Ileyna pursed her lips for a moment, and the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening. As they walked, out, she spoke up again. "I could do that with the rest of the pieces then," she said, matter-of-factly.

Matt looked at her. "No you can't. You gotta have the Essence inside you."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," R.D. said, looking on as Ileyna planted her hands on her hips and pouted. "Ileyna's shown far more control over the Essence than any of us. She was born with it, after all."

R.D. had a point. "Well, we could TRY, I guess."

Matt pulled out the pendant containing all the Omega Essence, and carefully laid it in Ileyna's little hands. "Just be careful, okay?"

Ileyna took the pendant into her hands, and she carefully turned around and began walking when the others did so, lest the elevator close with them still in it.

Closing her hands around it, Ileyna closed her eyes for a brief moment, and let the power of the Essence within her wash over her. Instantly, the aura of blue light enveloped her form, creating wings of light from her back and a halo around her beret. Symbols of Omega alighted within the Ao-Gem and on her forehead.

After a moment, her eyes snapped open. Her lips parted, and she began spouting off a stream of information. "Vortigaunts. Practitioners of the Vortessence. Enslaved race of creatures from the dimensional border world of Xen. Masters of antlion husbandry and manipulations of the excretions of larval extract. Freed upon the destruction of the Nihilanth, during the Black Mesa Incident. Capable of stealing life-giving energies through channeled electrical current..."

It went on for several more minutes before Ileyna realized she was rambling. The power around her cut off in an instant, and she sheepishly handed the pendant back to Matt. With a blush and a nervous giggle, she scratched the back of her head.

"Guess she's got you beat with the Core Search," R.D. remarked.

Matt made a 'pfft' noise. "Whatever. As long as I can blow stuff up, I'm good."

Alasea giggled. "Yeah, that sounds like you all right."

They arrived at the hangers. "Well, time to go find Helena," R.D. said.

Unsurprisingly, Helena was engaged in active conversation with one of the Vortigaunts. As they got closer, Matt heard the slow, serious Vortigaunt speaking English-sounded like they were discussing their favorite foods.

Helena glanced to the side and noticed the group approach. "Hey, everyone."

"And so the bearers of the shattered core reunite," the Vortigaunt said in a surprisingly strong, human-sounding voice. It clasped its two main hands together beneath its head as it spoke, almost as if in some surreal greeting.

"... so, made a new friend?" R.D. asked, sparing a glance for the Vortigaunt.

"Yeah," Helena said. "This is..." She turned towards the Vortigaunt. "Actually, I don't think I ever got your name."

The alien shook its head. "We are all connected by the great All-in-One. Names are unneeded."

"... right."

Alasea seemed piqued enough to ask a question of the being. "Hey, um, how come you called us that?" she asked. "The... 'bearers of the shattered core'?"

"There is no distances between us," it answered. "No false veils of time, where space must intervene. We see you still at the Sanctuary; clearly we see you in the Infinite Chamber."

Alasea blinked, unsure of what to make of that, and turned back to R.D.. He looked shocked, realizing what the strange words of the alien meant: these Vortigaunts had seen what occurred at the Eternal Sanctuary.

"Really," Hugo said, glancing up at Matt, who said nothing.

The Vortigaunt merely bowed its head in confirmation.

"Well, Helena, we needed to come pick you up," Alasea said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "The download's supposed to finish in the next couple of hours and father said we need to get ready to evacuate when it finishes."

"Oh." Helena ran her hand over the back of her neck. "Well, I was going to do some training later, but I guess I can call it off."

"Do you think you learned a lot?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I learned some new things that could really help me out."

"I'll go let the dragons know," R.D. volunteered, walking off towards the open hanger doors to find one.

"Well, I'm glad you're able to control your power now, Helena," Alasea said in the meantime. "I knew we would find a way to help you with it."

"Well..."

That was always a good sign. "Well, what?" Matt asked.

"I'm still not perfect," Helena said. "I'm better, but I don't think I'll really get a grip on controlling it until I practice some more."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be there to help you with it." Alasea gave the other girl a reassuring smile.

Minutes later, R.D. returned. "They understand the situation," he said, looking over at Helena. "They just said to keep up with the exercises they taught you and you should be fine."

"It is time for you to return to your tasks," the Vortigaunt said to them. "The Patrick Dagenais waits."

Ileyna forgot to mention how wacky these Vortigaunts sounded. Ah, well. Human speak probably sounded weird to the aliens as well. "All right," Matt said. "It was good meeting you."

Once more, the Vortigaunt clasped its hands together and bowed its head. "Be adequate," it said in parting. What an unusual creature.

They quickly departed to head back to Central Command. As they walked, the three girls of the group talked amiably amongst one another while R.D. and Matt hung back for a bit, along with Hugo.

"That was pretty surprising," R.D. said, speaking low so not to disturb the girls. "With the Vortigaunt knowing what happened at the Sanctuary, I mean."

Matt was walking with his head craned foward again, hands in pockets like he wanted everyone to know he had places to be. "The question is how the hell they knew about that."

"That's what I want to know too," R.D. said. "We can ask Ileyna later. Or maybe we can ask one of the Vortigaunts later about how they knew."

"We should've just asked the one back there," Matt said. "Who knows when we'll see them again."

"Then go ask him real quick," Hugo said.

"Right." Now Matt raised his voice to address the group. "Y'all stay here a moment, I gotta go ask that Vortigaunt something." He turned and ran back towards the hangar.

"What was that about?" Alasea asked after a moment.

Back in the hanger, the Vortigaunt had returned to its task, which seemed to be supplying power to electronic components of some sort. One of his hands was raised, and tines of greenish-blue electricity was arcing out of it and into the machinery.

Abruptly, the stream of energy cut off as Matt approached, and the Vortigaunt turned towards him.

"Hey, that was a pretty neat trick." No, wait-he had a question. "Listen...I was wondering how you knew about the Eternal Sanctuary."

"We are all connected to the Great All-in-One. Everything is laid bare among Vortikind," the Vortigaunt revealed in its cryptic manner. "And with the Extract, we see much. It dissolves the false veils that divide the Vortessence, and we see. We saw you and your kind enter the Infinite Chamber and set in motion the shattering of the Core. We bore witness as you and the Rising Dragon take arms against one another, while the pieces were scattered across the Multiverse."

"Hold on," Matt said. "If you could see what happened there...do you know where the pieces ended up?"

The alien shook its head. "Finding the scattered shards of the Core is a task you and your friends alone must bear," it said.

Well, they never said it would be easy. "Right, that's all I need to know." Matt leaned in, raised a hand to his mouth. "And, uh...if you don't mind, don't spread around what happened at the Sanctuary, all right?"

"All Vortigaunts know of the feats of the Matt Willard," said the Vortigaunt. "But we shall keep your secret close if that is what you desire."

"Thanks," Matt said. With a quick wave, he ran back out of the hangar to rejoin the group.