It's mutual dislike, envy, and resentment mixed with trust and dependence. Syuen and the Commander are constantly at each other's throats, like they cannot stand one another, the first interaction they ever have is Syuen forcing the Commander to kneel so she can stomp on their head as she berates and threatens them, and that is followed by the Commander muscling through the pain of like seven gunshots to the stomach to grab her by the neck and demand an apology for her rudeness toward Rapi, Anis, and Neon. They could not start on a worse possible foot.
From there it becomes nothing but disrespect, blackmail, and threats whenever the two interact but despite it all Syuen desperately wants the Commander at her side. Multiple times she asks the Commander to come work for her, offering them wealth, influence, her personal favor, and they reject her almost entirely out of spite. And yet! And yet when the chips are down and they are running out of options, they know they can trust each other!! When Syuen is swallowing her pride and willing to beg if that's what it takes to save the people she cares about, the Commander is ready to do everything they can to help her and she is willing to put her faith in them. When the Commander is backed against a wall, Syuen offers to commit every resource she has to helping them get what they want, and they trust her to keep that promise.
Like they absolutely hate each other. Like you can feel the contempt whenever they interact but at the same time they trust each other, there's a desire to win the other over and get them to understand, there's a codependency where Syuen needs someone that can go to the surface and do what she can't, while the Commander can only do so much with their limited influence and needs the resources and social clout of someone in Syuen's position.
It's fascinating and I am entranced by it.
