a/n: Doug, the Long Suffering, helps Alexa, the Mischievous, with yet another skell-related test program. It turns out just perfect, nothing to worry about, no fluff, nope, none. Move along, kids.

Mild swears and skell geekery and something else (rating depends on what's going on in your own head).

All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft and 8-4.

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"Alexa! Hey!" Tika went chasing after her co-worker, catching Alexa just at the huge entrance to the Outfitter's Hangar. She waved a comm device at her. "I need to check with you about some of your results on the new skell pilot restraints you were testing."

"Sure. The seat belts. Arm belts, leg belts, whatever. I got 'em all done, and on time, just like promised." The redhead bounced slightly on her toes, and grinned cheerfully. It really was an interesting if flawed idea, using the same energy that skells used to bind enemies as a way of keeping pilots snug in their seats.

"Yeah, great. But the last batch of tests, there's something weird about them." Tika's expression was serious as she pushed her blond hair back from her face.

"Which ones?"

"The ones with Doug."

Alexa's grin faded. "Sure, I know he's not one of the official crew, but we don't have anyone regular who's that large, er, big, er, tall. That's what I meant. Tall."

"I know what you meant. And I have no problem with you getting other divisions to help out, especially if it doesn't go on the mission board. I'm assuming he did it as a favor for you."

Alexa still hadn't relaxed. "Yes…"

"So no added expense for the project. That's fine. I just hope you got him something nice as a reward."

"Sure, I think he was okay." Alexa didn't sound sure of herself.

"Anyway, that's not my point. Did you look at his biosynthetic readings? I'm a little concerned about them. Anything special I should know about the test run?"

"Nope, no, nothing special."

"Because it looks like he was having a panic attack in the middle of the tests. I mean, look at his responses right here." Tika focused on her device, pulling up some data. They indeed told an alarming tale. The senior designer pointed to a graph and explained. "Look at the circulatory rates. They start low at the beginning, a nice resting status. But they get agitated at the 10 minute mark, and it gets worse, Alexa. Towards the end, there is this frantic period." Again, Tika pointed to a jagged section. "I mean, Doug's mimetic system is working as hard as it would if he were fighting tyrants, or harder."

"Ah. That. I didn't think about that being captured on the readings."

"So, what happened? More to the point, do I need to alert BLADE HQ?"

"What? Why?" Alexa's eyes were round with alarm.

Tika sighed and explained carefully. "Because if there's something wrong with his mim, if he's revving this hot during essentially a resting condition, he's may need some serious repairs…"

"No! No! He's absolutely fine! It was nothing like that…" Alexa took a deep breath, and smiled brightly. "You know there was that major problem with the restraints locking down. I hadn't planned it, I swear. That power fluctuation was accidental, but it triggered them somehow, and I couldn't get them off him."

"Yes, that's all very clear in your report. You can be sure we'll get that fixed before we even do any further tests. Can't have a pilot trapped in their seat, of course."

"Well, Doug was trapped for a good 20 minutes while I was trying to pop him loose."

"And he got anxious," interrupted Tika. "That's what I'm worried about, this response. It's not good."

"He wasn't anxious. It was kind of funny, actually."

"How do you know? You were busy, working to free him, or so you're telling me. I mean, we have enough worries, getting permission to use human test subjects. We can't risk having them suffer without proper attention."

"I was right there, the whole time."

"You were busy. What if you missed something because you were distracted? I don't know, maybe we need to start requiring teams for this type of project. I could be part of it next time."

Alexa gave a little squeak, followed by a deep breath. She stood up straight, and addressed Tika in a surprisingly professional manner. "Look, Tika, I was there, hands on, literally, hands right on him. If you read the report, you know I had to take out the fuses right behind the headrest. And those are located behind the neck, not at the back of the seat, but right behind. I could have whispered in his ear, practically. So I know he was okay when it happened. I was paying attention, okay?"

"But these respiration readings! How could you not notice what was going on? He must have practically been panting."

"Yeah, well, that…" Alexa hesitated. "I didn't want to include it in the report, because it was really off target. Once I figured out how to free him, before I did it, I kind of gave him a dare."

"What are you talking about?"

Alexa paused, mustering courage to say the next sentence. "I dared him to try and break free." She grimaced a little. "Yeah, so that's what he was trying to do. Didn't work, didn't even make a difference, so I left it out of the report."

"Alexa!" Tika was looking at her with horrified disappointment. "That is so inappropriate. The test was never about trying to measure the strength of the bonds, just their comfort level and base power consumption. It wasn't set up for any challenges. What if he had broken the monitoring chair?"

"Well, he gave up before anything got dinged. I even checked his wrists, no bruises or anything, you'll be glad to hear."

"Alexa! Oh my god, he could have hurt himself. So inappropriate. We are not even close to those kind of trials."

"Well, you're even farther than you think, because that locking glitch might kill the whole idea."

"We're on it. But I want you to promise. No more trying things without permission."

"I didn't think I'd need permission for that. It was just a dumb dare."

"With a human test subject. Alexa, that kind of thing requires a whole different world of paperwork and regulations. Anything that involves risk has got to go through the mission board."

"It didn't used to be so fussy."

"Well, it's changed. I'd think that the whole SR-005 incident would stick in your memory."

Alexa cringed, and her eyes flickered like flames. She remembered that all right. Being pulled from the project that eventually became the Ares 70, that had stung. Stung, ha. It had gutted her, and she wasn't convinced that the skell itself hadn't suffered too. Poor Speedy.

Tika noticed her distress. "Look, Alexa, they were planning to pull you off anyway. They needed to start making some hard choices, dropping features that they knew you'd fight for, in order to make the thing producible."

"It might have been better if they'd kept me," muttered Alexa. (And it would have, too, thought Alexa, because there is way too much reliance on ether based attacks on the general release. Not a problem until you meet something with 100% ether resist. There were more of those wandering around Mira than you might notice. This suddenly becomes obvious when you go up against an enemy the size of BLADE tower and start doing damage in the high tens, oooh.)

Tika smiled kindly at Alexa. "The skell would have been perfect, and Sakuraba would never have been able to build it in mass quantities, or keep it functioning over a range of pilots."

"I suppose."

Tika sighed. "I don't think I ever told you, but we really do value your input. The skell development team knows how much we've advanced because of your insight and imagination." Tika gave another, tighter smile, then returned to her serious expression. "But you need to learn to control yourself. You can't always be doing whatever comes into your head. Especially when it involves other test subjects."

"I wasn't really thinking about him as a test subject."

"Sure, I understand. He's your friend, and you were goofing around. So I'll just file these measurements as extraneous, and we'll focus on getting the restraints to disengage properly. But I really do think we may have to have more than one Outfitter running future tests, just in case."

"Sure. Are we done now?"

"I'm sorry, Alexa. I wasn't trying to get you into trouble. I'm just concerned."

"And doing your job. I get it. But he's fine, I'm fine, and I'll try to keep it under control."

"Great. See you tomorrow."

Alexa sprinted off towards the Residential Section, but as soon as she was out of sight from Tika, she dodged behind a shipping crate and whipped out her comm device.

"Doug! Doug! Oh my god, we almost got in big trouble."

"What now?" He wasn't rising to match her agitation.

"Tika noticed something off with your test."

Silence. "You scrubbed that video."

"Yes, dopey, right away. Burned it. But I forgot about the biosynthetic readings."

"So?"

"Pulse rate. Respiration. Hydraulics pressure."

"Oh. Crap."

"Apparently, they tell quite a tale."

"Huh." There was a slight smile on his face.

"It gets worse. She was going to report you to HQ, because she thought your mim was broken."

"I'm just fine, Alexa."

"I told her that, but she thought you might have been having a panic attack."

"Oh crap, Alexa!" His voice was finally as serious and worried as hers. "That kind of thing can get a guy pulled off missions."

"I know! But I think it's okay now. I told her something stupid and she bought it."

"What? That I had an allergic reaction to your Ma-non perfume and started sneezing?"

"Oooh, that would have been good. No, I gave her a song and dance about me daring you to try to break free."

There was another pause. "I can see that. Me going, 'Hulk smash,' and stuff."

"Yeah, she bought it, like I said. Read me the riot act about going off script on the tests."

"I should hope it wasn't in the test plan."

"No. God, but she had me worried."

"But nothing to worry about, now?"

"Nope, at least I hope not. Still, I wanted you to know."

"Thanks. So…" Doug gave a sleepy smile. "Are you going to need any more help?"

"Not for a while. And I'll probably have to invite Tika to watch."

"Really?" Doug's smile shifted from sleepy to hopeful.

"Shut up."

"Why not? Tika's a nice girl."

"Shut up. I'm hanging up."

"I'll be done in an hour. Order a pizza."

"Bye, Dougie."

"Bye, Alexa."

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A/N: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I think I have achieved my goal. And I am never looking at the Outfitter's Hangar or the mission board the same way.

Put this one up 8 days early because I am so pumped about the Nintendo Switch reveal (oooooooo Skyrim drooool! ooooo). Squeee. Squee.

Next up: Doug keeps helping Alexa, because he's a nice guy. (And because I'm this close to shipping them, oh wait, I just did. Maybe.) Non fluff, but sweet.