Their Condor Wings II

It's been a long few weeks.

After the encounter with the Carcass, we entered ARC headquarters without much further hassle. I'd describe it, but I don't want to give any more information on it than necessary. Suffice it to say that most of it is underground, the majority of it being an innocuous-looking building on the surface (which is a bit of an unintentional double meaning). I'm not sure what's going to happen to Clara and Caledon in the future, but currently, ARC is taking care of them and watching the latter closely.

As we left, we were ambushed by Puppets. They'd trailed us, I guess. Before they could attack us, they disappeared in a dark cloud. A figure stepped out, surrounded by birds.

"You have to be kidding me," Eric muttered.
"Unfortunately, no," said the Nest. "But look on the bright side, I got rid of those Puppets for you." He smiled, but it quickly turned to a grimace. "The name's Giles. Giles Grimholt."
"That sounds made-up," Eric noted.
"It does, doesn't it? But it's not. It's my real name. Real as a name can get, anyways. ...Ah, I sound like Kaden, that crazy weirdo. I just wish I got the chance to talk to him one last time after he went the Mountebank route. I think he's dead now, you know," he said, shaking his head. "Tried to save you two and Clara."
"Kaden? You mean the man who called himself Asher Lyall and saved us from the Puppets underground?"
"Aye, that's right. Kaden Crowley, if you can believe it. Well," he said, taking a drag from a cigarette, "even though I don't much like the idea of you letting my Kaden run off to die, we don't have to fight. See, I want something you have."
"And what's that?"
"Freedom. Freedom from the Convocation, and more to the point, safety from what they'd do to me if I abandoned them. As you may have guessed, I'm a Nest. However, they usually just flock around near me, so theoretically it should be possible to keep them away from me. I think maybe it's because they don't like the smell of cigarette gunk and alcohol.
"So here's the deal I'm offering: I join you. You don't turn me in to ARC and you don't let the Convocation get me, and I protect you from whatever other threats you might face, and I don't fight you."
"Because making a Faustian bargain worked out so well for us the last time," Eric said, crossing his arms.
"Oh, it could've worked out much worse, my friend. You could've died." Giles laughed.

A few moments passed in silence. I finally spoke:
"Alright."
Both turned to look at me. It was the first I'd said since this conversation had started. Giles started to laugh. "Who're you supposed to be, again?"
"I'm, uh, Poe."
"You want to tell me who you really are, or should I name myself after a dead goth too?" Giles asked, raising an eyebrow.
"H—."
"H—! Always liked that name. Well, alright, then, H— and Eric. We're friends now?"
"Allies," Eric corrected.
"Friends are just allies you like. Close enough, I'd say."
With that, we set out, accompanied by our new ally. We've had spotty Internet, so I haven't been able to post anything much. Sorry about that.

And don't even ask about the fact that this guy works for the things that killed Addie. Believe me, I've thought about it. But he clearly doesn't want to work for them. The only thing stronger than my hatred for those things is my fear of the possibility of becoming a bad person.

- Poe