempt is because they're killing 'the enemy'. For another, this is someone you're responsible for. Whatever the context, your job as a leader is to take care of the people who look to you for command. If you fail, it's a tragedy. If you pull the trigger, it's monstrous.

That's the wrong way around.

A Soldier is supposed to do as they're commanded. They're supposed to not let their Mission Commander down, they're supposed to protect them, and ensure their safety and that their plans are carried out. If a Soldier is a detriment to that plan then

[She cut off, there, leaving an awkward half finished sentence before her brain jumped to the next point- now she was drawing on her own experiences.]

She's not a monster.

Soldiers aren't tools to be used and thrown away. They're people, and they deserve to be treated like people. Their lives have value. They aren't worth any less than the people they're fighting to protect.

It depends on the Soldier and the Commander, doesn't it? Who's life is worth more.

No, it doesn't. You can't weigh lives like that, one against another. That isn't war. That isn't a Soldier and a Commander. That's... something different. Something personal. That's murder, or sacrifice, not collateral damage.

Murder.

[That's...all she says for quite a while, reading the message over a few times.]

No it's fine she warned me what would happen if I let my guard down.

[ Steph takes the opportunity to glance at a couple of other threads. ]

If you let your guard down? This doesn't sound like a military operation, covert or not. If you had gone into this with the understanding that she would shoot you on the spot if you messed up you wouldn't be asking these questions. If you knew what you were supposed to be doing you wouldn't be asking how you messed up. I think you know there's something not right here.

I saw it that way, and treated it as such. As an operation. That's

I'm the sort of person who only really understands things in that context. She used to say I was a 'disappointing battle junkie' for that reason. More so after I returned from my deployment as a mercenary.

I got killed because I failed. Because I disappointed her. I'm asking these questions because I don't know what I did wrong. Why she chose then to eliminate me when that wasn't the original plan.

Why was I

[No, she'd- she'd said way too much, hadn't she? Mukuro quickly sent the message off without finishing her sentence.]

[ Steph takes some time with her next response. It's not really any of her business. Except she's already emotionally compromised, and she's never been very good at leaving well enough alone. ]

Listen. I'm not a soldier. I'm not even a mercenary. But I've been a disappointment. I've messed up so bad that I didn't care anymore if I survived. I wasn't killed by my commander, but I may as well have died. And when I came back I wasn't welcomed. I don't know if I can help you understand why she made the choice she did, but I'd like to. And if it helps, I can buy you a drink. Or 10.

[Mukuro too took a little while to respond, a hint of nervousness at wondering around as 'herself' openly.]

You get it. Messing up and knowing you've disappointed someone.

[...Would it be okay to talk?]

Somewhere quiet? I'm not old enough to drink but

Tea might help. I'm finding it hard to sleep.

[ Oh no. She's young? That makes Steph angry. So angry. Why did it not make her angry when it happened to her? She was 17. Oh right, because of the crippling depression. ]

I know a place. It's a cafe/bar, they do tea. Much quieter than it sounds, I promise.

[Mukuro locked the feed at that point- if she was going to meet up with this person, she didn't want anyone else turning up.]

Alright thank you, we'll rendezvous there then.

Um. So you know who to look for.

[There's a pause, before she sends a photo of the back of her hand, showing the wolf tattoo she had there.]

I'm in cover but. It makes more sense if I come over as me, doesn't it?

[ ...why is she in cover, this is literally a different universe... ]

Whatever you're comfortable with. I won't tell anyone anything unless you ask me to.

[ Just to be sure they don't miss each other, Steph thinks to add in a quick video of her smiling and waving. ]

See you soon.

[Oh- so this was the person she was talking to. She looked friendly enough.]

Yeah. See you soon.

[And with that, Mukuro hesitated...no, it should be okay to go out like this, right? After working those irritating fake nails off, she headed out to the cafe/bar in question.

There, Steph would see a freckled, plainly dressed teenager in combat boots, glancing around to see if she could spot the woman from the video.]

[ It doesn't take long for Steph to arrive as well, an equally plain young adult with her hair in a ponytail. She spots Mukuro almost immediately just from the way the girl is looking around her. She waves, just to make sure she doesn't randomly accost a stranger. ]

Hi! Did you order already?

[Mukuro raised her hand with an awkward smile- to show the tattoo- before giving her a little wave.]

Hi, um...no, not yet.

...Thank you for coming to talk.

Thanks for agreeing to come.

[ She leads the way into a fairly short line. The place does fair business, but it's far from capacity. ]

I know a thing or two about secret identities, so I'm not gonna push for names or anything.

Thanks...and I won't ask for yours, either. Wouldn't be fair otherwise.

[Mukuro followed her, looking around- she always kept her eyes around her, except when she was actively making the effort not to. She couldn't just turn off her combat instincts, after all.]

...I didn't think that many people would even bother to answer what I wrote.

[ She just smiles. It's easy enough to find out who Steph is, even if she doesn't give her name. ]

We have a lot of military types, I guess. And killing a subordinate isn't really a normal thing.

[ In case you weren't aware. ]

...A lot of people have called it outright betrayal. I don't know how I feel about that.

[Denial was a powerful thing.]

No? Why not?

[ She takes a moment to place their orders. ]

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Ninth: A Tactical Decision (Text; anon)

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tw emotional abuse

tw: suicidal ideation

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Text -> Private text

Private text -> brief video

Private text -> Action!

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