A/N: What's this? I've discovered another tol and smol femslash pairing to write for! This is my promised Panda Mechanic (a.k.a. Spy Mechanic) espionage hijinks fic, but because I'm me I couldn't resist infusing some angst and feels.

"Nuke Skywalker to Panda Bear. Panda Bear, do you copy? Over."

Echo rolls her eyes, adjusts the strange glowing contraption in her ear. "Of course I can hear you."

Raven pops out of a nearby gear closet with a grin, radio in hand. "Equipment checks are important. What if the earpiece wasn't working and I couldn't tell you what to do?"

"That'd be wonderful."

"Really?" chirps Raven. Her eyes go dark in a way that stirs Echo's innards as she stalks closer. "You seemed to like it last night." Echo's eyelids automatically flutter as the scene flashes through her head. How she worshipped Raven's muscled body, following orders and calling her ai haiplana. Bestowing that title on her felt weird in retrospect, but Raven enjoyed it at the time. And admittedly, so did Echo. A lot.

Raven's laugh brings Echo back to the present. "It's way too easy to embarrass you."

Echo snaps her slackened jaw shut. "I'm not embarrassed," she protests flatly.

"Then why are you bright red?"

"Because."

The way Raven bites her lip tells Echo she knows exactly why. "Here." Circling around Echo, she slips the straps of a small backpack over her shoulders. "Everything you need is in there."

Thumbing the straps, Echo uneasily drags her eyes around the Command Center. She's never entirely comfortable in this room, surrounded by all this unfamiliar technology that everyone seems to understand but her. The headset has her even more on edge - she's not a fan of phantom voices in her ear. She would have flat out refused to wear it were it not for how deeply she's come to trust Raven. That and how Raven seems to be able to get whatever she wants out of her with either a charming smile or a sharp command.

"What are you waiting for?" Raven gives Echo's ass a playful slap and utters her latest order in a husky burr close to her ear. "Tsa bants, Panda Bear."

Their new clan's weekly movie nights are to blame for this whole mess. Raven made them watch Mission: Impossible the other night because it was about spies and she thought Echo would like it. It also inspired her to incite a practical joke war with Bellamy and drag Echo into it. The dumb code name was a given. Ever since they watched The Amazing Panda Adventure and Harper teased Echo about how the creature's face resembled Azgedean war paint, Raven has refused to let it go.

Is it Echo's imagination, or is Raven humming the Mission: Impossible song as she skulks through the halls ahead of her? Echo walks normally in Raven's wake, watching amusedly as the girl edges her way along the walls, peeks around corners and waves Echo forward with excited hand signals. As adorable as it, Raven's insistence on behaving this way is frustrating for someone who used to do this professionally. When Raven stops suddenly just before the hall of rooms they've taken over for their living quarters, Echo nearly bowls her over from behind. Finally fed up, she snarks, "We don't need to sneak around, you know. We have every reason to be in these hallways. You're just making us look suspicious."

"Shush, you," Raven scolds her, not looking back.

"You're impossible," huffs Echo.

"Shof op." The order itself is not what silences Echo, it's the feeling of Raven's hand blindly finding hers and giving it a squeeze. Lacing their fingers together, Raven peeks around the final corner. "Come on, the coast is clear!" she hisses, tugging Echo along as she scampers to her bedroom as fast as she can with her limp.

Raven punches in her code and shoves Echo inside ahead of her. Then falling back against the door, she releases an overly dramatic sigh of relief that makes Echo's eyes roll again but also tugs up on the corners of her mouth. "That was close."

"Whatever you say."

Raven narrows her eyes in a way that reads as part warning, part flirtation. That look is a weakness for Echo, and she knows it. "Someone's full of lip today."

Struggling to keep up, Echo forces her face to stay blank but for a teasing twinkle in her eye. "Thought you liked my lips."

The feisty mechanic's lips split apart with a grin despite the glare she's trying to maintain. She pushes up on her toes and fists Echo's shirt over her collarbones, straining to plant a kiss on her mouth. Dropping down to her heels, she nods into the room. "Come on."

At the back of the room, Raven cups her hands for Echo to step on, giving her a boost so she can detach the grate affixed to the ventilation shaft. Just as she starts to worm her way into the vent, she feels Raven give her butt a firm pinch, bringing on an affectionate smile that she doesn't have to hide with her face now concealed in the pipe.

Once she's fully in the pipe, Echo backs up a little to give Raven a conspiratorial nod. Raven returns it with an assured "Make me proud." The implication of approval makes Echo's chest start to swell to way it used to when she'd receive praise from Queen Nia. Once she makes that association in her conscious mind, her fledgling smile falls as she crawls away. Raven knows just how to get to her, and she sort of hates it.

While Echo doubts Raven is doing it consciously, there's no one on the Ark who can play her better. They've become unlikely best friends in the eight months they've been living in the sky. Echo had expected that, if anyone, she'd be most at ease around Emori because they were both from the ground and Bellamy because of their shared history. But Emori turned out to be totally comfortable in the new environment and Bellamy was quite frosty toward Echo at first - surprising considering how they'd saved each other the day of Praimfaya. Not to mention all the other times they'd saved each other.

With Bellamy and Raven off working a lot and the two couples spending most of their time together, the loneliness Echo had feared she would feel among a group of strangers in a terrifying new place materialized. She started to think Bellamy had lied and they didn't need her. To think she should have stayed down there and finished what she started. She began to regret leaving her knife behind in the lab. Started looking for other ways to end her misery if it came to that. The situation itself was not that bad - on the ground she'd endured torture, humiliation, imprisonment. She'd survived the Mountain, she'd even survived banishment from the bunker thanks to Bellamy's asshole sister. But the one thing that would kill Echo, the one thing she could not endure, was feeling useless.

It was Raven who saved Echo this time, and she has no idea. Maybe a month into their stay, Raven knocked on Echo's door and asked her to teach her how to fight. So she could better defend herself despite her bad leg, she explained. That's when Echo realized she did have skills they could use up there. Sure, they had no enemies in space. But there were still battles to fight, and she could help Raven win hers.

Just like Echo, Raven can't stand feeling like a burden. Recognizing that, Echo found purpose helping her regain confidence in her bodily abilities. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears - literally, all three - but in time, the effort was a success. Raven's leg never stopped hurting, but as she got stronger and started to feel less vulnerable and dependent on others, her mood improved dramatically. And Echo found herself not only proud but pleased to be the one making Raven happy. They became all but inseparable as time went on, kindred spirits of a kind despite all their outward differences.

The sex part is new. It started less than three weeks ago, during one of their sparring sessions. The tension had been there for awhile, at least on Echo's part. It's hard not to get distracted by Raven Reyes in a tank top, after all, especially when she's panting and sweaty. But it surprised Echo when she landed on top of Raven after a takedown and she wasn't the only one who gasped a little with all that skin touching and their mouths only inches apart. It surprised her even more when Raven grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her down into a hard kiss. But she needed that. She really, really needed that. The closeness, the release. She hadn't been with anyone in well over a year, since before she was captured by the Reapers.

Raven had been nursing a similar drought, Echo found out later. That explained the raw need in the way she flipped Echo over and sat up straddling her waist, peeling off her tank top and sports bra in one move to reveal an expanse of smooth caramel skin. Not flawless skin; Raven has her battle scars, just like Echo. But they were hardly unappealing to the former warrior. Besides, there was plenty of other perfection to take in. The delicate curve of Raven's collarbones. The faint definition of muscle over her stomach. The way her already dark eyes went black with desire when Echo sat up and cupped eager hands around the soft flesh of her br-

"Are you there yet?" Raven's voice in Echo's ear almost makes her jump.

Eyes rolling automatically, Echo whispers, "Raven, the point is to not get caught. I go as slow as I need to."

"Fine, your call. Just saying, the sooner you get back, the sooner I can sit on your face." Echo freezes on the spot, eyes squeezing shut with a frustrated sigh. Raven laughs. "Panda Bear, I can hear you blushing."

Giving her head a shake, Echo gets moving again and mutters, "Shof op, yu fleim ai op."

Raven scoffs. "Liar, you love me." Once again, Raven's words make Echo stop in her tracks. She didn't know Raven knew that much Trig. And she's not used to such sentiments in either language. Raven must realize how that sounded despite her flippant tone, and she quickly backpedals, "I don't mean like that, I just mean… not hate." Now Echo really has no clue what to say, so she looks forward and resumes creeping down the pipe. Better to focus on the task at hand. "Echo?"

Apparently she won't get away with saying nothing, so she says, "Now's not really a good time for this."

"Right."

An awkward silence falls. It weighs heavy on Echo as she crawls farther and farther from Raven. They've never discussed this thing that's sprung up between them or the emotions behind it. In fact, it's fair to say they've both been avoiding it, preferring to revel in the joy of the moment rather than consider the complications. Though Echo kind of wants to clarify these things, how Raven feels about her and what exactly the two of them are doing, she's more afraid of getting an answer she won't like. So she doesn't ask.

A noise up ahead pulls Echo from her thoughts again, but this time it's appreciated. Squinting as she approaches the next grate, she listens carefully. It sounds a little like Bellamy working out, but she's not at his room yet. She's coming up on John and Emori's, if she's counted correctly. Flattening out, she slithers along the bottom of the shaft so she can peek through the slats in the grate. Her jaw falls open as she takes in the scene in the room. "Jok."

"What? Is Bellamy in his room?" asks Raven. "I can distract him for you."

"No, he's…" Echo trails off as her cheeks flare up with a blush, unsure if she wants to say this aloud.

"What, Echo?" insists Raven. A few seconds later she speaks again, intrigued. "What's that sound?"

Echo sits back on her heels, shaking the image from her head. "Bellamy's in John's room, fucking him in the ass."

"You're joking," gasps Raven.

"I don't joke."

"What the fuck?" A short pause later, Raven sounds genuinely conflicted when she muses, "You think we should tell Emori?"

"We don't need to," whispers Echo. "She's watching."

"Watching?!" Raven's incredulity fades over a moment of silence and she admits, "Actually, I'd watch that." This confession makes Echo feel a little better about her own interest in the spectacle, and she ducks down to get another look. It's not an unpleasant show. Her eyes roam over the men's contorting faces and tight muscles, take in the sweat rolling down their skin. Their grunts and moans reverberate through her ears and echo between her legs, making her cheeks heat up again. No less enticing is the sight of Emori blatantly ogling them, breath catching as her fingers fly. Echo has half a mind to follow her lead.

"Echo?"

Eyes still on the scene, Echo barely answers. "Mm?"

"Don't get distracted, now," Raven scolds her.

Reluctantly peeling herself away, Echo smirks as she resumes the journey. Once she's a few feet down the pipe, she chances a sentence. "Jealous of the view?"

"Sure," grumbles Raven. "Let's get back to work. Bellamy's two more rooms down the pipe."

"I know, Raven. I live here."

Two vents later, Echo peeks through the grate to confirm the location. Spotting Bellamy's jacket slung over the chair, she whispers, "Found it." Though she'll never admit it to Raven, a low-grade excitement pulls a mischievous smile onto her face as she unlatches the grate and turns it to pull it into the shaft sideways. She's missed the way all her senses become heightened during a job, the sense of responsibility, the way missions sometimes feel like a game. This one actually is a game, and without the life-and-death stakes she's accustomed to, she's more free to enjoy it.

Squirming feet first out of the vent with a string of curses, she manages to get her legs out and then grips the metal lip. It's only a two-foot drop to the floor by the time she's slowly lowered herself to hang from straight arms. Landing light on her feet, she digs in the backpack for the first thing Raven said she'd need. In the tiny protective case sits a thin metallic disc the size of a fingernail. "Okay, so where do you want me to put this again?"

"The motion sensor?" asks Raven.

Constraining her already flat vocal tones to sound extra robotic, Echo answers, "Affirmative, Nuke Skywalker." Raven's breathy laugh tickles her ear, making her smile.

"In a crack between two of the wall panels, near the door. Couple inches off the floor."

There's a magnet on the back of the sensor, so securing that is easy. The harder part will be wiring the receiver into the intercom speaker. Raven drew her a diagram and promised to answer any questions, but Echo still fears she's going to fry the circuit, or worse. As she unscrews the panel covering the speaker, she asks, "You're sure I won't electrocute myself?"

"I cut the power to the whole intercom system, Panda Bear. You think I'm some kind of amateur?"

"Compared to me, yes."

Raven scoffs. "Excuse you, who needs to be talked through this whole thing?"

"I was referring to espionage, not electronics."

"I'll have you know, I've snuck around in these air ducts before," Raven sasses back. "If it weren't for my leg, I could have easily done this myself."

Setting the panel on the floor, Echo digs out the receiver and diagram. "But that would be less fun for you."

"Why?"

"Because then you wouldn't get to boss me around and mock me for my ineptitudes," Echo replies matter-of-factly as she squints at the paper.

Raven gives a throaty chuckle. "Oh, I'd still boss you around, sweetheart." Echo rolls her eyes but doesn't answer. "Besides, we both know you like it."

"Shut up, I'm trying to work."

It takes several minutes of confusing vocabulary and hesitant knife cuts to strip wires, but Echo gets the receiver installed quicker than she expected. The workspace is really small, though, and it's a struggle to get the thing tucked away under the speaker box so Bellamy can't easily find it. If her fingers were smaller, like Raven's, the whole process would have been easier.

…Then again, Raven's probably happier with them as they are.

"Okay, we gotta test it," says Raven, a giddy excitement rising in her voice. "Step in front of the door." Echo does as she's told and the sound clip plays over the speaker, quickly followed by Raven's laugh of jubilation in her ear. "Yes!"

On her way back, Echo hears more noises from John and Emori's room but decides not to investigate this time. Though somewhat curious about what they're up to now, she has entertainment of her own waiting a few vents away. Hopefully Raven meant what she said about Echo's reward upon her return.

That does seem to be the case. As soon as Echo drops out of the vent, Raven's jumping into her arms, attempting to wrap her legs around her waist. Pulling the weaker leg up while sliding her left hand under Raven's ass, Echo raises a cheeky eyebrow. "What's got you so riled up?"

"The whole spy thing is sexy on you," admits Raven. She tips Echo's chin back and begins a trail of kisses under her ear.

"Is that so?" Raven hums in answer, unwilling to pull her lips from Echo's neck. "Is that why you made me help you?"

Raven sighs in frustration and stops suckling just long enough to answer, "I told you, the brace clanging against the pipe would've made a hell of a racket."

"So it wasn't at all because me sneaking around in high-tech gear makes you wet," teases Echo. Raven moans faintly into her flesh, sinking her teeth in. A surge of desire wells up in Echo's gut and she marches straight to Raven's bed and dumps the girl on the mattress. Raven's eyes bulge as Echo decisively climbs on top of her. Grazing a hand down Raven's stomach to her belt, Echo concludes, "I guess I'll have to find out for myself."

***o***

It's a couple hours before Echo and Raven get the much anticipated reaction to their prank. The two of them are hanging out with Harper and Monty in the dining area, waiting for the others to show up for dinner when Bellamy storms in wearing a scowl. "Raven, did you break into my room?"

Raven blinks up innocently. "No, why?"

"Because every time I walk in, the intercom asks me if butter's a carb." Harper laughs aloud and Bellamy turns to her in suspicion. "Was it you?"

"No, but that's hilarious," chuckles Harper. She and Raven have a particular fondness for Mean Girls, and they like to quote it around Bellamy to annoy him because he thinks the movie is stupid. Echo has never really understood much of the humor because she didn't go to formal school the way the sky kids did, but she does get a lot of secondhand satisfaction from watching Raven annoy the hell out of Bellamy.

Bellamy turns his glare from Harper to her boyfriend. "Monty?"

"Don't look at me," huffs the beleaguered engineer, barely looking up from the tablet he's repairing.

Bellamy narrows his eyes at the three of them as he moves to sit down beside Echo. "One of you's lying, and I'm gonna figure out who."

Just as his ass touches the chair, Echo turns to him and deadpans, "You can't sit with us."

There's a beat of silence as this sinks in, then Raven erupts with laughter across the table. Harper and Monty join in with snickers, and even Bellamy can't quite keep a straight face. "Echo, damn," chuckles Raven. Her beaming grin makes warmth bloom in Echo's chest and radiate out through all her limbs. "You can joke."

Though Echo tries to keep her tone flat as she replies, "I have the capability, yes," a smile pushes its way onto her lips.

Raven's shining eyes hold hers a moment longer before they flick up, looking past her. "You okay, Murphy?"

Echo peeks over her shoulder and sees the last two members of their clan approaching. John blinks in confusion, continuing his small but rapid steps forward as he tries to keep up with his girlfriend. "Yeah, why?"

"You're walking funnier than me," remarks Raven.

John squints suspiciously as they arrive at the table. "Your point being?"

Waving this off with raised eyebrows, she answers with an airy nonchalance. "Nothing, it's just a joke. Pull the stick out of your ass."

Echo snorts and puts a palm to her mouth to smother her smirk, and the three newest arrivals share an uneasy glance. John purses his lips and shoots Raven a glare that doesn't feel altogether convincing. "Hilarious, Reyes." Then he gives Bellamy a good-natured shove as he sits on on the other side of him from Echo. She's just close enough to hear his grumbled protest in their leader's ear. "I told you you're too fucking loud."

As Echo starts passing out the bowls of algae clustered in the middle of the table, she feels someone nudge her foot and blinks up, meeting Raven's eyes. There's a devious glint in them, but her smile is soft and relaxed. Though she's momentarily paralyzed by the sight, Echo can feel her cheeks wanting to flush again and breaks eye contact the second she can move, blinking down into her bowl. But she does lift the toe of her boot, brushing it against Raven's ankle in reply. When she feels Raven skim her own toes along the side of her foot, she sighs inaudibly. She's used to Raven throwing her off on purpose with bedroom eyes or a lewd joke, but not unintentionally. Not just by being who she is. But who she is feels particularly disarming today.

***o***

Echo sleeping over in Raven's quarters has become a semi-regular thing in the past weeks. The offer usually comes as a sexual proposition, but Echo knows that if all Raven wanted was to get fucked she would kick her out afterwards. And she never does. This time it's less of an offer and more of a demand. When Echo peels off to return to her own room after dinner, Raven grabs her wrist and asks, "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Then Echo's not going anywhere.

Though it's still hours before lights out, they burrow under the covers and into each other's arms. This isn't an uncommon occurrence either. Even before things changed, they would do this to share warmth. That was what they said, anyway. Both of them being so stubborn, so determined to be strong and independent, neither wanted to admit how lonely she was.

Apparently still sated from their afternoon tryst, Raven doesn't try to make a move this time. Taking Echo's hand, she turns over and pulls the arm around her as she settles into little spoon position. Echo wriggles in to wrap her up tighter and Raven hums her approval. After several moments of silence, she lets out a throaty chuckle. "That was great. The look on Bellamy's face."

Echo's eyes flutter open. "About our prank, or what you said to John?"

"The prank."

Smirking into Raven's hair, Echo warns her, "He's gonna get you back, you know."

"Me?" scoffs Raven. "You're the one who broke into his room, Panda Bear."

"He doesn't know that. And when he finds the receiver he'll definitely think it was you or Monty. I'm the last person he'd suspect."

"Oh well. Let him come for me," spouts Raven. "I haven't had a good practical joke war in like a decade. Since back when I thought Finn had cooties." Echo unconsciously tightens her grip at this mention of the boy Raven lost. First to Clarke, and then to Lexa. Echo can relate. She lost loved ones to Trikru too. Feeling the increased pressure, Raven squirms in Echo's arms and turns back over to look her in the eye. "It's okay," she says, resting her head on Echo's shoulder. There's not a hint of doubt in her eyes or voice when she tells her, "I'm not sad."

"Me neither," says Echo. Immediately she's kicking herself mentally, because those words feel somehow inadequate. But Raven either doesn't mind or is no longer fazed by her reticence, because she smiles and pecks Echo gently on the lips as she nudges her in a prompt to lie flat on her back. After nuzzling her nose a couple times, she shuffles down a little and settles with her head on Echo's chest.

As their hands find each other again, Echo absentmindedly strokes Raven's hair and continues to berate herself internally. Because those words were absolutely not enough. It's more than not being sad. Happiness is overrated in Echo's books - it's fleeting and easy enough to come by. What she has always craved is contentedness, and that's something she feels with Raven in her arms. It's funny, she was always afraid Bellamy would be the one to break down her walls and make her vulnerable. And he did, in a way. But not like this. Raven has been slowly prying her heart open for months, and she's impossible to resist.

If Raven wasn't so damn earnest, didn't wear her heart so plainly on her sleeve, maybe Echo would have stood a chance. But probably not. Raven's appealing qualities are endless. She's so smart, and brave, and resilient. Effortlessly charming and ridiculously beautiful. And most incredible of all, somehow still so big-hearted after everything she's been through. Echo doesn't know what Raven could possibly see in her, a killer a hundred times over who can barely show emotion if she tries, but she is eternally grateful that they've forged this bond, whatever it is.

Gazing down the plane of her stomach, Echo eyes their entwined fingers and rubs her thumb softly over Raven's. Raven replies with a small squeeze and nuzzles deeper into Echo's chest, causing her heart to pound not with lust, but with dread. It's undeniable. Raven was right about what she said earlier, even if that's not what she meant. Echo didn't even know she was still capable of these feelings after so many years of suppressing her emotions. But they're there, plain as day. Inescapable and terrifying.

Like any good warrior, Echo is a master of hiding her fear behind a blank face. Unfortunately, Raven caught on to her racing heart before she could think to control it, and she's already squinting curiously at Echo's impassive expression. "What?"

Despite her anxiety and the way it's making one of her legs tremble, Echo can't help her affectionate smile as she brushes some of Raven's hair back from her eyes. She says the words before she has a chance to talk herself out of it. "Ai hod yu in."

Raven's jaw starts to slip open, but then she blinks hard and shakes her head. Eyes flitting away, she mumbles, "You don't have to say that."

"Yeah I do," says Echo. Raven is hesitant to meet her gaze again, and when she does she appears wholly unconvinced. "What, you don't believe me?"

Raven shrugs, eyes falling once again. "No offense. I have a hard time believing anyone who says that."

"Are you fucking joking?" Echo sits up in surprise, incredulity written all over her face. Forced to sit up too, Raven hugs her knees tight to her chest. "What happened to Nuke Skywalker? Where'd all that bravado go?"

"Oh please, Echo," huffs Raven. "If anyone knows how much of an act that is, it's you."

"It's not an act," insists Echo. "You know how amazing you are. You say it all the time."

Her eyebrows twitch glumly. "Not amazing enough to make people stay. My mom, Finn, Wick. Everyone leaves." Echo can relate. She's been neglected or kicked to the curb by people she cared about too. Most recently, Roan. That one still smarts.

Deciding to try another approach, Echo takes one of Raven's hands and teases her, "Well, I can guarantee you I'm not going anywhere. For at least four years, anyway." Raven narrows her eyes, but Echo spies a smile trying to break its way onto her lips as well. She smirks proudly. "After that, all bets are off. Sorry."

Raven scoffs. "You're an asshole."

"I know." Echo grips Raven's forearm and gives it a tug as she lies back down. "Come here." Raven obeys with only minor feigned reluctance and Echo cradles her tight to her chest. The feeling of Raven fisting her shirt makes her eyes fall shut with a contented sigh. Her hands move of their own accord, rubbing Raven's back until she finally relaxes in her arms. It feels like a bigger compliment than ever.

Though Raven's despairing words hurt Echo's heart, they also give her hope that she can help the broken mechanic piece herself back together. If anyone can understand Raven's paradoxical combination of arrogance and abysmal self-esteem, it's Echo. Like Raven, she's all but impossible to convince that anyone values her for who she is as a person. Hence the need to feel useful. So Echo knows she can't just tell Raven how much she means to her and expect her to believe it. Only time will convince her. Fortunately, time is all they have.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this! Please leave comments/reviews, I always take constructive criticism and appreciate feedback on what people like. I also have a 100 femslash fic with some pre-Princess Panda feels, if you like the idea of Clarke and Echo and can stomach the implication of Bellarke and Becho tension going on in the background. I got inspired by Clarke saving Echo in 4x12, what can I say? That one's called Brana Kru.

Many thanks to someothermetal for agreeing to give this a beta read!