Every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves caused Seulgi to pause. The flashlight she held in blew her night vision to hell, so all she could do was stop and listen, gripping her tools in her hands like weapons. The pitch black void of the forest that surrounded her and her fallen Zaku put Seulgi on edge. She wasn’t afraid of the dark - not when she had flown through the vast emptiness of space itself - but she was so close to finishing her repairs that it would be a shame to get interrupted now.

After another moment, when no one emerged from the darkness, Seulgi returned to work, wondering if there were animals in this forest. Irene had said Libot was set up like an experiment, but the documents that Seulgi had been given at the beginning of her mission had indicated that the colony was more like a social experiment than a purely scientific one. Perhaps that didn’t preclude the idea that certain species of animals were deemed necessary to maintain the prescribed aesthetic of the city.

To distract herself from the ache in her fingers as she tightened bolts by hand, Seulgi wondered if there were squirrels or birds watching her from the black treetops. Or were the denizens of this forest strictly invertebrates? Worms to aerate and decompose the soil, flies and bees to pollinate the plants - Seulgi was no ecologist, and as a loose bolt fell through her fingers and cascaded noisily down the exterior of her suit to the forest floor, she was pulled out of her musings.

“Crap…” she cursed, pulling the flashlight from . She swung it towards the ground, swishing her beam of light across the torn up earth, and heard a sharp gasp. She switched the flashlight off immediately and slowly, silently, reached into her cockpit for her gun.

Through the darkness she heard a timid “S-Seulgi…?”

There were only two people on this colony it could be, but Seulgi still didn’t like the odds. The last thing she needed was Irene finding out she was one of those Zeon pilots she had become so heated over at dinner.

“Seulgi, it’s me, Yeri!” an anxious whisper called from the darkness.

Seulgi groaned and stood up straight, tucking her pistol into the back of her pants. Clicking on the flashlight once more, she swept it around the edge of the forest until she found the intrepid delinquent. Yeri followed the shaft of light up to the Zaku unit and shielded her eyes as she gazed up at Seulgi’s dark figure. “What are you doing out so late?” Seulgi asked, disgruntled.

“I could ask you the same thing!” Yeri shot back in a hushed voice, as if the houses half a mile away would be disturbed.

“I’m working! Don’t you have school tomorrow?” To be honest, Seulgi wasn’t quite sure what day it was. Her timetable ran on hours.

Yeri ignored her question as she looked at Seulgi’s rolled up sleeves, revealing forearms streaked with grease. “Why don’t you stay?” She knew it was naive of her to ask, but she couldn’t help it. “It’s obvious Irene likes you. Stop fighting, get a job…” and don’t leave me.

Seulgi put her flashlight back in , tasting the grime from holding it in her dirty, sweaty hands as she climbed down the side of her Zaku. She supposed she could use a little break. “I thought you were coming with me, squirt,” she quipped as she took the flashlight in hand again, standing in front of the high schooler. “Or did you change your mind because Irene’s back?”

Yeri frowned in the darkness, too determined for self-reflection. She squawked when Seulgi by flashing the light in her face. “Quit it!”

Seulgi let out a tired laugh. “I can’t stay,” she finally answered.

“Why?”

It was Seulgi’s turn to frown. She knew Yeri was being a little petulant, but she really was almost finished with her repairs. If she could convince Yeri to go home soon, she might even be able to wrap this up before morning. Well, everything except her left booster rocket. Nothing short of a full replacement would fix that thing; it was mangled beyond use. Maybe after her mission she’d have to stay here anyway, the damage making an escape from the colony very unlikely.

She wondered how long her prison sentence would be once she got caught. Probably long enough for these two to forget all about her. She reached out to mess up Yeri’s hair, but the girl wasn’t having it. “I gotta keep fighting,” Seulgi said with a smile. “I’ve got things to protect now.”

“Protect? Back in the Republic? Is the Federation going to attack?”

“Nah, I’ve got things to protect right here,” Seulgi corrected, flicking Yeri in the forehead for emphasis.

Yeri grabbed Seulgi's hand and held it so she would stop. “Seulgi… what do you mean? You’re scaring me. What do I need protecting from?”

She looked at Yeri standing there in the dark. Small, young, inexperienced, perhaps a little immature, but a fire in her eyes that demanded an answer. Seulgi had grown far too attached to her. “Yeri… there’s something in the Earth Federation’s base. Something that Zeon wants destroyed.”

“A weapon?”

“A suit. A new one. Something no one’s ever seen before. That’s why the Republic sent us, to make sure they never finish it. But Yeri, if my team fails…”

Seulgi paused for so long, debating whether or not to fully explain the mission to this poor girl. Yeri held Seulgi’s hand close to her chest in anxiety. “What’ll happen?” she asked in a whisper.

“They’re going to blow the whole colony. Zeon’s not going to risk it.”

“Blow the…”

“Nukes- ow, my hand!”

Yeri wasn’t sorry for nearly breaking Seulgi’s hand in surprise, crushing and twisting it. “They’re going to nuke the entire colony? With everyone still inside?!”

“Which is why I can’t let the mission fail,” Seulgi said, wrenching her hand away from the frightened girl. “If we can take care of it quietly, then no one has to know the Federation broke the treaty, and Zeon won’t have to face subjugation under their new line of suits.” Seulgi didn’t pretend to understand the decisions being made several levels above her pay grade in the Republic’s military, but she agreed with Yeri. It seemed desperate and barbaric, to say the least.

“How could they…” Yeri breathed, still in shock.

“Hey, don’t worry. I’m not going to let that happen, okay?”

“We need to tell everyone!”

Seulgi dropped her flashlight and grabbed Yeri by both shoulders, her severe expression lost in the darkness. “No! No, you can’t tell anyone, Yeri. Not even Irene. If there’s a panic, war could break out all over again. Do you understand? People will discover the base on Libot, Zeon would make a public declaration, they’d launch the attack… we can’t risk it. So many more could die.”

Yeri was too numb to react under Seulgi’s grip. Her school, her friends, Irene, everyone… Yeri felt closer to the conflict than ever before, and she was... frightened.

“It’s going to be alright. Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Seulgi pulled her into a hug, unpracticed and awkward, but well-intended. They stood like that for a long moment, their thoughts racing in different directions before Seulgi spoke up again, a faint smile softening her features. “So… you think Irene likes me?”

Yeri punched her square in the stomach. Seulgi released her in surprise. “Hey-!”

“Of course she likes you, you giant idiot! How did they let you become some secret ops pilot when you’re this dense,” she grumbled, but that reminded her of what she had originally come to this forest for. “But lucky for you, I know where your team is.”

Seulgi straightened up from her doubled over position. “Where?”

“They’re at the base. I saw them get transported there by the police. There’s four of them.”

Seulgi’s gaze swept the ground absently as she thought. “All four? Did they look hurt?” She’d let herself wonder why Yeri was even at the Earth Federation’s secret base later.

“I don’t think so. They seemed fine,” Yeri recalled. “They were handcuffed.”

“When did you see them?”

“This afternoon, after school.” She had meant to tell Seulgi as soon as she got home, but Seulgi hadn’t come home after her date with Irene, so Yeri had to come looking for her. “Are you going to try to rescue them?”

Seulgi shook her head, and Yeri just barely saw it in the near complete darkness. “Unless they’ve got a state-of-the-art prison inside that hangar, I don’t think I’ll need to,” she said with grim confidence. Her team may even be planning their escape already, knowing them. Just like Seulgi, they wouldn’t be content sitting around waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

But did they even know Seulgi was alive? That was the real question. She couldn’t imagine any plan of theirs included her anymore. She would just have to continue with the thought in mind that her entire team was inside the base, possibly wreaking havoc all on their own. She wouldn’t be able to count on it, but it’d certainly be a welcome distraction if she could time her own attack just right.

“You know what? I changed my mind. How about you help me, instead?” Seulgi asked, and even in the gloom she could see a wide smile break across the girl’s face.

“Really?!”

“Yeah. Do you have your wallet? I’m starving...”

+++

The alarm’s constant blaring was drowned out by thunderous booming as the Zeon squadron tried to literally blast a hole through the ice sheet to the Earth Federation base beneath.

“We have to go, Lieutenant!” one of her assistants called from the doorway, holding the door frame with both hands as another blast rocked the base from overhead.

Irene was scrambling to empty folders from her filing cabinet into her bag, folding, shoving cramming them around her laptop- her charger! She whirled back to her desk, stepping away from the cabinet just before it tipped over onto the floor as an ear-splitting crack announced the breach of the ice sheet protecting the base.

“There’s no time,” the assistant urged, peeking his head out into the hallway as soldiers sprinted past. “Everyone’s already evacuating…!”

“I’m ready. I’m ready!” she cried as she fished a handful of cords out from under her desk and stuffed those into her bag as well. She looped the strap over her shoulders as she stumbled to the door, accepting her assistant’s hand as they both ran down the hall towards the launch pad.

They didn’t speak as they sprinted, feeling an unusual breeze rip through the base - a blast of icy air that stung their cheeks. The kilometer-thick ice sheet that had hidden their base from satellite detection for the better part of three years had been rocketed apart by Zeon forces, leaving the structure complete exposed to the elements, and the enemy.

Would they kill everyone? Would they take any prisoners? Irene knew what they wanted - there was only one reason why they’d spend this much effort destroying an entire glacier just to find them. As they drew nearer the launch pad, they caught up to the other stragglers who hadn’t dropped everything for the evacuation. How were all of these people going to make it out in time? Were there still enough ships?

She couldn’t see over the top of everyone and tugged at her assistant’s hand. “Where’s ‘Alex’? How many ships are left?”

He leaped on his toes as they pushed through the throng. “I think I see it! Or, part of it anyway. Big containers… are being… loaded onto the cruiser,” he shouted down to her over the noise as he jumped up and down.

“I have to get on that cruiser!” Irene said as she tugged him through the crowd and into the freezing open air of the launch pad. The Antarctic sky yawned overhead, pouring brilliant sunlight down onto the scrambling Federation forces. She needed to be on the same ship as Gundam Alex; as its chief engineer and test pilot, she was nearly as valuable as the mobile suit itself. The Earth Federation would ensure their safety in the cruiser, and as much as she tried not to think about it, she knew she would have little chance of surviving in one of the other ships.

All around her they were thrumming, waiting for their turn to launch even as people rushed in and out of them, up rickety ramps packing more passengers and equipment onboard. It was dangerous, but she ran straight across the wide, circular launch pad straight to the cruiser, barely pausing for the groups of soldiers running across her path, or spaceships maneuvering into position to take off.

A loud rumble, like the sound of an avalanche, cut through the cacophony of the launch pad, and Irene’s instinct was to run even faster towards the cruiser, but she slowed when she felt her assistant’s hand slip out of her grasp.

“SUHO!!!” He was already several paces behind her, sprawled out on the launch pad amidst chunks of ice that had broken off the high cliffs surrounding the launch pad. He looked up at Irene in a daze, his tousled hair revealing a long cut down the side of his face that was already bright red with blood. Irene’s repeated cry died in a gasp as a Zeon mobile suit landed right in front of her, crushing her assistant with a heavy thud that vibrated across the launch pad.

Irene fell onto her hands and knees from the impact, staring in shock at where Suho lay, beneath the foot of the six-story suit in front of her. “... a Z’Gok…” she mumbled numbly as she pushed back up to her feet, her eyes slowly moving up the suit to its singular, roving, eye-like camera in its blue helmet high above. As she slowly jogged backward, making sure it hadn’t spotted her, her mind struggled to catch up. Poor Suho… he wasn’t military like she was - he was just a civilian, a scientist recruited by the Federation for his research in robotics. So many needless deaths. So much waste. So much pain.

When a laser beam struck the suit from the side, an attack from one of the evacuating spaceships yet to take off, she turned and quickened her pace towards the cruiser, leaving her philosophical lamentations behind.

+++

“Uh, Lieutenant?”

Irene started. “Sorry, please repeat that.”

The officer cleared his throat and tried again. “I was just saying that this is the only unique suit out of the ones we captured from the Zeon team. An MSM class Z’Gok, specially equipped with upgraded beam cannons.”

That wasn’t the only modification Irene had noted about this unique unit, however. She refocused on the mobile suit in front of her. It had to be the same one that had chased them out of Antarctica. She had never seen anything like it before, a suit made for land, water, and space travel? “Look at the jetpacks first,” she ordered. “These suits flew up here, and I want to know how.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She was already thinking about taking apart the suit immediately and running diagnostics, but before she dug into the engineering of the Z’Gok, she wanted some context first. “I’m going to go have a little chat with the pilot.”

Irene descended from the suspended walkway, part of the original architecture of the hangar they had commandeered for their new secret base, intent on reaching the other extreme - the basement that had been converted into a detention center. It was a long way down, and she made liberal use of the handrails on either side of the stairs and platforms she crossed. It circumnavigated the hangar, taking her on a little tour of all of the suits they had captured, their metal plating painted an ocean blue in an attempt at camouflage.

None of the other suits were terribly impressive - generic MSM class Hygogg suits, mostly used for reconnaissance and minor skirmishes. Where was the muscle? These soldiers had been captured by militarized colony police. The assault had relied too heavily on the element of surprise if Zeon thought four submarine units modified for space travel would be enough to attack a Federation base. Either there was a piece missing from this equation, or the Republic had been that desperate to destroy Gundam ‘Alex’.

As she descended the last set of stairs to the ground floor, coming out on a landing at the foot of the Z’Gok, Irene felt her phone buzz in her pocket. A message from Yeri? It was an image, and she squinted at the thumbnail for a moment before opening it. Her steps slowed as a smile spread across her face. It seemed that Seulgi still had Yeri’s phone, judging from the selfie she just received: it was a picture of the thief in question, carrying what looked to be a sleeping Yeri on her back. Were they outside? Irene could see the colony's artificial sky in the background, and perhaps some trees, but before she could tap out a response, another message came in.

The Brat: [Not to sound like a mooch, but I’m free for dinner tonight if you wanted to take me out again~]

Irene snorted. Though asking to be taken to dinner was definitely something in Yeri’s wheelhouse, Irene guessed it was still Seulgi.

Irene: [Yeri needs to start making friends who aren’t broke.]

The Brat: [ :( ]

Irene: [What time?]

The Brat: [ :) ]

Irene didn’t have to picture the grin that Seulgi was probably wearing. She simply scrolled back up to the image of the girl herself, beaming at her cheekily with Yeri slumped on her back. She held her thumb down on the image until the Saved notification popped up. It might make a nice wallpaper…

With a sigh, she returned her phone to her pocket and adopted a more situationally appropriate expression as she continued her walk to the basement detention center. She still had a few hours left of the day before she’d be able to think about her date.

A buzzer announced her clearance into the basement, and she found herself flanked by two MPs who escorted her to the interrogation room. Irene was impressed, though she kept her comments to herself; when she first learned about this research facility secretly being constructed on Libot, she had her doubts. How could a defunct spaceport hangar suit their needs as a top scientific and military facility? And while Irene still found the ‘scientific’ part lacking, it seemed that the Earth Federation had spared little expense making sure the base was well equipped on the military side.

They paused in front of a window where a colonel greeted her briefly and then nodded at the glass. It looked into the interrogation room where Irene could see two of the pilots in their mint green prison jumpsuits seated at a small metal table. They were handcuffed, but otherwise sitting there with perfect ease, almost as if they had been brought here especially to talk with her.

“It’s almost like you knew I was coming,” Irene remarked, and the colonel turned to her curiously.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I need to speak with the pilots - I have some questions about their suits.” Though her statement left no room for question, the colonel had his reservations.

“Speak to them? Out of the question. These are trained special operatives from the Republic of Zeon. I’m not sure letting them speak to some engineer is advisable.”

Irene’s look hardened. Some engineer? “There’s something suspicious about their suits and I want clarification before we start tearing them apart.” She turned that cold look his way. “I’m not convinced there were only these four pilots in that team. There may be more soldiers out there, waiting to strike.”

The colonel blustered, his eyes wide. “More soldiers? Preposterous! How could we miss more mobile suits on this little speck of a space colony?”

Irene pursed her lips. “They just don’t have the firepower to attack a military base with the suits we captured,” even with the upgraded cannons on the Z’Gok. “As much as I’d like to believe the Republic’s just desperate and out of options, I’m not convinced we have the whole picture here.”

The colonel’s brows furrowed. “More suits…” he glanced again through the window at the two bored pilots. “We were just getting ready to interrogate them. We can give you a few minutes first but…”

“Special operatives, got it,” Irene said with a nod as she moved to the door. She turned back to the colonel before one of the MPs could open it for her, however. “Where are the other two pilots?”

The colonel cleared his throat before answering. “We were questioning them in twos… I didn’t think it was wise to let them speak together as a group.”

Irene nodded and hoped one of the two Zeon soldiers in the room was the pilot of the modified Z’Gok.

+++

“Oh wow,” one of the pilots said as Irene walked into the room, before getting elbowed by the other.

“Keep it in your pants, Son.”

“Oh, me keep it in my pants-”

“Shh!”

Irene pretended not to overhear as she sat down at the other end of the narrow metal table, though her nerves eased up a bit at the bickering. This was the Zeon spec ops unit that attacked their base? Two members of the Federation’s Military Police stood at the back of the room behind her, giving the atmosphere a rather stiff feeling.

“One of you is Lieutenant Park, and one of you is Petty Officer Second Class Son,” Irene began, looking between the two pilots.

“Lieutenant Park here, but you can just call me Joy,” the pilot said as she stood out of her seat to reach across the table for a handshake. Irene didn’t accept, but she did wave the two MPs back to their positions against the wall and frowned. Joy winked and sat back down after a moment, hooking a thumb at the other pilot. “And this is Wendy.”

“Alright,” Irene said cooly. “Let’s start with your suits. They’re all MSM class amphibious mobile suits repurposed for space flight, and I want to know why.”

Joy smiled a wide, pretty smile. “You know your suits,” she said by way of answer. “But you didn’t tell us your name. You seem to know who we are but it’s kind of awkward talking to a complete stranger, don’t you think?”

Irene glared. There was something in Joy’s tone that irked her. It was like every word that came out of was covered in grease, just like every other hotshot pilot she’d ever had to deal with down on earth. Why couldn’t people just let her do her job?

“I’m Irene. I’m just an engineer here.”

“Here? You mean on this super secret Earth Federation base stashed away on a ‘neutral’ colony?” Joy asked.

Irene didn’t take the bait. “Let’s focus on your mobile suits. Who’s the pilot of the Z’Gok? That’s the same model that attacked the Federation base in Antarctica.”

“Are all Earth Federation engineers as pretty as you?” Joy asked instead.

“I thought- ow!” Wendy was silenced as Irene heard a scuffling under the table.

Fine. If they wanted to play a game, these pilots were going to learn the hard way that Irene never lost. She picked up her pen and made a note in her files. “Right, a Z’Gok is probably too difficult for you to manage. I’ll speak to your captain. I bet it’s his.”

Joy snorted and Irene barely concealed a smirk. Bingo. “The captain? He couldn’t fly his way out of a paper bag. It’s my suit, since you’re so bent on knowing.”

So this was the pilot who killed her assistant. Another note.

“Ask me some more,” Joy said in her syrupy voice. “Because the longer I look at you, the more willing I am to say anything you want to hear.”

Irene caught sight of the other pilot giving Lieutenant Park a mixed look of disgust and amazement. She couldn’t tell what this Joy was up to, but it was clear that Wendy wasn’t in on it. This could go very poorly if she weren’t careful.

+++

An alarm Seulgi didn’t recognize brought her out of her deep sleep and she bolted upright on the couch. It took her a moment to realize it was Yeri’s phone and she poked at the screen until it turned off.

“Awake already?” Yeri asked, coming downstairs.

Now Seulgi was even more confused. She checked the time on Yeri’s phone against the clock in the living room. Ten o’clock in the morning, which meant… “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

Yeri scoffed, but didn’t meet her gaze. “Who has time for school when Zeon may blow this place to smithereens any minute?”

“Two days,” Seulgi said quietly as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She was cutting it very close on time, which is why she had only allowed herself a couple of hours to rest before finishing up the repairs on her suit. “But don’t worry. I’m going to take care of it, so you should head off to school.”

“TWO DAYS?!” Yeri gasped. “Today’s already almost half over! What are you doing? Come on, we’ve got to get to the base!”

“Whoa, whoa, we?” Seulgi asked. “I don’t think so, squirt. First of all, I’m not finished on the Zaku, though I should be able to wrap that up before the day’s out.”

Yeri frowned, but didn’t have any suggestions. “You’re going to work on it during the day? Isn’t that risky?”

Seulgi just smiled for a moment. “Yeah, but as you just pointed out, we’re running out of time. And since you’re here, and the stores are open, I actually have a little shopping for you to do.” She went into the kitchen for a pad of paper and pen while she continued. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing too expensive. I don’t think. You might have trouble getting this though… but it’s really important, okay? I’ll be finished once I get the rest of these parts.”

“And then what?”

Seulgi tore the piece of paper off the pad and handed it to Yeri. “And then? And then I rescue my friends, trash the base, and... go home.”

“You promised you’d come back for me.”

“I promised I’d try.”

“So try!” Yeri urged, raising her voice.

Seulgi looked at her. “There’s a lot of ways this could go wrong. I need you to stay as far away from the base as possible between now and D-Day, okay?” Seulgi knew her team wouldn’t exactly be sitting around waiting to get rescued, so the next assault on the base - and attack from the inside - could begin at any moment.

“What are you going to tell Irene?” Yeri asked, and Seulgi was surprised to see her eyes b with tears.

Seulgi sighed and reached out to lay a hand on Yeri’s head. “I don’t know, but I’ve got a date with her tonight, so I’ll think of something.”

Yeri ducked out from beneath Seulgi’s hand. “A date? At a time like this?!”

“It’s the end of my shore-leave, kiddo. Let me have my fun.”

“Watch it! That’s my babysitter you’re talking about!”

“Yeah? Well, what if she likes it~?”

Yeri threw herself at Seulgi, who easily caught the kid in a headlock, laughing and teasing her while the clock on the living room wall continued to tick.

+++

It was all Irene could do to keep from rubbing her temples in front of the two Zeon pilots. Any question she asked kept circling back to Joy’s continued harassment. If she asked about the team, Joy claimed she could give Irene everything she needed. If she tried to talk about the cannons, it was about the damage Joy could do in bed, which drew a snort from Wendy.

She had already heard one tap on the glass, announcing the colonel's wearing patience, but Irene didn’t want to leave the room empty-handed. Ignoring her superiors outside the room, she pressed on. “When will you cut the crap and answer my questions?”

Joy smiled at her and sat back in her seat. “I’m a great actress, huh?”

Irene’s jaw flexed. “You’re annoying, I’ll give you that.” She was slightly relieved to hear that it had all been an act, but what was Joy trying to get out of this? “So this was all an act?”

“Most of it,” Joy admits, sitting up. “You are very beautiful - not as beautiful as me, of course, but yeah I’ll admit I thought about it.” She looked Irene up and down, but the engineer didn’t flinch under her lascivious gaze. “But you’re not really my type. I don’t really go for the underhanded war criminal type, you know?”

Irene scoffed. “From where I’m sitting, you’re the war criminal.”

“And from the way I see it, sweetheart, you’re the one who should be in handcuffs.” Joy paused, seeing Irene’s face set in a hard expression. Perhaps it was time to shift tactics a little and leave her personal feelings aside. “You’re some kind of special engineer? A scientist or whatever you said? Those brutes are watching you, thinking you can’t handle yourself talking to the two of us.”

“Is there something you want to say that you don’t want them to hear?” Irene asked darkly, unable to keep her cool under the constant barrage of Joy’s willful personality.

“A smart girl,” Joy cooed. “I think we can have a more honest conversation without them around.” She watched Irene with a smirk, wondering what the pretty little engineer would do.

Irene debated for a moment. She shouldn’t let this pilot railroad her, but she couldn’t help being curious about what she wanted to say that she didn’t want the MPs to overhear. Either way, the colonel was presumably watching the entire exchange from behind the glass, so how unsafe would it be?

Joy waited another beat, stretching her handcuffed hands up and behind her head. “You want to know about the fifth suit, right?”

Irene tried not to let her utter shock show. Her suspicions had been correct; there was no way those four impounded Zeon suits had the firepower necessary to take on a Federation base themselves, even just a top-secret research facility. The muscle was somewhere out there still and Irene’s adrenaline pumped with a desire to know.

She leaned back in her seat to address the soldiers. “Take a walk.”

“Lieutena-”

“I said take a walk.”

Joy whistled as the two men grumbled and left the room. “Lieutenant, huh? Well, you sure seem to know how to throw your weight around. Maybe you’d like to throw me around a little later~?”

“You have no idea.”

Joy smiled, ignoring the deadly serious expression Wendy was eyeing her with. She knew it was risky, but they didn’t know what Seulgi’s status was. All Joy knew was that they had to get out of here and Irene might just be their ticket. She stood up from her seat, and Irene raised a hand instinctively.

Joy paused, looking at Irene’s gesture, and then to the glass window in the wall of the interrogation room. “Oh, one of those trick glass panels, huh?” She gave a handcuffed wave to whoever was watching from the other side as she walked around the table to sit on it in front of Irene.

“I thought we were going to talk,” Irene grumbled, looking up at Joy from beneath her severe brows.

“We are, but I thought I’d get more comfortable first,” Joy said, putting a hand on Irene’s, making her release her pen.

“Is this still part of your act?” Irene asked, morbidly curious about what Joy thought she would accomplish with this familiarity. Maybe she should let the Zeon pilot play her games - maybe she could find an opportunity to turn it around and trap her.

“Disappointed?” Joy asked, reaching down to finger Irene’s collar.

Too close. Irene pushed her handcuffed hands away. “Cut the . Tell me about the fifth suit.”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Joy said, her voice gaining a husky quality. “Maybe evil scientists are my type.”

“Evil?” Irene protested, feeling Joy’s hand on her arm. Irene stood up, though she’d be damned if she backed down from the abusive pilot.

“What if I told you it’s a Zaku?” Joy murmured, scooting close enough to Irene to see herself reflected in those dark, hard eyes. “You know, I have to admit those Federation uniforms certainly have their charm.”

“A Zaku? That’d certainly round out your team,” Irene said, standing her ground even as she felt Joy’s hand on her waist. “So where is it?”

“No clue,” Joy admitted, continuing to get into Irene’s personal space. “Wish I could show you something else, though.”

“I’ll pass,” Irene growled, twisting away from Joy’s hand on her . “Was it part of your squad when you attacked?”

Joy sighed and resumed her seat on the table, her hands clasped in her lap. “If you’re not going to make it worth my while, I don’t see why I should answer.”

Irene was glad for the bit of space. She tried to steady her breathing as she realized Joy was just going to keep bullting her. Maybe a prolonged interrogation back on earth would get some better answers. In either case, Irene had enough information to start some research, beginning with a request to Libot Patlabor’s Surveillance Archives.

“Then I guess we’re done here.” She walked to the door and knocked, sparing one last glance at Joy who seemed to be straightening her jumpsuit. She gave Irene a small wave with her fingers, keeping up a sweet smile as the engineer left.

It wasn’t until Joy and Wendy were returned to their holding cell that Wendy dared finally whisper to her.

“Okay, so… what in the world was all of that?” she asked incredulously. “And how could you tell her about the Zaku? When Kibum hears about this…”

“Quiet a minute.” Joy reached into the collar of her jumpsuit and Wendy rolled her eyes as she waited. “I’m going to want hazard pay for this,” Joy murmured with a dark smile. “I can’t believe that engineer put up with me for a whole… two hours…” she continued, having some difficulty. After another moment she seemed to finally retrieve whatever it was she had stashed in her bra.

“Lieutenant Bae Irene, Engineer Special License, ID number…” Joy began to read.

“What’s that?” Wendy gasped.

Joy held it up for Wendy to see: an ID card with a picture of the woman who had interrogated them on it. Joy flipped the card around in her handcuffed hands showing the reverse side. A dark magnetic stripe ran the length of the card along with a series of numbers.

“Is that-?!”

“An access card~” Joy sang quietly.

“But how- when did you-?!”

Joy slipped it back into her jumpsuit. “Let’s see if all my hard work pays off when the others get back from their interrogations.”

+++

“Dibs on the shower.”

“You can’t call dibs,” Yeri cried. “It’s my shower!”

Seulgi laughed. “Yeah, but I need it for my date in a bit! You’re not going to make me go out to dinner smelling like burnt fuel, are you?”

“Not my problem!” Yeri shouted as she took off at a dead sprint, leaving Seulgi stranded on the sidewalk, watching her in stunned silence.

“HEY!” she called as she took off after the little punk.

“First one back gets the shower…!” Yeri shouted behind her as she laughed shrilly.

Seulgi was too exhausted to run for more than a minute and she settled back into a walk letting the high schooler win. By the time she reached Yeri’s house, she could already hear the water running in the bathroom and sighed. She just prayed there’d be some hot water left by the time she got a turn. She trudged up the stairs towards Yeri’s room, wanting to at least strip out of her filthy clothes while she waited.

With the sun beaming in through the artificial atmosphere of the colony, Seulgi didn’t bother turning on a light as she entered the messy bedroom. She was glad for the shadowed, indirect light after working on her Zaku all day. It felt like that’s all she’s ever done - sleep, eat, repairs - but after today she was finally finished. After today, she’d go back to business. Her fever dream of a vacation was coming to a close, capped by one last date with that ethereal being herself, Irene.

Seulgi’s eyes naturally turned towards the window, gazing out across the side yard into Irene’s bedroom. Right on cue, the girl in question opened the door and entered, giving Seulgi a little spike in anxiety at getting caught peeping again, but Irene didn’t seem to notice her across the way. She sighed and hefted a briefcase onto her bed before walking over to her closet, and Seulgi was transfixed.

She felt her expression fall from wistful to confused as she saw the crisp white uniform Irene was wearing, emblazoned with the red and black insignia of the Earth Federation.