Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He gripped the bleeding wound, after all he and his squad had been through, the hardships, the sorrow, the death and struggle, Max had always kept them together, so why...

Why did they leave him?

The pain from the wound in his right shoulder was intense, it would not be fading anytime soon, he shuffled into a nearby building for shelter, “Damnit...” he still remember the look his friend Steve Moore gave him, a look that said “This is necessary” like he was an expendable piece, a pawn in a game of chess, he leaned against a wall and then slowly slid down it, his rifle was still slung over his left arm and pistol still safely tucked in its holster, when he heard a loud hiss, he just closed his eyes knowing that ‘ This is it, I’m gonna die’ instead a the hissing was distinctly one of pain,

Standing up Max set his rifle down and pulled out his pistol, checking the surrounding area and checking the rooms, when he found one the hissing was coming from, the last thing he’d expect when opening it was to see a beat up Viper with a slash across its chest. It looked at him with crimson eyes, its slitted pupils narrowed and then expanded, “You’re here to kill me?” the voice came out with a pained raspy tone, but clearly distinguished as female, Max was taken aback by that, his bandana not hiding the look of shock his eyes showed,

“You talk?” he questioned, it let out a hiss that sounded sort of like a laugh, “Oh course I talk, I may not be human but I have learned your tongue”, Max lowered his sidearm, “Any particular reason your beat up and hiding in a closet?” he raised an eyebrow to show his interest, the Viper nodded, “Your squad leader with the ax-“ “Steve” he interrupted “-Steve, as you call him...slashed me across my chest, why are you not with him human?” the snake like mouth had a sort of smirk after she questioned him,

”Left behind, don’t know why, but they left me for dead...” he said a tone of sadness deep in his voice, “I too, was left behind, they deemed me not worth saving in the heat of battle and left me”, Max’s eyes softened, “My names Max Kenan, or you may address me by my code name, Cloaker, yours is...?” She stared at for a good few moments, “I do not have one”, Max was a taken aback again by this statement, “Why not?” He inquired, “We are soldiers. Bred for war, do names are a meaningless thing”, she states, “Well I’m not gonna call you Snake or scaly so give me something to call you by!” He said, his voice raising slightly, the reptilian like alien was silent, before answering, “Salin, I do not wish to associate with the idea of names, but if we are to speak with one another it would be a good idea to do so”

He nodded, “So...truce? Y’know since were both injured we’ll die on our own, and your definitely gonna die without me, since I have a medkit” he used his left hand to gesture to the wound across her chest, “That isn’t gonna just go away”, she nodded, Max pulled out his medkit and walked over to her, “This may sting”, Max said as he sprayed it over the wound which closed it with a light blue scab like materiel, “Your arm,” she said pointing to it, “Why didn’t you use it on yourself?” Max shrugged but immediately regretted it when a sharp pain overtook his shoulder, he tried to spray his wound to see if he could get any out, a small spurt came out that managed to barely cover the wound, not fixing the problem or pain, but stopping the bleeding.

She got up and slithered close to Max and checked his shoulder, “ADVENT Mag rifle?”, she asked, Max let out a half hearted chuckle “Yup, nailed me in the shoulder, I’ll give them credit, I wasn’t expecting it”, her tongue flicked out of her mouth for a moment. He walked out of the small room and sat down near his rifle, Salin slithered nearby, “Were traitors aren’t we?” she asked himself and her, she went wide eyed and and had a deer in headlights look, “W-Well...” she began her thought, Max answered it, “We are both helping and allying ourselves with a member of our enemies, there’s no going back to our faction without dying”, she hisses and but nods,

Salin’s hood was nearly flat against her neck, “I should’ve just let myself die!”, Max looked at her “Come on, you can kill me right know if you wanted to, yeah I might get a shot or two off with my pistol but I’d die, how’re you gonna explain our medkit closing up your wound? There’s no point, were in this together. And why would you want to go back you were left behind!” he exclaimed, his eyes expressive of his emotions, Salin seemed to sadden at the last part, some part of him didn’t like that so he tried to comfort her in some way. Max got up and rested his left hand on her shoulder, she looked at him upon noticing the gesture, “L-Listen, I apologize for what I said, but we really are in this together, and from I can tell your control chips been damaged, so your free”, her face spoke leagues of her confusion at the last part, “Wait, you don’t know? The Elders planted chips that resonate with their psionic power in all of you, not just Vipers like you, but Sectoids and ADVENT soldiers”,

”You mean I’ve been controlled?” She asked hood flaring, he nodded as she held her head in disbelief, “Where do I go? I have nowhere and I doubt other humans will be as nice you are”, her tough ‘I hate humans personality’ was fading, Max smirked, “Not so hateful towards me or my kind anymore? You definitely have a different tone now”, she hissed at him getting in Max’s face, “I still don’t trust you! But...” her angry face softened, “I do not hate you”,

Max smiled at that, so at least he wouldn’t be alone during this endeavor. “Friends?” He asked, his response was a laugh like hiss, and then Salin replied with “We are merely in the same position, reluctant allies not ‘friends’” he seemed disappointed but was understanding, Max noticed how banged up Salin’s armor was “Your armor is gonna weigh you down,” he said causing her to look at him, “It’ll hardly give any protection so I’d recommend you take it off”, Max seemingly regretted it because he had forgotten that Vipers were female for a moment, he whipped around so she could take it off and his eyes landed on a black jacket, grabbing it with his left hand he held it behind him, “Since I’d feel uncomfortable with you being naked...actually do you even understand that concept? Wait, wait that was rude, never mind, u-uh, just wear this!” He yelled clearly embarrassed about what he was saying, he got no answer, only the jacket being gripped and taken away from his grasp,

Salin slid the jacket the on and admired his soft the inside was, deciding that humans at least made their clothing comfortable, she had no need for it but understanding her partners uncomfortableness she put it on, it was black most likely leather, it was button up  with soft snow white fur lining the inside, with a slightly puffy edge to the sleeves and the neck hole, she buttoned it up, and spoke out “I don’t understand why you humans are so against seeing me ‘naked’ as you put it, is it something about my body?” Max turned around, and just stared, for a uncomfortable amount of time he just stared in silence, then he broke it, “You realize that you look similar to a female woman right? You probably have a different use for them being an alien, the ‘orbs’ on your chest? We call them tits or breasts and generally seeing naked ones makes men like me embarrassed”, she took a moment to process what he said before replying, “So you get sexually aroused from seeing ‘breasts’?”, she quizzed, curious on how humans feel and act, he nodded,

”It’s hard to explain, we need to be aroused to reproduce, is the simplest way to put it, think if it as if we were in heat, like an animal, but we choose when...most of the time” he looked off to the side for a moment, “So I chalk it up as the human body finding new ways to get ready to reproduce”, he sighed and dragged a hand across his face, “L-Listen, I don’t feel comfortable talking about this right now” he said sliding down the wall

She understood why he was uncomfortable, she slithered around trying to find her rifle, she remembered dropping it while getting to cover but she doesn’t know where.

Max got up and looked out the window, spotting a abandoned factory in the distance, “I think we should go there,” jabbing his thumb in the direction of the window, Salin slithered over to it, “Why?” She questioned, Max her dead in eyes, “Why do you think? Both of us will need a place to stay, especially in our current situation, you understand?” Salin nodded, “Yup, grab what supplies you can from this place, then we head out, it seems to be roughy a mile away” she nodded once more than slithered off to find what she could, grabbing a nearby bag. Max looked at the ground, “What a situation you got yourself into Max...” he muttered, he heard a hiss that sounded a like a laugh when he muttered that, “How the fuck did you hear me?” Salin shrugged grabbing a few cans from someone’s not-so-well-hidden stash of food,

The unusual duo had just made it to the factory, upon entering they realized it was actually decently heated, and had plenty of space, but the two also realized that there was a problem, “We have no bedding” Max said with a facepalm, “I don’t suppose you are able to just curl up like a snake and just lay on the floo-“ a tail wrapped around his neck and squeezed, “Do not compare me to a Earth snake understand?” Max frantically shook his head up and down, she hissed and let go of the snipers neck, he immediately rubbed it, “O-Ok,” he said while taking deep breath’s, “Don’t call you a snake...noted”, her ‘eyebrows’ if you call them that were slanted in an angry expression as her tongue flicked through the air a couple times, “I can, do what your reptiles can, but it is far from comfortable” she stated still seething with anger,

”I get it! You don’t want to be compared to our snakes on earth! Now then, there are some crates around the place, we should look through them for something w-“ “I” she interrupted “You could use to sleep on”, he started to break open some of the crates, they seemed to only hold some mundane things, car parts, wood, bricks, some electrical parts, clearly seeing how the car parts seemed to be for gas powered engines these were pre-war car parts, this factory had to be nearly 20 years old, “Find anything Salin?” she slithered over, “No. You?” Max shook his head, “Not yet, there’s still  a few left though”, he walked over to another a opened it, “Hey I found something big enough that you can lay on it, you might need to curl up a bit” she hissed angrily, “I am not that large!” Max looked her up and down, “Yeah, maybe not width wide but your 7ft tall like that, if I you were to wall straight against the floor, pretty sure you’d be nearly 13ft long” she seemed to act a bit embarrassed at that but he didn’t know why,

”H-Hey, sorry if I hurt your feelings, but do you mind helping me at least lift this out of this crate before you kill me? My shoulders still jacked up” She slithered over and easily lifted it out throwing dropping it on the ground, “I wont kill you human”, Max sighed, “I’m pretty sure I told you my name, Max?” She let out another one of her hiss like laughs, “I know, I just think your reactions are funny”, she stated, her mouth lifting into a grin, he groaned pulling a sleeping bag out of his back pack, “So I’m a joke to you?” She looked at him, “In a manner of speaking yes Max, you are.” He then pulled out a portable cooker, mostly just a tiny portable pot and a small plasma fire base you hung it over, “Still hit those cans?” He asked

The canned food seemed to be tuna of some sort, or whatever shit ADVENT labels as tuna nowadays, Max made sure it was done before pulling down his bandana revealing a deep face scar, Salin seemed taken a snack for a moment before quickly regaining her composure, “How’d you get that?” She questioned pointing at his face, “Hot in a fight with a Muton, during the invasion so the bigger versions”, she nodded “The old blood Mutons?” He chuckled, “Old blood? This some kind of fairy tale? Eh, whatever, well long and short of it, he swung, I dodged the best I could, managed to hit me here, then I killed him, that’s it” she wanted to hear the full story but she was getting hungry. Max poured a bit of it into an empty can, then just gave Salin the pot, “I’m just going to assume you have a higher metabolism then is ‘humans’” he said emphasizing the word human with air quotations,

Surprising him greatly, she lifted the pot and just poured it down her throat, at first Max was just shocked but quickly remembered that Vipers seemingly have similarities to earth snakes, so not having a gag reflex probably helped with that, he just quietly ate his food. Salin then hit Max with a question he didn’t really have an answer to’ “Why didn’t you kill me?” he kept the food in his mouth for a moment before swallowing setting the can down, “I...don’t know, maybe because you were abandoned like me, maybe it’s because you were wounded and unarmed, I don’t really know” he answered, the Viper kept quiet for a moment, he went to pick up his can when he heard her reply, “You’re an idiot, you would’ve died” he stared at her, getting a bit pissed off at the insult, but she stopped him before he managed to snap back his own insult”

”But I’d be dead if it was for your idiotic kindness...thank you Max”, he was silent for a split second before smiling, “Don’t mention it”, she looked puzzled “Why not? Why shouldn’t I?”, “It’s a figure of speech Salin, it’s a version of your welcome, I swear if all the things I said THAT’S what you don’t understand?” she shrugged, “Your human sayings are still strange to me, that’s all”, she informed the former Xcom agent, “Well that’s understandable”, he said, I think we should probably sleep soon, I’ve lost my appetite”, he said pushing the can away, “Can I have it?” She asked, he looked at her before shrugging a gesturing towards the can, she are the contents of the can like she did the contents of the pot, “Well I could tell you were hungry”,

”I still am, maybe I should eat you” he looked afraid and raised his hands in a defensive and non-threatening way, “I’m joking, I believe that’s what you call it”, he breathed a sigh of relief, “Alright I’m tired, goodnight” he said crawling into his sleeping bag, “Sleep well Max” Salin said slithering over to the mattress they had found, and layer down, Max hoped things would turn out better tomorrow as he dozed off

Chapter Text

It had been roughly two weeks since Max and Salin had joined together. They’d manage to scavenge a a lot from the nearby town and now the old factory was now a reasonably well fortified location now. They’d even scrounged up a radio and gotten a lot of pre-invasion books from a basement.

And during that time their relationship gradually improved. They were no longer reluctant allies, and more so jolly cooperators, you could say.

Currently Max was listening to the Radio while looking over a map, looking for a new location for them to scavenge. Salin nearby was reading a book she appeared very interested in. They had zero knowledge of what happened after their unfortunate abandonment.

That is, until the Radio channel Max was listening to was interrupted.

“We apologize for interrupting your music dear listeners, but we must do so as we have an important interview we recommend you listen to,” Max rolls his eyes as he reaches to change the Radio frequency when he hears the man say something angering.

“Said interview includes Colonel. Steve Moore” Max turns off the digital map and set it down, both angered and confused as to why his “friend” was on the Radio being interviewed by what he assumed was ADVENT.

“Thank you for having me.” Max gets Salin to pay attention by tapping on her book, drawing her attention to the radio.

“We’d like you to answer some questions about the war, that’s all.” Steve was quick to reply, “No worries, what would you like to know?”

Max listened carefully.

“First, is it true Xcom is currently in the process of hunting down Aliens that survived the fall of ADVENT?”

Salin put a piece of paper in the page she was on and shut the book, focusing her whole attention on the radio now.

“Did he say the fall of ADVENT?!” She exclaims, Max nods in reply.

“Partially true, we are mostly taking them prisoner until we can be sure they aren’t ALL hostile. If they surrender peacefully we simply capture them, question and then release them to city 31. If they fight back we kill them.”

There’s the faint sound of a pencil against paper,

“Next question: Do you feel anything killing an Alien? This one is highly requested by my superiors for some reason.”

Moore, almost the second the n in reason is done answers, “Not a thing for those monsters” the sound of writing returns. Max is furious and looks over at Salin she’s seems uncomfortable.

“Final question: You ever left one of your squad mates behind?” Steve takes a long moment to answer, “As long as their still alive we’d never leave one of behind. However in the case of the Brother in Arms, Max Kenan, he was dead when we went for EVAC was unable to recover his bod-“ Max turns the Radio over before he can finish.

He slumps down into his chair. ‘So I was right he didn’t give a shit about me’, he stands up and attempts to walk out of the room, however Salin places a hand on his shoulder.

“Max…are you ok?” Such a dumb question, of course he was, his ex-best fucking friend just said he was dead when they went for EVAC, just to save face. He shrugged out of her grip.

“I’m fine”

“Max-“ Max whips around and stares at Salin with pure fury, “I’m fucking fine Salin!” His anger quickly turns to shame upon seeing the Vipers hurt expression.

“Ok…” she says turning away to slither back to her book, but he grabs her forearm, and she looks at him

“I’m sorry…” he begins “Its just…m-my best friend just said I was dead, with no h-hurt in his voice whatsoever! I know I shouldn’t have yelled at you…after all, y-your all I have left…” she stood there a look of shock on her face, however it transitioned to the closest thing to a smile she could give.

“I forgive you Max” he breathed a sigh of relief, he let go of Salin’s forearm and sat back in his chair. His Viper friend slithered over to the Radio and switch it back on, the interview seemingly hadn’t completely ended,

“Thank you for having me here today, and if you want to ask me anymore questions I’ll be in City 36-”, she then shut back off upon hearing that.

Max seemingly didn’t care all that much until Salin brought up an idea, “If you hate him so much now, at least that’s what I assume…why don’t you go and give him a piece of your mind” Max lulls the idea over in his head, “But we’d have to leave this place…and I’ve started to grow fond of it.” Salin rolled her eyes

“We can always return” she mentions, he nods, “…He said City 36 right?” He asked smirking, she nods. He pulls out the digital map and searches for City 36 coordinates. He’s so thankful Xcom regularly updates it’s database.

“It will roughly be a 8 day Journey there by foot, it also says Aliens are welcome. Which is strange-y’know this whole thing is strange, the wars over and now not one but two Cities are accepting of their enemies?” Salin shrugs.

He sighs and starts packing up all their gear, Salin help pack up supplies and such.

“Oh remember how I said by foot?” She nods, “Follow me, Salin” carrying their items and gear they head down to the second level, where Max pressed a button on the wall and a gate raised up. Revealing a pre-invasion truck.

“When did you fix this Max?!” She says surprised. He replies, “Over the past couple weeks, by vehicle we should be there in about 2 days. And not worry we have extra gas.” They set their gear in the backseat before both enter however Salin notices he’s holding something. “What’s in your hand”

He chuckles, “Gift for you.” He says handing her a Revolver. “I used to carry it around as a good luck charm. But as your friend I feel as though you might need it but more than me.” He states starting the Truck as a gate to the outside opens.

“Thank you Max”

He smiles, “Don’t mention it. Now then,” he says starting to drive, “Let’s go give this bastard of a friend some well deserved justice”

As they drive down the road, Max’s map guiding them. Salin really starts to reflect on how he feels. Despite the fact he could kill her easily, despite the fact that he’s a human. She can’t help but feel charmed by his personality, and she starts to realize her feelings are hard to register. She attempts to distract herself by grabbed her unfinished book from the backseat, and proceeded to keep reading.

She wonders if the ending will be good or bad? Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

“Fucking shit! Back off!” Max opens fire with his Beam Pistol on the skittering creature, missing all but one barely affecting shot. He runs into a room and shuts the door, sliding the hefty steel deadbolt. He slumps against the door, even though the Alien is slamming against it with all its might the door is thick and heavy enough to not give.

He pulls out a walkie talkie, “S-Salin, this is Max, there’s multiple Chrysalids in the basement! Do not come down here!” the banging of the Alien grows quieter as Salin replies,

“And you just expect me to leave you down there?” In all honesty he does, they’ve only known each other for a few days at maximum, he’s certain she’ll just abandon him to save herself.

“If I’m gonna be 100% truthful, kinda. It’d be better if you left, save your own skin instead of risking yourself for me.” Silence is all he gets as a response. The Chrysalid has left by now, but he’s still paranoid. Hand gripped tightly on his sidearm.

One minute. One minute after his conversation with Salin ended is when he heard the first shot, the telltale and oh so recognizable sound of a plasma weapon firing. Specifically, a Viper’s.

“That crazy bitch actually came for me? Is she trying to get herself killed?!” he whisper yells to himself, he holsters his pistol and takes his Plasma Lance, Sarketa, from his back. He reloads, unlocks the deadbolt and slowly opens it, he sees nothing on the left side of the hallway, but see’s and hears plasma coming from the right. He rushes over, just in time to see Salin getting pinned to the wall by a Chrysalid.

He raises Sarketa, and fires, blowing half of the insect like alien’s head apart. Salin pushes it over, picking up her rifle, her eyes are wide but her unique smile is plastered across her reptilian lips.

“Thank you, Max” she says sincerely. He nods, her expression turns worrying, “Look out!”

He barely has a moment to react before a Chrysalid punches on top of him. Of its legs piercing right through his left arm, he screams in pain. Fortunately for him though, and unfortunately for the Chrysalid, Salin was quick to react. She whipped her tail end around the Chrysalid’s neck before throwing it off Max, she then charged up her rifle and blew a steaming hole through its chest.

She slithers over, “Are you ok Max? Shit, it stabbed you. Chrysalid poison is very much letha-“ he raises a hand with a chuckle, his bandana hiding his amused and pained expression. Hearing a viper cuss is always funny but he needs to ease her worrying.

“R-Relax, befire I was left behind, I got a few viles of this,” he says pulling a small vile, with a lime green liquid in it, “Antidotes to mos-fuck!...most Alien poisons, including Chrysalids.” He says before lowering his bandana and drinking the vile. He gags, ‘Still tastes like shit’ he thinks.

“So you’ll be fine? I’m so thankful…” he raises an eyebrow,

“I’m sorry, did I miss the part where you liked me? I thought we were ‘reluctant allies’?” She seems to get flustered slithering away.

“I-It wouldn’t feel right knowing you died after saving me, with me being unable to return the f-favor…” she explains shyly. He nods, “Alright, makes sense, anyway how about we just get the supplies from this place and leave?” Salin let’s out a happy hiss and looks at Max  fondly.

‘Maybe,’ she thinks ‘We really can be friends.’

Max awakens, after dreaming of the time Salin saved him from those demented crabs. They had parked for the night both tired, and decided to sleep, the sound of rain hitting the car was calming in such a nice way, reminding of his childhood. He looks in the backseat where Salin was resting, a soft smile spreading across his face. His companions sleeping form was curled up slightly, her chest slowly rising and falling as she made these adorable hissing sounds, her tongue periodically flicking out of her mouth.

He simply found it cute, but he wouldn’t say he was attracted to her. At least he didn’t register he was. Dreaming about that moment gave him some doubts. Nothing major however, so he brushed it off, content to look out the window into the rain. He then wondered, could aliens dream? If so, he wonders what Salin is dreaming about right now.

It had been almost a week since she was saved by, and in return saved, Max. Ever since then she had started to feel awkward around him, she started…’feeling’ things around him, things she couldn’t explain.

In an attempt to take her mind off things, she tried to find something to do, which unfortunately was difficult to do since nothing interested her. Drawing was fun, until it got frustrating that all her pictures looked like something a child would draw. Solitaire was one of the most boring things she’d ever done. So she was forced to feel these weird feelings without a way to distract herself. Until she found a book, she’d seen them before but they were mostly informative or textbooks, manuals and the like.

But this was different, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, when she questioned Max about it he explained that it’s a fantasy novel, or a fictional story. Curious she began to read it while they were scavenging. Upsettingly she had already finished it when they got back. So she fell to sleep in a sad mood. However when she awoke, there was a large stack of books right next to her, surprised she went to question Max.

Slithering up to the second floor, she quietly snuck up behind him. He was listening to the radio while cleaning his weapon Sarketa. “Max,” she began,

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me like that Salin!” he says with a smile on his face, “What’s up?”

She gave him a sly smile, “Did you get me a bunch of those books I like while I was asleep?” he pulls his bandana up to hide the blush forming.

“Yeah…saw how upset you were after you finished the book and had nothing to do…so I went back down to that town, and grabbed as man as I could find, pretty sure I got all of the series you were reading.”

She was taken aback, he had down something like that just because she was upset? Especially for someone he barely knew? She needed to say something about it.

“Max, after the Chrysalid incident we agreed to stick together from now on, incase something happened like that again. Yet you went against that to get me books,”

He appeared upset that she was complaining but his mood rose again soon after she said,

“And I’m very thankful for it. Thank you very much Max.” She said with a fond smile before slithering downstairs to read. While Max contently smiled.

Salin awoke only about ten minutes after Max, she woke to the gentle and peaceful sound of water tapping against the trucks roof. It made her feel calm and safe. Max meanwhile was still gazing out into the wilderness as it was fed with rain from above. He didn’t even notice Salin slither to the passenger seen, “Max,”  she quietly said to get his attention.

He flinched I’m surprise but turned around, his bandana resting around his neck instead of over his mouth and nose, like usual. “Good morning sleepy head.” He replied with a smirk.

‘Again, that annoying warmth inside of my chest, what is it?’ she was growing aggravated with how mystery this feeling was but still remained calm. Max breaks the silence, “Hey wanna do something’ fun?” Salin nods. Max then opens the truck door and steps outside, walking around. Salin was confused but quickly followed him, shutting his door because he forgot to close it.

“Why are we out here Max?” she questions. He turns to her and shrugs,

“Just wanted to take in the surroundings, it’s been awhile since I’ve looked at a view like this and NOT be perched with my rifle. It’s refreshing” Salin looks over the cliff they parked on. And it was certainly…breathtaking. A cloudy, rainy atmosphere with trees as far as one can see, it was truly beautiful, in a melancholy way.

Max and Salin just stand there, the rain dampening their clothes, yet did not do the same for their mood. They were content to just look at the view. Until they heard several ADVENT Mag rifles charge up. A voice shouted them,

“Raise your hands in the air, and turn around!”

The two obliged, turning to see 6 ADVENT troopers that looked…different, mostly white, had som fur on their armor, and strangely spoke English. Hell one wasn’t even wearing a helmet.

“Good, now follow us”

Max saw Salin looking down at her waist at the pistol, and Max shook his head, a way to signal her not to. The sniper clears his throat, “While I won’t resist as I’m in no position, what about me and my partners belongings? Inside of our vehicle.”

The one without a helmet waved a hand, “Don’t worry, I’m leaving a few of my troops here to keep a watch on them, they won’t go anywhere. Now, follow us. I will not ask again.”

This time they obeyed and followed.

The walk was only about 10 minutes. They had arrived at a series of old buildings Max deduced was the ADVENT troopers base. They led them into a smaller building and were brought into a room.

Only the helmetless, and a large heavily armored trooper remained with them as they entered a room with a few chairs.

“Please take a seat, I simply wish to talk.”

The duo were skeptical, yet obeyed. Well Max did, Salina simply curled up her tail a bit. The armored trooper stood while the helmetless one sat down, he cleared his throat and with a gravely voice, spoke,

“I’ll introduce myself, I am a former ADVENT Officer, designation code J23A7X, however I prefer the name Jax. I am a member of the Skirmishers, a group whose goal was once to take down, and sabotage ADVENT, and rescue our controlled brothers and sisters. Our current goal is to find all our remaining brothers and sisters who have been freed from the control of the Elders. The tall brute beside me is WA1192, but we call him Wall. That cover most of your questions?” He finished with a smirk.

Max and Salin look over at each other and the back at Jax, “Mostly, yeah,” Max began, “But that doesn’t exactly cover why you apprehended us. Care to explain that?” Max resquested, leaning his head against the palm of his hand.

Jack nods, “Of course, I will answer your questions before I ask any. It’s only fair. After you introduce yourself.”

Max groaned, “Fine. I’m Max Kenan, former Colonel and sniper of the Xcom rebellion. The one beside me is Salin, a Viper, whose also my partner and ally.”

Jax pulls out a clipboard and pen and writes something down, “Thank you. Now then the reason of you apprehension is simple: your former affiliation. Despite our clear messages, Xcom still regarded us as ADVENT and shot at us. We had thought you were a scouting agent and were going to shoot you, given the insignia on your left shoulder,” he pointed at, causing Max to look in disgust. He ripped the patch off and through it to ground, which Jax chuckled at. ‘An ADVENT officer laughing? Now I’ve seen it all.’ Max thought before Jax continued,

“However, your friends appearance caught us off guard, so we decided to instead bring you here for questioning. Glad we did, shooting an innocent man would have been a terrible mistake.” He concluded with a tap of his pen against the clipboard.

Max laughed, “That means you’ve saved my ass twice Salin! Thanks!” he exclaimed with an upbeat tone, Salin let out a laugh as well, “Then now we’re tied, Max.”. Jax watched the exchange with a small smile. However he felt the need to interrupt, “Alright, I hate to ruin just a nice moment, I believe I should start questioning you now. Mind telling me what you were doing at that cliff face?”

Max smirked thought his Canadians hid it, “Sure. We were taking a break to admire the view before continuing on our path to City 36.” Jax’s pen wrote something before a looked Max in the eyes.

“What’s your business there?” he asked with a serious tone,

Max grimaced, not wanting to talk about Steve, yet not really having a choice, “I’m going to get revenge there.”

Jax raised a brow, “Revenge? Against whom?”

Max grit his teeth, “Xcom Colonel Steve Moore. My former best friend, who looked at me before leaving me behind to die. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind, but if you’re against me killing him, I’ll tell you I don’t plan to. I have a better way.” Max finished with a sinister yet sorrowful tone.

Jax shrugged, “It isn’t my place to judge. If he did what you said he did, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting revenge.” he stated with his gravely voice, “But my last question is…why are you allied with a Viper? There aren’t the first alien I’d pick to work with.”

Max narrowed his eyes in offense, “Salin isn’t just a viper, she’s my friend. And you know what? She should answer this one.” He say looking over at his partner who nods her head in response,

“When Max was left behind, my squad also left me behind due to my injuries, deeming me unworthy of saving. Max showed me kindness, and saved my life. After that we worked together to survive, he also informed me of the damage to my Psionic chip. The realization of me being controlled…took some time to settle in…” she said looking down at the ground.

Jax nods writing more down, “I’d like for you to tell me about that experience. Perhaps yours may make helping my brothers and sisters reactions easier to calm.” His voice was filled with both sincerity and a pleading tone.

Salin sat still, silent, for several moments. “…It was after the first night after Max and I’s allying….”

Salin awoke, at first wondering where she was, before slowly remembering her situation. She turned her head to see the sleep form of the human-no, Max, that saved her from a slow, agonizing death. She sat…or more accurately slithered, up, and moved around the warehouse, thinking about a lot of different things.

Like what would happen after Xcoms defeat? Would ADVENT track her down? Would they even defeat Xcom at all? Would the resistance succeed? But most of all…she thought of how her whole life was controlled.

Unknown to her, the Elders had controlled her. Used her as a tool to fight their wars. One hand came up to rub her hood, which was starting to flare at the thought. Max’s explanation had been such a shock that she couldn’t even fully register it.

Her other hand grabbed the jacket she wore and tugged on it, trying to help relieve some stress. She slowly came to a stop and lowered her self against a wall. Both her hands now lay on her lap.

Her whole life had been controlled. Her whole existence was only as a tool. And now…she’s what? Free? Let go of the shackles of the Elders? It’s so strange…yet somehow relieving. But shock remains. It was all so draining still. Eventually, slowly she raises herself again, before slithering back to mattress Max found for her. She lay back down on and stared at Max. She wouldn’t be experience any of this had it not been for him…and she’s thankful.

“And that’s how it went down to my recollection. I hope that helps you.” she says, sighing, exhausted after explaining such a draining part of her life. Max reached over and pats her shoulder, giving her some comfort. Her lips tug up into a smile.

Jax clears his throat to gain their attention, “Yes, you helped quite a bit, actually. Now nothing is particularly wrong, and I understand how your relationship came to be.” Max feels a warmth in his face at the word relationship. Jax continues, “You’ve both explained yourself well enough, and I will permit you both to leave…” they both raise from their resting positions, “However!” they’re both caught off guard but his sudden exclamation, “I would like to ask for your assistance.”

The alien, human duo look at each other and then back to Jax, “With what?” Salin asks. Jax scratches the back of his head,

“Well…a group of Xcom operatives have set up base not too far from here, and we’re worried they shall discover our location soon enough…I’d like to request your assistance with dealing with them. Seeing as you, Max, are a former Xcom operative, you could prove extremely useful. If you help us the Skirmishers will be in your debt, and you will not be without a reward.”

Max and Salin share another glance, before Max speaks up, “Would you leave the room, so we can discuss it?” he requests, he doesn’t expect the Skirmisher officer to comply, but they surprise him. “Of course, you need to think it over. Me and Wall will be outside the room. Just come to us once you’ve made a decision.”

He says being taking the clipboard and Wall with him out of the room.

They wait for the door to shut before speaking,

“Max, this isn’t a good idea-“ Max interrupts, “I know! But having a group of free thinking ADVENT on our side could be beneficial! Think about how it could bring the public against Xcom, that they’re killing things with humanity, and not possibly hostile aliens!”

Salin’s eyes narrow, “Yes, but consider the risks for once! We’d be attacking an Xcom base! We have no idea how many are there, and o certainly know they won’t be friendly towards me or the Skirmishers!” she takes one of Max’s hands in hers, “Let’s just go and do our original plan! That way there’s no risks involved.”

Max looks down at his embraced hand. He squeezes hers, “But think about it Salin…we’d be leaving them to their fate. If they’re discovered there’s almost no chance they’ll survive a direct fight with Xcom! If we help them here, they’ll be indebted to us, and most of all…” he says wrapping his other hand around the hand wrapped around his, which creates a warm feeling in both, “…We’d be leaving them behind.”

Salin’s eyed widen, before softening. “I-…I hate to admit it, but you are correct.” Max smiles, and his brows raise in joy, “So we got our answer?” Salin nods with a smile. “Yes.”

They both let go of each other’s hands and then walk to the door opening it. Jax, Wall, and few other Skirmishers stand waiting, “I take it you’ve come to an answer?” Jax questions. They duo exchange a knowing look and then look back nodding. And say in unison,

“We’ll help you take care of them.”