Eliza opened her eyes, and was graced with a once-familiar sight.

She hadn't even had the time to check if she was on her back. She was, of course, and she very much knew what that meant. The lights were dim, but Eliza could clearly see the new figure sitting on her chest. It was her, and not just who she'd been a month ago. Her hair was cut to military standards, she was in her Marines outfit, and her eyes pierced through the darkness—pale blue and endlessly cold. O'Leary stared her in the face, jaw set and eyes unblinking. Eliza couldn't break eye contact with her, couldn't look over and try to signal to Jax that she needed help.

O'Leary's voice was uncaring. "You failed. You let yourself get turned into this. Let aliens on your ship. Let yourself become everything you used to hate." She sneered. "Mom and Dad must be proud."

Please. She didn't need this, not so soon after trying to deal with how she looked. She didn't need to remember the last time she spoke to her mother and father, that it was her packing her bags and telling them that she didn't need them to support her choices. All those ignored letters from them...

"They must be spinning in their graves. If they even have those. You know for a fact they were one of the first people taken just so the Elders could get more info on you." There had never been a confirmation of that, but a little ways into the war... the letters stopped. The US had been one of the first countries invaded. "You didn't even bother to tell them you were alright. Headstrong as always, and I suppose they deserved it."

No. No they didn't. The negativity in Eliza's gut was mounting, and she just wanted to escape. She didn't want to be reminded of all of this. None of her muscles would respond to her frantic attempts to move—she was just a prisoner in her own body.

O'Leary leaned further over. "You killed them. Could've responded to their letters. Could've told them to go into hiding. Could've said anything to them. They're dead because of you, and you don't even spare them a thought as you spread all this love around to everyone else. You can make up for it as much as you like. They likely spent their last moments—"

Jax's arms came into view, grabbing Eliza's shoulders and piercing through the specter of O'Leary. As she gasped, it was now him over her. "Eliza?"

She was quick to bolt off of her back, grabbing him and clutching him close. She'd started crying sometime during her paralysis, and hiccupped. "J-Jax..."

He hugged her back, cradling her. "It's alright. The nightmare is over. You are here now, in your quarters. I will not let anything harm you."

Eliza clung to him, shivering. "She—she followed me," she eked out. "I thought she was gone, I thought I had buried her. B-but... I can't run from her. I—I can't forget what I've done."

Jax pulled back, just enough to meet her eyes. "Who follows you, Eliza?"

"Me. Old me. The person I was at F-First Contact." She took in a shaking breath, pressing her forehead against his neck. "I... I didn't even tell my parents goodbye, Jax. I..." She sobbed, and she felt Lucifer materialize and hug her from behind. "I..."

She couldn't say anything else, renewing her grip on Jax and crying. He and Lucifer held her close, and she tried to focus on Jax's warmth and the comfort they were both providing. It was just... hard, to get away from her regrets. She'd managed to not think on the topic of her parents for so long, but just when she thought she had dealt with everything in her life? Something new came back to haunt her.

As Jax held her, he hummed gently—a tune Eliza didn't recognize, but she listened to it regardless. After a minute or so, he spoke. "Eliza, my love. I can only imagine the pain that it causes for you. I don't recall my true parents, and as you know, Cronus... he hardly qualifies. But I can guarantee that if I were to find the spirits of your guardians and invoke them... they would have nothing but praise for their daughter, working tirelessly to save this world and countless others, who practices love in everything she does. I am not attempting to gloss over the pain they may have felt—but please, Eliza. Please don't let this consume you. What can you do now but continue to do good by others?"

That was a fair assessment, even if the fact that she couldn't do anything about it didn't make her feel any better. There was something that stuck out at her, and she sniffled. "Th-thank you. But... what was that about 'finding their spirits?'"

"Has everyone so swiftly forgotten my other focus? Not that I blame you—I have not tampered in the matters of the dead for quite some time."

Ah, right. Jax could summon spectral zombies and the like. She guessed at some point she just also wrote those down to being a part of his construct psionics, but that made sense too. That brought up another, perhaps dangerous line of thought—if he could "invoke" the dead, could he...? No. Even if he could, she didn't want to entertain the thought. There would be the question of just where they died, and... if she really wanted to bring them from whatever afterlife they were in.

Her silence must've made Jax worried. "... if it assists, there is a reason why I've stopped tampering with spirits. Perhaps it is best to let some things lie. I have no doubt that if your parents were to see you now... they would be proud. I know I am, and I know everyone else would be as well."

She took in a deep breath, still quietly sobbing as she let it go. Eliza couldn't believe how callous she'd been towards her own parents back then. Who were objecting to her going to the Marines because they knew that wasn't what was best for her. It wasn't that they were anti-military, even if she was now, or that they thought any daughter of theirs couldn't go. They believed in her dream of being a therapist, and in their eyes... that was going against everything they would have wanted. Eliza wished she would have listened to them instead of that damn recruiter.

Maybe it was for the better. Maybe they would've picked someone else far less qualified, with someone severely less determined than Bradford was as an assistant. Someone who wouldn't have spared the Chosen and just mindlessly wiped entire cities off the map and ultimately would've been left in the Tank forever.

She didn't know. The only thing she could do was deal with the reality and present she had been served.

Eliza squeezed Jax again, then took a moment to twist back and kiss Lucifer. "Thank you. The both of you. I... I think I'm as ok as I'll be for the moment."

Jax nodded, leaning over and kissing her forehead as Lucifer nuzzled her. "We will always be with you and there for you, my love."

"If there's anything else we can do," Lucifer followed, "let us know."

She nodded, palming at her eyes as they let up on the hug. At that moment, the alarm clock rang out, and she groaned. Right—it was Lily's day now. Jax silenced the alarm, and she looked towards her dresser. "Well, for now, let's get ready. Lily's going to be here any moment now and I have a lot of work to do."

"Do not hesitate to ring for help." Jax got up, going over to the couch to get his folded clothes from last night. "After all, almost all of your soldiers and staff are on the Network now."

Ah, right. There was still that gentle presence in the back of her mind—far more pleasant than the ADVENT Network. She'd just have to get used to having it again. "Of course, and I might bend Mordenna's ear regarding what can be done with it. Notes, reminders, maybe a communal calendar... the works."

She got up and moved for her wardrobe, with Lucifer flying over to open it for her and handing her the uniform she'd wear for that day. Meanwhile, Jax replied. "He's had his fair share of ideas for it, but he is always championing having a different perspective on things. The notes function is there, as well as a calendar—but he is still making additions to it. Finally having a calendar at my fingertips has shown me just how fast the end of this year is approaching."

Right. Eliza checked the date herself—the 21st of December, 2035. Christmas was just around the corner and she got the feeling she was either going to be showered in a second round of gifts, or she'd be reasonably told that she'd gotten her presents already. Jax's point stuck, though. It would be 2036 soon—a whole year since this all began. The official Unification Day had been delayed to the second of January even if the Elders had taken things over by August. It was probably when they had everything set up to the point where they could confidently declare themselves victors and take control. Twenty years since then—about to be twenty one. Eliza slowed in putting on her clothes. "... to think, at the start of this year... you and I were mortal enemies, hm?"

Jax chuckled, coming over and hugging her. "Ah, I was a presumptuous fool earlier this year." He let go to allow her to continue getting dressed. "Suffice to say, though I do not mean to insult them... my siblings have had their growth as well. I'm simply glad that we all saw the light eventually. I love you, Eliza, and I always shall."

Fastening her belt on, she turned and smiled at Jax. "I love you too, Jax. You too, Lucifer. The two of you are sweeties."

Jax blushed and Lucifer chuckled. With the both of them fully dressed, well... Eliza figured she had a day ahead of her. She nodded to Jax, and the three of them made their way to the door of her quarters. As they went through that door and approached the one leading to the Bridge, she could swear she heard quite a few voices beyond it. She hadn't seen her soldiers at all yesterday—were they...?

They got to the Bridge, and her suspicions were summarily confirmed.

Down below the landing and stairs leading up to her room, there was quite the gathering of soldiers. Definitely not her whole crew, but ones she recognized as people who could stand being up this early in the morning. They were talking among themselves before the door opened—and Eliza could see that most of their eyes were purple, and she could feel the air being saturated by passive psionics. As she and Jax made it to the rail guarding the stairs, they looked up. The response was a resounding "hey!" with a few people teasing Jax, who only had it in him to hide his face and groan. Oh, poor Jax. Her mind taken off of earlier events, she smiled and leaned on the railing. "Morning, everyone! I was wondering why I didn't see any of you yesterday."

"Bradford told us to lay off for a day," Clint replied. "Or, well. He said 'a day or two.' So some of us chose the former, few of us chose the latter, and there's a few people who are just gonna say hi over the course of the day."

Her smile turned into a grin, and she got a more proper grip on the railing. "Well, clear the way! I'm coming down to hug all of you."

Cheering went up at that, and a space in the crowd opened up below the landing. Eliza vaulted over, confident in her balance as she landed on the floor in a kneel. She quickly reached out and hugged the first soldier she could—Rozen, in this case, her new mechanical eye twinkling as she chuckled. She went on like that, pulling soldiers in and telling them how much she missed them—which she did. She loved Jax but she started to feel lonely yesterday, not seeing any of them. Probably for the best that she got a day to herself though; ultimately, she was happy that they were still accepting of her.

It was such a rush of people that she stopped looking for who she was pulling in—which gave her quite the surprise when she felt metal and perfectly sculpted muscles. Looking up, it was Rodin. "Oh! Morning, Rodin. Didn't expect to see you here."

Rodin laughed, hugging her back. "Apologies if I startled you, darling! I'm here on business with dear Lily."

Right! She was starting to wonder where the engineer went. She looked around, and Lily was making her way through the crowd with a few "excuse me"s. Eliza reached for her as she came up. "Good morning, Lily. We can get to that business after I've hugged everyone here, ok?"

Lily squeezed her back, smiling. "Sure thing. Rodin and I can wait."

Eliza almost wondered what business the two of them could have with her—but she'd already heard Rodin talk endlessly fondly of Lily, and already heard Mordenna laughing about the addition she had made for the Archons. They could handle that in a second, though—she needed to make sure she expressed her love properly to all of the soldiers there.

Eventually she did, ending on hugging Herod as they all dispersed. Thankfully they recognized the need for relative privacy at that moment. As she waved Herod off and stood up, Jax and Lucifer descended the stairs—with the former giving Rodin and Lily a longer glance before kissing Eliza. "Until we meet again, hm?"

Eliza snickered, kissing him back. "We live on the same ship, honey."

"Ah, but parting is such sweet sorrow." He backed up, addressing Rodin and Lily. "The two of you take care of her now, alright?"

Rodin gave him a confident grin. "She will be safe, this I assure you."

Lily rolled her eyes, patting Jax's side. "Eliza's gonna be alright, don't worry about it."

With a final smile, Jax and Lucifer departed. Eliza crossed her arms, looking at her two remaining partners. "Why do I feel like I know what this is going to be about?"

Lily looked away, red coming to her face. Rodin just kept smiling. "I would call it an astute observation. To the point—Lily and I, and my Archons at her discretion, were looking to enter a relationship. I understand for humans that these things tend to be more restrictive, so we were seeking your blessing. I assure you, my fellow rulers know and are accepting."

She did think she saw Archons hanging off of each other at seemingly random. Archon society must've had freer love. Still, she shook her head amiably. "Honestly, you hardly needed to ask, but I appreciate you doing so. Yes, you two—and any Archons you want to bring into the mix, as long as they're good—can hook up. I assume the next question is going to be if you can be with us on Lily's day, and the answer for that is yes. It's just up to Lily if she wants to share."

"Maybe not every day," Lily managed, "but today, yes."

"Well, consider it granted. Just don't expect too many cuddles right now—I have a mountain of work to scale."

Rodin rested his hand on his hip. "And thus we will help you scale it together!"

"Rodin, do you know anything about paperwork?"

Rodin's smile grew more uncertain. "Ah..."

Lily giggled, patting Rodin's shoulder. "It's alright, we can be moral support. To the Resistance Ring?"

Eliza thought of something, and looked towards the door. "Actually? I have a pit stop to make first."

Perhaps Tygan could get used to sleeping on a real bed.

He knew he'd already done possibly irreparable damage to his own back—or, at least irreparable without Argus's intervention—but better late than never. Especially if the offered bed was home-grown by Celosia. Along with the bedroom, and the whole new second story.

He could also get used to waking up with someone in the bed with him, but Eliza had clued him into that. Celosia was just hammering the point home.

Tygan had finally risen from her arms, pulling on that day's clothes from the wardrobe. Celosia herself was slowly making her way out of the plant bed. She was always so adorably groggy in the mornings—mostly from a lack of light, artificial or otherwise. They had eventually installed a sunlamp into the room, which she was in the process of turning on and sunning under.

He buckled his belt. There were a myriad of things on his mind now that Eliza was awake, and he was about to handle one of them. Hopefully. "... we're going to have to tell Eliza eventually."

"Mhm." The leaf-like fins on Celosia's back were extended, catching the rays of the lamp. "If we get the chance, we may do it today."

Tygan sighed, straightening himself up in the mirror in the wardrobe, another man-made addition. "What if she's not receptive? There is already enough for her to keep track of in her circles. What if she doesn't wish for us to complicate matters?"

"Tygan, dear." Celosia looked back, the leaves on her body turned towards the light. "Take a breath, don't think about it for a moment, then consider this; Eliza thinks I am worthy to be dated, and she thinks you are worthy. I think her only objection would be if we are not good for each other, and honestly? I'm already doing wonders for your back."

That she was with the bed and—after some research—the occasional chiropractic vine sessions. He did as instructed, taking a deep breath and trying to tell his anxiety to calm down. Not an easy task; his mind still felt like it was buzzing. But even just a moment to focus on breathing helped. Eliza likely would be ok with it—the woman was loving to a fault. Tygan just worried sometimes. No, correction: he worried all of the time.

Standing up properly, Tygan walked around the bed and to Celosia, leaning on her. "I know you're right. It's just... occasionally hard to make it stick."

"I'll tell you as many times as you need." Properly sunned, she stood up, wrapping her arms around him. "And look at it this way; the faster we can clear it by Eliza, the faster we can explore certain aspects of our relationship more, hm? Rather than just being cuddly friends."

Tygan's heart fluttered, and he returned Celosia's hug. Honesty was more his concern rather than furthering his relationship with her—even if it was on his mind. Still, he sunk into Celosia's embrace, just... enjoying the moment for a second or two. "... of course. Even if I would be happy keeping it at that."

She chuckled, releasing him. "As would I. Now, should we head downstairs? I'm sure you have much to do."

That he did. Armor from and for the rulers, more in-depth research about psionics, and whatever else Eliza may have him do. He backed off from the hug, taking his lab coat off of a hook and folding it over his arm. "Absolutely. No rest for the wicked, and all."

They made their way through the loft and down the natural stairs, with Celosia breaking off to go to the greenhouse. Likely to catch more sun and check on the plants—that was fine with him. He shouldered on his lab coat, not quite buttoning it up yet. Just in case.

His wariness paid off as he was gathering relevant files—the door to the Lab opened and he turned. All it took was seeing a flash of Rodin's red skin and he was immediately taking the coat off again. Quite frankly, he was surprised Rodin came up here, but that was far from his mind as he folded up the offending attire and put it on his desk. Lily came in after him, marvelling at the second floor. Tygan cleared his throat to get their attention. "Rodin, Lily. Good morning to the both of you."

Rodin nodded. His mood seemed dampened, and his jaw set—but he seemed fine for the moment. "Good morning, doctor. I trust you have been treating Celosia well?"

"I would like to think so," he replied, walking over, "but I would rather have her answer that."

Some of the tension in Rodin's shoulders eased. Lily looked back towards the door. "... we did have Liz with us. Fal-Mai stopped her in the hall to hand over Asaru. She should be—"

Speak of the devil. The door opened and Eliza ducked in, Asaru around her shoulders. "Sorry about that! I got caught up talking to Fals. Morning, Ty."

Tygan smiled gently. He heard footsteps behind him, and he assumed Celosia was approaching. "Good morning, Eliza. To you as well, Asaru."

Asaru lit up, quite literally—and as he dashed over to Tygan, Tygan could see moon jellyfish lazily floating around him. He met with Tygan and hugged him, thankfully not knocking the scientist to the floor. "Hi, Dad Tygan!"

Right—he was technically a father now. He returned his son's hug. "Hello, son."

Eliza chuckled, stepping forwards between Lily and Rodin. "Sorry to mob you all at once, Tygan. I just have some questions—"

The door opened again. Vahlen stepped in.

All at once, time slowed. Eliza was mid-turn, trying to see who had entered. Vahlen's eyes landed on Rodin, and Rodin himself was faster in turning, likely because he was on edge. Before anyone could get a word out, Rodin was leaning forward and exploding into a lunge, props flared and jets hot. Vahlen was recoiling, stumbling over herself as she tried to back out of the door. Eliza was trying to reach and stop him, but Rodin was outpacing her. It seemed nobody would make it in time to save Vahlen from a perhaps-deserved fate.

Thankfully, Asaru was both quicker and far more merciful.

His tentacles whipped forward at impressive speeds, wrapping around Rodin's waist and arms. The tendrils were pulled taut and Tygan maintained his grip on Asaru, skidding across the floor. Rodin himself reared as he was pulled back, trying to struggle free. "L-let me go, you—!"

He then looked back to see who was restraining him, and froze. As he stopped struggling, Eliza physically took Asaru's cords off of her shoulders, making the boy shudder. She attached them to Tygan, who barely even registered his suddenly-present psionics as Eliza quickly approached Vahlen. "Rodin, honey, stand down. Vahlen? We are talking outside. Now."

Vahlen could only shakily nod as the Chosen Commander practically pushed her out of the door, it closing behind them.

It was her second day back. Her second day. Now, between mourning her parents and worrying about the future of the planet, she had to worry about her past catching up to her.

Eliza made sure the door was closed behind her as she towered over Vahlen. The years had changed them both—Vahlen clearly tried to stay in her old style, hair in a bun and even in clothes that mimicked her old lab attire. Eliza? Well, it didn't need to be stated. She focused her attention on Vahlen. "Moira. Why would you follow me into the Lab when you knew Rodin, at least, was in there?"

"I-I didn't know," she began, wringing her hands and clearly still shook up from Rodin nearly beating the lights out of her. "I just caught you and Asaru entering the room..."

Right. She did let Lily and Rodin in ahead of time as she talked to Fal-Mai and got her son back from her. Vahlen must've caught her at the tail end of that. Something else struck her, though. "... where is your guard?"

"Well—O'Leary, they are unneeded. They would not let me seek you out. Do you know how long it's been since I last spoke to you?"

"And yet the minute you slip away from them, you walk right into Rodin's fists."

"I... I just did not see him enter, I have been good about avoiding them."

Eliza kneaded the bridge of her nose, other hands on her hips. "You realize why we had a guard for you? You're a smart woman, Vahlen, you just... have trouble seeing past yourself. The reason you need a guard is for situations like this. This is literally my second day of being up and walking around after my surgery. I didn't see my soldiers until today. That should suffice for a reason why none of them wanted to let you talk to me."

Vahlen looked lost. Eliza could hazard why—even now as she was being angry, she was vastly different than she was before. Only took Vahlen still calling her "O'Leary" exclusively to see that much. She didn't want to take out her anger at how she used to act and permit Vahlen's activities out on the woman herself... but Vahlen did make that tempting. There was a reason why she basically had a leash even at First Contact—the woman had a massive tendency to overstep herself. Even then... old her still let her run amok.

She let her hand drop from her nose, sighing out some of her irritation. "Moira. Please stay with your guard. They're there for your protection. We can talk later—I'll have some time after I contact the factions in regards to some serious events. Because, I'll be frank—if Asaru... if my kid wasn't there to stop Rodin? He likely would've snapped your neck."

It didn't look like Vahlen needed to be reminded, as she swallowed and nodded. "Ok. I... I want to talk to you, O'Leary. It's—"

"Eliza."

"Pardon?"

"Nobody calls me O'Leary anymore." Eliza looked away, clasping her hands in front of her. "That's a relic. A relic of an old me who I'd rather stay dead. As far as I'm concerned, she died back in that base in 2015. You're talking to Eliza now."

"But... you were fearless then, Commander. A woman who could bring the world to its knees, someone who could make people get the job done."

She grimaced. "Those aren't good things, Vahlen. Here's the bottom line; forget O'Leary. She's not coming back, and never will be. If you want that conversation to have any hope of going on for a while, you'd do your best to remember that. I wasn't living then. Just surviving, and hurting everyone else in the process."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

She closed her eyes, remembering something she'd said to Tygan a while back. "'There are some things not worth the cost of victory.' Sometimes, it's better to admit defeat than torture your own trying to prolong a hopeless war. I had counted on dying when I told all of you to run, back then. I had one shot left in my revolver, until..." Bile rose in her throat, and the harsh smell of Thin Man venom came back to her. She turned away, back towards the door. "Go find your guard. Have them notify me on the Network who they are, and I'll have them bring you to me."

There was a pause, like Vahlen was trying to find something to say. Eventually, she seemed to give up, and Eliza could hear her high heels sounding out on the metal floor as she walked away. Eliza took a deep breath, opening the door to the Lab again and stepping in.

Thankfully, the scene on the inside was calmer. Rodin had Asaru in his arms, who was happily hugging one of his many fathers. He was still connected to Tygan, who was hanging back with Celosia as Lily also doted on the Ascended. They looked up as she entered, and she was quick to get back over to them. "I'm deeply sorry about that. Vahlen managed to get away from her usual guard. She won't be doing that again if I have anything to say about it."

Rodin still looked a little uncomfortable, but nodded. "I will trust in your word, even if I am still leery about having her be on the ship. Had my wonderful son here not restrained me... well, it doesn't bear thinking about."

Eliza nodded, walking closer and petting Asaru's head. "Our little jellyfish is quick on his toes." As Asaru giggled, she looked to Celosia and Tygan. Well, it looked like she had another pair to clear, and honestly... she was pretty damn happy Tygan had found another person to be comfortable with. Anxiety and being comfortable about himself was an admitted problem of his as they relaxed that first night. She smiled at the two of them. "—are the two of you just friends, or do I have another adorable couple to give my approval to?"

Celosia laughed, and Tygan fidgeted with his sleeves. "Well... yes. That was indeed something we were looking to speak about, if you would have us. Of course, from the sounds of it, it seems we already have your consent."

"Oh, absolutely. The two of you are unreasonably cute together." She specifically nodded to Tygan. "And... I think the two of you suit each other very well. So long as I can come up and visit the loft occasionally!"

The queen smiled, resting a hand on Tygan's shoulder. "We very much appreciate your blessing—and of course, you can visit whenever you like."

"I'll make good on that, but for now... I was here for a reason." Eliza crossed all four of her arms, stacking them. "First of all, any projects being run through the Lab?"

Tygan straightened, shifting into his "debriefing mode." "Indeed. Currently I am pursuing the one project I had brought up to you so long ago—armor inspired from the alien rulers' physiology. Now that more stable relations have been established, I've begun moving forward on the project. Ideas are tentative for the others, but we have a stable blueprint for what the one borne of Celosia will be."

"'Kudzu Armor,'" Celosia followed, "affectionately named for its relationship with whoever wears it—more symbiotic than parasitic, I assure you. Tygan has the documentation available for it whenever you need it."

"Alright. Just send it to me on the Network and I'll look over it eventually—I trust you're doing a good job on it." Now to her request. "I have another project for you to look at when you have the time. It's post-Elders, so it's not too urgent." Tygan nodded to show that he was listening, and Eliza went on. "It's regarding what will likely happen after the Elders are forced out. There's definitely going to be a few sectors of ADVENT left, acting on the last orders they were given before the lights went out for them, so to speak. With the Elders out and them no longer being puppeted by someone else... I'd like to move into subduing rather than outright killing. Do you think we could look into tranquilizer agents, or sleep gas grenades that are safe to be breathed even in excess? I know Mordenna has the former, but, well. I don't know if he's updated his mixture since he left ADVENT."

"A fair assumption, because unless he's sourced his own supplies and workspace? I haven't seen him come through for them." Tygan took his datapad off of his belt, tapping it. "Regardless, I must agree with your forward thinking. I will likely still ask Mordenna what he used, and perhaps work backwards from there. As for an airborne agent, I'll be looking into that. There will be some difficulties in making sure it works across all species and doesn't cause any adverse reactions, but I'm confident something can be worked out. And while I have this here..." Eliza got a notification on the Network, and the Kudzu file was in it. "There. To be reviewed at your discretion."

Eliza gave a mental glance over the file—meanwhile, Lily spoke up. "Speaking of files, it's about time for you to go through the Psi Lab, right Tygan?"

"Almost." Tygan was still looking over his datapad as he spoke. "Much like you, I am waiting to see Eliza on our appointed day together before I go stranding myself."

Lily nervously rubbed her neck, chuckling. "Well, yeah. That makes sense, and I don't blame you. I guess I'm just nervous about what I might get. I mean, a lot of the soldiers have gotten a pretty wide mix of abilities—it almost feels like we're handing out superpowers."

"Whatever you get," Rodin assured, "I will be by your side, my darling. No matter what new shape your brilliance may take!"

Lily covered her face, leaning against Rodin. "Rodin!"

Rodin's lower face shifted in uncertainty. "Did I speak ill unintentionally?"

"No, just...!" She let her hands drop, and her face was red. "I can't worry about anything with you here, you're far too supportive."

Eliza laughed, leaning down and kissing the top of Lily's head. "Oh, honey... I'm going to have to share Rodin's sentiment. If everyone can tolerate me in my new form, I think the addition of psionics to you won't be too much for us to handle."

"More than tolerate," Lily murmured, taking a moment to pat Asaru's leg as some of his tendrils wrapped around her arm. "We still love you, Eliza. We always will."

It was comforting to hear that, even if Eliza was still grappling with it. She smiled warmly, forgetting for a second that she had been requesting things from Tygan. She remembered quickly, looking back to him and Celosia. Celosia looked charmed at the scene, and Tygan? Calm, but she could spot that hint of a smile. She straightened, addressing Tygan again. "Sorry. About the only other thing I can think of is looking into advanced mind shields for fighting Ethereals. Can't think of much else..." Other than the lingering issue of her own psionics, but... she didn't even want to think about their song-based form. She would stick to the strength enhancement, as well as whatever else Asaru could provide. "Anything else you have for me?"

Tygan shook his head, putting his datapad under his arm. "Nothing else to impart, Eliza. I will be diligently working on my assignments, as always." He then turned his attention towards Lily. "Are we still working on the Gate tomorrow?"

"Oh, absolutely." Lily stood up more. "Eliza, we're doing some final touches to the Gate to ensure everyone's safety when we end up using it to put the Elders down." Her face fell, and she looked away from Eliza. "... we. We still haven't thought of any alternatives. Argus and I tried a few login activations, but they were rejected each time. They just can't verify anymore, and new connections on the ADVENT Network seem to be more heavily moderated than they were before. As far as we know... you're the only way to get back in there."

She'd supposed that was the case, since nobody had told her otherwise. Putting herself in the line of fire... Eliza would do it for her soldiers, but she knew Bradford would be pulling out his hair at the prospect of it. What of Asaru, too? Her first answer was to leave him behind, of course—but he boosted her psionics to a massive degree, and his own power outweighed her own. Eliza rubbed her scalp. "... that's understandable. Can only imagine the Overmind is paying more close attention to everything—we just have to hope they've all forgotten about me." It didn't seem like a situation they would reasonably prepare for, anyhow. Besides... "I think it's high time I show I'm willing to put my own life on the line. Been nearly a full year of me doing that to my soldiers. I could stand to do so too, especially when I'm mission critical. Besides—if not then, when?"

"A fair point, and well-spoken." Rodin gave a nod. "Great is the leader that will put themselves on the line for their people."

Asaru... didn't look so enthusiastic. He floated over to her, tendrils disconnecting from Tygan and reconnecting to her. "... Dad Mordenna said people shoot to kill down there. Are... are you going to be alright when that happens?"

Now when did the subject of mortality come up so soon for Asaru, and why was she not surprised Mordenna was behind it? Eliza reached out, stroking the closest thing to Asaru's cheek that he had. "Asaru... I'm glad you're worried for me. But I'll have people down there, defending me and watching my back. Not to mention I'm stronger now than I was before. I'll be ok."

He still didn't look convinced. "... I don't wanna not be with you when that happens," he said, hugging himself. "I want to protect you. I can heal, my psionics are strong, but I'm... I'm scared, Mom."

Eliza sure as hell didn't want Asaru out there on first blush, but... was the power worth putting Asaru in danger, even if he wanted it? Or, at least, wanted to protect her? She looked into his eyes for a long moment before closing hers. "... that's a decision I can't make alone, Asaru. Your other parents... they'll want to know. And I can't say all of them are going to agree." Even if it would boost her chances of survival, she was putting Asaru in the line of fire as well. She didn't even know how resilient Ascended were, what could hurt them, what they were capable of. Eliza supposed she had a lot of questions to ask Argus. For now, though? "... but I'm not going to outright tell you no. Not until we've heard from them. And we're not putting you out there as is. You need to be trained, get used to your psionics. If you're willing to do that, we can see about sending you out there with me."

He nodded a few times, and Eliza watched as his other parents gauged the situation. Tygan was hard to read as always, and Celosia looked markedly reserved. Lily shared her hesitation, and Rodin? Nodding meaningfully, which scanned well enough. Of course he'd be alright with a child of his jumping into battle, so long as they got the proper training to do so. Eliza took Asaru into her arms, looking over at them. Celosia was the first to speak. "I don't believe a child should be putting themselves in danger, Ascended or not. He doesn't really understand the conflict of war, I don't imagine."

It was Asaru who answered that, turning towards Celosia. "Mom Celosia, I understand... but I love Mom, and it makes me feel sad—no, something worse than sad, but... I don't have the words. It makes me feel more than sad to imagine her fighting on her own when I can help her. Maybe I'll be in danger, but... 'I'll have people down there, defending me and watching my back.' If Mom has people protecting her, and I stay close, they'll be protecting me, too. I'll get better! I'll train, I'll learn how to fight, I'll learn what my psionics can do. But please... please let me protect Mom." He looked away. "Especially since I couldn't help her when..."

Eliza hugged him close, stroking his head. "That was not your burden to bear," she murmured. "I love you, Azzie. You've already done so much for me, even when you didn't have to. You don't have to be down there if you don't want to."

"But I do," he insisted. "Even if it scares me. The Elders aren't good people, I know that. I don't have to ask to see that—it's always on you and everyone else's minds when they think about them. It... it would be better if they were gone, right? I want to help, and I want to be there to make sure you and all the people protecting you are going to be ok."

Asaru seemed quite determined about this. Eliza was still pretty iffy about sending him out on the battlefield... but maybe with some training on his part and research on her part, it could be done. If Ascended Ethereals were fragile, it was likely going to be a no, even if it broke his heart. "Ok. As I said, I'm going to have to ask your other parents, and I'm going to also ask Argus what they know about Ascended Ethereals. Your father Jax is likely going to be the one to train you, so I'll see about getting that started. Just..." She reached out with one of her hands and caught one of his floating tendrils, it curling around her fingers as she did. "We all love you very much, Asaru, and you have to understand why we're hesitant about putting you in any sort of danger."

"I do." Asaru hugged her back, head pressing against her neck. "I just want you to be safe too, and if I can help in doing that, I wanna. So I'll train with Dad Jax and I'll get better so I'll be safer down there, too."

"He will need more classical training, as well." Both Asaru and Eliza turned to Rodin as he spoke up. "He needs to know how to keep his wits about him in a combat situation, and not become overwhelmed should the odds start to turn against him. It might be good to train him on firearms, as well. I would be willing to lend my assistance in the matter—at least in the classical training. The boy is strong—I have no doubts that he could be quite physically adept too."

That was a good point, and she was glad that Rodin had made it. In the midst of Asaru insisting to put himself in danger, she had forgotten that he should likely have some baseline combat training as well. Probably not the best idea to just throw him out there—granted, with better honed psionics, but with no proper situational awareness. Eliza nodded at the suggestion. "I'll likely take you up on that, and have Mordenna teach him regarding his aim. I doubt it'll come up too much—but as you said, it's good to have the experience there." She looked back towards Asaru. "How soon would you want to start, little jellyfish?"

"As early as possible," Asaru responded. "The more time I have to learn, the better." After a moment, he nuzzled against her again. "... maybe tomorrow. I wanna spend today with you, Mom..."

She couldn't help but smile, patting his back. "And that we'll do." She looked back towards Lily and Rodin. "Well? I still have some calls to make in the Resistance Ring, and quite a lot of work ahead of me. Let's leave the botanist and his garden to privacy, hm?"

Lily snorted, Rodin laughed, and she could see Tygan rubbing his mouth in mild embarrassment. Maybe today could be better.

Perhaps, in a morbid way, Argus was looking forward to possibly seeing their cohorts again. Even if just through a camera feed.

Work on the Gate and entering the Inner Sanctum was proceeding apace, but there was something vital they had to go over with XCOM. After all, getting there was half of the struggle. The other half was actually fighting the Ethereals inside—and if they knew anything about cornered Ethereals, it was that they were willing to fight for their lives until the bitter, spiteful end. Not to mention the Avatars they would likely be in. They didn't estimate the whole Collective being able to jump in the Avatars—they would likely only have the resources and knowhow to finish the ones they had been working on. They were glad they were able to rip out so many files as they left, and could only imagine the rage it filled Zenithan with.

But, enough of spite. Argus was surveying the installed Gate in the Shadow Chamber, waiting for the people he'd called for to arrive. Mordenna said he would be there shortly—it was Eliza that also needed to be there so that they could explain a few things.

Eventually, as promised, the door opened behind them. Mordenna entered, with Vix and his siblings in tow. "Afternoon, Argus." Mordenna walked further in, crossing his arms. "Just gonna be us today. Eliza's swamped with stuff to catch up on."

That, they could fully understand. Missing out on a whole month's worth of work... in this line of duty, it couldn't have been pretty. Argus felt partially responsible, even if they knew they really shouldn't be. It just... wasn't easy to forget Eliza occasionally shooting up straight from the operating table when she had been sleeping, screaming and trying to fight off unknown attackers. Argus hid the recollection, nodding. "Afternoon, and that's fine by me. I wouldn't ask for her to go out of her way for something you three could just pass on to her later—or that Vix could just record and present to her."

Jax formed himself and his siblings chairs, sitting down as Lucifer hovered behind him. "Of course. What do you have for us, Argus?"

"Just a debriefing, and perhaps a few warnings. Though, perhaps to you three, I could skip the Trio. Still, for posterity, and to keep Eliza in the loop, I will." Argus paused a moment, looking at Vix. "I'm ready to begin whenever you'd like to start recording, Vix."

Vix nodded, getting up and sitting on Mordenna's lap. "Debriefing by the Avatar-Ethereal Argus in regards to their former fellow Elders has begun. Participants: Hunter Mordenna, Warlock Jax, Assassin Fal-Mai, Avatar-Ethereal Argus, and recording Codex Vix."

"Excellent. To begin..." Argus began to pace, going over things in their mind. Best to start with the environment itself. "It's highly unlikely that the Collective will just allow an unauthorized teleport into their Inner Sanctum, even if it is from their former Network Admin, so your second best bet is their Deployment Platform—which is essentially a hub for disseminating their troops right from the Homeworld. I know a Gate that is particularly close to the Inner Sanctum, so much of the travel time could be saved. There's very certainly going to be resistance there—likely the most you all have faced off with yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they began recalling troops from Earth or any of their other occupied planets in order to halt your advance."

Mordenna leaned back on his chair, keeping an arm around Vix's shoulders. "Sounds like that might be more than we can handle—even if they still need to disseminate the orders to get their troops to the Gates, we'd swiftly be overrun. There's likely ways of disrupting that, right?"

Argus tapped their chin, thinking. "There are ways, of course. Naturally a wide range disruption of the Network itself might be the best bet, but I'm unsure of how you would start there."

"We are going to need to disrupt a planet-wide broadcast soon, are we not?" Fal-Mai looked over at Mordenna. "Do you think we could further the attack with our access to one of the Towers?"

"Honestly? Probably our only option. I could see about tearing that Network apart limb by limb, likely severing the Commander proxy to do a mimic of Gatecrasher, and then perform the largest DDOS that's ever been done." He gave a brief chuckle. "Make myself feel like the galaxy's greatest hacker in the process. That sound at least a little plausible, Argus?"

"Quite, actually. I don't think Odin ever put in safeguards for another Network Admin severance... or, if he did, I was never told, and he never complained about doing so. I know your disconnection also caused quite a few problems—but even if he's implemented some failsafes, I'm sure someone of your talent could brute-force them. Back to the important point, that would serve the purpose of either muddying or completely disabling communication on the Network save for the immediate area, which... would be hard to avoid. So that would prevent you from being swamped, at least. The natural next part would be fighting the Ethereals, themselves."

Jax was the next one to speak up. "Are we to assume all of them will be in Avatars?"

"Thankfully, not all of them." They pressed their mouth in a line, however. "Like it hardly matters, considering two of the most prestigious will be in them. I only called for the creation of four Avatars, one of which I'm now inhabiting. I'm sure the Overmind will at least have himself in one, and he might have one made for Angelis, but that I'm not as sure of. Hopefully not—it's one less Ethereal to fight, and we won't have to go against the combined power of the Overmind and Angelis. There's just the small matter of what they, and the Trio, are capable of. Who should I start with first?"

Jax adjusted a bit in his seat, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Lucifer hugged his shoulders, and he let go of a breath before he went to speak. "Cronus, most likely. We've had an... example of him in the field... but I was more concerned with trying to destroy the pylon and keep my siblings safe to get a good reading."

Argus nodded. "Alright." They'd try not to go into excruciating detail—both for Cronus now and the rest of the Trio. They were talking to the children they all had traumatized before. "Elder Cronus, cousin to Elder Helena—noteworthy, as hardly any family relations remain in the Collective. He used to be one of our more combat-oriented Ethereals before degeneracy struck us, and he's been floundering ever since, trying to rest on his former, wilting laurels. His psionics are of heat and weaponry, capable of saturating an area with the former. It should be noted that they are not flame psionics, although he's more than capable of causing those because of it. Weaponry is rather self-explanatory—it's Jax's propensity towards constructs, but restricted to one area. Whereas Jax has a good grasp on anything that can be formed out of psionics, Cronus is capable of replicating guns and ranged weaponry and the like." Argus gave a single chuckle. "He doesn't use that much, however. That would require him remembering to do so."

Jax gave a good-natured sigh. "Now I truly am thankful that I allowed Mordenna to teach me the finer points of marksmanship..."

"That will likely serve you well, considering the Disruptor Rifle. Anyhow..." Argus searched for any other pertinent information—and as the Gate semi-activated to begin its daily maintenance and the lights flashed, making Argus's eyes hurt, they suddenly remembered something they should impart. "—this goes for all the Ethereals in Avatars, as this was something not even I got around to fixing, so they surely didn't. All the Avatars are light-sensitive. By the time you all arrive in the Inner Sanctum, they will have at least had the time to adapt to the light in there, but if you have any manner of flashbangs or the like, bring them. That will allow you to gain the edge over them."

Mordenna nodded thoughtfully. "Lily definitely still has blueprints for the flashbangs XCOM has been using. I'll see what I can do in regards to increasing their potency. Any other weaknesses in the Avatars?"

"Outside of that? Not that I'm aware of, unless they manage to break something on their own time. There's not much else to impart on Cronus's powers. In regards to fighting him, well... the best tactic would be to truly invoke his ire, and then play off of his inability to focus well on anything else other than his immediate target. I would call him Berserker-like if that wouldn't be an insult to the Berserkers, especially the ones we aren't creating for our forces." The Berserkers on their home planet were quite the adept monster hunters. "Of course that carries danger with it as well, but overwhelming him and liberal uses of flashbangs should serve well. Who is next?"

"Order of us sounds the best," Mordenna replied. "Tell me how best I can gouge out my old man's eyes." He paused. "... do Ethereals have eyes?"

A strange question, but they understood why Mordenna was asking. "Yes. Around the size of the ones you can see on the Avatar now."

"I mean, I figured, but..." Mordenna shook his head. "Whatever. Go ahead with Odin."

"Right. Elder Odin, only child, former secondary ambassador of the Empire. As our tactics shifted from subtlety to outright warfare, he lost his job in a sense, and his spite following that has kept him from holding a favorable position in the Collective." Argus rolled their hand. "Odin's psionics do one thing, but they do it very well—fear. His psionics have little in the way of offensive power, but he's more than capable of overpowering the minds of even the most stalwart of psions and dredging up their deepest fears, turning those against them. He's more than capable of causing heart attacks and fear-induced seizes through the hallucinations he can cause." Argus looked to the side. "Outside of some truly industrial-grade mindshields, to the point where you would be suppressing your own psionics and likely your connection to the XCOM Network, there's not much that can be done in the way of preventing him from getting in there. I would honestly advise bringing a SPARK like SYN or Julian and have them on duty to disrupt Odin at all times."

"That can be done," Mordenna replied. "I'm pretty sure we were counting on bringing one or both in there, anyhow. Against so many psions, it's our best bet. Anything he has that I can taunt him about?"

"He's quite insecure about his manipulations and biting insults not landing correctly. Laugh at him, and I don't mean some paltry laugh at an opening insult." Argus crossed their arms. "Let the first few slide off of your back, as that will irritate him, and he'll start cutting to bleed. If you can manage it after that... give a growing, cackling laugh, like he's just told the best joke you have ever heard. You need to make it appear like nothing you are saying is getting to him. He may claim himself a master manipulator, but he needs validation on his insults. If it doesn't seem like they're affecting his target, it riles him up."

Mordenna certainly looked like he was carefully considering the advice. He hoped the Chosen would truly have the strength to stand up to his "father"—Argus would love to see the look on Odin's face as his "son" stood against him and laughed in his face. "Advice noted. You sound like you've tangled with him for a while."

Argus closed their eyes. "Twenty years is nothing to an Ethereal, but it is far too long in the Trio's presence." They opened their eyes again, looking to Fal-Mai, who had invited Rosetta onto her lap at some point. Such a cute little drone... "And I presume we move to Helena herself next?"

Fal-Mai fixed them with a gaze full of conviction. "Absolutely. I would want to know all of the best methods to tear her limb from limb."

Brutal, but fair. Argus cleared their throat. "Elder Helena, cousin to Elder Cronus. Often takes the role of Unit Management and Assistant Tactician in any active planet conquests undertaken, her habit of perfection has gotten her kicked off of more than one project. Helena's psionics..." They hadn't actually seen them in action, but they'd been told a few times. "Helena will perform a 'scan' of her target—the psionic tendril she utilizes to do so is visible, but fast. Once she has a read on her target, she creates a 'perfected' copy of them to use against them. Her psionics are still based around her perception of perfection, so you could use that to gain an edge. As for personality defects? Honestly, she's not hard to unbalance. You should be able to just go after her." They shrugged. "Just bring up the fact that anything big she's ever created has turned against her and she won't like that very much."

"As I would hope she would not." Fal-Mai petted Rosetta, the bunny-like drone rubbing against her hand. "Thank you, Argus. I will make sure my mother feels my full fury before I run her through with the blade she dared give me, never expecting it would be raised against her."

"Of course, and the best of luck in doing so." That just left one Ethereal left to cover, and... he was certainly the main event. "Since I've covered the Trio, and I presume the Overmind too possessive to let Angelis get in an Avatar... it's about time I got into the Ethereal himself. The Uber Ethereal, often known simply and deferentially as the Overmind. Single child, no children. His power..." Now that was something they had absolutely not seen in person, but tales abounded of it. "It's said that his powers are of destruction, purely and simply. How they work, I'm unsure—nobody's seen him having to use his power in quite a while, and it's not exactly something that's commonly talked about. Supposedly it's of disintegration, with no known way of resisting. Suffice to say, he is priority number one. I don't have any tips about his powers, considering I've heard so little of them, so the flashbang strategy will have to be judiciously used. There is one thing you can tick him off about in the personality department... but I don't know how well-advised it is, since he's more than capable of dividing his attention if the situation calls."

Mordenna shrugged. "Might as well hear it, just in case."

Typical of Mordenna to want to be prepared, but Argus didn't begrudge it. "Right. As I told a few of you, the Overmind's desire for universal conquest stems from one thing: jealousy. He hates the Ascended Ethereals because they became more where he could not... and considering he is the most powerful Ethereal in the Empire, I can only imagine he just missed the cutoff for whatever selection process they were using." The Great Ascendance—or more properly known as the Exodus to most of them—happened a long time ago, and any and all documents on the event painted the Ascended as vile and choosing to leave their brethren behind for flimsy reasons. It couldn't have been the truth... but it was the only surviving documentation of the event. "If you needed to anger him beyond reason... you would tell him that he must be nothing because they left him behind, and no amount of killing will make them go back in time and select him. His task is essentially endless, after all—our ships do not travel faster than the rate of expansion of the universe, and we need to stop to conquer planets and kill Ascended. His jealousy will never have an end."

The other attending members were silent for a moment at that, and Argus wondered for a second if they had gone a little too far with their own vendetta against the Overmind. They hated him, that much was true, but... they had to work to not fall within the same spiral of spite the rest of his kind had.

Thankfully, it looked like they were just taking a moment to digest it, as Mordenna spoke back up. "Comforting to know they're basket cases all the way to the top, at least. I'd hate to hear there was a normal Ethereal. Duly noted, in whatever case. Is there anything else about the Sanctum or the rest of your kind we need to know about?"

"Other than what I just described? Not much else."

Jax, however, had an interesting question. "I pose this half for the recording, half as a genuine question; would you not come with us, Argus? You are an Avatar, after all, and one of the most psionically capable members on the ship. I understand it may not be the best idea for others to swallow, but it only seems logical for me if you accompanied us."

... they hadn't considered that. They had figured, in their heart, that they would be sitting out as their species was demolished. Maybe they had some thoughts before of attending, and those were still thoughts they held now. Argus gestured limply with a single hand. "That... entirely depends on Eliza's own feelings, regarding the matter. I will not force myself onto the mission. While I hold the belief that it would be reasonable to bring me, that entirely hinges on her agreement. So I leave the decision up to her."

The Chosen nodded approvingly. "Alright," Mordenna said, "If that's about it, I believe we all have a little bit of planning to do. I've got a Tower to locate and protocols to test, Jax has a message to record, and Fals has to practice ripping an Ethereal apart."

"That I do," she replied calmly.

"So we'll wrap things up here. Thanks for the debriefing, Argus. Vix? End recording."

There was a pause before Vix spoke. "—recording ended! I'll get to transcribing it as dad works."

The Chosen got up, with Jax disappearing the chairs when they all did. They began to filter out, and Jax and Lucifer were the last ones to leave. Something bothered Argus, and they stepped forward. "Jax?" The man stopped, and Argus went on. "Will you... truly be alright fighting your father again?"

Jax turned, looking like he was genuinely giving it some thought. Lucifer replied instead. "It's... going to be tough, yes. But we're going to be training and getting stronger, he and I. We'll be better prepared than we were last time, Eliza will be out there with us, and hopefully you as well."

True, just... Argus worried. Jax was about the only person on this ship that actively supported them, and while they were remiss to put any of the Chosen in danger? It was harder with Jax. "I will trust your word on it. Please be safe, Jax."

"I will," he softly replied. The look in his eyes as he met Argus's gaze was... gentle. "Thank you. Hopefully Eliza will allow you to fight with us."

Jax turned and left again, leaving Argus to their thoughts. They looked back at the Gate, folding their arms behind their back as Ossio crept out again. "Now," they mused, "what is your next move, Zenithan?"

For the first time in a long while, it really occurred to Odin how close his mortality loomed.

After the Overmind and Angelis had taken over operations on Earth, that left him and his two former colleagues in a bit of a limbo. They had been given no instructions other than "stay out of the way," and all three of them went about their new, dread-filled free time differently. Cronus had been out in his Avatar often, doing tests, fully channelling his powers to ease his stress. Helena had been getting back in touch with her old social connections—or at least, had been trying to. The Collective had gone radio silent on the Trio, and likely for good reason. You didn't approach a plague-afflicted corpse.

Odin? He was struck with... nothing.

He was sitting in his Avatar in one of the little-used lounges on their home planet, simply getting used to the feeling of being in it. It wasn't quite ready for a full upload yet, but he had long enough to sit there and ruminate on his situation. The fact of the matter was—

"I thought you one against lethargy, Odin."

That grating voice, the overblown symphony. Odin slowly turned his head towards Helena. She was also testing her Avatar, it seemed, and had already braided her hair in a queen's curl. Odin sighed. "Forgive me if any action other than getting acclimated to the Avatar seems utterly useless—and even then, it's not as if we will be using them for long."

"Oh?" By the Void, she'd brought Cronus. The two cousins were unbearable. Cronus rounded into sight, crossing his arms. "Perhaps you shall not, with your own demeanor. I, at least, will be earning my right to continue to inhabit this Avatar and join the new generation of Ethereals."

"He's sour about being told off," Helena muttered. "Being spiteful towards the Overmind isn't exactly the most helpful course of action. I would think you smart enough to—"

"You idiots," Odin seethed, rising to his feet. "You two are the deficient ones. The Overmind was lying to us all when he said that. Not even said, he implied it. The three of us are responsible for both Esvensthia escaping and for one of the planets we've conquered standing a chance of killing us all. Do you honestly think he's going to let us live after a mistake like that?"

Helena grew quiet, but Cronus was quick to go on the defensive as always. "That was not our fault! Esvensthia is solely to blame for our failings, and the Overmind sees that! We have had our mistakes, but nothing that we cannot make up for."

"No," Helena replied. "He's... he's right. Esvensthia may have been behind all of our failings... but to the Overmind? The faults may as well be ours. But... surely we can prove our worth by fighting XCOM off?"

Odin sighed, turning away and parting his mask enough to massage the bridge of his nose. "No. We are no more than bodies to ward them away with. After that? Our lives are forfeit."

"So what are you saying?" He could hear Cronus approaching him. "You aren't thinking of deserting, surely. Else..."

"Oh, not in the slightest." Closing his mask, Odin turned back to face them. "I've made peace with my imminent mortality." He hadn't. "I'm going to be fighting—because I know my failure of a son will be there. And I want him to watch as we tear apart everything he holds dear. I will not kill him until I am certain I have destroyed his soul and made him regret the day he stood against me. Perhaps there is the off chance that the Overmind will indeed spare us, but that's not what I'm counting on. It is revenge, pure and simple. Esvensthia was right about one thing—I am a creature motivated by spite."

His conclusion eased his two peers, and Helena nodded. "Of course. All three of them will be there, foolishly thinking they could stand against even one of us united! Despite some... performance issues," Helena said, and Cronus bristled, "we've well proven one Avatar can strike all three of them down. What chance do their unprepared tactics have against us?"

"Rightly so." Cronus stood tall. "That bastard heathen will learn his place, and it will be in the ground for good. I still do not think our situation is hopeless, but at the very least I can remind him of the Ethereal who dared give him life."

"Fantastic. Now, if you excuse me." Odin walked back to the duvan and laid back down on it, opening a few Network interfaces. "I'm going to at least try to be somewhat productive."

Helena huffed. "That would be in your best interest. Seeing as no one will speak to me, I suppose I will take a page out of Cronus's book."

Odin could feel Cronus's confident grin. "Oh? Would you like to test your powers against mine, cousin? Or are you afraid you will not match up?"

"I think it is you who will not match up to yourself, dear relative. Come!"

The two of them teleported out, leaving Odin behind. Once he was sure that they were gone, he closed the Network interfaces, arms slumping down as he stared at the ceiling. He would do no busywork to endear himself to the Overmind, nothing that would make him last. After all, death awaited all three of them after their battle, and there was no reason in fighting it.

What was the point...