Chromium

9.2

Unedited/first draft

Dia was a nervous wreck; her nostrils dilated, her jaw clenched, and her eyes flashing red like a pair of bright and very disturbing headlights. She was so mad that the word "angry" was utterly inadequate to describe how she was feeling at the moment. She kept pacing back and forth, one, two, three times until Omen couldn't take it anymore.

"Corporal...stop." He said, using her old rank and that commanding tone of his to try to calm her down.

Unfortunately, it didn't work this time. Dia was too far gone, hysterical but still too confused to turn into a homicidal maniac. Not yet at least.

"Stop? Stop?!" She shouted, then laughed, but it was a frenzied, neurotic laugh. "Who does he think I am? A whore? A puppet? His fucking pet?"

Omen looked worried.

"Corporal..." He said, but Dia was too agitated to pay him any attention.

"That bastard." She hissed, remembering a little detail. She didn't pay attention much at the moment, but now it all made sense. "He planned this, didn't he?"

"Calm down, I don't know what are you talking abo..."

"The uniform!" She yelled. "I'm talking about that fucking uniform! It fits me perfectly!"

Omen looked confused.

"So?"

"So Reyes knew my size! Way before those two psychos even started butchering me! He already knew it!" She shouted. "What did he do? Did he sit on a table and decided how I should look like? And now my hair, my body, and those fucking dresses." She said throwing down the rack of clothes close to her. "It's wasn't enough to play God, he had to dress me like a freaking doll!"

"It's because of the mission." Omen reminded, obviously trying to placate her.

"Really? Then why did Reyes say Katrina was a brunette?"

"She is a natural brunette, but..."

"Oh, for god's sake Omen! Stop trying to defend him! He lied to me, he started lying from the moment I woke up on that fucking ship!"

She kept ranting and shouting and pacing like a raging lunatic.

"How dare he treat me this way?!" She said, her voice distorted by anger, but there was something beneath that rage. A note of...arrogance?

"How dare he?" Omen repeated her words, incredulous. "Listen to yourself, corporal. This is not you."

Dia froze and looked at him, confused.

"Do you know how close you were to killing that woman?"

Dia blinked, biting her lips as she remembered the hairstylist.

Omen took a deep breath.

"Please, try to remember. When was the last time you took the spice?"

Dia squinted her eyes as she tried to think about it. But it wasn't easy. She was confused, her brain in overdrive and her emotions all over the place. She vaguely remembered she took the Spice the last time when the Umbra "gave" it to her. She said that to him.

"That happened more than a day ago. You have to take it every day." Omen scolded, but his voice was still calm, rational. It had a calming effect on her. "Otherwise, it will affect your personality." He frowned, staring at her from head to toe. "And in more ways than expected, apparently."

"I...I don't want to take it. I don't want him to control me." She said, but Omen showed her no mercy.

"So that's what this is all about?  You against Reyes and the Umbra?" He asked, treating her like a kid throwing a tantrum. The worst part was it did sound stupid now that he said it out loud. "Do you think it is worth it, corporal? Even if you lose yourself in the process?"