Fal-Mai supposed it wouldn't be long before Eliza sent her out on a stealthier mission. She just didn't imagine it would be hand-in-hand with her brother.

Yet here she was, in her cloak and navigating through the dark, underground tunnels of a civilization quashed. She knew that Mordenna was some distance behind her; he had an impressively quiet stalk, but not soundless. Even so, she would have to strain to hear him over the hum of still-powered fluorescent lights and the muffled groans of metal. By all accounts, he would be unhearable to anyone else.

The purpose of this mission was intel extraction. The Reapers had sniffed out an exposed access point well underground—but there were other missions that had to be handled by the Commander, rumors of a haven about to be raided. To kill two birds with one stone, as it were, Eliza sent the two of them out on this opportunity. They would've had some assistance, but... Fal-Mai was there when Volk made it quite clear that he "wasn't going to have one of his wolves caught up in a sibling spat." Harsh, but fair, Fal-Mai supposed.

The relative silence of their journey left Fal-Mai observing what she could assume were storefronts, cleared of anything useful long ago. Humans and what interested them were strange at times, to her. As she passed a store seemingly named for conversations that had all manner of clothes and trinkets inside, she mused on how much she would come to understand them. She would be learning more, no doubt, if she was going to be staying at XCOM. Would she ever totally understand? There were still conventions of society she was coming to grips with. Subtlety, for one.

"Ey, sis, you feel like picking out new duds?" Speaking of subtlety. They were both on a local comms frequency, and Mordenna claimed it was masked enough that it'd slip right under most radars. In essence, Mordenna could talk under his breath and she could hear it.

Staying under her cloak, Fal-Mai continued on. "Outside of dying my armor blue, I have not foreseen any other changes to my wardrobe." She paused to think, navigating over a fallen vending machine. "... perhaps a facemask. And those... headphones, you say you would like to make for me."

"Correction, sis. I'm already making them for you. Remember when I asked to see that headguard of yours? That's what it's gonna look like. But yeah, noted. I'll see what I can do about a facemask. Not like I've got much better to do until Lizzie hands down an order."

Fal-Mai shook her head. "You are curiously charitable lately, brother."

"Like I said. Bored. Also trying to lean into this 'being a good brother' thing. When are you gonna let me see that gun of yours, by the way?"

Though Fal-Mai did not begrudge Mordenna's sudden goodwill, it made her suspicious regardless. She'd said that she was optimistic, yes. But Mordenna being Mordenna, she had her reservations. "Perhaps soon. You will have to forgive me if I am rather stuck on the fact that it is you who suggests we all stop bickering. The Mordenna I know would rather foster it."

When Mordenna came in again, his tone was a bit lower. "Hey. Don't slam the door on my foot, here. As I said, I'm trying to get a little better, y'know? Maybe it wasn't entirely for selfless reasons, maybe it wasn't entirely my idea. But it's the thought that counts, yeah?"

Fal-Mai's mouth settled into a tense line. She hadn't meant to hit any nerves with him. Mordenna was... perplexingly easy to upset, nowadays. Before, he would shrug off most topics as if they were nothing. Still... she was curious. One more question and she would let the topic rest. Mordenna would be fine with explaining himself, yes? "Apologies if I offended. I simply wonder as to your motivations. What would drive you to such new action?"

"Beloved sister of mine." Now his tone was venomous. "Is your precious hearing on the fritz, or can you not get a simple idea into your skull? I'm. Trying. To. Get. Better. Which I'm finding kind of hard when people like you can't get it into their goddamn minds that I'm trying. What's it matter what my motivations are?"

Her gut twisted into knots at his hostility, and unthinkingly, Fal-Mai settled into her old defenses. "It is not my fault that your previous actions against me and our brother leave me questioning how genuine your actions are. Do you forget your transgressions against us? Do you expect us to forget everything?"

"Did you ever stop to wonder why." His voice was deadly low. "Did you ever maybe think 'hm, there's gotta be some reason my brother's always acting like a dick.' Even now, you know why. Oh, but you were just a tad bit too busy revelling in the slaughter you were built for, weren't you?"

That sent a shard of ice right into her heart, and she stopped in her tracks, hand squeezing a nearby support beam. "I have changed! I was built for a purpose, as were you, Mordenna, and cooperation and care between the Chosen was not exactly encouraged! It is telling that even now you continue to abrase... but I'm sure that is your intention as it always is."

"You think this is me aiming to hurt your feelings? Do you actually think—"

Over Mordenna, Fal-Mai heard something that made her ears prick. Raising her shroud just enough that Mordenna's keen eyes could see her, she held up a hand. Despite her conflict with him, the mission was the mission. He began speaking again to the effect of "don't you pull that on me" until he, too, heard the footsteps that garnered her attention.

Soon, a Trooper on patrol came into view, in front of what looked like an old administrative office. In their arguing, they had reached their destination, and the first patrol. She focused her eyes on the enemy. "Mordenna. Trooper up ahead. How shall we engage?"

Silence. Concern started to work its way into Fal-Mai. Yes, she had been vehemently arguing with him not seconds before, but it had been born of wanting to ask questions. She'd slipped back into her old, defensive self so easily it almost scared her. Maybe if she had apologized and let it drop after that, they wouldn't be in this situation.

Mordenna continued to not say anything. The Trooper stopped in her patrol. Fal-Mai started to turn her head back. "Brothe—?"

The rest of her question came out as a hiss as a shot from the Darklance marked her cheek, making her drop in a defensive crouch. The sound of a body hitting the floor confirmed her suspicions. "What is the matter with you," she seethed.

Mordenna shrugged, a cold look on his face. "Had to take the shot, sis. Get moving."

As much as she hated to bow to that kind of command... they were known, now. The Darklance was silenced, but at this distance it'd still garner attention. Turning back to the building and feeling blood run down her cheek, Fal-Mai hopped over her cover and went in to do her work. She could hear someone rushing in to her right—undoubtedly someone coming to check out the body. As the oncoming Stun Lancer came up, she readied her blade...

... just to get another close graze of a bullet as she lunged forward, her mark toppling before she could get to it. Her hand clenched around the grip of her sword. She was on a mission. There were enemies here. Fal-Mai couldn't just drop everything and go threaten her brother.

As another shot screamed past her ears and undoubtedly cut a groove in her helmet, she resolved to do just that. With anger in her heart, she deeply wound her cloak around herself, thick enough that Mordenna would not be able to see her coming. Sprinting back, she vaulted over debris and refuse to get to her brother, approaching at an odd angle to catch him off-guard as she sent her forearm into his jaw, pinning him to a wall by his throat as he dropped his weapon. Her cloak peeled off and she met his icy gaze with a red-hot fury. "What is the matter with you?!" She repeated.

Mordenna drew back his lip enough to reveal his teeth. "I'm showing you what it'd be like if I wasn't trying. Since you seem so set on questioning if I'm trying to better myself, fine. I might as well show you. I just ain't got the fucking patience to get questioned by people like you who know just what kind of shit went on behind closed doors. You were there, Fal-Mai. Is it so fucking unreasonable that I want to put what Odin did to me in the past behind me?"

A good portion of Fal-Mai's fury left her, and again she was reminded that if would've been best just to drop the issue and move on when presented the chance. But... she wanted to see this resolved. Yes, she may have questioned Mordenna, but it was because she wanted to wholly believe he wanted to get better. The ice in her heart melted, and she deflated, her grip weakening. She opened her mouth to apologize.

All that came out was a scream as she could feel mag shards embedding themselves into her shoulder.

Mordenna was quicker to act than she was, overpowering her in her agonized state and pushing the both of them to the ground. The shock of the fall sent another lance of pain up her arm and she cried out, squeezing her eyes shut. She was able to hear Mordenna take out his pistol and start firing back at their attackers, the crack of the Darkclaw so close to her ears drowning out anything else.

Of course. She had told herself that confronting him then was foolish. Then why did she do such a stupid thing? Once again, her emotions had overtaken her, leaving her floundering after the actions she took while influenced by them. She really, really would be better emotionless. There would be far less pain, far less questioning. But... if she was emotionless, would she have ever been punished by the Elders? Would she have ever questioned their methods? Would she have ever met Eliza?

The ringing of her ears subsided after a while, and she confirmed that Mordenna had stopped firing. His hand was no longer planted right between her collarbones—he wasn't on her at all, actually. It wasn't long before she could hear his footsteps towards her; when he crouched down beside her, she tried to bat him off, but he smacked her hand away. "No, drop it for a second," he responded, "let me see your shoulder."

Knowing she was injured and Mordenna probably had some means to help, she let her good hand fall. The pain in her shoulder was intense—Fal-Mai had bullet wounds before. This was something else. It felt like it had struck the exact joint in her shoulder, and goodness knows the kind of damage that had done. Trying to move it at all brought pain, and even Mordenna gently grabbing it to inspect it made her suck in air through her teeth.

There was some rustling, then Mordenna cursed under his breath. "Sis. I've got morphine, and that's about it. Wait." More rustling. "Alright, we've got dressing bandages too. But no forceps. You're going to have to wait until we get back to get those shards out of your shoulder."

Giving a quiet groan, Fal-Mai held her bad arm, opening her eyes and looking over at him. "If I had not foolishly dropped my guard, this..."

She trailed off once she saw the mag wound in Mordenna's shoulder, still seeping blood. If... if he hadn't pushed her down, that placement... He caught her staring at it and his mouth settled into a line. "It's nothing."

"Brother... are you sure you don't want your own supplies?"

"I've had worse," he quickly countered, taking out a needle and a bottle.

"Yes," she returned, "but that doesn't invalidate the pain you're going through right now."

For a second, Mordenna's face softened, and his hands stopped. That didn't last long; he was back to working with his expression hardening. "Funny of you to care about my pain now."

More reminders of the kind of hurt Fal-Mai had been projecting at Mordenna. Lidding her eyes and looking down, she angled her head away from her brother. Since she hadn't taken her own advice earlier, now she would heed herself and stay quiet, letting the matter drop. Best to not agitate it for now... but it was still something she wanted to address. Granted, with a lot of apologies on her part, but she didn't want to let this lie.

A small prick in her shoulder got her to look back, catching Mordenna emptying the needle into her shoulder. Soon enough, the pain began to fade, Mordenna moving to the bandages and dressing up her shoulder. "Temporary measures," he muttered, voice soft. "When we get back you need to check into the Infirmary. Probably isn't healthy to have the shards stay in there." Done with the needle and the dressing, he indiscriminately tossed the former, getting up and beginning to tie up his own wound. "Can you walk?"

Though she was sure he didn't intend to bite, it came off as patronizing nonetheless. But, Fal-Mai took in a calming breath, reminding herself that Mordenna was in pain—and just saved her life, from the looks of it. She got up, mindful of her shoulder. "Yes."

Mordenna finished up on his own wound, tucking the rest of the bandages away and retrieving his weapons. "I cleared out everyone. I don't think any of them radioed in, but we should probably kick our asses into gear regardless. Watch the door, I'll handle the access point."

Nodding, Fal-Mai trailed behind Mordenna as he trekked over the debris, making his way to the front door of the building. Now, Fal-Mai could see what Mordenna had to take down—three more Troopers than she had seen, and a window that hadn't been broken before probably belied another body inside. He could've let her die, and yet...

The Hunter opened the doors and left them there, presumably trusting that Fal-Mai would take her spot. Now that she could see more clearly inside, there was indeed the body of an Officer. Judging by her placement, it was probably her who scored the shot on Fal-Mai. Grimly noting that, she leaned her back against the doorway as Mordenna went over to a terminal that stuck out against the rest of the dusty environment, sitting down and getting to work.

Casting her eyes outwards, Fal-Mai reflected on what had happened. Yes. Mordenna had saved her life... but that didn't invalidate what he said before hand. Then again, none of that would have happened if she hadn't slipped back into her old ways—which she learned from him. Wasn't it what she was supposed to do when faced with his bile? If that was the case, why did it not feel justified? Why did she feel like she was the one in the wrong alongside him?

"I'm in." Mordenna's voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked back to him. He now had his personal datapad on the desk and to the side, and there was information filtering through on both screens. "Shouldn't take long. Keep watch, just in case."

"Understood," she replied, voice low. She looked back outside, keeping her hearing sharp. The silence between the two of them was palpable, especially to Fal-Mai's enhanced ears. She... wanted to apologize, but wasn't it Mordenna who aggressed first in all of this? She had been merely asking questions. But... it did occur to her that maybe she wasn't the best at asking. Maybe if he apologized first.

Judging by the continued quiet, it seemed as if Mordenna didn't exactly have plans for that. Maybe he did, and they were exactly the same as hers. Fal-Mai wouldn't know. Still, she wanted to address something, anything. Maybe not an apology... but there was something else she could touch on.

Keeping her vision outwards, Fal-Mai spoke up. "Thank you, brother. I... am not blind as to the angle of the wound on your shoulder. Had you not pushed me down, I may very well not be alive."

First she got a grunt indicating that Mordenna heard her, but after a second, he replied. "I... may be pissed at you, but I mean it when I say I'm trying. Don't really want you dead, anymore." He sighed, and then Fal-Mai could hear the mechanical clicking of keys again. "Not like it would've felt lovely to see, anyway," he muttered under his breath.

Fal-Mai... wanted to ask more about that, but was becoming more aware of her lack of subtlety. She genuinely wanted to know more, but she would have to make herself clear. Taking in a steadying breath, she looked inside at him. "Brother... I ask this because I am genuinely curious and I am not trying to guess your true motivations. If anything, I simply want this spelled out to me so I am not in the dark regarding your feelings. I ask this as kindly as I can; would you feel bad if I died?"

Mordenna stopped working again, and she could see him drum his fingers just to the right of the keyboard. After a moment of thought, he responded. "Yeah. It'd suck. I... know we just fought and all but... I really do want to try. It's frustrating, I get angry, but I want to keep trying. What I'm saying is if you got killed just as I had resolved to try and actually be a good brother to you? I'd... feel bad. Yeah. That ain't nearly enough words to describe it but... do you get what I mean?"

Fal-Mai nodded. "I understand, brother. Thank you for answering." She could understand how inelegant and imprecise words could be. Still, Mordenna got his message across to her, and to know he would mourn if she fell? It made her feel better in a way. That all covered, she felt emboldened to do what she would next. "Mordenna. I'm... sorry for questioning you. I was only genuinely curious, but I realize now that my words were blunt and uncaring for your feelings. I want to believe you are trying—and I do, now. Regardless of your motivation. Even if you are just doing it for someone like Eliza..." She paused, smiling. "That is a noble motivation."

Leaning back in his chair, Mordenna looked back at her, face soft. "—y'think so?" When she nodded, he looked back at the monitors. "... that's. Nice to hear. Thank you." It was a while, but eventually he spoke up again. "Sis, uh. I'm sorry for shooting at you. And about the whole 'slaughter' thing. And for insulting you." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I'm not doing the best out of the gate, am I?" He muttered.

"Well..." She clasped her hands in front of her. "You are trying, brother. Mistakes... are alright." That was what Eliza had said, wasn't it?

Mordenna looked back at her, and she could hardly believe her eyes. She'd never seen a smile so genuine out of him. "—yeah. I'm trying." The moment was broken when a message flashed on both screens, and his attention was brought back to them. Righting himself in his chair, he picked up his datapad. "Well! The download's finished. Probably best we get the hell out of here, yeah?"

Fal-Mai bobbed her head, shifting to stand on her feet properly. "Let us head home."


"Hey Lily, do I... snap off too easily?"

It had been a day or so after Fal-Mai and Mordenna arrived home, successful in their action. Mordenna had quickly taken his place back in the Workshop once Sammy cleared him for injuries, leaving Fal-Mai in the Infirmary to get her shards extracted.

Which left Mordenna putting the final touches on the noise-dampening headpiece for Fal-Mai as Lily was getting started drawing up a facemask. Mordenna had gotten rather introspective, regarding what he'd said to Fal-Mai, and Lily was getting closer and closer to being a trusted confidant.

Lily looked up from her blueprint paper, pen in hand. "In my experience? Maybe. That time you went off at Eliza might count."

Mordenna sighed, picking up the headpiece and inspecting it. "Yeah. Suppose it does."

"Why do you ask, if... I can ask."

Mordenna gestured vaguely with a free hand. "We might've made it back from the mission Eliza sent us out on all fine and dandy, but Fal-Mai and I kind of clashed out there. I know siblings are probably supposed to fight but the more I think about it?" He threw his hand out. "She said it herself. She was just asking questions. Granted, with all the subtlety of an ICBM, but still."

Lily was quiet for a second, then resumed her work. "If I had to put my two cents in? She's, like, one year old, Mords. She's mature, but still has some basic things to learn. I don't think Helena programmed societal subtleties into her, either." She groaned. "The ability to play the harp, though? Apparently that was critical."

Mordenna sat up a bit more, previous topic drifting off. "Wait. Seriously?"

"Yeah! I read over her file just because of how angry I was and the amount of superfluous shit Helena put in there is mind-boggling." Lily always did get a bit more colorful when it was just her and Mordenna in the Workshop. Engineer solidarity, perhaps. "Not just the harp. Cello, flute, clarinet, and the violin. Seriously."

"... I think I know why." Mordenna set his project down, turning to face Lily. "It's because Fal-Mai was made to one-up me and my brother—and Odin and Cronus in turn—in ways she thought was necessary. But—" He threw his hands up. "As far as I know, Cronus didn't program Jax to play the violin and piano! He, like the pompous giant he is, learned how to play those himself!"

Lily stared at him with clear disgust for Helena, shaking her head. "I... I feel sorry for you guys. I am sorry for you guys. I think of having any one of them as parents for a second and I want to puke."

Mordenna gave a bitter chuckle. "Yeah? Yeah. Be glad you don't. So, anything else we can laugh at Helena about in there or is it all tragic?"

She reached over for a datapad. "That was just off the top of my head. I think I remember something else—yeah. Helena had like, all of her measurements down to the exact millimeter. And the comments she makes in here are absolutely maddening. I'll spare you the details but it's like she felt that she had to justify each and every change she made and she goes on and on about 'perfection' just about every other line."

"Not that perfection exists," Mordenna muttered, getting a twinge of apology for his sister.

"I know!" Lily exclaimed. "The Elders chasing something as shitty and impossible as 'perfection' just suits them, but it's bullshit that you guys had to deal with it."

Man. Would Eliza ever stop being right? Having Lily there and basically constantly going "that's fucked up" at every new thing she learned that the Chosen had to go through was validating. He'd thought he'd never want to talk about again, but complaining about it? There was a charm to it. "I'm glad someone understands."

Lily looked as if she was about to go more on about the subject, but it seemed something in Mordenna's last statement clicked with her. She looked him over, studying him. "Let me guess. Fal-Mai was questioning you wanting to get better for that reason?"

"Nail on the head," he grumbled, "though I don't think she quite meant it that way. She was just asking why I'd want to get better when past me would be happy to salt the earth, torch it, nuke it from a distance and then sell the remains off on the Black Market."

She threw up her eyebrows at the extended metaphor. "Pretty precise, there, but can you blame her?"

He groaned quietly. "No, not really. And it makes me feel like shit that I blew up at her then."

"Did you apologize?"

He nodded. "Yeah. After she did, because it seemed like she wanted to take some of the blame for me going off at her. I wanted to apologize first, but she beat me to the punch." Didn't help that there was a part of his brain that had been justifying his anger and venom, making him hold off until Fal-Mai took the first move.

"Well, it's a step in the right direction. I think, and I mean this as nicely as can be, you need to put some of that 'infinite patience' to use."

"It's not patience I'm deficient with," he said somewhat sourly, "it's tolerance. I can wait as long as is necessary for things to be set into motion, but the minute someone bugs me about it? All out the window. Odin raised me to be a creature of spite, which kind of goes hand-in-hand with the infinite patience. You want tolerance, you ask Eliza."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Lily mused, "but, still. Tolerance, then. Maybe you still have some stuff to learn."

"Not denying that. Always new stuff to learn. It's whether if I'm interested to learn it or not that's the sticking point." He paused. "... not to say I'm not interested in learning tolerance. Seems like it'd help on the road ahead."

"In my experience," she said, picking up her pen again and setting her datapad to the side, "it's stopping to think about why someone might be saying something like that or asking that kind of question. Just taking a second to think, y'know? With that brain of yours, I'm not accusing you of doing anything thoughtlessly. But if I had to take a page out of the Commander's book, I'd say consider what you want to say before you say it."

Mordenna nodded, running a thumb over his hand. "Got it. Might help." His eyes flickered about a bit. "—thanks, Lily."

"No problem. How's work coming on the headphones?"

Mordenna turned back to his work, picking it up and examining it. It was as he had hypothesized a while ago—a headpiece like the one Fal-Mai was wearing, except it would dampen sounds above a certain decibel level. Mordenna had reinforced it as much as possible without sacrificing Fal-Mai's ability to hear, but he had to make it minimal around the ears. His eyes focused on a spot of paint he'd missed. That wouldn't do. His bench didn't have the paints. Reaching backwards, he waggled his fingers. "Sis. Paint me."

It was silent for a second, and it was about a half second later that Mordenna realized what he'd said. Sis. Did he really consider Lily that much of a sister? He looked back to Lily's equally amused, equally surprised face. Soon, it broke out into a goofy grin, and she reached into a drawer, tossing him some pigments. "Sure, bro. I've got you."

Mordenna snickered, turning back towards his work. Having Lily as a sister wasn't such a bad outcome, in his book. Not like he was interested in her as he was Eliza... as much as he'd wish such thoughts would kick it. We've run the numbers. It's statistically impossible for her to be into you, or react well at all to any sort of confession you might field. He could run the numbers all he wanted—there was a tiny voice of hope in his mind urging him to just give it a try. Then what? Live with the possibility and awkwardness of a failed confession? "Hard pass," he muttered.

"You say something, Mords?"

He shook his head. "Technically yes, but just talking to myself, again."

"Fair enough." There was another moment of silence where Mordenna thought the Workshop was going to lapse into quiet hours of work, until Lily asked what she did next. "Oh, yeah. You go and see your brother yet? He's out now."

Mordenna shot up. "What?"