{rp} Will you defeat them, your demons and all the nonbelievers, the plans that they have made?

[superiorspectre]

Suzie hasn't been to see Tosh. She hasn't even tried. If Tosh needs anyone around her right now, it's people she can trust. And Suzie's got no illusions there.

Instead, she's working at being useful, working out her story. She's got something no one else has when it comes to infiltration and deception -- her cover story, if she plays it right, is the absolute truth.

In her own timeline, she'd have betrayed Torchwood. It was only a matter of time. And, sickening as that thought is, it's her armour here and now. He can't spot a lie when there isn't one.

Gwen might've said she wanted to save that for when there were no other options, but right now, the best efforts of geniuses and aliens haven't brought her Captain back. Maybe a manipulative, backstabbing little bitch might have a chance.

After all, she thinks, she was good enough to fool Jack Harkness, in the future everyone else remembers. Maybe, just maybe, she's good enough to play Thane as well.

She knows a few things about what she's walking into; the kind of man she's dealing with, the way he likes having power over others... And her facade has cracks in it, places the old scars still show. She'd be stupid if she didn't think he'd exploit them. And again, she's better-suited than anyone else to go in -- she's been there before, after all.

And maybe, just maybe, this will count as penance, somehow, for the things she did that led to the things she didn't.

She's doing this. She won't be argued with. However, she does have a concept of chain of command, informal as that's always been around Torchwood. Ideally, she needs to speak to Gwen Cooper, but she's not keen on going right over Sam's head. And given what she's about to do...

Well. It might help if there's someone she can't lie to, to reassure (Tosh) everyone of her intentions.

So this is the plan: find Sam, then talk to Gwen, then... Do what else she needs to do. She's going to want a word with the Vesmier, but first, to talk things through with her commanders.

Comments

[superiorspectre]

And suddenly Suzie's heart is lodged in the vicinity of her throat, beating much too hard and quick, like a trapped, frightened thing.

"Who... Who left that message?"

[anystranger.livejournal.com]

CNJ's face, such as it is, is impassive.

{File access: Dossier:Causal/common:0A1 Response loaded: This armor unit has been requisitioned from the Chula Aegmatra Council of Delta Crateris, Chula Crosstime Measure N139:C202VA:C0701D, Chula Agency Internal Requisition stamp 462O1:00001 ; Unit programmed via direct psychic interface ID 462O1:C24A401 and literal physical interface ; Additional information request YES/NO ?}

[superiorspectre]

Suzie narrows her eyes, looks CNJ over, and then nods. "Yes."

And there she goes, compulsively hoarding information, trying to fit things together in her head. Something to do, something to focus on that's not Thane.

[anystranger.livejournal.com]

The head shifts, just a bit, re-angling itself and scanning over Suzie's face.

{Please define parameters of additional information request.}

[superiorspectre]

Suzie stops, thinks. "Is there any further information you can give me about the one who programmed you without crossing the autocancel threshold?"

If it runs off, that'll do her no good at all. And she'd rather keep the possibility of getting a message to Jack, even if she won't be there to see him again.

[anystranger.livejournal.com]

A faint sigh, almost like an exhalation or a very soft cooling fan, sounds from the armor.

{This unit was programmed after the events of user-defined timeline segment including direct causal events originating in this near temporal region. Program originator ID: 462O1: Agency naming code 'J'. Cannot calculate cascade impact of confirming alias.}

[superiorspectre]

...That sigh, mechanical as it is, is somehow familiar. Likely just a coincidence, but for a moment, she hears Jack, and the way he'd sigh when she'd rush in and try to take something apart. The kind of sigh that wordlessly conveyed, You just have to poke at that, don't you?

It proves nothing, but the Agency naming code, and that ID... She's seen that before.

"If it's any consolation, you've told me nothing that narrows things down beyond the two possibilities I had before I even asked." She gives it the same crooked grin she'd have given Jack in the same situation, a little wry, a little sheepish, then catches herself. It's Jack or Thane that programmed this thing, and even if it's acting benign, that proves nothing. She can hope for Jack, but she's got no way of knowing what Thane's going to find out about her, and she wouldn't put a good bit of fucking-with-her-mind past him.

"I need you to deliver a message for me," she says. "When this is over, if and only if Captain Jack Harkness comes back to us -- his consciousness in control, not Thane -- tell him this for me:

"When I hoped I feared,
Since I hoped I dared;
Everywhere alone
As a church remain;
Spectre cannot harm,
Serpent cannot charm;
He deposes doom,
Who hath suffered him."

She looks up into the robot's face, such as it is. Silly to expect it to react, but she hasn't been at her most rational right now, and she's prepared to forgive herself. "Can you do that for me, please?"

[anystranger.livejournal.com]

A dark flash travels over the robot's armor, glinting from eyes to scanner, pulsing down through the cracks as one hand sweeps forward and almost – almost – catches her arm. Then everything freezes, but for a long series of clicking.

The robot draws up again, straightening back to a neutral stance. {Accessed: Chula exospecial panlegomenon: Species:Human;Period:This;Focus:Literature … processing … searching … Accessed: Author:Dickinson; Accessed codex … … … user message logged. User message continues:

  A DEED knocks first at thought,
  And then it knocks at will.
     That is the manufacturing spot…

System autocancel: interface reactivity spike. Connection closed. Message:logging:TRUE. Message:deliver:TRUE. Error: internal access. Parameter error. Imprint data inconsistent. Parameter match:FALSE. System lockdown: autoequilibrium restore in F03…F02…F01…F00…EFF…EFE…EFD…}

[superiorspectre]

Suzie's first instinct when CNJ starts moving is to go for her gun, but before she's even halfway there, it's relaxed again, and...

...And she's got no idea what she's done, but she...

She's broken the robot.

Well, that's not terrifying at all.

[anystranger.livejournal.com]

{EFC…EFB…EFA…EF9…EF8…EF7…}

It's just going to sit there and count down in hex, Suzie. If you really feel like it you can stand here and wait until it gets to 000, but until then, it's not doin' anything.