The recreation lounge that was used by the top eight Freelancers tended to be quiet; due to the Director not wanting his top agents to associate too much with the marines or even the lower ranking agents he had assigned them a private rec room and most of them usually had training or missions to carry out, so there would often only be two or three agents in there at a time.

Therefore, it was the perfect place to carry out conversations in order to get to know another agent better, without being interrupted by jealous rivals or well-meaning-but-entirely-too-nosy friends.

"Thank you, Washington," Tex quirked her eyebrow as she took a sip of coffee. "I'm flattered that you think my hair is nicer than Wyoming's."

Wash groaned and thudded his head onto the table. "That came out wrong. I was just thinking that you've both got black hair so the comparison could work…oh wait, the Director has black hair too, doesn't he?"

"Are you saying the Director has better hair than me?" Tex asked amusedly

"No! Oh god, that came out even worse," Wash groaned again. "Thank fuck York isn't here, he'd never let me hear the end of this. No, what I'm trying to say is your hair is…I think it's pretty. I'm really bad at this, huh?"

"Let's be diplomatic and say that smoothness is not your strongest suit," Tex laughed softly. "But thanks for the compliment." Instinctively she leaned forwards and ruffled Wash's blonde hair. "I like your hair too. Coupled with those green eyes of yours, it makes for quite the striking combination."

Wash's cheeks reddened slightly. "Really? I mean, thanks. Your eyes are striking too because they're, uh, so blue… So! How's your AI?"

"Very subtle topic change there, Wash," Tex's eyebrow rose in amusement. "But I'll bite. Omega's fine. I'm pretty sure he's gone down from spending ninety percent of his time plotting to take over the universe to only eighty percent of his time."

"…He doesn't actually…?"

"In all honesty, I'm not too sure sometimes. But he works well in training and missions, and don't tell him I said this but I do enjoy his company, so I'll let him indulge in a little plotting now and then."

"Company, huh?" Wash mused, scratching his chin. "That's something York and North talk quite a bit about in regards to Delta and Theta. Maine not so much though…"

Tex snorted. "Well to be fair, Maine's AI is Sigma."

"True," Wash shivered. "He does seem to be working well with Maine, whether it's on the field or for communication, but I do find him a little creepy."

"Agreed," Tex nodded. "But yeah, an AI's company is definitely a bonus. They all have their different quirks, like Delta analysing almost everything, which can take some getting used to, but when you do, it's good to know that they're there, whether you're on your own and just want to talk to someone, or if you're out on a solo mission."

"Speaking of solo missions, how's the Director been in regards to that? Does he still want you to be a solo operative?"

Tex sighed as she took a swig of coffee. "It's hard to tell, to be honest. With the missions he does seem to be more amenable to group missions; whether that's because of the whole leader board and number one thing, or he's been swayed by the success of group missions. Training sessions are another matter. The ones with just him and the Counsellor are being replaced with group sessions but he does not seem happy about it. Keeps trying to talk me out of it, almost like he doesn't want to let go." She sighed again. "But quite frankly, fuck that. Even if say, Carolina gets back to being number one, I don't want to go back to only working solo. It's lonely…"

Wash hesitated for a moment before reaching over and covering one of Tex's hands with his. "I'm sorry. But for what it's worth, I'm glad you're able to work with the rest of us now."

Tex's lips curved up into a smile and she squeezed Wash's hand. "Thanks, Wash. I'm glad too. It's been good to get to know people better."

Wash nodded and opened his mouth to respond before shutting it again and the two agents pulled their hands away as the doors to the rec lounge slid open and North stepped through.

The dark purple and green agent pulled his helmet off and walked over to grab himself a coffee. "Hey you two. Whatcha talking 'bout?"

"Just things," Tex replied a lot easier than Wash would have. "AIs and training and the like."

"Fair enough," North nodded as he joined them at the table. "Apparently the Director and the Counsellor are looking into how to make more AI specific training programmes."

"Makes sense," Tex mused. "It will help make our already efficient partnership with our AIs even better and can be a good way to help those who have recently had implantations adjust."

"Hear that Wash?" North grinned. "You might be able to do a bunch of whole new training sessions when you get your AI."

Wash rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, maybe. Guess it depends when they schedule my implantation for…if they decide to do one, that is."

"I'm sure it'll be soon," North rested his hand on Wash's shoulder as Tex smiled reassuringly at him. "And of course they'll give you an AI; they wouldn't purposefully deprive a top agent of one."

"Yeah…you're probably right North."

"I usually am, buddy," North quipped. "More so than York anyway. Speaking of York, did you hear about those marines who 'mysteriously' had the locks on their lockers picked and their hidden sweets stolen?"

As the three agents talked about, if one were to examine them closely, they would see that every so often, Wash or Tex would flex their hand slightly.


"So you've got weapons training now, right?" Tex asked Wash as they walked down the corridor that split off towards the training room in one direction and the agents' rooms in the other.

Wash nodded. "Yeah. Might see if I can beat my record with the battle rifle. If I do, Maine has to clean our room for a week."

"Make sure you hold him to that," Tex replied amusedly as they reached the intersection in the corridor. The two agents paused and turned to each other.

"I…I really do enjoy our conversations," Wash blurted. "It's nice getting to know you and I really like you. Y'know, as a friend." 'Why did saying that last part feel slightly wrong…?'

Tex blinked a couple of times before smiling softly. "I enjoy our conversations and getting to know you too, Wash. And I really like you, as a friend, too." 'That last sentence doesn't feel completely right for some reason…' "Good luck in your training session."

"Thanks…" Belatedly, the two agents realised that they had stepped closer to each other. In fact, they were the closest they'd been since their talk in Tex's room about Wash's nightmare, where they had almost…

"Agent Texas!" The cry, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, caused the two to step back and turn to face a marine making his way up the main corridor, clutching two data pads. "Apologies, but Agent Carolina had to go to a meeting with the Director. So she ordered me to give you hers and Agent New York's reports from their latest mission to review."

"Of course," Tex nodded a little distractedly, taking the data pads. "Thank you." Once the marine had saluted and walked back down the corridor, she turned back to Wash. "So…see you around?"

"Yeah, see you round," Wash replied and the two agents turned to go down their respective corridors, Wash focusing on his destination and Tex determinedly studying the data pads she was holding.

Due to her focus, she didn't notice the silver light flecked with purple that appeared over her left shoulder.

Omega let out a silent sigh. 'Want something doing, gotta do it yourself…'