"Good. Let's go."

He's quiet, on the way back.

Nova stays quiet as well. (Ruel might've said 'good', but Nova is very aware that he'd argued, tried to refuse.)

"I'm going to have to tell them about that, you know," he says eventually.

Nova curls in on himself. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Well. I'm not the one who's going to be going hungry."

He flinches at that, but he should've been expecting it. "I know, sir."

"I don't want this for you, you know. But if you keep defying - there's only so much I can do, kid."

"I-I know. I'm grateful! I am! I just-"

Ruel glances into the mirror, but doesn't say anything.

"M'sorry," Nova mumbles, shoulders hunching down further.

Sigh. "Just - get it together, all right? Things are how they are; there's no point in resisting."

He nods rapidly. "I-I will?"

(Except he knows he'll mess up, he always does.)

When they get back, one of the family is waiting, her arms crossed over her chest.

Ruel nods to her when he gets out of the car, and opens the door for Nova. "Back to your room, kid."

"That could have gone better. No problems, we got it done, but he's still not coming around."

Nova scurries off.

She exhales sharply. "That is less than ideal. The Mathers are normally better at breaking people than this. How hard was it to convince him?"

"Not hard, but it doesn't stick. He's got a bad case of ethics, it's not just that he's new."

"We're going to take more drastic measures. We appreciate your work on this matter, but we need to turn him over to someone who make those ethics a very bad life choice."

"I could probably bring him around, but it wouldn't be fast, yeah. I'll write up a report."

She considers him for a moment. "Do you have any suggestions on anyone you think would be a good fit?"

He considers. "Cyber, probably, or Kas. Not Quinn, Quinn won't keep Max away from him, and that might work in the short run but I think it'd just break him, in the long run - maybe if you kept an eye on it and gave him back to me as soon as he shaped up. But he does well with attention; Kas might be soft on him, but she's got more time than Cyber."

"Hn. Okay. I'll take that into consideration. Get your report to me as quickly as possible."

She doesn't wait for a response, just turns and walks away.

She also doesn't immediately take action on Ruel's suggstions of alternate handlers for Nova. She pulls him from his room after what would have been lunchtime (had he been allowed to eat), and works him to exhaustion, and then well beyond it till he can barely stand.

She doesn't normally involve herself with their newer recruits, but she's proving a point, and wants to know exactly what she's working with.

He tries to be obedient, tries to do everything she demands, but she's pushing him hard enough that he's too exhausted. When he inevitably fails, she tuts, and dismisses him with a dire warning of consequences.

(Meanwhile, elsewhere, a young woman makes a hard decision, and begins preparations to implement it.)

The next couple of days get increasingly worse. The small measure of protection Nova had vanishes.

By the end of those days, he's exhausted, bruised, and very nearly broken. (He just wants it to stop, he's sorry he can't be better, he is, he's trying, really.)