[ he says he needs to see the rest and she believes that, knows she'd probably beg the same if it was maine or york or north's death she had started to watch. it was either see it through or know nothing at all.
carolina understands and she still has one selfish second where she almost refuses.
but it's wash and she can't do that to him and nothing's going to help right now anyway, so she just makes herself take a deep breath before she steps close again, grabbing his hands in both of her own, gripping so tightly that it hurts.
it's a few overwhelmingly painful seconds of having her eyes closed before she manages to more or less sort out where in the memory she was. a few seconds down the line, maybe, but nothing major has changed. she's still not fighting with anything but her stun baton.
and knives may be connie's specialty, but carolina's specialty is fighting close and she's always prided herself on being able to fight anyone to a standstill. that's the plan. wear connie down until she's out of weapons and surrenders.
(the mother of invention has a brig. she'll make sure the director keeps connie there instead of trying to turn her over to anybody else. she'll come around.)
carolina knocks her teammate back but connie recovers quickly, feinting with her decoy quick enough to catch caroling off guard with a kick to the chest, sending her stumbling back a few paces. even now, reaching back to this decade old memory, she feels the air leave her lungs.
up until this point, she hasn't really given a shit about what the other soldiers in the room are doing. tex and the leader are fighting, if she lucks out, they'll kill one another. she's clearly not that lucky, because the next parries she exchanges with connie happen as the two fights try to get out of the other's way, too close for two fights this out of control to safely happen.
(and if tex is so goddamn perfect, why isn't connie's accomplice dead yet?)
the leader gets too close behind her while connie is catching her balance and she's quick to kick him back towards tex. she hears him hit the ground hard but connie is lunging at her again and carolina's back to trying to wear her down. there's a little superficial damage to the underarmour on her forearms, but connie hasn't scored a real hit yet. carolina has kept the electric current to her weapon off for what feels like forever now.
she's not fighting to kill. she's barely fighting to injure. she should be good enough to pull this off.
a glance to check in on tex's position distracts carolina long enough that it's easier to jump out of the way of the next swipe of connie's blade and carolina takes advantage of that, kicking the knife from her teammate's hand. it hits the ceiling - sticks or bounces, unsure, doesn't matter - and carolina hits the ground at a perfect angle to roll into sweep connie off her feet with another well placed kick.
tex sweeps in while carolina gets back to her feet, picking up the tomahawk she'd had embedded in her chestplate in the first portion of the memory and swinging it too high to actually catch connie - and please, connie's centre of gravity is low already, she keeps it even lower when she's dodging, that just means that tex doesn't know how connie fights. means tex shouldn't be here.
connie activates her decoy again and there's a moment the room is almost still. carolina thinks so, at least, because she sees tex look to the second tomahawk, the one carolina had dodged earlier and carolina knows she's going for it before tex can even move.
and then the fight, the mission, matter a lot less than the fact that the reason her two best teammates are damaged now has two lethal weapons she's about to swing at a friend. fuck the mission. carolina lunges for tex and misses her as the ai steps forward, swinging the weapons low.
one of the connies fizzles out. the other staggers back, a tomahawk lodged in her side.
tex grabs the second tomahawk and throws it with enough force that it knocks connie back into the wall as it embeds in her chestplate.
there's a rise in carolina's panic-laced grief here, that seems to mirror her response in the memory. up until now, her hud has been a useless bit of extra information, always in her periphery but clearly unimportant. now it lights up as she activates it, trying to sync to connie's armour, trying to read her vital signs. there's a whole list of two-letter call signs to choose from (and TX doesn't read anything, never will read anything) but no CT. nobody else's status matters right now because she needs to know how bad connie's condition is. she needs to know how to help.
even as she tries to resync, she steps up behind tex, grabbing her shoulder, only to be immediately brushed off.
"What the hell are you doing?"
her voice pitches high, the tone a familiar one for wash, even if he never would have heard it back then. he hears it now.
"Completing our objective."
"By killing a teammate?"
(she's trying her hud again. why can't she just fucking see how bad it is?)
"She's not a teammate, she's a traitor."
and god, so focused on being pissed off with one another, neither of them have noticed that their enemies have gotten to their feet- the leader supporting connie, helping her to the facility's clearly marked escape pod. the door closes automatically behind them as carolina takes a few furious, futile steps forward.
"Damnit! That's on you." tex waves a hand in carolina's face, as if scolding her. "I guess you can explain how we lost a full suit of armour and failed to capture the leader of the resistance."
the clarity of the memory wavers, tex making a call for extraction as carolina takes a step back, trying to check on her team again, wanting some stupid proof that those injuries weren't as lethal as they look. she sorts her team by proximity and TX lists first without any vitals attached. NY shows next. of course he isn't far away. she sorts alphabetically and- florida's okay, apparently. it's not a surprise. it doesn't really matter right now, because that's not how her team should sort.
background noise in the memory fades away as carolina loses track of what happens next, when it's all just noise and anger and tex winning again, killing a friend in the process. carolina gives up trying to hold it and lets go of wash's hands again as she steps back, her shoulders trembling. one aching hand comes up to press against her mouth, but it doesn't really muffle the sound of her crying. not much could. ]
no subject
carolina understands and she still has one selfish second where she almost refuses.
but it's wash and she can't do that to him and nothing's going to help right now anyway, so she just makes herself take a deep breath before she steps close again, grabbing his hands in both of her own, gripping so tightly that it hurts.
it's a few overwhelmingly painful seconds of having her eyes closed before she manages to more or less sort out where in the memory she was. a few seconds down the line, maybe, but nothing major has changed. she's still not fighting with anything but her stun baton.
and knives may be connie's specialty, but carolina's specialty is fighting close and she's always prided herself on being able to fight anyone to a standstill. that's the plan. wear connie down until she's out of weapons and surrenders.
(the mother of invention has a brig. she'll make sure the director keeps connie there instead of trying to turn her over to anybody else. she'll come around.)
carolina knocks her teammate back but connie recovers quickly, feinting with her decoy quick enough to catch caroling off guard with a kick to the chest, sending her stumbling back a few paces. even now, reaching back to this decade old memory, she feels the air leave her lungs.
up until this point, she hasn't really given a shit about what the other soldiers in the room are doing. tex and the leader are fighting, if she lucks out, they'll kill one another. she's clearly not that lucky, because the next parries she exchanges with connie happen as the two fights try to get out of the other's way, too close for two fights this out of control to safely happen.
(and if tex is so goddamn perfect, why isn't connie's accomplice dead yet?)
the leader gets too close behind her while connie is catching her balance and she's quick to kick him back towards tex. she hears him hit the ground hard but connie is lunging at her again and carolina's back to trying to wear her down. there's a little superficial damage to the underarmour on her forearms, but connie hasn't scored a real hit yet. carolina has kept the electric current to her weapon off for what feels like forever now.
she's not fighting to kill. she's barely fighting to injure. she should be good enough to pull this off.
a glance to check in on tex's position distracts carolina long enough that it's easier to jump out of the way of the next swipe of connie's blade and carolina takes advantage of that, kicking the knife from her teammate's hand. it hits the ceiling - sticks or bounces, unsure, doesn't matter - and carolina hits the ground at a perfect angle to roll into sweep connie off her feet with another well placed kick.
tex sweeps in while carolina gets back to her feet, picking up the tomahawk she'd had embedded in her chestplate in the first portion of the memory and swinging it too high to actually catch connie - and please, connie's centre of gravity is low already, she keeps it even lower when she's dodging, that just means that tex doesn't know how connie fights. means tex shouldn't be here.
connie activates her decoy again and there's a moment the room is almost still. carolina thinks so, at least, because she sees tex look to the second tomahawk, the one carolina had dodged earlier and carolina knows she's going for it before tex can even move.
and then the fight, the mission, matter a lot less than the fact that the reason her two best teammates are damaged now has two lethal weapons she's about to swing at a friend. fuck the mission. carolina lunges for tex and misses her as the ai steps forward, swinging the weapons low.
one of the connies fizzles out. the other staggers back, a tomahawk lodged in her side.
tex grabs the second tomahawk and throws it with enough force that it knocks connie back into the wall as it embeds in her chestplate.
there's a rise in carolina's panic-laced grief here, that seems to mirror her response in the memory. up until now, her hud has been a useless bit of extra information, always in her periphery but clearly unimportant. now it lights up as she activates it, trying to sync to connie's armour, trying to read her vital signs. there's a whole list of two-letter call signs to choose from (and TX doesn't read anything, never will read anything) but no CT. nobody else's status matters right now because she needs to know how bad connie's condition is. she needs to know how to help.
even as she tries to resync, she steps up behind tex, grabbing her shoulder, only to be immediately brushed off.
"What the hell are you doing?"
her voice pitches high, the tone a familiar one for wash, even if he never would have heard it back then. he hears it now.
"Completing our objective."
"By killing a teammate?"
(she's trying her hud again. why can't she just fucking see how bad it is?)
"She's not a teammate, she's a traitor."
and god, so focused on being pissed off with one another, neither of them have noticed that their enemies have gotten to their feet- the leader supporting connie, helping her to the facility's clearly marked escape pod. the door closes automatically behind them as carolina takes a few furious, futile steps forward.
"Damnit! That's on you." tex waves a hand in carolina's face, as if scolding her. "I guess you can explain how we lost a full suit of armour and failed to capture the leader of the resistance."
the clarity of the memory wavers, tex making a call for extraction as carolina takes a step back, trying to check on her team again, wanting some stupid proof that those injuries weren't as lethal as they look. she sorts her team by proximity and TX lists first without any vitals attached. NY shows next. of course he isn't far away. she sorts alphabetically and- florida's okay, apparently. it's not a surprise. it doesn't really matter right now, because that's not how her team should sort.
background noise in the memory fades away as carolina loses track of what happens next, when it's all just noise and anger and tex winning again, killing a friend in the process. carolina gives up trying to hold it and lets go of wash's hands again as she steps back, her shoulders trembling. one aching hand comes up to press against her mouth, but it doesn't really muffle the sound of her crying. not much could. ]