hexaflexagons | [Liberation AU]

The world had changed since one man's cry had sent her crashing across the training room floor, mind ablaze with a single name. And so too had Carolina's place in it.

That she'd awoken alone and scared and dazed, with nothing and no one to anchor her in the recovery ward except the chatter of two imbalanced AI hadn't helped matters. Not with the whispers at her back in the corridors and the feeling of all eyes on her when she'd all but stormed the bridge. She'd been down, yes, but not out. A miscalculation wasn't enough to discourage her, not when she knew that she could handle it. She would prove she could handle it. It hadn't been her fault that the match had been interrupted..

But that hadn't stopped people from staring, clearly wondering just how much more rope was needed for Carolina to hang herself with, for when she took that next fall from the high pedastal she'd worked so hard to climb on top of...

Because that number one slot would be hers again - but not through her own doing. Not in the way it was supposed to count. No, it was 'thanks' to Texas leaving, breaking the trust of the Director and the Project. Attempting to steal other AI. Defection during wartime carried harsh enough penalties as it was, but no, no, Texas had to go one better. She couldn't settle for one death (traitor or no traitor, and oh, it hurt to think of Connie), Texas dared to try and drag the rest of the team down with her. Her team. Her best friend.

Between that news, Iota's petulant whining and Eta's discordant drone in the back of her mind, it had been all Carolina could do to keep from screaming like the child the Director accused her of acting like.

Even now, Carolina could feel the press of two discordant minds on her own, whispering about the shapes in the corridor shadows, how they lingered in the elevator shaft behind York as he stepped out of the dark towards them. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was taunt, wavering in spite of her best efforts, unable to hide the hurt. Across the twin barrels of her plasma rifles, gold visor tipped, tilted to glare as she shook her head. (Distantly, she was aware of the thrum of her weapons', the energy pulse vibrating even through her gloves. The ship shuddered around them, but that, Carolina didn't seem to notice.)

"Why are you helping her?!"

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There's a Glare almost audible on the comm-line.

No, this wasn't something Carolina could appreciate. But she resisted making a comment, settling for a disgrunted sigh instead.

Ambushing Tex. The thought had occurred to the Twins. It had certainly occurred to Carolina, just after the split months before. They'd planned scenarios, had escape routes mapped in her head to the point that migraines had severely hampered her. She'd retired them both now on a more regular basis, but even now - she had yet to pull them.

When Tex does show up, Carolina's almost hyper-aware of her arrival; the gun is trained on her, yes - but there's no move to shoot. "Yes," is almost overly blunt as she descends from the rafters. "Does anyone else know you're here."

Planet, city, pick your poison.

York's in the crow's nest on the roof, and though he hasn't been specifically alerted that he should come down he makes the move to enter the loft to swing down from there. He sort of thinks Carolina's expecting him to stay put on the roof, but he's not sure how much he'll be needed to keep the two women from being at each other's throats.

The gun aimed at her causes Omega to hiss out a I told you so. She tenses and if Carolina's trigger finger moves even a hairpin, she'll have her cloaking turned on and be ready to fight.

For now, no shots are fired, so she'll try to give the other woman the benefit of the doubt. "No. I made sure of that."

Given past patterns of behaviour, there was no surprise that there was little trust from Texas or York that Carolina would keep her temper. For a minute, the gun remains where it is, trained and ready, the tilt of her helmet giving nothing away at all.

Then the gun lifts, shifted into a comfortable carry position, and blue and gold lights shimmer over her left shoulder. "Good." She glances over to York when he drops in, before motioning him to lead on down to Tex at ground level. Keeping him between her and Tex meant no funny business on either of their parts. ...Probably.

"We picked up some UNSC transmissions recently. Would have missed them if Delta hadn't caught their encryptions." Evidently, whatever it was, Carolina thought it important that she be here to hear it.

As her hand gesture indicates, York holds a position between the two women. For now he keeps his peace, knowing the situation needs to be worked out between them.

"According to the intercepted transmissions, the UNSC is preparing for Covenant incursions on this planet," Delta explains. "The advanced scouts are already in orbit."

If she could, she'd be rolling her eyes at York's placement. Omega is quick to remind her that it would be easy to take out both of those fools if it became an issue regardless of where York chooses to position himself.

She keeps her distance from the pair and her gaze centers on Carolina despite Delta's appearance. "So you called me here to announce the Covenant's arrival?"

Omega and Tex could certainly try. And nowadays...Well. Perhaps it wouldn't be as much of a challenge as before the crash of the ship. Not on Carolina's part, at least, even if she's not entirely aware of that fact.

"There's still a war on," she glares, keeping a growl out of her voice. "And if the Covenant are here, really here, then we have an opportunity to do something about it." To salvage something from their hard work. If not also pad some reputation ahead of being caught and tried for war crimes. Not that any of them *plan* on getting caught..

"That they haven't moved to glass the entire planet yet means that they're waiting on something. Could be worth finding out what - or getting rid of them before they have a chance to finish whatever it is they're doing."

But first, of course, is the matter of locating them. Hence another glance towards York and Delta.

York holds his position and allows Delta to respond, looking between the women rather than at the hologram.

"Triangulation of the advance scouts' positions should be simple. It's a matter of gathering the data. I have picked up encoded transmissions that I am working to translate; they are not in a binary language, so I am having a bit of difficulty. However, I anticipate having them ready within a day or two."

This is a surprise. She didn't think this would be the reason she'd get called back, though she supposes she should have expected it. It's not like Carolina would want Tex around just to talk.

"You want my help? Our help," she corrects at Omega's mild annoyance of being left out. "I'll stick around and see what D figures out, but I'm not launching a suicide mission against an entire Covenant invasion force." She's not dying because they think three people are enough to take on an army.

[Liberation AU]

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