Got a headache so not much to say before. So in we go.

"What's the verdict, doc?" Ruby asked. "Am I going to die?"

"If you try another stunt, like that, maybe." Dahlia scowled as she hit some buttons on her tablet. "Oh, and look!" She turned her tablet toward Ruby and put on a fake shocked expression. "New rule! Rule seventy-two: If the doctors recommend against a non-mission related operation that could kill you, don't do it. It could probably actually kill you."

Ruby scoffed. "It was ten seconds." A smile took over her face. "Ten seconds of knowing Cerise was alive. Ten seconds of being a beacon for her."

"Ten seconds of almost killing yourself and leaving Cerise alone forever." Dahlia growled and shook her head. "Ruby, I love you, but you're so. Darn. Impulsive! There's only so much my Semblance can do for brain injuries. Heck, there's only so much Orchid can do when she's at full strength. Any more seconds, if you weren't dead, you'd have significant brain trauma for life!" She sighed. "Against my better judgement. I'm clearing you for limited active duty for non-combat related missions and light exertion. I wouldn't even be doing that if the Commander didn't have a mission lined up for you."

"A mission?" Ruby shifted on her seat. "What is it, latrine duty?"

"Something to do with the Liberated. That's all I know." Dahlia sighed and gestured toward the door. "You and Nalia are needed on the bridge. She's waiting for you outside."

"Yang and mom too or are they still mad at me?"

"Oh, they're still mad. But they love you so much they're not acting on it at all. They're not out there though. Your mom's in a command meeting and Yang's working with Shen and Halcyon for a more permanent interface for Halcyon onboard."

"Fair enough." Ruby stood up from the bed, and for the first time in a week, she didn't feel dizzy. No matter what Dahlia or her family said, that was more than worth the risk. She opened the infirmary door to see Nalia 'standing' on the other side with her arms crossed. "What?"

"Are you going to be sssssenssssible now?" Nalia spoke slowly and sounded better but still could get her 's' right.

"Does no one want me to feel Cerise again?" Ruby pushed past the Bio Viper.

"Believe me, we do." Nalia slithered beside Ruby. "We jussssst don't want to lossssse you in the proccccessss."

Ruby dipped her eyes to the floor. "Was it really that bad?"

"I'm ssssure Dahlia sssssaid we losssst you for two minutessssss. That isssss what I would conssssider bad."

"What?" Ruby stopped in place and stared openmouthed at Nalia. The dragon stopped as well. She lowered her head as she turned to face Ruby, her eyes big and sad. "Lost me? As in… flatlined?"

Nalia nodded. "I could have ssssssworn she would have told you." She shook her head. "I came into the infirmary to ssssee your head in Orchid'ssss mouth. Yang wassss almossssst pulling her hair out. I heard Dahlia ssssay ssssomething about needing to revive you. I panicked and didn't let go of your left hand for two daysssss."

She snorted, straightened, and slithered up to Ruby. "That'ssss why we're all mad at you, Ruby. You almosssst threw your life away for ssssomething that could have meant nothing. We jusssst talked about you being to aggressssive. Sssso what if you felt Cccccerise for ten sssssecondssss? You almost left her forever." Nalia's gaze softened. "We love you too. Trusssst ussss. We all know you missss Ccccerisssse and want her back. We know none of ussss can replacccce her. But let ussss try." A choked whimper came from her throat. "I losssst you oncccce before. I don't want to lossssse you again."

Ruby sighed and leaned forward onto the Bio Viper's chest. Nalia wrapped her in her arms. "Feel free to call me out on anything that stupid again. Do whatever it takes to stop me." She paused. "What about Yang? She was just as eager to continue."

Nalia hissed with an inhale. "Sssshe blamessss hersssself."

"Always so protective." Ruby shook her head and let Nalia go. "Let's get to the bridge." She stepped away and led the Viper to the ship's top level.

On the bridge, Central, the Commander, and Shen stared at what Ruby learned was the former island country of Japan on the hologlobe. A white building glowed on the northern end of the largest island. Shen stared unblinking at the building with her hands gripping the edge of the panel in front of her. Yang was nowhere to be seen. "You're sure about this?" Central asked Shen.

"What else could it be?" Shen asked. "We aren't hooked up to any ADVENT systems here. There's no way they or MOCX could hack us like that."

"If it is him…" Central let out a contented huff. "I thought Raymond had already given us his last gift when he got the Skyranger working."

"We don't know it's him yet." The Commander looked up and locked eyes with Ruby. He glanced at the others on his command staff. "We'll talk more on the way." He flicked his eyes up. "Halcyon, you online?"

A hologram of a golden dragon appeared beneath the hologlobe. "I'm here. I have limited functionality so far, but I can at least access all audio and visual inputs on the Avenger." The mini Halcyon turned around and cocked his head at Ruby. "I don't suppose you could give me the full sensor treatment?"

Ruby shook her head. "We don't have materials as is for normal things. Such a luxury wouldn't be a wise use." She returned her attention to the Commander. "I understand you wanted to see me?"

"I do, and considering you're here, I'm assuming Dahlia or Invidia cleared you for duty."

"As long as you're not sending me into a firefight."

"If all goes well, that shouldn't be a problem." The Commander hit some buttons on his panel and an area known as the middle east spun to face Ruby. The blue and white symbol of the Liberated glowed to life. "We have received word from the Liberated that they have several of their members that wish to join us. All of them are Vipers."

Ruby blinked and turned her head to Nalia. The Bio Viper had as much surprise in her eyes as Ruby felt. "Something tells me you don't just want us to vet them?"

"No, we do not. The three are isolated, which they say is uncommon among Vipers, and have odd movements, mannerisms, and speech patterns. Considering other Vipers called them this, I'm inclined to agree. While I would like you two to vet them, and our contact in the organization hasn't labeled them as such, there is a possibility that they are your people."

Ruby nodded slowly. It was a big planet, heck big universe in this case, and she didn't know how many Vipers there were, or how many worked for or against ADVENT. She never spent enough time around actual Vipers to know how they were supposed to act or move. "Worst case scenario, we can give them the information we have of those to look for. Best case, we end up with more allies." She didn't need to say what else was on her mind. Her family already knew what she was hoping.

"When do we leave?" Nalia asked.

"Soon," the Commander said. He gestured to a tablet on Ruby's side of the hologlobe. "You'll be needing that. Verge will be going with you to help brief the others on our situation. The Avenger will be flying near the Liberated's main camp in the middle east. Firebrand will fly you to the ground, drop you off, then fly back here. We have another mission to undertake."

"And if things go wrong?" Ruby asked as she grabbed the tablet.

"The Liberated have guaranteed your safety. And if it turns out that's a lie, we get you three out and punish those responsible. If necessary, we'll use one of the nukes we got off ADVENT." The Commander got a few looks from other people on the bridge, but no one said a word.

"O…kay. I guess we'll get to the hangar." Ruby took a few steps toward the airlock.

"Take light weapons and armor," Central ordered. "Just in case anyone there tries anything funny." That made sense at least. She wasn't so sure about blowing up the whole place and irradiating it for hundreds of years.

As the blast door to the hall opened, Ruby stopped and turned toward the hologlobe. "Halcyon, let Yang know it wasn't her fault. It was mine, and that's not my hero complex acting up."

The hologram Halcyon nodded. "I'll let her know when she's not arm deep in circuitry." Ruby continued to stare at Halcyon. Her Yang didn't know how to do any of that. "She took an interest after I became a cyborg."

Ruby shrugged and left the bridge, Nalia slithering beside her. "Well, at leassst we wouldn't be on the recccceiving end of that nuke."

Ruby shivered. "One is more than enough… well, two if you count the one on Vroengard."

Nalia hissed. "I almosssst forgot about that one. I guesssss that would be conssssidered a nuclear blasssst."

"Yeah. I'm surprised the one in the Keep didn't do more damage. My guess is due to the infection." Ruby paused. "Do you really think that the Liberated have more dragons?"

"Maybe. Sssstranger thingssss have happened." Nalia gestured at her chest. "I mean, look at me."

"Yeah. There's that."

"But I don't think sssso. I wouldn't ssssay dragonssss are ssssocial compared to humanssss, but I would hardly call ussss issssolated… unlessss they all grouped together and prefer to sssstay that way."

"Only one way to find out."

The two walked into the armory. Across the large room and in the hangar, they caught the tail end of Firebrand yelling at the mechanics working on the Skyranger. After a particularly colorful set of insults, the pilot stormed onto the transport. The two from Remnant glanced at each other and shook their heads as they approached the weapons. Nalia grabbed a conventional assault rifle and a Kevlar vest while Ruby just took the vest. She already had her compacted scythes on her belt and there was no way she was leaving the ship without them. They then boarded the Skyranger and strapped themselves in. Verge was already in one of the seats closest to the cockpit.

"Did we misss ssssomething?" Nalia asked as the ramp closed.

"Some idiot decided it was a good idea to paint a pizza onto the hull of this ship!" Firebrand yelled. "And worse yet, it had pineapple on it!" Ruby winced. That was a sin, one she had to fight with Violet about all the time. Viki had a pass. For a good chunk of her life, floor cheese was a delicacy. "No one paints this bucket without my say so! Especially when it comes to that garbage!"

"I sense a new rule incoming." Ruby paused. "I don't suppose anyone's brought back a gun I could mount back here, have they?"

Firebrand was silent until a minute after the Skyranger took off from the Avenger. "I keep trying to tell the recovery team to look for something, but they can never find any .50s or something more impressive. I wasn't going to take anything from that group with the tank either. They're going to need all the guns and ammo they can get."

"Thank you for that." Ruby rested her head on the back of her seat. "Any ETA on this flight?"

"About fifteen minutes. You three will disembark and I'm taking off again. No time to stop and chat."

"Got it." Ruby shifted her head to the Sectoid in the ship. He also had a Kevlar vest on but carried no weapon. "You've been awfully silent."

Verge made a gurgling noise and stared at the floor. Nalia snorted. "He ssssayssss Firebrand sssscares him."

Ruby glanced at the cockpit, then back to Verge. "Fair enough." She grabbed the tablet the Commander gave her and looked through it. From the look of it, most if not all XCOM had on the Vipers and dragons was on it, including what they knew about how dragons came to be in Vipers, which wasn't much and what was there went over Ruby's head.

A little under fifteen minutes later, the Skyranger nosed down and slowed down. Ruby grabbed her Íss Bláto then let go of her frozen weapon. The Liberated were supposed to be their allies. Invidia said the soldiers and support staff of XCOM weren't exactly strong minded. Considering no one had killed anyone onboard and Verge hadn't attempted to take over, at least he was trustworthy. Hopefully his people were the same way.

The transport touched down and the ramp hissed. "Here's your stop," Firebrand called. "Unless you meet bullets or plasma when you step out, I'll be on my way."

Ruby stood up as the ramp lowered. Outside stood a dilapidated city. At first, she didn't see any people or aliens as she stepped out of the Skyranger. Nalia and Verge also left the transport. Ruby looked around and squinted to see anything in the desert sun. Still not seeing anything, she closed her natural eye and let her bionic do the work. Infrared wouldn't work well in the heat of the desert, so she just used her movement sensors. Still, nothing.

"Uh, Firebrand, hold back a minute," Ruby said into her comms. "Are you sure this is the right spot? There's no one…" as she spoke, her bionic eye tracked movement in the sand. She focused on that as she rested her hands on her weapons. Two Vipers, one a pale green, the other sandy brown, rose from the ground. Both held weapons at the ready, but neither aimed them at the newcomers. One of them turned its head back and yelled something toward the city that sounded like normal Viper noises to Ruby. "Never mind, it looks like we found them."

"Yeah, they did that last time, too," Firebrand said in Ruby's ear. "It's weird, but they don't attract unwanted attention." The ramp of the Skyranger rose and hissed as it clicked into place. "Good luck, diplomats. See if they can spare a .50?"

"I'll ask, but no guarantees. "Good luck wherever you're going." Ruby watched the Skyranger as it lifted off the pavement ground and flew away. She turned back toward the city. A couple more Vipers, a Muton, and a red Sectoid with a bigger and veinier head had joined the two guards at the entrance to the city. Again, all were armed in some way but none aimed at those from XCOM.

Verge approached the group without any hesitation. The Muton, this one without a mask, approached the Sectoid and stared him down. They stayed like that for a few seconds before the Muton tilted its head back and let loose what sounded like a booming laugh. It slapped Verge on the back, making the Sectoid stumble. The two walked into the city together with the other Sectoid joining them as they passed.

One of the Vipers looked at Ruby and Nalia and slithered toward them, this one with primarily red scales. One with blue and black scales followed close behind. "You are the ones to inspect the three who wish to join you?" the red one asked. Her accent sounded like a deeper elven with more emphasis on her 'R's and 'S's.

"We are." Ruby nodded. "Can you take us to them?"

"We can," the blue one said. "They are… strange. Maybe they will work better with you."

"We're ussssed to working with sssstrange," Nalia said. The two other Vipers stared but said nothing. "Lead the way."

The blue one cocked her head. "You speak strange, like those three, only more on the hiss." She shook her head then turned around. "Follow us, strangers." The red one followed her partner toward the city. Ruby and Nalia did the same.

As they walked, Ruby noticed more and more aliens. Most kinds she'd seen before in the field were represented, and then there were a few she'd never seen. A large red and white one stood amongst a group of multi colored Mutons, some of which weren't wearing masks. Another unknown creature walked around in some kind of fully enclosed suit. There were also a few people that looked like Mox, 'Hybrids' he called his kind. Hybrids of what, Ruby didn't know.

But the Vipers were everywhere. They were in most groups of other species and large ones of their own. There were no single Vipers anywhere. As far as Ruby could tell, there were no males among them… or did Viper biology not work like it did for mammals on Remnant? Considering they weren't mammals, it was probably that.

"Does your species run this place?" Ruby asked her escorts.

"One of us does, yes," the red one said. "We simply have the highest population here."

"Where are the malessss?" Nalia asked. "Ssssurely ADVENT usssses every body at their disposal."

The two Vipers made what sounded like a thoughtful hiss/hum combination. "You are not one of us." The red one said it as if her suspicions had been confirmed. "I should have known."

Ruby and Nalia locked eyes. 'Not one of us?' Maybe there were dragons here after all.

The blue growled. "The Elders believe females of our species are easier to manipulate, so they use us in off world engagements, and only females. Most of the males are still on our homeworld." Another growl. "At least that is what they tell us. There are only-" The red hissed and her partner fell silent. Neither said any more. Ruby and Nalia exchanged a glance and Ruby shrugged. If they didn't want to share everything, they didn't need to.

"Well…" Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. "You said you have three potential recruits with you. How did you get them here so quickly?"

"All but one has been here months," the blue one said. "We have informants inside ADVENT that notify us when they believe that one of their soldiers wishes to leave the military in one way or another."

"XCOM beat us to a Psionic Viper." The red Viper nodded at Nalia. "We were on the original force intended to break you out, but your destination was changed. We had to ask your current allies for assistance to free you before you were transferred to New Arctic."

Nalia glanced at Ruby and shrugged. "No offensssse, but I like the way thingssss turned out better."

They were led to a stone house with a rotting wooden door, in other words, it was just like most other buildings in this city. "The three in question spend their time in here." The red Viper gestured at the door. "We will wait out here in case there's trouble." The two escorts took up positions on either side of the door with their weapons on their backs.

Ruby stepped up to the door, pushed it open, and stepped inside. In the small sitting room, two Vipers stood by the far wall, one a dull green, the other a sandy yellow. Both turned to the newcomers and the green one straightened with a yelp. She looked at her hands then locked eyes with Ruby and brought her index and middle finger on her right hand to her lips. The sandy one cocked her head and made a confused chirp.

Ruby smiled and brought two of her own fingers to her lips, if just for the formality. Most people with the Riders knew she didn't do the greeting with dragons. "Hello. You obviously know me, but I don't know you." They kept in eye contact for a few more seconds before the dragon in Viper's clothing slowly dropped her arm. She blinked several times and looked at Ruby in confusion.

The Rider was about to explain her situation when the third Viper zipped around a corner in the house and looked straight at Ruby. This one was primarily white with red scales surrounding her eyes and going down her body with blue scales running parallel. She 'roared' at the ceiling and slithered at Ruby faster than she'd seen Nalia move as a Viper. The white one crashed into Ruby, wrapping her arms around her target's back, tackling her to the ground. Her head pressed hard against the Rider's. A low rumble burst from her chest.

Ruby lay frozen in place, even as her attacker was ripped off her. She'd been a 'victim' of several such attacks in her life. With those though, she knew who exactly was her attacker. She sat up and stared at the Viper. Nalia had the assailant pinned to the wall with her forearm over the white snake's throat. The one who raised her fingers to her mouth aimed a pistol at the attacker's head. Both hissed at their prisoner and looked ready to kill at the drop of a hat. But the attacker turned her head between the two of them, eyes wide with fear.

A sandy yellow hand reached down to Ruby. She looked up to the Viper who wasn't involved in the standoff. "Are you okay?" the Viper asked in Vytalian.

"I'm fine." Ruby took the hand and the Viper helped the Rider to her feet.

"Please don't hurt her," the sandy one said. "She's really nice."

"I noticed." Ruby stared at the white snake while she took steps toward her. "That was an attack, but it was a hug attack. Almost like Halcyon in his smaller body."

The sides of the white Viper's head rose and she nodded like a machine gun. She stopped and the sides of her head fell again. Nalia hissed louder. "If you wish to speak to her, you speak to me." Her words came out through her translation button. The prisoner and the other jailer stared at Nalia, but the jailer's gaze didn't last long. The white Viper whimpered and Nalia hissed. "Prove it. Show me…"

Nalia trailed off as her eyes grew unfocused. She blinked several times as her body relaxed. A few surprise gasps came from her throat as her arm fell away from her prisoner. She blinked a few more times, shook her head, and hummed happily. The other green Viper hissed a question at Nalia.

"I'd like to know too," Ruby said. "What'd she show you?"

"This is Ariana," Nalia said, "the one Dahlia told us about." The sides of Ariana's head rose again and she hummed happily. "Yes, she is on our ship." Nalia faced Ruby. "As for what she showed me, shortly after she hatched, she curled up and slept on your lap. After that, she played tug of war with Yang's hair." Ruby raised her eyebrows. That was a feat. Nalia's face grew serious. "The one that secured it though, after you brought Angel back from the North Sanus Mountains, she appointed herself Angel's bodyguard for the next month when Angel finally didn't want anyone looking over her shoulder."

Ruby relaxed and nodded. She looked straight in Ariana's eyes. The disguised dragon had hope in her eyes. "You're no threat to us." The green Viper immediately lowered her pistol and looked at Ruby with narrowed eyes. "What?" The Viper hissed at her.

Nalia hissed back and both Ariana and the unnamed Viper stared at her. After a few seconds, both hissed and recoiled. Ariana hugged Ruby again while the other dragon gripped her weapon harder. She glared at Ruby, but the Rider could tell the anger wasn't directed at her. They now knew what Ruby had in her head.

"I know. It sucks." Ruby patted the back of Ariana's head then pushed her away. "We're working on it." She faced the dragon who hadn't named herself yet. "Back to the question I asked before I was interrupted. What's your name?"

"Hold on." Nalia removed the translation button from her head and handed it to the duller green Viper. "Put thissss on. It workssss jusssst like a transssslation band."

The Viper nodded and put it on the center of her forehead. "Does this…" She hummed and bowed to Ruby. "I apologize for my previous actions, Shadeslayer. I was merely performing my duty." She straightened. "I am Ormr Silentclaw of Dragon Rider Intelligence. I am at your service."

"Intelligence? I suppose that's why your name isn't familiar." Ruby paused. "Were you with your Rider when you were taken here?"

Ormr shook her head. "Nay. Raven sent us on assignment in western Anima. I was supposed to be his evac…" Her eyes grew distant for a second before focusing again. "Fanaln is smart and he is alive. I am sure he made it out unscathed."

Ruby nodded and faced Ariana. "Dahlia's not your Rider. How did you two end up here together?"

Ariana winced. "There was a massive pileup on the ring highway on Patch. Dahlia needed to get there and I was the fastest transportation." She gave Nalia a smug look.

"And you?" Ruby asked the last Viper.

"Uh, hi." The yellow Viper's tail curled at the tip. The sides of her head raised a bit too. "I'm Sunny of the Sandwings." She paused. "And I am more than a little confused as to what's going on here."

Ariana gave an irritated hiss and crossed her arms. Nalia glanced at Ruby. "She's wondering how we didn't know her and needed to prove it."

Ruby sighed. "I suppose this would come up sooner rather than later." She began explaining the situation as she knew it, from why everyone was taken from their homes, to the multiverse theory to not being a theory, to the fact that ADVENT was putting the minds of dragons into Viper bodies. Sunny and Ariana occasionally interrupted with questions, but Ormr stood silent with a thoughtful expression.

"But why?" Sunny asked. "What do they need us for?"

Ariana hissed something and Nalia translated for Ruby's benefit. "And once we're like this, why don't they just kill us or imprison us? That feels like it would be a lot easier than slotting us into their army and hoping we follow their rules."

"Well, they killed one version of Cerise and another version of me died," Ruby said, shifting on her feet. Ariana looked terrified but Sunny looked even more confused. "I'm guessing they're guessing it's the same the other way around."

"I have a theory," Ormr said. Everyone in the room looked at her. "I am not entirely certain of the particulars of psionics, but from what you have said and from what I have learned with my time here, psionics shares a lot of traits with both Aura and magic. Dragons are naturally strong in magic. We could not fly without it." Sunny cocked her head and made a confused noise. Ormr gestured at Nalia and Ariana. "Dragons laid in Alagaësia to parents who don't have their Aura unlocked have naturally low Aura levels." Ormr rested a hand on her chest. "My parents both had their Auras unlocked and laid my egg on Remnant. I am naturally strong in both and have a Semblance."

"Well, yeah." Ruby nodded. "Velvet's Law was confirmed years ago. But what does that have to do about what's going on here?"

"ADVENT is putting our minds into Viper bodies that they would kill if they could do so without killing our bodies. They want us for something. My current theory is they are using our bodies for population control, or they are using us to test the procedure for something else."

Ruby and Nalia exchanged a glance. "Dragons on crowd control?" Ruby asked.

"Very effective." Nalia hissed. "No one wantssss to facccce an angry dragon." Ariana shivered.

"Have you heard about any of our bodies in any of this world's communications?" Ormr asked.

"We haven't heard anything yet." Ruby shook her head. "We have people whose job it is to watch the news and monitor other sources of media. They know to point out any mention of dragons and they have images to compare to."

"What do you all mean by magic?" Sunny asked. "Are you all Animus dragons?" She looked between the three other Vipers. "You all use magic to fly. You have to be."

Everyone from Remnant and Alagaësia exchanged a look. "I don't know what Animus dragonssss are," Nalia started, "but we are from different worldssss. Our rulessss of magic are likely different."

"I have to agree." Ormr faced Ruby. "Shadeslayer, I must ask, why are you here?"

"We were sent here to evaluate three Vipers that were acting strange yet willing to join the fight." Ruby looked over the three in question. "We know one of you was in intelligence and one of you is a great defender." She focused on Sunny. "What can you do?"

"I can fight." Sunny stood straighter and tried to look serious but it had the opposite effect.

"While she can," Ormr started, "she makes better use of her words than any of us."

"How so?" Ruby asked.

"Sunny claims she ended a twenty year war of succession by attempting to turn the warring kingdom into a democracy because she was involved in a faked prophecy." Ormr shrugged. "That didn't work, but she was able to choose the right queen for her tribe."

Sunny shrunk away from the praise. "It wasn't that easy, and I had help."

"My point stands. Sunny would be much more useful to us as a diplomat rather than a warrior."

"Hmmm…" Ruby looked Sunny up and down. A diplomat. That changed things. She looked over the three again. An intelligence agent, a diplomat, and a bodyguard… "I think we can use you three, but in a way I don't think the people up top here are expecting. I'd need to run it by the Commander." She pulled out her tablet and flicked to the pictures of dragons. "For now, let's get something out of the way. Can you identify any of these dragons as yourselves or anyone you know?" She handed the tablet to Ariana.

Ariana scrolled the tablet and the sides of her head rose. She turned the tablet around and pointed to the silver dragon with green eyes. That had to be her.

Ormr leaned over and scrolled up. The bush green dragon appeared. "This is my body." She turned to face Sunny. "And you?"

"Ummm…" Sunny stared at the screen and laid a finger on the glass. She ran it down the screen and the pictures moved accordingly. "Three moons… how does this work?" She stopped scrolling and gasped when the blue webbed dragon appeared. "Tsunami?"

"You know thissss dragon?" Nalia asked.

"She's one of my best friends. She's practically my sister." The sides of Sunny's head drooped. "They have her too."

Ruby shook her head. "This dragon, Tsunami, escaped captivity. We believe she's somewhere in Eastern Europe."

Sunny's head rose again. "That's the Tsunami I know." She returned her attention to the tablet. She scrolled all the way to the top, made a confused noise, then started scrolling down. Near the bottom, she stopped on the scared golden dragon with the frill. "This one's me." Her head drooped again. "I… guess I wasn't as brave as I should have been." Nalia pat Sunny on the shoulder.

Ruby made notes on all of the dragons identified then checked the clock in the top right corner of the screen. The Avenger wouldn't even be at its original destination yet. "Tt's going to be a while before I can run my idea by the Commander. The ship's on another mission on the exact opposite side of the continent. In the meantime, let me know what else you can do."

For the next few hours, the three turned dragons explained their accomplishments. Well, Ormr explained what she could, anyway. Apparently a lot of her and her Rider's work was classified or on a need-to-know basis. She said it was better that Ruby didn't know. Hearing rumors that Uncle Qrow would never confirm nor deny, Ruby thought it was better that way. She did explain how she fought in the Battle of Salem, mainly staying invisible away from the fighting and calling out troop movements. Nothing she said implied she was much of a fighter.

Ariana was more than happy to explain her missions and fighting skill, her Rider and extended family, in addition to the occasional race she challenged Nalia to, some of them she even won. Nalia didn't believe her at first, then Ariana shared memories with her. After a moment of silence, Nalia narrowed her eyes and gave a growl Ruby had never heard before, whether the dragon was a dragon or Viper. There were plenty of Quickwing rivalries in Mor'ranar Vera, but none had challenged Nalia. Also, Ariana's Rider was, in Ruby's version of Remnant, Sun's deputy headmaster at Concordia… And in her version, her Rider was married to Yang. Rider married to Rider, dragon mated to dragon. Ruby was surprised that it didn't happen more often.

As Ormr said, Sunny's story didn't have much fighting on her part, much to her consternation. Her diplomacy skills, however, she sounded quite proud of, even though she didn't call them that. After she modestly explained her role in ending the 'Sandwing War of Succession,' she told how she convinced her friends to start the first intertribal school. Later, she claimed to, inadvertently, start the process of a peace treaty between dragons and humans.

Somewhere in all that, it changed from a serious discussion of skills and tactics to a friendly conversation of cool things they did in the past. There were a few times Ruby caught herself smiling, especially when Ariana gushed about Angel and Angel's apparent 'twin cousins.' Those muscles weren't used much lately so she really felt it. Still, it felt good to finally talk with people and not have a cloud of gloom over her head.

During one of Ariana's stories about elves trying to wrap their heads around flying machines, Ruby's tablet buzzed. She picked it up and saw a call waiting message on screen. It looked like the Avenger was back sooner than expected. She tapped the 'accept' option and Central appeared on screen. "Hello, Av-"

"Where are the bionic limbs you no longer use?" Central interrupted.

Ruby blinked. That was unexpected. "They're in engineering. Shen knows where they are."

"Shen just lost an arm and a leg to a Sectopod. Where in engineering?"

Ruby's jaw dropped but she brought it back up. "In her main workbench, one of the lower drawers I believe. But they're built for my body, not hers. They'll need to be modified."

"Firebrand is already on her way to pick you up. I want you on the Skyranger the minute it touches down."

"What about these Vipers you sent me here for?" Ruby asked as she stood up. Nalia stood beside her. "I can vouch for all three of them."

"Bring them too. Verge will meet you there. Skyranger ETA, five minutes. Avenger out." Central disappeared from Ruby's screen.

Ruby returned her attention to the three Vipers she came to interview. Ariana and Ormr both had serious expressions on their faces and clenched fists. Sunny looked worried and fidgeted with her fingers. "Well, welcome to XCOM. If you have any things, get them now. We need to move." Both bonded dragons nodded and disappeared into another room.

"I… I don't have anything," Sunny stammered.

"Light traveler." Ruby nodded. "Come on. We need to move." She stepped out of the house and faced the red colored Viper. "Our pickup's coming sooner than expected. We're leaving as soon as it arrives." The oversized snake blinked. Ruby took that as an acknowledgement and walked off. She turned her head to the sky as she crossed through the city. The Skyranger should touch down in the same place, but she needed to know if it didn't.

Just when Ruby made it to the initial landing zone, she heard the engines of the Skyranger burning toward her. Nalia led the other three Vipers out of the city as the transport appeared over one of the nearby dunes. Ariana and Ormr had guns slung across their backs and ammo belts strapped like bandoliers across their bodies. Ariana also carried something wrapped in a large white cloth on her back. Ruby easily could see that it was a pair of very large claymore swords from the way the cloth was wrapped around them. Sunny though, as she said, had nothing.

The Skyranger touched down and the hatch opened. Ruby jumped inside before the ramp touched the ground. "What's this about Shen getting shot?"

"Damn AI claiming to be Shen's brother took over a Sectopod and shot her!" Firebrand yelled. "Get strapped in. We need to get back to the Avenger."

Ruby blinked, shrugged, then took one of the seats right by the cockpit. Maybe the rules of bionics were different here? She certainly wasn't needed. Tygan, Invidia, Orchid, and Dahlia should have the surgery necessary for the bionic interfaces. Heck, from the sound of it, Dahlia could make the modifications to the limbs herself.

Verge ran onto the Skyranger just as the ramp started to raise. Ruby looked around the crew compartment. Four Vipers, three dragons she knew would follow her into hell again and one who could convince others to come to their side. XCOM would have their Vipers, but Ruby might have something more than a successful mission.

So, more dragons named, more universes crossed. Ariana is my beta reader rsclaymore's OC, Ormr's name was his suggestion, and Sunny and Tsunami are from the Wings of Fire series. If you haven't read it (or listened to the audiobooks like me) I highly recommend it. Don't let the Scholastic label fool you. There's some pretty messed-up crap in the prologue. Oh... and... *cough* spoiler warning for a part of the series that's seven years old *cough*

A first for a while, I can tell you when the next chapter I'm uploading with go up (if I can find the time to finish it..). The next installment of Tenga's Tower will go up on October 13. It will make sense when you see the title.