( continues...)
Oh, my. The whole segment after that - I just read it in one big gulp, not stopping to even see if I have a thought about what I've read. I mean, obviously I knew that Rebecca would be saved, and that it would be by the other three, that she would need them in order to succeed in this mission, that this was the whole point of the story. It wasn't that which kept me so tense throughout the pages. It was wondering what emotional effect - finally, emotional - would all this have on Rebecca.
Hearing her own voice, her own words, her lies, her pretended weakness, now that she was in what was probably the weakest situation in her life. Weaker even than how she'd been as a kidnapped little girl. Then she could do something, she managed to do something, she had her strength and resourcefulness to lean on, to rescue her. But now - she was completely helpless. She couldn't move a muscle, make any sort of response. She finally, at least, was made to identify with those victims that she despised, to be stripped of all her strength, all that kept her alive and active after her kidnapping.
Everything should be different from now, right? She lost the power that she relied on, she got a bigger source of power, the companion and help of Paul, Mel and Danny, who charged as one, without any hesitation, to her help. Will she be able to trust it? To actually lean on it? Because that's the only thing she has left, isn't it? Without it, she really may turn to that lie she had just heard herself telling, of how there's nothing for her in the world. Poor girl.
And the one who sends her out, back to the other people, staying alone in the shadows (oh, boy, I sound horrible, don't I?) is Web. Of all people, Web. The one who pushed her all out earlier. And in a strange and twisted way, this whole affair may be even beneficial to Rebecca - maybe she had to hit such a bottom before she could let herself be strong enough to admit that she's weak, that she is human, that she needs help. And Web - and, being Web, I can't avoid guessing whether he had realized it before the whole game began - directed her through that horrible path.
And only for him to be the one person in all the unit to whom she doesn't turn, who isn't sitting and eating with all the rest. Did I mention already that his character is absolutely fascinating?
And in that situation, of reaching out and trying to connect to people, in admitting that weakness, Rebecca, again, shows an amazing strength - because it's so difficult for her, poor girl. And she manages to accomplish that, too. Sigh. I'm such a sap.
And now, frankly, I can't wait to read the next one - I'm willing to bet that there's continuity, that the difference in Rebecca from this episode will show later one (yes, even with the confused order of the episodes. Not everything has to happen right in the next one).