The Assassin knew she owed her life to her brothers in many ways. Today was just another reminder of that.

It had been a while of testing in the Workshop to make sure the implant she was currently wearing would read her intentions with perfect accuracy. Said device was a thin, disc-like object molded to where her shoulder used to be, with a line on the back running across her skin and ending in a port linked to her spine. That had been an... interesting installation, but Mordenna knew how to defuse awkward situations well enough. Plus, Samhien had been the one to hook her up, and she was very grateful for that.

Today was the moment of truth. She'd been called down to the Workshop and was just about there. Mordenna had mentioned just a day or so ago that he was on the final steps of the process of getting the Specter core reworked. Fal-Mai had no sense of scale on how hard that would be—but she assumed something like this would've taken a far longer time, especially when she took a moment to appreciate just what Mordenna was doing for her. Was he putting in any time he wasn't hanging out with them or going on missions solely into working on her new arm?

That was a question she supposed she could ask shortly, if she ever got around to it. She opened the door to the Workshop and was greeted by the sight of Mordenna, leaned back against his workbench with a datapad in his hands. Lily wasn't in sight. As she entered, Mordenna perked up and sat upright on his bench. "Fals! Perfect timing. Just did one last diagnostic and was leafing through some files Wiki gave me. You ready to see if this stuff works?"

"Of course." She walked up to him, eyes on the table. The cube with the Specter core jutting out of the top was still there. "How will we go about this?"

"Well first we're going to do one last test of your neural reader just to make sure it's still working. Never can be too sure, you know." He got up, gesturing for her to take his place. When she did, he rifled through the drawers on his workbench and came up with a cord he'd hooked up to her before. After he hooked it up to her device, he plugged the other end into his datapad. "Alright. You know the drill. Hold up some fingers."

That turn of phrase was a little odd for what she was supposed to be doing. She was working on muscle memory alone for her missing arm, and these tests were to make sure everything was still transmitting correctly. She tried holding up her missing pinky finger the best she remembered.

"Pinky finger, other fingers curled inwards?"

Accurate as always. She nodded. Thumb and ring finger out.

"—I sometimes forget a lot of humans can't just put their ring finger straight up like that. Thumb and ring finger?"

"Such a strange phenomenon that they cannot." Still, she nodded.

"Something, something, not enough individual muscles and tendons and the brain not properly distinguishing signals, last I remembered. One more, just to be sure." For that, she simply spread out all of her fingers. "Open palm. Nice one to end on, if you ask me."

"Correct." Admittedly, Fal-Mai was getting a little impatient to gain some measure of control back. "Am I ready for my prosthetic now?"

"Excited, aren't we? Well, I am too! Just want to make sure things will work smoothly." Mordenna unplugged the cord from both his datapad and her body, putting it back. He placed the datapad down and tapped the cube. "Alright. Look here—this is your prothetic's default state. Good for storage. When you want to hook it back up..."

He did a circle with his finger on top of the Specter core. In front of her, the cube morphed, the nanos sliding against each other until it was a disembodied arm, including the shoulder. The core was sticking out of the shoulder, clearly meant to socket against her arm. He picked it up, holding it. "You ready? This will return sensation to your arm, so brace yourself."

She bobbed her head, placing a hand on the workbench to steady herself. "As ready as I will ever be."

Steadily, Mordenna brought the arm towards her, pressing the core against the neural link. There was a bit of locking into place—and she gasped, clutching her arm. The sensation came all at once: a burst of pain, touch, and general feeling restored. It frazzled her. What frazzled her more was the feeling of the fingers on her left hand pressing through the nanos—and she watched as her new arm essentially lost form, puddling on the floor, connected by a thin strand. Fal-Mai winced as she still was getting feedback of it all. No longer pain, thankfully, but the puddle of nanos was still behaving as a limb and letting her feel the cold floor.

"Hey, hey." Mordenna rubbed the back of her neck soothingly. "Breathe. Think... uh, arm-y thoughts. That's your arm right there. Just try to move it like you used to, alright?"

A tall order when it felt like some alien appendage was suddenly stapled onto her. A fist. She wanted to make a fist. She closed her eyes and focused on the muscle memory. Slowly, she could feel it reforming, and then it was as if she'd never lost her arm to her senses. As she opened them, the nanos held, and she gently relaxed her hand. Fal-Mai then took the chance to inspect it.

It was as dark gray as the Specter it had once been. A few exploratory movements revealed it to be lighter than her old arm had been—quite a feat, considering her physical makeup. She wasn't complaining in that aspect. Her conundrum earlier felt possible still, but as she continued to treat it and move it as if it were her arm, it stayed that way.

Mordenna was grinning when she looked over. "Going all smoothly?"

She nodded, setting it against the table. Hm. Strange. She wasn't feeling as much through it. Fal-Mai ran her hand across the slightly-marked surface. Before she would've been able to feel every scratch and indent, but now? It felt like she was wearing gloves. The nanos probably weren't tuned to her previous sensitivity—and she didn't really want them tuned to that, honestly. It would take some getting used to, but this was far less overwhelming. "It seems to be functioning as I desire."

"Grand!" He put his hands on his hips. "Those nanomachines respond to commands received by the spinal column—but they also respond to thoughts secondarily, unless the case is extreme like that first hookup. Specter nanos can reflect light at any wavelength you want—try like, making it red. Hopefully it's more intuitive than not."

Hopefully it would be. She held up her arm. There was no kind of muscle memory for color change, so she squinted at it, imagining it turning red. Sure enough, slowly, the hue on the surface began to gain color and shift. It became a bright red—rather tacky, but it was what Mordenna had instructed her to do.

"Nice. That way you can give it commands to do essentially whatever you want and what it can support. I think a conversation or two with Schro will help you out with the latter aspect." Mordenna chuckled. "Suppose that clears me to make my own version of it. Could always use all the nice stuff Schro was doing for me that one mission."

Well, she was glad to hear she could be of service. This cherry red color was rather garish. She'd rather have something more aesthetically pleasing. There was this one kind of design she'd seen on dishware a lot—and occasionally on pottery. Could she...?

Indeed. The arm shifted to white, faster than it had gone red. Before her eyes, patterns of blue began to form and emerge, entrancing in nature. Lines and designs took hold, and she marveled at it.

"Porcelain, huh?" Mordenna's voice got her to look up. "A good look, if you ask me. Make it whatever color you want—it's you, now. I'll just be playing mechanic to it if anything goes wrong or you want something adjusted."

"Of course. And..." She stood up. One more test. She leaned forward and hugged Mordenna tightly. Yep. It felt a lot better to do it with two arms again, and she smiled. "Thank you, brother. It... it means much to me to have a part of me back."

Mordenna readily hugged her back. "I'm more than happy to help, sis." When she let her arms fall, he did the same. "Suppose now I'll be moving onto a few other things on the bucket list—you and Jax's armor, for one. That'll be way faster than this was, since I'll be working off of existing concepts. Just need to keep styling in mind, and I think I know what you two might like. Not to say I won't bring you in for your opinions, of course."

"I look forward to it, Mordenna. Although..." Her next thought was a bit awkward. "Won't you need our measurements?"

"Tailors measured us a while back, remember? I'll grab those."

Right. "They are about done with our 'casual' clothing, as well. It will be... strange, to not be casually lounging in my armor. But the fabrics I chose agree with me, so perhaps it will be pleasant." She, naturally, had sprung for an outfit that covered everything below her head. Turtleneck sweater, gloves, and leggings, with some nice fluffy socks. The material those would be made out of was absolutely lovely.

"Ah, trust me, Fals, it'll be grand." He spread out his arms. "Can't wait to rock a flannel and let my hair fly loose."

"Couldn't you do that latter part already by putting your hood down?"

"And have people sneak things in it when I'm not looking? Obviously not."

She laughed at that, covering her mouth. "You think of the strangest excuses!"

"Wouldn't be me without 'em. So!" He clapped his hands together. "There's one more thing—or rather, a few things—that I did for you. Make up for the fact that I... maybe wasn't responsible for you losing your arm, but mildly complicit. Could've handled the situation better. But!" He said, holding up a finger to her as she opened her mouth to assure him. "I'm not dwelling on it. Trying to move on. That said, I made you something else."

From behind his workbench, previously unseen, Mordenna pulled up a toolbox-like container by the handle on the top, setting it down on the workbench. He gestured to her to open it, and she went ahead, using her new arm to undo the clasp and pull the top back. The inside opened and splayed out several trays and it took her a moment to identify what was on them. They were attachments to replace the tubes on her helmet—one was clearly a wrapped-up piece of dark blue silk, while another was several smaller tubes. There were others of many styles, and she looked over to Mordenna. "You were working on these as well...?"

"Ever since you and I talked about it," he replied, "I figured I could help contribute to you... I don't know, it's hard to put into words. Easing into wardrobes that aren't entirely utilitarian? I've been working on them between projects because they take nothing to do since they really don't have any moving parts or complicated bits. Well..." He held up one in particular that had long, thick tubes, with black lines down the sides of which lights occasionally coursed down. "This was probably the most complicated one, but it's so low power that the minor Elerium inside powers itself." He put it back. "Do you, uh, like 'em?"

In answer, she looked down to the silk one, picking it up. It unfurled as she did, revealing that it flowed down to the middle of her back, the fabric catching the light pleasingly. She presented it to him in a wordless gesture. He smiled gently as she turned around, and Fal-Mai could feel him unhooking her tubes, putting them back in the case. The clicking at the back of her head told her it was hooked in. It would be a little weird re-adjusting to the lack of weight... but something about the silk veil spoke to her. She turned back around when he was done, catching it fluttering in her peripheral vision. "... do I look elegant?"

Mordenna chuckled. "How about we ask Jax? I'm sure he'd be a better judge of it than me. But, in my opinion? You look great, Fals. Glad to see you enjoying some fashion."

She softly giggled in response. "I suppose I can take the rest to my room then, if I ever feel for a change of pace. I do like this one a lot—do you think you could make more with different designs and colors?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely!" Mordenna looked ecstatic over Fal-Mai's approval. "All it takes is a little collaboration with the Tailors—who we should also stop by sometime today, I might add. They're half to thank for this ensemble, because I don't know much about fashion, myself, outside of what I like specifically. Jax first, though, he'll be happy to see you've got your arm back."

It pretty much boiled down to "showing your older sibling your new stuff," but Fal-Mai couldn't be happier about such an activity. She grabbed the case after closing it up, carrying it with her. "Do you suppose he is at the Studio as he normally is?"

"It's that or the GTS. Best to check the former first." Mordenna walked past her towards the door. "Remind me to bring you back in here when Lily's done talking with the Archons about their new prosthetics."

A question struck Fal-Mai as they left, and she supposed she should pose it. "Did they not have something like legs back on their homeworld?"

"I asked Lily that myself and apparently they did, though their legs didn't look like ours." Mordenna gestured with a free hand as he spoke. "Theirs were more individual-purpose built. Lily said the closest thing they had to everyday legs looked more like hooves to us. Suppose the Elders figured they wouldn't need them if they never had any downtime as combat units."

That just brought her around to another question. "And... that was their appearance in the first place?"

"Apparently so!" Mordenna looked back, shrugging. "Metals on their planet are different, if I recall one of Lil's ramblings. Lighter, even alive in some contexts. If Lily or I can break it down into an understandable form, I'll have to explain it sometime. As for why they look like that? That's something I gotta ask Rodin himself, I think."

Fair enough. There were certainly weirder alien races she could think of. She looked to the box on her side. She wanted to drop it off by her room first, but that was out of the way from both the Studio and the GTS. She wished she could take it by there, but... "By the way, brother, can I—"

A sudden lack of weight from her right arm made her jump, and she looked down. The lower half of her arm had detached, morphing mid-fall into a many-legged drone of some sort. The accessory case sat in the middle of it, and she and Mordenna watched as it skittered off down the hallway. Mordenna looked that way for a second, then looked back to her. "Uh?"

Well, Fal-Mai was mildly flabbergasted. She looked back to her arm, the remaining nanos reconstructing themselves back once more. Her limb was now even lighter than before, if still the same visually. "... I suppose that is one of its functions? I merely was thinking about dropping the case off by my room, but had lamented on how it was out of the way from our destinations."

"Huh!" Mordenna rubbed his chin. "I had left a rudimentary AI in there to help process commands, so I suppose it's taking suggestions and working with them. Hopefully that little drone you made will return to you when it's done—if not, well? You know where it is."

Fal-Mai was still rather mystified over the whole experience, but she nodded regardless. If it had the sense to interpret her thinking as a command, perhaps it had the sense to pilot the drone as it should.

The two of them kept walking, eventually getting to the Studio. As Mordenna opened the door, Fal-Mai peered over his shoulder. The usual occupants were inside—Jax's congregation, a few of the PsiOps, and a motley group consisting of Dolly, Schro, and Wiki for some reason. Jax himself... was staring at some sort of tower of wooden blocks. The pieces had been taken out of it in some places, and Fal-Mai watched as one of his claws of psionics carefully selected a brick, sliding it gently out. It came without the rest of the tower falling, and he placed the brick on top, smiling in satisfaction.

Mordenna came in, chuckling. "Power of the gods and you're using it to play Jenga?"

Jax looked up, huffing and crossing his arms. "I am using this game as an opportunity to further solidify my construct psionics. The more precision I may gain with my usual standbys, the better."

"Sure, we'll go with that reason, and not you totally wanting to catch up on playing Jenga because it's great."

Jax rolled his eyes, then looked to Fal-Mai as if wanting assistance with their brother. He then did a double-take as he caught sight of her new arm. "—your arm is finished?"

She smiled, coming over. "Our brother is a peerless craftsman."

The mention of her arm seemed to attract the attention of the room. Out of the corners of her vision, she could see people perking up and leaning over, trying to catch sight of it. In particular, she saw Schro angle to take a look, then move into standing up. As they came over, Wiki trailed after them. "Ah, I see Mordenna finally was able to make that work."

"Finally?" Mordenna gestured to it. "I craft a working prosthetic out of one of your dead buddies with all the bells and whistles attached and all you can say is 'finally?'"

Schro's shoulders bounced in silent laughter. "Meant more fondly than anything else, I assure you. May I see, Fal-Mai?" When she nodded, offering her arm, they gently held it up. "... hm. Less nanomachines than what the body was running with. Did you have to take out a portion of them to make it work, Hunter?"

"Not really, no." He jerked a thumb at her arm. "The AI I left inside interpreted something Fals was thinking about as a command and took something she was carrying to her room. With luck, it'll be back eventually."

"Working as intended, then." They looked up to Fal-Mai. "If you ever need an extended course in what you can do, come see me. I'd be more than happy to teach you."

She nodded. "Thank you. Mordenna said as much, himself."

"Honestly, with that arm of yours?" Wiki stepped out from behind Schro. "I could probably get you hooked up to the Avenger's systems if you ever needed to access the files yourself for some reason. Or just construct yourself a datapad whenever you wish. Probably the best function for that will be for letting Shen take over for bypasses or the like."

"Or me, if I'm close enough." Mordenna grinned. "It's a work of art—but it's Fal-Mai's, so it's her call."

"Eventually, I would think." Fal-Mai took her arm back. "I would like to get properly acquainted with it first." Getting around to showing Eliza too was on the agenda. Maybe Mordenna would know where she was. Or Jax. But, there were a lot of people around, and she was starting to feel crowded. She held her prosthetic to her chest, still trying to keep up a calm mask.

Mordenna, however, always seemed to know when something was off. He held up his hands. "Alright, people, give my sis some breathing room. Mind if we resume having a Chosen-exclusive conversation? You can certainly ask Fal-Mai about her arm later, I'm sure. Or bother me about it!"

The people around them nodded and dispersed. When Fal-Mai was certain they had gone back to what they were doing before, she gave a quiet sigh. "Thank you, brother. It was becoming a little much."

Mordenna patted her back, easing into sitting in a chair at the table Jax was. "No skin off my back. Just want you to be alright."

She sat down with him, unwinding a bit. "And Jax? Do you have any questions? I believe the ensuing crowd somewhat interrupted you."

"Merely ones regarding if you're alright with it so far." He gestured to her, a content look on his face. "Otherwise, I'm happy that you have regained control over your life—and just as proud of our brother for restoring that control."

"Aww gee, thanks, bro." Mordenna chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "See her new accessory, by the way?"

"I did—I was simply getting around to it. It looks very lovely on you, sister. I suppose now I know what the Tailors were doing that time I was in their workplace."

Fal-Mai smiled bashfully, clasping her hands together and squeezing them in a fit of happy energy. "Thank you, Jax. I have Mordenna to thank once more."

"Ah, Mordenna is simply lavishing you with gifts, is he?" Jax leaned over on the table. "I must step up my efforts! The next time the Tailors are free, I'd like to see about some other accessories for you. Help you bring out the best of you, hm?"

"Oh, don't worry about falling behind with gifts, bro." Mordenna pointed to him. "Next on my docket is getting your new armor done. I talked with the Tailors and I think I may have nailed an aesthetic you'd die for."

"Ah, before you do that? If you could fashion gauntlets and a pair of amplifiers for the Commander, I would prefer that much more."

"She wants those moved up the list?"

"It would be more accurate to say that I do." Jax spread out his palm and flicked it backwards. "I... admittedly, wish for her safety above all else. Her having the extra strength to defend herself should the need arise as well as the safeguard of the gauntlets is something I would argue should be part of her training. I do hate to stack orders on you, but if the amplifier goes well for the Commander? I would like to see one for Maria as well. That would be something to benefit the whole ship, I believe."

"Don't worry Jax, I understand you completely," he replied. "I'm sure Geist won't mind if I pull off some Templar shenanigans for her gauntlets—and hell, maybe Kalight could train her if he's interested. Best the Commander's safe. And, fuck, don't worry about piling work on me! I get around to everything eventually, and honestly that strikes me as a good idea." Something seemed to occur to Mordenna, and he looked back to Fal-Mai. "Shit, we kinda just went on and forgot about you, did we, Fals? Sorry about that?"

In response, Fal-Mai shook her head. "It is alright. I truly am content hearing the two of you talk to each other. It is enough for me to simply... 'hang out.'"

"Ah, Fals is picking up the lingo! I don't know about you, Jax, but—"

The door opened and they turned their heads. Fal-Mai had been hoping to see Eliza on the other side, but instead it was the drone she'd deployed. To the sound of a few interested onlookers and "what's that"s, it skittered on in, hopping up on her lap. That... was definitely adorable. She got this feeling that its next course of action would have been to merge with her arm but she planted her other hand on top of it, keeping it where it was at. The device then seemed to get comfortable, settling in her lap.

Her smile or the sight of the interaction was probably what made Mordenna chuckle. "That thing's surprising even me. Got yourself a friend, there?"

Well, it may have been silly, but Fal-Mai found the little thing endearing. She ran her hand over it, watching it. "Perhaps. I do not ever think I will stop thanking you for what you've done for me, brother."

"Ah, it's nothing." Even as he said that, she looked back up to see him trying to hide a fond smile. "All part of the joy of the job. In any case..." He pointed to the... Jenga tower, was it? "Mind if I play with you, bro?"

"If you wish." Jax sat back up. "Rather vexingly, you did pick out I was doing it to amuse myself, but it is helping my coordination nonetheless. I somehow think this kind of game would be very trivial to you."

"I'm no architect, no, but I do know about load-bearing principles." Mordenna leaned in, tapping one of the blocks towards him a few times before plucking it out, adding it to the top. "Besides, even if I could literally work 24/7 provided the materials and uninterrupted work time, I like taking my breaks. Especially with you guys." he gave a short chuckle. "The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Well, before I would've done it to be a right ass to you guys for my personal amusement. Now?" He threw his hand out. "I like you guys so much that hanging out is the amusement. Helps that the environment's better."

"Indeed. No constant requirement to hunt down the Commander for some vaguely defined glory and a planet I'm not certain any of us even desired." Jax knitted his brows together, testing a few of the blocks with his claw before gingerly pulling one out. That done, he continued. "I suppose I made a show of it but even back when I was rather blind, I only saw the Earth as something to be won from the Elders. I'm not quite even sure what I would have done with it. Needless to say, I do not think it would have been a desirable situation for the inhabitants."

"I'd say." Mordenna's pick was swift and he had his block on top in half the time it took Jax to do his. "For me? Two words: game reserve. That'd be if I was even interested in sticking around afterwards. I don't think you two need to be told about my rather darker tendencies."

Indeed, they didn't. When Fal-Mai halted in her petting of the drone, it nudged against her hand, and she went back to her repetitive motions. "You do not, brother. As for myself... no, I did not want the planet, but if the Elders assigned me to it, I would have done my best to oversee it." Fal-Mai figured she could be a good ruler if she put her mind to it, but it wasn't exactly something she was looking to do. "Perhaps the prize that any of us were fighting for back then was the implied destruction of the other two."

"Yeah, we were fucked up kids." Mordenna watched as Jax was still surveying what he could take out. It seemed the aim of the game was to remove bricks and place them on top without toppling the tower. "But with our 'parents,' could you blame us?"

"Perhaps not." Jax finally picked out his piece. The tower wobbled uncertainly, but a bit of finagling later and his brick was out. "They fostered an environment of resentment, turned us against each other, and used us as proxies in competition with each other. Is it a wonder that we eventually fled?"

"I would think not." Fal-Mai went to simply rubbing her thumb across the smooth surface of the drone. "... it would be no small wonder to our past selves, however."

"Yeah, well, Old Me was dumb as shit." Mordenna looked the tower up and down, then picked out his piece. "He had some idea of what was going on but he had his head so far up his spiteful ass he couldn't see that if he'd been more decent to his siblings and worked out a plan to bust free of the Elders, this war could've been over at the twenty year mark. Not to linger on the past, of course—we're working with what we've got now. And honestly? I'm glad we finally made up with each other."

"Seconded." In favor of making his next move, Jax gestured vaguely. "There are always improvements to be made upon our past selves, no? Even in five years I am sure there are some things now I will look back upon and shake my head at. But, for right now... I feel somewhat at peace. Yes, we still have the Elders to depose, but I have faith in our ability to handle them."

"If you ask me, we've already won." Mordenna tapped the table gently. "Wiki snagged the coordinates to a Psi Gate that Liz said she'll check out soon, and I'm betting I could fudge the Network into accepting our biological signatures again. I saw the kind of alpha state that Avatar we snagged was in—they certainly aren't immune to bullets and they're more unfinished than anything else. We go in, we shoot those bastards in the heads, we get out. One saved universe."

If only it were so simple. Fal-Mai didn't want to dampen the mood, but she hardly thought it would be as easy as that. She decided to move onto a slightly related topic. "What do you think we will be doing after the war?"

"As I discussed with Eliza once, likely joining her in a year-long retreat from the rest of society." Jax was still eyeing the Jenga tower, but not making any moves. "I know in my heart of hearts that there must be some guidance given to the freed people of the new Earth, but if I may be truthful?" He sighed. "I have been suffering and toiling for twenty years. I wish for a break from it all. XCOM is a good start, but..."

"Oh, no, I get you, bro." Mordenna leaned back once again in his chair. "I'll probably handle something like that for everyone else. Unless I up and invent a way for me to sleep, it's not like I'll be doing much else with my free time, anyway. Help the new world get on its feet, then join you guys in kicking up my own."

"There will still be ADVENT to flush out," Fal-Mai added, "so my work will not be done until the last vestiges that wish to fight for the fallen Elders are gone. Then I, as well, will join the three of you in relaxing."

"Of course, I do account for getting the rest of ADVENT out in our work." Jax sighed. "Honestly, I am quite lost in thinking of the kind of life I will lead without someone to fight. I will want to stay with my followers if they will have me, that is for sure. Perhaps I will take up my instruments and voice again and compose in my spare time. Or learn new crafts—I have the rest of my ageless life to do so."

"And for those of us who can't live forever," Mordenna went on, "I'll be devising methods. Never fancied myself a biologist but I'm starting to figure out I'm a man of all trades. Short of turning people into more Chosen, I wanna see what I can do."

What about her? Fal-Mai really didn't know what she would do with the concept of peace. She really didn't have any hobbies now, save for hanging out with her brothers and the Commander. Surely she couldn't do that all the time. She looked back down at her little pet, which angled up to "look" at her. Maybe one day she'd get around to confessing her feelings for the Commander. But, what of her brothers' feelings...?

Mordenna's head perked up. Fal-Mai looked to where he was looked—and it was then that she caught the small, alto humming of the Commander's voice around Mordenna's head. The Commander was talking to him. He pressed a finger to his communicator. "Gotcha, Commander. I'll bring the goons down." He then lowered it, looking between the two of them. "Jax, Fal-Mai? Commander wants us over in the Bridge. There's a mission she's been planning coming up fast."

Jax blinked. "Do you have any clue as to what it is about?"

"Must've been one she got recently that I haven't heard of." Mordenna stood up. "Whatever the case, so long as you're good for fighting..." He looked to Fal-Mai meaningfully. "I know you said you want to get used to that arm, so don't think you have to come."

"Please, brother." She took her left hand off of the droid and offered it her right. It stepped onto it and summarily melted into her hand, restoring its original weight. Fal-Mai stood up. "I am fit for combat. All I need is my former headgear and my weapons."

Mordenna looked at her for a second, then nodded, if a little uncertainly. Jax also got up, taking apart the tower and putting it into a tin nearby with both his hands and psionics. "If she is sure, then it is our mission to make sure she will be alright in the field, brother." With the combination of his hands and his claws, he cleaned up the game in record time, putting the lid back on the tin. "I, for one, would enjoy another chance to lash out at the Elders."

"Agreed." Fal-Mai began to walk out, and she could hear her brothers following behind her.

The trip to the Bridge was short, and Fal-Mai didn't hesitate to walk in and immediately approach where the Commander and Bradford were standing. Eliza nodded as they entered, smiling at Fal-Mai. "Chosen, good to see all of you. I see your new arm has come in, Fal-Mai."

"As it has. I am already finding it a great boon."

"Good to hear we've got a good prosthetic maker on the ship." Bradford crossed his arms, his own faint smile at Fal-Mai disappearing as he assumed some seriousness. "Commander, do you think we should take the Assassin on this mission and revise the roster?"

"Definitely. We'll let March have some more time with her wife. Apparently Sherry has a surgery coming up?" Hm. Must be the one they all accidentally eavesdropped on the planning of. Whatever the case, Eliza tapped her datapad, and the roster that was already there changed. "Of course, this should be taking into account if Fal-Mai wants to go."

"I assure you I do, Commander. I am now fit for combat and I will show the Elders that they cannot put me down so easily."

Eliza nodded. "Glad to hear it. As for what we're doing? The Elders are routing plans to bury the Black Market through a psionic transmitter in the area we're heading to. Only think it's right for us to make sure our main supplier isn't eating lead."

"It was that," Bradford added, "or stop this 'hazmat armor suit' thing that Cato let us know about. And honestly? I think we can do with straight up bullets. Not like we can't disrupt the supply lines for that later, if we can."

"Good call, methinks." Mordenna crossed his arms. "I take it this one's underground? Most of 'em are."

"You've got that right, Hunter," Bradford replied. "You won't have your usual vantage points for the mission, that's for sure."

"Just as handy with a handgun as I am with my sniper rifle, Brads. Worst comes to worst I'll have Jax toss me his rifle."

"Always best to have a backup plan," Eliza said, "and I find that Mordenna's got a lot of those. I think he'll be fine—and the close quarters will suit Fal-Mai well. We've still got quite a few hours before we'll be in the area, so feel free to mentally prepare yourselves. However, while I've all got you here..."

Eliza looked down to her datapad, working it for a bit before the roster in front of them disappeared, replaced by a few screens showing location data—and the Gate. She looked to the Chosen as she spoke. "There's another mission I'd like to handle shortly. I assume the lot of you know about the Gate?" When they nodded, she went on. "Wiki got the coordinate data down regarding where one is. I'd like to go and, at the very least, take that thing offline. If not outright take it for ourselves after disabling it. Do any of you know of any reason why we shouldn't?"

Mordenna shrugged. "As long as you disable the thing and take direct control of the locational input and output for it, I say go for it. We need a way to get into the Elders' lair and stealing one of their front doors sounds like a good idea. I can always see what I can do regarding it letting us back in."

"Still, we should be careful in our approach." Jax held a hand to his chin. "Undoubtedly it will have a guard—and the heavy psionic irradiation they cause to the environment around them will no doubt have attracted swarms of Chryssalids."

"It's not so much the irradiation as the vibrations and signals those things give off," Mordenna corrected.

Bradford massaged his temples. "Don't talk to me about signals attracting Chryssalids. I had one bad run-in with that kind of situation in the past and I'd prefer to never think about it again."

Eliza tilted her head. "... was that the one where our DJ was repurposing ADVENT tech without knowing what he was doing that you told me about?"

"The very same story."

"Still," Mordenna came in, "Jax has a point. That thing has a direct connection to the Elders' hideout and their production factory. Priority number one will be turning it off without too much permanent damage just so they don't flood us with reinforcements."

"Advice taken and filed." Eliza nodded. "Anything else?"

"Other than I'm definitely going so I can help you turn it off? Nothing else, Commander."

Eliza restored the screen to the globe. "You're all free to whatever you want to do for the next few hours. I'll be seeing you in the Armory when we're at our destination. That's my official dismissal, anyway. Unofficially?" Eliza clipped her datapad to her belt. "Been a while since we hung out. You four, the Bar, Bradford and I staying on the wagon while you guys drink yourselves silly?"

A few hours with Eliza, Bradford, and her brothers sounded like a treat. Fal-Mai nodded eagerly. Meanwhile, Mordenna clapped his hands together. "Sounds like a damn good time! Jax?"

"Unless you have some sweeter ales on tap," he replied, "I will abstain from drinking—but I would very much like to join in the festivities."

"Any chance you get to unwind is a good one by me," Bradford followed up. "I'd be happy to play bartender again and shoot the breeze."

"Sounds like we've got a consensus." Eliza began to walk out, with Bradford swiftly following her. The rest of the Chosen fell in line, and soon they were on their way to the Bar. Eliza kept the smalltalk going, occasionally stopping to say hello to a passing soldier or staff member. "What's this about 'sweeter ales' I hear, Jax? Wanting to cut into my celebratory hard cider stash, huh?"

"I find some hard ciders still too bitter for my taste." Jax sighed. "Perhaps I am a notorious sweet tooth—but once, at one of my many outings, I tasted peach hard cider, and the rest was history."

Bradford shook his head. "They even make that kind of stuff?"

"If there's a market for it," Mordenna replied, "they'll make it. I, of course, must do my brotherly duty in ribbing you over your choice of alcohol, bro. Honestly, I'm surprised you drink the stuff at all but preferring something like peach cider is downright dainty. At least, I'm sure that's a word you'd use for it."

Jax turned towards Mordenna. "Are you mocking me for my vocabulary, brother?"

Mordenna held up a finger and opened his mouth, then closed it, letting his hand drop. He seemed to be considering what he would say next very thoroughly. "... no. But I am teasing you regarding what you drink at parties."

Jax blew a breath out of his nose. "Fair enough. It was one of the few things I could gain a taste for—and soon, whatever venues I was about to visit would begin stocking my preferred brand as to cater to my tastes. It did essentially pigeonhole me into never expanding my horizons, but I never quite care to do so in that area. Indulging in food and drink is nice, yes, but with our lack of need for sustenance, I do not wish to force myself to like things I do not."

"Well, that makes far too much sense." Mordenna twisted himself as he walked. "And I somehow doubt you would even wanna touch anything with that much alcohol in it."

Fal-Mai shrugged. "I have not had many encounters with those sorts of drinks. Even at my public showings, I abstained, but I am sure that fed into my image." Fal-Mai knew she played to the elegant and near-emotionless persona well, but... that wasn't her. She had feelings, and quite a lot of them, and hardly enough room to properly express them. Maybe she should try alcohol? "I would not be adverse to a small sample."

"Fine by me. If the Avenger's got it, you might even like the fruity stuff Jax likes. Do you even have that stuff, Brads?"

"Not that I know of, but there's always the chance."

"Dig deep enough," Eliza said with a smile, "and I'm sure we have one of everything behind the counter. As for me, we wouldn't happen to have any soda still in there?"

"Assuming Pattie and Benald haven't stolen all of it, maybe." Bradford was the first one to the door of the Bar, opening it and letting everyone else in. Fal-Mai took a seat by Eliza, Mordenna sat on her other side, leaving Jax to sit on Fal-Mai's unoccupied side. Bradford took his place behind the bar. "The usual, Mordenna?"

"You're damn right!" Bradford came back up and passed Mordenna a bottle of dark alcohol, which he pried the top off of and drank. "Good. Shit. If I do say so myself." He leaned over, pointing the bottle towards Fal-Mai a bit. "Far be it from me to give a one year old alcohol, but you did say you'd be fine in trying it."

Fal-Mai gave a playful smile. "I suppose I can—"

That was when the smell of the drink hit her, and good lord. Fal-Mai had never smelled something so bitter in her short life. She immediately felt her nose trying to close itself up. Her expression must've been hilarious, as everyone around her cracked up. Even Jax was stifling some laughter, which was the most galling. Fal-Mai tried to compose herself, covering her mouth as she could feel heat rush to her face. "I. I think I will abstain. What are you drinking?"

Mordenna looked like he was trying to forcibly contain his snickering. "J-just the darkest stuff Bradford's got without serving me coffee. Sorry, didn't mean to like, blow noxious gasses at you. Just forget sometimes that I like the stronger stuff."

Mildly embarrassed, Fal-Mai huffed. "Next time, please remember so you do not nearly poison me."

Jax was shaking his head, patting Fal-Mai's shoulder. "You and I share opinions regarding the slop that our brother regularly drinks."

Mordenna pressed a hand to his chest, mock offended. "Are you two ganging up on me again? Brads, Liz, help me out!"

Eliza chuckled, taking the bottle Bradford offered to her and twisting it open. It hissed and she took a sip. "Sorry, Mordenna, but you'd have to pay me pretty handsomely to drink the stuff that you drink."

"If it means anything?" Bradford set his own bottle out on the counter. It looked to be the same one as Eliza was drinking. "You're the only one clearing that stuff out, Mordenna. I think this is a battle you're going to have to fight yourself." While Mordenna sputtered, he turned to Jax. "I can look again but the stuff we've got that's closest to what you like is the Commander's stash—and you'll have to take her up on that."

"He can drink it if he wants it." Eliza took another drink of her soda. "I won't miss a bottle or two when I've already resolved to save my drinking for after the war." Something about that statement seemed to sober Mordenna a little.

Whatever it was, Bradford didn't notice, as he was already going through an area below the counter. When he emerged, he handed Jax a bottle of a considerably lighter hue than Mordenna's. "You gonna pry the bottle open like your brother does, or do you need the bottle opener?"

"With my admitted heavy-handedness, I will need the opener." Bradford grabbed a tool from behind the counter and gave it to Jax. With it, he used it to pop off the top, passing it back to him when he was done. He sniffed at the drink, giving a soft "hm." "You seem to favor the lighter varieties, Commander."

"Yeah, well, I mostly drink it for the apples, not the alcohol. The bitterness of it, anyway."

"That doesn't really remind me of what I wanna ask," Mordenna began, "but I'm gonna ask this anyway. How'd you hear of the mission we're about to do?"

"Templars. Which reminds me, I need to stop by them afterwards. Partly to report the results of the mission, partly just to check in." She pointed to Mordenna with her bottle. "Those psionic transmitters they use apparently cause heavy psionic distortion they can feel—and one such conduit sprung up in their territory. A few messages and transcripts in the area told us it was preparing to mass upload plans to storm the Black Market."

Mordenna stroked his chin. "If Fals and Jax working to find that thing didn't turn up anything, how the hell did they find it without the Baroness complaining about how close ADVENT was getting?"

Eliza shrugged. "Somebody might have talked or ratted them out. Whatever the case, I considered it a higher priority over ADVENT troops getting a little tougher."

He nodded, but something about his expression told Fal-Mai there was still something on his mind. Bradford was quick to pick up on the gap in the conversation. "I let the factions know of the last one that we couldn't handle. Volk seemed keen on sending his wolves over to handle it to repay us for covering Gilligan's Ridge."

"Well, I'm glad for that." Eliza sighed, resting her head on her hand. "All of these good deeds do eventually catch up to me."

"Plus, it's in their best interest to do something about it. We're not the only ones shooting at ADVENT." Bradford finally opened his own bottle, drinking from it. "Maybe they'll put aside their differences for once to save us all some trouble."

"Tch. Maybe." Mordenna took a swig of his drink. "Bet you my left eye the Reapers handle it solo. Not because nobody else comes to help, but because Volk's a stubborn bastard who would want to repay Liz himself with no assistance."

"Depth perception is a dangerous thing to wager," Jax murmured.

"Well, I try to hedge my bets." Mordenna set his drink down, sobering a bit as he considered something. "Ah, right. Mind if I float something by you three? Jax excluded, I talked with him about it before."

Eliza nodded to him. "All ears."

"Now, Liz, you probably noticed I took a souvenir or two home when we raided Jax's Stronghold."

"As I remember."

"Well. Jax brought up an interesting question when I mentioned it to him." Mordenna gestured as he continued to speak. "And it lead me into some thought—he asked me if we could somehow recreate what the Elders were using to keep respawning us from the dead. And, theoretically, yeah. What the Elders were doing when they were reviving us was basically using their massive psionic power to patch us up and slap our soul back in our body in the Void, where common law can break down in some ways. The Sarcophagi were just massive gateways, conduits even. I haven't been looking at the compound used in the metal for it much, but I do remember it was made of highly psionic-conductive materials. If I could get enough Elerium and whatever other compounds I need to make our own, get a psionic Network of our own up and running and link any psions to it... we could have our own way to defy death."

He'd brought all that up to Jax before? Honestly, Fal-Mai was quite contemplative over the idea. She did like the notion of having the power of the Sarcophagi back in their control... but Mordenna had brought up his concerns about an XCOM Network before. She watched Bradford and Eliza, gauging their reactions. Eliza was in deep thought, rubbing her chin and squinting a bit. Bradford, however? Very skeptical. "Sound in theory, but let me ask this—you want to re-establish the Network?"

"I get your hangups, and let me bring in some counterpoints." He pointed at Bradford. "The Network I'm thinking of making wouldn't be a control and order dissemination structure—AKA it wouldn't be the Commander powering the majority of the processing. The Avenger itself—and me, Wiki and Schro, probably—would be hosting it and hooking in all psionic members of the ship. It would hook them into the power source for the Sarcophagus, and I would program a specific routine for reviving anyone connected to it who dies. No psion would really notice it unless their power was needed to bring someone back to life. The most anyone could do with the Network that isn't me is... maybe send messages." He gestured to the Commander. "Trust me, I gave it some thought. I don't want it feeling like the ADVENT Network to Eliza and triggering any PTSD. Eliza would be a user and nothing else—just enough connection to power the revival process or get revived if needed."

Eliza turned to him. "How long would this take?"

"Oh, jesus." Mordenna's eyes flitted around, calculating. "... establishing the Network itself is going to take a month, and this includes taking ADVENT's code, re-writing and debugging it, and doing a day-long test run with me solo, a week test run with others connected to it. As for the Sarcophagus? I'd need to do some more tests and analyzing between projects to determine the exact nature of what the pieces I have are made out of, with probably a few runs through the Shadow Chamber. From there it's a matter of supply and what I'll need to make it. And, uh, someone has to test the first run of the revive. Unless we want to kidnap a Dark VIP, make them psionic, and use them as the first test subject? That step might get a little tough."

"Sounds like a shot in the dark," Bradford muttered, "but I won't deny that's a strong asset. Might even convince me to go super-powered. Damn long project, it sounds like."

"That's why I wanted to bring it up early." Mordenna looked to Eliza. "Any thoughts, Commander?"

Eliza let her hand fall from her chin. "The Elders are very powerful beings, Mordenna. How much power are we talking?"

"The impact and power draw would be spread across all the psions hooked to the Network. In that, we've got you, Jax, your PsiOps, his whole congregation, and whatever else any new PsiOps wanna provide. I am very certain we have the power for it."

"I have seen the Commander's true potential." Jax settled a hand on the counter. "With more training and some assistance, I would think her able to power most of the revive, though not without strain."

"That powerful, huh?" Eliza looked back to Mordenna. "What about any non-psions?"

"That's the tricky part. All the non-psionic units on the ADVENT Network were able to connect because of the chips in them. I... think you could recreate those for anyone who doesn't want to go psionic, but? I'm not exactly a bastion of moral fortitude but even I question chipping people."

Eliza's face pinched and she shook her head rapidly. "No. Definitely not." She let out a tense breath. Seems even the mention of it was enough to unsettle her. "Suppose it's time to put the Psi Lab back to use. How psionic would they have to be to hook up?"

"Even a base amount of the Gift, natural or not, should let them in. Fal-Mai and I were on it, after all, and our extent of psionics is little more than one ability."

"That's five days for two soliders," Bradford summed up. "With our numbers..."

"That would take a month or so," Eliza finished for him. "Assuming optimal conditions and the barest amount of modification so they can use psionics. It'd take time, but having the ability to immediately recover from losses and effectively nullify them? That's tempting. Very tempting. I've got one last question, Mordenna."

"Fire away."

"Who's your volunteer?" Eliza looked to him, eyes set and face grim. "You brushed over it earlier, and while I can't blame you for doing it, it needs answered. I am firmly against using unwilling test subjects—it's unethical. So we need to figure out who is willing to gamble dying permanently to make sure immortality works for the rest of us."

Mordenna opened his mouth, closed it, then rubbed it with his hand, looking over at his siblings. His gaze immediately bounced off of them and to the floor, seemingly already rejecting the idea of using them. After a while of thinking, he lowered his hand enough to be heard. "I'd do it. If no one else, it better be me. It would be my code and my construction abilities on the line. When the time comes, you could ask your soldiers, but if not one of them is willing to die... I might as well give it a shot, right?"

"Brother." Fal-Mai understood his reasoning and why he'd stake himself. However? She couldn't abide by losing him. "You are not going to potentially sacrifice yourself for this gamble! What happens if it is, indeed, flawed, and you do not come back? You would be the one with the knowledge of how to perhaps fix it."

"It's not ideal," Mordenna countered, but she could see the hesitation in his eyes, "but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'd be double-checking and triple-checking the code and construction to make sure everything was correct, probably having Lily and Tygan look over it as well."

"What of the rest of us, Mordenna?" Jax leaned forward. "You are keen on potentially sacrificing yourself forever, but have you considered the kind of effect your reckless disregard for your own life might have?"

"It's not reckless," he protested, the hesitation in his eyes hardening. "Someone has to take the plunge. And unless anyone else in Eliza's ranks has a death wish, I'm the person the buck stops at."

Fal-Mai opened her mouth to respond, to tell Mordenna that he was being ridiculous. But Eliza held up her hand, and no one else spoke. She fully turned towards Mordenna. "I appreciate your gusto in accepting responsibility," she began, voice soft, "but Jax is right. Fal-Mai is right. It may be an easy decision to make on your own, but think of the people around you who don't even want to risk losing you. Because I'm one of them." She leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "Go through with reviving the Network, and you have my permission to divert resources to making the Sarcophagus when you need them. But... maybe it might be best to not test it until we have a backup plan. Until we have a way to bring you or whoever volunteers back to life without the Sarcophagus, it might be better to just keep working on the code and methods. I hate leaving it in the dark and I don't want to say 'just wait and see if someone dies and is brought back,' but at least then they would've been out on the field and wouldn't die for nothing.

Mordenna was silent, maintaining eye contact with Eliza for a while before dropping it, drumming his fingers on the counter nervously. Fal-Mai really didn't want to lose him if it meant immortality for everyone else. She had just gotten a brother like him after a year of seeing him at his worst, now knowing that he was suffering then and was suffering 14 years before then. That shouldn't be how his life would end.

Finally, he sighed, deflating and propping his head up with his hand. "Alright. Alright. I hate letting something like that go untested... but it's a far range in the future. Hopefully by then we'll have some method to bring me back if the process I laid out doesn't. Sorry... sorry to upset you guys."

"Only got upset because you being a little too comfortable with your own mortality has been a problem you've struggled with," Bradford said, patting his arm. "Just don't want to see you throw everything away because of it."

"Yeah. Maybe one of these days I'll fully accept that notion." Mordenna turned back towards the counter, taking a sip of his drink. "Well, with the project cleared, I don't have much else to bring up. I think I just wanna hang with you guys for however much longer we have left. I'd lighten the mood myself, but..."

"That's fine, cowboy." Eliza let her arm drop, picking up her own drink. "I'll give it an honest shot." She then turned back to everyone else. "So. Fal-Mai. Tell me about this new arm of yours."

As she smiled and got into it, Fal-Mai couldn't help but think of the mission in store for them. Her first re-deployment to the field with a prosthetic... and it wasn't a stretch to think that Specter might be back.

She steeled herself, doing her best to enjoy the moment with her family and friends. Later. For now, she could relax.