Glass Half Empty

Chapter 2.2

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"Your uniform", Vails announced as he handed Marlow a folded bundle of black clothing.

She stared down at it for a few moments to realize it was similar to what Vails himself was wearing, namely a military looking coat and a pair of cargo pants. It was odd that none of the other unit members were wearing this type of uniform, they all had athletic or baggy clothing that they could easily move around in.

After having eaten with them and receiving an earful on how things worked around here, Vails had come to take her to where her future room would be. While Haru and Kairo tagged along curiously, she supposed the others were headed in the same direction as well as they followed along. There was a wide corridor not far from the cafeteria that had many doors branching off to different rooms. Watching as Rae and June headed into separate doors in the hallway, she figured this was where all the unit members were staying.

Now she was standing inside one of those rooms that looked grey and bare, filled with nothing but a single bed in a metal frame, a sizable closet, a desk with a chair and a door that lead to an on-suite bathroom. Vails was handing her clothing while Mon stood in the doorway, observing everything with a slight frown, and Haru and Kairo were making themselves at home in her new room.

"God, it's ugly in here", Haru complained from where he flopped back onto her bed alongside Kairo, "My room looks so much better."

She paid them no mind, instead slowly growing suspicious when Vails shoved a pair of combat boots in her direction, "How do you know my sizing?"

"You were unconscious for a few hours upon your arrival", he responded in a flat tone, immediately sending chills down her spine.

The idea of being examined without her knowledge and consent made her stomach turn over and heat creep into her face with embarrassment as she clutched the clothes tighter to her chest.

"Calm down, we're officers, not creeps", Vails grunted lamely, seeing the horrified look on her face.

She merely pressed her lips together into a thin line while Vails turned to lecture the boys about not treating this like a vacation and that they were supposed to show her around and then immediately get back to work.

As soon as he left the room though, she turned towards the others in slight confusion, "I don't understand. I thought this task force was under the CIA. Why do they refer to themselves as officers and lieutenants? And why do we wear uniforms?"

"Oh it's just their way of keeping ranks. We're under the SAD anyway", Kairo answered nonchalantly, much more preoccupied with fluffing up her pillow to lay his head on.

"Special Activities Devision", Mon clarified when she looked lost, "The Devision has a few branches and one of them is located underground here, unbeknownst to everyone except select officers in the CIA."

"What does that make us?", she inquired.

Haru shrugged from the bed, his legs stretched up into the air as they rested against the wall, "Special officers? Who gives a shit?"

"Our unit operates under the SAD branch known as UOG, Underground Operations Group", Mon continued explaining kindly, "Hayes is in charge of our unit and most of the officers that work in this branch."

"Alright...", she let the information process along with the hundred other things they had told her over the past few hours and slowly laid the clothing she was still holding onto the empty desk.

"And don't worry about the uniform. No one wears that crap", Haru spoke up again, casually getting his dirty boots all over the grey wall, "Okay, no, correction: Our unit doesn't wear that crap, the rest of the officers do. We only do when one of the directors comes to visit."