"You know," Ember said to Lily Shen, as her team walked the perimeter of the city. "I never really imagined you and I would go together on a mission."

Once they had separated from Menace, Ember had decided to avoid as much unnecessary conflict as possible and seek a point of entry that would leave them as close to the factory as they could possibly be.

As such, they had stuck to the fields and patches of forest that surrounded New Appaloosa on the Western side of the city, keeping an eye out for potential ADVENT troops, but generally speaking feeling much safer than running through the streets from one side of the city to the other.

Lily gave her a slightly amused glance. "What, you expected me to just stay home?" She looked at the city and sighed. "If it were a regular mission I wouldn't hesitate to just let you do it, Ember… but with Julian involved… it became a family matter.

"I have to see that my dad's work is recovered. In many ways, just like myself, Julian is my dad's legacy. I want to make sure to… well, I don't know if he can be saved in any way we know of, but it sounds like he's not an enemy and well, he is aware, you know? In an odd way he's a bit like family."

"Extended family, more like," Ember remarked. "Make sure you stay objective when you meet him though, what's that saying? "Family is like fudge, mostly sweet with a few deranged, psycho-murderer robots."

"I'm fairly certain that's not the actual quote." Lily growled.

Ember laughed it off, and shook her head. "Speaking of legacies, do you remember when we were stuck in the Elpis¹ a few years back, when old-school XCOM was looking for the Avenger's crash site?"

"Yeah, it's hard to forget being cooped up inside a submarine for several years." Lily shuddered at the thought. "My lab in there was tiny! But what about it?"

"Well, this guy." Ember pointed with her thumb at GARBLE. "And this," she added, waving her rifle a little, "None of it would have happened without your dad.

"When… my father went off on that last mission, it was your dad that kept track of my mom and I. Even while he was a prisoner of ADVENT. When he met with us at the docks in Bahia Tortugas and took us with… well, it meant a lot."

"So that's why you were always so eager to go to engineering classes with me?" Lily asked, "I thought it was because we were friends!"

Ember chuckled, punching her on the shoulder. "Of course that had something to do with it, but I really admired your dad, and I really wanted to do him and my own father proud." Ember rested her rifle on her shoulder, looking forward with a smile. "This seemed the best way to honor both of them. Combat and brains."

Lily nodded. "I'm sure you're making your dad proud too."

"Hey, Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Speaking of my father… I wanted to ask you something… you know how Sunny is not really human…"

Lily grimaced. "Well, technically she is. When she arrived in this world, her whole being was turned into a human. Tygan made a very thorough analysis of her blood and dna when it was revealed she wasn't originally from Earth and, surprisingly, found nothing… until he used one of the calibrations that Twilight programmed into the system… then he was able to find some traces of thaumic energy."

"Okay, that was a bit more involved than I needed," Ember grumbled with a good-natured shrug. "And I'm not questioning her humanity… it's just… when we dropped off Twilight, Deadwood and I were talking and, well, it brought back memories."

Lily gave her a curious look. "Oh? What sort of memories?"

"Yeah," the specialist replied. She brushed the tip of her nose with her thumb. "I remembered that the Colonel who attacked the ship was also named Sunset Shimmer. My father told my mom that he was going with her."

Lily's eyes widened. "I see. I'm sorry, Ember… that mission was suicide, but if they hadn't done it, who knows what level of damage the Aliens would have done, or how much more control of the situation they might've had. Tygan and I have theorized that it probably set them back years."

"Yeah." Ember shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to apologize, it's been a long time and I understand it was necessary… hell, I would have gone if I had been asked!" She chuckled. "Besides, I didn't know my father long, but he seemed pretty cool… I heard stories about how good he was in fights from Galahad and some of the other original XCOM crew.

"But anyway, my real question is, it's… not the same Sunset, right? I mean… she didn't go into almost orbit, blow up a titanic alien ship the size of several battlecruisers and then magically re-appeared a few years later… right?"

Lily gave Ember a quick, friendly hug. "I'm afraid not, Ember. This Sunset doesn't just look younger, she is. We haven't figured out the mechanics of everything, but apparently her world has counterparts of us there. Same as there was Sunset Shimmer here, over there they have another Chrysalis, Counselor Luna, Rainbow Dash…"

"I get it," Ember said, shaking her head in amusement. "I wonder if there's a little Ember there who doesn't appreciate her dad."

Lily chuckled. "There probably is."

"Probably knows some dumbass there named Garble too."

"Yes, about that… why exactly Garble? Because "he's a dick" doesn't really cover the actual explanation as to why you would choose that name."

"Well, that's because—"

"This is our entry point," Breaker interrupted, pointing down past the field to where the first buildings of the city started. "According to the maps we have and the information from Sunset's last mission here, we only have a few blocks to go to get to the perimeter of the factory."

"Understood," Ember said, motioning for everyone to stop. "Okay Dragon, here's the deal: Now that the tower has been destroyed by ADVENT, it is very likely that they will have re-established control of most of their MECs.

"We won't stop and ask. We see enemies, we destroy them, we make our way to the factory, and let Lily do her thing. Under no circumstances can Dr. Shen get injured or killed. She's the VIP of the mission, is this understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You do know how to make a girl feel special," Lily said, eyes narrowing, "but I can take care of myself."

The others exchanged glances.

"Remind me, what was it that you did in the ship?" Ember asked.

Lily crossed her arms. "Lead Engineer."

"Exactly, so shut up and follow orders and stay alive, because if you die, I'll have to shoot myself just so I can apologize to your dad in person. And then you will have to apologize to him and my mom for getting us killed in the first place."

Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times. "But… that doesn't make any sense! If you kill yourself to apologize to my dad why do I need to apologize to your mom?"

"Because we're friends. Now, neither of us is dying, so just trust me on this and follow orders, okay, higher-ranking officer Shen?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Coyote glanced at Security, waving at him with a smug smirk on her lips.

Security grumbled, but gave her a pack of cigarettes. "Easy come, easy go, I guess."

Ember sighed. "We really need to do something about the bets."

Lily laughed. "I find it endearing."

"Trust me, it gets old."

Author's Notes:

¹The Elpis: A submarine where Dr. Shen Sr., Lily, and several of the original XCOM members used as center of operations before the events of XCOM 2. (As seen in the novel: "Resurrection".)