#rvb femslash february

[rvbfemslash]

February is just around the corner, and you know what that means! It’s time for a whole month of celebrating all things femslash in Red vs. Blue. 

Red vs. Blue Femslash February!

All F/F ships in RvB and all types of fanworks are welcome.

Follow RvB Femslash here on tumblr, and join the communities on pillowfort and dreamwidth. Masterposts will go up in all three places on March 1st, so you don’t miss a thing!

Here you can find prompts for inspiration and a schedule of events including (optional) themes for each week of February:

February 1-7: Femslash Fluff Week

February 8-14: Femslash Angst Week

February 15-21: Femslash AU Week

February 22-28: Femslash Smut Week

If you’re posting here on tumblr, use the tag #rvb femslash february so we can reblog your work. Please include appropriate content warnings.

If you’re posting on pillowfort or dreamwidth, you can post your work to the RvB Femslash communities there. Please check the community for posting guidelines.

And if you’re posting somewhere else, no worries! Just send us a message at any of the above (we recommend dreamwidth, though, as it’s the most stable and reliable). Let us know where you’ve posted, and we’ll make sure you’re included in the master list.

See you in February!

[anneapocalypse]

RvB Rec Day: Femslash Recs!

For @rvbficwars’ Rec Day and the @rvbfemslash Femslash Rec-A-Thon, here are some of my favorite RvB femslash fics both old and new. Longtime followers will no doubt recognize some of these as fics I’ve recced before! They are still great stories and new fans might not have had a chance to read them, and I hope you will.

In honor of Femslash February starting tomorrow, here's some of my favorite Red vs. Blue fics both old and new.

Big Boots (South/Tex/CT, rated T) by nogoaway is one of those fics I couldn't stop reccing if my life depended on it. I have read this fic multiple times and I have a lot of Emotions about it. Read it and then read all of Nogo's South fics. But Only When Skilfully Tied (Carolina/Kimball, rated T) by thought is a post-season 12 fic that besides being some really great Kimbalina is also one of my favorite pieces of Chorus worldbuilding in fic. If you like Kimbalina it's a must-read, and the author has a lot more Kimbalina in their catalog, so check out the rest as well! Fallout (Carolina/Kimball, rated T) by eponymous_rose is one of the first fics that sold me on Kimbalina. I Wanna Get Beta (Tex/Kaikaina) is a 5-part fic by notjustsharksfanart about Kaikaina and Tex teaming up for adventures after Tex's ship crash, and digs into Tex's history and it's a really fun ride. I've Got You (Jensen/Volleyball, rated M) by minimax explores the idea of teenage soldiers in the New Republic and will break your heart a little. The Party at the Edge of Forever (Carolina/Kaikaina, rated E) by cinaed has Kaikaina Grif flirting her way across Chorus to finally meet one hot Freelancer. A delight. Wavelengths (Kaikaina/Huggins, rated E) by lohlunat proves that if anybody could figure out how to hook up with a sentient light being, it's Kaikaina Grif.

Happy Femslash February, friends, and happy reading!

[annefiction]

Over

Red vs. Blue. Jensen/Volleyball. 560 words. Rated T. Set pre-season 15. Written for Femslash February.

Katie’s under the hood of a car when it happens, which is pretty normal for her. Not even a military vehicle this time. An actual civilian car that managed to survive the war, and which Matthews brought in to see if she could fix it up. And she can. She definitely can, if she can just get the parts. You can still find plenty of junkers and abandons, too broken down to salvage whole, but still with some functional bits if you know where to look.

She comes home home with grease still under her fingernails, keys into the apartment she shares with Sarita in downtown Nova Armonia. Small by most standards, she supposes, but after so many years in mining barracks, it might as well be a palace.

Sarita is glued to the TV as Katie comes in, taking off her boots in the door and going to the kitchen sink to give her hands a more thorough scrub, but then— “Katie,” Sarita says, and the tension in her voice stops Katie in her tracks.

“Sarita,” she says, “what is it?”

Keep reading on AO3

[eggmondsammich]

a lil bit of carokai for femslash feb, and their fusion (og design by @not-so-serious-wastebasket )

[autisticblueteam]

Another Chance (Connielina)

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1503

Summary: After two days of torture, they were rescued by a familiar face—someone presumed long dead. And all of a sudden, Carolina finds herself with yet another chance to turn her life in another direction.

Notes: Breaking a long writing hiatus for Femslash February! Pulled a little inspo from the @rvbfemslash bingo boards for the reunion theme here.

“You know, that’s a good look on you.”

Carolina lifted her arm away from her eyes and squinted through the bright lights of the hospital room. The person-shaped shadow—looking small, in the elongated doorframe—raised a hand, before stepping through and letting the door shut behind them.

“Dehydrated is a good look on me?” she said, pushing herself up into a more upright position. Her visitor pulled off her helmet and set it on the table beside Carolina’s bed, next to her own; almost a matching pair, if not for the smaller size and the distinctive shade of brown.

“I was thinking more the resting thing.” Connie folded her arms under her chest, the corner of her lips quirked in amusement. “But you don’t look bad for someone who spent two days in a murder fridge.”

Carolina shook her head. Her voice was still dry and strained, but there was more colour in her face and light in her eyes than there had been only hours ago. “First of all, that didn’t sound at all like you think it did. Second, murder fridge?”

“That’s what the boys out there have been calling it. I can’t say it’s an inaccurate description, if a little… morbid,” Connie said with a shrug. Morbid was putting it rather lightly, Carolina thought, before pushing memories of the smell and the strange heat of the room to the very back of her mind. It was too early to process that experience.

“Of course they are.” Sighing, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. The lights were giving her a headache. “How’s Wash?”

“Dr. Grey’s still doing her evaluation, now he’s a little bit more coherent, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. He always bounces back from these things, he’s just… a little more susceptible to reality breaking around him, as you know.”

“Right. Good. I should go and see him soon.”

“Nope, not for a little while yet. You’re not even fit to stand until you’re properly hydrated, nourished and your leg has had time to recover from being stuck in a strain-heavy position for over forty-eight hours.” The way Connie relayed the instructions was familiar, someone else’s words parroted back in an inflection that was more theirs than hers. Carolina could hear Grey in the upbeat spike in the, “Doctor’s orders!” that ended the statement.

She sighed again. “Right.”

“Sorry,” Connie said, her voice now her own again, “I know you hate being stuck in medical, but again, you did spend two days in locked suit of armour in an attempt to kill you. Looking good or not, you need this rest.”

“I know.”

Silence.

Uncertain silence. Words caught in the air. Carolina chewed on her abused lower lip.

There had been no time for a reunion down in that room, when Connie had disabled the armour lock and helped them out of their would-be coffin. Even if there had been… what were you supposed to say when someone you thought was dead comes back?

With a silent chuckle, Carolina realised she could finally understand Wash’s awkwardness, early on.

“…I thought I was hallucinating myself, when you turned up, you know.” Barely seconds had passed in that silence, but with her instincts telling her to look at the clock on her table every other moment, that felt like an eternity. “When you started talking, I was certain I was seeing ghosts.”

“Legally speaking, I suppose I am a ghost,” Connie said. Finally, she pulled up a chair next to the bed—her hand resting on the mattress next to Carolina’s robotic one. “I’ve been off the grid since I escaped from Charon. Turns out they were about as trustworthy as Freelancer was, but you know that.”

“I do.” Tired eyes flashed to the bedside clock again, only for Connie to shift her position so that her body blocked it. A quiet sigh of relief disturbed the brief silence. “I also know that you were struck twice in the abdomen with tomahawks. You shouldn’t have survived that trip.”

“And you shouldn’t have been able to survive being thrown off a cliff without losing more than an arm,” Connie said, before adding, “But really, biofoam did its job and Charon had a vested interest in keeping me alive, so that I could give them the information they wanted.”

“I suppose we both got… lucky, then. For lack of a better word.”

“For lack of a better word.”

There was another beat of silence, before Carolina’s metal fingers curled around the back of Connie’s hand.

“…I tried to stop her, you kn—”

“Shhhh…” Turning her hand over and linking their fingers, Connie shook her head. “Don’t. We’ve never needed words for things like that before, have we?”

Shoulders dropping, Carolina squeezed her hand and smiled, faintly. “No. No we haven’t…”

“Then I don’t need them now to know what you’re going to say or to know you don’t need to say it at all,” Connie said, looking her in the eye just long enough to see the exhaustion and the relief there. The years showed on her face as clearly as any bruise or scar, when you knew what to look for. When you knew her. “I haven’t seen you in nearly a decade, you thought I was dead… there are more important things.”

“I suppose there are.” Her thumb swept in an arc across the back of Connie’s hand, unable to feel the warmth of her skin but at least able to feel the presence of it. “You saved our lives. I think that means I owe you dinner.”

Connie giggled and Carolina smiled and for a moment, everything felt a little bit more like it was going to be okay. Strange, to think that only days ago she’d been talking about the person in front of her as if she were long-dead; standing on a beach, thinking back on regrets and missed opportunities and a future that never was.

Connie wasn’t wrong that they’d never really needed words, but that only worked when they understood each other—at the time, she simply hadn’t the ability to understand. Not without her world falling apart at the seams.

But she understood now.

“Dinner, huh? You know you’re not getting out of here for a few days, right? Because—”

“Doctors orders!” they both said at once, mimicking the trill of Grey’s voice and devolving into giggles.

“I can ask them to bring another meal in, when I get my rations—” (“They’re making sure you eat exactly what you need to, Carolina.”) “—or see if the boys will risk Grey’s wrath to smuggle us in something a little more interesting?”

“…I’m not going to officially be a part of your—quite frankly, very surprising—” her own faint laugh interrupted her words, “rebellion against Grey’s rules, but I have no power to stop you doing that.”

“What can I say, maybe the guys have rubbed off on me more than I thought,” Carolina said as she typed a quick message on her COM Pad. Her other hand never left Connie’s. “Or maybe not. Remember our first ‘date’? When—”

“—the mess hall was actually making some good pizza for once and we smuggled out almost an entire pie for ourselves? Yeah, I remember making it a challenge to get you to go with it,” Connie laughed, covering her mouth in a futile effort to stop herself. “You just need the right people to bring our the mischievous side, I think. Multiply that by a bunch of rather… unique, sim troopers, and maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“You don’t know the half of it. The stories I have about those idiots…” Chuckling, she set the COM Pad down and brought Connie’s hand to her lips. Connie smiled.

“Tell me those stories. Whilst we wait. The serious stuff can wait for another day. We have the time,” she said, tapping Carolina on the nose, “if you want us to.”

“I want us to if you do. I’ve… missed you, Connie; I know it hardly needs saying,” she gave her a playful look and Connie tapped her nose again, “but this time… I want to say it out loud. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too… and I do, want to be together again. No secrets this time.”

Carolina nodded, gaze following her as she stood from her seat and leaned across the bed. Her lips hovered close enough for her to feel her breath and it made her face tingle. “No secrets.”

Connie kissed her. Her hand cupped the side of her face, brushed her messy hair behind her ear like she used to when it was long enough to create waterfalls in front of her face and hide her expressions from the world. She kissed back. Her metal fingers cupping the back of her skull and holding her there, she let herself relax.

Another chance.

The universe had given her more of those than she had ever expected.

[what-happened-to-agent-georgia]

HELLO HERE I AM HAPPY FEMSLASH FEBRUARY ONCE AGAIN.

Title: end of

Warnings: Canon-typical language/violence

Pairing: Katie Jensen/Volleyball

Summary: For as long as Katie Jensen can remember, she has lived and breathed war. She tries not to get attached, tries to keep to herself, just wants to make it through this civil war in one piece.

Then Danai "Volleyball" Carter barrels into her life.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Cards Against Blood Gulch: Femslash February Edition is now available! 

It’s got 10 black cards and 50 white cards. Please feel free to use it, and leave a comment or a rating! I’ll be running a game on Saturday, but you’re free to use on your own time! 

What is Cards Against Blood Gulch?

[ezrisdax-archive]

Phase? It’s good to see you...you look great.

Femslash Februaryathon - Phase/One (Red vs Blue)

[baghira-baghira]

it’s february somewhere babyy

[southicut]

Day 1: southicut

They are that gym rat couple who just take photos like this. They got north to take it

[rvbfemslash]

Red vs. Blue Femslash Rec-A-Thon

The Rec-A-Thon is on! 

Tag your rec posts #rvb femslash february or put @rvbfemslash in the body of your posts so they can be reblogged here!

All F/F ships for RvB, and all types of fanworks on all platforms are welcome. Please indicate if a rec contains adult content, and any major warnings (particularly for visual works). Beyond that, it's the responsibility of the reader to check the creator's tags and warnings.

The Rec-A-Thon will run January 28 - February 1. Rec away!

[anneapocalypse]

This year for Femslash February, I posted an F/F fic rec for each day of the month over on my dreamwidth. This is a roundup of all those links and authors! There is a lot of RvB here, because that’s most of what I read, but I have a few other fandoms in there as well! You can find more detailed commentary on each fic at the link above.

There are E-rated fics in this list, so minors please keep scrolling, thanks.

Day 1: Big Boots by @nogoawayok (RvB, South/Tex/CT, Rated T)

Day 2: Things I Have Loved I’m Allowed To Keep by truebluemoon (Life Is Strange, Max/Victoria, Rated E)

Day 3: But Only When Skilfully Tied by @thought-42 (RvB, Carolina/Kimball, Rated T)

Day 4: Mafia Blake AU by @theivorytowercrumbles (RWBY, Blake/Weiss, Rated E)

Day 5: This Man Looked Exactly Like Natalie Portman When He Was 13 by @eggxalted (RvB, Carolina/Kimball, Rated T)

Day 6: I Wanna Get Beta by @notjustsharksfanart (RvB, Kai/Tex, Rated T)  ( Part 1 ) ( Part 2 ) ( Part 3 ) ( Part 4 ) ( Part 5 )

Day 7: Irritation by @chocochipbiscuit (Dragon Age, Aveline/Isabela, Rated E)

Day 8: Every Boob Is Special by @ialpiriel (RvB, Carolina/Niner, Rated E)

Day 9: the party at the edge of forever by @cinaed (RvB, Kai/Carolina, Rated E)

Day 10: a plane rides lonely and level by @cinaed (RvB, Carolina/Niner, Rated T)

Day 11 & 12: Tales from a Cold & Lonely Planet (series) by @what-happened-to-agent-georgia (RvB, Ohio/Sherry, Rated T)

Day 13: Wavelengths by lohlunat (RvB, Kai/Huggins, Rated E)

Day 14: I’ve Got You by @hammeredpaint (RvB, Jensen/Volleyball, Rated M)

Day 15: To Watch It Grow by mautadite (Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy/Vala, Rated G)

Day 16 & 17: Superstar (series) by @nogoawayok (RvB, Carolina/Niner & South/CT, Rated E) 

Day 18: I keep trying to speak of loving but all I speak about is acts of war and acts of war and acts of war by @thought-42 (RvB, Carolina/Kimball, Rated T)

Day 19: Admired by Mytha (Dragon Age, Cassandra/Hawke, Rated G)

Day 20: This, With You (series) by @lydia--argent (RvB, Carolina/Niner, Rated E)

Day 21: Watch For Me By The Moonlight by Edonohana (Original, Wounded Stranger/Homesteader, Rated T)

Day 22: This Time Around It’s More Correct by @ialpiriel​ (Fallout, Glory/Curie, Rated T)

Day 23: Untitled by @punishandenslavesuckers​ (RvB, South/CT, Rated E)

Day 24: Sunkissed by @alien-obituaries (RvB, Kai/Tex, Rated T)

Day 25: Personal Best by @stopfrickinteam-killing​ (RvB, Carolina/Niner, Rated T)

Day 26: The Hearing of My Heart by @lydia--argent​ (RvB, Carolina/Niner, Rated M)

Day 27: Endless Possibilities by Seika (Dragon Age, Cassandra/Leliana, Rated T)

Day 28: Cartographers After the War by @thought-42 (RvB, Carolina/Kimball, Rated T)

My past RvB Rec Day posts can be found here!

Happy Femslash February and happy reading!

@rvbficwars

[annefiction]

Recovering

Red vs. Blue. Carolina/Kimball. 700 words. Rated T. Set early in season 16. Written for Femslash February.

Carolina wakes, blinking, under white lights and a blue blur she can’t quite bring into focus. It’s all fog and glare, and a sharp stab in her temples and at the base of her skull that slowly begins to dissipate as her vision clears.

She flexes her hands, moves her arms, and feels it then—a needle taped into the crease of her left elbow. The outline of a clear IV bag hanging on a stand.

And then a hand in hers. Warm and trigger-calloused, and familiar even before it comes into focus.

"Hey," Vanessa says softly. The blue is a suit, two buttons undone at the collar of a white button-down and the hem of the jacket creased from sitting. "I came as soon as I heard."

Read on AO3

[arse-blathanna]

Elegance - [1/1]

[Ao3]

Fic Summary: Agent South Dakota is really the person least suited to go on a mission at some uptight party. Really, this isn't something that she belongs in at all. Carolina's better suited for the job. They just have to get in, get out, and try not to leave too much of an impression. 

This should be easy.

Rating: M

Relationships: Agent Carolina/Agent South Dakota

Characters: Agent Carolina, Agent South Dakota

Tags: Canon Typical Violence, Project Freelancer Era, Mission Fic

Word Count: 8,580

Author’s Notes: Thank you all for reading! This is my last entry for Femslash February 2018, and I hope you all enjoy it. 

So there were a lot of reasons that South wasn't exactly looking forward to this mission. The fact that she had spent most of the night before in goddamn York's room of all places being put through a crash course on infiltration, emphasis on the crash - had a lot to do with it. The fact that she had to remain in formal wear was also a pretty damn big part of it as well.

The other half of her problem was that she was being sent along on this mission with Carolina of all people. Which left South feeling really inadequate.

[Read it on Ao3]

The two of them were given a room to share while they prepared for what was to come. South had been able to drag out some of her old formal clothes, which apparently her brother had been holding onto for some reason. Not that South really wanted to know why because it was sure to be sickeningly nostalgic.

Carolina, on the other hand, looked gorgeous in a really frustrating effortless way.

South felt much less so. And she felt awkward on top of that, because she was in the process of trying to figure out the best possible way to strap a sawed off shotgun to her thigh. Getting knives into place had been easy, but if it came to a fight she wanted something a little more reliable.

You know, just in case. It was a mission after all.

"South?" Carolina said, her voice deadly serious as always and her face already furrowed down into the expression that she always wore when it was a mission day. Hard-focused and impossible to waver. Carolina. "Please tell me that you're ready."

"Yeah, something like that." South mutters, still very unsatisfied with what she's managed to do. She stands up and walks in front of the mirror that the two of them dragged into the shared hotel room. From where she stands she can see the way that the shotgun sticks out from under her dress. "Who the hell decided that I was a good choice for this sort of shit?"

"You know the answer to that." Carolina responds dryly. She's apparently prepared for a fight as well, but she managed to do it more flawlessly than South could. "I know it's not ideal."

"I just can't help but think there had to be better choices." South says, picking a hand up to at least try and fix her hair. With the dye she can't make herself look perfect for a formal anything. They should have picked someone else. Like Connie, or North, or their goddamn infiltration specialist. Hell, even Wash would have probably been a better choice than she was.

But no, apparently there was some sort of system which was always right. And that was a load of horseshit in itself.

Carolina sighs. She steps up beside South so that she can get a look at herself in the mirror. "It always gives us less than optimal matchups." Carolina holds her head up high, lengthening the line of her neck and beginning to slide some earrings into place. South catches herself staring for a little too long before ripping her gaze away.

"Yeah," South says, with perhaps a little bit more bite to her words than she would have preferred. "I know."

Carolina rolls her eyes, brushing her hair into place. She looks gorgeous. Her hair is perfectly in place, the gown she's wearing fits her perfectly, she looks like she could probably strike someone dead if they just looked at her.

By comparison, South feels gross, and wrong. The fact that she took a shower two hours before doesn't matter. It's still a feeling that she has, one that she doesn't know that she's actually going to be able to shake in time for the mission's actual start. Maybe if she's lucky she'll be able to sink into the background while Carolina draws all of the attention.

That would be absolute best thing for her. She could do stealth. In theory.

"It's going to be fine." Carolina sighs, already seeming more than disinterested.

"You're the one that looks like you actually belong here." South grumbles, reaching down to her leg and doing what she can to adjust how the shotgun lies. She needs to figure out a better solution, and South isn't confident that she'll find one that easy.

Maybe she could just bring in a second or third thigh holster full of knives. That could have worked. At the very least it would have been easier for her to hide.

Actually, just about anything probably would have been easier to hide.

North would have been able to find a way to hide a shotgun. The asshole.

“You’re going to be able to blend in fine.” Carolina replies, and she sounds a little bit annoyed at that point by the way that things are going. "You just need to try and blend in. Worry less."

South grumbled, because that wasn't going to be possible. She didn't really know the first thing about formal situations. The last time that she'd worn anything nearly as nice as it had been her and North's prom- and that had been awful and she hadn't even actually gone really. The night had ended up with them skipping out early to get cheap burgers and soda and play paintball in a field with some friends.

She looked down at the dress and the way that it laid on her body. Resigned to the way that things were going, she removed the shotgun from her leg and tossed it back onto the bed. South walked over to the mattress, since they still had a case of weapons on top of it and she needed to find the best thing to bring in. Carolina had probably already taken the best stuff too.

Carolina walked over to the bed and took a seat, making herself comfortable at the end of it while South searched for anything that she could use and feel comfortable using. "I just can't believe I got signed up for this shit. What was the Director even thinking?"

"He has a system and trusts it." Carolina says, like that will be able to make everything make sense. She still manages to sound bored, parroting the same thing that she’s said a hundred times before.

South knows that she has no idea how the system supposedly works, and she has reason to believe that Carolina probably doesn't either. She talked to York once to try and work out the math for their scoring on the leaderboard but York had just shrugged and said he didn't know either. Everyone else garnered similar results.

"The system is dumb." South groans when she finally finds something that might work for her. An old fashioned Ka-Bar and a Magnum. Definitely not enough to carry her through a full night or to help her if things got really ugly, but it's something. She'd wanted the shotgun more, but since her damn dress wasn't going to permit it, that wasn't going to work.

Carolina shrugged. "I can't say that I really disagree with you about that." She mutters, her eyes flicking away from South for a moment. "I didn't really want to go on this mission that much either. I would have figured that something that's at least halfway about charming people would have been better suited to other people."

South pauses, taking a step back purely out of surprise because that was something that she hadn't been expecting to hear out of Carolina at all. She'd figured that Carolina would just take whatever mission was offered to her and she would be happy about it all the same. Maybe Carolina just saw things as they were- she was better suited to a situation where she was able to run out and kick ass instead of playing intrigue or something.

In a way, it makes he feel a lot better about having been assigned.

She looks down at the Ka-Bar and straps it to her thigh, before doing the same with the handgun that she'd selected. South turns to face Carolina and holds her head up high. "I just want to get this over with." She says. "So can we please go out there and just get this done?"

"You know that we have to be patient." Carolina says, her voice harsh. "Just remember to stay on comms tonight, and keep your shit together."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" South snapped at Carolina. "If you wanted to say that I don't belong here, you could have just said it."

"You're the one that keeps on saying that you don't like the mission." Carolina retaliated, her voice just as harsh as South's had been.

“I don’t.” South muttered, “But that doesn’t mean you should say it.”

Carolina rolled her eyes. “Just get it together, South.”

South gave herself one last look in the mirror and pushed her hair out of her face before beginning to walk towards the door so that she could slip on her heels. It wasn’t enough to make things. feel right, but she could do her job like this.

She just really hoped that she and Carolina wouldn’t end up needing to run.

The banquet itself was exactly what South had been expecting. A lot of her keeping her eyes open for trouble, a lot of pretending to sip champagne because it made her look a little less threatening and helped her blend in, and a lot of just standing around and listening along to boring chatter by boring people.

Carolina seemed to be taking it in stride, blending in with small crowds and laughing along to jokes that were the furthest thing from funny. When she'd get away from the action for a moment, that was when Carolina and South were able to actually communicate. "Target’s speech will be starting in two hours." Carolina said into the communication channel that the two of them were sharing.

"Sure is." South muttered, having managed to slip away herself and off to the side. Carolina was standing over by the punch bowl, keeping her back turned away from anyone. South took a glance at her, and couldn't help but notice just how cleanly the lines of her gown fit her. It definitely seemed to suit Carolina a little bit better than armor,  but that didn't mean that South expected to ever see this sort of thing again.

"Once it starts, we'll do everything according to plans. No equipment or armor will be a problem, but we're both good enough in hand to hand that I'm not worried." Carolina carried on, and South couldn't help but note that it was an uncharacteristic amount of chatter for her. "Just keep an eye open."

"Way ahead of you." South grumbled before she turned her attention away from Carolina entirely. Just out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Carolina was looking at her just the same. Those bright green eyes flicked away too quick though.

With everything said that the two of them had needed to say, South just slipped back into obscurity and did what she could to get a better look at the layout of the building. Sure, she and Carolina were probably going to be able to handle themselves, but getting out of trouble was something else entirely. Something which South intended to be prepared for when it came.

Niner was going to be there, but South still wanted options. Just in case.

Two hours worth of mind numbing boredom ticked by without much excitement. By the time that all of the party guests were settling down for their meal and to hear some lectures, South slipped out of the banquet hall and took temporary refuge in the bathroom. Minutes later, Carolina joined her there, all of the false levity from earlier utterly gone.

"Ready?" South asked, giving herself one last look in the mirror. She really didn't like what she was given to play with that night. Too little equipment, and clothes that she didn't think that she was going to be able to move in all that well should things get loud.

"We should give them time to get started." Carolina said plainly, checking the handgun that she had on her leg for herself. "Once we're sure that they're completely distracted, then we make our move."

"Sounds good." South mumbles. Carolina stopped and moved her hand to her other leg, revealing a thigh as she removed something else from it. South looked over and saw that it was a small radio that she had probably managed to nab off of a guard. Maybe she'd played along in a small crowd and nicked it off of someone that wasn’t paying attention. Maybe someone had left it lying around. Either way, South intended to use this. "Where'd you get that?"

"Doesn't matter." Carolina says, turning it over and popping over the back. "Their comms are scrambled, but-"

South leans over, taking a look at the radio for herself. "There should be a frequency code in there."

"That's what I'm looking for."

South reached over and snatched the radio from Carolina's hands before beginning to dig out the batteries.

This was something that she knew. South turned towards the light so that she could see whether or not she could catch any lettering that had been left on the inside of the battery chamber. She stared it down.

“Try frequency 514.2.” South said, glancing over at Carolina. “It might work.”

Carolina nodded and removed her comm unit from her ear, beginning to tinker with it until she started to get more that she could work with. South watched, already reaching for her own. The two of them weren’t going to be able to swap between channels as effortlessly as they could when they were in armor or helmets, but it was something.

But Carolina's eyes widened and a tiny smile stretched across her expression. "You got it." She said calmly. "Nice work, South."

"Good." South replied, already beginning to tune herself into the channel. "We're going to have to keep the airwaves clear."

"So we won't be like the boys, then." Carolina joked, opening up the little bag that she'd brought with her and removing a small datapad from it. She looked it over and nodded before taking a breath and locking eyes with South. "They're about to start. We move on my mark. Sync?"

"Sync." South parroted, ready for action anyways.

The two of them waited for a moment by the door, and once it was time, Carolina gave the signal. She dipped out of the door first, and South followed not far after. Their seats at the banquet were going to be unoccupied, but because they weren't officially there together it was less for the two of them to worry about.

At least, that was the way that things seemed to look so far.

The two of them made their way through the halls of the building and far from the banquet itself. Carolina took the lead, which South was fine with because someone was going to need to watch their backs anyways. It would suck when the time came to start kicking ass when they barreled through people, but South fully intended on getting in on the action enough so that she wouldn't see a change in her position on the leaderboard because of it.

Together, the two of them found their ways to the stairs and finally the first guard came into view. South watched as she walked by, obviously armed but definitely not prepared for a fight. She was walking in a way that made it obvious she was very bored. Probably on her fifth or sixth circuit of the building that night alone.

More importantly, South knew what this meant- the people there weren't prepared for a raid of any sort. Nobody was likely to actually be prepared for what she and Carolina were going to bring to the table.

The guard saw the two of them and raised an open hand in a universal symbol for 'stop.'

"I'm sorry." She started, her head held up high. "But guests aren't supposed to be back here. You two are going to need to go back to the banquet."

"Sorry." Carolina said, a smirk already beginning to creep onto her expression. "I guess that the two of us must have gotten turned around."

The guard cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know how you would have managed to do that.” She turns and looks back at the hallway that South and Carolina had just come down. “There aren’t really many ways to get up here.”

South shot Carolina a look, and she saw the way that a shit-eating grin began to stretch across her face. “Well, I guess that you’ll have to get us back where we’re going.”

“I guess so-”  The woman said, already beginning to lead the way. Once she was turned around and not looking at them, South made her move. She slipped in behind her so fast that the woman wouldn’t have been able to stop her and pressed a hand over her mouth.

It was just enough to muffle a cry from the woman. South held her tight, and when she felt the woman beginning to sag into unconsciousness, she looked up at Carolina in search of some sort of idea. "So we're going to have to look for a closet now, right?"

"Closets?" Carolina laughed, craning her neck a little bit and shifting so that she could get a good view. "I think there is one near here that we can use."

"Good." South muttered. She did what she could to lift the guard and followed after Carolina until they found a closet. She dumped the woman inside more or less gracelessly, just taking enough care to ensure that there weren't any head injuries getting left behind because of her. "I don't want to have to do this again."

"I figured." Carolina said, keeping watch over the space behind South. "We're going to have to keep better watch than we did before."

"Wasn't much we could do in a stairwell." South grumbled as she closed the door on the guard. She took a few steps away and then began on the way up the stairs again so that they could get to their location. "We should move. How's the time?"

"Don't worry about the time." Carolina grumbled, following after South. “Try to focus.”

South couldn't help but to roll her eyes. "You sound like my brother. 'Set your trackers, don't worry about the time.' Please don't make me listen to it here too."

She reached the top of the stairs and pressed herself in against the wall so that she could peek around the corner. Nobody was there, and so South waved forward.  Within seconds she and Carolina were both up on the second floor and falling into place together.

Carolina fell into place at South's side but soon went ahead and took the lead. South rolled her eyes and followed after her. She didn't want to be stuck thinking about the leaderboard or something, but that's hard when she's there with always-number-one Agent Carolina.

South thought back to the briefing that they'd had before even leaving. The Director didn't seem to have many redeeming qualities beyond ‘marginally less creepy than The Counselor’, but he was able to get them accurate maps at the very least. She glanced back at Carolina, who was already removing the datapad from the bag that she'd brought along.

"Which way?"

"Left and up two flights of stairs. There should be a maintenance elevator around here."

"Elevators, really?" South laughed, craning her neck and looking around. She could have sworn that she could hear someone moving nearby. That wouldn't be any good, but she wasn't exactly opposed to bashing a few more skulls if she needed to. "Please tell me you know."

Carolina waved a hand, and South rolled her eyes before following after her. The two of them walked until they found a door that was marked clearly AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY in bright red text. Carolina tried to knob, and felt it open easily enough before smiling back at South. “I think we found it.”

“Yeah, whatever.” South muttered before making her way in. Carolina followed after her and hit the one button next to the door. It closed behind them and South shook her arms out, hoping that she would be able to relax at least a little bit.

Carolina laced her fingers together behind her back, stretching the line of her body and cracking her neck in the process. “I hope that you’re getting ready for a fight.” She said, calmly and coolly. “Because I figure that once this elevator stops, we’re probably going to be swarmed.”

“You say that like you think we aren’t up for it.” South responded. She didn't like that implication in any universe, but it also wasn't something that she wasn't expecting. The good thing was that they could probably trust that they wouldn't end up in a situation where such heavy armor as they usually wore would be considered necessary.

"I know we are." Carolina laughed, more than just a little bit playful. "But I just wanted to make sure you are paying attention."

"I'm on the board for a reason, C." South grumbled, checking the gun on her thigh. She made a mental note about it, one that she was going to have to keep track of herself because she couldn't just rely on a HUD to do the job for her. They only had so much ammo to play with. "I thought you knew that."

Carolina smiled, just slightly and so small that it was almost lost in the rest of her expression. "I just wanted to make sure you knew."

South smiled a little bit herself, removing the pistol. Twelve rounds. She was going to have to keep track of that to the best of her abilities. She moved towards the back of the elevator. If the door was going to open, she wasn't going to be the one in the front.

Carolina did the same and backed into the space beside her. "You're ready?"

"Always am." South muttered, taking a slow breath so that she could ensure that she was going to be okay moving forward. Calm head, keep track of the things around her. When they were out of armor like this, South and Carolina both knew that friendly fire was much more deadly. South wasn't petty enough to go there intentionally, and she didn't want to catch heat for it going back to the Project.

The door dinged quietly, and that was it. South braced herself and prepared to open fire, while Carolina did the same to her right. Sure enough, there right on the other side of the door and waiting for them was a group of guards, all with silenced guns that were pointing in their direction.

That wasn't going to be too fun for them, but the spare ammo was going to be useful to them. Without armor and equipment they were still Freelancers- South knew they could make do.

"Stop right there!" The man at the door shouted at them, decked out in deep red and halfway armored. The poor bastard hadn't even had the time to finish preparing for a fight. "Put your hands where I can see them!"

South rolled her eyes and put a bullet right between the man's own. He stumbled backwards and the other guards around them began to do the same thing, some opening fire blindly.

Carolina shot out like a bullet, throwing herself into one of the guards and grabbing at their hand to steer their aim over in the direction of one of their other assailants. She forced the guard to put a bullet into the leg of one of the other guards before Carolina brutally slammed an elbow into his face.

The man dropped back onto the ground, knocked out cold.

South sprang into action, throwing herself at one of the guards that was huddling to the back like they were either too afraid to move or were just plain new to the job. She raised an arm and clotheslined the guard who dropped to the ground, unconscious. Behind her she heard two silenced gunshots, and when South looked back, she saw that Carolina was holding someone close to her and they had two bullet holes blooming red from their chest armor.

“Watch your back!” Carolina snarled at her, red hair already falling into her face from the clean bun that she had gone out wearing. Behind her, South watched as a different guard got up and levelled their aim on the back of Carolina’s head.

South moved as quick as she could manage to shoot the guard in the head, managing to catch them in the eye socket just before their corpse dropped to the ground, dead.

Carolina understood what had just happened and swiveled, lashing out in a kick at someone else that was nearby. They dropped to the ground, and if they weren’t already unconscious the hit to the back of the head from Carolina’s toes definitely would have done the trick.

That at least left the area cleared out, and while there was a part of South that was mourning for the hem of her dress which was starting to soak in violent red, she did what she could to ignore it. Priorities were important.

“Come on!” She snarled at Carolina before taking the lead. The two of them knew where they were going, but if there had been a group of guards waiting for them there, then that meant that there was only going to be more to come later on. It was just a matter of getting to where they needed to be.

Carolina fell into step beside her though, expression serious and laser-focused on the task at hand. “We need to get to the offices before it can get any louder.”

“Already too loud for my liking.” South muttered. “Niner’s going to be there for extract, right?”

“She will be.” Carolina said, but it was clear- at least to South, that neither of them had actually heard from the pilot since their arrival. The entire thing just made everything difficult, and while they were doing their best, it wasn’t that simple.

South grimaced a little bit, but since she really didn't want to make things worse she kept her mouth shut. She wanted to have faith, but with next to no contact over the course of the night, that was difficult to get.

The two of them weaved through the halls in search of their target, doing what they could to disarm and incapacitate anyone that they came across in order to keep out of trouble. The mission led them up staircase after staircase until they finally were getting close to the top floor.

That was about when South began to feel nervous. A part of her wished that her brother was there- he was good at talking her down, whether she liked it or not. He would have made her feel better about the fact that suddenly things had started to get quiet.

South slowed to a stop, just before they reached the door that was going to bring her and Carolina up to the main office on the top floor.

"Carolina." South whispered her partner's name. Carolina hesitated and stopped, pressing herself back against the wall just the same way that South had. "I don't like this."

"Yeah." Carolina muttered, but it seemed like she was tense. Maybe she hadn't stopped gritting her teeth just yet. "Neither do I. But we're right there-"

"And we're also not actually sure what's on the other side." South poked at the comm unit that was hooked into her ear. "And I know that you've noticed that the radios are clear of chatter now."

Carolina grimaced and stood up tall, reaching down and tugging her dress out of the way at least slightly. "They've either figured us out, or we've taken out all of their forces."

"I don't like the odds of either." South mumbled, blinking and looking forward to the door again. "The Director might want us to get some files from here, but-"

"But we don't know if it's been compromised?"

"Yeah. That." South answered, balling her hands into fists. "We need a plan."

Carolina cocked her head to the side a little bit, trying to figure out what to do next. "You know, planning isn't exactly something that you do often."

As a jab, it's not something that South can pretend is exactly unexpected.

She grits her teeth and has to try really hard not to lash out at Carolina for that one. Maybe it'll happen when they get out of here with the data that they're looking for intact and they're on the Pelican out.

Maybe not, South thinks. Either way-

She reaches down and tears away a long strip of fabric from around her legs. If they were really that close to the end, then she is going to need to be able to move. South shivers, feeling weirdly exposed all things considered.

Carolina stands up tall, and for a moment South gets the feeling that she's actually being watched, but that feels wrong. But moments later, Carolina is doing the same thing as her, tying the torn fabric around her waist just in case she'll need it.

"You're right." Carolina mumbles, brushing the fringe of her flame red hair away from her face. "We go in. Be careful and try not to open fire until we know what we're dealing with."

"Got it." South confirms. It's easy enough. If they're lucky, the two of them will only need to get involved in hand to hand and their lives are easy.

South isn't counting on that.

"Sync?" She asks, locking her eyes with Carolina's.

"Sync." Carolina echoes back.

Carolina counts from one to three before muttering the 'mark' that is all that's needed for this to start. She rushes the door first, putting herself off to the side and leaving an opening for South to do her thing.

Because one thing that South is already sure of about that door? It's not very solid- probably flimsy as all hell with a bunch of surface dressing.

"Watch it!" South shuts before barreling forward and throwing herself into the door before breaking through it. A few shards of wood scratch against her skin and raise red welts, but South grits her teeth and ignores it, already moving to check her six.

Before she can get a look there are two gunshots, Carolina executing the two guards that had been in there waiting for them. South almost stumbles on her landing, feeling one of her heels snap beneath her feet. That's going to be a problem later, but for now she was going to make things work.

There's a man behind the desk, clearly hiding and trying to keep a low profile. He's armed, that much is obvious. He’s also holding the pistol like he’s never touched it before.

"Drop the gun." Carolina commands, taking a few steps forward and aiming her gun at his head. South isn't sure that Carolina actually has any rounds left, but she isn't going to question it. All that they really need to go for at the moment is the intimidation factor, and Carolina's got that in spades.

The man jerks back, his gun dropping onto the desk with a clatter. "I don't know what you're here for!" He cries, clearly already trying to deflect. South blinks and glances back at Carolina. "Really, I don't!"

"We need some things that you have." South explains, stretching and taking a few steps forward, kicking her way out of her heels along the way because she really doesn't have the time to deal with them. "And it would really be better for you if you played nice and let us have them."

"Who-" The man takes a deep breath. "Who are you? Who hired you? Was it Har-"

"Who hired us doesn't matter to you." Carolina says, holding her head up high and keeping her voice hard. "What matters is that you get us what we want."

"And if I don't?"

South shrugged. "I don't think we should have to spell that out for you?"

The man looks from her to Carolina, then back at her before letting out a resigned sigh. "And you will let me live if I give you them?"

South paused because she didn't really know how that fit the story. Carolina gestured towards the desk, and South took the instruction, taking the few steps forward until she was there at the desk.

There weren't any other weapons there that were obvious. Sure, there was a fountain pen, but that wouldn't have done much damage than a little bit of gouging. Not nearly enough to be effective. Not when she and Carolina both were packing guns and proper knives. It would lose every time.

"I need your hard drive." South announces to the man, leaning over his shoulder and grinning. There's a bit of blood on her face, and her hair has fallen loose from the style that it had been when they'd left. "If you don't mind."

The man just scoots out of the way so that South can do her work. She leans over him and finds his computer, data ports open and ready. South rolls her eyes and looks back at Carolina. "Have the chip?"

Carolina tosses it to her, and South slides it into place before beginning the wait. Immediately a green progress bar appears on the screen, slowly ticking towards 100%.

The man looks between the two of them, clearly confused. "Can I at least know what this is about?"

"We need to know some things." South says, shrugging. "And you're a science officer, so we're getting what we need to know."

"And what do you need to know?"

South can't help but laugh. "That's on a need to know basis."

The man clamps his mouth shut at that, which South is grateful for because it means that she’s going to actually be able to concentrate now. She checks the progress bar constantly, only looking back to Carolina to ensure that the situation is under control. Off in the distance, she can hear an Pelican’s engines and that’s how South knows that this is about done.

The data download finishes with a quiet beep. South yanks the data chip out of the computer as fast as she can before tucking it away and out of sight. Nice and safe. She makes sure to give the guy behind the desk a good knock on the back of the head, just enough to knock him out and make sure that she and Carolina can get a clean extract out of this whole thing.

“We’re good to go.” South says, looking at Carolina.

For some reason, Carolina's gotten quiet for the moment, and if South knew what was going through her head, she probably would have asked. But she also wasn't sure that she really didn't want to know, so South shrugged and walked over to the window, peering out to try and see whether or not their ride is there.

"How far away is she?" South asks Carolina.

"Should be getting here now." Carolina replies with a shrug. "Once she gets here, we should either be going back to the Mother, or-" She paused, lips pursing. "We might have another chance at the hotel room since we aren't technically checked out yet."

South nods. "Bed sounds nice." She can also feel her stomach growl, another reminder of what the two of them had done that day. The focus had been so intently on the mission that being able to get something to eat or rest had taken a serious back seat. It wouldn't have been the first time that she or Carolina had taken a mission that required them to pull 24 hour days- or longer.

All that mattered was that when they got back to the Mother of Invention, they were going to be expected to fall back into line with everything else that was expected of them. It would be straight back to normality and routine- without a word allowed to be said once they got out of debriefing.

"It sure does." Carolina replies. She takes a few steps back from the window and gives South an expectant look. South takes the few steps back herself and watches as Carolina fires three rounds into the window, shattering the glass. "Our ride should be here."

"So we're jumping?" South matches Carolina's eyes, because this isn't exactly nothing that they haven't done before. "Sounds easy enough."

"She'll be there." Carolina confirms, more than confident in 479er than she was in anyone else. She presses her fingers to the comm unit in her ear and nods, backing up again. "You can run, right?"

It's an unpleasant reminder of the fact that her heels are completely busted at that point. South looks down and frowns, she’s already barefoot and there’s broken glass everywhere- about to be more. It wasn't great, but it would have to work. Once they were on the Pelican, her shoe situation could be dealt with anyways.

"Should be able to." South grumbles. "Just say when, Carolina."

"When." Carolina sprinted at the door and launched herself out, disappearing into the background before South followed, just as quick and just as sure of herself.

Hours later, South found herself and Carolina back in the hotel room that they had been in before the mission. There hadn't been much time for them to relax initially, but at least now South was able to sit around with her hair down and in clothes that were actually comfortable to her. A t-shirt and some flannel pants that she'd stolen from her brother a few weeks back were heaven compared to being crammed into a gown all night.

Carolina had dipped out for a shower. South had been sure to call dibs the second that they'd gotten back to the room, because she felt a bit gross after everything. Lucky for her, Carolina hadn't felt much of a need to fight her on it.

The bathroom door open and Carolina stepped out, having slipped into a pair of running shorts and a robin's egg blue tank top.

South looked up from the show that was playing on the TV. It was nothing great- a pretty bad sitcom, in all honesty, but after a long night and months of having no access to television, South had wanted to indulge a bit.

She looked over at Carolina. "You good?"

"I am." Carolina replied before dropping down onto the bed beside South. "Nice work out there tonight."

Already there were a thousand things that South wanted to be able to go ahead and say to that. It had been good work out there, but it had felt like Carolina had carried most of it. Getting the recognition for it was nice though.

"Thanks." South replied, stretching her legs out and placing herself against the headboard at her back. "You did pretty great yourself. Always do."

Carolina nodded and smiled. "I wanted to let you know that you clean up pretty nicely." She cocked her head to the side, more playful than South had ever seen her. "I mean, when you want to."

"You aren't so bad yourself." South laughed quietly. "At least you looked like you belonged there."

"You blended in just fine by my view." Carolina responded with a shrug. "Exceptionally well, really."

"Dyed hair and all?"

"Dyed hair and all."

South smiled and tugged the blanket over herself, just a little bit. It was going to be too warm for that later, probably, but for the moment South didn't care so much. Really, she wanted to be able to take the time and relax, and-

And it seemed like that was something that Carolina needed too. Relaxation looked better on Carolina than that dress had, that was for sure.

South hadn't realized how long it had been since she or any of her teammates had been able to relax at all. Sure, they did their best when they were out on shore leave, but that was usually few and far between. it would be back to the grind by the end of a weekend and all of the fun would be quickly forgotten.

Well, all of the fun that hadn't been had when half of them were already blackout drunk would be.

Carolina reached for the bag that she had brought on the mission with  the two of them, but South reached out to stop her. "Hey," South said, making her voice as commanding as she could. "Mission's done. Relax."

"It isn't done until our debriefing is over and you know it."

"Which is in the morning." South took a breath. “It wouldn’t kill you to let yourself rest. We’ve got time.”

For just a moment, South can’t help but wonder if whether or not the suggestion is too much. It definitely feels a little bit like she’s crossing some lines, mostly because Carolina is her commanding officer at the end of the day.

“South-” Carolina sighs out her name. “You do realize that there is always more that needs to be done.”

“And we have an entire night, and a Pelican ride ahead of us to do that.” South grumbles, because that is the honest truth, really. “We have a lot of time.”

Carolina hesitates, but she does actually pull her hands back towards her. It’s definitely a concession, but South will take it. “I just don’t know what you want for me to do.”

“Relax.” South picked up the TV remote to Carolina. “We might be able to catch a Grifball game or something. Just… no more work tonight. Please. For both of our sakes.”

"I don't know what you're expecting." Carolina reached out and took the remote, leaning back into the bed a little bit more awkwardly than really suited her. "Seeing as this is just another mission."

South looks over at Carolina, and for just a single moment, she lets herself channel her brother. "It doesn't have to be."

"That's inappropriate, South. You and I both knew what we were going to be doing tonight. Trying to make it more-"

"I didn't say that I was." South bit back, furrowing her brow and feeling some sort of weird thing down in her chest at that. It feels like Carolina might have been reading in things that weren't there. Uptight, work-crazy Carolina reading into-

Well, that was something that South didn't even know she wanted to think about.

But at the end of the day, she knows the way that these things go.

She knows how this will end.

Carolina sighs heavily and shakes her head, her still damp hair flopping down into her face gracelessly. "I just want this all to be over with."

"It will be." South mumbled, letting her hands drop down to her sides. She feels the brush of her shoulder against Carolina's, warm and comforting and at her side, the same way she’d been in battle. "Just try and breathe for the rest of the night."

Slowly but surely, Carolina does begin to relax down at South's side. She flicks through channel after channel until she found an old romantic comedy. South wouldn't have picked her for the type. It isn't as though she really minds it all that much, either way.

As the movie plays, both of the two of them slowly drifted closer. A blanket got pulled over the two of them since they were going to be stuck sharing the one bed anyways. South was comfortable, and Carolina seemed like she was as well.

"This is nice." Carolina mumbled in her ear. "I never really would have thought about it this way though."

"What's that mean?" South picks her head back up and locks their eyes. "Because-"

"Just... doing this." Carolina replied calmly. "With you. Sitting around and watching bad movies."

"Too bad we don't have junk food." South muttered. Real popcorn sounded like it would have been absolute heaven to indulge in for a night. Or at least candy- god, what she would have done for candy.

Carolina's quiet.

"We can get room service."

God, if room service doesn't sound like the single most amazing thing that they could have possibly done. It wasn't as though the banquet they had infiltrated didn't have food, but the two of them had been given a lot of time to build up an appetite. Not that the food that they had at that dumb party would have been enough to actually satisfy anyways.

South lets out a noise that is high and embarrassing and definitely not suited to a Freelancer before rolling off the bed and stalking over to the phone. She rifles around with the things that are on the little desk until she finds the menu. South gives it a quick look over before shrugging and tossing it over to Carolina.

"Lady's choice."

"You're a lady too." Carolina joked, smiling and so much more lighthearted than South had ever really seen from her. "But if you insist. Oh, there's not a lot here that's healthy-"

"Yeah, sure-" South walked back over the the bed and flopped down onto it, landing about halfway on Carolina in the process. "But I could kill for a real burger after so much time on that dumb ship. I mean... don't you miss real food?"

"Real meat does sound pretty amazing."

"Exactly." South mumbled. She thought for a moment. "Two burgers and fries?"

"That sounds great." Carolina sighs before passing the menu back over to South. The two of them both know that whatever they end up ordering is probably going to end up on an expense report, but that doesn't matter so much. What matters is that they're going to have a chance to really relax and eat a real meal before they end up back on a diet consisting wholly of whatever passes as food on the Mother of Invention.

"Sure does."  South smiles and leans in against Carolina. The minute amount of distance between them is pretty amazing, something that South definitely intends to go ahead and really relish in while the two of them have the chance to do so.

Carolina smiles. "This has been really nice, South."

"What, the success?"

"You." Carolina replies, and she looks South directly in the eye, her own eyes that too violent shade of green that she has. "I don't think that I have ever seen you so nice."

"Yeah, well." South goes quiet for a moment, going back to some of the things that she had done when she was younger. "I'm still related to my brother. I'm secretly nice, and he's secretly mean."

"That's really it?"

"Well, yeah." South shrugs. "And I tend to like spending the time around with other ladies anyways. Besides,"

"Besides what?"

"I don't think that I've ever seen you act so nice either." South shrugs, blinking and looking away from Carolina for the moment. "For the record, I like you like this better than I like you as the boss."

"I don't like the boss either." Carolina said quietly. She folded her hands together in her lap, like she was almost afraid to touch for the moment. "I think that people tend to forget who I really am."

That makes some sort of feeling well up in South's chest because she knows that Carolina isn't the only one with that feeling for a fact. That's something that won't go away either, and South doesn't even care. People see her and they see someone that's pretty cutthroat. Clearly that's something Carolina can relate too.

South shrugs. "If this is the real you, I think I like you."

“I shouldn’t have to tell you that’s appropriate to say to a commanding officer.” Carolina said, but she sounded rather distinctly bitter about saying it. The slight frown quirking the corners of her lips made that all too clear.

“And?” South rolled her eyes a little bit, turning so that she and Carolina were really sitting face to face. “That doesn’t bother me.”

“It should.”

South cocked her head to the side. “My problems with authority are well on record. Besides-” South steals a glance at Carolina’s lips, curious. They look slightly chapped, but not unattractive for a second. “Everyone in our unit is in Freelancer because of problems with authority.”

Carolina smiles at that, letting out a barking laugh. “I wish that I could tell you that you were wrong.” But she grinned, challenging South all too obviously. “But I got to Freelancer by-”

“Following the rules?” South finished for her. Carolina gave her a look in response that only confirmed it. “I figured. But I also figure that you could probably benefit from breaking the rules for once yourself.” With that, South offered a challenge of her own, one that she didn’t know that she thought Carolina would take.

But for a second, she could have sworn that she saw Carolina's own eyes flicker down. South grinned, because there wasn't really anything else that she would have wanted for that moment. It reminded her of other times that night, moments where Carolina's eyes had seemed to linger on her for a little too long. South was equally guilty, but that wasn't what mattered.

"Still wildly inappropriate to say to a commanding officer, South."

"You know that technically, you and I are off the clock?"

"I do." Carolina sighed, glancing over to the door and sitting up. Her hair had fallen loose, and South wants to run her fingers through it. It looks soft, not like hers. "You seem bent on breaking the rules tonight, South. Should I prepare to put in a report?"

"Nah." South leaned in, dangerously close. "I think that you should just enjoy the fun. Worry a little less."

Carolina lunges forward, pressing their lips together, and South grins into the kiss. Carolina is soft and warm, and South takes the chance to get her hand up into her hair like she'd been thinking about. It's silky, perfectly groomed. She feels Carolina tilt her head into her hand, just slightly, and it's so pleasant.

This is something that South would be happy to keep in the back of her mind until the end of her life. The truth is she's been thinking about this for a while, and Carolina-

Well, if this is how she's going to get her to loosen up, then South is beyond fine with that possibility.

The two of them stay like that, pressed together but both somehow a bit nervous about going any further than they already have. It doesn't matter, because when their meals for the night arrive they're both happy to pull away.

Once that was done with, the two of them allowed themselves to sink into bed together for the rest of the night.

Not that they did much in the way of sleeping.

[autisticblueteam]

Your Friend, Connie (TexCT)

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 4849

Summary: Connie’s running out of options when a mission gone wrong gives her an opportunity she never expected to have: the chance to talk to Texas, one-on-one. But complicated problems rarely have such simple solutions.

Notes: Final fic for @rvbfemslash February! An immediate heads-up: this fic is not as overtly shippy as I first intended and whilst it’s certainly intended to imply TexCT, it’s not explicit and it focuses more on the potential in their relationship. So it’s toeing the line of counting for this month, but it was written with the ship in mind.

This was ridiculous.

Connie huffed, twisting her wrists in their bindings a little more, trying to get the right angle. There was a little give now, but not enough to get her hands free without breaking a couple of bones and dislocating a couple of joints. She’d rather not do that. Easy fix with some knitting polymer back at the ship or not, it wasn’t pleasant.

She couldn’t believe this had even happened. She was better than this, she didn’t get captured by untrained goons and thrown into the back room of some shady warehouse that smelt like centuries outdated petrol and god knows what else—noxious and distracting, painfully so. Yet here she was, in exactly that situation, with her wrists tied behind her back and her armour nowhere to be seen.

This wasn’t going to help her tenuous standing at the Project. Getting captured two times in as many missions was going to catch much too much attention from command.

If only it hadn’t come so soon after her last intel drop. Sending intelligence over the Project’s own communication networks, even routed through a variety of proxies and other safety measures, was getting too risky. So, rather than take that chance, she’d arranged for her contact to ‘capture’ her on her last mission. It was simple enough; she tripped an alarm that she’d never have fallen for in an actual infiltration and let Sleeves, their muscle, grab her. Cutting off her own comms was easy and the drop went smoothly; by the time someone had made their way to retrieve her, her contact had retreated and she pretended that she’d escaped part way on her own.

Simple. They got what they needed from her, she kept herself out of the suspicions of the Project.

Whether or not that would last now, she couldn’t be sure. Things were getting… precarious.

Time was running out and she couldn’t see the countdown.

Shaking the thought away, Connie focused back on the bindings wrapped around her wrist and the situation she was in now, not the one she faced when—if—she got out of here. The warehouse was far out of the way; it had come up on the Project’s radar only after reports of them using—maybe even attempting to sell—experimental equipment had reached the UNSC.

Going by the strange way her armour had locked up, allowing them to grab her without her even throwing a single punch, those reports were true. Experimental or not, it did its job and completely shut down her armour’s systems, she hadn’t even been able to trigger her emergency beacon to call for immediate help.

Hours had passed since and she knew that, by now, they had to know she was in enemy hands. Or, more importantly, that her equipment was.

Agents were disposable, if worst came to worst. But their armour, their modifications? Never.

So she knew someone would come, eventually. For her gear, if not for her.

The two guards that stood over her changed out fairly regularly, as someone got bored or they were needed for another duty. Watching them gave away no organisation or pattern of any kind, so that was a bust. Even with her bindings almost loose enough to remove, to do so without access to a weapon or her armour, with armed guards so close by? It would be suicide.

And so it became a waiting game.

More guards came and went. No one seemed to know what they were going to do with her, not-so-subtle whispers passing between the assortment of grunts about their options—should they have killed her already? Dumped her somewhere? Tried to actually interrogate her and find out what she was here for? Something else entirely? No one knew. Capturing a UNSC-sponsored prisoner was clearly not part of their plans for the day.

At first, she didn’t notice when those whispers shifted target. She’d almost tuned them out entirely before a sudden yelp came from one of their earpieces, the high-pitched sound of someone being struck down mid-word.

The guards shared a look.

“I’ll… go check what’s going on,” one said, taking a few, reluctant steps away. His current partner, who looked somehow even less enthused about the concept of investigating than he did, just nodded.

“You do that,” he said, before turning to Connie with his rifle raised. Connie tensed her shoulders. “And don’t you try any funny business. I can still shoot quicker than you can move.”

That was almost certainly true.

Unfortunately for him, they wouldn’t have chance to find out. Moments after the words left his mouth there was a loud CRASH behind him as his buddy was slammed against the wall with inhuman force.

He jumped out of his damn skin, turned his attention away from Connie—

—who tore herself free from her bindings, planted a hand on the floor and swept his legs from under him.

A yelp, a clatter, a shimmer, the snap of bone—

He dropped to the floor dead.

Connie landed back on the floor, her heart pounding at the rush of adrenaline after hours of sitting still. Looking up at her rescuer, she exhaled; it could only be one person. “Texas.” The clean-up crew.

The shimmer in front of her solidified, smooth black armour reappearing in swathes of reality and an outstretched hand. Eyeing it for a moment, Connie took it and let herself be pulled to her feet.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were showing off with that entrance,” she said, rubbing her wrists. They’d definitely bruise. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of blankness in Tex’s posture, before something clicked into place and she chuckled. Delayed social reaction. That checked.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. You okay?” Tex stood almost an entire foot over her. She’d be imposing, if Connie didn’t know as much about her as she did. Oddly, it made her more… human, knowing that she wasn’t. “No injuries that are gonna stop you moving?”

“No,” she shook her head, “I’m fine. They didn’t subdue me physically, it was tech that got me.” Speaking of… “Did you get my armour?”

“Not yet.”

Connie raised a brow. “I’m surprised. Shouldn’t you have been grabbing the important stuff first?”

Tex’s tilted head held the same sarcastic confusion. “Yeah, well, my orders are to prioritise your armour and the tech, but hey, I found you first, what am I supposed to do? Backtrack on myself? Nah.” Then, a shrug. “Besides, I know you’re our best intelligence agent. That seems pretty important to me.”

Stance relaxing a little and her face softening, Connie sighed.

“But hey,” Tex continued, “you don’t wanna be saved I can just leave you here, go grab the armour and swing back to you if I have time, no skin off my back.”

“Alright, point taken,” Connie said, before pausing. “…and thanks. I don’t mean to sound… ungrateful.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve been stuck here for hours, I’d be grouchy too. You know where your armour is?” Tex said, taking a pistol off her thigh and offering it to Connie. She took it. “Fully loaded. Haven’t touched it.”

“Didn’t need to, I’m guessing.” A knife would have been preferable, but a pistol was better than nothing. “I have a rough idea. I imagine it’ll be wherever they’re keeping their other tech. They have some kind of armour locking technology, more advanced than things like the paint. It locked my entire body up with some kind of energy field.”

“Huh. That’s the kind of shit you’re out here for isn’t it?” Tex nudged the dead guard with her foot and glanced over at the other one—not dead, just unconscious and collapsed in a pile of broken crates. No threats in the room.

“Essentially. So, all going well, we’ll be able to complete the mission anyway.” Connie took a deep breath in. Being without her armour on a mission she was meant to run with armour was a new kind of vulnerability she didn’t appreciate at all. “Okay, let’s get this over with before I think too hard about the fact I’m only wearing a kevlar bodysuit.”

“Don’t worry,” Tex said, cracking her knuckles, “I won’t let anyone hit you.”

There was a kind of surety to the statement that only Tex could give off; it wasn’t just a promise, it was a statement of fact. With her track record in the field and training backing that up, Connie felt a little of the tension in her shoulders release.

“Alright, I’m holding you to that.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”

The warehouse wasn’t kitted out with alarms, but the mess in the open rooms they passed and the sound of distant voices betrayed the panic that had quickly spread once the invisible, wrecking ball of a woman had torn her way through. The halls had been vacated, besides a couple of people grabbing the injured, but alive, members of their group and dragging them away.

There was no point in fighting them if they weren’t an active threat, so they let them go. Going by the buzz of turbines above them, the second assault had provoked an evacuation.

“Think I scared most of ‘em off?” Tex said, nodding towards the ceiling.

“Most of them. I doubt they’ll want to leave behind all their tech and they certainly weren’t moving out before you turned up,” a silent infiltration with no casualties never did have the same shock factor as a true assault, “some of them will have to be near wherever they’re storing it, packing it up.”

“Okay, so where we heading? Where would you keep all your top secret, fancy tech?”

A laptop secured against the underside of her bed. A signal scrambling system built into her personal Data Pad. Her medical information used as a layer of defence over the top of a whole drive’s worth of stolen intel. Innocuous places people would never think to look, hidden in plain sight if anyone even bothered to search in the first place.

“One of the standard warehouse rooms, but the furthest one away from where they were keeping me tied up.”

Tex nodded. “Got it. Stick behind me.”

Connie was right. A few halls away they heard voices; orders to hurry up and attitude in return, interrupted by the scraping sound of crates being dragged and the sputter of an old engine. A quick peek inside and they could see them packing crates up into a very outdated van. There was a growing pile of opened and unopened crates beside it, whilst a couple of the group wrangled others into the back.

Stacked on top of one such crate was Connie’s armour.

“You think you can sneak around to your armour whilst I clean up the rest of them?” Tex said. A moment later she was nothing more than a shimmer, distorting the blank wall behind her.

“I should be able to, yeah,” Connie said, double checking the pistol. “See you at the other end.”

The shimmer shifted slightly—an arm being lifted, perhaps—and then it was gone, disappearing into the rows of shelves between them and the vehicle bay at the back.

Connie waited until she heard the first person take a punch and then she was on the move, too.

Moving quickly but quietly, finger rested close to the trigger and on high alert, she slipped down the aisle closest to the entrance. Thuds and bangs and grunts travelled through the shelving—crunching from unarmoured fists against metal and heavily armoured fists against bone, scampering feet and a crate smashing against the floor.

Connie shuddered. Thank god she’d never had reason to be on the wrong end of her strength.

She was at the end of the aisle when one unforeseen side effect of Tex’s distraction made itself known: a couple of the group had ducked behind the crates. Her path was no longer clear, but their view of her certainly was; movement in their periphery drew their attention the moment she got close enough to register they were there.

Emboldened by her lack of armour, they stood to try their luck. That was their first mistake.

They didn’t have guns, so when they ran at her Connie didn’t feel anywhere near as vulnerable as being in open hallways where someone with a weapon that could tear through her suit with ease was a threat. She didn’t even level her own pistol. Soon, they were in range, fists clumsily raised and—

Connie ducked, swept beneath them and half-knocked their legs from under them. By the time they’d steadied themselves she’d already grabbed one of their arms, twisted it up behind their back and slammed her foot into their spine, knocking them down again. As the second of them turned to face her, she bolted towards the end of the aisle. Gave herself room to move and react.

When he came at her again, she ducked, threw a punch into his gut and dodged around him. With a knife this would have been over in seconds. Instead, he came for her again, the first guy grabbed her ankle—

And then he was thrown into the shelves and their arm snapped between the ground and Tex’s foot.

That was their second mistake.

Connie exhaled. Okay.

Tex kicked the first guy in the head and knocked him out. “Told you I wouldn’t let them hit you.”

“You sure did. The others—?”

“Dealt with, get your armour on. I’ll tear open some boxes.”

As soon as the final piece of her armour clipped into place and her HUD lit up, the last of the hairs on her neck settled. Even her knives were still there and she gladly attached them back to their respective hard-points, resting her fingers against the hilt reflexively. There were no more threats, but being in the field was always easier with multiple inches of armour plating between your vital organs and everything around you.

“What did the thing they use on you look like?” Tex called, the sound slightly muffled by the walls of the van.

Connie hopped up into the back with her. Most of the crates had been pulled open by force, their contents now easily seen and examined. Most of them seemed to be weaponry, much of it completely familiar, but one or two contained more… interesting things.

“I didn’t really see, but if I had to take a guess…” Her HUD was scanning and highlighting things that gave off unique energy signatures. Slowly panning past the guns and ammo, she settled on a box of square units that were highlighted as being electromagnetic. “Those things.” Tex reached out, but Connie grabbed her arm. “I wouldn’t. I don’t know how they activated them and I wouldn’t know how to deactivate it either. Find a smaller box and I’ll take off my gloves, minimise the risk of it touching armour.”

Tex tilted her head, but she stepped away.

Connie exhaled. How one would have reacted to Tex’s body, she didn’t know. And she didn’t want to take the risk. Tex had to know eventually, but… not like that.

Taking off her gloves, she picked up a couple of the units. When Tex returned with a suitable box she set them down carefully, padding between them with packing from the original crate to keep them from touching.

“There. Alright, call for extraction.”

“Already on it.”

Turning back, Connie could have sworn she saw Tex… staring, at her? Staring may have been too strong a word, but looking at her, for sure. Maybe that wasn’t notable, but…

In the back of the Pelican, Connie spoke up. “Hey, Texas?”

Tex’s head snapped up, shattering the eerie stillness that had lingered since she sat down. She didn’t share transports often. “Uhh… yeah?”

“I know you’re busy, with briefings and training and all, but… when you have a free hour or two, do you think we could meet up and talk?” It was reckless. Riskier than anything she’d done before now. But she was more aware than ever of that invisible timer, counting down until she’d have to make a choice.

So she was making one.

Tex stalled. That split-second delay she’d noticed before lingered longer this time—ingrained protocol warring with social rules warring with personal desires warring with whatever else was on her mind.

But, eventually, it passed.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll… set some time aside. I think I have an hour between training and briefing in a couple days? About 1300,” Tex said, shifting a little in her seat. Nerves?

“I can make time. Do you know where the observatory deck is?” Quiet, mostly private. Especially during the day.

“Yeah, I know where it is. Guess uhh… guess I’ll see you then.”

Connie offered a smile. “See you then.”

Tex may have tried to smile back, but it was hard to tell behind that helmet she’d never seen her remove. Regardless, the silence felt a little more companionable after that.

A human connection, first and foremost, that was what Connie wanted to offer. Break the isolation that Tex had been experiencing since she came into existence. Maybe, just maybe, if she was able to get past that… maybe she could tell her. Maybe she could do something without having to leave.

It wasn’t a sure thing.

Still, Tex deserved to have a friendly face to turn to. Her unusual circumstances had dictated her isolation and no one had made the effort to change that, not even Connie herself. Tex was owed that much, surely.

Upon their return, everything went as Connie had expected. Without even so much as a ten minute diversion to check her physical condition, Connie was dragged into a dressing-down disguised as a debriefing. She stood there and took it, zoning out and saying ‘yessir’ and ‘it won’t happen again sir’ in all the right places to placate his anger at her incompetence. It didn’t matter, anyway; that board hadn’t changed since the AI started going out, she wasn’t being demoted to Beta Squad now. Even if she was, it would hardly change anything.

It ended, she left, she passed out in bed with only a wave at South.

Tex was nowhere to be seen for the next two days, but that was expected too. It was a miracle she’d even found one hour of free time to promise. So Connie went about her business as normal, continued her work, kept up appearances.

But when that hour came, Tex wasn’t there.

The observatory deck was dark and empty, so silent that the hum of the engines was no longer just background noise. Connie waited there for three hours, just in case—it didn’t make a difference, Tex didn’t come.

Maybe she should have expected that, as well.

After that mission, everything at the Project seemed to move faster than ever and Tex was somehow more absent than she’d ever been before. No one saw her for days, then a few weeks. Never caught so much as a glimpse. AI production showed no signs of stopping and Connie found herself backed further and further into a corner. Every new piece of intel she stole upped her chances of getting caught and the pressure from Jarrett to leave was piling by the day. Tex had been one of her only other avenues of action and that had clearly closed.

Connie was racing that invisible countdown and she couldn’t keep up.

Eventually, she knew something would have to give. Opportunities to drop her intel discretely had faded. Her next chance involved ignoring direct orders, abandoning a mission and risking exposure. Or, perhaps worse, having to leave before she was really ready to make that decision.

So the night before, she found herself back on the observatory deck, amidst the eerie silence of space that made her lungs feel compressed and her mind run in circles about the what ifs of the void in front of her. Unpredictable and infinite. Absolutely terrifying.

And then a voice broke the silence. “Room for another?”

“I’m certainly not going to stop you.”

Texas emerged from the darkness, her pale face and light hair a stark contrast to it and her black clothes. It was the first time Connie had seen her face outside of the files that recorded every detail of her existence, from the exact shade of her hair to the beauty marks that, if pressed right, would open her power cell compartment.

She knew more about Tex than Tex may ever know about herself and it felt as wrong as it was.

The AI who knew nothing of what she was sat beside her, leaned back upon her palms and stretched her legs out in front of her. Stared out at the abyss in front of them, all of the distant stars that only Maine seemed to know the names of, and said nothing more.

Connie glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, watched her. The slightly too even rise and fall of her shoulders, the unnatural stillness of her position—all the little things. Maybe if she’d been around them more, she would have adapted her patterns to match, began to act more human. Then again, what did it matter? She thought she was human, she acted human in all of the most obvious ways.

Shattering that illusion required more trust than Tex had been given time to place in her. She couldn’t do it now.

Quiet ruled the room for almost ten minutes before Tex spoke again.

“Sorry I stood you up. Shit got kinda busy after we got back, I didn’t have the time.”

“It’s fine. You’re a busy woman.”

Another pause. Connie picked at the scar across her palm and took a deep breath in.

“You ever have to make an impossible choice, Tex? One that could either fix or ruin everything all at once?”

Tex hesitated, but this time it felt more… real, not like a software delay. “Not really. Things have always been… pretty straightforward, for me, I guess. I do my job, do it well… don’t have to make the hard decisions, just gotta follow orders when I get ‘em.”

“Hopefully it stays that way,” Connie sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Another beat. “You on the mission tomorrow?”

“Technically, that’s classified, but… nah, not tomorrow. Got me hanging back on the ship, ready to go if things get dire, but,” she shrugged, “pretty sure you guys can handle this one.”

Connie rested her head against her knee, turned to face her. “Even me? The one who’s been captured twice?”

“Hey, from what I heard, the first time you got out on your own. Second time, you only got caught because they had some weird tech. I think you’ll be fine,” Tex said. Nudging Connie with her elbow, she offered the first and last smile Connie would ever see her give.

“…thanks.”

“Next time I get a break, I’ll try and let you know. See if we can find time to really have that talk you wanted to have. Seems like something heavy, if that dramatic question was anything to go by. Like, seriously; that was a hell of a welcome.”

Connie muffled a quiet laugh, shaking her head. “Sorry. I suppose I have a lot on my mind right now. Hence the staring out into space thing.”

“Literally,” there was a note of amusement in her voice, in her eyes. Connie smiled and nodded.

“Literally.”

“I’d ask what choice you gotta make, but that might be a bit personal for a first meet-up.”

“Ask me next time you see me,” Connie said, “I’ll have made the choice by then, it won’t matter so much.”

“Can I hold you to that?”

“Yeah. You can.”

“Well alright then, I gotta get going so…” Tex hopped up to her feet, stretched her arms above her head. Even out of armour, she was built like a brick wall. “Guess I’ll have to ask you next time. See you around, CT. And good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Tex. I’ll see you around. Hopefully we have more time next time.”

Tex gave her a mock salute and vanished back into the darkness of the connecting hall, gone as quickly as she’d come. Connie was alone again and as midnight hit, her countdown was no longer invisible. The mission clock projected itself on the glass in front of her.

Eleven hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-six seconds, fifty-five seconds, fifty-four…

One way or another, she was going to have to make her choice.

Pushing herself from the ground, she marched through the halls until she reached the locker room. Empty, this late at night, with camera blind-spots that were easily exploited. Finding one, she set her helmet up on a bench and sat against the lockers behind it.

Taking a deep breath, she set it to record.

“Agent Texas. Allison. If you’re reading this, then that means I escaped. Or, well, at the very least, I’m probably not around anymore…”

It took a few takes. The words flowed by with ease, but her voice was unsteady and her tone was off and her heart pounded so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t even hear herself. Recording this was admitting something, something she didn’t want to face. Not yet, not until that countdown was over and things would change irreversibly.

Maybe she hadn’t been able to tell anyone whilst she was here, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try even when she was gone. Texas was still her best bet, the one at the centre of all of this.

Things could have gone differently, in another world. Where she’d spoken up sooner, where she’d made the effort to reach out and give her that human connection before it was too late for it to make a damn difference. Where maybe they’d have had the chance to know each other, before Connie had to shatter Tex’s concept of her own existence.

Where the sentiment behind, “…your friend, Connie,” could truly have been realised.

But this wasn’t that world.

Choices had already been made.

Within a couple of months, branded a traitor and a liar and risk to UNSC security for the second time in her life, Connie was dead.

Bled out, alone in an escape pod. As alone in death as she’d been in her final months in the Project and in all of her efforts to make a difference.

And, eventually, Texas would open her locker. Find a set of dog-tags that didn’t belong to her. See that name.

Watch the video.

“I want to leave behind all the data I've been collecting about Project Freelancer. I never could shake the feeling that something was wrong with the program. The secrets, the lies, the manipulation; smoke, all of it, obscuring a big damn fire.”

Everything clicked into place. Everything Connie had said, the strange way she’d looked at her, the way she had tried to reach out… the reason she’d left, the reason she’d provoked her, the reason the Director gave no order to preserve life.

“I did some digging, and now I know what the Director's been hiding. What he did.”

The reason something had felt off for months now.

“He broke the law, Allison. The one law they don't just slap you on the wrist for. I'm taking the originals with me as an insurance policy. I leave this copy for you not because you are the best soldier in the squad…”

Constant training and meetings. Carolina’s increasingly bitter attitude towards her. The AI. How she never had even a spare moment to interact with the team. The fact that Connie had to have been the only person she’d ever shown her face to.

“…but because I know that I can trust you the most.”

Before she killed her.

“After reading these files you will understand why.”

There was a long list of things that Texas would regret in the years to come. At the top was what happened in that bunker. What she’d done.

In another world, things would have gone differently. Connie’s attempt to reach out wouldn’t have failed. They’d have had the chance to talk, to know each other beyond the surface level banter and offerings of friendship that had at least proven the concept—that they would be a good team, that they could be good friends or even something more.

Maybe, even if she’d still been forced to leave, Tex would have realised something was up and found the message sooner. Soon enough to matter.

In another world, things wouldn’t have been perfect, but they would have been better. The things that could have been lingered in the back of Tex’s mind.

But this wasn’t that world. In this world, they’d both been just a little too late.

Tex rested her hand over the image and made a promise.

If nothing else, she’d finish what she started.

“Good luck. Your friend, Connie.”

[celsidebottom]

And have some Kimbalina for Femslash February!  Kimball checks up on Carolina after she gets stabbed in the leg and goes to their makeshift hospital.  

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Carolina snapped, rolling her eyes.  “It’s not that bad.  I’m ready to go, but the doctors keep fussing.”

Kimball chuckled.  “Yeah, I heard that they almost had to strap you down to get you to stay in bed and rest.”

“It’s just a small wound, it’s barely anything.  I should be out there, helping.”

“According to Dr. Grey, it’s far more than a small wound.” Kimball took a seat beside Carolina on the makeshift hospital cot.  The situation wasn’t particularly well organized and didn’t come anywhere near a sterile environment, but it was the best they had for their wounded.  “And you’re no help if you’re bleeding out all over the place.”

Carolina sighed.  “I know. I just feel pathetic sitting here.”

“You’ll be out of here soon enough.  Probably sooner if you stop fighting the doctors.  And playing with the dressing,” Kimball added as she noticed the redhead picking at the edges of the bandage that wrapped around her leg.

To keep her idle fingers occupied, she reached over and took Carolina’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.  

“Please take the time to get better.  For me, at the very least, if not for yourself.”

Carolina glanced down at their hands with fingers interlaced and slowly nodded.  “For you. I’ll stay put until the doctors say I’m good to go.”

“That’s all I can ask.”  Kimball smiled.

“And thank you for checking up on me.  I’m sure you have lots of things to do, so I won’t keep you…” Carolina said, trailing off as she noticed the smirk on Kimball’s face. “What did I say?”

“Trying to get rid of me already, huh?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Carolina replied hastily.  “I just figured you had more important things to do than sit here with me.”

She shook her head.  “No, I’m not thinking of anything that would be more important, actually. In all seriousness, though, I think all of my other responsibilities can wait for a few minutes.  If you don’t mind me staying a bit longer, that is.”

Carolina smiled and ran her thumb along Kimball’s hand.

“I think I’d like that.”