A/N: Oh neat, this one is juuuuuuust under 10k words. This is also where things start to weird, so... buckle up, kiddos.

Annette looked over the crew assembled in the Bullhead. She had Arslan, Fox, Orryn, and Ren (as a replacement for Blake) from Dagger Team, Beagle and Macauley for explosive and engineering expertise, Ortega for long-range sniper support, Fonseca to work alongside Ren, providing medical triage as needed, and Socks to serve as a backup psi operative. Waiting on the Avenger was a second Strike Team composed of Ruby, Jaune, Coco, Nora, Talos, and Gizmo. Firebrand would pick them up after dropping off Annette's team and keep the engines hot in case more firepower was needed to deal with… whatever was waiting for them at Mountain Glenn. Nobody onboard said a word as they flew to their destination, and Annette was happy to see that despite the general levity found on the Avenger, everyone present was able to appreciate the seriousness of their mission.

The cabin rocked a bit on account of the pilot's efforts to keep a low profile by sticking close to the ground, and Annette lightly knocked on the wall between the cockpit and the cargo.

"Sorry about the chop, boss." Firebrand apologized, "We're coming up on the outskirts of the ruins now, and I'm seeing a nice LZ in a clearing on our two o'clock."

"Sounds good." Annette stood up from her seat at the front, and the rest of the team looked up to give her their full attention. "Dagger knows the drill by now, but it should be pretty obvious for the rest of you that we want to do this nice and quiet. Altan and Lie are on scouting duty. Keep a low profile and report contacts by commpiece. Chrom and Alistair are on point to quickly and quietly eliminate any lone wolves that the scouts identify. Ortega, find a good spot when we get closer to the ruins to set up, and Socks will keep an eye on you while you keep an eye on us. Everyone else, stick with me and keep your safeties on until I give the order."

The cabin rolled slightly before the doors of the Bullhead rose open.

"Mind the jump." Firebrand warned, "These things don't like to play nice with the dirt, so this is the best I can do for you."

Annette made a mental note to bring up the idea of rappel cables to R&D before giving a quick nod to her squad. The team wasted no time in jumping out and making a beeline for cover at the clearings edge. Ren and Arslan quickly vanished into the trees while everyone grouped up around Annette and started their advance towards the abandoned settlement.

"Strike One, this is Central. Do you copy?"

Annette toggled her earpiece and answered, "Loud and clear, boss."

"Firebrand is reporting a clean drop, and she's swinging back around to pick up Captain Rose's team. Keep in contact and notify us of anything you find."

"Understood."

Two clicks in her earpiece alerted Annette to the first Grimm contact spotted by Arslan and Ren. With a wave of her hand, Orryn and Fox slipped off to hunt down and eliminate the monster before it could alert others and bring a horde bearing down on Strike One.

"Gotta admit, it's nice having more of these huntsmen on our side." Beagle commented as he stepped through the foliage alongside the Major, "Especially since this whole 'super sneaky' business was never really our forte."

"That's why it's good to build bridges, I guess." Annette answered. Another double-click indicated more contacts, and another responding triple-click meant that the assassination squad was already moving in.

"Actual, this is Shrike. We've got a decent view of the ruins up ahead, but there's no sign of a Harvester anywhere."

"Granted, there are still a lot of tall-ish structures in the settlement." Arslan pointed out, "This ship could be hiding somewhere in the heart of the ruins."

Either way, the fact that the Harvester wasn't immediately visible left Annette feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

"Assassins, catch up with the scouts and find a good entry point for us into the city." She saw a silver dagger embedded in a tree trunk to her left, and pulled it out with a grin, "We just found your marker, Chrom, so I'm guessing we're not too far behind."

"About a hundred feet. Fox isn't sensing any more contacts nearby, so it should be safe for you to hustle a bit."

Annette looked back at the rest of her squad and nodded. They didn't sprint too quickly, given that Beagle had a rocket tube strapped to his back, but they still managed to catch up with the advance team in short order. The hill Ren and Arslan found offered a good vantage point overlooking the ruins, and Annette finally saw what they meant.

"Central, this is Actual." Annette radioed as she tossed Orryn's dagger back to him, "Reporting no visual contact with the Harvester, sir. You'd think something that big would be easy to spot."

"I don't like the sound of that. Stay frosty, and take it slow. Volt is working with Shen to get a tighter lock on the signal location without giving our position away, but it might take a while before they have something useful."

"3-13, you seeing any good locations for a nest?" Annette asked. The ruins weren't particularly dense, but it didn't seem like there was any one spot that commanded a view of the entire combat zone. Ortega would likely need to relocate every so often as the ground team progressed further into the city.

"There's a couple." Ortega said, scanning the ruins through his scope, "And I shouldn't have any difficulty navigating from one to the next. Rest assured that you'll have your eye in the sky, Major."

"Works for me. Let's get moving."

The squad resumed its advance. Ortega's visual sweep of the ruins revealed a lot of Grimm patrolling the outskirts with far fewer venturing into the deeper sections of the city that he could see. Only a few Grimm roamed the space between Annette's hill and the city outskirts, and Orryn dispatched them without difficulty so that the group could proceed unhindered.

"Nice and easy, team." Annette warned, "Wouldn't want to ruin our streak of good luck, now would we?"

Beagle groaned, "You mean the one you just ruined by calling it out?"

A watchful eye observed the team of interlopers through a grainy IRNV scope as they progressed through the edge of the ruins. It certainly wasn't the first time a band of foolhardy adventurers thought that Mountain Glenn was ripe for a hidden, remote base of operations.

Unfortunately for them, they weren't the first ones to get that idea.

Still, the observer had to admit that these newcomers carried themselves with far more competence and tactical acumen than their predecessors. Those White Fang goons just stomped their way in, raised a ruckus blasting away at all the Grimm they attracted, and set up a noisy operation with their Dust deliveries and bomb production. Dealing with them was a simple matter of avoidance. This new intrusion? They moved quietly, and they killed the Grimm with surgical precision.

These people would have to be dealt with, one way or another.

Annette glanced down the next street and keyed her comm, "3-13? You all set?"

"We're looking good up here, boss. Got a nice view of you and all the Grimm in your vicinity. Still no sign of the Harvester, though."

That threw up a couple of red flags in Annette's mind. The team was far enough into the city where Ortega should be able to easily locate the landed (or crashed?) UFO from his vantage point. The fact that it still wasn't visible raised a number of questions that the Major didn't have answers for.

"Central…"

"This mission is getting weirder by the second. I'm leaving it up to your discretion as to when you need air support, Major. Firebrand is keeping the engines hot, and the cavalry will come rolling in as soon as you give the word."

Well, her paranormal spidey senses weren't tingling yet, so perhaps Firebrand should keep the engines hot a little longer. Annette waved her team forward, and the group advanced down the thoroughfare towards the heart of the ruins. Upturned slabs of concrete, craters in the road, and steel rubble all made for useful cover that allowed the operatives to leapfrog their way forward under the watchful eyes of their comrades.

Not a single shot needed to be fired so far. The silent takedowns by Orryn, Ren, and Fox were more than sufficient to handle the number of Grimm Annette's team encountered so far. Granted, Arslan's scouting allowed them to navigate around the larger packs, but it seemed odd that an area so 'wild' didn't have that many monsters roaming around.

Then again, if a Harvester did land here, perhaps the aliens decided to do a little house cleaning before carrying out whatever business they had at Mountain Glenn.

"Any update on Shen's efforts to pinpoint the signal?" Annette asked. The rest of the squad took up defensive positions to keep an eye out for trouble while Annette figured out a plan with Mission Control.

"Yes, though it seems like Engineering has some kinks they need to work out."

What was that? Out of the corner of her eye? Annette snapped her head around to get a better look at the top of the concrete structure, but nothing was there. She silently flagged Arslan and Ren to investigate before keying her comm, "You mind explaining that, Central?"

"We've got the Avenger holding position to allow us to track your signal so we can determine where you are in relation to the Harvester." Bradford explained.

"... And?" The back of her head tingled, and Annette looked to her right and could have sworn she caught a glimpse of a moving shadow.

"According to their data, the Harvester is 200 feet below you."

The fuck?

"Weapons free." Annette ordered.

"Major, on you-"

Annette's danger sense screamed, and she ducked in time to dodge a metallic bolt that sailed inches above her head. Interrupted cries of pain erupted from her squad as the other operatives were not so lucky. Fonseca hit the pavement with an unceremonial thud, Fox yelped in surprise as a bolt crashed into his knee and twisted it sideways, and MacAuley barely got out a "HOLY SH-" before some kind of rope shot out from the darkness, wrapped around his waist, and yanked him out of sight with a yelp.

"MAC!" Beagle yelled, and a bolt slammed into his chest and sent him flying backwards into a pile of rubble.

Before Annette could even begin to formulate a plan, she heard a voice call out, "Drop your weapons, stand up, and nobody has to die today."

Annette looked at Orryn, who nodded at her unasked question. The kid looked shaken from how quickly the mission went south, but at least he had enough of his wits about him to play along. The two of them made a show of throwing down their weapons with a loud clatter and standing up to face whoever was responsible for the ambush.

A hooded figure stood in the middle of the street, arms cradling a mean-looking rifle. The face was completely obscured by what Annette could only assume to be gas mask, with two glowing green lenses covering the eyes. A bandolier ran across the chest, with various tools and devices attached, while ammo pouches hung off of a belt wrapped around the waist.

The figure shouldered the rifle with a nod as Annette and Orryn stood up. "Any tricks, and the number of living members on your team drops considerably."

"Actual? Come in, Actual. The vitals on your squad are going haywire. What's going on?"

Annette was about to respond to the stranger's remark with a biting retort when the stranger pointed towards where MacAuley vanished, where Arslan and Ren had gone moments before the ambush, and back towards where Ortega and Socks had set up their first nest. The Major followed the first gesture, and any words she may have had got stuck in her throat when she saw the Engineer with what could only be described as an anthropomorphic cobra coiled tightly around his body.

"Don't worry about me, Major." He wheezed, "I can think of worse ways to go than this."

"Your theatrics are unnecessary." The stranger deadpanned.

Annette also glanced up at the top of the building to her left and saw an unconscious Arslan and Ren propped up by another pair of similarly-dressed strangers. Or, at least Annette was pretty sure they were similarly dressed. No matter how much she tried to concentrate on the captors, she couldn't quite get them to come into focus. The visual aberration only served to cement Annette's unshakable feeling that the shadows were still playing tricks on her.

Either way, the Major knew she needed to say something. And she needed to let Central know that the mission had gone sideways.

"You haven't killed us yet." She said, making a show of rubbing her temple so that she could triple-tap her commpiece with her thumb, "So why don't we start with what you want from us?"

An affirmative double-click echoed in her ear.

"Answers."

"You gotta give me questions first."

"Why are you here?"

"Trying to find a place to lay low." Annette shrugged, "Didn't realize that you weirdos had called dibs first."

The stranger didn't respond to Annette's answer, and she wondered if they were glaring underneath the gasmask.

"Do I get a turn at the questions?" Annette jabbed a finger at the cobra, "Because I'm dying to know what the fuck that is, and why you're cooperating with it."

"Speak one more ill word about our Viper sisters, and it will be your last."

Annette still didn't know if these humanoids were allied with the Ethereals, or if the snake things were even part of the alien coalition. It still didn't explain the Harvester signal, though.

"Why are you hunting us?"

Guess it was their turn to ask the question again. Annette just needed to stall long enough for Firebrand to make an entrance.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Major said, "We're armed because this is Grimm territory."

"And yet you fired not even a single shot despite many opportunities to do so. Nor is moving from cover to cover a necessary tactic when fighting mindless beasts. You did not come to hunt the Grimm."

"You're right, we didn't. We came to find a place to lay low, like I said in the first place. Why would we kill Grimm and risk drawing more in if we can avoid it by moving silently?"

"And the squad tactics?"

Might as well be upfront about it. "We picked up some radio signals coming from the ruins when we first got close. Figured we should be prepared in case the signals weren't friendly." Annette gestured around her at the ambush, "Clearly we were overreacting, weren't we?"

The masked figure stared at Annette for a few moments before clicking the radio strapped to the shoulder of the bandolier.

"Send a team to sweep The Hub." The figure muttered, trying to talk in a tone too low for the prisoners to hear, "Somebody forgot to turn the lights off on their way out."

"So you do know what the signal is." Annette said, "Which means you are working with them."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Above us!"

Annette looked up and grinned at the two fireballs hurtling down towards the ruins from the sky. Pink contrails streaked ahead of the fireball and plumed into thick cloud cover at Annette's feet.

"I TOLD YOU NO TRICKS."

Annette dashed out of the smoke just in time for one of the MECs to slam into the street on her right while Nora's hammer rippled the pavement with a resounding smash on her left. The other MEC airdropped onto the building where Ren and Arslan were held captive, and a rose-petalled ball of rage crashed into the captor. Coco leapt off of Gizmo's back and unpacked her gatling gun.

The leading figure stumbled back from Nora's shockwave, and Annette seized the opportunity to shoulder check her foe while Orryn sent a dagger hurtling at MacAuley's jailor. The cobra (or Viper, apparently) reflexively leapt away from the danger and released the XCOM engineer in the process. Several more steel bolts flew out of the shadows as new Vipers joined the fight, but the reinforced armor of the MEC platforms were unfazed by the weaponry.

The first volley of bullets from both sides started to fly when a deep, rumbling hiss rolled across the battlefield. The XCOM operatives stopped firing for a moment to assess the new threat, but the reaction from their aggressors was much more extreme. All of the masked figures, and especially the Vipers, backed up and knelt down with their weapons pointed at the ground.

"Great…" MacAuley groaned, bending down next to Beagle to revive his friend, "Time to meet the Viper King, apparently."

What materialized before them wasn't all that far off from Mac's sarcastic comment. A Viper, far larger and with a more impressive scale pattern than any of the others Annette had seen so far, seemingly coalesced from the shadows of a nearby building and made his way towards Annette and the mysterious stranger. Its posture, while confident and imposing, did not convey any sort of hostility towards Annette as it kept is eyes locked on hers during its approach. The Major backed off from the masked figure, who the Viper helped to its feet. It hissed quietly, and while the noise didn't sound any different to Annette, the figure seemed to understand perfectly.

"Of course, Archon." The figure said, and the Viper stepped (or rather, slithered) back and watched as its lieutenant approached Annette while taking off the mask. As the Major tried to get a better look at the hooded figure, the weathered and hardened look of a woman looked back at her.

"On behalf of our leader, I extend a formal apology."

Annette looked at the outstretched hand, shrugged, and shook it.

"Apology accepted, I guess." She said, noticing that the Viper had not taken his eyes off of her, "But… why?"

The Viper hissed again, and the woman nodded.

"He says that you bear the mark of fate."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Beagle asked, rubbing his neck while MacAuley helped him up to his feet. As the conversation progressed, the rest of the combatants from both sides slowly started to converge on Annette, the Viper, and his translator, "Can you ask your Archon to be a bit less cryptic?"

The Viper shook his head, and the woman continued to speak for him, "Unfortunately not. Although our esteemed leader disagrees with the Ancients on a great many things, he has no choice but to agree with the wisdom that some truths must be learned in the face of adversity." She looked Annette directly in the eye "You will learn what he means in time. For now, you and your kin are invited to take advantage of our hospitality."

A smirk crossed Annette's face. "Does that hospitality extend to our Atlesian Cruiser?"

This afternoon had been a rollercoaster of emotions for Bradford (and XCOM as a whole) so far. From the tentative optimism of finally leaving Patch, to the mild panic when the Central Officer sounded general quarters, to the very real panic when Annette's op started to go sideways. And now they were guests of a strange cult of snakemen and their followers? Never in a million years would Bradford have predicted that plot twist.

While most of his crew was busy securing the Avenger and meeting with the locals, Bradford now found himself travelling into the heart of the Viper's settlement, accompanied by the Archon, his Lieutenant, and a small honorguard of other Vipers. At Bradford's request, the Archon had agreed to allow XCOM's Chief Scientist and Engineer, to join them. Additionally, the 'Viper King' (as MacAuley started to call him) insisted that both Annette and Ruby join the delegation. Bradford already knew that his host saw something special in the Major, but he couldn't get a straight answer as to why the Archon wanted Ruby as well.

Their journey so far took them into the abandoned upper levels of the underground that were soiled with chemicals, Dust, and similar signs of past inhabitants. The mid levels showed the first signs of living residents, with both Vipers and their human counterparts wandering around various corridors as they went about their daily duties.

"Almost reminds you of the Anthill, doesn't it?" Ruby asked. Bradford had to agree.

The lower levels were much more quiet, though Bradford guessed that was likely due to the increased security clearance requirements. The group had to stop more than once to allow the Archon's adjutant to use a retinal scanner or release a biometric lock.

As Vahlen gazed in wonder and took furious notes on their surroundings, Bradford decided he may as well review what he'd learned so far from their guide.

"So let me get this straight," He said to the woman, Elena, who was leading the small group deeper and deeper into the lower levels of the complex, "You've got the gutted remains of an alien ship down here, which the Vipers refer to as their 'birthplace' on this planet. They've live down here, for centuries as they've told you, hidden away from the world, surviving in solitude…"

"Correct." Elena agreed.

"And people like you who wander too close are kidnapped and inducted into this enclave to maintain the secret of their existence?"

While the Archon offered no reaction to Bradford's comment, Elena's unamused side-eye was loud enough for the both of them, "... A crass way of putting it, but not entirely incorrect. Keep in mind that it's not quite as black-and-white as you make it out to be. I was an infant when the ruins above us were the beginnings of a new settlement. The Archon himself saved my life when the Grimm overran Mountain Glenn, He raised me, gave me my name, and taught me how to survive against the harsh realities of a world infested by something as evil as the Grimm. I most assuredly would not be standing here today if not for his providence."

Bradford didn't really have an answer to that. Perhaps he held some intrinsic bias against the Vipers because of their association with the Ethereals (as well as their alien nature). The Archon, he reminded himself, had not only averted a very bloody firefight, but invited XCOM to seek refuge in his home. Could it be an elaborate ambush? Possibly. But Annette confided in Bradford that she couldn't detect any malicious emotions from the Archon, or any of his followers once he made it known that XCOM was welcome in Mountain Glenn.

Vahlen pulled out a small pencil from her pocket and ran it across one of the metal panels along the wall.

"The hardness of this material matches that of the alien alloys, Central." She confirmed, "They are likely not lying about the repurposed Harvester."

"Why would we lie to you?" Elena asked.

Bradford chuckled, "The past hour have raised a lot of questions, miss Dragunova. You'll forgive us for exercising a healthy amount of skepticism."

The party continued their journey until they reached a heavy set of double-doors blocked by what looked like a hard light projector similar to what Beagle's team found on Amity.

"Beyond here lies the greatest of our technology, and our most heavily guarded secrets. The Archon has asked that you be given access as a gesture of goodwill."

"The gesture is certainly appreciated." Doctor Shen answered, nodding directly to the Viper, "I don't doubt that my associate could spend hours studying your technology, if given the opportunity."

This time, the Viper King himself stepped forward to deactivate the barriers. He breathed out gently, and Bradford noticed the frosty air that drifted towards the receiver panel.

A few seconds later, the red light next to the lock switched to green, and the hard light barrier dropped to allow the party forward. Everyone stopped once more in front of the double doors as, again, the Viper King moved forward to provide the proper security clearance. Rather than breathe on the console, however, he lifted up his hand to the panel. Black motes briefly surrounded his palm, and the doors unlocked with a click.

The doors swung inward to reveal a room full of what Bradford recognized as alien technology. While the Central Officer had never really spent time scrutinizing the materiel and salvage brought back from UFO ops, he'd seen enough to recognize the telltale design from their ships and technology.

Flight computers… power sources… fabrication equipment…

"Yeah, Vahlen will definitely be busy for a while." Bradford said. Almost as soon as he said it, the Chief Scientist rushed forward to examine the equipment. Shen followed behind her, albeit at a slower pace. Bradford noticed several doors further in, and he wondered if they led to even more surprises that the Vipers kept secured down here. With the two researchers becoming engrossed with the bounty of tech, Bradford, Annette, and Ruby were left to watch with the Archon and his posse.

"Our technology is yours." Elena said, "The Archon wills it so."

"Kinda raises the question of 'why?' though…" Ruby mused, "I'm not one to spit in the face of good fortune, but I still have to wonder, you know?"

Bradford watched as the Archon moved to stand next to Ruby and reached out with one hand to touch her temple. The gesture wasn't at all violent. Rather, the expression in the Viper King's eyes was one of compassion, and Ruby's face slowly changed to match.

"Okay, you have got to show me how you do that." Ruby mumbled, her eyes still locked with the Viper.

"If you've known the Archon for as long as I have," Elena mused, "You would know that he does not make these gestures lightly. Whatever he sees in you, Major Durand, and your XCOM, it is very important to him that you succeed."

"Just wish we knew why." Bradford commented. He'd already heard Elena's spiel about 'learning the truth through struggle,' though he didn't entirely believe that to be the reason for the Viper's cryptic logic. Still, everything else the Archon had done was incredibly generous, so Bradford wasn't in a position to complain.

"Bradford." Vahlen said, popping her head out from around the corner of a hallway, "A word, if you please."

Ruby and Annette continued chatting with Elena while Bradford excused himself to see what Vahlen had uncovered. His Chief Scientist lead him down the hall and through a doorway until they were staring at one of several alien pod arranged in a row spanning the length of the small room. Bradford remembered reports about pods being used to store abducted humans, so he wasn't exactly sure why Vahlen wanted to show him this one.

"I thought we didn't like these things." He said, furrowing his brow.

Vahlen shook her head. "We don't. Not usually."

"So what's different about this one?"

"It's…" His Chief Scientist struggled to explain, "Well, it appears to be a combination of several alien technologies."

Bradford didn't know if that was good or bad. "How so?"

"I don't recall seeing it in any of the salvage we picked up during the Long War, but this isn't simply an alien stasis pod, Bradford. It has several devices and pieces of hardware that lead me to believe that it also serves as a surgery table. We can ask Elena, but I think that the fluid in there is supposed to be medicinal in nature, to help with the recovery process of an operation."

Now he understood why Vahlen wanted to talk about this. The medical supplies on the Avenger, while decent, paled in comparison to what Vahlen had at her disposal back on Earth. With the technology in here, though, XCOM's medical staff could do a hell of a lot more for the wounded.

A hell of a lot more.

"I haven't fully investigated all of the tech they have in here." Vahlen added, "So I'm certain there is more than just this pod that I could use. It wouldn't surprise me if they still have supplies of Elerium in here, or even Meld."

Meld… the idea of once again having access to resources that they'd lost when the Hyperwave link vanished ignited a spark of hope in Bradford's soul. Assuming that the Archon was willing to share his toys, XCOM's technological capabilities just doubled in less than twenty-four hours.

Bradford worked to keep his voice level and calm, "We need to play our cards right and take this slow, Doctor. From what we've seen so far, these people are happy to share their resources with us, but it'll look a lot better if we allow them to offer their aid instead of having us ask for it. If we show their leadership that we have people in dire need of technology like this…"

"... they will realize that we aren't wasting their gifts." Vahlen agreed, "And I think we both know who the perfect candidate for this will be."

"Alright, so I know that this whole 'Grimm Hunting Expedition' is supposed to be a way for us to build some cohesion between our units, but doesn't that seem a little… easy?"

MacAuley racked the slide on his Gauss Rifle and raised an eyebrow at the Viper slithering on his left. The creature hissed lazily in response, it's eyes still locked on the road ahead.

"She says that you won't be using those on our hunt." one of the Reapers translated, "They are far too noisy for this sort of operation, anyway. If you want to learn how we were able to catch you completely flat-footed in our first encounter, you're going to have to get more familiar with the concept of stealth."

"Kid," Beagle said from MacAuley's right, "I use a fucking rocket launcher."

"Which is going to be replaced with a Boltcaster for today." The young man said, shoving a weird crossbow-looking weapon at MacAuley while taking away his Gauss weapon.

While Beagle was busy grumbling about how Trenchcoat still got to keep his rifle, Mac looked over his new Boltcaster as the road gave way to woods. It was already loaded with a mean-looking rod, and it didn't take an Engineer's eye to see just how much tension was loaded in the weapon's cable system. While the physics behind the weapon was somewhat rudimentary, MacAuley had to acknowledge the craftsmanship that went into it. The Viper leaned over and prodded the tip of the bolt as she hissed, drawing a faint amount of blood as the weapon easily pierced her skin.

MacAuley pulled the weapon away. "Alright, alright. It's potent. Don't need to hurt yourself to make your point."

"The one that knocked me off my feet was pretty blunt." Beagle noted, "Guess I owe you guys a thanks for pulling your punches."

The four of them continued in silence for another couple of minutes, and MacAuley quietly marveled at the lack of sound as they moved. The Reapers had made some modifications to the gear worn by the XCOM operatives before each of the 4-man squads left for their respective missions, and the Engineer had to admit that these guys really did know a thing or five about how to stay hidden. His reverie didn't last much longer, however, once the Viper hissed and the Reaper raised a hand.

"Beowolves ahead. Three of them." He glanced at MacAuley, "You stay with Vessira. Captain, with me. Catch"

The Reaper tossed something to Beagle while MacAuley followed his Viper buddy. She hefted her own Bolt Caster, and the two assassins dropped into a defensive position behind a rotting tree trunk. Apparently she was the one that had attacked him during the ambush, and Elena had decided that pairing them off would be a good way to make amends for the initial hostility.

Vessira tracked the Grimm party with her caster while MacAuley watched the Reaper approach the monsters with Beagle in tow. MacAuley noticed his Captain fumbling with something in his hands, but he couldn't quite make out what.

The Viper nudged him with a quiet hiss, and MacAuley guessed she was probably asking him to ready his weapon, too.

"Alright, alright. Are there any torque settings I should know about on this thing? Or is it an easy point-and-shoot?"

Vessira just stared at him.

"Point-and-shoot." MacAuley sighed, "Got it."

He looked up again to see where their advance party had gone, and panicked for a moment when he couldn't find them. The Viper must have noticed, as she put a hand on MacAuley's arm to get his attention before pointing into the trees. He struggled to see where she was looking for a few seconds before finally making out a pair of blurry, shadowy figures.

"How the fuck do you guys do that?" the Engineer muttered. The question was rhetorical, but Vessira held up her wrist to show a somewhat bulky… bracelet was the only word MacAuley could think of. He'd noticed it earlier, but figured it was some sort of weird decorative thing for the Vipers since they all seemed to have one.

"You're going to have to have your translator buddy expand on that in more detail when he gets back." MacAuley sighed, "And I should probably learn how to speak snek before this war is over."

The Viper lightly smacked MacAuley upside the head before returning her attention to the Beowolves.

"In position." The Reaper whispered into MacAuley's ear a few seconds later, "Fire at will."

The two boltcasters discharged within a fraction of a second of each other, and MacAuley watched as one Beowolf gained a new skull ornament while another found its arm pinned to an oak.

"I'll just pretend that mine was the headshooohhh shit what the fuck?!'

The Beowolves barely had time to recover before the advance team moved in, and MacAuley watched the Reaper jam something mounted on his arm into the throat of the third monster while Beagle followed suit on its pinned brethren and rammed something up into the Beowolf's skull. The Reaper threw his victim to the ground, maintaining the throat stab until the wolf dissolved into thin air.

"Okay, that… that was fucking metal."

The Viper smirked and held out her arm again to reveal the bracelet. MacAuley heard something click, and a pair of parallel blades slid out and locked into place to reveal a wrist-mounted dagger.

"When we get back to base, you definitely have some explaining to do."

Such as 'why are you all women except for the Archon?' and 'why does a reptilian species have mammaries?' But MacAuley decided that asking the knife-wielding Viper would not end well for him, so he opted to save those pressing issues for another time.

Velvet looked around at her three companions as they sat around a small campfire on the cliff's ridge. She was a little sad when Coco asked her to pair up with Fox for the training exercise, but Velvet didn't dare make that sentiment known to her teammate. Fox was a wonderful friend, and she couldn't imagine hurting his feelings just because she would rather be working with her partner. The other two members of their group, a Reaper who called herself Nieve and her Viper companion named Rossal, stared at them from across the fire's glow.

As far as Velvet could tell, Fox was completely unfazed by the notion of sitting in the Grimm-infested wilderness after dark with a pair of strangers While Velvet trusted Annette's conclusion that these Reapers weren't hostile, she still couldn't shake the fear settling in her gut from the present situation.

A fear that, evidently, had not escaped the notice of her hosts.

"Do not shy away from the darkness, little one." Nieve said, "Though the shadows may hide your enemies, it is capable of hiding your allies with equal efficacy."

Right. Velvet recalled an earlier talk with Nieve where she explained that the Reapers draw much of their power from the dark. The woman seemed to enjoy injecting a degree of mysticism in her answers to Velvet's questions, so the huntress wasn't exactly certain what was fact and what was fiction.

"And besides," Fox added, "I thought you could see just fine in the dark."

"It's still spooky…" Velvet mumbled, fully aware of how lame she sounded.

Rossal hissed, and Nieve nodded in agreement at whatever the Viper just said.

"Perhaps a demonstration of the Shadow's Gift will help you understand why you should welcome the dark rather than dread it."

Fox cracked his neck, "It's about time. I was starting to get bored over here."

"Fox!" Velvet whispered, "Don't be rude!"

The Reaper ignored the remark, put her mask on, and pulled a familiar gadget out from one of her pockets. Velvet recognized it as the 'skulljack' device that she used earlier with Fox when the team had gone hunting some Grimm earlier in the day.

"Contrary to what you might think," Nieve started as she strapped the skulljack to her wrist. Her voice had become slightly distorted by the mask, "There was a purpose to our efforts today that go beyond simply thinning the herd. Long ago, the Archon discovered that there is more to the Grimm than mindless monsters that seek to destroy life. There is power in their essence. Power that he learned to extract."

The last joint on the bracelet snapped into place, though Velvet noticed that Nieve didn't extend the blades like before as the dull-green eye lights in her mask remained locked on Fox. "Power that he taught us how to wield."

Before her very eyes, Velvet watched as the Reaper just… evaporated. The young huntress let out a small gasp, looking around fervently for a human-shaped figure, but only catching a glimpse of pale smoke where Nieve once stood. Even Fox looked unnerved by the party trick, prompting him to jump up from his seat at the fire.

"Where'd she go?" He asked, weapon at the ready. After a split-second pause, "And where did she go?!"

It took Velvet a moment to realize what her teammate meant before she noticed that Rossal had vanished as well. She was so caught up with Nieve's disappearance that she didn't even think to keep track of the Viper. She strained her ears for any sign of either of their hosts, but heard nothing.

"Can't you sense them?" Velvet asked, her voice only a few degrees away from a whimper, "You've always been the best at detecting Aura."

Fox shook his head, "Even if they were trying to suppress it to keep themselves hidden, that's never stopped me before. It's like they're not even here."

"Except we-"

"FUCKING HELL!" Velvet had never moved so fast in her life as she did when she heard Nieve's voice drifting behind her from the trees. She didn't know when she summoned the hard light Alloy Cannon from her camera bank, but the shotgun was aimed squarely at the rustling trees before a small voice in the back of Velvet's head reminded her that these were supposed to be allies.

Despite the severity of the situation, Fox couldn't help but to start laughing.

"Oh, Coco's gonna wish she was here for Baby's First F-Bomb." He said, wiping tears from his eyes, "Alright you smug jackasses. You've made your point. Why don't you get back over here so you can show us how to do it."

The hair on the back of Velvet's neck stood on end as she felt a chilling breeze brush past her before she heard Nieve speaking from the other side of the fire pit, "That is not as easy as you might think. From what we understand of Aura, it is the projection of the Soul's Will. This power is drawn from the antithesis of your energy."

The Viper appeared next to her partner and nodded with a hiss. "Rossal recalls a a story from the Archon when he brought a huntsman into the fold and tried to bestow upon him the Gift of Shadow." Nieve took off her mask and sighed, "It did not go well, or so I'm told."

"So what's the point of showing us this?" Velvet asked. Her heart rate had almost returned to normal now, and so the curious part of her brain was once again at the helm.

"Your Central Officer wishes us to be allies, does he not?" Nieve asked, translating for Rossal, "It is important to know the strengths and abilities of those who have your back."

It was a fair point. Still, Velvet couldn't help but be a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to add the shadow magic of these Reapers to her bag of tricks. Given the nature of her weapon and semblance, Velvet prided herself on her flexibility in combat. The more options she had at her disposal, the more useful she became to her team.

Fox knelt down, flipped one of his blades forward, and used it to stoke the fire. "What about XCOM's operatives? Aside from Annette, none of them have an Aura."

Nieve raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You didn't know?" Velvet asked. She noticed that even Rossal looked surprised, "They're not from Remnant apparently. They all have souls, of course, but no Aura. Other than guns, they do have something they call psionics that some of them use. It sounds sort of similar to our Aura, but it's definitely different."

Nieve grew quiet for a minute while her partner hissed in a somber tone. Eventually, the Reaper nodded.

"Perhaps the Archon is still considering how he wishes to proceed with that information. I am certain that your Bradford informed him of the nature of XCOM's operatives. There is little point in flowing that information down to us until a decision has been reached."

"So wait." Fox said, suddenly realizing something, "How are you guys able to use this power? It makes sense for XCOM's operatives to not have an Aura, since they're not from Remnant. But the Reapers are."

Nieve smiled, though Velvet sensed a mild hint of sadness in the expression, "It is an… irreversible choice that all Reapers must make. We still have our souls, but they must be degraded in order to allow us to use the soulless power granted by the Grimm."

"That sounds horrible." Velvet whispered.

The Reaper studied her gauntlet, as if she were contemplating the corrupted power contained within,"It is a necessary evil, as we would not have survived unseen for this long were it not for the Gift. Our faith in the Archon and his vision helps us keep a firm hold on our humanity and prevents us from becoming lost to the darkness."

Putting all their faith in their leader sounded like a cult to Velvet, but she didn't want to judge them prematurely. After all, the Vipers and Reapers kept to themselves and only attacked those that encroached on their land. Rossal and Nieve told them the story earlier in the day of when the White Fang tried to set up shop in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. The Reapers watched from a distance, determined that the invading force was a bunch of incompetent buffoons completely unaware of the existence of the Viper enclave, and elected to simply withdraw to the deeper levels of their compound to wait out the occupation.

A White Fang goon or two would, on one occasion or another, wander too far into the tunnels for their own good, and the Reapers would have no choice but to kidnap them and make their disappearance seem like a Grimm murder. The faunus could never return to the outside world, as the risk was too great of them revealing the Vipers' secret. However, rather than murder the interlopers to be assured of their silence, the Archon made an effort to integrate them into the enclave's society. In Velvet's opinion, the world needed more mercy like that shown by the Archon.

… Looking back on that story for a second time, it still sounded sort of like a cult, but at least this one didn't seem destructive or pervasive like others Velvet had heard about. These guys tried to keep themselves hidden away from society.

"So you wish for us to learn what you are capable of, right?" Velvet asked, "Aside from dissolving into the shadows, what else can you do with the Gift?"

Nieve nodded at Fox, "I believe Alistair has already discovered our ability to hide ourselves in almost every sense of the word. At the same time, very few enemies are able to hide from our sight."

"Isn't that just because of your goggle tech?" Fox asked.

"Rossal and her kind do not wear goggles." Nieve countered, "Our masks offer us night vision, but the Gift gives us… more."

Velvet noticed Rossal staring intently at the low-burning fire while Nieve talked, and wondered what was going through the Viper's head. The Reaper noticed Velvet's attention and paused her explanation. Fox raised an eyebrow, but Velvet quickly caught on to Rossal's intention. It only took a few seconds before the fire's light to dim despite the fact that the flames remained unchanged.

"The darkness is our ally." Nieve explained, "We respect its power, and it offers us shelter in return."

Still… something seemed off to Velvet. "But wait. Rossal isn't wearing one of those bracelet things. How is she able to do that?"

Rossal hissed, and Nieve translated, "She is of the Archon's bloodline, as are all Vipers. His power lies within their veins, latent until he teaches them the Gift. For humans and faunus, the power requires us to use a focus… a crutch."

'For humans and faunus,' she said. Velvet had been trying to covertly determine whether or not the Vipers were an extreme variant of faunus, but Nieve's words all but confirmed her suspicions that they are something else. They certainly didn't smell like any faunus Velvet had ever met, and her visits to Menagerie had given her plenty of opportunity to come into contact with just about every kind that Remnant had to offer.

"So it sounds like your best defense is to not get caught." Fox assessed, "If you end up in an old-fashioned firefight, you don't have Aura to help you shrug off the hits and survive."

Nieve nodded. "Our ability to alpha strike with a coordinated ambush has never let us down, but that's partly because nobody but the Grimm wander this way on a regular basis. Before the White Fang, and before the doomed efforts of Mountain Glenn, the Archon would encounter the occasional wanderers from Vale, but the geography of this area is well-suited to keeping us hidden. If your Bradford is as talented as they say, I should hope that he finds a use for us that plays to our strengths."

"Even if he doesn't do so right away, he is a very flexible commander." Velvet assured her host, "All it would take is for the Archon or one of you to make your case, and I'm sure he will follow your advice."

"If that is the case, then the Archon is wise to trust him." Nieve answered, "But for now… let us continue our hunt so that you can familiarize yourself a little more with how the Reapers operate."

Velvet saw the woman smirk just before the mask clicked into place. "Perhaps you will learn to suppress the urge to scream if you see us dissolve into shadows enough times."

Velvet tried to suppress her embarrassed blush as she and a snickering Fox followed Nieve and Rossal into the woods.

Vahlen stood at the table, waiting with Elena and the Archon for their patient to arrive. She and Bradford agreed to wait a few days before bringing up their idea to the Viper King. Asking to use the surgery equipment would likely be no small favor, so they wanted to allow the relationship between XCOM and the Reapers to solidify some more before mentioning anything. The Archon was gracious, as usual, when Vahlen did get around to making the request. He even offered to accompany Vahlen down to the lab early so that she could have an opportunity to familiarize herself with the equipment before bringing in the patient.

Which is where the good Doctor found herself presently. The trio arrived in the medical bay an hour and a half ago, and Vahlen wasted no time before she got to work looking over all the tools and equipment she would have at her disposal. She had only briefly scanned the room when she first found it with Bradford, so she needed to work quickly and efficiently with the time she had available before showtime.

A lot of the technology was, thankfully, very similar to the salvage XCOM's teams had recovered from downed UFO's back on Earth. As she noted to the Central Officer, however, the hardware standing before her was very clearly a combination of two separate alien artifacts, which was something Vahlen had never seen during the Long War.

"It's ingenious, though…" She muttered as she finished her gross examination of the tech, "Using the stabilizing elements of the stasis tank to ensure the operation sites aren't aggravated during recovery."

Elena watched as Vahlen moved around the device, scribbling notes and playing with the various toggles.

"Our Archon is wise in many things," she said, "But he knows regrettably little about some of the technology we keep locked away in here. We do have need for the restorative properties of this table, upon rare occasions, but our capabilities do not go beyond using the Life Fluid to enhance the natural healing process. What you are describing sounds far more… extreme."

That was unfortunate. Vahlen had hoped that the Archon would be able to help her learn how to use the surgery table. Perhaps it would be best to run an initial 'live' test with the patient inside to learn the basic function of the table that Elena was describing, and perhaps to see what sort of biometrics it was capable of reading. An hour and a half would not be enough time to fully learn the limits of her equipment to perform an extensive surgery.

But Elena's comment about this Life Fluid intrigued her.

"What do you mean by Life Fluid?" Vahlen asked.

The Archon nodded at Elena, who stepped around the table and set to work removing a panel at its base while she explained, "It is a powerful, but unfortunately limited, resource we possess. It is what gives the table its potency, and why we only use it in dire situations."

Vahlen knelt down next to the Reaper to watch as she unhooked hoses and removed even more panelling in order to get to an arm-sized canister locked in place beneath the table.

"The Archon pondered your request at length before granting tentative permission." Elena continued, "He suspects that it will consume a significant amount of the Life Fluid that we have left, which is why he wishes to-" She grunted as she pulled the canister free, "Assess the patient before the operation commences."

The visual of the canister outweighed any opinions she had about the Archon's (admittedly reasonable) demands. While she had already noted multiple differences between the technology on this Harvester and the ones from the Long War…

"That's meld…" She whispered.

She'd recognize that fluid anywhere.

Elena raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the canister with its glowing contents. The Archon, Vahlen noticed, looked impassive as ever. "You're familiar with the Life Fluid?"

The Chief Scientist nodded and stepped forward to get a closer look. She'd have to get some of the substance under a microscope to be absolutely certain, but nothing she'd ever encountered glowed like MELD did. Suddenly, she understood why the Archon was so hesitant to make use of the surgery table.

But if anything had even a remote chance of helping Vahlen's friend? This was it.

Pyrrha idly watched the Vipers and Reapers looking her way as Bradford pushed her wheelchair down the snaking hallways of the underground complex. Neither the human nor the serpentine faces showed any sign of emotion, so Pyrrha couldn't tell if they looked on with pity, curiosity, or any other emotion. Either way, Pyrrha didn't exactly have the energy to do anything more but respond in kind. Even having Jaune walking at her side, his hand on her shoulder, didn't do much to lift her spirits.

She wanted to be excited. She wanted to be optimistic that whatever Doctor Vahlen had discovered was the key to her recovery. But she was terrified that the Chief Scientist might be wrong, and that she would be getting her hopes up only to have them mercilessly dashed.

Still, the fact that she mattered enough to warrant the attention of both Vahlen and Tygan made Pyrrha feel happy. And Bradford's insistence that he push the wheelchair reminded her of Vahlen's story about the Pope. Even when there was likely a million other things that the Central Officer could (and probably should) be doing right now, he decided that she was his number one priority. And no matter how much the darker side of her inner dialogue might try to keep her down, that made Pyrrha happy.

"Y'know," Jaune said, breaking his partner from her thoughts, "This has got me thinking… when was the last time you left the Avenger?"

"Never?" Pyrrha answered. She had been horrified when Jaune once suggested he take her into town while the Avenger was stuck on Patch. The last thing she wanted was for all these strangers to feel sorry for her, to witness the fall of the Invincible Girl.

She knew that the tone of her answer wasn't lost on Jaune, and yet he persisted. "Still, I think outings like this would be a nice change of pace. We could have a picnic in the forest, or I could take you to see the sunset somewhere…"

"That sounds… nice." Pyrrha said. The hallways eventually grew tighter, and the onlookers disappeared. Their Reaper escort let them through one security checkpoint after another, and Jaune continued his stream of banter in an effort to keep Pyrrha's spirits up.

"So I think Bradford is torn between heading to Atlas next to link back up with Weiss's group or heading to Menagerie to help Blake establish an alliance with her parents. We also might need to have a group double-back and check with the operatives we left in Vale. I have no idea how they're doing after the broadcast, so they might be in need of some support."

Pyrrha's response was a little more monotone than she intended. "Lots of things to do, and not enough people to do them."

"You'll be back out there one day, Pyr." Jaune said, and Pyrrha saw him reach down to give her hand a squeeze, "Nothing keeps you down for long. This is no different."

"I've been stuck like this for almost two months, Jaune."

"He's right, you know." Bradford said from behind, "Even if you're resigned to your fate at the moment, it'll be a cold day in hell when Jaune is. When I am. You're getting out of this wheelchair, one way or another."

"I'd listen to the Central Officer," Tygan added, apparently deciding to join in on the pep rally, "He stopped an alien invasion, after all."

"We're here." The Reaper stated. A heavy set of double doors was already opened, and Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at what she saw inside.

"You weren't kidding about the alien tech." She said.

"I wasn't." Bradford agreed.

He wheeled her through the main room, down another corridor, and into a smaller (though very well-lit) entryway. Pyrrha saw Vahlen standing at a strange table with another Reaper and a Viper that the huntress could only assume was the 'Archon' she'd heard so much about. The Viper turned to look at the newcomers and immediately focused on Pyrrha. His gaze was intense, and Pyrrha was sure she would have tried to shift away from it if she wasn't presently a prisoner of her own body.

She watched as the Archon moved across the room until he stood over her chair-bound figure. He looked up (presumably at Bradford standing behind Pyrrha), and hissed quietly.

"He is asking your permission to sense Sergeant Nikos." The Reaper translated.

Annette talked to Pyrrha about this before they came here. Apparently the Archon had done something similar with her, and the Major described it as 'vaguely Psionic, yet not.' The process wasn't painful, though, so Pyrrha didn't really care either way what the Viper wanted out of it.

"He's free to start at any time."

The Archon reached down, and Pyrrha felt a weird sensation almost as soon as he touched her. It didn't feel like he was 'in her head' or anything like that. If anything, it was a more intense version of how she felt when he was staring at her. Pyrrha noted, however, a distinct lack of malicious energy in the 'sensing.' Her skin didn't crawl, and she didn't have a strong desire for the Archon to stop. If anything, the contact felt sort of invigorating, as if the Viper was lending her mental strength, or something of that nature.

But how was that related to sensing her?

The Archon removed his hand, moved back, and nodded.

"He has determined that she is worthy of the Life Fluid." The Reaper explained.

Oh good, Pyrrha passed a test she wasn't even aware she'd been taking. A twinge of annoyance crossed her mind. And yet, given the reverence in the Reaper's voice when she used the term 'Life Fluid,' Pyrrha guessed that part of this operation was going to involve something valuable to the Archon.

Bradford wheeled Pyrrha over to the center of the room, and Jaune helped him hoist her out of the chair and onto the table while Dr. Vahlen watched It only took a few moments before Pyrrha's field of view consisted of the bright overhead light and a gaggle of faces peering down at her.

"This will be a trial run, Sergeant Nikos." Vahlen said, "I want to get a better understanding of this device, and so our host will be demonstrating its basic operation. From there, I will try to get a better grasp of some of its more complex capabilities, but I won't be putting you under the knife until I have more confidence in how the table operates."

"You'll have two of Earth's brightest minds keeping watch over you and working to develop a solution to our problem." Bradford added, and Pyrrha was reminded once more why he was XCOM's Central Officer; his confidence was infectious.

Everyone stepped away from the table so that the doctors could get started. Except for Jaune.

"I'll be here for the whole thing, Pyr." He said, and the smile in his eyes made Pyrrha's heart flutter, "Just remember that, okay?"

"Thank you, Jaune." She muttered as Jaune stepped back, "Thank you, everyone."

Vahlen came back into view with a breather mask, slipped it over Pyrrha's mouth, and asked her to count to ten as the world gently faded to black.

"One… Two… Th-threeee… Ffffoooouuuu….."