sekkritaus | Rex / Andy / Poe Freelance Heroes AU

[ A light scoff — and a sidelong glance, as he helps himself to her cigarettes. She'd reprimand him, but hell, not much point in fronting right now, is there? ]

It doesn't have to be. [ She exhales and closes her eyes, settling into her seat for the long wait. ] But it's all fucking academic at this point. We have to make it out of here first.

[ She can feel how tired her body is. Or is it an emotional kind of weariness? It's been a day full of ups and downs, and she can barely tell the difference anymore. Maybe she'll just rest a little while, just to make sure she's as braced for their escape as possible. Won't be the first time she's slept sitting up in a strange place anyway. ]

Wake me up if something goes wrong, will you.

[ He walks over to the other wall, leaning against it so he can see the entrance as well as the door that Rex left through. ]

Yeah. Don't worry, I couldn't sleep if I tried, and you're way better at punching things than I am.

So I'll keep watch, and yell if anything goes down.

[ They don't see Rex for hours. It's not that the procedure itself takes hours - though it certainly takes a good long time; it's brain surgery, after all - but there's a reasonable amount of recovery time before Rex is up and running again, and even then, he's been warned about the temporary side effects. He may be disoriented for some time, may find his balance damaged from the procedure, may need to sleep more than he's used to. In other words, even if he did get off this dustball of a planet alone, he would have been high and dry afterwards.

Despite all of that, Rex refuses to stay down for long, and all for the better: the Kaminoan wasn't willing to house him for that long either. He staggers out of the room, looking unsteady but otherwise healthy, a large patch of his head completely shaved - he'll shave the whole thing when he gets the chance on account of the fact that he looks kriffing ridiculous - with a bandage laid on it, the hint of stitches peeking out from either side, and a box held in his hands.

He blinks when he sees Poe and Andy. Still there. He hadn't expected otherwise, not after their insistence on the matter, but a part of him is surprised anyway. ]

Well, [ he says gruffly, ] I survived. Hello.

[ Andy's been awake a little while now, but it isn't until Rex reappears that she actually opens her eyes. She gives the clone a blatantly skeptical once over — he doesn't look steady on his feet yet, and the hair or incomplete lack thereof would warrant mocking in less dire situation. But he did make it. Somehow she'd known he would. Better to call it intuition than hope. ]

Well, you definitely look like someone opened your head up. [ She gets up from the chair where she's been resting, nodding at Poe to come around Rex's left side and she approaches from the right to put a steadying arm around him. ] I hate to fucking press you, but if you can move, we should go. The longer we stay, the worse our chances get, and who knows if the patrols have found the ship yet or not.

[ Poe doesn't need a huge amount of instruction, already half way up by the time Andy motions to him, sliding up to Rex's left side and putting an arm around him, just under Andy's. ]

The streets have been pretty quiet, but that might just mean they're waiting for anyone to dare leave their homes. Or, you know. They're tearing my ship apart from the inside out.

[ Rex startles a little when both of them suddenly sidle up to him. He hasn't let anyone - save for the Kaminoan - touch him in a very long time and it's a little odd how foreign it feels after a lifetime of gestures exactly like this. He decides against protesting. It wouldn't be taken well. ]

I can move, [ he says, glancing between the two of them. ] And I can fight, if it comes to it. Being unsteady on my feet won't affect my aim. I've fought through worse.

[ Probably. ]

[ He moves well enough. They make it. Somehow. Either wild luck or incredible skill or some ridiculous combination of both. Then Rex gets to actually rest, while Poe and Andy do something entirely too close to making love for comfort. Afterward, she dozes on and off in her new quarters before finally dragging herself out of bed. She pulls on her underwear and Poe's shirt before wandering out, intending to check on her wounds and make some caf. She isn't going to think too hard about the fact that she's committed to a position on this ship — that she's actually going to stay, even though it's a terrible idea when all three of them are blatantly outlaws now, which definitely makes them a bigger target together than apart.

Yeah. Definitely not going to unpack any of that right about now.

She helps herself to the little kitchenette, brewing up some caf and setting out first her own mug. Then one more. And then a third. Fuck it. Might as well. ]

[ Poe wanders in half way through her pouring the third cup, his hair tousled in that way that only he can manage, a ration bar sticking half way out of his mouth. He grabs the end, bites a piece off, grabs a cup of caf with his free hand, and then throws himself down on the nearest chair. ]

So. I plotted a course to Dantooine. Figured we can lay low there, maybe pick up a few supplies, test the waters to see just how loud a splash we made with that escapade. We won't pick up any work there, probably, but we can afford a couple rest stops with the fee that Rex paid us.

[ When they'd all gotten to the ship, Rex must have either grown to trust the two scoundrels who'd been stupid enough to help him or he must have been too exhausted to care, because he toppled into a cot as soon as one was provided to him. It's been a long time since he's slept so easily in a foreign place.

But, Rex reflects as he gets up, maybe brain surgery will just do that to you. He lingers a little longer than he should before leaving, get his thoughts together - where are they? what happens next? what is his purpose now that this is done? how can he repay this debt? - and peeling off a corner of the bandage on his head so he can prod at it in the mirror.

Eventually he seals it back down and pads through the ship until he finally finds the other two, and -- little gods, she's half-dressed -- ]

Ah. I didn't mean to interrupt --

[ He's already taking half a step out because he's clearly interrupting something, even if that something is completely unsurprising. ]

You're not. [ Andy responds promptly with a slight raise of her eyebrows. ] Actually, you should probably hear this. We were talking about heading to Dantooine for supplies and news.

[ As if it's perfectly normal for her to be discussing important plans without her pants on — which isn't really too far from the truth. She has gotten pretty comfortable on this ship, and she probably splits time evenly between being dressed and undressed while aboard. Utterly unselfconscious, she passes the last cup of caf over to Rex before going on with a mild wryness: ]

If we're lucky, we're not too famous yet.

[ Poe, at least, is fully dressed - even if his hair is tousled, and he replies in exactly the same instant and tone as Andy: ]

You're not.

[ He lets her finish telling Rex what's up, and then he continues: ]

There's a small core of uh - like-minded folk there. They won't want to meet with us, obviously, but I have a drop point I can leave messages for them, at. So if you want, I can leave a short encoded note there to see who we should be trying to get this info to. Or we can just bunk down and wait until we're a little less visible on the Empire's radar.

Ah. All right, then. [ Rex stays where he is, though his awkwardness doesn't abate - then again, it seems to be a greater part of him than it had seemed back when he had a mask to cover all that nonsense up. He accepts the caf gratefully, wrapping his hands around it while he listens. ]

I'd like that. Thank you. Whatever call you make on this front, I'm willing to follow.

[ It seems like the least he can do, after all that's happened. ]

As long as it makes it to someone, the knowledge will live on. It always does.

[ Andy scoffs lightly. ]

Just call them rebels. That's what they are. [ Pointedly: ] That's what we are. If there was any doubt before.

[ Leaning up against the counter, she sips at her caf before going on: ]

We should drop off the intel and get back to work. Might as well — we'll just as likely to die of boredom before the Empire finds us, and if we're going to have a reputation, we might as well use it.

Sure, but we don't need to say it out loud. That's not a word we want to slip out at the wrong time.

But yeah. Alright. I'll make the drop. I just don't want to accidentally flag anyone else as being sympathetic if I can avoid it. We're going to take heat for this, and I want to make sure we're the only ones taking the heat.

[ A pause. ]

But Andy's right. A rep for being able to get our right from under their nose certainly isn't going to harm our business, long as it doesn't kill us.

[ He trained his gaze on Rex. ]

How you holding up?

[ We. The way Andy says it is likely to mean only herself and Poe, working to dismantle the Empire in some small way as they are, but it gives Rex pause. Is that what he is now? A rebel? After so long working for the Republic and against the very forces he once labeled as terrorists, the thought's an oddly startling one. A defector, yes. A fugitive. But a rebel...

He supposes that's what he is now. His attention snaps back once Poe addresses him, and he nods his head. ]

I'm fine.

[ It's the same thing he said once he got out of surgery but it's a hell of a lot more believable now that he's gotten some rest. He's quiet for a moment, then speaks again, dark eyes solemn. ]

There's little I can do to repay your kindness. I haven't got much to my name. But I can fight. And I know the Empire - I wrote a good portion of their damn military maneuvers.

[ It boiled his blood the first time he recognized them using his methods. He and Cody had spent months devising them together, heads pressed together as they pored over them. But then, they've got every right to them. Cody still works for them, after all. I can be useful.

[ That may not mean being useful to them while he's with them. They could send him on his way with a mission, or get him to pass along intel, and he'd do it. He's not the sort to leave a debt unpaid. ]

We don't need repayment. You already paid us, remember? [ She's playing it off, shrugging casually like they didn't go from "ordinary gig" to "bringing down the Empire's wrath upon them" in a fucking heartbeat based on gut instinct alone. Taking a light sip of caf, she goes on mildly: ] If you want to stay, then stay. Poe's obviously soft on you already, so it's not like he's going to leave you out in the cold.

[ Easier to blame Poe's kindness than her own. ]

Besides, another able body won't hurt now that we've tickled the Empire's underbelly.

I already said he could stay. [ Poe pointed out. Sure, she hadn't been co-pilot at that point, but he'd already done it. He looked back at Rex. ]

It's nothing to do with being soft on anything, I just already said you could stay. We have plenty of extra bunks and force knows that we've got enough unmanned gun turrets to make a grown man cry. So. You can repay me by blasting anything out of the sky that's trying to kill me. How's that?

[ He sips his caf, but it's a little too hot and he makes a face. ]

[ So they won't accept anything more. Andy says that Poe's the soft one, but it seems to him that the man is owning up to precisely what he intends to do. Andy's the one deflecting, like she isn't made all the softer for agreeing even when it's not in her best interests - and she knows it.

He can't say he's satisfied with their answer - he wants nothing more than to be given a task to do, to make this right - but all things told, he hadn't been expecting much else. So he nods, eyes flicking between the two of them. ]

Yeah. I can do that. [ More than that, too. And he intends to. ] Is there anything else I should know?

Not really. Things are pretty simple around here.

[ And that's not wholly untrue — at least, in the way things work, it's simple. Poe is officially in charge, but generally amenable to her input and, in all likelihood, will treat Rex the same way. Assuming the Empire doesn't crush them all under its heel immediately, they'll probably continue Poe and Andy's routine of picking up wildly stupid jobs, managing it by some combination of ridiculous luck and skill, coming home to wash the dirt and blood off, then starting all over again.

If Andy's feelings, on the other hand, have become a little complicated, that doesn't have to matter right now, does it. ]

There anything you want to know? [ She watches Rex over the rim of her mug as she takes another sip of caf. ] You might as well ask. I might not answer you, but he probably will. [ Dryly: ] Poe loves making new friends.

Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? [ Poe asked mildly, before taking another sip of his caf and looking at Rex. ]

What you see is pretty much what you get, [ He admitted with a shrug. ] Rules are pretty simple: don’t be a dick, don’t sell us out, let us know if we need to expect trouble. We take jobs as we get them, and as far as that goes, I’ve only got one deal breaker rule.

[ He set his caf down and looked at the two of them, his expression sombering slightly. ]

No civilian casualties. I don’t care how good the shot is, if you make a call that intentionally takes out a civilian alongside with our target, you’re off my ship. We don’t need to stoop down to the level of the people we’re fighting. You wait until you can take the shot without hurting anyone we’re not meant to.

I don't kill civvies.

[ Rex's response is prompt and uncompromising. He'd never killed a civilian back when he was fighting for the Republic, and he sure as hell isn't going to do so as a solo agent. He's pledged everything he's got, his life and soul, to making sure that civvies get the lives that they were meant to. To compromise that is to compromise what he was made for.

His brothers would agree with him, if they still could. And if Poe and Andy disagreed - well, debt or not, he wouldn't last long on this ship. A life debt is what it is and he may be Mando'a in nature, but he's not that Mando'a. ]

I'd probably shoot you first. Not that that would take you down for long, [ he admits, nodding at the Scythian. It's the truth, though; it's not the sort of thing he'd hesitate about, and he doesn't care if they know that. ]

How long have you two been running this operation for?

At least you're honest about it.

[ Friends tell friends when they're willing to shoot them, right?

Though that next bit — she has half a mind to almost be amused by Rex's question. "Operation" is a big word for what she and Poe have going on around here — particularly considering he only just learned her name, and she'd been telling herself she was going to leave any day now. But sure, she's officially Poe's co-pilot now, so why not call it an operation. They've earned it, with this gig. And she knows they work together as if they've been a team for years instead of a mere month — even if she'd rather not admit that out loud. ]

I met Hot Shot here three weeks ago.

Good.

[ And it is good. There are those in the slowly congealing rebellion that would not hesitate to put civilians at risk. He's met a few. People who see terror as a weapon to wield against an Empire built on it.

Poe isn't one of those people. And he has no desire to work with those that are.

But at the question, he just nods with Andy's answer. ]

Yeah. Picked her up almost by accident. She told you her name before she told me, but she's the co-pilot now so she's gonna have to start signing the paperwork. [ He says it wryly. ]

As for me and this ship and BB-8? Two years. Eight months.

Edited 2019-03-16 01:32 (UTC)

[ Rex raises a brow. He likes to think he knows a thing or two about how this stuff works - about teamwork, about synergy, about what it takes to really make a team. He's one of millions, built to work with his brothers as one person. One body, one heart, one soul. That's what they say.

But they're all individuals. Rex knows better than anyone that while it may come more naturally to them and while they're trained for that exact purpose, it takes time to get a unit working with that sort of cohesion, especially without any single authority to look to.

It certainly takes longer than three weeks for complete strangers to get to that point. ]

I see it's a habit of yours, then. [ So Poe collects strays. Dangerous work, in this galaxy. All things considered, Rex can't complain. ]

I'm surprised. And I don't get surprised easy. [ Not a lie; even when they'd been bombarded and Rex had been unmasked, he'd reacted more with aggression than any semblance of surprise.

The offer had surprised him, though, so maybe he only gets surprised when it comes to the foolishness of you two. ]

You two work like you've been doing this for a while.

[ Andy shrugs, like it's no big deal. Even though it kind of is. Because she's definitely broken all her rules just by staying here. Three weeks is a hell of a lot longer than she's partnered up with anybody else in the last century or so. ]

Helps that we're good at our jobs.

[ Probably helps that they've been fucking regularly this entire time too. Call it team building exercises.

She goes on dryly: ]

And he's not so hard to read either. Doesn't take a Jedi to get him figured out.

Rex / Andy / Poe Freelance Heroes AU

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DOIN' THAT TIME SKIP

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