#aquarium hack

[fishaccordingtosteve]

A really cheap 45 gallon tank...

For those of us that need a save in the dollar region for our hobby, here is a great tip! You will have to be okay with some cons, but the pros also present well in my opinion. Glass aquariums are very expensive as is everything else these days. A simple solution is to go with some other type of water container suitable to house fish without harming them. I am always on the lookout for…

[llatimeria]

working on a new bleach shirrrrt :}

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

me: do people like actually know anything about cybersecurity

also me: oh yeah I have like insider knowledge about like way too much shit, that’s why everyone isn’t in an existential crisis every few months.

[sophiethewitch1]

i dont know what a slowburn is <3 <3 <3

[epictiger]

this little space is my favorite thing ive decorated so far

[aroundtheglobee1]

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies WEBSITE

[phazepheonix]

How George came to the sanctuary

George is a thresher shark mer that likes exploring, he moves as the water warms or cools and has been nearly everywhere. He's cautious around humans as he's had unpleasant experiences before and generally is not a big fan of them, on one of his journeys to the in the Indian ocean going towards the Philippines he's caught up in a net full of other sharks, mers and non mers alike, the net is hauled onto a wooden vessel before it is cut and George is spilled out onto the deck

Tw for blood and generally traumatic stuff

He can hear the screams of his fellow mers and their fins are mercilessly hacked off before they're thrown back overboard to fend for themselves. George scrambles to the edge of the boat before he is grabbed and pinned down with a knee in his spine, he feels the burning pain as the fisherman digs his blade through the cartilage of his dorsal fin, he screams and cries but no one hears him.

He takes a moment of distraction to bite at the fisherman's other knee, knocking him off balance and allowing George to escape of the edge. He struggles for a moment, unable to stabilise himself as he sinks to the ocean floor and resigns to pulling himself along corals and rocks to flee the iron tainted water. At this point hes basically a walking (crawling??) dinner bell for other sharks though mers express their sympathy and leave him be so he's also covered in bites.

He washes up on a beach in Indonesia a week later, half dead and battling a raging infection. A surfer calls it in to the police who then inform the rescue who have a clinic stationed in Jakarta, George is air lifted to said clinic with a marine veterinarian and human doctor to stabilise him on the flight over.

After this experience he becomes terrified of any human after so he's constantly half sedated for his, and the workers safety and hides in the rocks and corals of his temp enclosure while his journey to florida, where the main conservation aquarium is, for a permanent stay is arranged.

tw for fairly serious medical talk

Once George was safely in the Jakarta clinic he is stitched and bandaged while being given pain relief and antibiotics through an iv placed where he can't reach and pull it out.

He's far too scared and weak to eat so he has a tube placed through his nose into his stomach. He's tried pulling it out a few times but leaves it alone bc he knows its just going to get put back in.

He actually ends up weaving a small blanket out of the kelp in his tank to cover his back and self soothe because he ends up insecure about the discolouration from the infection and scar tissue.

[the-phantom-author]

Wilbur Soot | Dadbur

Dadbur, dadbur, dadbur

These took like four days, and keeps getting deleted so there's more but I can't bring myself to rewrite them. Enjoy.

@starsyoubreaklikesugardust

As stated before, Wilbur could not hack being there during the actual birth, he is very supportive of you having whoever in there with you. You can bet that he is all in his head full of worry until he see the both of you. When he does he is in tears, like his two favorite girls are right there, healthy and okay.

He wants his daughter to be sleeping in your room for as long as possible, the crib is on his side of the bed, easy access for him when she wakes up in the middle of night. He does this because A) he’s worried something will happen in the middle of the night, and wants to be able to get to her as fast as possible and B) He wants to do everything for her as he can, the first couple of months are hard, both because a newborn is a lot and you’re still healing and trying to feel like a normal human person again.

He wants to keep his baby bubble as long as possible, he’s just in love with the sight of you and your baby, his baby, and he has this selfish desire to preserve that sight and feeling for himself (“No Tommy you can not come over-”). The moment that you suggest letting some people over he’s inviting everyone he knows. He loves to show off his little family, to anyone really, still doesn't love posting about it online (Wil and his weird sense of privacy).

GIrl scout dad (does the uk have girl scouts???). The most competitive person with it as well, he’s Planting trees? Science Projects? He’s doing it all.

He loves telling people stories about his daughter, If he’s waiting in line at the store, meeting a fan, or in an interview. He really can not help himself in interviews. “Yeah, with the new album we actually had my kid be the first person to listen to them, she loves them all.”Sometimes its just talking about arts and crafts that they’ve done recently.

He adores doing her hair, he’s really bad at it, but he loves that quality time. It becomes the main reason why he becomes a morning person. Once she starts going to school she goes to you to do it, but only after Wil has tried.

I also feel like she never left her “why” phase. Like you can overhear conversations that are just “What’s that” “A coffe maker” “What do?” “It makes Coffee” How” and it would just go on until either wil or you can’t explain it anymore.

Family trips, to science museums, petting zoos, aquariums, butterfly houses, and libraries.He really tries to make any outing memorable for his girls, because you both deserve the best.

When he leaves to go on tours, she always gives him her favorite stuffed animal, and tells him to take care of it. And he does, he’ll take out to any resturant or cafe or venue he’s in and takes pictures of it so you can show your daughter. He also picks up one stuffed animal every tour he’s on for her, and a bunch of small trinkets one from every city.

She likes her dad carrying her because he is 6 '5 and she likes to feel tall. She also expresses her desire to be tall by climbing on everything, couches, fridges, counters, tables, trees, honestly if you can name it she’ll get on top of it.

Wilbur likes to dance with her, no matter how old she is, he wants to dance with her. When she’s a baby, he likes swaying with her. When she’s up to his kneecaps he has her stand on his feet and does a poorly executed ballroom type dance. She gets enrolled in a dance class when she’s young and it’s one of his favorite activities to do with her.

She also likes to collect things with the both of you. Flowers mainly, she’ll always have someone press/preserve them. When she gets older she likes to send them to people with letters. She also likes to collect postcards and will demand that you go to the post office in every city you’re in.

He gets super into dress up, always gets proper outfits (Chefs uniforms, Princess dress, fFeather boas). He even gets his daughter to put makeup on him, this always comes with him making sure that she knows that she does not and will not ever need makeup and how it's only being used because it’s fun and pretty. He will always compliment the final look and make you get a picture of it.

He always hates when she has to go to the doctor's office with her. He gets really nervous, and is constantly sending you text messages about how it’s going and what the doctor is saying. Heaven forbid she gets sick while he’s on tour, he is constantly face time with you and he does make an effort to give her a shout out at every show. “This show tonight is for my daughter, who is unfortunately riddled with a really bad case of an achy tummy.”

There are several “official” recording of every song he has helped make, where in reality its just him holding her close to a mic as she babbles in babyish something that sorta sounds like the lyrics.

Wilbur can’t really cook, we know this, we know that he has bad taste buds, which means that he is no help in the kitchen. This being said he will absolutely hold his daughter on his hip, narating whatever it is that you are doing.

I am a firm believer that he grows a garden with his little family. Sunflowers, azaleas, whatever his two girls want. He’d be out there desperately trying to teach her how to plant flowers and grow a proper garden.

[skipppppy]

Anyway I’m bored and Carmen Sandiego renaissance is on the brain. What are these characters like when they aren’t focused on the main plot?? Non VILE/ACME/Caper related dialogue seems so few and far between.. I wish we got to see their lives outside work. So I made some headcanons abt it

CARMEN

Player was her first exposure to the outside world so she probably holds a lot of his nerdy interests close to her heart. She’s not the best at video games but plays them regardless. She especially enjoys sci-fi horror movies from the 80s that go big on practical effects

Finding random trivia about different countries is genuinely one of her favourite hobbies. The little info segments she does are not part of the edutainment show. She is genuinely just like that. This woman is a trove of fun facts please let her unleash them upon you

In the same vein she LOVES quizzes. After missions she will drag Team Red to any bar doing a trivia night in her vicinity and will wipe the floor with everyone there. Fear her

Enjoys people watching. It’s why she’s so good at charming strangers despite her socially stunted upbringing. She’ll sit alone in a busy train station for hours and watch everyone pass her by

PLAYER

Look. We know this kid is a nerd. It’s canon. But which niche of nerdiness does he fall into exactly?

Despite being an avid gamer he isn’t very competitive about it. He prefers single player rpgs, especially ones with active modding scenes. He doesn’t even know what vanilla Skyrim looks like he probably wasn’t even born yet when it released

He will, however, duo queue with Carmen on unranked Overwatch. They are both terrible at it and think it’s the funniest shit

Enjoys sitting back and watching a good speedrun. Will have a video of someone doing a stupid BOTW challenge in the background while he hacks security cameras and such

Runs a DnD campaign for Team Red which they’re all crazy invested in. Shadowsan is the only one who doesn’t care for it but he keeps rolling nat 20’s on the dumbest shit and derailing the campaign and he finds everyone’s reactions too entertaining to stop. They have a rivalry only a DM and a stupidly lucky rogue could have

ZACK

We already know he’s kind of a meathead that enjoys sports and cars and cheesy action movies but I also think he has a lot of softer hobbies that he keeps to himself bc he knows they won’t take him seriously

He’s a secret crocheter. He’ll mend the team’s clothes when they rip but that’s the extent of their knowledge. He’ll sit for hours by himself and knit while listening to music. Sometimes Shadowsan will find a new pair of socks in his bag. When Carmen got sick once she woke up with a handmade blanket draped over her. Ivy has her suspicions but doesn’t wanna intrude

He loves animals. He never really brings it up because no one ever asks. He always checks out local zoos and aquariums if he has the chance. Grew up watching Steve Irwin-esque nature shows and still does to this day

His love of eating is less out of greed and more his own form of cultural appreciation. Idk what happened to his and Ivy’s parents but for reasons he can’t explain their cooking is one of the few things he hasn’t forgotten, so he has a lot of sentimental food-based memories. And experiencing other countries cuisine connects him with that

IVY

PERIOD DRAMAS. They don’t have to be good they just have to be steamy. She enjoys the hot women in pretty dresses. She and Carmen watch Bridgerton together and laugh about how historically inaccurate it is

She LOVES renfaires and similar high fantasy roleplaying communities. Someone please buy this woman a suit of armour

As an engineering prodigy AND fantasy buff she has a massive interest in Blacksmithing and Swords. That’s her designated lesbian hobby. She’s been trying to politely worm her way into a conversation with Shadowsan about the blade he returned to his brother for months now but isn’t sure if it’s too personal of a topic for him so she’s nervous

Her sweet tooth encompasses more than just chocolate. She’s secretly grateful to Zack since he takes most of the flack for being a glutton. She makes note of any bakeries they pass by on capers so she can come back later in secret and go ham on the pastries

SHADOWSAN

I think his interest in Samurai history starts and ends with his love for Hideo. He’ll happily discuss it and he’s studied it passionately, but out of a sense of respect and duty to do right by the brother he betrayed

He will NEVER, EVER admit it to anyone but he genuinely misses the adrenaline rush from committing petty crimes. He was a criminal for over 20 years. Lifestyles are hard to shake and change isn’t linear. He’d never succumb to impulse but he’s just kinda bored

He microdoses on the urge by pranking people. Everyone always blames Zack so he never gets caught. He also enjoys sneaking up on people and making them jump. He’ll always insist it’s unintentional. It isn’t

He’ll read and meditate and train to keep himself centred but he’s still a rowdy young punk at heart. Team Red is the first taste of freedom he’s had after a lifetime of VILE faculty monitoring him. The first thing he bought for himself after settling in at the San Diego HQ was a motorbike. The second was a new tattoo. The third was a potentially lethal amount of whiskey that he drank in one sitting

JULIA

We know she has a passion for history outside her work in Law Enforcement so she definitely goes to all kinds of museums in her free time. She’s the kind of person who enjoys learning just for the sake of learning (she and Carmen have that in common)

Outside of that she’s surprisingly good at karaoke? She gets stage fright but really likes singing and will go all out if you hype her up. Her taste in music is the exact opposite of her appearance and personality. Lots and lots of death metal

An aficionado for different types of tea. She keeps like 10 flavours in her house at all times. She especially likes floral ones that taste light and sweet. She hates iced tea with a passion though

Goes to botanical gardens whenever the weather is warm and the season is right. She likes the history of the old manor houses but she also loves admiring the landscaping and the blooming flowers. She could sit on a bench surrounded by local flora and fauna for hours

DEVINEAUX

Chase is an entirely different person when he’s off the clock. The unhinged high-energy maniac who froths at the mouth about La Femme Rouge goes dormant once he gets home. Especially after he got stranded on VILE island. That really gave him some introspection about work/life balance

The biggest, softest, sappiest hopeless romantic you will ever meet in your life. Passion is just part of his nature and he gets his heart broken A LOT. It’s why he throws himself into his work

He’s a really good chef. Like REALLY good. Before he was a cop he did a few summers as a line cook in his teen years and he retained most of the knowledge. His pantry is STACKED and he tries out recipes he picked up from his ACME travels in his free time. He’s a tad snobby about it because he’s French but you will not complain about the stuff he feeds you

Old movie enjoyer. His favourites are film noirs, cheesy romances, creepy eastern european animation and german expressionism. He has a fervent hatred of Marvel

Also one of those insane people who get up at 5am to do cardio. One morning before a mission he met Agent Zari with barely a glisten of sweat on his forehead and sadly informed her that he only got to run 15k and he wished he had time to do more. That was the first time she ever knew fear

[aquatark]

Blue Bird - Gatama Atoll

Endless Ocean: Blue World, Nintendo Wii

though only accessible through hacking, the blue bird can be placed in the aquarium, has feeding animations, and has a placeholder encyclopedia entry! i love you, little mountain blue bird…

(my buddy mdb wrote a gamefaqs thread about it, along with other aquarium oddities, if you want to learn more~)

thank you so much for the submission!

Submitted by BBB

[fishaccordingtosteve]

Aquarium Life hacks...

Over the 35+ years I have been in this hobby, I have taken pride in finding real-world hacks for our hobby.   By that, I mean repurposing an item for your aquarium or not following the normal use of an aquarium product. This blog will focus on a few of my favorite 😍 Aquarium Life Hacks from around the world! My favorite filters to use are the Aquaclear hang on the back filters.  For so many…

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

In 1935, fishermen caught a tiger shark and put it on display in an aquarium in Sydney. Shortly after, the shark fell ill, vomiting in front of a small crowd. Among the contents was a left hand and forearm bearing a distinctive tattoo. Fingerprints confirmed the limb belonged to James "Jim" Smith, a former boxer and petty criminal who had been missing since April 7, 1935. Upon examination, it was discovered that the limb had been deliberately severed with a knife, leading to a murder investigation. Initial investigations pointed towards a Sydney businessman named Reginald William Lloyd Holmes.

Holmes, known for his fraudulent activities and smuggling, also managed a prosperous family boat-building business. Holmes had hired Smith multiple times for insurance scams. They later joined forces in criminal endeavors with Patrick Francis Brady, an ex-serviceman and convicted forger. Smith was last spotted at the Cecil Hotel in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla on April 7, 1935, enjoying drinks and cards with Patrick Francis Brady. Prior to this, he had informed his wife that he was going fishing.

During that period, Brady had rented a small cottage on Taloombi Street, Cronulla. Police suspected that Smith met his unfortunate fate at this very cottage, alleging it to be the location of his murder. Port Hacking and Gunnamatta Bay were searched by the Navy and the Air Force, but the rest of Smith's body was never found. Brady was arrested on 16 May and charged with the murder of Smith. Initially, Holmes denied any association with Brady but four days later, on 20 May 1935, the businessman went into his boatshed and attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .32 calibre pistol. However, the bullet instead flattened against the bone of his forehead and he was merely stunned. Holmes eventually cooperated with the police stating that Brady had killed Smith, dismembered his body and stowed it into a trunk that he had then thrown into Gunnamatta Bay.

[chaoticevilspacewitch]

RWBY Games

Whenever you start asking about "What RWBY video games would you like to see?", you get the same boring answers. Hack n slash platformer, JRPG, fighting game. C'mon people, such a groundbreaking series deserves much more creative, groundbreaking titles!

4X Grand Strategy where you have to grow and manage your kingdom. The twist: sure, you'll need to research military technologies, build academies, and recruit Huntresses... but ultimately, victory will not be found in strength. Only a happiness victory is possible.

Point-and-click survival horror where you play as Beacon-era Jaune. You can't really fight anything, so you mostly solve puzzles and run errands for everyone else while dodging Grimm.

Fort Mountain Glenn: excavate your underground settlement while surviving waves of Grimm, trading for the esoteric objects that will make your people happy, and desperately hoping your Huntresses follow their training schedule and don't use up all the real ammo practicing.

Katamari Grimmacy: starting off as a simple Geist, travel through countrysides and cities, going from going from picking up small objects to entire buildings and airships as you complete collection objectives. Beware the military and Hunters coming to trim you down to size!

Cabbage Valley: the world may be dying around you, but you still need to grow those cabbages!

Grand Theft Atlas: it's a blustery day in Atlas, and you are a bored Nora who just chugged a bottle of syrup for breakfast.

Sapphic dating simulator. Who will make it to the aquarium date first?

[felixstudios]

Random Corporate Clash Headcanons, Getting a Virus Edition

For clarification, I'm talking about computer viruses! Also I HC that they themselves will get the virus and basically have symptoms ranging from glitching out to "normal" sickness presentations like coughing.

Duck Shuffler

🎰Dude probably gets something every other week and never learns from it

🎰Falls for free Robux, free Minecraft, free Discord Nitro, you name it

🎰Or maybe he knows it's probably a scam and just likes seeing what happens/taking the chance

🎰Literally does not care when he gets a virus

🎰Symptoms would be his slots spinning on their own and the near inability to speak

Prethinker

🧠I mean, this guy probably made an antivirus program for his own body so I'd be surprised if he did get a virus

🧠He will be so embarrassed if he did though

🧠Will absolutely try to hide it because someone as smart as him couldn't possibly get a virus

🧠Personally gets rid of it himself, or at least will attempt to

🧠If he finds out who made the virus he will send one back

🧠Symptoms would be glitching out and brain fog

Derrick Man

🛢️Doesn't often browse the Internet so this wouldn't be likely to happen

🛢️Probably got the virus from an email from a coworker who got infected

🛢️If not, he was trying to download an open source software like OBS and accidentally downloaded a fake virus.exe without noticing until it was too late

🛢️Will be pretty embarrassed but learn from his mistake and it probably won't happen ever again

🛢️Symptoms would probably be coughing and spewing oil out of his mouth

Deep Diver

🤿Had to have gone on a fake website advertising some kind of aquarium that didn't actually exist

🤿Downloaded a fake tour guide "PDF" {actually an .exe file} that had the virus

🤿Will be angry with whoever made the site and do a deep dive research on them to expose the person{s} behind it and take legal action against them

🤿Symptoms would be poor coordination and fever {or just overheating in general}

Rainmaker

⛈️Either got it from a coworker's infected email or a scam website trying to buy toys to appeal to toons

⛈️Regardless of where she got it, she won't pursue any actions against them

⛈️Will stay home until she's better

⛈️Symptoms would be coughing and not being able to control her weather powers {either as well or not at all depending on the severity}

Land Acquisition Architect

🚦Since he only really uses the Internet for work, it was probably an infected email. Maybe something more sophisticated like a COGS, Inc. embedded link in their website being hacked

🚦Will attempt to ask other coworkers for help and be pretty open about what happened

🚦Will also warn his coworkers about it

🚦Symptoms would be his eyes flickering and weakness

Gatekeeper

⚔️She doesn't

Witchhunter

🔱He also doesn't

Public Relations Representative

🧱He ALSO doesn't {because he's isolated even from the Internet}

Bellringer

🔔Someone didn't like him and personally launched a cyber attack against him, probably because he said a bit too much about them that they didn't like

🔔Got quite a few bits of malware from it and had to get repairs

🔔EVERYONE knows he was cyber attacked because he told everyone. They also know he would love to launch one back at them

🔔Symptoms would be paralysis of his bell, blindness, fatigue, and auditory sensitivity

Multislacker

🥪Got it trying to pirate software because he was too lazy to put in his dad's card information/too lazy to ask his dad to put in his card information

🥪Literally wouldn't care

🥪Just keeps watching TV all day waiting for it to go away until his dad finds out and makes him get repairs

🥪Symptoms would be coughing and glitching out

Mouthpiece

☎️Before she learned about Internet safety protocol, she was dealing with a client via email who "accidentally sent too much money" and asked her to click on a link to Venmo/Paypal/ETC to pay the difference back. She clicked on the link and that's how she got infected

☎️Not hard to track down the client because they used their real name, so let's just say that client had a nice welcome home that evening and then had to go to the hospital

☎️She also took legal action against them and the court ruled in her favor

☎️Symptoms would be her mic cutting out/going to static randomly, phantom phone rings, and a cough

Major Player

🎹Dude was on a suspicious website I cannot make too many references to in an attempt to remain mostly family friendly

🎹He clicked on an ad by accident and immediately panicked, but it was too late. His browser automatically downloaded and opened something because of the website's script to auto download and his settings to automatically open downloaded files...

🎹He uninstalled it and closed everything, but it was too late

🎹Refused to tell anyone about it and just kinda went radio silent for a few days

🎹Symptoms would be his piano teeth randomly playing notes, light sensitivity, and dizziness

Firestarter

🔥Knew he was being scammed with a fake link, but he didn't wanna upset the other person

🔥Pretty much just allowed himself to get infected

🔥Apologized profusely to everyone around him while he was sick

🔥Symptoms would be his body heat and fire powers going way out of control and essentially setting basically anyone and anything around him on fire, regardless of what it was made of

Plutocrat

🌑If you try to give this guy a virus you're either incredibly ignorant or incredibly brave

🌑He will find you. And he will kick your behind.

🌑Symptoms would be coughing and temperature sensitivity... and a runny nose

Treekiller

🪵He'd get it from a work email since he doesn't really go online

🪵Would be very obnoxious about it and try to help his coworker{s} find who was responsible so he could 'teach them a lesson'

🪵He's going to cut up all of their wooden furniture and maybe even parts of their house if he's upset enough

🪵Symptoms would be poor coordination, headache, and nausea

Chainsaw Consultant

🪚For everyone's safety, please do not let him get a virus

🪚The company would invest in very strong antivirus programs for his body for safety concerns

🪚If he does manage to get a virus, it was probably someone directly cyber attacking him

🪚What happens if he's sick? His chainsaw doesn't stop operating and he gets very emotional... let's just say there was a workplace incident that luckily only ended in Acorn Acres having a large amount of trees cut down

Featherbedder

💤She wouldn't really get a virus... I don't even know how she'd get one

💤But if he did, he'd just sleep through the whole thing

💤Literally wouldn't care

💤Symptoms would be runny nose, sore throat, and a headache

Pacesetter

👟Once again, I have no clue how this guy would even manage to get a virus

👟Dude would be pretty upset though. How could someone as awesome as him get infected?

👟Would either tell nobody or make a HUGE public scene about it and I can't tell which

👟Symptoms would be extreme weakness {possibly to the point of being incapable of walking} and glitching out

[skiplo-wave]

From infodumping aquarium facts to money hack

# best date ever

[yeenybeanies]

Smallest Cyber Specialist (pt. 11)

as it turns out, working from base is just as stressful as going out in the field with the 141. never a dull day! (feat. nikolai) the bold+italic text is meant to signal non-english dialogue, but apparently i can't code in underlines or hover text anymore on tunglr.hell 🙃 read it on ao3! (better formatting there tbh) first • previous • next call of duty | task force 141, nikolai, & pip lagomorph/lag (oc) 6,976 words strong language warning thanks for reading!! reblogs > likes!! patreon ✨ ko-fi ✨ ao3

The next time that the 141 left the compound, acting on more intel Pip had provided them, the hideling had opted to stay behind. She was fine at the base, she insisted. Where the operators were going, she was certain she could do everything she needed to do remotely. This particular target wasn’t directly AQ or Ultranationalists, but a side contractor that took an unfortunate deal to help out some terrorists. 

“I think it’s best,” Pip had argued, “that I stay out of the field for now. At least until I get this off.” She’d gestured to the cast on her leg. “With it, my mobility is limited. I’m vulnerable, and I slow you guys down.” 

Price had looked conflicted at the time, but ultimately agreed with her reasoning. None of them needed a repeat incident with Pip and an angry dog. Or something worse. 

So there she sat, using Price’s office as her workspace. She had her laptop, of course, and had it linked up to Price’s and another human-sized laptop, giving her plenty of screen space and computing power to do what she did best. 

“You boys almost there?” she asked into her headset. It was a redundant question; she knew exactly where they were, having been tracking their position ever since they left the compound two hours ago. She had a transponder on each of her handlers, unbeknownst to them. 

“Three kilometers out,” Price answered. “Gonna be walking the last one.”

“Roger that, Captain,” she said. “Sergeant Garrick, you still have that uplink I gave you?” 

“Got it safe and sound, Lag,” Gaz responded. “You want me to just hook it into just any computer?”

“Any computer or smart device. Anything that’s attached to the wifi.”

“Smart device?” Soap chimed in. “You tellin’ me you can hack in through someone’s smart fridge?” 

Pip leaned back in her seat, feeling a little smug. “A fridge. A printer. A dishwasher. Whatever. I’ve hacked into someone’s network through an aquarium filter before.” Without an uplink, at that. That was a fun time. She remembered it fondly, the satisfaction of it all, and the absurdity. “That uplink Gaz has bypasses a few steps for me, so it’ll be even easier to get in.” 

“Remind me when we get home to toss my smart speaker,” Price said with a huff. 

“You have a smart speaker, sir?” Gaz asked, sounding incredulous. “Do you know how to use it?”

Price made an offended noise. “Of course I do, Sergeant. I don’t know where you muppets get off, thinking I don’t know how to use modern technology. I’m not that much older than any of you.” 

That was true. The man wasn’t even forty yet, according to his file. 

A chorus of snickers rang over the comms, but Pip just grimaced. “You should definitely get rid of it, sir. Those things are painfully easy to break into. I could do it from halfway across the world, with my eyes closed.” 

“No need to brag, Pipsqueak. We can’t all be tech geniuses like you,” the captain chided playfully. 

“I’m just saying.” 

“Nearly there,” Ghost cut in. His voice surprised Pip, and sent a chill down her spine. 

She’d been more or less avoiding the lieutenant for the past few days, ever since she’d gone snooping into his files. The things she’d read in there… the stuff he’d endured… It made her shudder. She knew she’d have to get over it and carry on like normal sooner rather than later—preferably before Ghost noticed—but it was still very fresh in her mind. 

The cruelty of humans towards their own kind astounded Pip sometimes. It reminded her every day of why she and her people worked so hard to stay a secret from the wider human population. 

“Right, men,” Price said. “Look alive. Let’s make this quick; don’t wanna leave Lag lonely for too long.” 

“Go rot,” Pip grumbled in Hidespeak. 

“Heard that one before. Starting to think that’s an insult,” Soap said. He sounded like he was smiling. “Gonna have to teach us someday.” 

“Not on your life, Sergeant.” 

She watched on her screen as the four transponder icons slowed to a stop, and then started moving away from the road. They were on foot now, hoofing it towards the target compound. Ghost was going to take overwatch with a few operators, while Price, the sergeants, and the rest of the team infiltrated. 

This was going to go fine, she told herself. There was a different kind of anxiety that came with not being in on the action with her handlers, but Pip reminded herself that she was far from helpless here. As soon as Gaz could get her uplink hooked in, she would have the compound under her control. 

The first crack of a rifle—Ghost’s sniper, if she were to guess—rang over the comms. 

“Och—beautiful shot, LT,” Soap commented. Pip found some satisfaction in guessing correctly. She was learning a little bit about guns. 

“I can do better,” Ghost said. “So can you. Watch your six, Soap.” 

“Don’t need to when I got you watchin’ it for me. How’s it look, by the way? I’ve been doin’ some extra squats.” 

“I noticed.” 

Oh, gods. Pip muted her mic and let out a groan. Gaz did not mute his mic; his groan was heard by all. 

“Boys,” Price said, sounding exasperated, “don’t make me put you two in timeout.” 

“Would you put us in timeout together?” Soap asked, cheeky. 

“Soap,” Price snapped. There was more warning to that one, but it still made Soap snicker. 

Pip dragged her hands down her face and seriously considered taking her headphones off. Let her handlers do this mission on their own. They’d be fine without her. 

But no. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t just abandon her boys, even if half of them were being very annoying right now. 

Wait. "Her" boys? What? When did that happen?

Actually, no time to think about that right now. Or ever. 

Pip breathed out a sigh and leaned back. Her role wouldn’t start until Gaz got the uplink hooked in. In the meantime, she was an observer, for better or for worse. While she waited, she pulled up some codes and programs she’d be using, giving them another look-over to make sure everything was in order. It was, of course, but there was no harm in septuple-checking. Or was it the octuple-check at this point? 

A flashing on Price’s laptop caught Pip’s attention. There was a new notification. An incoming call. The name “NIKOLAI” stared back at her, spelled out in all caps. 

“Uh… Captain, Nikolai is calling you.” 

“See what he wants,” Price said. “Little busy right now.” 

“Wha—you want me to answer it?” She watched the green phone icon shake as it rang, beckoning her, but she wasn’t feeling very swayed. 

“Nik doesn’t call unless it’s important. Go on and answer, Lag.” 

Liar. “I will pull up your call logs right now to prove to you that that’s not true,” she retorted. “And I’m not your secretary.”

“Lag—” the captain released an annoyed groan. “Just answer the bloody call for me, yeah? Make it quick; we’re almost to the first building.” 

Ugh! Pip glared at the incoming call, still ringing away on the computer. She’d never spoken to Nikolai before. Wouldn’t he be suspicious of someone other than Price answering his personal line? She knew she would be. 

Muting her end of the comms with the 141, Pip quickly connected her headset to Price’s computer, made sure the video camera was off, and accepted the call. “Nikolai,” she said, her voice modulator ringing back in her ears, “Captain Price is unavailable right now.” 

The other end of the call was silent for several long, uncomfortable moments, then the thick Russian accent came through, “Who is this?” 

Yep. Just as she’d predicted. Pip pinched her brow and shook her head. “My name is Lag. I am the cyber specialist Chief Director Kate Laswell assigned to Task Force 141.” Hopefully dropping Laswell’s name and title, along with the task force’s name, would earn her some credibility. “Captain Price is occupied right now; but I can relay a message.” 

“Oh! Lag! This is you?” Pip blinked, a little taken aback. He knew about her? How? And how much did he know? “Captain Price has mentioned that he now had a hacker. Nice to finally meet you. Er… sort of. I cannot see you.”

No shit. Pip cleared her throat. “I am unavailable for video calls. Nikolai—sorry to be short with you, but we’re in the middle of something. What is it you need?” 

“Right, right—I was just calling to let Price know that I got him the weapons he was asking for. I am on my way to drop them off, and will be there in—”

“No one’s at the base right now,” Pip said quickly. Her heart started to pick up the pace. “Probably best to hold onto them until Price gets back.” 

“Oh. But you are there, no?” 

Oh, hell no. “I’m unavailable for the time being. I can’t help—”

“Ah, no worries. I will drop them off anyway. It’ll be quick. Be there soon.” 

“Wait, no—” Before she could voice further protest, the call ended. Pip stared blankly at the computer screen, her heart pounding. 

Nikolai was coming here. And Pip was alone . 

Oh, shit. Fuck. No no no no—

“Ready to breach, Captain,” Gaz said, drawing Pip’s attention back to her handlers. Fuck! And she also had them to deal with too! The hideling let out a frustrated growl and turned back to her own computer, mic hot. 

“Nikolai has the weapons you asked for, Captain” she relayed, voice tight with irritation. “He’s coming to deliver them.”

“That’s my Nik,” Price replied approvingly. “Always pulls through for us.” 

“Charges set,” Gaz said. There was a muffled boom, then the comms erupted with chatter and gunfire. Pip hunched over, taking stock of where her handlers were, piecing together the scene in her mind. Gaz’s marker split away from Price and Soap, heading towards the server room, as discussed prior in planning. She focused in on his comms, his chatter; he was the important one right now, as her involvement depended on his success. From the sound of things, he was making quick, efficient work of any resistance he encountered. 

Pip’s hands hovered over her keyboard in anticipation when he entered the server room. She was ready. Eager. She wanted to help her boys get this done so they could hurry up and get back to base and deal with Nikolai. (That wasn't going to happen, but wishful thinking was all she had at the moment.) As soon as Gaz plugged the uplink in, the notification popped up on Pip’s screen, and her hands went to work. 

“Got your gadget hooked up,” Gaz said. “You connected?” 

Code scrolled down her screen, already hard at work to shatter firewalls and extract data. “Yep. I’ve got it from here. Thank you, Gaz. I’ll be in the security cameras here in a minute.” 

“Good work,” Price said. “Gaz, get back here. Lag, let us know what you can see.” 

“Roger,” they said in unison. 

A minute was a generous estimation to give Pip some leeway; she had the feeds  for all the security cameras pulled up on the other human laptop in less than thirty seconds. She watched for a moment as the dark, well-armed figures stalked through the halls, clearing the place out corridor by corridor. It was scary how efficient the 141 was. 

“I can see you, Captain,” Pip said. Price looked around until he spotted the nearest security camera, which Pip nodded up and down to acknowledge him. “Your hall is clear for no—wha– woah! Gaz, wait!” On another camera, the sergeant, having not yet made it back to Price, stopped in his tracks. His shoulders went stiff. “Five hostiles are coming your way!” 

Gaz cursed under his breath and ducked for cover behind a crate. Pip watched with bated breath as the group of five ran past. One stopped to look down Gaz’s hall, but continued on after deciding it was clear. His mistake. Pip breathed out in relief. 

“Thanks, Lag,” Gaz said, giving the camera near him a thumbs up. 

She kept an eye on things while the boys worked, offering advice and instruction as needed. Simultaneously, she also kept an eye on her laptop, where files rapidly flashed across the screen. This was going well. Going smoothly. For the first time since her (unofficial) induction into the 141, things weren’t going batshit buckwild fucking crazy. 

This was fine! 

And then Nikolai’s van pulled up outside of the base. Pip didn’t realize he’d arrived until she heard a heavy knocking on the vehicle bay door. 

“Hello?” The Russian called. 

“ Fuck—!” Pip’s blood ran cold. She snapped her laptop shut and scrambled for her belongings. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck—” 

“Lag?” Someone asked. It sounded like Soap, but Pip wasn’t sure. She was preoccupied.

“Lag—what’s wrong?” That was Price. 

Pip shoved her stuff into her backpack, hauled it under her pelt, and hobbled with her crutch to the edge of the desk. She could hear Nikolai in the hall now. Apparently he had a code to the garage door, and was able to come and go as he pleased. Terrible security practice on Price’s part.

“I told him not to fucking come! I told him—” 

“Lag, what the hell are you saying?” Was that Ghost?

“Nikolai is here!” she spat. 

“Wha—already ?” Price again. “I didn’t think he was coming now!” 

She reached the edge of the desk and dug her hook into the wood, then rappelled down to the floor. She shook the hook free right as knuckles rapped against the office door. 

She’d told him that no one was here! 

Ah, but the two laptops—the human-sized ones—were still up on the desk! There wasn’t much Pip could do about those. She cursed under her breath and took cover underneath the desk drawer. It was a narrow space of only a few inches between the floor and the bottom of the drawer, so she wouldn’t be spotted unless Nikolai decided to crouch all the way down. He had no reason to do that, right? Hopefully he wouldn't drop a pen or something.

The door opened slowly, squeaking on its hinges. Heavy boots took two steps into the office, then stopped. Pip watched, not daring to breathe. “Hello?” Nikolai said. He sounded confused. The boots remained still for a few moments, then stepped further in. Pip’s eyes didn’t leave them, not as they paused for a moment in front of the desk, then rounded it. 

“What is this?” the man said out loud, now in his native Russian. Pip listened to the soft groans in the wood above. If she were to guess, Nikolai was leaning his hands on the desk, looking over the two laptops. One still had all of the security camera feeds; the other had code scrolling down the screen. 

“Lag, how copy?” Price asked. Her comm was still in her headset, so Nikolai couldn’t hear it. With him so close, though, she wasn’t willing to risk being heard to answer the captain. 

Ghost spoke up, once again surprising Pip. “I’ll handle it,” he said. “You lot keep at it down there.”

He was going to handle it? What was he going to do? How could he handle anything from—

A buzzing sound came from somewhere up above. Pip recognized it as the vibration of a cell phone with an incoming call. Nikolai hummed a confused note and answered. “Ghost?” 

Ah. That’s how he was going to handle it. But Pip didn’t release her breath just yet. She couldn’t hear Ghost’s side of the conversation, and she had no idea what he intended to say. She was reasonably sure that he wouldn’t tell Nikolai that the 141’s resident cyber specialist was secretly a six-inch-tall hideling, but not knowing still made her nervous.

“Yes, I am at your base,” the Russian said. “Did your hacker tell you? …Is she here? I see two laptops here, one with what looks like security cameras… боже мой—that is Gaz! Is this feed live? …And you have access to the security cameras?”

Hearing Nikolai sound so impressed did make Lag feel a hint of pride in her work, but her fear and annoyance largely overshadowed it. She just needed him to leave ! She couldn’t work with him here!

“A compliment? From you?” 

What?

“She must be good then. I want to meet this hacker,” Nikolai said with an enthusiastic chuckle. “Maybe see if I can get her to work for me.”

Fat chance of that. 

“Wha—hiding from me? Why would she be—... Oh. I see…”

Pip’s anxiety spiked again. What was Ghost telling him? 

“Right…” He said, dejected. Pip grimaced. “No problem. I will be out of here in a few minutes. Leaving the manifest on Price’s desk.” 

Thank the gods...!  

Nikolai’s boots headed for the door and stepped out, the door closing behind him. Pip finally released her breath, and gasped to soothe her burning lungs. She waited a few seconds more, listening to the Russian’s retreating footsteps, then crawled out from her hide space. Using her hook, she quickly climbed back up onto the desk and pulled out her equipment to resume her work. She glanced at the cameras to regain her bearings, then checked her download progress. It was almost done. About a minute left.

“Okay, I’m back,” she said into her comm. “Thanks, Ghost.”

The lieutenant didn’t respond, but Price did. “All good?” 

“All good,” she confirmed. “One more minute, then I can kill the power for you, if you need.” 

She would have done so earlier, but this facility’s power unit was more centralized, so she wouldn’t have been able to keep the computers working. 

“We’ll let you know,” Price said. “Might not need it. We’ve already found what we’re looking for.” 

“Missile parts?” 

“Missile parts. Nothing assembled, though.” 

That was good news. Pip’s computer dinged, signifying the complete download. She gave the file names a cursory look-over, and selected one of the manifests. It listed off parts for ten missiles, among other things. Her brow furrowed. There were no cameras inside the storage room where the parts were being held, but she had a funny feeling. 

“Captain, how many missile kits do you count? This manifest I’m looking at says they received ten.” 

The answer wasn’t immediate, though she heard a few men counting under their breath. 

“Looks like I got four over here, Cap” Soap said. 

“Two here,” Gaz answered next. 

“Shit. Only two over here, too” Price said gravely. “Everyone fan out. Search this place top to bottom for any signs of those last two kits.” 

Pip turned her attention to the cameras. She accessed the harddrive, pulled up recordings over the past week. She opened an image analysis program on her laptop and linked it to the recordings, giving it specific parameters to scan for. Large crates leaving the compound. It wasn’t a failsafe program, and would likely flag more than what she was looking for, but it would be a start. If those missile parts had left this facility at some point in the last week, she’d find out when. 

“I am leaving now!” Nikolai’s voice boomed out in the hall, making Pip jump. She put a hand to her chest, feeling the pounding within. Fucking hell, she’d almost forgotten that he was still here. “If you can hear me, Lag, I apologize for intruding! All the cargo is in the garage.” 

A part of her—a very small, but surprisingly loud part—felt kinda bad for just ignoring the Russian. Sure, he’d dropped by unexpectedly and given her quite the fright, but his intentions were good. He was a valuable asset and ally, and Price seemed to trust him. 

Did she trust him? No. Not when he was so close. Hell, she barely trusted her handlers. 

Wait, so she did trust her handlers? Maybe. Maybe she was starting to. 

Pip transferred Nikolai’s contact information from Price’s laptop to hers, and typed out a quick SMS. 

>> спасибо, николай >> this is lag by the way. my personal contact

From down the hall, almost to the far door, she heard Nikolai’s surprised words: “Oh! She speaks Russian, too!” 

Hopefully she wouldn’t regret giving her contact to him. 

The analyzing software pinged with a few matches to the parameters she’d set. She pulled up the flagged clips and looked them over. The first three were nothing, but the fourth one—

Pip switched on her mic, “Captain, I think I’ve found them leaving the facility two days ago.” A chorus of cusses echoed over the line. Pip felt the sentiment. 

“You got all the data from the computers, right? Can you find where they’re going?” 

“Working on it, sir.” Fingers flying over her keyboard, Pip dug into the files she’d taken. She navigated over to one of the shipping schedules and looked up the date and time that matched the camera feed. Surely something had to be here. It had to. There was no reason for there not to be anything here.

But it was blank. That whole day was—it was missing. 

She checked another file, and found that day missing from there too. 

Confused, Pip started a broad search—something, anything to do with the missiles for that day. Communication logs, manifests, shipment schedules—literally anything . Russian, Arabic, Farsi, English, French, German, Spanish. 

Nothing.  

Pip sat back, frustration and unease starting to boil in her gut. This didn’t look good. This was… bizarre. Why would there be no records on that specific day? It was like that day had been erased from the entire system. 

“I…” she didn’t like this feeling washing over her. This feeling of failure. Of uselessness. Failure, of course, was an inevitable part of life, but, when it involved terrorist missiles being lost to the wind, things got a bit more dire. “The records… they’re not here,” Pip said, forcing her voice to remain even. Calm. “I can’t—I don’t have anything, Captain. Not until I can comb through this more thoroughly, which will take time.” 

Price sighed, sounding disappointed, and it stung. That surprised Pip. 

“I’m sorry, sir, I—”

“Don’t apologize,” Price interrupted. “Just do your best. Keep looking. Everyone, clear out! We’re gonna torch this place. Ghost, you and your team RV with us back at the truck.” 

“Yes sir”s and “roger”s quipped from everyone on the channel. 

Pip didn’t pay much attention to their retreat. She kept her comms open, and could hear the idle chatter, but, if asked to repeat anything said, she would come up with nothing. She was focused instead on furiously tearing through the files, looking for something, anything. Anything that could alleviate this catastrophic (gods, calm down) failure of hers. 

Why was that one day missing? It had to be intentional, right? Alarm bells rang in Pip’s mind, screaming that this was sanitation work. Someone had gone through and wiped this data from the computers. 

But why? That would suggest that they knew to counter hackers. 

They’d even gone beyond basic file deletion and completely removed any traces of the data from the server, leaving no chance of file recovery. Pip raked her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath to try and curb her frustration. Today was turning out to be a lot more stressful than she’d anticipated. She thought bitterly that, at this point, she might as well have just gone with her handlers, if it was going to leave her feeling about the same level of distress.

Gods, could she have one calm day with the 141? Just one? She would love that. 

Another sigh, then the hideling steeled herself, and settled in for a long stint of file analysis. 

The next two hours went by without her noticing, too engrossed in her work to pay attention to the time. So it surprised her when she heard several pairs of boots in the hallway. First she flinched, ready to fling herself off of the desk again to hide, but she noticed her handlers’ transponders were all back at the base before she could act on that impulse. 

Ah. So they’d returned to her. She frowned hard with the knowledge that she’d gotten no new useful intel on the missing missile parts in the time it took them to return home. 

She quickly closed the tracking program—no need to keep it up, lest it garner her any uncomfortable questions—and resumed her scanning. Familiar footsteps approached the door. Gaz pushed it open tentatively and peeked in. Pip glanced up to acknowledge him. There was a thin layer of ash and dirt on his skin, in his hair. 

“You alright in here?” he asked, stepping into the office. 

“No,” she said flatly, eyes falling back to the document she was reading through. “No I’m not, Kyle.”

For reasons unknown, Gaz’s first name came easier to her. It also helped that he didn’t miss a beat, hearing her say it. Either he hadn’t noticed, or he didn’t care. He rounded the desk and leaned in, looking over the different screens Pip still had up. The laptop that had the camera feeds was just a mosaic of black squares and static now that the compound had been reduced to rubble. Various documents with highlights and margin notes littered the screen of the other. 

“Quite the setup you’ve made for yourself in here,” he commented. Pip responded with a vague hum. Gaz squinted over her shoulder at Pip’s hideling-sized screen, but couldn’t make much out between the small font and the Cyrillic. 

“I haven't found anything useful yet,” Pip said, under the impression that Gaz was here to check up on her progress. “There’s a lot to go through; I’m working as fast as I can.” 

“Of that, I  have no doubt,” the sergeant said. “Just checkin’ in to see how you’re doing.” He sounded sincere. Pip felt something tickle in her gut. She turned her head to look back at him, the hard furrow of her brow softening just a little. 

“Thanks, Gaz.” Genuine. Appreciative. 

“You haven’t touched your snacks,” Gaz notes, nodding to the still-wrapped protein bar, strips of jerky, and small cup of water left for her. 

Pip shrugged. Honestly, she’d forgotten that they were there. Too busy. Too stressed. “Not hungry.” A partial lie. She was hungry, but she hadn’t noticed until now. Still, Gaz responded with an unconvinced hum.  

“We didn’t all split this,” he said, taking the protein bar into his hand and turning it over to read the label. “Before we left. Forgot our ritual. Maybe that’s why you’re having bad luck.” 

Pip snorted. It was her turn to sound unconvinced. “Don’t think it counts as a ‘ritual’ if we’ve only done it once before.” But she did feel a warmth settle under her skin at the memory of them sharing that last snack. That was only a few days ago. Gods, why did it feel like it had been longer? 

“Well, that’s how you make something a ritual, yeah? You keep doing it,” Gaz continued. “Think we can tap into some of the good luck if we share it now?” 

“I’m not superstitious,” Pip replied with a shrug. “Don’t believe in any of that luck nonsense. But if you want it, go ahead.” Despite her body reminding her that she was, in fact, hungry, Pip didn’t feel like eating just yet. 

Gaz didn’t pressure her, which she was silently grateful for. He set the bar down, and straightened up, sparing the screens just a moment more of his attention. “Wanna come see what Nik brought us? Price said it’s some cool stuff.” 

Pip hunched further. “Guns and weaponry are more your style. I wouldn’t really know what I’m looking at” she said. This reminded her that she still needed to get a better familiarity with the equipment her handlers lugged around, but now wasn’t the time for that. Something compelled her to not outright reject the sergeant, though. “Maybe another time, Gaz. You guys have fun. I’m… I’m going to keep at this for a while longer, I think.”

A weight settled on her right shoulder—Gaz’s index finger, she quickly realized. Reassuring touches could be awkward with the size disparity between humans and hidelings, but Pip did appreciate the gesture. She reached up and patted his knuckle in return. 

“If you’re sure,” he said, voice softer. 

“I am. Thank you for checking in.” 

–– –– ––

After Gaz left, Pip lost track of time again. It was almost like she was in a trance, a fugue state of sorts, her mind on one sole track: sorting and scrolling and combing through these goddamn files for a crumb of usable information. Her frustration, for the time being, was tempered; there was a numbness that settled in its place. A resigned numbness. 

Eventually, there came another knock to the door, now ajar after Gaz’s exit. Thankfully, this time, Pip felt no compulsion to hide. She didn’t look up just yet, nor did she say anything. The door swung open so Price could let himself in, a frown fixed under his mustache. 

“Awful quiet in here,” he commented. 

Pip paused her scrolling and leaned back, taking the captain in. Her eyes stung from strain, and she could feel the beginnings of a headache creeping under her skull, but she did not voice her complaints. “Welcome back, Captain,” she said simply. “Happy with your new toys?” 

“Oh yeah,” he replied, some of that frown lessening just a smidge. “Sorry about that mess earlier with Nik, by the way. Though I’m positive he wouldn’t have hurt you, had he seen you.” 

Pip closed her eyes, quiet for a few seconds as she waited out the sting. “That’s not the point,” she said. There was a hint of bitterness in her tone, something resurfacing from prior resentment at past actions. But she didn’t want to get into that right now. Too much other shit on her plate. 

“I know, I know, I’m just sayin’—” 

“Price—please… Is there something you need? Because I have a lot of files to go through, and I’ve barely made a dent.” 

The captain shook his head. “Don’t need anything,” he said. “Well—I’ll need the desk back. And my laptop. Paperwork, y’know? Best part of the job.” The sarcasm was thick on his tongue. Were Pip in better spirits, she might have graced him with an amused huff. Not a laugh, but a huff. Instead, she ran a hand through her hair and took stock of where all of her stuff was. 

“Right. I can relocate—” 

“Don’t pack up.” Price held a hand up, stepping closer to the desk. “Just scoot over a little bit. Plenty of space here for the both of us.” 

Right. Of course. They’d done this already before. Hell, they were sharing this desk just the other day. Pip untethered the wireless links to the larger laptops, letting both screens go black, then scooted herself and her belongings over to one far corner of the desk. Price sat down heavily in his chair with a sigh, scrubbing a hand down his face. He swiped the hat off of his head and set it aside. He too had a fair amount of dirt caked to his skin. Pip suspected that Soap and Ghost were in similar states. Everyone was in need of a shower. 

Damn, a shower sounded really nice right about now…

Maybe later she'd ask one of her handlers to help her with one. 

Pip settled in, mentally preparing herself for a sleepless day, and possible sleepless night, of work. 

“You didn’t eat,” Price noted, his words cutting into Pip’s thoughts. 

She suppressed an eyeroll. She’d already had this conversation with Gaz. Already done this song and dance. “Don’t feel like eating.” Not a lie. 

“Probably should, though.” 

“Gaz said as much. Lamented that we didn’t share a snack before you guys left.” 

Price quirked a brow. “‘Lamented,’ did he?”

“Lamented,” she repeated. “Blubbering like a baby. Blamed the bad luck I’m having on that protein bar right there.” She nodded to the bar in question. Price took it up in his hand, the wrapper crinkling against his gloves. 

“If I open this, will you eat some?” 

Pip turned her head up toward the ceiling, eyes closed. “Price, I’m really not—Gaz and I already had this talk. I just want to keep at this before I lose steam.” 

“Alright. Okay.” He set the bar back down, and let the topic drop. “Let me know if you need anything.” 

In lieu of a verbal response, Pip gave him a thumbs up, then set back to work. 

At some point, she’d put on music in her headphones—something to fill the silence in the space that Price’s pen scratches and slow breaths couldn’t. And, at some point, that music stopped without her noticing. It was a two-hour-long playlist she’d put on, and who knew how long ago it had ended. By this point, she was properly spaced out, too focused to notice the ache in her back, the numbness in her limbs, the growl in her stomach. 

But Price noticed that last one. He lifted his head, brows scrunching together. “Was that you?”

Pip hummed without actually having heard him; it was an automatic response on her part. 

It didn’t register that the crinkling noise behind her was Price opening the protein bar. The soft snap of said protein bar being broken up didn’t register either, not until Price’s fingers entered her field of vision, a piece pinched between his thumb and pointer. Pip blinked, leaning back from the intrusion with a confused look on her face. 

“Sir…?”

“Eat somethin’, Lag,” Price said. “You’re overdue for a snack.” 

Long overdue. Overdue for a nap, too, but that wasn’t going to happen if she could help it. Reluctantly, Pip accepted the piece and nibbled on it. It was sweet with caramel and bits of crunchy nuts. Normally, it would delight her, but she was too distracted to notice the taste. 

“Not every mission is a success,” Price says. “Sometimes our intel doesn’t work out—” he winced as it left his mouth. Pip’s head whipped around, her pupils blown wide. 

“My intel was solid,” she snapped. The stress and her weariness had worn down the restraint on her temper. “I found the facility. I found those missile parts. I just…” Protein bar forgotten again, she turned back to her computer. “This is intentional. There’s no way I’m just… missing it. Someone’s tampered with this database.” 

Price reached around her. For a second, she thought he was going to pick her up, but he didn’t. Instead, he pushed the top of her laptop down, closing it. He then took the discarded snack and handed it back to her. 

“The data’s been removed,” he summarized. Pip nodded, staring down at the food in her hands. “And you can’t recover it?” 

The hideling ducked her head, eyes squeezed shut. “I can’t,” she said. “It’s been wiped clean. Whoever sanitized this server knew enough to cut off any chances of recovery.” She drew in a slow breath. “The only somewhat useful information I’ve been able to get so far is the vehicle that took the missing missile parts. But the license plate wasn’t visible in the camera…” She trailed off, brows furrowing. For a long moment, she was silent. A light bulb went off over her head. 

“Pip…?” Price prodded. He ducked his head, trying to catch her eye again, but she turned away and opened her laptop back up. 

“Maybe there were cameras somewhere on the roads leading away from the compound.” She wasn’t talking to Price anymore so much as she was voicing her idea out loud. The man leaned over her, squinting at her little screen, but she paid him no mind. There was a renewed spark of hope in her chest. A hope that just maybe, maybe she could get something out of this failure—

“Mother fucker!” No fucking cameras. Not a single street camera on the one road that led to and from the compound. 

Pip slammed her laptop shut again and dropped her head into her hands, fingers pulling at her hair. A frustrated, borderline anguished groan pushed its way through her clenched jaw. Behind her, she heard Price shift, then felt a warm pressure on her back, over her pelt. The pad of a finger, sans glove. It rubbed gently up and down her spine, sending a wave of shudders in its wake. 

“It was worth a shot,” he said, no-doubt meaning to be encouraging, but it came off as patronizing. Pip grumbled something unintelligible and sagged under his touch. “We’ll find those parts, Pip. You need to let this go.” 

Let it go. Pip huffed and shook her head. She’d never been good at letting go. Never been good at failure. 

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she said, her voice weaker than she would have liked. “I… I’ll keep trying. I’ll figure something out—” 

Both of Price’s hands came down around her, scooping her up into his palms. He held her at eye level, his sharp eyes studying her. “You’re done,” he said after a long moment of silence. Pip’s head snapped up, brows raised in alarm. Her heart rate spiked.

“Wha—?” 

“For the day,” he clarified, seeming to realize how ominous his words sounded. “You’re taking the rest of the day off.” 

That sounded awful. That sounded like the worst thing she could do right now, when this was so critical— “Price, I can’t just—” 

“Nope. No arguments,” he said with a hard sense of finality. “You’re not to use your little laptop for the rest of the day.” 

Pip snapped her mouth shut, her teeth coming together with an audible click. She ground them together once, twice. “You’re treating me like a child,” she growled. 

“Would make sense, since you’re acting like a child.” Pip bristled, but the captain continued, “But no, I’m not. I’m treating you like a cranky, stubborn little shite that needs to take a break.”

“Fuck you.” Bitter. Acrid. She switched to Hidespeak, “You’re the most infuriating commanding officer I’ve ever had to deal with, and I hope you rot.” She didn’t mean it. Not the last part, anyway. (Or even really the first.)

Price leaned back in his chair, an amused smug smirk peeking out under that mustache. “Only part of that I understood was ‘commanding officer.’ No word for ‘CO’ in your language?” 

She ignored that question, not in any mood to entertain prying into her culture. “What am I supposed to do then?”  

“Eat. Drink. Sleep. Try to relax.” The captain shrugged, nonchalant. “Get yourself in the headspace for your vet appointment tomorrow.” 

Motherf—! She’d forgotten about that! Fuck! Pip pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and swallowed down the urge to scream. Price chuckled, but Pip didn’t find the deep rumble very pleasant right now. 

“I want to go home,” she said. She wouldn’t, not before she finished this damn mission, but she had to voice her sentiment. 

“We’ll get you there,” Price said. “Just need you to hang on with us a bit longer.” It sounded like a promise, but Pip knew all too well just how easily a promise like that could be broken out here. This was dangerous work. No one was guaranteed a ride home in this line of work. Not even Price. 

Reluctantly, she nodded her head, still buried in her hands. 

“Right. That’s a good girl. So. Finish up that protein bar and this water, and then I’ll take you somewhere where you can get some shut eye, yeah?” 

Sorry, good girl? Oh no. Nope. She was not going to acknowledge that, nor the way it sent a shock of butterflies fluttering through her gut. None of that. Pip snatched her snack up and tore off a big bite, a bit more ravenous than necessary to distract herself. She didn’t meet Price’s gaze, but her eyes did wander to the scarf folded loosely around his neck. 

That gave her an idea. She’d done it with both of her past handlers multiple times. 

“There,” she said, pointing to the scarf. Price glanced down at it, brows furrowed, then looked back at her quizzically. 

“What?” 

“Your scarf,” she clarified. “If… if it’d be okay. I could sleep in there.” 

One of Price’s hands fell away to curl into the scarf, pulling it away from his neck. “You want to sleep in this? While I’m wearing it?”

Gods, the more he asked her to explain it, the more awkward she felt. Her cheeks were getting warmer by the second. But she nodded. “If you’d be okay with that.” 

And when he agreed after thinking it over for a moment, she did find it a little surprising. But she wasn’t going to back out now, not as the captain brought her close to his neck, letting her and her pelt slip into the folds of his scarf. It was warm, and smelled of sweat and gunpowder, but that had never bothered Pip. It was cozy. Once she was settled in a comfortable pocket against his neck, situating her pelt between herself and his skin, she was practically invisible, lost under the scarf. No one would know she was there. 

“You alright down there?” Price asked. So close to his throat, his deep voice rattled through her. Pip sighed and buried her face into the fabric. 

“‘As good as I can be,” she answered. 

"You're not gonna slit my throat while you're in there, are you?"

Now that was an idea. Pip hummed. "Tempting." But probably not. Probably.