A/N: Alexa needs help on a mission, and flips a coin. Luckily, it comes up Doug. Now to choose the right outfit…

Alcohol, mild swears, and things that sound a lot naughtier if somebody other than Alexa were saying them. All the wonderfulness (except Speedy) belongs to the mad geniuses of MONOLITHSOFT, I'm just borrowing it. I promise to try to leave it as nice as when I found it.

The Repenta Diner was about as loud as could be, full of BLADEs and civilians celebrating the recovery of the Lifehold. It had been like that for weeks. Mostly relief and joy, but partly people enjoying the last moments of their not quite real lives, when outrageous behavior couldn't affect your lungs or liver or other more delicate areas. Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, all were soon to be reunited, that was splendid and worth celebrating. But not just yet, which also was a reason to rejoice hard for one more remaining Friday.

The noise was ear splitting, and her date was losing what little subtlety he had two hours ago. Alexa was just a little fed up with it. Still, all the ruckus did not cover the raging argument going on behind her. Argument wasn't quite right. The woman was reciting a very long and practiced list of her boyfriend's failings. Boring. Gloomy. Cheap. Generally unappreciative and full of himself. Loser. Alexa was enjoying it far more than was healthy, which was more a measure of her own boredom than agreement with the mystery woman. A little agreement, sure, she supposed the facts were right, she knew the guy in question, but she didn't place the same weight and disapproval on them.

She wondered if the woman was going to mention pickiness, and if she didn't, would it be okay if Alexa suggested it? The thought made her grin, which was a mistake, because Frye really needed no encouragement whatsoever. He grinned back, wolfishly, and lunged at her. She twisted her smile a fraction and shoved him back onto his bar stool, not going stingy on the elbow. He had the good grace to stay put. Good, he was staying in character. This was strictly a casual Friday night hang out, as well they both knew. He'd try something, she'd say no, again, he'd go back to drinking and shouting at every other regular in the place. Everybody happy. Alexa turned slightly to take another sip of her own drink. She was trying to work up the nerve to take a peek at the woman lodging her formal complaint to the Department of Pathetic Boyfriends. His own defense seemed to consist entirely of "But baby…," which was not going to win him any points. That's true on any planet.

What she was not expecting was a shriek of anger, and a largish BLADE slamming into her as his barstool toppled over. Girlfriend had apparently heard "But baby" one too many times, and had given Mr. Boring a healthy shove. Alexa watched as the woman headed towards the exit, storm clouds following in her wake. Then she turned her attention to the BLADE still tilted awkwardly over, practically lying there with his head in her lap.

"Hey, Dougie. Rough night?"

Doug looked up at Alexa from his awkward location, and smiled sheepishly. He was gripping the edge of the bar to keep from landing flat on the floor, but his feet were tangled in the barstool and he generally looked somewhat hopeless. "Hey, little help here?" She levered him upwards in an arc, and he swung back to perpendicular, barstool and all. She was a little worried he'd overcompensate and swing all the way over again, but nope, he managed it perfectly, armor and all. Alexa doubted anyone in the diner had noticed. No one had spilled a drop of beer, so nothing of importance could have happened.

"Nice work. Can I buy you another by way of thank you?"

Frye suddenly decided to pay attention to Alexa again. "Hey, hey, I've been buying the lady drinks, by way of hope to get some. Back off."

"Pfffft, I've been buying my own drinks, you idiot," said Alexa with good humor. "By way of, uh, I dunno, none of your business." She finished the last of her beer. Frye was already swinging his glass at another wobbly BLADE. Doug had ordered a fresh beer, but wasn't really putting his back into it.

Alexa slipped out her comm device, rechecked the bar's clock against her device's time, and slid to her feet. She glanced at the men to either side of her, first at Frye, then at Doug. The calculations in her eyes would have scared anyone with a remaining gram of observation, or sobriety.

"Come on, Doug. You're coming with me."

Doug looked at her, not without suspicion, and definitely not exactly soberly. "I'm told I'm not very interesting."

"Whatever. Boring is fine. Not really the point. I've got something neat to show you."

He took a last good sip, and followed her through the crowd, out onto the parking lot. Four humans were shrieking with laughter to one side. Again. Prone and BLADE were preparing to fight to the other. Again. Fridays at Repenta contained a lot of rituals.

She headed directly towards the Outfitters hangar, Doug loping in half time beside her. "Hey, shouldn't you have said good bye to Frye?"

"Do you really think he'd remember it by tomorrow? Because I get the feeling he's not going to care by 0300."

Doug nodded in agreement. Alexa greeted a few late night workers briefly, and made a bee-line to the test chamber. "Come on, Doug. It's almost midnight and I don't want to waste a minute." Then, in opposition to her words, she stopped in front of the door and pulled out her comm device.

"Look, Alexa, I think I better head home. I'm kind of drunk and…"

"Shhh. God, this is so cool. I timed it perfectly. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…" She skipped zero, slipping her comm device back in her pocket, and punching in the code. She stepped through the door eagerly. Doug followed, more slowly, his face showing lines of worry and resignation.

Inside the test chamber stood a single skell. Alexa led him towards it, her feet impatiently dancing on the deck. Not much larger than a level 20 baby skell, armor a sort of uninspired dark and dusty blue. Flight unit extended above the shoulders, feet more slender and pointed, almost on tip toe. Doug couldn't place the model, but Alexa looked up at it with barely contained glee.

To hell with that. When she turned to look at Doug, her glee slopped all over the place. "Behold! The Sakuraba SR005, all mine for 24 hours starting 1 minute ago. Isn't it amazing? Let's go."

"What? Me? I'm in no shape to pilot a skell."

"Like I'm letting you touch the controls. No, I need shotgun, and you're elected."

"By who?"

"They won't let me take it out alone, the party poopers. So I promised I'd take backup. Well, she got sick, so I had to forage a bit. It was going to be Frye, but honestly, you're a better choice."

"Thanks?"

"I was going to hope he passed out, so I could just sort of shovel him into the side seat."

Doug started to laugh. "Really? You think that would have worked?"

"Maybe I have something the techs have been testing. Maybe I could have used it on him."

"Alexa!"

"Not really. Cheese and crackers, what kind of monster do you think I am? Don't answer that," she added as Doug started to reply. "I was already trying to come up with a new plan, when you dropped into my lap like a big old apple. I gotta send that girlfriend of yours a thank you note."

"I think we'd need to go out on at least three dates to be boyfriend-girlfriend," Doug muttered.

"Oh, she'd probably have gone on five dates just so she could have dumped you good and proper. Lucky me, she got impatient. So, come on. Strip."

Doug gaped at her, open mouthed.

Alexa stood, hands on her hips, completely serious. "You heard me, soldier. There is no way you're going to fit with all that bulky armor on."

"I'll be in the back jump seat."

"Sorry, this baby is a prototype. No jump seats. You're going to have to wedge yourself right next to me."

"This is insane. I'm going home."

"Oh no you don't." She moved to block his route to the door. Like he couldn't plow right through her, but she had the power of justice on her side. "I rescued you from a concussion or worse. That means you owe me. We've already wasted 5 minutes, so get that armor off and let's go, Dougie."

"I am not going out on a mission without my armor."

"And I'm not going to try and squeeze you into the cab with that coating of junk on you. There is no space. Plus, you'll scratch up the interior."

"Come on, Alexa, this is crazy."

"Doug, I can't stand it another minute. Strip out of that armor or I'm coming at you with a can opener."

"Sheesh, control yourself, why don't ya, Alexa?"

[Pity the poor Candid and Credible technician, making his way on his late night rounds, about to enter the test hangar when he heard the end of this heated exchange. He turned on his heel and fled, and never quite thought of Alexa as the untouchable and insensitive Skellhead that the other techs held her to be. She never thanked him for that regard, nor understood it, but he was not to be dissuaded for as long as he lived.]

"At least let me run home and get some skell gear."

"No way. You'll take one look at your couch and find your true love, second only to your wallet." Her face lit up with sudden inspiration. "That gives me an idea. We've got to have some gear here that you could wear."

Doug sighed. "You're in no condition to be piloting a skell either, Alexa. Nobody in that bar is safe."

"Buzzz! You win the so-wrong prize. I was drinking non-alcoholic beer the whole time. Bleah. Yet another reason to keep Frye from paying. Honestly," she looked at Doug in disappointment, "do I look that stupid?"

Doug looked very sorry indeed. Aww, poor guy, he was actually worried he'd hurt her feelings. And she'd let him think that, if he'd just strip and get in the cab so they could go already.

"Okay, okay, I'll change gear. What have you got?"

Alexa pulled him over to a side area, where a rack and shelf stood with an underused look. She started flipping through the gear while Doug yawned beside her, scratching his sideburns occasionally. "Nope, too small, too small, bulky, too small, too small, ah, take this, and too small, no, nope, too small, too small, way too pointy, er… I think it's going to have to be this upper gear."

Doug looked in disbelief at what he now held in his hands.

"Come on. Daylight's burning."

"It's midnight."

"Darkness is burning. Slip those babies on and let's move."

"I am not going out in pajama bottoms and … and …" he stuttered to a halt.

"I'll have you know, those are some of Meredith's best stuff. Hot off the presses, you know?"

"It's an ace bandage!"

"It is nothing of the sort. Golly, Doug, it's time you expanded your way of thinking. Come on come on come one!"

Doug sighed again. "Like I have anything better to do…"

"That's the spirit! I'll help you with your buttons."

Doug dodged away. "No thank you, I'm not that drunk I can't take off my own … gah! Just turn around, okay?"

"Why? I've got brothers."

"I'm not your brother. Turn around, Alexa."

Alexa was happy enough to comply. She strolled over to the skell, gazing at its pulchritude, and doing a few quick scans to make sure that it was fueled and all the other levels were fine. She might be giddy, but she wasn't anything like stupid. As she ran and reran some checks, she heard various thuds of heavy armor hitting the deck, and stifled swears, and even one surprisingly high pitched yelp. Doug had probably forgotten to make sure the upper armor was switched off before putting it on.

"Can I turn around now?" Alexa whined.

"I feel like a circus clown," Doug was muttering. The silvery blue leggings clung to his body like a second skin, where it wasn't his actual skin on display. The upper, er, garment skimmed across his chest, side to side, no up, no down. He looked fabulous, as far as Alexa was concerned. Nothing pointy or heavy to dig into her side while they blasted around for as long as the fuel held out.

She patted the augment slot on his chest, making sure it was set for skell usage. Silly man, he'd left it turned off. He might have been just as naked as he was so afraid of being if he did that. She gave it a twist, and felt the hum of the ether defense coat him.

"Stop messing with that," he said, jumping back. So he was ticklish. Alexa didn't care.

"Doug, if you don't turn it on, it's not going to do you any good."

"I don't think it's going to do much good as is."

"Man, you are sweeping the so-wrong-prize tonight. That gear is quality goods. It'll protect you from pretty much anything, nowadays. They got their little stability problem licked almost a month ago, but no one's noticed. Besides, we aren't looking for a fight. Tonight is all about fun fun fun!" She beamed up at him. This was going to be so good, she could hardly wait.

Doug frowned. "I'm going to regret asking this, but what's so special about this skell?"

Alexa face lit even more brightly, her grin growing to a broad smile. "I am so glad I picked you, Doug. It only took you 18 minutes to ask that question. Get in the cab and I'll tell you."

He stopped just before he hopped in. "Weapons."

"The 005 has a pretty standard compliment, nothing special but it'll do."

He wasn't moving. Why wasn't he moving? "Ground weapons. We'll need them."

"Doug, Doug. Listen to me. This trip is all about the ride. I do not intend to touch ground for 23 hours, 41 minutes."

He crossed his arms across his chest as an expression of pure mule settled on his features. "We don't leave New LA without full gear."

She huffed but decided not to waste time on an argument she was doomed to lose. "Fine. Let's go back again and see what we can borrow."

The fruits of their second search were better than the armor hunt. Doug declared himself satisfied with photon sabre and fairly light beam gun, again Meredith products, Alexa noted smugly. She snapped her own gear into the weapon slots behind the seats. Finally, it was time to get in the skell.

And again, Doug balked. "What is it now?" she hissed. She was going to agree to whatever was stopping them, she knew that already. He just needed to spit it out.

"My armor. I can't just leave it there."

"You think one of us Outfitters is going to steal it?!"

He shrugged and looked sideways. "Somebody might think they could use it for something. Repurpose it. It's kind of beat up."

"I'll toss it in my locker, okay?"

"Thanks, Alexa."

"You better be buckled in by the time I get back."

He flashed her a grateful smile. "Yes, mom."

She gathered up his armor and made a dash for her locker outside. He'd collapsed it rather neatly, so it was surprisingly easy to wrangle. She could see his point: the armor had seen better days. Patched and repatched, very nicely done, but close inspection revealed the scars from months of hard fighting. Still, she gave a low whistle when she took a peek at the augments. She needed to get a list of those, because they looked to be a brilliant build, balanced right between power and defense, risk and reward. Leaning dangerously close to risk, but not quite. If Sakuraba could build that into some of their oh-so-boring if effective heavy gear, maybe they could take a bite out of the hot head market that Six Stars was squatting on.

Focus, girlfriend. We've got a skell to pilot, and a world to put tread marks across. When we aren't burning up the sky. Because, if this prototype was half what they promised, she was going to hit heaven within the next 30 minutes. She wondered if she could pump "La vie en rose" through the skell's sound system. Because, oh yes, this baby came with surround sound. Not jump seats. She just loved this dev team's priorities. Still, probably not a good idea during a test run. Not exactly what she needed in the background of her data commentary. But someday, aw yes, someday.