Agent South Dakota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ownperson) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
goneawayworld2021-05-02 06:26 am
ownperson) wrote in goneawayworld2021-05-02 06:26 am
Entry tags:
[closed]
Who: Wash & South
What: South ‘joins jorgmund’ (read: plays them for fools) and meets her ‘new’ co-worker
Where: Some behind the scenes area
When: After memshare, before the Planker Seduction/Infiltration joint mission
Warnings/Notes: None right off
She’s never been much good at waiting.
There’s a lot of words you might attribute to South, but ‘patient’ certainly isn’t one of them. They’ve got her standing around with her thumb in her ass whilst they no doubt figure out whatever bullshit they’re going to spin at her and they’re not being quick about it, which isn’t exactly a surprise, but it is a pain in the ass.
Took them long enough to approach her in the first place, honestly. She’s done about everything she can think of to draw the ‘right’ kind of executive attention recently, balancing on the fine line between obvious enough to catch their eye and not so obvious that it gives the game away. This won’t work if they figure out she’s angling for it, because it’s only a short hop from that to ‘she’s going to try and fuck us over from the inside’ and that’s not a hop she wants them to make.
She’s never been much good at subtle, either, but, well, two years of lying to your own brother and your Command at the same time teaches you some things.
(Probably shouldn’t think about North, right now, actually.)
Another minute goes by and she’s about ready to sit herself utterly unprofessionally on the floor when the door finally opens. She straightens her spine, not quite to attention, but close enough.
What: South ‘joins jorgmund’ (read: plays them for fools) and meets her ‘new’ co-worker
Where: Some behind the scenes area
When: After memshare, before the Planker Seduction/Infiltration joint mission
Warnings/Notes: None right off
She’s never been much good at waiting.
There’s a lot of words you might attribute to South, but ‘patient’ certainly isn’t one of them. They’ve got her standing around with her thumb in her ass whilst they no doubt figure out whatever bullshit they’re going to spin at her and they’re not being quick about it, which isn’t exactly a surprise, but it is a pain in the ass.
Took them long enough to approach her in the first place, honestly. She’s done about everything she can think of to draw the ‘right’ kind of executive attention recently, balancing on the fine line between obvious enough to catch their eye and not so obvious that it gives the game away. This won’t work if they figure out she’s angling for it, because it’s only a short hop from that to ‘she’s going to try and fuck us over from the inside’ and that’s not a hop she wants them to make.
She’s never been much good at subtle, either, but, well, two years of lying to your own brother and your Command at the same time teaches you some things.
(Probably shouldn’t think about North, right now, actually.)
Another minute goes by and she’s about ready to sit herself utterly unprofessionally on the floor when the door finally opens. She straightens her spine, not quite to attention, but close enough.
no subject
What if they'd recruited her because she'd be convincing as another person that'd be willing to try playing double agent.
But there's no way she'd cry in front of him for some act. No way. She had her pride. She'd never let herself be that vulnerable.
He weighs the possibilities. What's he at greater risk of? Her working for Jorgmund and blowing his cover to them, or her being loyal to the group and blowing his cover to the other New Hires? When he's trying to tightly control the situation, afraid of any interference?
"It didn't start that way...but their leverage isn't as good as they think it is."
no subject
South gapes stupidly at him for a good few seconds before falling entirely out of her defensive stance.
“Holy shit. You’re fucking serious.”
She turns and paces in a tight circle a couple of times, suddenly full of restless, anxious energy. She almost laughs out of some indescribable emotion, dragging her hands over her face and back through her hair before facing him again.
“You— fuck. What the fuck, Wash? Leverage? What the hell is happening, here? How the fuck are we both—”
She can’t believe this is happening, but also she can, because it is and because everything lately has been one batshit moment after another.
no subject
"It makes perfect sense. When we first showed up, we were both the kind of people that only cared about our own survival. That started to change fast."
As for the leverage...
"You can't tell the others about what I'm doing Jorgmund does have something on me. It's not enough for me to screw over the other New Hires anymore, and I'll take the hit if I have to, but I'm still trying to prevent them from pulling the trigger on it. The more people know, the more complicated it gets, the less chance I have of using all this against them before they can screw me."
He adds, "And if I outright just tell people what it is, Jorgmund might just kill me. It's...bad. Not I've-done-something bad, but because of how they'd look. They like their whole pretense of respectability."
no subject
That’s... alarming, but despite the frown that wrinkles her brow, she doesn’t ask, she takes his word. “They sure fucking do. Fuck. What the fuck.”
She paces in tight circles again for a few seconds, before coming to a stop leaning back against a wall. She takes a breath.
“I won’t tell anyone. I’d have to tell them what I’m doing to do that, and I’m not... looking to do that, so. Yeah, if you need the fuckin’ assurance I won’t, there you fuckin’ go.”
She’d planned to tell North, if this plan ever got off the ground, but then... her expression twists momentarily with hurt, before she composes herself.
“I’ve... I’ve done this before. Kinda. Just for all the wrong reasons, last time. I figured... I figured I could turn it around. Do— good with it, this time.”
God, that feels weird to say.
no subject
Wait, no. No, it was probably simpler than that.
There is realization. Because he saw the hurt, and hurt usually had to with North. And she was two for two for screwing over other agents.
In a way that let her walk away with one AI and let the project almost lose a potential witness to some of the worst of their crimes. It'd always been a race against time, whether he could screw them before they wised up and killed him.
They'd probably played it safe and instead of worrying that maybe he could remember more than he said, just wanted him out of the picture. And if they had another agent, they would've had someone to replace him on Recovery. After she ran off, they'd been forced to keep him alive. A normal soldier stood even less of a chance of recovering tech before the Meta.
It isn't really news. All it means is both parties had double screwed him.
But there's still some disappointment. That it wasn't just reactive fear in the moment, causing her to pull a sudden impulsive move. Just like not helping North had seemed impulsive and scared. That it was a lot more calculated.
That she'd had time to sit down and think over how she planned to betray him. After he'd gone against orders and spared her. So far he's been angry over it, even emotional when confronting her with the memory of the pain he went through while desperately clinging to life.
Now he's just vulnerable enough for her to see hurt. For just a second, it's not the present Wash's face, it's the rookie they all left behind. Then the mask is up again, and the expression is just general surliness.
"You were still working for Freelancer." His voice is flat with a deep, deep tiredness. "During everything with North and I."
no subject
She swallows and shifts uncomfortably, looking away from him.
"I... yeah." There's no point in denying it, there's no other conclusion to draw from what she said. "They uh. They contacted me, little while after North shot me through the fucking knee and carried me off. Offered me an AI, all that shit."
She knows now she'd likely never have been given one, of course, even if everything had gone to plan.
"They didn't seem to realise I was actually with North, wanted me to track him down. Guess they thought I'd know how to find him because I'm his sister." They'd probably have been right. "Figured if I said yes, I could... play both angles. Keep them off North's trail until I could get him to give Theta back on his own so we could bail, whilst... having insurance, if something went wrong."
She shifts again and there's something new in her posture, now: shame. She's ashamed of all of this, now.
"They told me you were coming, gave me my orders. After..." she gestures vaguely. "I was out for a while, but I woke up long before you got there. Feigned being unconscious for when you arrived. And then... well. You know the rest."
She folds her arms under her chest, still not looking at him. What the gesture may also draw his eye to is the lack of puck hanging around her neck; folding her arms like this would usually have trapped it against her chest.
no subject
York had been holding off on just taking it and he knows she wouldn't have given that kind of asset back if she was working for Jorgmund.
It means maybe she was telling the truth, about wanting to be better.
"That was the past." It's gracious. Maybe more than she deserves. "For right now, we have a job to do. I'll keep your secret if you keep mine. And we can coordinate. It's not easy getting any time alone with their computers or to dig around any paperwork, but if there's two of us, it'll be easier to distract them."
no subject
She closes her eyes and breathes deeply—inhale, exhale—then looks back at him. Nods, her expression setting onto something calmer with a sense of purpose behind her eyes.
"Yeah. Yeah okay. Guess this'll be easier with two of us. Unfortunate it's us, of all people," there's almost a note of a joke there, but it's true that their history makes watching the other's backs in a situation like this more... complicated, "but y'know."
She presses her lips together, then sighs.
"Actually, with two of us, there's something else. I uh. One of the powers this place lumped me with, I can like... turn off people's ability to notice me? But I need to be near someone else to actually activate the damn thing. Tested it a bit, seems to work best with my brother but..."
Obviously he's not involved.
no subject
"And I'm guessing people you're spying on might not count as 'someone else.'"
Still potentially useful.
"There will be times they might bring me in alone. They won't be expecting an invisible tagalong."
A pause.
"Just...keep in mind you should ignore it if they treat me differently when I'm alone. It won't be a sign that we've been caught. They know they'll have to keep you somewhat happy - they don't think that's necessary with me."
no subject
"It's indefinite so long as I stick close enough by, so, yeah, that'd work. I just have to be careful not to bump into someone."
She frowns, then. Jesus fuck, what is this leverage they have on him? How tight a leash have they wrapped around the guy's throat on top of the damn shock collars?
"Fucking hell, Wash," she says, and the anger that runs beneath it isn't aimed at him, for once, but at the implications of what he's saying. "Yeah. Okay. I'll... keep that in mind."
Fuck. They're really doing this, aren't they? Working together?
no subject
He squints.
"How the fuck did we wind up on some weird parabola of being on a team again?"
Right back where they started.
no subject
She groans and lets out something close to a laugh, thunking her head back against the wall. "Fuck, don't ask me. You told me any of this would be happening when I arrived here I'd have laughed in your fucking face."
She'd never have done something like this when she arrived, putting her life on the line to try and help everyone out of this mess. She'd never have felt as sick to her stomach as she does now when she puts up that front, pretends to be who she used to be. She'd never have given Delta back, never have been willing to sacrifice her repaired relationship with her brother, never let any of the others see the guilt in her.
But a lot has happened.
"Guess we gotta get used to letting the other watch our back sometimes, huh." Not exactly the easiest thing, especially for him—she knows that keenly, now, after everything he's said and shown her. But if they're doing this, they have no choice.
no subject
He drags a hand down his face.
"Just remember that if you try to screw me, at some point Carolina will find out and there are lots of remote hallways where she can kill you and lots of weird shafts where she can dump your body into an incinerator or something."
They would never find the body.
no subject
South shakes her head and snorts, "Yeah, yeah, the boss is ride or die for you now, I get it. I'm not gonna fucking screw you over."
For a moment there's a matching comment on the tip of her tongue, mouth hanging open for a second after she finishes her sentence, but then it snaps shut. It'd probably be in bad taste to say North would do the same for her, considering what happened in Clarksdale, and it'd wouldn't be true, anyway. Especially not now.
"I don't know what or who the fuck I am anymore, Wash, but I'm not that person. I know words mean fuck shit, but..." Hopefully her actions will do all the talking for her. That's all she can do.