Sympathy for the Devil

by Big Demoband

Most, when presented with ADVENT, would not hesitate to ring the death knell for them. The Elders fully expect this as XCOM draws closer to the Hunter's Stronghold. But when faced with a fate far different than what they ever could have imagined, how will the Chosen react in the face of it? Where will their future lead?

21. Belongings

There were only so many times Fal-Mai could count to ten to stall.

Everytime she started counting again, she promised herself that once she hit ten, she'd contact the Commander. She was sure that, as she was counting, she would get up and hit that pad, hailing Eliza. Then she hit ten, her will wavered, and she started again. This time would be the one, Fal-Mai assured herself.

One. Fal-Mai knew what was holding her back now. She had taken the time to think over it, and she now knew why she was still hesitating to join XCOM. It was her Ascension Facility.

Two. It was simple, yes? It could be her first mission—join with XCOM, topple her facility, rid them of one of the last vestiges of her creation. Then she would be free. Then there would be no more monuments to what Helena had done.

Three. She knew her Stronghold would still stand. Perhaps that was another mission she could request—but a building as large as that... might take some more time. Later. It was not as emblematic of her.

Four. The less ADVENT had of her, the better. She had resolved herself. Eliza's words, Helena's actions, her own feelings; everything wrapped into a will to change, to lash out against what had been forced upon her.

Five. To strike against the Elders themselves would be the greatest blow of all. Perhaps there could have been things she could have done better. Fal-Mai had considered it for a long time, and came to the conclusion that her observation of their hypocrisy was right. Mordenna was right.

Six. Mordenna. Yes, he had apologized. Yes, Eliza had vouched for his want to change. Yes, there was a part of Fal-Mai that wanted to see him become far less abrasive. But, if she were to cooperate with XCOM, he would be there.

Seven. What of her downtime, as well? Trying to find a life on a ship where one member hadn't hesitated to kill her in the past, a host of soldiers who would probably still see her as an enemy, and a singular woman who stood for her.

Eight. Eliza could not be everywhere, and Eliza could not tend to Fal-Mai all the time. Not that the Assassin would wish for that—but there would be times she would want to talk and Eliza would be unavailable. What then? Samhien might be a wise ear, but...

Nine. What would she do, if presented with Helena herself? She knew of the Avatars. Even if the Elders were being set back in their goals, what if Helena appeared on the field astride one? Would Fal-Mai be able to kill her? Could Fal-Mai raise a blade against her, essentially her own mother?

Fal-Mai stalled. Her mind wouldn't shift to ten. To try again, and fail? To suffer the consequences? You are not dealing with the Elders anymore. Eliza's standards are not theirs. Yes, but even so... Fal-Mai was certain she would fail eventually, and then how would Eliza see her? But... Mordenna seemed to have "failed," if him barging into her cell was any indication. He seemed more skittish of his own accord when he was brought back—plus, he apologized. She was sure he would rather die than do that under the Elders.

Maybe things could be different. She still didn't want to fail... but maybe she didn't have to. Eliza's standards were not theirs... hopefully. She could only wonder and guess, but there was one way to find out. It wasn't like she was going to be doing anything else if she refused the offer.

Fal-Mai took in a deep breath. "Ten." She then stood up, walked over to the pad and crouched down to access it. There were some options in a list: open door, hail Commander, and SOS. Fal-Mai was pretty sure that opening the door would require a fingerprint or some other form of ID in order to make it work, so she dashed trying it. With a moment's hesitation, she reached up and pressed the button to contact Eliza. The screen shifted to a spinning symbol, then to "Commander Contacted." All she could do was wait, now.

So back she went, standing up and going to lean against the opposite wall. It was... a few minutes, by her own probably inaccurate guessing, but she heard Eliza's footsteps outside of the door. Fal-Mai kept her cloak down as the door slid open. Eliza smiled at her. "Sorry for the wait. What's going on, Fal-Mai?"

Fal-Mai found herself carefully considering her words, but eventually she pieced together just what she wanted to say. "Commander. I have come to my decision. I believe my best place in this life, in this moment... would be to join up with your forces. But," she was quick to say, before Eliza could get anything in edgewise, "I do not come without conditions. I have one or two stipulations that I must address before you can truly consider me to be allied with you."

Eliza looked pretty pleased, even if Fal-Mai had stated that she had some conditions. "Well, let me hear them so I can decide."

Fal-Mai nodded, mostly to herself. "My main wish is that we are to embark on a mission as soon as is reasonable, Commander. There exists a facility that was used to create me—my Ascension Facility, if I recall correctly. I want my first mission to be to take it out. Then, after that is done... you may consider me 'part of the team.'"

Eliza mulled that over a bit, but ended up nodding in turn. "Honestly? That sounds like a plan. I can't say we'll be able to go immediately, but within a few day's time we can start making the trip. Still doing some scanning in the area, but after that? Absolutely."

There it was. Eliza had agreed to her plan. Fal-Mai straightened. "Then do we have a deal?"

"Just a second," Eliza held up a hand, "I have some things I want to clear with you, too. Standard procedure." She paused. "As... standard as 'second time, ever" gets." The Commander cleared her throat. "Firstly, and it probably goes without saying, just try to be on your best behavior. You don't have to be buddies with everyone, of course, but just don't be abrasive or hostile."

"You will find me far more agreeable than my brothers in that regard," Fal-Mai replied, "though I am glad you do not expect me to be friends with everyone."

"Friends are good, but I understand if you're not keen to jump into the idea at the deep end."

Gradually, Fal-Mai would approach the idea. Eliza and Samhien would be it for now. "Your other terms, Commander?"

"Right. Secondly, once I have Jax, I'll be swinging him to our side the best I can—but I figure you've already gathered that."

Fal-Mai lidded her eyes. "You have a daunting prospect ahead of you, Eliza. Jax idolizes and deifies the Elders far more than Mordenna and I ever did. I respected them; he worships them."

Eliza's smile fell in favor of a bit more seriousness. "I'll do as I always do, Fal-Mai—I'll try. Not much in this life has been easy for me, and few worthwhile things are. If it's hard, I'll get through it. But he needs to be given the chance, just as you two have."

Fal-Mai lapsed into silence at that. Truth be told, she was unsure if Eliza would succeed there. Capturing Jax? She would say Eliza had a sporting chance, at the very least. Convincing him to go against his beliefs in the Elders? Easier said than done, went the phrase, and Fal-Mai agreed with it. Having nothing more to say to it, she moved on. "Anything else?"

"Lastly... if you need someone to talk to, someone to confide in, or just a shoulder to cry on... I'm here." She tapped an area just behind her ear. "You'll be given a communicator that can access a general channel on the Avenger, and I'm going to ask Lily what she can do regarding a direct link to my own comms. Like I've said before—I don't want you to fear for questions. I also don't want for you to fear for speaking your mind."

Fal-Mai could hear shadows of her own words in what Eliza said, but something occurred to her. She considered not asking, but judging on what Eliza just said... "What of your soldiers, Eliza? Who may they turn to?"

Eliza smiled gently. "The roundabout concern is noted. But, as for that? Leo styles himself a therapist of sorts, though I think many agree he's outclassed by Samhien. I'm extending what I am to you because I've got a touch more understanding about what's going on... and you may not necessarily trust either of them enough to relate your worries."

With that question handled, Fal-Mai returned to what Eliza offered. A "shoulder to cry on?" Fal-Mai did not fancy herself crying anytime soon, but she supposed it was another metaphor. Eliza was about the only person she trusted enough to get into what had happened to her, even if that trust wasn't much in her eyes. She would remember that for the future. The Assassin looked into Eliza's eyes, searching for something. Somehow, the act made her chest burn... "Those are reasonable terms, Commander. I am at an agreement if you are."

"As am I. Let's get you out of those, then!" With that, Eliza pressed that familiar button on the remote, and Fal-Mai's bonds fell away. Stepping out of her shackles, she rolled her shoulders. The freedom of movement was much appreciated. "Your weapons are down in the Workshop. I think I recall Lily having a question or two about your blade."

"I would be willing to answer," Fal-Mai replied, "depending on the question." Fal-Mai looked towards the door... but it pretty quickly occurred to her that she would have no idea where she was going. Yes, she had been aware for the whole time they had been bringing her in, but it had slipped her mind to memorize the route they took her down. "... would you guide me there?"

"Of course!" Eliza tapped the "open door" button and turned around as it confirmed something. "Right this way. Leave the cuffs, I'll have an engineer come back for them later." Eliza walked out the door, and Fal-Mai followed, ducking under it.

As they left, Fal-Mai took the opportunity to look back. The last time she had been through here, the third cell in the line looked like it still needed some work... but now it appeared completely finished. The whole room did, as a matter of fact, and there seemed to be fine outlines in the ceiling, like plates would slide back and reveal some backup measure. Fal-Mai hoped that they wouldn't need them against her brother.

Eliza set the remote down in a drawer on a table at the far end of the room, and made to walk outside. Something seemed to occur to her though, as she turned back to talk as she walked. "Ah, yeah. Would you be partial to having your own space? Mordenna told me he can't sleep, but I'm unsure if that also extended to you. We've got a few rooms that are largely storage, but off enough on the power grid that we can't use them for anything major. Could clear one out, if you liked—the barracks are a little full, as is."

Fal-Mai considered the proposition for a moment. "I have no need for sleep, Commander, and I am unsure if I could if I wanted to." Fal-Mai had been tired enough to feel like she could sleep before, but had never tried. Maybe there had been a time or two before in meditation... "—But I will not turn down such an offer."

"Grand! We'll see what we can do about that in the coming week or so." She turned back to the path ahead, keeping a good stride. Even so, Fal-Mai found herself having to slow down if she wanted to stay behind the Commander. Couldn't be helped, she supposed.

There was a bit or so of silence, but Eliza was quick to fill it. "So, this Ascension Facility. Is there any part of it that we should be warned of that you know of?"

Fal-Mai shook her head. "It has been over a year since I was there. Whatever details were there at the time are likely to have been changed."

She could hear Eliza mutter "a year" under her breath with consideration. "—You didn't appear until last year, if I recall correctly. Do you remember anything of your former life?"

Fal-Mai blinked. The question seemed outlandish to her... until she remembered that the Elders had chose humans for her brothers. She was made by design. Eliza seemed to be operating under the assumption that the process was the same for her as it was the same for her brothers. "Unless this is a metaphysical discussion, Commander, I have no past life to speak of. I was made as you see me now."

That spurred Eliza into a silent pause. "What you're telling me is that you're a year old."

"As it is, yes."

Eliza shook her head. "I thought the Skirmishers were bad enough, running around as seven year olds in Samhien's case... Fully formed and fully matured, huh? Like a modern day Athena."

Athena. That name seemed familiar. Perhaps Jax had spoken of it in passing, or one of his Priests was named it. He seemed to have a curious fascination with all things mythological. Still, her curiosity ate at her. "Athena...?"

"Ah, right, you probably wouldn't know. Humans used to, long ago—and probably still now in some places—believe in a lot of gods. One particular group, the Greeks, believed in a lot of them. Athena was a goddess representing wisdom, military strategy, justice... a lot of things. What I was referring to was that she was 'born' fully formed from her father's head. He was fine afterwards, of course. That's basically the short of it."

Fal-Mai blinked. "Humans... come up with some very interesting concepts."

"Hey, allegedly a whole city got named after her because she granted it an olive tree. We make some pretty interesting stories." Eliza was quiet for a second. "Made, anyhow. Wonder what will come about when we make it out of this."

"You say that as if you winning the war is a certainty."

Eliza looked back and flashed Fal-Mai a smile. "If I don't believe it, who will?"

The Commander was very certain of herself, that was true. It almost inspired optimism in Fal-Mai as well—she could easily see why humans would want to rally behind her. Fal-Mai inclined her head to her. "Well spoken, Commander."

Eliza chuckled, turning back ahead. She turned down a hallway and eventually ended up at a slightly strange, almost reinforced-looking door. Eliza tapped the pad on the side. "Welcome to the Workshop, Fal-Mai. Watch your head."

The door opened and Eliza slipped on in, Fal-Mai following close behind. A workshop was definitely what she would call this area, with a few workbenches set up with one of them having a few unknown devices on it. Compartments and more unknown machinery lined the walls, with tethered-down crates just beyond the stations. In the middle of the work area, Lily Shen and Mordenna were present, with SYN seemingly shut off and being worked on, chassis open and a device out on a table. Mordenna was working on SYN, Lily was working on the device.

A twinge of regret was all she got to process before Mordenna and Lily looked up. Mordenna was the first to speak. "Commander! And... sister!"

Fal-Mai regarded him. "Brother."

The exchange was followed by a period of silence. Fal-Mai had expected her brother to be quick to fill it—but his eyes flickered to the side as if he was wondering how to begin. Eventually he found what he was looking for and began. "Well! You're here and without your cuffs, I see. Finally batting for XCOM?"

"As I am," she softly replied. "I believe it is the best way for me to go in the light of everything I have learned. It is... certainly the most convenient option to strike at the Elders with."

Mordenna chuckled, gesturing at her with a tool. "What, staking out a life of your own not quite meet the cut?"

Fal-Mai tipped her head up a bit at him. "You would know best why I would prefer the support of XCOM."

His joking face fell. "Yeah, yeah, I was an ass. Still am, probably, but trying to work on that." Oh, he... hadn't gotten what she had meant. She looked to Eliza, then back to him.

"Brother... I had meant our mutual experiences with the Elders, and with regards to the fact that we would want as much help as possible in eradicating them." She offered him a hint of a smile in apology. "Though, your statement still does stand."

He blinked, as if processing that. Then he gave a chuckle. "Well, alright! Hush my mouth I suppose."

"Oh," Lily interjected, "now you're going to do that yourself? Finally."

"Hey!" He pointed the tool at her—it looked like a needle with a thick handle that had a cord that ran to another machine. He'd been applying it to SYN's chassis, it seemed. "You love every goddamn second of my banter and you know it."

Lily blew air out of her nose incredulously. "You make some strange assumptions, Mordenna. Don't think I'll ever make heads or tails of them."

"You're just angry because I cracked the security on your workstation."

"Are you expecting me not to be?"

Eliza cleared her throat, stopping the two of them up. "As glad as I am to see you two have worked out... most of your differences, we've got a purpose to being down here. Lily? Where are Fal-Mai's weapons currently being kept?"

Lily gave an "ah," pointing at a locker against the wall. "In there. I figured Fal-Mai wouldn't want Mordenna messing with them, so I locked them up best I could."

"Please," Mordenna waved it off. "If I wanted in there, I would have done it faster than you could blink. You think I don't know how to lockpick? You wound me, Shen." Getting a touch more serious, he gestured to his sister. "Besides. I may be an idiot but I'm not a dumbass. Don't wanna fuck with her stuff and get myself killed over it."

For one with as strong a deathwish as he had, Fal-Mai found that initially hard to believe. Maybe he just wanted it to be on his own terms... she didn't think on it long, as she shook her head. "I will concede that much. Lily? Where is the key?"

"Hold on," she said, ducking over to one of the tables and checking through the drawers. "Unless Mordenna's gone and put it somewhere else, it should be right... here." As she said that, she stood up, clutching a key. She tossed it to Fal-Mai, and the Assassin smoothly caught it.

"I do not foresee a need for my weapons at the moment..." Fal-Mai squinted at her brother. "Optimistically, at least. But having my key personally will be nice."

"All else fails," Eliza chimed in, "there's the Armory. We've got lockers in there, too. I can only trust that you won't need to worry about the lock being picked?"

By the way she phrased it, it was most definitely aimed at Mordenna. He held both hands up in a pacifying gesture. "Hey. If I wanted to mess with them, new strategy is to ask, right? Which, by the way..." He looked back over to his sister. "I built that shotgun of yours a long time ago. A year? Goddamn. I think I've got at least three different ways to improve it, if you'd let me get my hands on it."

Fal-Mai didn't hesitate in shaking her head. "I will have to refuse. Not that I wouldn't welcome improvements to my arsenal, but..." There was the whole matter of trust, and as much as she was going to try to give him a second chance? Not her weapons, not so soon. "Perhaps after a few missions, when I am convinced I might need the upgrades."

"Right, right..." Mordenna looked defeated and perhaps a touch annoyed at that, but he didn't say much else.

Lily was the one who picked up the slack after that. "Alright, backtrack me here. You made her shotgun too, Mordenna?"

Mordenna perked right back up at the question. "Sure did! Jax's rifle, too, but I don't think I've ever seen him use the poor thing. The Heretic Eradication Rifle's just going to waste like that." He scoffed. "Renamed it the Disruption Rifle, too. Stuffy bastard."

Seeming to ignore the rest of his tangent, Lily pressed on. "You make her sword, too?"

"That? Nah. Just the dagger in the hilt. Elders handed off the sword to her, I'm pretty sure."

Fal-Mai nodded, casting another glance over to her weapons locker. Maybe... she could just carry the blade on her. She meant no offence to Eliza and her crew. Perhaps just some offence to Mordenna. "Indeed. A sword of astral metal, unbreakable by any means. Psionically conductive, as well."

"Unbreakable?" Lily sounded disbelieving. "I'd pay money to test it out, considering I'm sure compounds like that don't even exist."

"Oh, they very much do," Mordenna countered. "My brother's gauntlets are made of the stuff. If he got crushed by a Sectopod, all that would be left of him would be the damn things." Though, it seemed something came to mind for him, as he scowled. "Figures I could never get my hands on the stuff. I just know there's a cache or two of that shit here on Earth but god knows the Elders would never let me get my hands on it."

As the two of them started to talk to each other, Fal-Mai slowly began her walk over to her locker. She'd decided—she would be taking the blade with her. Arashi could stay, she would reclaim it when she needed it. But the blade was something of a comfort item. It was essentially an extension of Fal-Mai herself, and she was able to move it as if it were another limb she had from birth. Almost as close to her as her shroud. Almost.

"If I didn't know any better," Eliza added, "the Elders kind of sound like dickheads."

Fal-Mai crouched down and sought out the lock, inserting the key after a failed attempt and turning it. The locker clicked open and out swung the door, revealing her weapons inside. Her throwing daggers were there as well—that had been a somewhat awkward disarming by Mox, and the experience really hadn't endeared her to him. After a moment of consideration, she slotted them into her belt. Better safe than sorry.

"The Elders are bastards!" Mordenna stated resolutely. "Never let that leave your mind, Lizzie. I'm sure it never will, but everyone's gotta know. I will not rest until the tiniest songbird knows that the Elders can blow it out their asses."

Taking her sword out and holstering it on her back, Fal-Mai stood up and rejoined the group. Not before locking up her locker again, of course, stashing the key on her person for good measure. "You certainly have grown more... colorful in your vocabulary, brother."

He shrugged. "Just part of the liberation, dear sis. You think the Elders like swearing?"

Fal-Mai understood the implication there. It was likely that it was one of the things the Elders used as a flimsy excuse to lecture him with. Still, there was something else that was on her mind. She turned her head to Eliza. "Commander? How soon do you think you will be able to undertake my mission?"

"Let's see..." Eliza tapped her chin. "If you want 'as soon as possible,' I'm predicting about four to five days. I feel like we're close to finding out the source of that transmission in this area. After that, it would just be the flight time needed to wherever your facility is."

"Hold the phone." Mordenna pointed his tool between the two of them. "Fal-Mai gets to send you on missions right out of the doghouse? This is an injustice, Commander, and quite frankly I won't stand for it."

Eliza smirked for a moment, but it was gone quickly. "—Fal-Mai, may I enlighten him?"

She considered that for a moment. To let Mordenna know... this was supposed to be a very personal undertaking for her. Yes, she could accept the company of whoever else Eliza sent with her on the mission, but Mordenna? To her Ascension Facility? She would rather that not be the case. "... With the concession that I would prefer it if he does not come with, for reasons I hope he will glean from your debriefing."

The Commander nodded. "Mordenna, it's her Ascension Facility. She wants it gone—and besides, best we get the files out of there, anyhow. If we can even just inconvenience the Elders, I'll take the chance to do so. You can understand why she doesn't want you in on that, right?"

Mordenna was quiet, but to his credit, he didn't look slighted. Merely contemplative, and after a bit he slowly nodded. "... Yeah, I understand that. Got SYN to fix up anyways, right Lily?"

"Yep. Nearly done restructuring his core, but probably not in time for that mission, sadly. There's... a few other tweaks I wanted to make to his systems to prevent too much data loss in the future."

Fal-Mai lidded her eyes. Again, the regret surfaced, and she felt compelled to say what she was about to. "—I am... sorry, that I destroyed your companion. From the way I have observed him in the field to your squad's mourning..." There had been a lot of hushed whispers during her extraction, and even some silent moments where most of the squad spent some of their time regarding SYN's body. From the way they acted... it seemed Fal-Mai had taken someone cherished. "He appeared to be important to you all. Though I may have had my reasons, I do not excuse my actions."

Lily's face softened. "I don't think you should be apologizing to me, but thank you. I get that you might've needed to put up some kind of fight with the Elders breathing down your neck. Someone you should be apologizing to is Rosa."

At that, Mordenna winced. "Yikes. Right. Think I owe her an apology too. Lest we forget I shot out SYN's leg and taunted whatever relationship the two had going between them."

A... relationship. The SPARK was in a relationship? Maybe with another AI, Fal-Mai could get more to grips with. But with a human soldier? It was almost surreal to hear. Though, the absurdity of it was outweighed by the realization that it meant that Fal-Mai had taken away someone's partner. Her heart further ached. "Where... where could I find this 'Rosa?'"

"The Commons, mostly," Eliza replied softly. "Or you could catch her down here, watching over SYN. He'll be back, don't worry. From the sounds of it, Lily has him on the verge of being up again. Just make sure you do get your apology in—the both of you. Letting things like that sit isn't healthy to anyone involved."

"Thanks, Dr. O'Leary," Mordenna muttered, lacking his usual joking air despite his statement.

That left Fal-Mai with not much else to do, other than explore this new environment. Taking in a gentle breath, she nodded to Eliza. "If that is all, I will be taking the time to familiarize myself with the Avenger."

"Understood." Eliza gestured to Lily. "Lily? We have any spare communicators?"

Lily eyed Fal-Mai a bit. "... considering how Fal-Mai's hearing works? I'd probably need to make one custom for her. Don't want to blow her ears out trying to communicate with her, of course. Won't take long at all."

That... was some pleasant consideration on the Chief Engineer's part. Fal-Mai would've likely caught it herself, eventually. She hoped. But to have it caught this early on was nice. Eliza seemed to think the same—she offered Lily a warm smile. "Good thinking, Shen. Fal-Mai? I'll have the communicator put on the table in the Chosen Holding Cells. I figure you know where that is, and it's easier than trying to seek you out in your cloak. When we get your room situation sorted, I'll contact you through them."

Finding it agreeable, Fal-Mai nodded. "Understood, Commander. I will await them."

With that, she let her cloak slip around her, and she departed the Workshop. There was much to explore.