#can you imagine... communing with Radiolarian fluid

[sohelish]

Progress

Never had Helena thought that she'd be working with Ada. Not because she disliked the Exo or anything. On the contrary, it seemed that it was Ada-1 who held prejudice against the Guardians.

Frankly, Hel couldn't blame her for thinking so and not trusting the Traveller. What puzzled her was: why would anyone openly express their disdain around the people one was to work with regardless? It only created unnecessary tension and ruined any chance of finding allies.

Had Ada been less emotional and more careful, were she to ask around discreetly, she'd learn that the Guardians were prone to questioning their own way of life.

No, she did not dislike Ada, but she deemed her foolish and short-sighted. Book smart, not street smart at all.

Things have changed, however, now that she had returned with an entirely different attitude. Perhaps it was her legacy that had been weighting the woman down and, since the Forges were lost to the enemy, nothing was ruining Ada's mood anymore.

'That's not the only thing that's changed. She's also---' Hel rummaged through the laboratory looking for something to use as leverage to open a panel. 'Afraid. Subdued.'

'That might be. Still don't see why we are working with that obnoxious lady.'

Izi the ghost had been bothering her guardian about Ada all the way to the frozen Europa and more, along their adventure.

'She pays well.'

'All she does is share information on what we've already found for her.'

'Matter transformation and storage was exactly one the pillars that revolutionised the society back during the Gold Age. Really think looking into that isn't worth our time?'

'I think fighting the Vex is more in our interest.'

Hel glanced at her ghost, amused. There was some mischievous intensity about her. A healthy dose of arrogance seen only in those who knew a lot more than they were leading on.

This gave Izi the ghost pause. The grumpiness - easily forgotten, the drone was trying to put together what it knew and form a bigger picture.

'I don't get it. You think the synthesis can somehow help us fight the Vex? Why? Because... Clovis worked on it?'

'Aha!'

The woman exclaimed happily as she reached for an object that resembled a screwdriver. She then approached the masterfully hidden panel in the wall. Good thing she'd snatched up the schematics and knew exactly where to look.

She didn't say anything back to Izi, though, just peeked over her shoulder and winked, still grinning.

The ghost got nervous if a ghost ever could truly experience such a state of being.

'Say, how much of his project Clovis based on the Vex tech, do you reckon?'

'Don’t know. All of it?'

'You think it's that connected?'

Another pause followed as Helena finally ripped the panel out and revealed an intricate box full of fuses and circuitry.

'Tsk, darn it.'

It was all frozen, however.

Hel squinted, studying the contents.

'Mm, yeah, looks like this is the one Ada asked for. Let's see what we can do.'

The Guardian removed her gloves and started rubbing her hands together while breathing meditatively. She had to do it just right, using enough Light to warm up her hands but not too much so that she didn’t ruin any of the pieces inside the panel.

Having thoroughly concentrated and mentally prepared, she finally placed her hands inside the fuse box, heating and melting away the ice.

It took much effort to do this carefully but eventually, she was done with the procedure. A water puddle has formed at her feet, the pieces became free to remove.

Hel went on to do that, but she also unscrewed a few more parts just in case. Maybe she would need them, or Ada would, or perhaps she'd sell them to the Drifter or Spider.

'You think most of the technological progress was based on the Vex, don't you?'

It was as if Izi's switch was flipped, and it started chattering on again, right where they left off.

'Yeah, something like that, Flashlight.'

Hel suddenly looked and sounded very tired, shoulders slumped, her whole posture was off.

'The Vex are known for many things, time loops included and not only. Do you... Do you ever stop to think that humans become the Vex in the future? With all the connection to the Exos and how comprehensible and comfortable their tech is to you guys?'

'Future. Alternate timeline where the Traveller never arrived. Yeah, I've thought about it a lot, Izi.'

'...oh.'

A sigh.

'I didn't mean to...'

'You never do. Right now, I figure, we should learn as much about the Vex as possible. The more insight we have, the better, and anything to do with Clovis provides good insight, okay? Okay, so let's look around some more. Gather data. Sell it twice - to Ada and the Stranger. Rinse and repeat.'

‘Too bad we can’t ask that giant head of his.’

‘Yeah, at this point, it’s going to lie, whether it actually knows stuff or not, but perhaps one day? Last time I talked to him, I swear he’d warmed up to me already.

A lone narcissist, recognising a fellow lone narcissist...

Hel put the gloves back on and clapped her hands.

Something moved behind the closed doors, and aggressive chattering could be heard.

The woman reached for the gun on her heap.

'Alright. Back to work.'

#here have some 'are humans the Vex?' crazy thought that had passed my mind a few times during my lore exploration #now I feel like writing a drabble of Hel meeting a Vex version of herself lol #can you imagine... communing with Radiolarian fluid? #and finding out that you're a part of the Collective? Brrrrrrrr #anyway....... #fun fact I wrote this piece on my phone. #I'm practicing a new thing. whenever I feel like writing I write even if I'm nowhere near a comp #let's see what comes of it #d2drbbl #helish drabble #wrote the previous one my phone too btw