Serena idly hummed to herself as she made her way through the LOKI network, smiling as she heard Tanya’s message. [color=hotpink]“Don’t worry, I’ll have you erased from their records in a jiff. It’ll be like we were never here. Well, you were never chatting to the LOKI. I’m pretty sure we’re still gonna appear on their cameras...you get the point.”[/color] She quickly located the robot that had taken Tanya’s lie and began searching through its data banks. That would be her trail to follow all the way to the end, deleting every bit of evidence that Tanya had ever even spoken to the robot.

As she was shifting through, looking for Tanya, her commlink beeped on a private channel. Switching to it, she gave a half distracted, [color=hotpink]“Hello?”[/color] 

Dex sat crossed legged at her makeshift terminal, listening to the radio chatter herself. Working through a firewall, carefully guiding the security VI’s into circles. A little bored she decided to bother Serena, “[color=007236]This is Dex contacting Serena on our secret private channel, so.[/color]”

She paused dumping garbage data on another VI. “[color=007236]How about that Firu?[/color]”

Serena didn’t even so much as blink, engrossed in carefully deleting Tanya’s presence from the LOKI network. Finally in what was entirely her element, Serena was focused and missed and subtle hints and teasing. Distractedly and disinterestedly, she replied. [color=hotpink]“She’s fine. Knows how to stitch most of us back together and keep us alive in spite of the most horrid of wounds, and seems to know her way around a fight. And she likes cooking. Solid asset to the team.” [/color]

She gave a small victory chuckle as she fully deleted Tanya from the LOKI’s memory banks, editing the time frame she just deleted.

Pulling a wire from the fuse box and plugging it into her makeshift terminal with a disappointed grunt, “[color=007236]Is that all? Or did you not happen to notice her other [i]solid ass-sets.[/i][/color]”

A new set of code ran across her screen, furiously tapping across the holographic keys to tie it down. “[color=007236]Disappointing me here Serena.[/color]”

Some of Dex’s implications slipped through Serena’s concentration, and she felt herself begin to color. [color=hotpink]“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”[/color] She hoped her voice sounded confident and not at all like she was lying. Her face scrunched in annoyance as she came across a firewall, tapping away at the omni-tool on her arm to get past it.

[color=hotpink]“Hey, I’m doing just fine thank you very much. The LOKI will obey my commands [i]and[/i] Tanya won’t be in their systems for much longer.”[/color]

Dex’s talons paused across the keyboard then took a moment, humming her amusement. Serena couldn’t lie even over an e-mail let alone an audio channel. “[color=007236]Oh, okay. Then you wouldn’t be able to tell me about what brand of pants Firu wears? Starts with a J or what spice she cooks all the human meals with. I think she said it was…[/color]” Dex waited her mandibles pulling up in a toothy turian smile. “[color=007236]Sriracha?[/color]”

Against her will, the two names Dex was hinting at popped into Serena’s mind in an instant. She resisted cursing, not wanting to give the turian the pleasure, and scowled at the omni-tool as she slipped past the firewall and moved closer to the central data of the LOKI network. 

[color=hotpink]“No, I wouldn’t. I don’t think she wears jeans though? Not from the brief glimpses I’ve gotten. Looks like AdoniStyles if I had to guess. As for spices, for one, Sriracha is a sauce, for two I think she uses Saffron? Not that well versed in spiceology, but I’ve heard her mention that name once or twice.”[/color]

Her head quietly hit the table she was sitting at. [color=hotpink][i]Smooth. Way to prove you have no idea what either of those things were.[/i][/color]

“[color=007236]Brief glimpses you say? Sauce from spice? I think you do have an idea of some of Firu’s assets, my virginal friend. After your drunken dancing with her I thought you’d have figured out a few more things, [i]and[/i] if it wasn’t for the LOKI in front of you right now you’d be spilling all your weirdly observant notes about her to me right now.[/color]” Dex said rather bluntly. 

“[color=007236]Can’t fool me.[/color]”

She connected the sabotaged LOKI’s to her backlog, flagging them for notifications. “[color=007236]Nice work on the mechs by the way.[/color]”

[color=hotpink]“I-it’s not [i]weird[/i].”[/color] Serena replied, defensive and embarrassed. She could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.  [color=hotpink]“You’re just as observant as I am! Granted, you typically do it while doing whatever spy stuff you do, but my point stands!”[/color] She muttered something about a ‘damn rhythmless turian’ and ‘can fool you in chess’ as she quickly finished up deleting Tanya from the records of the LOKI network.  

[color=hotpink]“Thanks, I should have more soon, provided someone doesn’t keeping trying to convince herself of this ridiculous notion I have a crush on Firu.”[/color] She replied, with even more defensiveness in her tone than before. 

“[color=007236]No convincing needed, already believe you have a big crush on her. It’s obvious to just about everyone else, save Firu herself. Granted she doesn’t know you yet but will given a little more time. Anyway I’m going to finish up here and I’ll ‘see’ you guys at the cafe.[/color]” Dex laughed closing the private channel, taking a little satisfaction of getting the last word in.

Serena sputtered incoherently, blushing bright red, as Dex closed the channel. She waited a few moments, gathering herself. When she felt she could speak in a steady tone, giving no indication that Dex had gotten to her, she opened the main comm channel again. [color=hotpink]“Don’t worry Tanya, you’re already erased. It’s like you never even existed. I’ve got a fair amount of LOKI under my control, working on the others. If the shit hits the fan, we’ll have the advantage.”[/color]