Mercy hops down from her perch to talk with Polyta on even ground, though her stature and her iron frame diminish the symbolic value of the gesture. Polyta returns an awkward greeting, unsure of what to make of the reappearance and of the blade angel now lazily staring at her.

—Polyta—
Mercy!?
I thought you had stayed behind to battle your own foes.

  Major Mercy
I would have sent word if I could.

A reunion? How touching.
Hahehahahaaa...

—Helen—
You two know each other?

—Polyta—
Yes, yes we do.
This is Major Nao Mercy. She is the woman who provided us with our new armaments.

  Major Mercy
I made my way here through one of those rifts.
Figured you would need my help. Looks like you did.

T'was not an easy path to tread.
Even unbound, the way is cruel...

  Major Mercy
Please ignore that thing.
I don't know how to get them to stop talking.

Ahehehahaa...

Coral finishes applying her potion to the Manfish and lets him go off into the woods. Hands are free now, head is clear. She devotes her full attention now to side-eyeing Mercy and Polyta's conversation.

—Polyta—
That must have been a difficult journey, I know firsthand how treacherous it is.
You must be weary.

  Major Mercy
No.

—Polyta—
On behalf of Hollidae, I would be glad to offer you safe haven on our isl--
No??

  Major Mercy
I didn't come all this way just to sit and rot, Polyta.
You have enemies here. I am a dangerous woman.

Mercy places her busted claw to her chest and kneels in a show of allegiance. This wigs Polyta the hell out.

  Major Mercy
Give me the word, and they die.

—Polyta—
I-- I see!
That is... very generous of you.
Are you... sure you don't want to take time to recuperate? Get your bearings--?

  Major Mercy
My mind is already made.
It's time to act.
Point me where I need to be and I will rain down hellfire until nothing remains.

Hehahaha... "hellfire", she says
How little you know of it!
The things I could teach you...

—Polyta—
Again, Mercy, very kind of you, but--

Coral slides into the conversation with all her usual charm.

Coral
* We need to save you for just the right moment!!

  Major Mercy
What?

Coral
* You know! Element of surprise!

—Polyta—
...Yes, that's right!
As great a boon as your strength is, Mercy, it will be wasted if not applied wisely.
We have plans for a... coordinated strike, at, some point...

Coral
* Really depends on what the bad guys do, we're keeping agile.

—Polyta—
...Yes, and any early confrontation risks giving them time to prepare.

Coral
* So!
* What we need you to do is find a nice and quiet hideaway to bunker down for awhile -- y'know, just totally disappear -- and then when the time is right we'll get in touch!

  Major Mercy
...

—Polyta—
If you need somewhere safe, my offer remains. We have room for you on the island.




Mercy hands out a communicator.

  Major Mercy
Take this.

Call me when it's time.





Without another word she turns and trudges back into the woods. The angel hanging out of her suit gives one forlorn look back.
























The girls sit around in the clearing, cooling off after an intense encounter -- Nix excepted; she keeps pacing back and forth across the muddy, clumpy soil.

—Polyta—
I do appreciate your assistance with that, Coral.

Coral
* Aw, it's no worries. I picked up on the subtext.

—Helen—
Wait, what subtext? Huh?

Coral
* You know, that we don't wanna work with the the gun lady.

We don't!?

—Helen—
Why not??

—Polyta—
Mercy is not... reliable.
If we ask her to kill, then yes, she'll carry out the task expertly.
But if we ever need her to not kill -- and that day will come -- that will be a problem.

That's stupid.

Why would we ever need that.
Our goal is to destroy our enemies.

—Polyta—
The goal of a war is to end it.
To do that, we must become enough of a drain on Proteus's resources that whatever he has to gain from attacking us is outweighed by the cost.
But our ultimate aim is still to cease open hostilities.
Mercy may not permit that outcome. We'll be stuck fighting until our last.

Coral
* Plus, you know, if this mission goes well we might not need to do any of that!
* Can you imagine, getting her started right before peace is declared?
* Let's please let the fighting end here...

...

We're making a mistake.
He's going to use this "parley" to ambush us.

—Helen—
No he won't. Not his style.
Proteus'll respect the talks. He's a jerk, but he's got his honor.

You don't know that!!

—Polyta—
Nix!!
We are executing the objective we've agreed upon.
If you believe the risk is too great, you may return to the island, but we cannot change course this late.

...You don't get it.

Nix walks off in a huff.

None of you get it.

Coral
* Hey, Nix...

—Polyta—
Give her space. This is all very new to her.
She'll understand with time.



She notices Mercy's communicator poking out of Coral's bag.


—Polyta—
For now, we need to prepare.