Deep Cover (Hugo, Natalie)

[William Blake]

It was a strange group that had been chosen for this deep cover mission within R4's organisation. Will, if he'd been willing, had been an obvious choice. He was close to this mission, and usually that would have been a bad thing, as it would have meant he would be emotionally comprimised, but it was his emotions that they needed. The fact that his Dad had been working with R4 gave him the perfect in. It hadn't taken much to convince some of Rebekah's lackeys that he believed that the UGAP had killed his father, and that he couldn't abide working for them any more. A small session with one of their beefy, hammer-fisted interrogators had been enough to convince them that he was telling the truth. They saw he had great potential, and welcomed him with open arms.

Of course, Natalie hadn't let him go alone. He'd given up having the same argument with her about staying behind. The truth was, if she was with him, he could make sure she was safe. That way, if anything happened, only he was to blame. And then, the Captain had decided they needed someone who knew what they were doing along with them, and so he'd chosen their resident crime liaison, Hugo Douglass. Will hadn't really had many interactions with the man, but he was apparently good at his job, and that was all they needed. They all, also, had a fierce need to get out of this alive, they had things to lose. That would keep them grounded.

Will was sitting in a small meeting room in the bowels of the complex, waiting for Natalie and Hugo to join him. He'd already set a device on the security surveillance to display the room as being empty. Now that they were in, they needed to discuss how exactly they were going to get Alexei alone for long enough to convince him to work for the UGAP. He'd had several stupid ideas which would immediately put their cover in jeopardy, another which would put Natalie in danger. This was why they had needed a team of people here, they'd all have different ideas, and they'd be able to bail the others out if they got in trouble.

[hugodouglass]

He didn't like the suit.

Hugo looked at the reflection staring back at him in his new quarters(a lot more spacious than his previous place on the Venia), shaking his head as he looked at the suit. It wasn't fashionable nor good looking(a cream jacket with black pants? R4 needed a fashion designer), but it was one of the three suits provided to him(for free!) by one of Rebekah's cohorts for his new role in the terrorist organization as an undercover operative(or, in other words, a spy). Hugo chuckled at the thought, knowing that it had taken a lot of data manipulation, bribery, and well placed information to make it seem that Hugo was really posing as a freelance spy on the Venia that held valuable information on the crew and just so happened to want to have a change of scenery. It didn't take long after his insertion on New Earth before he was contacted by Alexei(nice kid. Shouldn't have been dragged into this mess) and given a few "tests" before he was allowed into the place. It had been quite a hectic week, and the real work hadn't even begun yet. Will had sent him a message to meet, and they would need to: they hadn't seen each other since their primary insertion and there had to be some ironing out of the plan before they went forward.

Hugo checked the time and realized that he only had fifteen minutes before their meeting time. The detective walked out of his bathroom and scratched his nose, his left eye catching the glint of the band around his left index finger.

"I'm not leaving you."
"You don't have a choice."
"I can't let you and Lisa go...not.."
"Hugo, listen to me: You're needed there."
"They can do it without me."
"No they can't, darling. That's why they brought you on."
"Promise me something then."
"What is it?"
"Promise you'll wait for me."
"I married you. I think that's promise enough, Mr.Douglass."
"I love you. You know that , don't you?"
"If I didn't, you think I would still be here?"

Hugo shook the memory away, kissing his wedding band gently. This is the last time, baby. Last time.


Hugo strolled into the room, spotting Will and extending a hand warmly, saying with his usual smile:
"Glad you made it through the hoops. Where's Natalie?"

[Natalie Blake]

I am an idiot. An absolute, indisputable idiot. That was what was running through Natalie's mind as she paced quickly, head bowed, down the hall. When she'd put herself forward to infiltrate R4, all she'd been thinking of was that she didn't want to be separated from Will. But she was an engineer, and nothing more--good at fixing objects, not situations, and certainly not people. And what was worse, she was nice. In regular society, there wasn't anything wrong with that, but here, with R4, she stood out whenever she opened her mouth.

That said, she was trying to keep quiet. She'd never been excessively talkative, save for friendly small-talk and occasional banter with her friends, but she didn't like having to analyze every word before she said it, just in case it might blow her cover. Hell, she could barely allow herself to look at other people for fear of giving them a friendly smile or nod in greeting. She'd done that a grand total of one time, and at the slightly suspicious scowl she'd received in return had been enough for her to make sure she never did it again.

At least she (hopefully) wouldn't have to worry about keeping up the charade too terribly much longer. She was making her way down to the room where Will, Hugo and her had agreed to meet in order to come up with a plan of action. Assuming that whatever they came up with worked out smoothly, she'd be back to roaming the familiar corridors of the Venia in no time. But those were thoughts for later. Shaking her blonde head, Natalie rounded the corner and entered the room just in time to hear Hugo's question.

"Present," she chimed. Offering Hugo an accosting dip of the head, as she wandered over to take a seat next to Will. Then, resting her elbows on her knees, she folded her hands under her chin and looked from one man to the other. "So, now that we're all here... what's the plan? Any ideas?"