@Oakiin
This got some positive reviews in another thread, I'm curious to see what y'all think. It's from LATE in the story, so I would love to know if it makes sense out of context?
thankieeee
Scene: Dakota realizes the people they've come to trust have been using them the entire time, and are doing sketchy stuff similar to what got Dakota's parents killed a long time ago. This is a culmination of betrayal and trauma that leads to Dakota finally snapping, only written from the pov of one of their closest 'friends.'
Finley frowned as she saw Dakota standing at the edge of the trees talking to…Grease? Flynn? It was hard to tell, the night's dim moonlight making too difficult to pick out any detail. Either way, she found it odd. Shouldn't Dakota be asleep by now? Normally they were early to turn in, and early to get up, while the rest of the team would stay up late and then sleep in.
She checked her watch to make sure it was actually as late as she thought it was, and felt even more confused when her watch told her it was one thirty am. Dakota definitely should have been in bed. Finley started to feel like something was wrong, but as she made her way towards the talking pair, Dakota suddenly shifted, reaching out and offering a sheet of paper to….Grease. It was definitely Grease they were talking to.
Alarm bells started to ring in Finley's head as Grease took the papers with clear puzzlement. This was wrong, something inherently bad, but she couldn't figure out how, or why. Maybe…maybe they were talking about a weapon plan? The two often worked close together in the shop, but it was so late, and something about Dakota's stance gave her chills, even though they stood casually.
Well, Finley had been a soldier for long enough to learn to trust these kinds of feelings. She started forward, just as Grease spoke, his voice sounding oddly high with fear.
"Now, Dakota, this isn't what you think it-"
He never finished the sentence. Dakota shifted, punching Grease as hard as they could, felling the taller man in one blow. Finley began forward, giving a shout.
"Dakota!" she yelled, going full drill sergeant. "What the hell are you doing?"
Dakota turned to face her, their expression entirely blank. She faltered, coming to a standstill as they bent down and picked up the paper that had fallen from Grease's fingers as he'd been knocked out.
"Maybe you can explain this," they said, almost pleasantly. "Before I decide to rip your head off."
Finley took the paper, nervously staying a distance she hoped was out of range. She could hear the camp stirring up behind her, roused by her shout, and hoped reinforcements would be here soon.
Oh. Oh, crap.
"Dakota," she began as calmly as she could. "Listen to me."
"You'd better make it good," Dakota said, their voice trembling with a fury she'd never heard from her normally quiet, collect friend.
"I know this looks bad," she said, raising her hands peaceably. "I know this looks like we've been using you, keeping you in the dark. But we didn't have a choice. We are trying to stop the people who killed your parents, I promise that's never been a lie."
"Right," Dakota said. "You've just been using the stuff they've found out by doing stuff like…killing my parents. Using that. Seems kinda crazy, you think? Seems like whoever said that thought it was pretty funny." They gestured to the paper held in Finley's hands, a call record between Grease and their contact in the military. She glanced down at it again, all the incriminating evidence Dakota might need to shatter any trust they'd ever felt for the team written out in bold.
"Look," she said, trying to reason with them. "You know how Grease is. He can be an idiot-"
"Look," Dakota cut her off. "I don't care."
Finley swallowed, feeling genuinely nervous. Where's the rest of the damn team? she wondered, a little desperately.
Dakota stared at her for one more second, all friendliness and familiarity gone from their cold face. They looked how they had when she'd first approached them; tired, stressed, mistrustful and with some slightly unhinged gleam in their muddy eyes. It was scary. But they'd worked together for years, surely they wouldn't-
She hadn't realized they had a knife. She had time to scream, then Dakota stabbed her in the face, driving her to the ground with the force of the attack.
She was dead before her head hit the ground, the long blade piercing right through her eye and driving through her skull into the ground as Dakota used all their weight to push it in further.
Dakota heard Flynn and Norton running towards them, drawn by Finley's scream no doubt. They tried to pull the blade back out of her head, but it was stuck, and they had to give up, standing and stalking back towards their machine shed. They heard Grease give a groan from the ground and paused, considering him. It didn't take them long to ensure he'd never get up again, snapping his neck with one well-placed, decisive kick before carrying on their way. They only needed one thing before they could kill the rest of their 'friends.' And when they got it, they would be unstoppable.