Author's Note: I like the way Seo talks to Dave. She doesn't let him get away with pushing her around. Might even be good for him, in the end.

To respond to my guest reviews: Yep, you gotta love Seo's obsession with chocolate. And how she hurriedly tucks it away when she hears that the person she offered it to isn't very nice. There's something very endearing about that.

Dave's psychology is interesting, isn't it? Let's see if Seo can teach him something about trust.

Rechortia is a term I just made up. No reference to anything in any canon or books or spin-offs.

Enjoy!

"Zed Square?" Timmo said, into his communicator. "Zed Square!"

Nothing.

Timmo swore, then flicked a button. "Dave. You picking up? Can't get Zed Square on the comms."

No answer from Dave, either.

Timmo set down the comms equipment. "Something's happened to them." He flipped around with settings on his life sign reader, but his expression was no less grave. "They're still registering as human, but neither is responding."

"Maybe they just don't want to hear what you have to say," Dawn offered.

"Or they could be in a communication dead-zone," Alison said.

Timmo shook his head. "It's Dave," he muttered. "Always knew he might turn on us, someday. That's the risk of the Pachoran Slave Cluster kids — best fighters, but they'll gun you down in a second."

He checked his guns, then strapped one over his arm. Turned back to face the women, indecision written across his face.

"Whoa, wait!" Dawn cried. "You're going out to mow down your own team member?"

"If it comes to that," said Timmo. "We got a mission. And I'm here to make sure it's fulfilled. No room for traitors or lunatics in this chevauchée group." His face turned into a deep frown. "Only question is… what to do with you two?"

Alison and Dawn looked at one another.

"I should leave you somewhere safe," said Timmo. "But if Dave's cracked, only safe place for you is with me and Zed Square. Someone who can defend you."

Dawn crossed her arms. "Excuse me? I don't need defending! I fought against—"

Alison elbowed her in the side. "Just play the damsel in distress," she whispered. "It's the only way he'll take us along to rescue Seo!"

Dawn shut up.

Timmo thought a moment longer. Then made his decision.

"Stick by me," he warned Dawn and Alison, making sure that one was on either side, both always in sight. "Don't trust anyone you see. Don't trust Dave. And if we do find your missing friend, remember that she's an Auton, now. She's better off dead."

Alison tried to hide a smirk. "Right…"

As they headed off.

Dave knew exactly where he was going.

He could feel it in his mind. Like a beacon he could follow, calling out to guide him.

He tried to focus on that. Tried to make sure he was grabbing on as tight as he could, with both hands, tried to narrow his thoughts to his mission and blasting apart any Auton he came across. But he caught himself staring at… her.

No.

Focus!

So she was attractive. So her skin was smooth and silky, her eyes bright and shining, her cheeks bending in those beautiful little dimples and her hair gleaming beneath the overhead lighting. So maybe she had the kind of body with the kinds of curves and dips that meant Dave wouldn't be too disappointed if someone wound up using the clothing-dissolving gun on her.

Maybe all that was true!

But what did it matter? Dave had seen lots of hot women, before. That Dawn was a hottie, too. And he'd managed to focus on his mission just fine — even when she was naked.

They were all people. And people were traitors.

Alien. Human. Male. Female. People were always the same. They'd manipulate you, twist you around their little finger, then turn around and stab you in the back.

Seo was the same.

So… why… did he keep looking at her? Why did his mind keep drifting back to her? Why did he feel like every time she gave him that friendly smile… something inside of him was crumbling apart?

No!

Dave snapped himself back to normal. She was alien… partly. He knew how they were. Exerting psychic influences or sending out chemicals and pheromones to try to lure in suckers. Dave wasn't a sucker.

Despite that… he still didn't know why he'd let her come with him.

Nor did he know why he went along with it when they walked past an Auton, and Seo lowered his arm and gave him a stern look that warned him not to shoot. Didn't know why he indulged her, creeping past the Autons and remaining silent, instead of killing the alien bastards dead.

"Are you really going to keep that gun trained on me the whole time?" Seo whispered, when they were half-way there. Creeping down an employees-only stairwell, their feet a gentle patter. "I'm not going to betray you."

"I only have your word for that," Dave replied.

She stumbled on the next step down, and he caught her. Steadied her with one arm, then shushed her and pressed her close to him, both of them against the wall, as they heard footsteps above.

An Auton.

The footsteps paused. Then a door opened, and the Auton left.

For a few moments, they listened to the silence. Waiting, carefully, to see if it would be broken. Or if there were more Autons, lingering nearby to catch them.

But there weren't.

Dave knew it.

He nodded at Seo, and they crept back into the stairwell.

Continuing their descent downwards, towards the lowest basement of the shopping complex.

"You don't want me to get hurt," Seo argued, as they continued. Gave a small laugh. "And I've noticed you carefully positioning yourself around me so that if the Autons shoot, they'll kill you, first, and I'll survive."

Dave didn't answer.

Didn't have any answer to give.

Not even when those soft hands of hers closed over his, around the gun. And she looked deep into his eyes.

"So what's it to be?" she demanded. Pointed the gun directly at her own chest. "Either you trust me enough to put that away — or you kill me right here, right now. Your choice."

"I don't trust you," Dave answered.

"But you're not killing me," said Seo.

Dave's eyes narrowed. He prodded her with the gun. "Let's get going."

But Seo wasn't moving. Her face had settled into a stubborn little frown, her eyes bright and beautiful. "That supposed to make you feel big? Great-big-muscular you pushing around short-little me?"

He was bigger than her.

But she made him feel small.

"I haven't given you away so far," Seo said. "I've helped you more than once to avoid death-by-Auton. If I was going to betray you, I'd have done it by now."

Dave shook his head. "That's not been my experience," he said.

He'd seen betrayals. Too many. He knew that every traitor had different triggers. Different things that made them realize they'd lost the gamble, their bluff had been called, and it was time for the end-game scenario.

Seo shifted her hands so they were around the trigger. Her whole face stern.

"Either you put the gun away," Seo warned, "or I press the trigger myself."

Dave blinked at her. Then shook his head. "You wouldn't," he said. "You're not an idiot."

"No," said Seo. "I'm just trusting you to stop me. Because you don't want me to die."

"Who says I'd care?"

She raised her eyebrows in that way that made her whole face come alive. "You're someone who doesn't believe in rescues, trust, or hope," she said, "but you're here on a rescue-mission. I know what that means. You've got too many deaths on your conscience already."

She flipped off the safety catch with her thumb, then began to exert pressure on the trigger.

"You want me to trust you," Seo hissed. "So I'm trusting you. But are you going to trust me back?"

Dave didn't know why he did what he did next.

He blamed hormones. Chemical imbalances in his brain. It was because she was pretty, and in that moment, he felt like he'd do anything to just make her stop glaring at him, make her give him that beautiful smile.

Dave should have shot her.

But he didn't.

He re-engaged the safety. And holstered the gun.

"I wasn't going to shoot you," Dave said, with a sigh. "I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"The fact that you were making me trust you not to shoot me," Seo said, "while you didn't trust me enough to let me walk on my own without a gun against my back?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Really? That didn't seem remotely unfair to you?"

"You nearly killed me, when we first met," Dave pointed out. "I have every right to be wary."

Seo ran a hand down her face. "Nope. You really don't get it. Not one teensy, tiny little bit."

So they continued.

And she was right — she was helpful. Clever. Fast on her feet and even faster with her mind. Even as they were ambushed by the Autons, at the bottom of the stairs, and had to race away at high speed, zig-zagging to avoid the shots, Seo was still able to think. Dragged him towards a series of complex-looking machinery, and just stood there, challenging the Autons to shoot.

They didn't.

"You are surrounded," one of the Auton shopkeepers told her. "Surrender. Or we'll kill you."

"And risk hitting this machine?" Seo asked. She looked around herself. "I don't know what it does, but you were very careful to try to herd us away from here, back when you were chasing us. I don't think you want it damaged."

Dave reached for his gun, and Seo, without even having to look down, grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him from doing so.

"Which is interesting," Seo continued, "because the power source here seems to be leading in the same direction we were planning to go. Whomever this prisoner is, you're fueling a lot of power in to him. You keeping him alive as some kind of trap for us?"

The Autons lowered their arms.

Then turned, and walked away. Losing interest in Seo and Dave, completely.

Seo frowned. Her mind clearly racing, trying to think through what this might mean. "I wasn't expecting that. I wonder where they're all going?"