"Colonel, sir!" Artyom said, instinctively standing up and saluting. He winced slightly as his injured leg and arm suddenly ached from the movement, even under the numbing influence of the pain medication.

Miller nodded, returning the gesture. "At ease, Artyom. I understand that you've recently been through a lot, alongside…" He trailed off, gesturing towards Umbra. He could already see the colonel's eyes pointing towards her, flicking between her weapons and her helmet.

"That's Umbra, sir. She's…well, it's complicated." Artyom answered, glancing at her. While she was still sitting down, she seemed to be taking a close look at Miller as well. Her helmet shifted up and down, as if she was trying to scan him for something.

If Nel's anywhere nearby, it's possible she actually is, Artyom thought.

Miller sighed, shaking his head. "Of course it is. Look…normally, I'd try to give you a few hours to rest but with everything going on, we need as much information about what's happening in the Metro as we can get. We're going to have to debrief immediately."

Artyom grimaced. "Understood, sir. It…it might be a bit difficult to believe, though."

"This entire situation is difficult to believe." Miller growled. "Over half the Red Line's been cut off in just under three days. Whatever these things are, they're an even greater danger than the Dark Ones, and this time we've already used all of the damn missiles!" He spat, beginning to pace across the worn carpeting.

Artyom stayed still, waiting for the colonel to calm down. Throughout the year he'd been a member of the Order, he had only ever seen Miller this furious a handful of times. Even when Khan had occasionally tried to get Miller to work with him on some strange mission, or when Miller had been forced to attend 'discussions' about the riches of D6 with diplomats from the other stations, he had mostly managed to hold his temper.

Right now, though, it looked like he was one disaster away from walking out of the station and trying to fight the Hive on his own.

Well…maybe there's a chance that he'll get calmer once he hears Umbra's story, Artyom hoped. Or at least the part about there being help outside of Moscow.

"At any rate…" Miller muttered, gesturing towards the doorway. "Umbra…could you step outside for a second? I'll talk with you once I've discussed the situation with Artyom."

Artyom quickly glanced towards Umbra, uncertain of how to proceed. From the way she glanced between him and the colonel, it was clear she was just as unsure.

"Sir, that…that might not be the best idea." Artyom said, rubbing his injured arm sheepishly.

"There's a lot we have to talk about." Umbra added, sitting up straighter in her chair. "Seriously, a lot. And I'm not sure either of us is up for that job on our own."

Miller just stared intently at the two of them, somehow managing to frown even deeper than before. After several seconds, the colonel sighed again, leaning over and closing the door to the office. "This is going to be another fucking Khan situation, isn't it?" He groused, leaning against the wall.

"…Worse than that." Artyom said, trying not to remember the last time Khan had tried to gain Miller's cooperation.

If anything, Miller's gaze only seemed to grow more exhausted at that news. "Damn it…let's get it over with, then."

Artyom paused, turning to share a glance with Umbra. "To start…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"Let's get the hard stuff out of the way first." Umbra said, turning towards the far corner of the room. "Hey, Nel? Time to come out."

A moment later, a small shower of sparks appeared besides one of the bookshelves, casting a weak glow over the binders and papers nearby. The glow continued to focus and sharpen as Artyom watched, spinning and spinning as it shrank. After a few seconds, the small form of Nel appeared in the air, floating and spinning quietly.

c-click

Artyom blanched, recognizing the sound instantly as the cocking of a revolver's hammer. He spun around towards Miller, quickly stepping between him and Nel as the colonel raised his weapon.

"Artyom…" Miller growled, his voice filled with suspicion and anger. "What the hell have you brought into Polis?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Umbra shouted, jumping out of her chair. "Look, I can explain. Just put down the gun, and let's talk."

Miller flinched, glancing between Umbra and Nel as he heard the Ghost's translation away from Umbra's helmet. "What…what the fuck…"

"Alright, short version? That's Nel, my Ghost." Umbra quickly said, inching over towards where Artyom was standing. "They're like…well, the closest thing you'd probably know about is a drone. But they're not just that!" She hastily corrected herself, turning to look at Nel. "They're fully sapient and help Guardians out with doing their jobs."

"They can do impossible things, sir." Artyom interjected. "Helpful things, but…so far Nel's brought supplies out of thin air, translated instantly for Umbra…she even brought Umbra back from the dead just over an hour ago, sir!"

Accentuating his point, Umbra slowly raised her arm, leaving her palm facing the ceiling. In another flash of blue sparks, a small medical case suddenly materialized, already slightly opened.

By this point, Miller's expression had transformed from fear to pure incredulity. He simply stood there, pistol pointed at Nel as he desperately tried to make sense of the nonsensical situation before him.

I guess it's better than it could have been, Artyom thought, trying to ignore the revolver that was now aimed at his chest. It seems like he's actually considering what we've said, at least.

"So yeah, like I said, not from around here." Umbra continued. "I'm from a place called the Last City, which is many, many miles from here. That's pretty much the last place on Earth where humanity is still holding out, thanks to the Vanguard and the Traveler."

"The Vanguard, from what I understand, is...well, the closest thing is special forces." Artyom interrupted. "Similar to the Order, but…well, with everyone having access to that kind of gear and help."

"Some have better gear than others, but that's besides the point!" Umbra exclaimed, turning to face Miller directly. "Look. You probably think this is insane, and nothing makes sense. I get it. But these things attacking your stations? We've fought them before. A lot."

At that, Miller's expression shifted slightly. It was still distrustful and suspicious, but underneath it, Artyom could have sworn that Miller seemed almost hopeful.

"You know how to fight them?" He asked in a slightly calmer tone, slowly lowering his revolver. It took everything Artyom had to not sigh in relief at that.

"Not just fight them. We know how to win against them. And we want to help you guys drive them back." Umbra said, gesturing between herself and Nel.

Miller simply stood still for several moments, glancing between the revolver, Nel, and Umbra, as if he were wondering if the gun itself was even real at that point.

"Then explain." Miller finally said, holstering his revolver in a way that seemed incredibly reluctant. "The 'Vanguard', the 'Last City', these monsters…tell me everything."

"I can do that. First, though, I've got something that I should probably let you guys know about. Just…don't pull your gun on me, okay? This is going to be a little weird, but that's really not cool." Umbra said, reaching towards her helmet. Small hisses of air leaked out as she began to undo the straps and clasps.

She's taking off her helmet? Why now? Artyom wondered, observing the process. Is it just because we're safe-

His thoughts were interrupted as, with a small pop, Umbra pulled her helmet off.

What was revealed wasn't human. Instead of flesh or hair, all that was present was sleek, spotless black metal plates, molded in the shape of a head. Small, antenna-like protrusions stuck out from where her ears should have been, almost as if they were supposed to be replacements. Sharp red lights glowed through the cracks, casting her face in an imposing, inhuman light. Underneath the plating, Artyom could make out incredibly complex, bizarre machinery, constantly shifting as Umbra looked between Miller and him with glowing red eyes.

What…what the hell…Artyom thought, unable to bring his thoughts together at the sudden sight of Umbra's face. She'd seemed completely human before, but now…

"I'm Umbra-7. Exo Guardian, Hunter, and temporary Vanguard liaison, at your service." She cheerfully said, sticking out one of her hands.

Artyom couldn't respond. He was too stunned to even move. All he could do was stare at the impossibility that was Umbra's head, trying to make sense of the sudden revelation. Surely she couldn't be a machine! Even for someone who had been brought back from the dead, and summoned a revolver out of fire…

…This whole situation is madness. Artyom thought, feeling somewhat silly as he recalled the other impossible things she had done before. But…there's not much we can do about it at this point.

Glancing over at Miller, Artyom could see that he was just as shocked at Umbra's true appearance. The colonel's jaw hung open, while his eyes remained fixed on Umbra's head. One of his hands was firmly gripped on the handle of his revolver, although, thankfully, it remained in his holster.

Finally, after several seconds of awkward silence, Miller seemed to shake himself out of his shock. Sighing, he lifted his other hand, hesitantly returning Umbra's handshake.

"Colonel Miller. Commander of the Spartan Order, and leader of the security forces in Polis." He said, lowering his arm quickly. "Is the rest of your squad…" He trailed off, gesturing uncertainly at Umbra's head.

"Sly is, but Keira's human." Umbra replied, glancing back towards the door. "You'll be able to verify whatever I say when they show up, and I've already talked with Artyom about most of this stuff. Well, besides the whole 'I'm an Exo' thing." She said, looking back towards Artyom. It was difficult to tell with how alien her face was, but it seemed like she was trying to be apologetic. "Sorry for the sudden shock, but I really need you to believe me for the rest of this conversation, and…well, considering the time period you're used to, I doubt that there's anything like me you're familiar with."

"…I suppose I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt, for the time being." Miller grumbled, reaching inside one of his pockets. He quickly pulled out a small notepad and a pencil, flipping over to a blank page. As he did, Artyom could barely hear Miller mumble "…couldn't be NATO…"

"Alright…well, to begin with…" Umbra went on, beginning to go into detail about the same strange future she had described to Artyom previously. Next to her, Artyom could see Nel hover above her shoulder, spinning slightly as she translated everything that Umbra mentioned.

Moving back towards his cot, Artyom let out a sigh of relief. Although the situation was even more bizarre than he had anticipated, they'd accomplished their goal. Miller could hear what he needed to know, and from there they would be able to figure out how to beat back the Hive.

Laying back down, and letting his head hit the pillow, Artyom finally let sleep claim him. After all, Umbra's explanation would likely take a while, and he had earned this rest.

He would simply get to his part of the debriefing later.

"…And that's just about everything that matters right now." Umbra said. "To sum it up: time-traveling robots brought you guys to the future, you're fighting magic aliens from the moon, and I'm an immortal undead soldier that's been given powers by a friendly giant sphere in the sky."

From Miller's expression, it seemed like he had managed to process all of what she'd said. It looked like he really wished he didn't, with how he kept staring at her with a dead, exhausted look, but he'd at least written down plenty of notes.

…Is this how Zavala feels some days? Umbra wondered, thinking back to some of the Titan Vanguard's expressions during the Tower's busier moments. Miller's expression wasn't quite as unimpressed with her as Zavala's could get, but it was disturbingly close.

Overall, the debriefing definitely went better than it could have gone. Miller had listened to what she'd said, he'd asked some good questions, and it seemed like he might actually act on the information. A big part of that was probably from the shock of seeing an Exo for the first time, but she'd take what she could get at this point.

Granted, there were a lot of ways that the meeting could have gone worse. For a second there, Umbra had legitimately been worried that Miller would shoot at Nel or Artyom. Even if his revolver was ancient-looking, she did not want to see what it could do against something as fragile and important as her Ghost, or as unarmored and fleshy as Artyom's torso.

"This is…this whole situation is ridiculous." Miller grumbled, setting his pile of notes on the nearby desk. "So, according to you, these 'Vex' creatures sent all of Moscow into the future? By centuries?"

"It sounds weird, I get it. But it's still the most likely explanation." Umbra said, choosing to ignore the way Miller scoffed at that. "They've been messing with time travel for…well, a really long time. I'm guessing this whole situation is part of one of their plans."

"And these 'Hive' beasts using magic? Dark rituals to summon the dead?" Miller asked, spitting the words out as if he regretted saying them immediately.

"Well, they don't bring everything back from the dead, thankfully. We'd probably already be dead if they did." Umbra shuddered, imagining how horrifying a tidal-wave of constantly-respawning Thralls trying to attack her would be. "As far as we know, they just use that sort of thing on the bigger, meaner Hive bad guys. And…yeah, they can use magic. Or, at least, what people call magic. They can make barriers and portals, weaken enemies, and give each other powers."

"God damn it…" Miller sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I refuse to believe that they can do all of that. That's just…it sounds like something from a fantasy book! But then, how did they…" He trailed off, muttering under his breath.

"…But what?" Umbra asked, feeling concerned with the colonel's reaction.

"Nothing, just…we've gotten some unusual reports from the northern tunnels recently. From your descriptions, it sounds like it could be one of these 'Wizards' you mentioned." Miller replied, frowning at the creature's name. "I'll send a squad out later to investigate.

"You might want to have someone from my fireteam tag along. Wizards are a lot more dangerous than the usual types you've been facing so far, and I'm not sure how effective your guns will be against them." Umbra said, thinking back to some of the weapons she'd seen as they'd gone through Polis.

I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of guns that were literally made out of bike parts, Umbra thought, somehow resisting the urge to shudder. It's a miracle these people have survived as long as they have.

"I'll take that into consideration, but I'd prefer it if your group kept out of sight for the time being. The situation is delicate here at the moment, and having people see you, or those 'powers' of yours, would cause a panic here."

Umbra shrugged. "Well, you're going to have to tell everyone about us eventually. All we need to do is get out of range of whatever's jamming our comms, and the Vanguard will be on the way to help evacuate you guys."

"And how, exactly, do you expect to get outside of the city?" Miller asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The same way we got here." Umbra replied, crossing her arms. "We'll just fly out in our Dropships."

"You've got aircraft in the city somewhere?" Miller asked incredulously.

You're surprised by that at this point? Seriously? Umbra thought, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Well, more like spacecraft, but they still work in-atmosphere." Umbra said, waving one hand in a so-so motion. "Shouldn't take too long to make our way to where they're parked, and we'll be able to head right back afterwards."

"That…isn't going to be an option anymore." Nel interjected uncertainly, flying in front of Umbra. "While you were talking to Sly and Keira, I…got some new data from their Ghosts."

"…What happened to our ships, Nel?" Umbra asked, feeling a fresh wave of dread rise inside of her.

"They were destroyed. Ripped apart by Ogres." Nel replied, drooping slightly. "Completely smashed to pieces."

"...All of them?" Umbra asked. "I mean, our ship wasn't parked right next to theirs. Could it still be alright?"

"They don't know. However, from what Sly said, it looked like they had a couple of Ogres scouring the entire area. It's...unlikely that your ship survived either." Nel finished.

God fucking damn it, Umbra thought, grimacing. This…this complicates things. A lot.

Sure, their fireteam could probably fight their way outside of the city. Eventually. However, depending on the number of Hive, mutants, and other assorted weird shit that got in their way, that could take a fairly long time. Time that the people here clearly did not have, if she was reading the current situation correctly.

There're already a couple thousand dead or missing from this mess so far, and that's just in the last three days. If we take another day or two to get outside of the jamming signal, who knows how many more will die?

"…On second thought, that may no longer be an option." Umbra said, turning back towards Miller. "You wouldn't happen to know about a quick way out of the city, would you? Because otherwise, things just got a lot worse."

Miller's expression only hardened further as she spoke. "If we did have a way out, we'd already be evacuating the civilians from here to outside of Moscow. All we have are a handful of modified trucks, but with the road conditions and the lack of fuel, they won't make it very far."

Umbra looked down at the floor, rubbing her arms awkwardly. "Then…well, we could still walk out on foot. But…well, then we'd be leaving you guys all alone to deal with these things. Might take a day or two, depending on difficult the terrain is and how many things we need to fight through."

Miller shook his head. "That's assuming you make it out of the city at all. Do you really think you can make it all the way to the outskirts of the city by yourselves?"

"…Probably?" Umbra shrugged. "Mostly depends on the Hive, and…"

A haunting, beautiful red star hangs off in the distance, beckoning for her to come closer.

"…other things we might run into." Umbra said, shivering slightly. "But the mutants and the radiation shouldn't be that big of a deal."

Miller shook his head, mumbling angrily. "Even if you did manage to get back to the city outskirts…this evacuation idea of yours isn't going to work. Nobody here will just follow you off to God-knows-where, just based off of some promises on your part."

"Why not? I mean, this place is literally falling apart, and the Last City isn't currently being taken over by aliens." Umbra asked, gesturing to the rest of the office they were in. While it was certainly in much better condition than some of the abandoned tunnels she had seen before, the room was clearly not in the best state, with small cracks spreading all across the concrete walls.

Miller seemed to ignore that. "A city that nobody here has ever heard of, described by a person nobody has ever seen or heard of before. Sure, you may be a machine that we could never build, and can do…whatever the fuck it is you and that drone of yours," Miller said, pointing towards Nel, "can do, but that won't make people trust you."

"Okay, first off, we'd both appreciate it if you could just say 'Exo' and 'Ghost' instead of that other stuff. Those other terms are just belittling." Umbra said, glaring at Miller. "Second, we could just show them more stuff from the future. I mean, I showed you what I am, and you seem to trust me."

Miller shook his head. "I don't trust you. I believe that you came from outside of Moscow, and that you have some experience with these 'Hive' creatures. Beyond that, the only reason I have to listen to you is Artyom's testimony, and he's been too optimistic for his own good before."

"Then why the hell did you even listen to anything I had to say?"

"Because some of your testimony about these creatures matches up to what we've seen so far. We'll have to verify the rest ourselves." Miller said, picking up his notes from the desk. "I'm trying to keep an open mind about the rest, but I'm not going to do anything that puts the rest of Moscow at risk."

"Then help us find a way out of the city!" Umbra exclaimed. "Hell, we don't even have to evacuate everyone! Not first, at least! We can just get some supplies and reinforcements here, and send a few of you guys back to make sure everything's fine!"

"That sounds more reasonable…" Miller trailed off, moving towards the door. "Regardless…we can't do anything at the moment about that. Unless the rest of your squad has come up with some way to contact your Vanguard, we have more important things to worry about."

Son of a bitch. All of that, and what? We're just stuck here while more of these people die? Umbra thought sullenly, clenching her fists in frustration. Fuck the Hive, and fuck this place.

Reaching for the door handle, Miller paused, glancing back towards Umbra. After a second, he sighed softly. "Look…I'll do what I can to see if I can find some way to help you out. We don't have anything, but it's possible that Hansa or the Red Line might have a better option."

Umbra blinked. "Wait, but didn't you just say-"

"I still don't trust you. Not fully. But you're right about the Metro falling to pieces. If it's a choice between guaranteed annihilation and possible annihilation…there's really only one option." He shrugged, opening the door and walking outside. "All I ask of you is to keep all of this private, and to keep the rest of your squad close when they arrive. Otherwise…just keep Artyom company for now. I'll talk with him later."

With that, he shut the door, leaving Umbra, Nel, and a sleeping Artyom alone once more. The sudden silence felt unnatural, after all of the previous anger, frustration, and gun-waving.

"That was a little…" Umbra said, struggling to find the right word.

"Uncomfortable? Bizarre?" Nel offered, moving back above her shoulder.

"Anticlimactic, I think." Umbra said, walking back towards her chair. Sure, they'd managed to alert the locals as to what was really going on, and Sly and Keira were nearby…

But what had they really accomplished? They were still stuck in this city, the Hive were still right at the gates, and they were no closer to finding a way to help out these people. All they had done was give these people a little more of a fighting chance, and even that wouldn't help them out forever.

Worst comes to worst, we can just run out to the outskirts on foot. Either that, or march into the Hive's tunnels and clear them out ourselves. Umbra thought, sitting back down. There are still options, but…why can't any of them be good options?

She groaned, closing her eyes. Hell, even with everything else going on, Artyom had managed to fall asleep nearby. Following his lead didn't really seem so bad at the moment.

Maybe a few minutes of rest would help her think.

This took a lot longer than I'd have liked, but I got kinda carried away with finals. Sorry for the delay!

Also, big thanks to Maldevinine for beta-ing this chapter!