MC spent her time coming out with a plan together with Viela and Miggy and broke the meeting off right after they were able to make up something concrete and feasible. Considering the risks it had and convinced at their chances of winning, she told them to rest and spend their time getting ready. When Rick and Jeremy were about to go on their ways, Mary asked them to come with her, giving them a taste of her determination as she asked them to for a talk.
"You know, I don't mind taking a crippled one-armed girl without hands to bed but damn, this is not a booty call right?" Jeremy asked, taking a little sip from his coffee before placing it back to the table. He glanced at the bandaged woman in front of him who returned his gaze with a tinge of seriousness before he moved his eyes to look at the man sitting beside her. "Nice work though, really thought that this thing would melt my throat and kill me, scary."
"Being at this table scares me the most." Rick let out a nervous chuckle, finding himself in the middle of the ship's cafeteria with a few sets of metallic white tables enclosed in a space with golden walls, highlighted by the bright white lights coming from their tall ceiling. "What are you going to do if Viela gets in here?"
"Oh, don't worry about it, I'm sure that they're getting ready. She didn't take three of me for nothing," he whispered, rushing his words right before he cleared his throat. "We're just a few minutes away from them getting down there anyway," Jeremy laughed as he leaned forward to tap him on his shoulder. "Also, you're Rick, Viela won't touch you."
"I—"
"Mary's gonna die though," Jeremy continued, interrupting Mary right at the moment she was about to open her mouth.
"Yeah, she's gonna get mauled…" Rick agreed as he picked up his cup.
"But still, I do appreciate you saving me from her… but… I believe that that's not all if you're here," Jeremy followed, leaning back to his chair as he cupped his chin. "What do you want to talk about, Mary?"
"I…" She raised her voice and stopped herself at the moment it broke. Then, though after a few seconds of her looking down as though she was hesitating, she looked at Jeremy and with a sense of utmost sincerity and determination, she said, "Please, let me save Rei."
"Okay," Jeremy smiled, looking at Rick and back to her. "I have two questions that would be followed up with more questions by Rick, probably, but let's start with why."
"Because he's my friend," she responded with a stern gaze.
Jeremy looked away while biting his lip. He gazed at Rick once more and after letting out a sigh that seemed about to break into a laugh, he let out a deep breath through his nose and replied, "I'll pretend that I didn't hear it, so I'm giving you another shot."
"I… I'm not kidding!" Mary cried, lowering her head to gaze at her bandaged left arm. "He's one of my first few friends when I first became a reaper. I wanted to meet him and knowing that he's in a situation like that… I just can't be at ease, especially that I'm just here sitting around—"
"Well," Jeremy interrupted him. "It's not your fault… you're currently useless and can't offer anything at the table. Jeez, the big guys are on their way already so that's a no... that invalidates my 'how' question too."
"But I've been working so hard for this, I busted my ass off and trained and trained and trained and trained just to get here and I… when I… my friend, who helped me out can't do anything much than to run from an enemy that you know I could easily defeat… you're keeping me back here!" Mary shouted at Jeremy as her jaws trembled. "I've been working alone for the past years… I don't want to relive that memory again where I just… watched them go…"
Jeremy fell silent and just furrowed his brows.
Meeting his indifferent reaction, Mary leaned forward and continued, "You know how it would be easy for me to dodge a punch and touch that guy's body and make him fall! You're the man with the plans, you can just shove me in a cannon and shoot me like a fucking cannonball for all I care even if it just—"
"You're missing the fact that..." Jeremy let out a deep breath and shook his head. "You're missing the fact that it's our fucking job to save him right now."
"I…" Mary looked down and fell into deep thought. Then, as if she was letting out a whisper, she gritted her teeth and followed, "But it's not our job to handle that Demon too and you took it like it's nothing."
Jeremy widened his eyes and after a moment of silence, he sighed once more and smiled. "Well, I could do it, that's that. It pains me to realize that you got chewed up by my ex-boss about this and you still haven't learned a thing. You're like that black guy from star wars."
"What do you…"
"You have nothing to offer but you're still acting like you're calling the shots, that's who you are and if you still don't know what that means, I meant to tell you that you're being a bitch now, Mary," Jeremy answered with a nod, still with his brows knitted right before he let out a chuckle.
"Well," Rick joined in with an awkward smile as he looked at her. "Our options do seem low, but do you not trust us?"
"Well, the real question is why is she the one who had to save him?" Jeremy followed while crossing his arms. "You can't even be a Yamcha at this point."
"I…" Mary looked down once more as she fell in silence. It was as if his question turned her mind blank and there's nothing that she could think about except to voice out what she felt in her heart as though it would be enough as a reason.
"Drink your coffee, Mary," Jeremy followed with a hint of impatience behind his tone. "You're gonna make Rick cry."
"I'm sorry…" Mary replied weakly with her lips trembling as she slowly clenched her cheeks. She raised her head a second later and found herself gazing to his wide eyes that looked at her with a glimmering sense of sincerity.
"So, what is it then?" Rick continued as he leaned towards her as he carried the same caring smile. "We people are honest about things since it's a part of our job and them saying things like 'I don't think we could win without any losses' and 'We would have a hard time killing it' doesn't mean that they would allow themselves to lose. I mean, if Sir Miggy is pointing that out early on, it must've meant that he wouldn't like to lose someone today, which is weird since someone always dies if he had a team in his missions."
"True, but the point is that they're strong," Jeremy added with a chuckle before he gritted his teeth. "Especially that bitch."
"I just… I just wanted to show him that I wasn't… that I'm not as weak as before. I've worked hard to get to hear and the first thing that I would hear about him is him being cornered… it would just seem unfair to me…" Mary said, confronting this empty feeling that behaved as if it was a parasite eating her inside and out. "Having a conversation like friends would've been nice but… the thought of him not coming back is… just… I don't know."
"Well, do you not trust us?" Rick repeated himself, scratching the side of his crew-cut hair and spreading his lips to make his dimples show that made his face look kinder than before.
Mary looked at the moist tall glass of iced coffee in front of her. "I mean… yes… but I…"
"Do you trust us?" Rick continued and as soon as he was able to see a moment of hesitation on her pale freckled face, he followed, "Do you think that Mr. Choir here is strong?"
"Stop with the nicknames please, it makes me cringe when it's coming from you," Jeremy commented right before he picked up his cup.
"Well, what's your answer?" Rick followed as though he was forcing Mary to look at her.
"Yes, I believe that he's strong," Mary whispered without taking her eyes off of the table. "I do think that he's very capable too."
"I see." Rick leaned back and smiled. He let out a chuckle as he looked at Jeremy and after a moment, he added, "Well, I'll have you know that Sir Miggy could topple down a hundred of him and Miss Viela could fight three hundred Jeremys at once. That's how strong they are."
"I don't like it when you're using me as a way to do power scaling," Jeremy retorted, finishing his coffee before letting out a long tired yawn. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of them if I need to."
"But it does work, don't you think so, Mary?" Rick continued and smiled as soon as he saw a smirk forming on her face.
"Yeah, but what about you, Mr. Rick?" She said as she raised her beaten face to meet his gaze.
Seeing the sad flame glimmering behind her eyes made him swallow his saliva in panic. He felt like he could not lie either so after a moment of silence, he raised his head to face the ceiling and muttered, "I guess I'm about a thousand?"
Mary looked at Jeremy to see how he would react but to her surprise, he appeared to be holding his breath as though he was about to let out a chuckle. She found herself confused to the point that she wasn't able to speak because, at that moment, Jeremy didn't agree to or deny his words.
"Well, I guess that's about it so don't worry…" Rick continued with a nervous chuckle and then, with an endearing tone, he tapped Mary's shoulder and followed, "Just wait and rest, I'll be with Miss MC and I'll come down if I need to, let's all hope that by the time you wake up, your friend would be here to greet you a good morning,"