Elpis was known for being chilly, but it did nothing to help the spiked fever that plagued the cowgirl known as Nisha. She nudged her orchid-coloured hat higher on her head, hoping to ease some of the heat that had been gathering underneath its brim and making it more difficult for her to breathe. Dark hair was matted to her forehead and her eyes burned with each blink. She should have stayed in bed. Should have called it a night, curled up under the sheets and soothed her aches with a good bottle of scotch. Instead, she'd gone on a mission with a fever. Not the best idea, but neither was getting left behind while everyone else had fun. She was in this for the thrill, regardless of the toll it would take on her body.

Scavs had managed to get their hands on several Loaderbots, of which Jack feared would be picked apart and reverse-engineered for their own purpose. Jack being Jack, he wouldn't listen to reason, that it was more likely the scavs would rip the bots apart just to add some armour to their vehicles or use the wiring for something stupid. But the recent paranoia of a certain betrayal had put him on edge, and now they were out here, doing grunt work that Nisha honestly thought was beneath her. But if it got a few bullets into some heads...

They'd traced the scavs back to this place, some garage tucked away between some rocky outcroppings, away from the torks and kraggons. The sounds of grinding metal and heavy pounding echoed from inside, and there was the occasional flash of light and sparks from whatever they were working on. That was likely what kept the creatures away, though Nisha harboured a guess it had more to do with the stench of piss along the jagged rock walls that she now leaned against.

She sighed, slowly coming around to the stage of regret. Her lungs felt heavy and her limbs barely had the energy to keep her upright. Herself and the ice queen had found refuge on one side of the building, while ClapTrap, Wilhelm and the college kid with too much student debt were across the way. Athena was on the roof of the building, scoping things out. She preferred working alone, she'd said.

"Are you quite alright, darling?" The forced accent of the tall sniper woman roused her from her dizziness, and Nisha realized she'd been slipping down the wall. She cleared her throat and resumed her position, not wanting to turn around and see that ever-smug look on her face.

"Why? Are you suddenly giving a shit?" She tapped at her hat again. She hated being fretted over, even more so by someone who already saw herself as being above everyone. She hadn't liked her the first time they'd met; now she merely tolerated her presence since they shared a fondness for killing.

"For a bandit? Hardly. But I'd hate for everything to go... how did Alistair put it... "bollocks up" because you're not up for this task." Aurelia pursed her lips and pretended to examine her nails through her gloves with a look of disgust. This was not the most suitable place for someone of her calibre.

"Worry about yourself," Nisha replied through gritted teeth. As if her illness wasn't bad enough, now she was being ragged on by the stylish billionaire. What she wouldn't do to wipe that posh attitude and expensive lipstick off her face...

"I got this under control. I've been riding this rodeo longer than you've been sucking on those silver spoons of yours."

"Is that so..." Aurelia didn't want to point out the age difference of her being the cowgirl's senior. Better it leave it be. "Then why, my dear, are you trembling?"

Nisha snarled and shut her eyes. She'd hoped that no one would have noticed, that the immediacy of the situation would have kept everyone else distracted. But the rivers of ice running through her veins made it difficult to hide it any longer. Goose pimples rose to her exposed arms and she quickly rubbed at them to keep them at bay.

They put you down if you show weakness.

"You're not afraid, are you?"

"Fuck off..." she replied weakly. Fighting on three fronts was starting to take a toll on her but she was too stubborn to give in. "Why don't you just leave me alone, Hammerlock?"

She coughed and spat across the way, then sought refuge against the wall to remain upright once more. The seconds were starting to feel like hours and her stomach flip-flopped with hunger and illness. She was afraid she was going to throw up at this point, and that would seal the deal as to her role in this mission. Her eyes were fluttering closed for just a second when she felt a gloved hand grab her chin. She reacted instantly, a gun pressed to the side of a head, scrutinizing blue eyes staring down at her with slight concern but mostly disgust.

She was determined to never let anyone touch her like that ever again. Yet she found herself relaxing in the heiress' grip. The diadem on her wrist flared to life and Nisha could feel the air growing colder around her, felt it bathing her skin in calm waves that started to wipe away the fever. Still, she shivered. The cold within now matched the cold without and the trembles grew ever more violent. She chewed at her lip in irritation for the lack of self-control, for not being able to keep her secret under wraps. She felt humiliated at being treated like this and almost wished she had stayed home.

The arm around her waist, however, kept her in place. Provided a small sense of warmth as she felt her head loll into the crook of the woman's shoulder. The scent of perfume - some kind of spicy vanilla - filled her nostrils and almost washed away the stink of urine that pervaded the air. She felt her knees buckle and the tall woman's arm tightened even more.

"Must you?" Aurelia remarked with a roll of her eyes. "I didn't sign up for babysitting duties."

Nisha scowled and her gun arm finally fell away, her weapon clattering to the moondust-covered ground. There wasn't time for this. They had a job to do and if they weren't careful...

Another flash of the diadem, a slight squeeze of the gloved fingers, and her attention returned to the woman keeping her from faceplanting into the dirt.

"Would you like me to take you home, darling?"

The way she said that word put Nisha's teeth on edge. As if she were some plaything for the heiress' amusement, another jester in her court. She summoned what strength she had left and took a swing but her weak attempt at a slap was easily blocked.

"Now see here!" Aurelia growled under her breath as she pinned Nisha to the wall, trapping her with her own tall stature. "If you're going to continue acting like this, then I'll treat you like the child you are, you brat!"

"You're calling me a brat? Says the woman with turbo mansions and more money than she knows what to do with," the cowgirl replied with a sneer. She might not have the energy to aim properly but a verbal spat was always up her alley. Especially with a woman like Hammerlock. Getting an argument going was an easy distraction.

"At least I carry myself with dignity, poise, and grace. You spit and swear and think you own the world just because you killed a few bandit leaders. The king of rats is still a rat." Aurelia flipped the hat off Nisha's head and froze it in midair, the large chunk of ice floating and spinning to the ground.

"I ain't no rat."

"If it looks and smells like a rat, what else can it be?"

Before Nisha could digistruct her shotgun and press it squarely to the expensive double-breasted coat, her sickness finally devoured the last of her energy. Forced to her knees, she clutched at her chest, suddenly finding it quite hard to breathe. Aurelia tsked, rolled her eyes and hoisted the cowgirl off her feet.

"Let go of me, you bitch," she wheezed. It hurt to keep her eyes open. It hurt too much to even move. What she wouldn't do for a hot bath right about now.

Aurelia ignored her completely as she typed out a quick message to the others, informing them of the change in circumstances. Someone else was going to have to take over their positions to get the job done. In the meantime, she and her new "patient" were going to hole up at the rendezvous point until the task was completed.

Nisha finally came to, curled up on her side and covered with something warm. Thick bullymong fur tickled at her cheek and she rolled over to find the baroness kneeling over her, still tending to her fever with her diadem. She looked mostly annoyed, put off that she wasn't sniping scavs, but the scowl softened when she discovered the cowgirl was awake.

"Your fever has faded if you care." She sat back on her haunches, her arms crossed. "But that doesn't mean I'm about to just let you leave."

"Like you can stop me?" Nisha shrugged off the coat but was shoved back to the ground by a firm hand.
"Look at that, looks like I can." Aurelia neared, her glare renewed. "If you ever compromise the mission like that again, I'll see to it that you remain on that station indefinitely."

Nisha looked from her face to the hand keeping her down. Who the hell did this woman think she was?

"I don't answer to you."

"No, but you think Jack will keep you around if you keep being a screw-up?"

"I'm not a screw-up!" She grabbed the tall woman by the neck and squeezed. She'd been called that too often, had it drilled into her skull so many times she'd started to believe it. It wasn't until she'd left and made a name for herself as a bandit-killer that the layers of insecurity fell away.

But Nisha wouldn't get the chance to see the baroness' eyes bulge from her sockets or her skin take on a purplish hue from a lack of oxygen. Her hand was quickly wrenched away before then and pinned to the wall behind her. She was taken aback by the sudden gesture, her breath stolen at bearing witness to the heiress' unrelenting nature.

"For once in your life," she whispered as she captured the cowgirl's other wrist and joined it with the first. "Trust someone who knows what they're doing."

Trust wasn't something that came easy for Nisha, especially when it came to her own affairs. She preferred having no one else to rely on but herself because if something went wrong, it was only her ass that needed saving. And yet, despite her bitterness towards the Hammerlock, they had been on so many missions together that it was hard to say that she didn't trust her to cover her back on occasion.

"Now do you want me to take care of this fever or not?"

Despite her gut instinct, she found herself relaxing, giving herself over to the woman's healing hand. Gold-yellow eyes met fierce blue ones as she felt the power of the diadem wash over her again, its chill less intense but still just as euphoric in its ability to take her heat away. Slowly, she was feeling better... and yet, she didn't want any of this to stop. She gave Aurelia's grip a small test and felt her respond in kind, that soft leather against her skin, keeping her wrists trapped in place... the woman's face started to drift to her left in her vision before snapping back into place. Nisha felt her mind begin to dull as she tested it again, and felt a much stronger response. The downward curl of those red lips stole a little of the air in her lungs as she allowed the woman to work, that hint of disgust at her disobedience. it was her second nature to push boundaries, see just how far she could go before the last threads of patience snapped. That "break" here and now, however, would end the euphoric ripples; they would go back to bitching, snide comments, and fighting over kills. For the moment, this was a welcome change.

The why still eluded her: why she was allowing her to do this, why she even trusted her in the first place, why Aurelia even gave two shits about her health. They weren't friends and they certainly didn't have anything positive to say about the other, but what Aurelia was offering was what she needed at the moment and she wasn't about to argue.

Aurelia took note of the quickening pulse in Nisha's neck, drumming away like a terrified horse she once had. She'd never managed to tame that thing, no matter how she tried. The cowgirl seemed pretty untamable too... yet here she sat, allowing herself to be worked on, submitting herself to Aurelia's steady, icy hand. And that gave her a power trip she couldn't ignore. Her skin buzzed with electricity as she moved the diadem on her wrist to a new fevered location, her vision feeling sharper as something ticked in the back of her mind. Something she couldn't put her finger on, and likely didn't want to. Not all answers had to be known; there was more fun in the mystery and discovery themselves.

"Better?" she asked quietly, her eyes never leaving hers. Nisha nodded then swallowed, her eyes drifting to that glowing blue gem for just a second.
"Turn over."
What could she do but obey? She shouldn't have and wouldn't have under any other circumstances... yet her commanding voice dictated that she had no other choice, that there was no room for discussion. Her no-nonsense tone had her enraptured for more, and she rolled onto her side as she'd been told. She gasped when she felt the cold against the fevered skin of her back. Would have reveled in the sensation more if not for Aurelia's amused chuckle. Shewould have kicked her off and headed back home if not for the fuzzy dullness that plagued her mind and settled into her limbs.

"How much longer?" she asked, though she had no desire for any of this to end anytime soon. It was just a way to fill the silence.

"You're done when I say you're done. Now be quiet."

Aurelia touched at each vertebra, saw each pinprick of gooseflesh rise to attention at her work, watched Nisha's scapulae rise and fall and shiver with each breath she took. It was mesmerizing to see one as rough as her, as uncouth and stubborn as her, to be reduced to a ball of putty in her hands. How could one pass up such power, to dictate her every move with just a word and have her obey?

The exertion of control gave birth to itching waves along the back of her skull, like a million tiny needles massaging her brain, encouraging her to continue this further. Everything in her periphery grew duller, fading into the background as if a fog had settled around her. There was only Nisha to focus on, to make her feel better, to stop her incessant whining and stubborn need to continue unchecked.

For those few long minutes, unique chords struck intensely within them, completely separate and unaware of each other. Aurelia's was sharp and high, repeating ad nauseam and demanding her attention, inspiring a ringing in her ears that made it hard to think; Nisha note was low, off-key, difficult to decipher if you didn't know what to look for, but its vibrations continued long after the note ended, leaving her feeling languid in a way entirely different from the illness she suffered.

There but not. The frequencies passed each other, never touching, slipping between each ripple unchecked, unaware that there was another there that would seal together the out-of-tune, unrehearsed melody being born between them. All it would take was one word to bring it all together, one person to take on the role of conductor and it could solidify into something... beautiful. Rich. Different. Satisfying.

"Where the hell were you two!?"

Aurelia shut her eyes and extracted herself from the fog-filled bubble they'd been wrapped in; the enforcer's gruff voice did have a way of ruining everything. She turned, tight-lipped, and folded her arms over her chest.

"This silly girl sprained her ankle and I was taking care of the swelling. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yeah, we had a plan! We were getting our asses handed to us out there!"

Timothy peeked around Wilhelm's shoulder and gave them a small wave. His face was smudged with dirt and streaks of sweat, but he otherwise looked fine.

"From where I'm standing, you seemed to have managed just fine without us."

As they argued, Nisha couldn't help but wonder about the baroness' lie and what reason she would have to cover up the whole thing. Aurelia was the last person she expected to keep her illness a secret, so there had to be some ulterior motive... right? Yet as she got to her feet, she couldn't think of one selfish reason that made sense.

She felt loads better - still a little weak from both her illness and.. whatever had just taken place - and stretched the stiffness out of her shoulders and back.

"If you two hens are done pecking at each other, I'd like to get back. It's fucking cold out here and I didn't even get the satisfaction of shooting anyone." She forcibly brushed past Aurelia with a scowl, a look that made Timothy recoil out of her way.

Aurelia huffed at the jolt to her arm, a string of belittling remarks weighing on the tip of her tongue ready to be slung at the cowgirl as she watched her leave.

"Not even a thank you, darling?" she called out.

Nisha glanced back over her shoulder for just a second before disappearing behind the edge of the doorway... and for just that second, Aurelia swore she saw something there. Small, barely recognizable, but it was much different from the usual glare she got. There was no meanness to the look, just...

She couldn't find the word for it.