The Gold of the Firepines

"The Mailman"

"Ms. Pauling? Do not tell me you too have fallen to this mailman's logic." The Administrator held her ground on the box, keeping the dart gun positioned as it was, now on Ms. Pauling.
"It would be much harder to replace you."

"Ma'am, I'd like you to hear me out." Ms. Pauling said, lowering her arms.
You took a moment to sit up, and from that position stand. 'You could defend yourself, thank you' is what your body language read as you stood beside Ms. Pauling.

There was the scoff- You could imagine it before it happened, but it was still so pronounced when The Administrator herself did it. "You're questioning my approach?"

"No ma'am. I'm not...this is the traditional way of going about these matters, however this is not a traditional case."
"So you are questioning my approach."

Ms. Pauling was silent for a moment, but just a moment. She had to reflect on how she was going to say this, but this had to be said.
"...Alright, I am. Forgive me, but...Y/n L/n—this mailman—has embedded themselves so deep with the mercenaries, foolish as it was, also unintentionally. But from this unintentionality, they've developed genuine connection. They had no idea what was going on, stuck their nose into our business, and consumed valuable time from our lives-"

Wow, was she still defending you? Didn't sound like it...
The Administrator seemed to have the same train of thought as you. "Yes, thank you; all very good reasons to end this."

Ms. Pauling shook her head. "Wait..!" She held her hands back up, knowing how The Administrator was, and didn't want to give her the chance to cock the gun. "If you do this, after spending the last couple of days with RED team, I know they would take measures to defy your orders, only making matters worse. They already risked everything to get y/n back, and at this rate, if you take them out of the picture, you'll need to replace all of them."

Man...were they really that attached? Now that you were thinking about it, maybe this wasn't a bullshitted answer like you thought Ms. Pauling would give on the fly...it sounded...genuine?
It was refreshing to hear, actually...refreshing to know there were others who cared about you. Cared about the mailman living in a rundown madtown, cared about you enough to travel you-don't-know-how-long to the Firepines, enough to find you and talk reason to you when you were at (quite literally) your wildest, enough to even offer to help you find somewhere that will make you happy...
They really did care.
That sense of it began to sink into you- You already knew they cared on a surface level, but now...you really knew. It was clear; clear to even the one who seemingly hadn't cared for your condition not even two hours ago. She "magically" cared.

Well, cared about the rest of them, really.
And now, in a sense, you are one of them.

As you thought about this enlightening knowledge, the contemplative silence hung in the air. The Administrator being the main contemplator here.
No one knew the real thoughts running in her mind, but you assumed it involved the impracticality of replacing the whole team...or maybe how she would deal with you in a manner that wouldn't rile the whole team. Sure, she could cover your death from one or two...maybe four more gullible ones, but others would know the truth and they wouldn't let it go. Which of those 'others' they would be, you weren't too sure, but you know they wouldn't let it go. At least not immediately..."not immediately" enough to piss off the old mastermind.
Her face twisted in thought—not too severely—but noticeably.

With a near-defeated, mostly annoyed huff, she finally lowered the gun.
"Listen here, Mailman, and listen good." The Administrator's voice had a venom hiss to it, specifically on your name. "I'm giving you an offer. A generous one. If you'd like to remain alive and in contact with the RED mercenaries, you will abandon your job—your entire life—and work under me. Solely me...making deliveries specifically for MANN Co. per my request. Until the day you finally die. Do you understand?"