hexaflexagons | [psl] Tex & Connie Espionage AU

The second question throws Connie for a second. She blinks at Tex, wide-eyed, but composes herself with a small cough and folds her arms tight under her chest.

"They knew there was transmissions going to the 'Insurrection' a while ago, I can only assume they still know the same," she says. The information came from Wash, but she had no reason to think he'd made it up. "As for... taking the fall, I..."

She stands up from the wall and paces in a tight circle.

Was there someone? Was there anyone in the Project's ranks she could do that to?

"...there's one guy I knew when I was down in Beta, real asshole, but I don't think it would be believable coming from him."

There are agents she knows who would make for a believable fall-guy, but could she do that? When she knows what the Project might do?

"I wouldn't want to do it unless we had to," she assures Connie, who she knows is understandably shocked. "The idea is to come back and take them down from the top, but we can't do that if we're in the brig."

She ponders the remark about the asshole in Beta.

"We'll figure it out. If we have to."

"Only if we have to," Connie emphasizes. "The guy in Beta... he's about as far up the UNSC's ass as they come, I don't think anyone would buy it, and... no one else deserves it."

She swallows a lump in her throat and stops pacing. Her nail catches at her scar again. The skin's a little raw.

"I think it'd be worse than the brig. For me, or for anyone else."

"Can't finish what we've started if we're dead, either."

Not that she, personally, would suffer such consequences. She knows she wouldn't.

"Anyway. I think the best thing we can do for now is cast some lines out and see if anyone bites."

Connie takes a deep breath and pushes her ethical agonizing into a mental box to deal with later, then nods.

"You know, York was being surprisingly..." she pauses, considers her words, "I wouldn't say rebellious, but he was questioning the Director's decisions when we were talking. That's more than I get out of most people."

"York?"

She says it in the same tone as someone might say, "A fish head?

"I mean, I don't really know him. That just seems like a risky choice."

"I know, I know, you're probably right, but... we're not exactly overflowing with options, here. Every option I have is risky. Wash, York..."

South's name flashes in her head, but she has to push it down. South spits venom about the Director, about the Project, but not in a way that makes her think she'll jump on board without issue.

"That's the name of the game, now," Tex says with a sigh. "We'll have to just...feel it out."

Connie nods. "Yeah, yeah we will. I'll look for opportunities to reach out to the others. You... do whatever you can do."

"I'm starting to socialize more," she says. "I mean...I'm starting to socialize. It wasn't really on my agenda before."

Connie bites her tongue and nods again. "Well, now you have a reason. They're... not so bad, really. When you get to know them. Though they can be an acquired taste."

She shifts on her feet.

"Hopefully you can see something in someone that I haven't yet. Trust wise."

"I had a conversation with North," she says. "I was in the hallway when he came out from his pre-implantation training session."

Connie tilts her head. "How did that go? North is... well, he means well."

She scrunches up her nose involuntarily.

"He seems pretty excited about getting his chance," she says. "They told him the AI has particular needs that he can help with, I guess."

Connie nods. That doesn't surprise her. "They matched him to North's psyche profile. Apparently, the new AI needs a 'nurturing' personality in order to flourish."

"Well, that's not...strange at all," Tex says. Based on what she'd seen of Sigma and Delta...and Omega, and herself...there shouldn't be any need for that sort of thing.

"Theta is Alpha's Trust," Connie says, flexing her hand. No scratching, she keeps having to remind herself that. "I'm assuming that has something to do with it."

"Trust," Tex says musingly. "Well, I guess we're going to find out, because it's too early for us to make a move."

"I guess so," Connie says. "I just hope they don't speed up production again. If they don't, we stand a decent chance of being able to do something before they split off anything else. If not..."

She sighs.

"Alpha's been through enough."

Tex turns her head slightly, just so her visor isn't staring Connie directly in the face.

"Yes. He has."

Connie instinctively reaches out and places a hand on Tex's arm, before she can think to hesitate or stop herself.

"We'll make sure he doesn't have to suffer anything else," she says, and its as close to a promise as she can give.

Tex looks at Connie directly again, then slowly nods.

Connie looks back at her, silent, for a long moment, not removing her hand from her arm, before reluctantly speaking up again to ask, "...do you have my tags on you? The copy I gave to Jarret was my only other copy, I need to at least duplicate them in case I have to show anyone else proof."

It feels almost wrong to ask for them back, even temporarily; the dog tags had been a promise of their own, in many ways, though it had been a promise she had thought she was making from a distance that no longer exists.

Tex pauses before answering.

"Yes, I have them."

She doesn't really want to give them back, but what is she going to do with them in the meantime? She has already thought about the fact that it's too risky to sit down and review them multiple times. She reaches into her armor's storage compartment and pulls them out.

Connie only takes them once they're offered. "I'll make a copy and return them as soon as possible. You might need it for the same reasons, after all, and I gave them to you for a reason."

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