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?

67. Tower

It had only been a few days since the Commander awakened, but Argus couldn't stay busy enough to keep their mind off things.

They were wrapping up the rest of their work in the Ascension Lab, mostly just retrieving resources to be sent to the primary Lab. Their data had already been transferred to the Network, and their fell task was already completed. Now they just needed to recover the excess genetic material and send it along. Ossio was helping in the task, picking up vials, checking for damage, and securing caps. The case they had was made of Mordenna's nanos, just as it was when the vials were first retrieved. Once they got these added to the total inventory, it was back to work in the Lab, and hopefully naught to do with the room they were in ever again. At least, not until someone willingly wanted to be turned into a Chosen... but that wasn't something that could be managed freely, nowadays.

The door opening alerted them, and Argus turned as Ossio hid behind them—unable to fully disappear as she was still holding vials. Eliza was ducking in under the door, with Asaru just behind her. Ossio relaxed and Argus set down the Meld-filled container they were holding. "Commander. Asaru."

Asaru waved. "Hi Argus! Hey Ossio!"

Ossio returned his wave, and Eliza gave a brief smile before it faded. "Argus. Mind if I bend your ear about something for a little bit? Preferably when you're done working, here." She glanced around the room. "Just so we can talk somewhere else."

That, Argus totally understood. They glanced over the remaining workload—maybe one or two vials left that Ossio didn't already have her hands on. They took the last of them, checking them and putting them in the case as they spoke. "We won't be too much longer, and I can send this case along thanks to Mordenna's forward thinking." They straightened their posture as Ossio put the rest of her items in the case. "Might I ask what the topic is?"

"You're... knowledgeable about Ascended Ethereals." Weren't they ever, and what a reason to be. "It's come up that Asaru wants to tag along on Operation Leviathan. But... I don't want to send him out there when I know relatively little about what he can do and what he can handle. I wanted to ask some questions and see what you knew."

In the time it took Eliza to explain, Ossio had tapped Argus's shoulder and alerted them to the completion of the task. Closing the case, Argus tapped a button on it and it righted itself, growing a few sets of insect-like legs and scurrying along, the door opening for it. "Well, I can always answer to the best of my ability. Lead the way, and we can walk and chat."

Eliza nodded, walking back towards the door as Argus joined her, Ossio fading into them. Asaru trailed along near them, spectral jellyfish following him as he went. Eliza passed into the hallway, looking down either side before continuing. "First things first, and I feel a little callous for asking; how combat capable are Ascended?"

"Quite, obviously more so as they get older." Argus laced their hands together, robes trailing as they walked. "Ascended, as far as... I have gathered," they went with, figuring there was no reason to hint to Asaru why they knew so much, "are almost a form of congealed psionics—but even then, they're complex enough to escape that classification. They're resistant to most forms of damage, can function in nearly any atmosphere—about the only thing that can truly harm them is anti-psionics technology... and even then, it has to be very advanced." Zudjari tech was about the only thing that stood a chance against an awake Ascended, and they really didn't have the means to reproduce it. "Killing them while they're bonded to a host is exceedingly difficult—it's not as if you can expect to simply shoot one in the head and have it work."

Eliza rounded the corner. "Does damage to the host transfer to them?"

"It... might be emotionally distressing," Argus replied carefully, "but otherwise? No. Of course, being symbiotic at birth, Ascended are more than capable of protecting their hosts. They're capable of expediting their host's healing factor, even for Ascended who do not get access to as advanced healing as Asaru. They induce psionics in the host and vastly augment them as well, often bringing the host near their own level of power—I wouldn't be surprised if you could overpower me even as I am in the Avatar. Of course, they're more than capable of bringing their own psionics to bear, and I think Asaru's domain of hope will be very helpful."

Asaru floated forward enough to wrap his arms around his mother's shoulders—and the soft smile that graced the latter's face melted Argus's heart. Asaru was the one to speak next. "I've been thinking about my psionics, and um... hope seems like it doesn't have something I can really think about to use. I know healing is one of my powers, but... I guess I could inspire hope?"

"In more ways than one. When we get to the destination your mother has in mind, I can see about helping you explore a little more of what your powers might mean."

"We're heading to my room," Eliza explained. "We'll be able to have the conversation in peace there."

Hm. Argus hadn't been all the way up to Eliza's room before. About the furthest they had been was the Bridge, so they hoped they wouldn't feel too awkward up there. "Understandable. Want to save the rest of the talk until we get there?"

"Preferably so."

Nodding, they let the rest of the trip go in silence as they walked up the halls, passing soldiers and staff as they went. They half-wondered who Eliza was supposed to be with today, but figured the line of thought wasn't too much worth chasing up. The three of them wound through the corridors, past the doors, and eventually into the Bridge. Eliza made her way up the stairs to the catwalk-like area, into the hallway beyond.

They passed through, and Argus eventually found themself in the Commander's Quarters. Even as clean as the room was, it was well lived-in—the couches had clearly seen some use even as they were well-maintained, the display cabinet right near the door had quite a few trinkets in it, including Eliza's old, two-armed uniform, and what looked like an old XCOM flag hung above her bed. Eliza didn't pause to let them look—she was making her way over to the couches. Argus quickly followed suit, lightly jogging over to catch up as she sat down. When she did, Asaru parted from her, simply floating in the air like he was underwater and he didn't have a care in the world. Argus hoped he could hold onto that attitude as long as he could.

Eliza cleared her throat. "I should ask this—judging by what you've said before, Ascended Ethereals are stronger than regular Ethereals. But what's the power scale we're talking, here?"

Hm. That was slightly difficult to put to words—especially considering the best comparisons they had were fighting the poor things as the Collective sought to kill them. "Let's see... As Asaru is now, considering he's had minimal training? I might be able to overpower him, in a vacuum. This, of course, doesn't account for his mother being there, trying to rip my throat out with her teeth." Eliza gave a dry chuckle at that. "But this is only because he's inexperienced. Even while young, Ascended can fight back well against singular Ethereals, perhaps at most three when we weren't afflicted by muscle degeneracy. But, of course, the older they get... the more power they accumulate, and the more knowledge they gain."

How to put this next part... "I, personally, have never seen a fully grown Ascended Ethereal. Surely they exist out there, simply on planets uncontacted. I'd estimate a grown Ascended, old enough to exist on their own without need of a host... they'd find it trivial to overpower Ethereals, even in Avatars. Maybe not all of us, but at that point we'd be getting in our own crossfire while the singular Ascended only has to worry about hitting targets."

Asaru was floating on his back, and tilted his head down enough to look at Argus. "We sound really strong. Um, the Ethereals have conquered a lot of planets, right? And there's one of us to a planet... but they've gotten this far." Oh no. "... where are the rest of us?"

Argus could master all of the question dodging in the world when it came to their fellow Ethereals, but faced with the simple question of a child? They rubbed their mouth, looking at Eliza. She gave them a cautious, but questioning look, like she'd handle the question if they couldn't think of anything. Well, they knew more... and they thought they knew how to put this gently. They put their top set of hands together, bringing them to their mouth. "... that would be... Asaru. I have to explain something first. You likely know this just based on getting general opinions from your parents and babysitters, but the Collective... to put it bluntly, are not nice people. The Ethereal leading the rest of them, the Overmind, is very cruel. And they have that advanced anti-psionic technology that I mentioned earlier. They don't stop at just capturing or taking Ascended Ethereals out of the fight. They... they..."

Slowly, Asaru righted himself. The jellyfish around him dissipated. "... they kill us...?"

Argus didn't have a reply. What else was there to say? Judging by how Eliza was looking away, that was about the best answer they could have given. It felt wrong to lie to Asaru, to give him false hope that if they turned the Ethereals back, he could find his fellow Ascended merely being held captive. Plus, if Asaru was going to appear in front of the Overmind... surely the latter would taunt the former with that information. But it felt infinitely more cruel to tell him the truth.

"Why?" Argus looked up as Asaru spoke again. He'd curled his hands towards his chest, and they were shaking. "Why? What... what d-did we do to them? Were we mean? D-did we do something wrong..?"

"... you all..." They let their hands drop. "You all committed the crime of merely existing in a way they didn't like." There was no way the cruelty mentioned in the Elders' history books were true. "You were just better in a way we weren't. And the Overmind was jealous, and all he could think to do was... get rid of all of you. You didn't do anything wrong, and... I'm sorry, Asaru. I wish I didn't have to tell you this."

Streams of tears-like light flowed from Asaru's eye sockets, his whole body trembling. "I-it's... it's n-not fair..." Eliza got up, hugging Asaru close to her. "It's n-not fair...! Why? Why...?"

Argus would never be able to give him a fair response. They simply watched as a mother comforted her devastated child. Asaru cried into Eliza's shoulder, sobbing and hiccupping loudly. Eliza spared no glances their way—she focused on Asaru, holding him close to her chest and stroking his head.

This... this was just another transgression on the pile. After all, Argus had been part of the Ethereals when they were murdering Asaru's species. They shared blame, even if they had never been part of the acts. Their research helped the Ethereals get to the Ascended, and that put their blood on Argus's hands. If Asaru hated them... they couldn't blame him. Not in the slightest. He ought to.

Yet. Asaru's crying stalled, and he pulled away to look at Argus. Argus met his gaze and looked away, unable to bear the scrutiny. The next thing they knew, Asaru was wrapping them in a hug full of arms and tendrils, catching Argus off guard. Flustered, Argus stood up, arms hovering as Asaru spoke. "I-it's n-not your fault... if—if it's the truth, I—I don't wanna be l-lied to. P-please don't... don't feel bad..."

Oh, but that was an impossible request. They'd already told Asaru his race was getting killed off, so they wouldn't dare say they had a hand in it, but... Argus gently wrapped their arms around Asaru. "Don't comfort me right now," Argus went for instead. "You are the one who needs it. I'm sorry you had to be told like this. You... you will have your chance to show the Overmind the error of his ways."

To their further surprise, Eliza came and hugged Asaru from behind. "They're right, Asaru. And... the Overmind likely would've told you that. Better to learn now, even if I wish you never had to learn it. If you want to fight with me so badly... you'll get the chance to strike back at him."

Asaru was still hiccupping, but his hold on Argus remained strong. Some of his tentacles split off to hug his mother, and he didn't have anything else to offer in the way of a reply. Asaru simply took his chance to cry into them, and Argus would have to be a far greater monster to deny him.

Eventually, he seemed to tire himself out. Asaru quieted down to nothing, and the three of them sat in silence for a few moments before Asaru drew back. "... um. This... this feels strange to say... b-but thank you. For telling me that. I... I know now. I didn't know before just what the Collective had been doing to be so bad. Not exactly, anyway. And it hurt you to say, didn't it...? I know you were with them before." Asaru was smart, they would give him that, even as the fact seized their chest. "... and... and probably when they were doing that to the rest of us. But you seem sad to tell me. And you didn't want to tell me. So... I don't blame you, Argus. I can't. But... I want to know more. I want to know why the Collective is doing what it does. Because it doesn't seem like many people do." He turned to Eliza. "Can I go with Argus?"

Eliza's expression immediately flickered into a guarded one for a second, but it was exchanged for gentle worry. "Asaru, are you sure?"

"Yeah. Argus knows more than anyone else about the Collective. And I want to know why I'm fighting them. So I don't make a mistake or hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. And Argus can tell me more about my psionics, right?"

"... right." Eliza clearly still looked apprehensive, but she turned her attention to Argus. "Just... Argus. You will not harm my boy. You will not harm my boy. Be good to him. I know he will hear things that he needs to hear that will hurt, but you will not be cruel to him. Understand?"

They wouldn't dare cross Eliza even if their life depended on it. Argus nodded. "I understand, wholeheartedly."

Asaru took that as permission, and his tentacles disconnected from Eliza's shoulders, attaching to theirs—and already, Argus could feel the difference between an Ethereal and an Ascended Ethereal. As Asaru's power merged with theirs, it was so... accommodating. It enveloped their psionics and suffused them, empowering them—but it was clear that he had the far greater potential on his own. The shining, soft light of Asaru's energy was soothing on their mind's eye, and they could feel Ossio regarding the new visitor. Asaru settled against them, and they could feel the tiredness from the emotional encounter he'd just had on his signature.

Argus's psionics rolled under the surface of their skin, begging to be put to use. Not in a bad way, but... if they could compact the Trio into an unappetizing meatball right now, that would be nice. The power of an Ascended and an Avatar... would anything match that? Though they knew they could never separate mother and child, if XCOM needed an edge against the Overmind... that might be the trick. The Overmind would need his own Ascended to stand a chance, and short of stealing Asaru, there was absolutely no way he was doing that.

Still, best not to ruminate long. They cautiously put their upper arm around Asaru's shoulders, and the latter responded positively, leaning his head against their shoulder. "... I. I wanna hear more but I'm tired. Can I sleep and then hear more when I wake up?"

Young Ascended Ethereals certainly needed their resting energy, it seemed. Argus nodded. "I wouldn't keep you from some well-deserved rest. Go ahead, Asaru. Ossio will keep watch for you."

Nodding, Asaru sunk into them, and they could feel him passing through their consciousness, with Ossio even taking note of his passage from conscious to subconscious, to somewhere deeper where he stopped, energy declining. It seemed Ascended made their "beds" quite deep in their host's mind. That left just them and Eliza in the room, and Eliza was quick to speak. "—I want Asaru back before his bedtime today, which is the same as mine if not a little earlier. Don't go into exacting detail about what the Collective does to harm others, even if he asks—he's had enough for today. Make sure you fit in that time to teach him what he can do with his psionics. And take him by to see Jax sometime today. You get me?"

"I get you." Argus looked away. "... thank you. For trusting me with him. I don't deserve this, being able to even be in the same room as him after everything the Collective has done. I'll make sure he knows, while not re-traumatizing him."

"I'd say," Eliza muttered. "He's probably going to be asleep for a while, and you can let him know what he needs to know. I can get the information off of him. What are you going to do now?"

"Now?" Argus paused. They were done with all of their work in the Ascension Lab. Now they and Tygan just had work to do in regards to the ruler armor and the armor for the rulers, which were two different things. Best to get down to Tygan's. "Labwork, in the main Lab. Asaru will wake up in a quiet environment, and Tygan is good at discretion."

"That he is." Eliza sat back down, head turning to the side. "... just be careful with my kid. He's sensitive, and... what you told him is probably the worst thing he's ever heard. Will probably remain the worst thing he's ever heard, for how it relates to him. Call me protective, but well. I have a good reason to be. And for the moment," she was quick to add, "you aren't on the list. I'm not against you on principle, Argus, you seem like you genuinely want to treat him well. " They waited for the "but..." that would go to show why Eliza still wasn't fully comfortable with them, but it never came. "You can head down to the Lab if you've got nothing else to share with me personally. Best of luck on your work, alright?"

"Alright. Take it easy on yourself, Eliza—and see me if you need to get your hair back to the way it was. It'll grow back on its own quite quickly, but I can easily give it a boost."

"You can do that?" She blinked. "... slightly stupid question to ask you after what I've been through, I suppose. Yeah, I'll message you on the Network when I get the chance."

Adding that to their "List of Work" on the Network, Argus nodded. "Of course. Good day, Eliza."

With that, they left the Commander's Quarters, heading down the catwalk after and trying to remember how to get to the Lab from there. Wasn't but a few quick turns after that before they entered. The room smelled of trees and soil like it usually did nowadays, and Tygan was at his workstation, back turned to Argus. There was an interesting scarf around his shoulders—deep green and flowering. He spared Argus a glance. "Ah, Argus. The case came by a little earlier. Your work is still at your station."

"Right, thank you." That was all they and Tygan usually needed to say to each other until it came down to assigning more work. Argus walked over to their station around the other side, eyes taking in the greenery as they did. They would like to think they were at least Tygan's acquaintance. They didn't talk too much between themselves, but they felt inherently comfortable around him, like he knew how it felt to be so high-strung. Ossio gradually creeped out as they got to work analyzing a vial of Shazara-Ta's venom. She went for the compound Shen and Mordenna had sent to them for the "RAGE Suit" as they'd called it, bringing it by the mounted magnifying glasses to get back to her previous work.

Work it was, and maybe it was slightly similar to the work they used to do. After all, there had been a time where Argus had still been able to walk around on their two legs, able to do their research in person and get their own hands dirty instead of delegating everything. Was it wrong to miss what the essence of that time was? Being able to move and make progress on their own? They didn't glorify what that work went towards, of course, but sometimes it was the simple act of working that justified Argus's existence. Getting their mind around something gave enough motivation to make it to the next day when spite and defiance ran out. Now, of course, it was for a good cause... but some part of Argus was happy to just be able to work again.

A few hours stretched on. Argus worked the venom into a state that could be put into a capsule and used as a one-time freezing agent for, say, the end of a grappling hook. The finished work was submitted and it was Rosetta who came by to pick it up, making Argus suppose that Fal-Mai was hanging out with her brother. At one point, Tygan excused himself to go bring his own work by Lily to ask a few questions, leaving Argus and Ossio to work together alone. They'd moved on to working out a sufficient preservative for nutrients for the Kudzu Armor just in case the wearer was weakened and couldn't provide sustenance when the suit went to "recharge." Ossio was tinkering with the design of the capsule itself, as was her wont.

Struck with the need to run their mouth, they began to speak as they dropped some of the nutrients into a dish with this new version of the preservative. "They're going to actually make it, aren't they?"

Ossio paused in her work, looking up at them from her casual laying-back position in the air. Argus went on. "I mean, look at them. Gathering together with other species they only knew as enemies before, being resourceful and cooperative with their science... and the sheer care that's being expressed by the leader of the whole operation. They're going to make it, XCOM are."

She nodded gently, though there was a gentle exasperation to her presentation. "It's not as if this is occurring to me just now," they replied. "It's more as if... well, the time is starting to come upon us. If Eliza will have us, we will be fighting against our cohorts and showing them they were not as infallible as they would like to think they are. It rather puts things into perspective... especially since, earlier this year, most of their struggle seemed for naught." They chuckled gently. "After all, 'what is XCOM to do against the military might of ADVENT?' Mm, or 'the three of them are our strongest assets. The Commander will be back within our hands in months.'"

Ossio laughed, a sound that mimicked a rapidly-chiming clock. "See? At least we are able to laugh at it now, because... well, it seemed so set in stone then. It seemed so certain that Eliza would be reclaimed and that there would be no hope left to work with." Still, a thought gave them pause. "... I suppose that makes me wonder how certain the war ending actually is. I've rather gone and dampened my own parade, hm." Victory did seem certain, if difficult. But how real was that? How magnified would the Overmind's powers be in the Avatar, and were the countermeasures XCOM was developing enough? Would they all be enough to bring an end to the Empire's reign of terror? It was... more tentative, the more thought they gave it. Which didn't inspire too much hope. They sighed. "I overthink these things too much. Throw me a bit of rationality, Ossio."

Ossio's second hand rolled in exasperation, and she spared a hand to tap their head, feeling her gesture towards Asaru. "Right. I suppose that's a major marker of if they... if we are going to succeed. Saving one of the Ascended from the grasp of the Collective is no small feat, and the fact that he is awake and fighting will vastly improve his chances." She then poked their chest. "Yes, yes, and there is also me. Having an Avatar on their own side will assist, I imagine. Perhaps the Terror also proved to be our downfall." After all, it was what hastened their plans when they discovered it waking, and evidently it was actually giving visions to the Templar's leader and one of their Bishops, Marlene. It was responsible for planting Asaru in Eliza, and goodness knows it may have been behind any other number of phenomena. Even as they tempered their dreams of victory... there was a reason to imagine it. It was close, tangible.

A gentle stirring in their mind grabbed their attention. Asaru was waking up, moving from the spot he'd staked out deep in Argus's subconscious, moving upwards. In a gentle blue light, Asaru bloomed into vision and existence, stretching his limbs and yawning. "... good morning, Argus, Ossio."

They chuckled gently. "More of a 'good evening' to you. Get enough sleep?"

"Yeah. Wanna be awake now." Asaru still sounded sleepy, but they weren't going to tell him to go back to bed if he'd gotten out of his own volition. "What are you working on?"

"Ah, a project for the Kudzu Armor." They presented the details to Asaru, who blearily looked over them. "Mostly just trying to figure out the preservative balance."

Asaru blinked slowly a few times. "... your problem is that you're running a too high pH on it, it's doing the opposite of what you wanna do. Tygan tried higher pH for the fertilizer that Celosia made for the plants up above and it makes it so the nutrients don't last as long. Um, try two degrees less on the scale. And you wanna store it at a slightly warm temperature."

Oh. Hm. Going over that in their own mind, what Asaru said made sense. Argus had supposed what they did would be fine, but Asaru's theory held weight. They set aside the current dish they were testing, mentally asking if Ossio could pick up the experiment from there. She did so, and Argus focused on Asaru. "You pick up knowledge and use it quite laterally, I must say."

"Yeah. I like helping, and some things just... kinda make more sense to me. And people let me know what they know and that helps me connect the dots. Um, but speaking about knowing things..."

"Eager, aren't we?" Asaru's tentacles curled in mild embarrassment, and Argus chuckled. "Oh, you're alright. Yes, Asaru. We can absolutely talk about your powers." Using their own powers, Argus pulled over one of the chairs in the room, sitting down. Asaru hovered more around their level, looking more awake as they spoke. "Your domain is hope, as we know. This has manifested as healing, and could possibly manifest in giving that hope to others in a more literal sense. But you keep describing your psionics in a certain way that intrigues me, Asaru."

"Oh, uh, yeah. It's like..." Asaru put his hands together, and lights rolled down his tentacles like bioluminescent patterns. "A candle when I heal someone. Or a ray of sunshine!"

Light. Light seemed to be the common factor. Argus knew they were probably going to regret their next request, but they had to see if their hypothesis was correct. The light of hope... "Focus on that, Asaru. Focus on the brightness of your powers."

Asaru's thoughts stilled as his psionics shifted. A mote appeared in his hands that swiftly grew in luminance, to a brightness that physically pained Argus to look at. They averted their eyes, and the light quickly vanished. "Oh! It's—I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," they assured, even if they were still seeing spots and their eyes ached. "I supposed that would happen. That is a great boon you have there, Asaru. Not only are you able to light up the darker areas of the world... there was a way I failed in the making of the Avatars. Can you see the pain I'm feeling?" Asaru nodded, clearly still regretful. "Again, I asked knowing it would happen, so please don't feel guilty. I accidentally made the Avatars too light-sensitive, and couldn't fix it before I... well, had to leave. If you're able to master just a quick, directed blast of light, you can blind them temporarily to give your allies moments of advantage."

Asaru's worry was replaced by excitement, and he flapped his hands. "I can help! Dad Jax and Dad Rodin have been teaching me how to fight with my psionics and with my body but I'm glad I can do more things. I'll be able to fight with everyone else!" Something seemed to occur to Asaru, and he looked at Argus. "... will you be fighting with us, Argus? The Elders hurt you too..."

"Yes, but... sadly, it isn't that simple, and it's up to your mother if I'm going to accompany her and the Chosen to the fight against the Collective." Tactically... they figured Eliza would be giving it careful consideration. An Avatar was an Avatar, and they were steadfastly allied with XCOM. But the imagery of it couldn't sit well. How many times had they had to go back on Eliza's word and participate where it was said they would not? "And don't go trying to convince her on my behalf—she can make her own decision. I will not take that from her." Never again. "... she has her reasons to not bring me. I wouldn't be surprised if she hates me, Asaru, and she would have every—"

"She doesn't."

Now, Argus perfectly heard what Asaru said, but it still made them stop up for a second. "... you don't have to sugarcoat things for me, Asaru. I know you mean well, but..."

"No. I don't like lying. And I'm not lying to you." Asaru floated in closer. "Mom... mom trusts you. Every time I'm with her and she looks at you, it's like... she has a storm inside of her. But hate isn't in there. And she let you make her into a Chosen, and she let me go with you. So she must trust you, and she feels better about you than you think. Please don't think she hates you..."

Argus was left without words for a moment, looking at Asaru. Eliza didn't hate them...? After everything they had done? They looked down at their hands. "... I've done a lot that should make your mother hate me, Asaru. I'm just..."

"But you're doing better. You're trying to get the Ethereals out." Floating down further, Asaru wrapped them in a hug. "You're doing better and that's what counts. Mom Fal-Mai, Dad Mordenna, Dad Jax... they had to get better too."

They did, didn't they...? A deep melancholy struck Argus—what a fate, to be sitting there now, being told they were better by an Ascended. Someone that should rightfully hate them. But not them, not the Chosen, not Eliza...

Argus returned the hug, holding Asaru close. If only they had been wiser sooner...

---

Things were coming up fast, and now it was time to lock on a target.

Eliza was staring down the screen in the Resistance Ring as she waited for the three faction leaders to pick up the call. Beside her was Bradford, and just off to the side was Mordenna—who hadn't really stepped down from his position as a central officer. Fal-Mai and Jax were on the couches, out of the way. They'd done their homework in the time they had before the purge order went into effect. At this point, it was just a matter of organizing everything together.

Volk was the first person to flicker into the call, hair pulled back into a ponytail today. "—Bradford, Mordenna. Eliza. Looking as good as ever, honey."

Eliza gave a gentle smile. "I appreciate it, Volk. Do you have everything together?"

"In my life? No. But the information you need? Yes." Volk pulled up some papers he had on his desk, leafing through them. "Mostly copies of info Betos and Geist will have too, but best to have them in here before I go over things."

"No argument there." Bradford crossed his arms. His eyes were now a shade of deep purple—but he'd been quick to get Argus to tweak his hair color and growth back to what it was. "Cursory question, we have a target?"

"... not a specific one. Again, waiting for the others."

Mordenna perked an eyebrow. "Konstantin? Waiting up on his fellow man? Consider me shocked."

"Put a sock in it, Mords."

"Why don't you try doing that yourself? Might be fun."

"Boys," Eliza chided. "Don't get yourself wrapped in play fighting, we have people to—"

Speak of the devil. Geist's screen flickered to life, and Betos's did shortly after. Betos was the first to speak. "I see we are all in attendance. Apologies for my tardiness; we'd received some last-minute information I wished to collate."

"I as well," Geist replied. "Our High Inquisitor made a... breakthrough, with one of the captured human dogs of the Elders."

"Good to hear we've got more information on the table," Bradford replied. "Let's begin. I'll give you a heads up—Jax and Fal-Mai are here, they're just off on the side. They're mostly here to collate info." Bradford's eyes flickered to the side for a second, and Eliza felt him tap into the same files she was looking at on the Network. "Should we go over what we know, first?"

"I find that well." Geist laced his fingers together. "What have you learned?"

Bradford looked to Eliza, and she took that as her sign to take the floor. "We've confirmed it's one of their towers we're after—no way they'd be sending off a signal that large via anything else. The Chosen have confirmed there are some that are larger than others, but there's no largest tower. Likely they'll be starting the signal from one tower and then bouncing it around the others, so we need to strike that origin point. We've reached out to havens and have basically pulled all of our favors to narrow it down to..." She sighed. "Five possible towers." Considering how short they were on time? That was unfavorable to say the least. "Canada, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Australia. They have primary towers on those continents that have seen some increased activity as of late, but we couldn't get more beyond that."

"Better than nothing." Volk leafed through his papers. "That was roughly what we had as well, but my sources are leaning towards the more eastern ones. Three is still unfavorable, considering I'm sure you guys get at most two guesses, but we can work from there." He put the papers back down. "Betos, Geist? Tell me your info narrows that."

Betos sighed. "My info only confirms it is an eastern tower, so we are down to Japan, Australia, and Russia. Those are the ones with the furthest increased activity, info we've learned from our own agents in ADVENT."

"Then allow me." Geist tapped his desk. "Johann pulled it from the ADVENT admin that the two most likely towers are either Russia's or Japan's. Johann believes the Japan tower is likely our target."

Eliza rubbed her chin. "And what's his reason for that?"

"The ADVENT official seemed keen on it."

She... wished they had something more concrete than that. This was a situation where it would be easy—and highly effective—to feed them false info. Worst case scenario, it was three likely towers—and Eliza didn't know how much time they could spare checking. They had to do this very close to the broadcast for the whole scheme to work, and there just wasn't time for mistakes. If only they had more than one Skyranger... Eliza sighed. "I don't know how much I trust that info. Most ADVENT higher ups are cowards, but this is the exact situation where one would be lying his ass off just to spite us. The info might still be good, but we'd basically have to fly Samhien over there just to be sure—and personally, I don't think Samhien would attend a torture session."

Betos's face was calm. "You would be surprised. Samhien is not inclined to brutal tendencies, no... but there is precious little that shakes him."

"I buy that," Mordenna replied. "Skirmisher medic, and all. He's probably seen a lot and considering he likely still had to be combat capable back in the day? That scans."

"Regardless," Eliza replied, "we're running short on time. And with a Skirmisher lie detector in the room, he might choose to not even cough up anything else. We have three possible towers, at least." Eliza turned towards Mordenna. "Mordenna, do you think you could..."

Eliza trailed off, looking back at the monitor. Geist had gone stock still, staring ahead. His eyes looked like they were... glittering. Eliza blinked. "—Geist?"

Geist didn't respond. Bradford proceeded to lean past Eliza. "... Jax is frozen."

Looking over, the same was happening with Jax. Unlike Geist, however, Jax creaked open his mouth to speak. "I... I hear Her. She is..."

Suddenly, Jax shot to his feet. At the same time, Geist fully seized up, both of their eyes glowing. Lucifer's red, tattered wings unfurled from Jax's back, psionic eyes opened on his face, and his veins practically lit up the dark room. There was an ethereal glow around Geist as well.

Fal-Mai rose with Jax, grabbing his arm. "Jax?!"

Shocked, the rest of the room watched as Jax slowly walked into sight of the camera, facing towards it. His hair moved as if he was underwater, and Eliza could feel his psionics flooding the area. His gauntlets were fully lit up, trying to contain his power. He spoke, voice a two-tone mix of his and Lucifer's—and Eliza noticed Geist mouthing along. "To XCOM and those who ally with it, I bring an urgent message. The Elders seek to dismantle your roots as you do theirs. Your supplier will call with an urgent request—she has been located from her haste to alert you. As you eliminate the Elders on their home planet, you will face the wrath of ADVENT to the ship you call home. The Ethereals assemble in four Avatars—the Trio, and the Overmind. Much of this info you will know. But you will fail if I do not intervene with one answer."

This... This was the Thing That Slept Beneath. She had to be puppetting Jax in order to get this message to them. Eliza looked Jax in the eyes. "The tower they're broadcasting from. Which one is it?"

"The one you seek is the central tower in Russia," Jax replied. "The captured agent in the Prophet's hands lies to their High Inquisitor. Would you had chosen his answer, you would have failed to interrupt the broadcast, and humanity would suffer. The Ethereals cannot be allowed to lay waste to another planet and kill another Ascended. Asaru must be preserved for the future of his species. He must be preserved for the future of yours." Jax's eyes stared unblinkingly into Eliza's soul. "And you, Siren. When you have dethroned the Elders and have set humanity back on its journey to peace... I need your assistance." The glow in Jax's eyes began to flicker. "—soon, I will wake. I will not wake quietly. I... I will be in pain, and I will destroy this planet in my throes. You must..." The Warlock's eyes fluttered. "I must..." Jax's voice returned to normal, and Lucifer's features burned away. "Sleep..."

Jax lurched, falling loudly to the floor on his back. At the same time, a thump over the comms alerted Eliza that Geist had slumped forward onto his desk. Fal-Mai and Mordenna quickly rushed to Jax's side, and Eliza saw a Templar on Geist's end start to check on him. As Eliza crouched down to frantically find Jax's pulse—which was thankfully still beating strong—she heard Volk speak up. "Uh. Can someone please explain what just happened?"

Interestingly, a new voice chimed in, one she took to be the Templar on the other end of the line. "The Prophet will often receive visions from the Earth Herself, and uses these to direct us in our actions against the False Gods. Unfortunately... the Earth's power is vast, and great. No mortal can handle it well—not even the Prophet." Eliza looked up, and though the Templar had a helmet on, she felt like they were staring at her. "It... intrigues me that the Mindbutcher had this same vision."

This wasn't the time, nor the place to explain that. Eliza's heart was already racing at being called the Siren again and the insinuation that she would have to sing a cosmic horror back to sleep. "Hardly matters. Betos, Volk, looks like we have our info. We need to make preparations to move. And, from the sounds of it? We're going to need to detach assistance to the Black Market. That may be something that you guys need to handle—we're short on time and need to move wisely." She didn't know when, but it was clear that was going to be soon from the time frame. "Anything else for us? We have a Warlock to make sure is ok, and Geist clearly needs the rest."

Though the Templar on Geist's end clearly had reservations, they didn't further bring up the matter. "—if the Prophet had a vision that intense, then the Seer likely has as well. Find Bishop Marlene and make sure she is fine. Kalight likely is with her, but regardless."

That Eliza could handle easily. She quickly sent off a message on the Network to Kalight asking about Marlene's status. "I'll get that handled."

Betos began to gather the papers on her desk. "In that event, we will need to secure our transports. The Black Market is not far from us, and recently we have had breakthroughs in commandeering ADVENT vehicles. We will prepare squads to assist at your word. General Betos out."

Betos's screen winked out, leaving Volk to follow up. "Our current camp is too far to be of use, but... we didn't move that far from the Skirmishers. I'll have us beat feet back there and try to hitch rides with Betos's people. Volk out."

That just left the unconscious Geist and his Templar. Kalight finally got back to Eliza—Marlene had indeed feverishly muttered a prophecy, and he'd sent the contents of it to her. It was basically just a slightly more obtuse version of what Jax said, and after that she had passed out. Eliza thanked him, assured him Geist was in good hands, and stood up. "Templar?"

"High Bishop Laika."

"Laika. Let Geist know everything that happened, even if I'm sure he'll come away with a vague idea. We're moving on the Russian tower the day of the broadcast. If he has radial camps, tell them to be ready to assist the Black Market if they can."

"Understood. Holy Father Geist and High Bishop Laika, departing."

All screens went dark. Eliza looked back. Mordenna and Fal-Mai had lifted their brother between them, and Bradford was off to the side, clearly worried. The Commander rubbed at her face. "... he's... he's going to be fine. Kalight says that whenever Marlene wakes up from her visions, she typically has psionics-induced headaches, so let's get him to Maria." She then addressed Bradford. "Chart a course for a good area around that tower. We have our message prepared, right?"

"Yeah..." Bradford watched as Mordenna and Fal-Mai heeded the order, walking off with Jax. "He recorded it a little bit ago, and I have to say—it's effective. Nothing like the Chosen Warlock himself telling the populace why he defected." He rubbed at his stubble. "—I can tell it took a lot out of him. Just happy he made it. Hope he makes it through this."

"He should. Can't imagine the... who was she, Thing That Slept? Can't imagine she would be malicious towards him, especially with all of the info she just passed us. Pretty sure if there was another way around what she had to do, she'd do it. Don't think the cosmic horror has a choice."

"Best she gets the message across at all, I guess." Bradford still didn't look too sure, but he seemed less worried than before. "Anyway, I'll let the Bridge know and we'll find a good area to set down around there." He looked back to Eliza. "But I do already have some questions on the logistics of the mission, ones we should probably straighten out ahead of time. Want to join me at the Hologlobe?"

"You know what? Sure. Could use a walk." Eliza approached the door, opening it. "Youth before experience."

Bradford rolled his eyes, walking past Eliza. She trailed after him as they walked out. The hallways were moderately populated—it was just after lunch, and most people were finding their ways around. Quite a few soldiers waved to her as they went, and she offered them smiles as Bradford went on. "... been a long year. If the Elders had any sense of timing, they'd delay this for Unification Day."

"You just want us to have more time to plan."

"Can't deny that. Just boggles me sometimes how close it all is to ending. In our favor, hopefully." Bradford patted Pattie on the shoulder as she passed, and Pattie chuckled in return. "I know we have things to focus on right now, but any post-war plans for XCOM?"

Eliza was a little more shaky in that department. "Truthfully, just vague ones. There's bound to be lingering resistance from ADVENT even after their force is decapitated, so we need to stay together long enough to organize that. May just talk to Betos more in regards to her hijack techniques to see about getting squads organized—deploy in more places at once to get things settled over. Vet a few people to oversee rebuilding society, and after that? Staying out of things for at least five years. XCOM can go on without me. Just wanna rest. Build a house out there, maybe three, bring the Avenger with me. If, of course, we can source other ships, which we should be able to commandeer a few UFOs."

"At the very least. Still, though, a house away from everything..." He paused. "How are you going to get power? Or plumbing, or—"

"Ask Mordenna." They'd had conversations in passing about the 'endgame,' as it were. Mordenna was totally willing to just learn all there was to setting up a house in the middle of nowhere—power grid, plumbing, the works. "... and. And I might just ask him how much work we're willing to put in there, because... where is everyone going to go? The ones who are done fighting, the ones who just want to take a break, but don't have anywhere to go?" They passed into the Bridge. "I might just ask him about the feasibility of making a little village out there. Don't wanna be by my lonesome, after all, but I need to retire. I have a kid to raise."

"I'll take you up on that," Bradford muttered, walking with her to the Hologlobe. "I want to get things in working order before I go, but after that?" He leaned on the railing, as if the thought of continuing to work after they won was tiring. "... I've been a man possessed for about twenty one years now. I think I deserve to do what my dad used to—pass out on a recliner that's resolutely mine."

She laughed, patting his back. "We'll have that. Can't say we can have a dog at your feet, unless you wanna tame a Chryssalid."

"Fuck that." Bradford tapped a few things on the panel, even if he could just manipulate the Globe with the Network. Force of habit, she supposed. "And don't even get me started on what we're going to do with the Chryssalid infestations."

"One thing at a time." She gestured to the image of the Russian tower that had been sent to them. "First things first—approaching that thing."

"ADVENT won't let us do that so easily." This time Bradford did use the Network to bring up a few photos they had of other towers. "High chance they have defenses up there, maybe even anti-air if they're paranoid enough. Hard to say how we can get up there, considering Firebrand will get shot right out of the sky."

Eliza clasped both sets of hands together, thinking. "—Fal-Mai's been training with her cloak recently, to the point where she's covering larger and larger areas with it thanks to Jax. I don't think we should put her on mission, considering that if she leaves the ship Firebrand is visible, but she should stick in the Skyranger. One of Jax's Mystics could boost her psionics to keep it up for the mission—do you think Maria could work? Never heard Jax talk about her boosting abilities."

"Good plan, might need a little feasibility testing before we put it to water. Just having Fal-Mai cloak the Skyranger while it's in the dock for long enough to see how she holds out." Bradford populated some notes in the mission file. "But it's likely our best bet. That leads into who should be going on the mission."

"We're going to be jumping into Operation Leviathan right after the tower mission," Eliza replied. "Nobody in that prospective squad can afford to be injured, so neither of our SPARKs and not the Chosen. Mordenna's still going to need a solid link to the tower down there, so... likely one of the Codices."

"Vix is a good start." Bradford brought up the roster. "Before we go further... we're going to have to field a very limited squad for this."

"Obviously. Not much room to kite a full squad up there, and we need as little clutter on comms as possible."

"Good you understand why. I want to call it... three people?"

Eliza scrunched up her nose. "Four."

Bradford sighed. "Your reasoning?"

"Four people leaves it to two mini squads that can split up at junctions," Eliza explained. "It allows more room for error and one more person spitting out firepower. We can afford the extra person and we're gonna need it up there."

"I figured you had a good answer, but I had to check." Bradford expanded the roster to four slots, putting Vix in the first one. "Other soldiers? Going to need a Ranger or Skirmisher at the bare minimum."

"Jane," Eliza answered quickly. "She's been raring to go ever since her physical therapy ended and I think giving her a shot at bringing down the ADVENT Network will make her feel better about being out of commission for so long."

"No argument there." Jane was added to the squad. "ADVENT might have some heavier units up there, things that need a little less restraint with explosives. Know what I mean?"

She chuckled, nodding. What were her options... "Banel. We have other heavy gunner options but I want him on there for the psionics he got."

"Right, he got the ones that make people think he's the biggest threat in the room, right?"

"The very same.. When we're fielding a smaller squad like this, we're going to need as many advantages as we can get—and if they're perfectly fine shooting at the man in the triple-reinforced WAR Suit with another armored vest under that? Fine by me." She watched as Banel was populated. "Last spot is a medic. Samhien?"

"Samhien. Only seems right." With that, the squad list was filled out. "Of course, we'll have to further refine what our plan is when we get up to that tower, but there are some smaller ones that might be similar in construction that some of the Reapers have told us about. We can go over the plans for those before we drop in on the big one."

She nodded, watching as the display closed. They were... very close. Very close to the end, and it just kept occurring to her. Nothing to do now but make sure the happy ending went to them. "Should we send a detachment of the faction soldiers preemptively over to the Black Market? I know the Baroness will be suspicious at first as to why we're turning up unannounced but considering she's familiar with Heidi, I think we can convince her well enough."

Bradford furrowed his brow, thinking over something. "—she might be vaguely aware of the fact that Heidi's an oracle, but I think turning up with no warning might not be the best way to go about it. I think we should warn her and then offer backup. It'll put the decision in her hands, even if she's likely to take the help."

That was a fair point. Eliza nodded. "Gotcha. Slot in a time today to contact her—anyone can do that, but best we encrypt it as much as possible, considering if she's compromised, they might try to sniff out where we are through her."

"Gotcha. I'll oversee who we'll send from the factions in the meantime." He fully turned towards her. "I'll tell the Bridge to get us over to the tower, as I said. Liz... go take a rest."

Eliza sighed. "John."

"I mean it. You've been on your feet ever since you..." He gestured at her. "Got taller." How many times had she heard that out of Bradford's mouth? "Who's on your rotation today, is it Mordenna? Let him know you're going to sit in your quarters and take at least five. Maybe he can come and give you a shoulder massage. Whatever the case..." He walked forward, taking her lower set of hands into his. "Honey. We're... we're literally going to be sending you out there in just a few days. Please. Rest while you can."

Oh, she couldn't resist that vulnerable look on Bradford's face. Eliza looked into his eyes for a few more moments and then sighed, looking away. "Ok, fine. You got me. I'll... heaven forbid, take a nap or something." As much as she was complaining, she did like the thought of sitting on one of the couches and just spacing out for a bit. "But only if you sneak in a break for yourself at some point."

"Later tonight, maybe after I ring up the Baroness. Hell, one last party at the Bar to raise everyone's spirits for the fight ahead?"

She grinned. "Sounds like a plan. I'll go and rest up. Just..." She leaned down, kissing him on the forehead. "Know that I love you, John. And we'll have all the time in the world to rest once we get the Elders out of here."

Bradford returned the kiss to her jaw. "Love you too, Liz. Now get up to your quarters before I carry you there."

"That a threat, or an invitation?"

"If it wasn't Mordenna's day..."

Eliza laughed, patting his shoulder and turning to walk away. "It'll all be back around to you eventually, honey. Take it easy."

Bradford grumbled something, but didn't say anything otherwise. Making her way up the stairs, Eliza was eventually entering her room. The door closed behind her, and she took a moment to just... consider her space.

The ceiling was closer, for one, that had been something she had to get used to. The items in the display cabinets next to the door had been largely unchanged—save for the display of the shot plate from Bradford's armor at last Unification Day and a few trinkets made by the Mystics when she had been in the lab. The old, tattered XCOM banner still hung above her headboard, unchanged from the day it was put there. She'd finally gotten around to getting a bean bag chair for her own room, where it currently sat next to the ring of couches from the last time she had the Chosen in her room to just... chat. To hang out.

The war was ending. Wasn't but a few days now when the broadcast would go out and they would find out if they could square off with the Overmind. She'd gotten so used to waking up in this room either in distress or not—and it seemed like just yesterday she had Mordenna "sleep" with her in here for the first time after a night of drinking. If they won, drove the Elders and ADVENT out, and had the chance to start again... what would it be like? To no longer wake up to the grays of the walls and the light blue accents? To live in a house again? Something that Bradford couldn't conceivably wreck at the first opportunity behind the wheel? Sure, she was grateful for the thought of that, but... it almost seemed like too soon. "Well," she muttered to herself, "it's gonna take a while until that house is livable, for one. Don't have to leave this so quick. And we'll always have the Avenger around. Our home away from home..."

Home. That was what the Avenger was. Her family was here; her lovers, her soldiers, and her children. Asaru, Vix, all of the royalty's kids. In a few days... would it stay? Would they win, or...?

After a few moments of her mind stopping on that exact thought, Eliza sighed, opening her Network interface in her mind. Mordenna. Not too busy, I would hope?

She walked over to the bean bag chair, dragging it closer to the screen above her desk. Mordenna's reply was swift. Working on something but you know Lily's competent enough to handle my duties. Jax is fine, by the way, not even that bad of a headache. What's up?

Eliza stared at her hands. ... the end is coming up fast, and I... I need someone to talk to. Can you come up to my quarters?

In a heartbeat. Hold on tight, Lizzie.

She'd trust in that. Her eyes remained on her palms. Did she... Did she deserve a happy ending? What her older self said came back to her, coupled with the fact of how responsible she was for just... everything. The Elders would never have been able to conduct their war machine as efficiently if they didn't have her—assuming there weren't any other candidates as reliable as she was. For twenty years, she was the one pulling the trigger—and before that? First Contact. The Marines. Things said and done and covered up that she'd never be able to make better with the people involved because they were likely long dead. Eliza knew it was thanks to her guidance that XCOM had this final chance it now did, but... did she really deserve the credit for it when it was essentially her fault that they were all here to begin with?

Her train of thought was broken by banging in the ceiling above her. She turned towards the room's vent—which was about in the middle of it—just in time to see it swing open and for Mordenna to drop out. He was in his new armor this time—perhaps he was still breaking it in. Looking over at her, he was immediately by her side, hugging her. "Hey Liz. What's the situation? Need to talk at me, need advice, or just wanna cuddle?"

"I..." Eliza wrapped him in a hug. "Need to talk at you. Might also need someone to snap me out of my current thought process. Can we discuss this on the bean bag?"

Mordenna nodded, walking with her and sitting down on the Chosen-sized seat. He drew her into his lap and had Eliza lean against him. As he ran his hand over her hair—which had grown back to its previous length thanks to Argus—his gaze was soft. "What's going on, Lizzie."

Eliza thumped her head against his chest, sighing. "... do I deserve this, Mordenna? Do I deserve a happy ending?"

"Yes. No strings attached. You worked so hard to get everyone here, Liz. No doubt about it."

"But..." She closed her eyes. "It's my fault we're in this situation to begin with, isn't it?"

"Liz." She opened her eyes, looking at Mordenna. His face was a little stern, but the clear worry under it was showing. "Are you going to take culpability for actions you literally couldn't prevent? One of the purposes of the Network was to keep you in a sedated state and limit your ability to fight back. Please, take it from the guy who had to rework that Network—there was nothing you could've done. The fact that you're alive and kicking is enough."

Eliza knew that, just... she knew there were times she was able to fight back, but it got harder and harder each time she did it. From what she could remember, anyway. The clearest memory told her that even though she did break out, it was still sedating her to the point where Argus convinced her to go back to sleep. Yet, the temptation to blame herself just kept coming back. "I was given the smallest shred of a chance that I could fight back and I just... I can't shake it. Even if I want to. Then there's the actions I must take culpability for, which is everything surrounding First Contact and even before that."

"That, I very much get. But you've been working so hard to atone for all of it, Liz. And, if you ask me?" He tucked some hair behind her ear. "You have. You've been breaking your back for a year now trying to punt the Elders out. You gave people hope, you gave them a chance. Gave me a chance; you took me and my siblings from a situation that would've killed us even when it was clear at least two of us didn't want to leave. I..." His eyes flitted away. "I know the two of us, we... we don't believe we deserve a happy ending."

"Mordenna..."

"I don't. But there's something else." His hand sought for one of hers, lacing his fingers in between her own. "Don't mean this in a bad way, but it's not gonna be just us at the end. Let's hypothetically agree—neither of us deserve happy endings. But if we take ourselves out of the picture... what about our kids? What about your lovers? What about the soldiers who have followed you for so long and are rooting for you to get to that? They deserve the fruits of their labors, right? So who are we to deny them the chance to live out life after the war with us?"

Eliza's chest hollowed and she squeezed Mordenna's hand. "... listen to me. So wrapped up in having to question and punish myself that I..." She hiccupped, emotions spilling over. "I can't e-even think of them..."

As the tears began to run, a hand formed of Mordenna's nanos wiped them away. He pressed her to his chest again, kissing the top of her head. "Liz. It's easy to get lost in your own head and lose sight. You just need someone to help you out of there. Even if we don't deserve happy endings—which, at least you do, and I do by proxy—we need to be there for the people who love us. I'm not going to abandon Vix or Azzie. Not a chance in hell. And I know you don't want to either. Don't beat yourself up over this."

Eliza sobbed softly, nuzzling against Mordenna. She didn't have anything to offer in regards to that, so she let herself cry the rest of her protesting out. Mordenna remained there for her, one arm around her and the other hand still holding hers, his thumb rubbing the back of her palm. It was selfish to think she should take herself out of the picture for the sake of denying herself a happy ending—she saw that now. The thought still lingered of what she had done, and she believed she should still be culpable for the things she did. Maybe not in the Tank, but at First Contact and before. Even if no one but Bradford remembered, it was important to her. But, as Mordenna said... she had people to live for. Kids to raise. She wouldn't dare leave Asaru like that.

Eventually, Eliza got a hold of herself again. She spared a hand to wipe her tears, and once she did, she kissed Mordenna. "—thank you, honey. For everything. You've come a long way and I'm so glad. Thanks for helping me get out of my own head."

He kissed her again, smiling genuinely. "My pleasure, darling. I wouldn't be here without you. Would be dead or worse, and that's something I wanna avoid now, thanks to you. I love you, Eliza. Let's be there for our kids, ok?"

"Ok. I love you too." She took her hand back to fully squeeze him, earning a grunt as she put her strength into it. Chuckling, she eased up as he muttered "my poor ribs." "Bradford's officially assigned me to take a break today. I know you're working on something in the Workshop, so—"

"Nope. I'm up here for right now. I'm going to love my beautiful wife, I swear to god."

She laughed... then stopped. Mordenna froze as well. Eliza grinned. "Mordenna... is there something you want to ask me?"

"No. Never. Me? Ask anything about anyone? Where do you get these ideas, Lizbeth?"

"I think I just heard someone call me 'wife.'"

"You are hearing things." Eliza laughed at that, and Mordenna rubbed the back of his neck, grinning nervously. "Joking aside... I... I guess it was something I wanted to ask about. But after the war, I assure you. I don't want some flashy ceremony and I don't want to put you through some public gig, especially if the rest of your lovers get the same idea—and they will—because you'll have to endure a lot of that, but..." He sighed. "I wanna marry you, Liz. I just... I do. If you'll have me. But..."

Her smile was wide and her chest was filling back up with love. "You know how to ask, Mordenna. And you can do it now."

Mordenna's face gradually flushed orange, but he looked away. "... Liz. Please don't take this bad. But... I'm sure that I wanna ask after the war. When we've had the time to settle down and see how we fare in a more... domestic peace. I don't think things will go bad. I just don't wanna trap you in a marriage you wouldn't want."

Eliza shook her head, kissing his cheek. "Mordenna... I have confidence we'll be just fine. But if you want to delay, I won't stop you whatsoever. We'll still have what we have now. The love between us will remain, even if later on it might need more effort. Love is work. And I'm happy you're giving it so much thought."

He smiled at her again, and what she wouldn't give to see that smile every day for the rest of her life. "Of course I am, Lizzie. It's practically my job." He kissed her forehead, running a thumb over her cheek. "And I love you. I always will."

"I love you too, Mordenna." One of her hands sought for his hood, pulling it down to get at that soft hair of his. "So. Don't mind staying with me today?"

His grin gained a certain playful edge to it. "Mm. Not at all, Liz. Having the Commander all to myself, where I can do any number of dastardly things to her? I'm surprised I'm not paying someone for this privilege."

"Mordenna."

"Well, what can I say?" He caught one of her wrists, leaning forward so her back was against the bean bag, pinning her arm to it. "Think I'm lying, darling...? Only got one more day with you before I go to shoot my old man in the head. And the love of my life is right here, at my mercy. I think... I'd like to show her a good time."

Eliza grinned up at him. "Think you can handle a fellow Chosen, cowboy?"

"You said it best—I'm a cowboy." Mordenna's smile turned cheeky. "You'll be saving a horse."

She laughed again, using one of her free hands to pull Mordenna in to kiss him. This break was probably going to be just what she needed.

---

The Baroness just could not get a single break this week.

First there had been a partial info leak about what was going to happen in regards to the news she'd received and passed on. About the most that spread was "ADVENT is winding up to commit more human rights violations" so thankfully it wasn't as big a stir as it could've been, but the mania that ensued from the shops below gave her a headache she was still dealing with. Then there was the business with another assassination attempt that likely happened off the back of her putting her foot down about the panic, which didn't help her stress.

Now? She'd gone and gotten a prediction from XCOM.

She was going over her war supplies at her desk, sighing. That had been an interesting call, getting Bradford on the screen and having him open with "I know this is going to sound far fetched, but you're going to have to believe me." As it turned out—and as she supposed was going to happen—that nearly-unsecured call she'd made to XCOM cost her. ADVENT were going to mount an invasion of the Black Market... she just didn't know when. The big hunk of meat that was the Warlock didn't exactly get a specific date before he passed out, apparently. Prophecy could never be convenient, it seemed, especially after Heidi stopped doing their readings. Thankfully they were offering help from the Reapers and Skirmishers... help that hadn't arrived yet.

Now, she had to figure out just where to go with this. She'd managed to prepare everyone below with a quick bullshit story of "caught a runner downstairs that had a chip on 'em that wasn't as fried as he thought" so at least everyone had a heads up that they were going to be raided. The real question was of how ready they were. Already a fair amount of merchants had bailed, and she didn't blame them. Thankfully she had more loyal people out there than she thought, and so a good number of people below were still selling wares with a gun under their stalls. But, honestly? Was that going to be enough? If they had her information ever since she made that call to XCOM... they were probably looking to bring the whole house down on their heads and then some. The question was when.

That time was now. An alert came up on her screen and she pivoted it towards herself, staring at the feed. The long-range scanners she'd jerry rigged were picking up incoming dropships—more than they could reasonably handle. She cursed, navigating to the "red alert" function she had in her system, typing up the most frank message she could think of. ADVENT coming. Get ready or get out. She knew she'd be standing—there was too much here to get out with in a reasonable time. The Baroness had to hope that help was coming soon.

As she was gathering her combat gear together—her armor and her mag shotgun—Ray came bursting through the door, clutching his datapad. "I-is it true? Is ADVENT coming?"

"They are. You're hiding in the cabinet in the back." A little compartment that was sequestered in the back, close to a hidden door. It could only fit one. "If you hear bullets stop flying and I don't come back here and give you the phrase, run like hell and never look back."

"B-but..." Ray swallowed. "Mom..."

The Baroness's heart softened, and she came over, hugging him tightly. "I'm not dumb, Ray. If shit turns south, I'll come back and run with you. But you have to be ready to make it alone. The Reapers and Skirmishers are coming—worst comes to worst, you go with them. Just... make it. For me." She kissed the top of his head. "I love you."

Ray squeezed her as much as his skinny arms would allow. "I-I... I love you too. Please be safe..."

With that, she begrudgingly let go of him. Ray scuttled to the back, turning a corner and moving out of sight. The Baroness allowed herself a deep breath before moving to the front, entering the lobby.

The scene there inspired hope.

A few of her merchants from below, including Heidi, were on the scene. They had their guns on them and were ready to fight—but what made it better was that their allies had finally showed up... and in force. Betos and Volk were there, directing their soldiers to put up barriers and secure positions. The latter caught sight of the Baroness, grinning. "Fine bunch of shit you've gotten yourself into, huh?"

"Only because you and your shitheads turned up." The Baroness walked forward, catching Volk's hand and squeezing it. "Not a moment too soon. ADVENT's coming to tell us where to shove it."

"Heard from your vendors. We'll tell them to pack it up and hit the road." Volk turned to Betos, letting go of the Baroness's hand. "Got my wolves covering the flanks outside, and a few managed the roof. Keep your shooters in here, they'll love the close quarters and it forces ADVENT to either stay out and get shot or come in and get sliced."

"A sound decision." Betos looked towards the Baroness. "And yourself?"

The Baroness pumped her shotgun, priming it. "Not resting until I know they're not gonna lay a finger on my castle."

The roar of the dropships started to come in, and soon the storm would be on them. Good, she thought. I can weather a little rain.

---

Hell of a mission they were about to undertake—but Jane knew she was ready.

They were coming in hot on the dropship, and Jane found herself sitting opposite of Banel once again. Sammy was right to his side, and that strangely buff Codex named Vix was to her own side. They'd checked their weapons time and time again—now, they just had to wait to get to their destination.

Normally, she figured they'd be getting shot the hell up right now. Thankfully, they had a little help on their side—kneeling at the front of the ship was Fal-Mai, head bowed and arms to the floor of the ship. She'd maintained that pose for the whole flight, and right beside her was Maria, brows knit as she kept Fal-Mai juiced up with her own psionics. That little alien—Asaru—was in her head too, that much Jane knew. Their combined force was keeping the ship invisible, which was giving them a much comfier entrance. She kind of wished that they could have the Assassin come with them on the fight, but someone had to cover the ship and Fal-Mai couldn't be injured before the final fight. Maybe Asaru could just heal her back up, but it was the principle of the matter. Better safe than sorry.

Speaking of better safe than sorry, Jane checked the mechanism for the grappling hook of the "Serpent Suit" she'd been fitted for. This suit came out of a collaboration of the Lab and that Viper King—she wasn't wearing real Viper scales, but the closest thing to them that still gave the natural armor and flexibility they were known for. The helmet was stylized like a Viper's hood, and would mask her profile, she was told. Jane thought it looked a little ridiculous, but they'd at least given it darker colors and patterns as opposed to what the Viper King looked like. The grappling hook looked fine, and the capsule on the inside was still intact. One freeze a mission—just had to aim it well.

Sammy was in a weird set of armor as well. The "Kudzu Armor," which looked like he was wearing a garden. Hardened plates of what almost looked like bug shells protected the important parts, with vines connecting all of it. Leaves sprouted here and there, and wrapped around Sammy's Ripjack was a flower bud-type deal. Apparently the suit had its own grappling hook as well. He looked... kind of adorable, to be honest. Even if the helmet of the suit basically made him look like a plant-like bug. The leaves fanning out from it must've been to catch the sun.

Samhien must've caught her staring. "Is there a question you want to ask me, Jane?"

"Just how the inside of that must feel," she muttered, figuring she may as well ask one.

"It's not unlike padded silk." He patted the breastplate, and could swear she saw it move. "One you get over the occasional movement—and the feeling at the base of your spine—it's quite comfortable."

"The 'feeling?'"

"Suit's gotta get nutrients somehow," Banel answered. He was in the chunkiest WAR Suit Jane had ever seen. "He's probably talking about it tapping his body for them."

Jane shuddered. "Don't know how you guys got used to this so fast. I'd still be freaking out at the giant plant centaur if you guys apparently didn't think it was normal."

Banel was wearing his signature helmet, but he was definitely raising an eyebrow at her. "Got problems with them?"

"Only on a 'this is our new normal?' level. If they wanna get ADVENT out, fine by me. I'll work with them any day of the week." She threw out her hand at Sammy. "But look! Can't we acknowledge that's a little gnarly?"

Banel chuckled, leaning back. "It is. Sammy's looking like his own brand of alien."

Sammy looked to the side, presumably out of embarrassment. "—I may look strange... more so than usual... but I find this accommodation well. If Celosia can make other symbiotic organisms, I would like to inquire about ones that can assist me in the field." He looked back. "Even if the time for fighting will swiftly be coming to an end."

Wasn't that right. If Eliza had her way, these last two missions XCOM were going to do would be the end of ADVENT as they knew it. Once the Network was out, that was going to strand all of their forces, and the Commander was interested in non-lethally subduing the stragglers. There would be a point in Jane's lifetime where she didn't have to fight anymore. Yet... she couldn't rest, she knew this. Someone had to keep the shit from hitting the fan while Eliza was taking a much-needed retirement. There were cities to oversee, and XCOM would need new leadership. Maybe, if the Commander was willing...

"Menace One-Five, this is Firebrand. We're coming up on the drop point." The red ready lights filled the cabin. "Get to the back. Fal-Mai, be ready to cover them as they go out."

Fal-Mai grunted, probably the only way she could show she'd heard Firebrand. As instructed, the squad got up, moving towards the back. Vix was quiet and stuck behind Jane, and she could feel the Codex grabbing onto the back of her armor. Slightly funny considering that Vix was taller than her, but Jane got her nervousness.

The back opened, and the scenery beyond was tinged lightly with purple—likely an effect of Fal-Mai's cloak. They were quite far in the air, hovering right above one of the helicopter platforms. Machinery and walkways dominated the top, with one of those weird bloom-like radio relays in the middle—the largest they had seen. Near the far end of the platform was a larger building than the others that had a mess of antennae on the top.

"Menace One-Five, this is Central. Your target is the building at the back. Get in there, get Vix an access point, and defend her as Mordenna infiltrates the Network. Fal-Mai says you're cleared for drop whenever."

Fair by Jane. She led the way, grabbing one of the cords and bringing her own psionics to bear. She... kinda wished she'd gotten a better roll on what she got. Still, sound manipulation came in handy as she slid down, landing on the metal below with barely a sound. She kept her psionics up as Sammy and Banel made their landings—Vix just teleported beside them, dropping the need for it.

Looking back up, she saw only the inside of the Skyranger quickly closing before disappearing into nothing. Figuring they were visible now, Jane quickly made for cover, still cloaking her footsteps. There were some barricades, machinery, and railing to hide behind at least... but looking over the railing, it sure as hell was a long way down. Quelling her mild acrophobia, Jane kept her ears out for movement as they crawled along.

It wasn't peaceful for very long. She heard the smooth glide of scales on metal up ahead, and halted. Viper... from the sounds of it, two of them. Jane adjusted the Storm Gun in her hands, looking over at the rest of her squad. Banel was hunkered down as much as he could possibly manage, which... wasn't much. Sammy was green. Vix stuck out like a sore thumb. They couldn't sneak this for long and they didn't exactly have all day. A few hours, but they needed to keep a schedule. A few more seconds passed, and she heard the slithering stop. She shot off a message to the Commander on the Network, thankful she could communicate without saying anything. Commander?

Eliza spoke over comms. "Two Vipers, an Officer, and a Sectoid. The Vipers are discussing something... ah. They smell you guys. Get ready, now."

Viper senses, goddamnit. Jane primed her gun. Three, two, one—

A shot arced off from behind her—an arrow made of plasma that screamed ahead and took out the Sectoid by the sounds of it. Jane popped up and took a shot at the first Viper she saw. More of a glancing shot as it twisted, and the second was making full use of the opportunity. Jane only had enough time to toss her gun as she saw it rear back, and soon there was a tongue wrapping around her neck. She was getting yanked forward—but her nerves won out and she brandished one of the Fusion Axes on her, aiming it so both she and its blade were careening towards the Viper.

Unfortunately for her, the Viper was a bit smarter than that. It whipped its tongue more to the side, and Jane swiftly realized she was going to get launched off the edge of the tower. The tongue unwrapped from her and she tumbled, too shocked to scream as she fumbled for her grappling hook.

Fortunately, she could always count on her squad to have her back. A grappling hook embedded into her armor and she felt herself getting yanked again, back to the position she remembered Samhien being in. She maneuvered the Fusion Axe out of the way as she shot towards Sammy, and he opened his arm as she came close. The two of them crashed into each other and spilled across the deck—but she was relatively safe now. The fight was still running, and plasma and magfire was flying—but a quick check confirmed she had nothing to worry about. In fact, she was compelled to look at Banel, who was tanking all of the fire himself as it harmlessly bounced off of him. Psionics were streaming from his helmet, tendrils going vaguely towards the pod they were squaring off with. With him drawing fire, Jane quickly got to her feet, holstering her axe and going for her gun, listening to Sammy get up behind her.

Vix was the one picking up the slack. Jane spared a glance long enough to watch her nock another shot and let it fly, nailing the Officer. One Viper had been gunned down when she wasn't looking, and she took her chance to nail a more proper shot this time into the other one. Squad cleared, she did a quick check of her own. Banel was reloading and his armor had scorch marks, but he was clearly fine. Sammy had gotten up and had his gun at the ready, and Vix was... a little jittery, even for a Codex, but she looked ok otherwise. Knowing time was of the essence, Jane moved up. "Menace, shoot and scoot! Baal, up here with me, I want Prince in front of Vix."

She got two "roger"s and a shaky "ok," letting Banel overtake her as they advanced. There was clearly movement in the rest of the facility, which never boded well. Jane caught sight of an Andromedon, and maybe a few Mutons. Quite the heavy hitters to just stick on the top of a broadcast tower—but ADVENT probably figured they might come to stop it. Fine by Jane. Would feel a little anticlimactic to not have much to shoot.

They'd gotten over a bridge and were approaching the halfway point when they reached hard contact with the next squad—three MECs, a Trooper, and a Shieldbearer. The last one immediately knew what he could do to piss Jane off the most, and that was to quickly shield his allies and then run behind cover. Jane grit her teeth, but gave Banel space as he stood completely out in the open, coming just a few steps short of beating his chest to taunt ADVENT. She let his gun do most of the talking as she kept low, skirting around cover, trying to find a good flank on the Shieldbearer.

Her advance was summarily stopped as micromissiles exploded just in front of her, and she practically threw herself back to get away from the crumbling floor. What kind of reckless targeting did those things have to have to ignore structural damage up here? Jane quickly got back to cover, instead taking a moment to bury a solid hit in one of the MECs. The rest of the squad was putting their work in—Samhien landed his Ripjack on the Trooper and took a leaf out of the Viper's book, chucking the poor bastard over the side. More brutal than she'd expect from Samhien, but alright. Vix loaded a blue-looking arrow and fired on one of the non-accosted MECs. It must've been some Bluescreen tech, as it staggered back and then defaulted to an inactive position, leaving them to focus on the other combatants.

As they fought, gunfire splashing off shields, Jane bared her teeth. "Someone get on that damn Shieldbearer!"

"Ah—ok!" That response was from Vix, and she went about the attack in an interesting way. Jane watched as one of the psionic rifts that always gummed up her weapons spawned in front of her, on the enemy. Clicks resounded from the MEC's weapons, and during the confusion, the Codex sprinted up for a flanking position on the Shieldbearer, loading up and firing off one, two, three arrows. His body plummeted over the side of the tower, and what remained of the shields dissipated on the MECs.

Jane grinned, priming her gun again and taking out one of the MECs. "Good work, sparky! Now get back into cover, they've got more on the way!"

The sound of a Codex teleporting told Jane she'd heeded her instructions, and eventually the crashing of metal signalled the last MEC had gone down. Jane trusted her squad to do reloads along with her before she sprinted up to Banel. Of course, the man was no worse for wear, barring a few more scorch marks. More footsteps sounded off—behind her and in front of her. "Try to advance and get to cover," she said, taking the other side of the pillar that the Shieldbearer hid behind, "more on the way!"

Banel, of course, remained in the open, drawing Jane's eye consciously. He stopped just before the bridge—and for good reason. If they concentrated explosives on him, that was it. He might be made of steel, but a fall from this height would pancake him. Vix and Sammy jumped into their own cover, and thankfully Vix looked a little less jittery now that she'd pulled off something for the squad. Had to be her first time out without her dad, Jane guessed... and that familial relation still boggled her mind. Well, whatever. Jane may not have had the huggiest feelings for Mordenna still, but as long as he treated his family right, fair was fair.

Taking her mind back to the battle, more resistance came to disrupt them. That Andromedon she spotted earlier was making its appearance, and that spelled doom for Banel's armor. "Squad, focus fire on that Andromedon!"

As their concentrated fire flew towards it, the Commander buzzed in. "Menace, two points of bad news. One, you've got dropships heading towards your location. Two? They're speeding up the timetable on the broadcast! You've got to blitz across that bridge as fast as you can. I'm going to see about radioing some backup."

What kind of backup could make it up here without getting shot, Jane wondered? Whatever, she'd absolutely trust in the Commander's word. She plucked one of the Plasma Grenades off her belt and chucked it—right at the same time that Banel launched one. The combined force of the two blasts took out the bridge and sent the Andromedon plummeting. No bridge, but no Andromedon. Banel wasn't done—he was loading up his second Plasma Grenade and launching it at the pod beyond. That scattered them just as well, and the gunfire from Vix and Samhien finished them off. Jane rose. "I've got a grappling hook and so does Sammy, and Vix can teleport, but we're not making it across that gap without Banel." She looked over. The next bridge was far out of their way. "Squad—"

"I've got him!" Vix hopped over to Banel. "I can take people if it's just one or two."

Well, that cut the knot nicely. Jane broke from her cover, getting her grappling hook ready and trying not to think about the fall she'd endure if she missed. At least her mechanical eye was helping out a lot with depth perception. "Alright. Take him over—Samhien and I will make it across."

With that, she shot her grappling hook at a raised pillar on the other side, getting a solid embed. Samhien went more ambitious, aiming for and hooking the top of the building on the other side. They both shot over as she heard another Codex teleport—by the time she'd swung onto solid ground, Banel was already advancing again, with Vix in hot pursuit. Figuring Sammy was taking the high ground, Jane went on just as well.

More ADVENT, more fighting ahead as they left the building. As Jane continued to blast Troopers, she stole glances at the horizon. No visible sign of the dropships yet, but she was sure they'd be appearing any minute now. All the more important they got to the main terminal on time. Thankfully they seemed to be making solid progress. Banel was almost out of explosive ordinance but his Shredstorm Cannon had been tweaked to be rechargeable, so they at least had some crowd clearing every now and then. Sammy had taken some hits that his armor quickly grew over, and he didn't show any signs of slowing down. Overall, Banel was their guardian angel, and she made sure to stay behind him as they went on.

Eventually, the building was in tangible sight. The grappling hook on her arm made an audible click to signal it was recharged, but she'd let Banel take the lead. They charged their way through a building, and into the main portion of it. Sure enough, it looked like the place. There was a central workstation in the room, with plenty of important-looking machinery around it. On one of the walls was a currently-darkened monitor. Jane immediately began looking for a defensive position, taking one right near the entrance they'd come out of. "Prince, on me on this side! Baal, do you think you can handle yourself at the other door?"

Banel nodded, stomping over without any guff. Vix made her way to the workstation, holstering her bow and plunging her hands in it without hesitation. "Um, this is gonna take a bit. Dad's gonna need a lot of permissions and he's going to need my help to keep any admins off of him. Please make sure I don't get shot...!"

"That's the plan." Jane reloaded her gun. "Commander, status on those reinforcements?"

"I think they've gotten our signal, but proceed on like they haven't. Watch your six and be mindful of the windows!"

Heeding that, Jane reached over and drew the drapes on one. Yeah, it'd be a big indicator that she was there, but it at least gave them a less solid target to aim at. Noticing they had a moment, Sammy went around and did the same to all of the windows that had curtains to draw. Banel called out as Sammy went back to his position. "Resistance coming in hot! I can see a dropship on the horizon, too."

"Great," Jane muttered, even if she'd been fully forewarned. "Squad, play it safe, but do not let them interfere with Vix!"

"We may wish to move up," Samhien replied. "The further we can distract them from Vix without stretching ourselves thin, the better."

A hatch slammed closed in the ceiling behind Vix. "They at least won't have roof access, so I second that notion!"

Jane nodded, moving to the room beyond with Samhien. Just in time—those were some Archons coming in. Jane chucked one of her Fusion Axes at one of them, and Samhien continued to display he wasn't above some more frightening tactics as he let the vine of his armor catch another Archon, slamming it into the wall as he redirected its momentum, firing at the downed alien. The sound of Banel's minigun at the other end of the building filled the air as he presumably was shredding the competition.

More kept coming, and they kept shooting them down—but it was clear to Jane that they were starting to lose ground. Only took a missed shot or two for Samhien to have to pull her fat out of the fire again with another Viper, and she had to freeze a Stun Lancer in retaliation when he went to get a clean shot on Sammy. Banel didn't sound like he was having much trouble on the other end, but even with his heavily modified gun, he was going to hit the end of his Auto Loaders eventually. Worst came to worst she supposed they could ask Fal-Mai to come in and even the odds—but that would put Firebrand in a world of danger, and as confident as the pilot was? Jane didn't want to do that to her.

After another close call with getting Stasis'd by a Priest, Jane grit her teeth. "Mordenna, how much longer are you going to be in there?!"

"This is not something I can give an exact estimate on. I am literally, directly fighting my old man right now for control of the Network! I'm winning but he's dragging me over hell's half-acre to do so and we are very visible right now! I've at least got Wiki helping me out but I can't spare much brain power to give you updates!"

Jane bit her tongue from shouting back at the Hunter, reminding herself that she couldn't spend much of her attention arguing, either. The dropships were now coming in—and the first thing to drop out of one of them was a Berserker. Immediately wishing she'd saved her freeze for it, Jane reloaded to get a full mag in her gun for an unload. "Commander?!"

"—I just got a response! Hold on, they'll be coming in as soon as I give them the coordinates!"

They needed that support yesterday! The Berserker charged, and despite all the punishment Samhien and Jane were laying into it, it wasn't slowing down. She frantically backed down as it approached, but it caught her with a swipe and Jane was sent tumbling, chest aching from the blow. Samhien was quick to drag her into cover, but by the sounds of it, the Berserker was coming in for the kill. Jane fumbled for her gun, silently saying a prayer over its roar—

Then the sound of a Gatekeeper beam rang out, and there was a heavy thump on the floor.

Jane looked over at their saviors. It was that dark-shelled Gatekeeper and the uniquely styled Specter—Zuriel and Cocytus, if she remembered correctly. The Berserker had been shot down for its troubles, and a portal closed behind the two of them. "XCOM really has a fancy for leaving things for the last minute," Cocytus mused.

"Not our fault that we have to do this at the last minute," Jane grumbled. "Are you two the backup the Commander sent for?"

"One in the same," Zuriel replied. "Where would you have us?"

Jane immediately knew where to send the two of them. "Zuriel, right? You're here with us. We need someone who can take and return fire, we're kind of squishy. Cocytus, I want you covering Banel, he's at the other end of the facility. Under no circumstances is anyone to get to the Codex at that station!"

"A Codex?" Cocytus gave a chuckle. "She'll need all the help she can get, but I'll cover your other human fellow." With that, the Specter split off into nanomachines, rushing to the other side of the building.

Meanwhile, Zuriel stayed with them, advancing. "Please don't mind Cocytus, I've... been trying to work with them. Do you have an escape plan once you're done here?"

Samhien nodded, quickly checking Jane for injuries. "We have our escape vessel in the area, merely cloaked. We appreciate your help on this matter."

After he was certain Jane had no injuries, Samhien retook the ground they'd lost as Zuriel fired upon more ADVENT, plasma and mag shots splashing harmlessly off of his shell. As she took up her own position, she decided to check up on the other side. "Baal, everything alright on your end?"

"—almost got overwhelmed there for a second," he replied, and Jane could hear some somewhat sickening sounds on his end, "but this Specter is making mincemeat of ADVENT. Hm, literally. Glad I have a strong stomach."

Good to hear he wasn't in danger anymore, at least, even if Jane now distinctly did not want to be on that side of the tower. With the backup on their side, ADVENT were now the ones facing the uphill battle—whenever Zuriel wasn't being fired on, he was opening his plates and teleporting units somewhere, presumably off the tower. Samhien and Jane were now more supporting fire than anything else—but whatever. Jane wasn't here for glory. She was here to kick ADVENT out, and if someone else she was allied with ended up getting most of the work done? Fine by her.

It got to the point where they'd cleared off the tower and Zuriel was now taking potshots at incoming ships for Mordenna to come in over the radio again. "Finally. I'm in with full permissions and there is nothing that bastard can do about it! Uploading the video, crashing the system right after that—in the meantime, issuing priority orders to get away from the tower to all ADVENT units!"

A second later, and that was true enough. The incoming ships stalled, and then began to fly away. Thankful for the moment of peace, Jane reloaded her gun, letting out a sigh of relief. "Shame I won't get to see the look on the Speaker's face."

"Well, you can if you want. Get to the monitor in the main building."

Oh, now this was gonna be good. Jane went back into the central portion of the building. Vix was still at the console but she looked notably more relaxed. Menace One-Five plus their backup congregated, and Jane took a seat on the edge of the desk, giving her aching chest a break.

The screen flickered on, and Menace watched the show commence.

---

As the Speaker stepped up to the stage, he couldn't help but feel like something was about to go incredibly wrong.

They'd already rushed his schedule regarding the broadcast—something regarding "XCOM activity" and how it was vital to get the message out immediately. While he felt a little perturbed he didn't get the chance to rehearse his speech as much as he wanted, he figured there wasn't any helping the matter. His glasses had the display of his script on one lens, and a feed from his channel from the other in case he needed to make any on-the-fly adjustments to his speech. The crowd in front of him fell to a hush as he came up to the stage, adjusting his suit. Joseph waited for the complete silence of the area before beginning.

"Fellow citizens. For twenty years, we have put our trust in ADVENT, in the Elders—because we believed a better future is possible for all." His eyes flickered to his script, memorizing the next spot as he went slightly off it. "There have been those who have doubted this course of action. No doubt the dissidents have tried their best to sow the seeds of doubt among us. We have had our setbacks, and true, we have lost some to that doubt." The most gracious way of going over the Chosen. What a PR disaster. Joseph went back to his script. "But today... that trust, that belief, has been rewarded."

There were... murmurs in the crowd, but ones Joseph didn't catch as he went on. "ADVENT peacekeeping forces are travelling across the world, carrying—"

There was audible buzzing. Joseph's eyes flicked to his script, noticing it blanking out... then displaying "ENJOY THE SHOW, ASSHOLE." His personal channel went dark. He could see the picture behind him change to something he wasn't expecting based on the reflection off the stage, and he turned.

Joseph found himself face to face with the Warlock, sitting on screen. He was in one of those Old World tunics, and the accents of his gauntlets and horns had been dyed a desaturated blue. His hair was longer... and his eyes had shifted to red. Jax-Rai Tessura looked down at the audience with grace in the nondescript room he was stationed in, and began, his voice smooth and soft. "A fine day to you, ADVENT populace—and a happy Unification Day. I know I am being quite rude right now, interrupting the address of your Speaker, Joseph." Joseph's name wasn't supposed to be known to the public, but he felt like that was swiftly going to be the least of his problems. "I do, however, have a few things to address with this speech he has prepared for you."

Jax-Rai crossed his legs. "He is coming to you, stating that the Elders have found the cure to the 'things that plague you.' Disease. Decay. Pain. True, the gene clinics have brought about revolutionary therapies, and I will not deny that we should keep them going forward. However... there is something deeper, darker to the gene clinics. Have you ever, say... had a loved one attend one of these gene clinics just to be 'indefinitely detained,' with no word what their crime was and threatened with 'undermining of the officials' decisions' should you try to find out when you can see them again?

"Or... what of this? Have you had a loved one come back from the clinics... just to not be quite right? Standoffish, not showing any interest in their former hobbies or the people they used to enjoy, pushing away it all until one day, when you thought you would be glad to have them gone... they disappear? What of your neighbors? What of the model citizen living right next door that had ADVENT descend upon them for 'suspected resistance collaboration,' never to return?"

Jax-Rai paused. Joseph looked back, and the crowd was mumbling, and he heard a snippet or two of stories corroborated. His guards looked on uneasily, unsure what to do. Surely the Elders would have stopped this broadcast by now? What were They doing?

The Warlock went on regardless. "If not you, then your neighbor. Your friend. Your loved one, who will never speak of their child who came back with red glints in their eyes, and how their missing persons report seemed to disappear the next day. The crux of the matter is that these disappearances aren't just commonplace, they are standard duty for the Elders. They do not care for you. They will take away your friends and loved ones, either on mere whim or because they were needed for processing.

"I hear you, out there. 'Jax-Rai Tessura, the very words you speak are heresy. This is the mentality of a disciplined child, connecting unrelated circumstances together to make the case that his parents don't love him anymore.' And yet... do you not recall how the Elders reacted, when we left? The words their despicable puppet spoke? They were not the words of a devastated parent, crying out for their lost children. No... we had 'betrayed' them. We had become the ancient figure Judas. All because... because we dared try to get away."

Jax-Rai closed his eyes, taking in a steadying breath. "But I understand. It is... hard to fathom, without evidence. Unlike the Elders, we are freely willing to present evidence to our claims. True recordings as to what the Elders put us through. Look away if you must, but know that this is our truth."

Suddenly, the feed jumped. It was the Meeting Hall, an area Joseph had only been to one or twice. The three Chosen were kneeled in front of the image of the Elders... and a beam of pure psionic energy descended on the Hunter. The sheer agony he was in wasn't something that Joseph couldn't put to words. It cut to another scene, depicting both the Assassin and the Warlock being punished... then finally, a gut-wrenching scene of the Warlock himself, looking like he was being boiled alive. As the footage played, he continued to speak. "This is how the Elders treat their children, who have done naught but serve them. How they treated me and my siblings for the sheer crime of failing to aid each other when they discouraged it. This is what they do to the ones who are closest to them, their own flesh and blood. If this is how they treat their own kin, how do you believe they will treat the countless faces in their cities?"

The footage cut back to Jax. "How indeed." Behind him, footage of the inside of the Blacksites played, security footage of people being muscled into the detention areas in gene clinics. The processing, the green casks. "This is their care for the populace. This is their love for you. Taken, used as livestock for their new bodies. This announcement he is going to make? All of you will die. They want as much 'material' as they can, and they will not discriminate which one of you goes under the knife. This is not a call to fight. This is not a call to take them down." Jax leaned forward. "This is a call to run."

The video closed, and both feeds on the Speaker's glasses went completely dark. His mind closed as the Network surged, and he could no longer access it. His guards clutched their heads and fell to the floor, and he found himself alone as he turned back towards his audience. They were ignoring Jax-Rai's instructions—instead of fleeing, they were beginning to angrily storm the stage.

So, this was how it all ended.