Lockdown with chloeas

[have_no_mercy]

Tess is tired of running. She's tired of hiding, tired of acting like the scared little girl she shouldn't be anymore. But most of all, Tess is boredLuckily, all that hiding and boredom has led to a plan: If she can take out the Castle's systems, then maybe she can get its residents out in the open long enough to take them out. At this point, it's

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[chloeas]

Chloe is mildly disappointed by the lack of reaction, but she will just take the silence and work on stitching up the two small cuts for a moment.

Then she pauses and frowns, noticing for the first time the lack of warning from the Watchtower, "looks like my system is safe, at least."

[have_no_mercy]

"It must have kicked in as soon as I tried to access your system," Tess offers quietly. "Or some measure of proximity to hardware at the very least. I haven't been using too many computers since I've been gone."

Then a thought occurs to her. "Do you think they managed to get anything?"

[chloeas]

"Lower security items, probably," Chloe sighs and glances at the computer, before cleaning the newly stitched cuts once more.

"I don't know where Watchtower restored the Kandorian file to since you tried to delete it, they might have been able to access that too, depending how many firewalls it was under, they had almost three hundred down last time I paid attention, out of over four hundred fifty."

[have_no_mercy]

"So they could have the information on the Kandorians." Tess sighs again and lowers her head. "I have to make sure they don't."

[chloeas]

"Why did you join them in the first place?" Chloe asks curiously as she starts to bandage up Tess' shoulder.

[have_no_mercy]

For some reason, it doesn't phase Tess that it's Chloe asking this. "It's a long story, but basically, it was a very... tumultuous time in my life and I thought they could give me some stability. And I'd still be doing something to help save the world."

[chloeas]

Chloe pulls back and starts to put away the things she used to stitch Tess up, "I'm done," she tells her then smirks humorlessly at the confession, even if Tess' back is still to her, "do you still think that's what they are doing?"

[have_no_mercy]

She turns to face Chloe and half shrugs, using her right shoulder only, and manages to get her shirt back on, leaving it unbuttoned for now. There's a rather noticeable, but still small, baby bump since they last saw each other.

"I think that's what they think they're doing, but they're going about it the wrong way. They promote segregation, not unity."

[chloeas]

The bump gets a glance, with everything else, Chloe hadn't really paid attention to it before, but it's expected, so she moves to put away the first-aid kit, "they can't track you anymore, maybe it's time to expose them for what they are."

[have_no_mercy]

"Expose them to who, the public?" It's clear Tess doesn't think that's the best idea ever. "The entire reason they're covert is because the public can't deal with what they're doing."

She continues, quietly. "We need to eliminate them."

[chloeas]

Chloe takes a seat in one of the other chairs and frowns at Tess, "and how do you eliminate a government agency, Tess? Kill everyone involved? Including people like you, who think they are doing a good thing?"

She shakes her head, clearly Chloe doesn't think that is the best idea ever, "they will just recruit more people and start over."

[have_no_mercy]

Tess takes another sip of her water.

"You take out the people at the top, leave them in disarray. Eventually, the government will shut it down because it's too much trouble and move on. It happens all the time; the government is fickle."

[chloeas]

"Headless chicken," Chloe summarizes then takes a deep breath, raising an eyebrow at Tess, "and I assume you know exactly who needs to be taken down?"

[have_no_mercy]

"I think the best place to start would be the person who kidnapped you and is has the hit out on me," Tess suggests, finally starting to feel a little better, despite the throbbing pain in her shoulder. "That's what I came here to start to do, but it looks like that isn't happening anymore."

[chloeas]

That makes Chloe raise both eyebrows, "you were breaking into the Watchtower to attack Checkmate?" and that's all genuine curiosity.

[have_no_mercy]

She nods. "You've got the equipment and no one would expect me to be here." That almost makes Tess laugh now.

Then she glances over at Chloe. "Nothing would have been traceable back to you."