If someone had told Lena that she'd be attempting to have a civil conversation with a mermaid a few weeks ago, she'd have called them downright barmy and inquired about their mental health. Now, on the other hand…

Keeping her eyes trained on the taller woman, she took the nearest flipped over chair, dragging it upwards and setting it back on its four wooden legs before gingerly sitting down and facing the mermaid in front of her. Without a surface to lean on, Lena rest her slightly sweaty palms in her lap, twisting her gloved fingers together as she thought of what to say. The last person she'd told about her… edition, was Angela, and that was bad enough with the curious doctor constantly asking questions about her past, especially as the ship's medic had been pulling at Lena's collar to take a peak of the blue light, that part was particularly awkward while she was trying to conceal her gender.

Flash back sequence

"Christ, Ange!"

For the fourth time that evening, Lena had to slap away at Angela's hand; the hand in question which had been trying to pull her collar to the side, withdrew itself quickly.

"I'm sorry!"

They both sat in the ship's medbay, at Angela's request; exactly a week after she'd signed up to sail under The Bastion, and although she had found herself somewhat comfortable around the young doctor already, she didn't feel the desire to show the woman her accelerator, or her binding wraps for that matter. Lena wrapped her hands around her upper arms, shielding her chest away from the doctor's prying eyes and curious fingers.

Angela had tried her best to not look so disappointed, she really had. "I don't understand why you refuse to show me, Leo. You are a survivor, are you not?"

Lena's fingers curled against the cotton of her t-shirt sleeves; blunt fingernails dug into the orange fabric as she clenched her fists, hugging herself. Really, at this point she could have told Angela about her gender, confessed to her that it was all a lie. The opportune moment she'd been waiting for-

"I'm scared, Ange, scared I'll be seen differently."

Coward.

End of flash back

What she said that day was only half true. Most of the time, Lena couldn't give a toss about how differently people would see her with the chest piece; already used to being called all sorts, but she needed another excuse as to why she wouldn't show the glowing device on her chest. At least there was some truth to her words, especially regarding her new crew mates if they found out that she was a woman.

She looked over at the tall figure, noticing how she shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she stood; restless, arms crossed with her fingers tapping against them.

"You can sit down y'know. I don't bite, unless asked." Lena smiled at her own joke, even more so at the other woman, who glared in her direction. Lena reckoned it'd be fun bugging this one.

"I would prefer to stand."

The engineer shrugged, "Suit yourself!" the taller woman said nothing in response, patiently waiting for the human to begin.

Lena lowered her gaze down to her hands; sitting in her lap, picking at the stitching on her glove. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to start.

"Alrighty… guess I'll start from the beginning then." Lifting a hand to pull at her goggles, she peeled them off her face for them to hang around her neck, resting against her chest. She blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust to normal lighting without the orange tint of her goggles. "Few years ago, I joined the RAF. Top of my division I was! Got called a young prodigy at nineteen." she said with a small chuckle, ruffling her hair between her fingers as she peered up at the taller woman, whose attention was on her, completely undivided.

Lena smiled as she carried on. "It was quick work for me, getting through the exams and protocols for flight school. Passed all my tests with flighin' colours. I was a pilot, see?" She swivelled both ways in her seat to show the mermaid the embroidered badges on her jacket sleeves; one with the union jack and on the other, her flight level and call sign. "They gave me the call sign "Tracer" because of how fast I made my way up the ranks, haven't been called that in years, mind."

The mermaid's eyes studied her patches, taking in all the little details she was told. As impatient as she was for the human to get on with it for them to carry on with her search, she couldn't deny that she was curious to hear more.

"I was running recon down in Dorado with a few other lads, had to scope out and see what the enemy were up to. Getting into their base was a bit too easy, didn't feel quite right, y'know?" Her smile began to fade as Lena recalled how she, along with her group, snuck through empty hallways and unlocked doors, that was before the gunshots started whizzing about. Even now, Lena could hear them ringing in her ears. "Turns out the ruddy bastards were expecting us, gave us a nasty surprise that did,"

Lena fidgeted, twisting her fingers together; a nervous habit she'd picked up. "I… we, lost a lot of good men that day, some with families, others were married and such." She remembered going to each funeral. Meeting the families of the dead was unpleasant, especially being a survivor. Many of them questioned why she lived and they didn't.

Her shoulders sagged. "I blamed myself for that, should've known it was a trap but I went ahead anyway…" she looked up to face the mermaid; still hard to read, her face void of emotion. Lena gave a sigh and continued. "We got caught, I was one of the luckier ones; managed to get rescued after about a week or two? Can't really remember and I try not to. Ain't no good dwellin' on the past, I learnt that the hard way."

She leant forward in her chair, crossing her arms over each other and resting them across her knees as she looked down; tapping her fingers against her elbows. Opening up to this woman was proving to be easy so far. Lena was sure it was to do with the lack of response she was receiving. Having someone just listen without speaking was comforting. "I'm telling you this because it's part of the reason I have this hunk of metal on my chest."

Unconsciously, she lifted her hand to rub the place her accelerator sat innocently under the wrap she wore, wincing as her fingers swept over the scars she knew were there. "They conducted experiments on us, I was one of the few jammy sods who survived. I was close to dying when I was rescued, mind you, that's how I met Winston."

A small smile returned to light up her features at the thought of her scientist friend. "He looked after me, got me back on my feet. He even helped me tweak this thing a bunch." Lena added, gesturing towards her chest. The mermaid's eyes flicked over her low collar and back to her face briefly. "Not really sure what this thing was supposed to do before we fixed it, could have been a weapon maybe? I made a few blueprints based off of the design and Winston helped me with the more sciencey bits." Now that the hardest part was over, talking about Winston was an easy breeze. "I doubt I'd be here without him, he stuck it out with me when other scientists gave up."

The mermaid made a small thoughtful noise, close to a hum as she took in that information. "So, what does it do now?"

Lena frowned as she thought that over. Winston knew more about what her accelerator could do, or at least the time travelling part. "It's… complicated." She settled on, which earned her a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed look.

"I'm sure you can do much better than that sad excuse of an answer."

She huffed out a laugh. "Suppose I can, but forgive me for being a bit reluctant to share my life support information with you."

"... Je suis désolé. I did not mean to-"

"It's alright… this just isn't exactly something I trust people with so lightly." From the look of the mermaid's face, she seemed pretty genuine with her apology, sincere even. Which was a surprise in itself. An apology wasn't something she thought she'd ever hear from the other woman's lips. Lena just hoped this would help in gaining her trust. "I'm also wonderin' how much you'll believe."

"Try me."

Well, she asked for it.

"I can sort of control my own time… Winston's words, not mine!" she added after seeing the sceptical expression on the mermaid's face. "I can blink forward and recall back, if I get in a pickle." She tapped an index finger against the brass plate on her chest, "This keeps me in the present timeline, an anchor I guess you could call it? It's like my second heart; once the light goes out… so do I."

"I see…"

Silence spread between them both as Lena allowed those words to sink in; lowering her gaze to her hands, a frown marring her features. The slight shame from having the machine strapped to her chest increased just a tad every time she spoke about it, it was a constant reminder of what she went through. She was sure the taller woman would think her a freak, just like the rest.

What she didn't expect was for the mermaid to break the awkward silence.

"You are not like the rest of your kind. That, I think, is something to be celebrated, given a human's reputation."

She looked up to the woman's face in surprise, only to be greeted by the mermaid's curious expression. And of course, Lena being herself, decided this conversation was getting too serious. She grinned. "Careful, I might think you're actually starting to like me."

The other woman snorted, "You are delusional."

"You haven't denied it!"

That drew an interesting look from the mermaid features. "I suppose I haven't, although 'like' is a strong word. To put it simply, I don't hate you as much."

Lena was fine with that. If she was somewhat less hated by this woman, she'd take it. Any doubt she'd had about this whole situation had flown out the window. She held her tongue, deciding against replying back with a quip; what she didn't need right now was for the mermaid to think she was getting too comfortable and scare her off.

"A deal is a deal. You may ask your question."

"Huh?" That pulled Lena from her thoughts, she blinked rapidly in confusion until she remembered their agreement. "Oh, I almost forgot! No need to look so tense," she added after seeing the woman's jaw lock and her stance still. "I'm not gonna demand any secrets from you."

She could have sworn she heard the taller woman mumble, "I'd like to see you try" under her breath, but decided to ignore that. "Then what do you want from me?"

Lena pondered her answer, knowing that asking any big or complicated questions would result in suspicion, and that was the last thing she wanted in this situation. She'd taken note that the mermaid wasn't one for many words.

"How about your name?"

She noted how the other woman stiffened slightly; frozen in place, the surprise evident on her features. "Of all the questions you could have asked me, you chose my name."

Lena shrugged, "I don't have anything to call you by… I'll even tell you my name? How 'bout that? Two answers for the price of one, bargain!"

A raised eyebrow. "You're assuming I want your name. I am perfectly fine with calling you 'human'."

The engineer grimaced. She was starting to regret her offer. "Alright, tha's just rude. I take it back if you don't w-"

"Amélie. My name is Amélie."