RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[BMPixy]

Alright, let’s hope these RTOs work properly. Three, two, one. On the mental signal I phased back into existence and sent a boot out at the door, sending it slamming open. I barreled forward, seeing the man- African-American, two or three centimeters on me, a bit more muscled- spin around, a gun raised with his other hand reaching to turn off the safety. The first shot went wide, impacting the wall to my right, and a grin popped up on my face. Doesn’t this guy know? The safest place to be in a breach is the first one in. As he aimed for the second shot I jumped forward, tackling him against the bank of monitors in front of him, the pistol discharging a second time into the roof.

As if swimming through molasses, the gun swung down to pistol whip me, but I pushed myself back, letting him hit nothing but air. I grabbed the limb he was swinging with and pulled it forward, rocketing my other fist, the one carrying the Arc Thrower, into his face. The two met halfway through their arcs, and the man recoiled back, his nose broken by the blow. Pressing my advantage, I spun around behind him, still holding on to his gun arm, and swept his legs from underneath him, forcing him to his knees. With a twist of his arm the man cried in pain, his arm dislocated and the pistol out of his grasp. A boot to his back sent him face first onto the floor, and I leveled the Arc Thrower, letting loose the bolt of electricity, which knocked the man out.

I took a quick look through the security camera feeds, and nodded in satisfaction at seeing no other presences on the monitors. Now how to deal with this guy...

As I took those few breaths to calm myself down, I pulled the phone out of my pocket, flipping it open. I opened up the contacts, selected the only name on there, and hit the call button. By the time the phone was picked up, time had resumed it’s normal pace.

“Foulke, what is it?” my contact asked, concern evident in her voice.

“EXALT’s buggered out of here,” I said, leaning against a wall. “Nothing left except the security guard I tazed. By the way, I’m gonna need the van out back, need to move the body to somewhere we can interrogate him.”

“What makes you think that he knows anything?”

“Well, aside from the fact that when I breached he came out shooting, I figure that EXALT would need security to work for them, so that he doesn’t go spilling the beans.”

“Right, I’ll bring the van over. I have a safe house about twenty minutes away, we can toss him in the back for the ride over.”

“Alright, I’ll be waiting out back,” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear and hanging up. “Now for you...” I added, voicing my thoughts.

I pocketed the phone as I stepped over to the unconscious man, grabbing him and lifting him onto my shoulder. I staggered a bit under the man’s weight- what is he, a hundred kilos?-, but did not buckle. Under the burdensome weight, I slowly made my way out of the storage room, and slid out of the back entrance. A minute or two passed as I waited outside, until the familiar rumble of the van’s engine pulled around the corner and up to my position, whereupon it stopped.

I slid around the back of the vehicle, a difficult task in the cramped alley, and popped open the rear door. Sarita glanced backwards, and shook her head slowly at the sight of me tossing the security’s guard’s unconscious body into the back of the vehicle.

“You’ll have to ride in the backseat, just to make sure he doesn’t try anything,” she said, to which I replied with a shrug, complying with her request.

The ride was silent, the only sound coming from the rolling of tires upon road and the gentle rumble of the engine as Sarita navigated the clustered city streets. Finally, after an agonizing silence, the van slowed down in front of a small, slightly rundown house. With a tap on one of the many devices on the visor, the garage door slid open, and the Mexican slid the vehicle into the opening, the door closing behind her as she did so.

As Sarita got out of the driver’s seat, I slid out of my seat and around back, fumbling around in the dark to get the handle on the door. With a flick a pair of dim fluorescent lights turned on, providing some illumination to the garage. I hauled the captive out of the back of the vehicle, and Sarita led me into the house, down some steps, and into a sparse basement, with only a closet, a chair, and a bench covered in power tools decorating the room.

“Prop him up in the chair, I’ll scrounge up some bindings,” Quintana said, walking over to the closet.

“Not the first time you’ve done this here,” I stated, laying the unconscious body on the chair, which I noted was bolted to the floor.

“Yeah, used to do some shady stuff for the FBI back in the day, then when they let me go I started doing it freelance,” Sarita replied, returning from her supply trip carrying three pairs of handcuffs and a ball-gag. “Now I’m doing it for XCOM, and the pay’s a hell of a lot better.”

“Anything you need help with?” I offered, extending a hand.

She quickly filled that hand with two sets of cuffs. “Yeah, secure his legs to the chair, one cuff per leg. I’ll get his arms and mouth.” I crouched down and got to work, cuffing him to the chair’s legs. “Jesus Cristo...” she muttered, “Did ya really have to dislocate his shoulder?”

“Well, considering that was his gun arm, I felt I had to,” I replied, securing his other leg.

“Right, just remind me to never get in a fight with you without a gun and ten meters between us,” Sarita said. “Ugh, I’ll have to get a rag to stop the bleeding, don’t want him to bleed out over night,” she added.

“Yeah, almost got shot twice for this guy, better get some solid intel out of him,” I commented, standing as the agent finished securing the ball gag on him.

“Just head out to the van, I’ll meet you out there once I clean up this pendejo,” she replied, waving a hand to dismiss me. I obliged, and made my way back out to the vehicle, climbing in the passenger seat.

God, I hope this guy knows something, or else we’re fucked.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day Six”
Somewhere in Compton, Los Angeles
California, United States of America
1021 Local Time
Albert Foulke

Down the stairs we went, faces covered. A glance confirmed that yes, our hostage was still there, and from the frantic looks he gave between us and the power tools, he was scared out of his mind. I guess EXALT didn’t recruit him for his willpower, which is good for us. I cracked my knuckles ominously, and his eyes widened even further, as I now saw was possible.

As Sarita and I reached the bottom of the staircase, I took up a position a couple paces away, while she stepped over to the captive and removed the ball gag. I leaned up against the wall, arms crossed, as the man’s sweat built up on his forehead as he gasped for air, able to breathe easier now.

As the man seemed to regain some measure of his composure, Sarita pulled a suppressed pistol from under her coat and aimed it at the man’s testicles. “Scream and you’ll be doing it a couple octaves higher,” she threatened, and the security guard nodded in compliance, and any sense of safety he regained was quickly lost. She lowered the pistol, and stepped off to the side. As discussed, she would be doing bad cop, I would be doing seemingly good but actually just as bad cop.

“So, you got a name?” she asked, almost casually, as if this were some man she met at a bar.

“What?” he said, confused by the sudden change of tone.

“You got a problem listening? I asked if you had a name, or if I would have to simply refer to you as ‘motherfucker’? ‘Cause honestly, as fun as it is to call someone motherfucker once or twice, after a while it gets to be of a mouthful.” She paused and glanced up at me, adding, “You agree with me, Al?”

I paused, momentarily considering her statement, before nodding. Now was not my time to speak. Sarita turned back to the motherfucker, and continued, saying, “See, even he agrees with me. So, if you would be so inclined, would you tell me your name?”

“Z-zeke,” he stuttered. “My name is Zeke.”

“Hmm, Zeke. Short for Ezekiel, I might assume?” Sarita asked, stepping around in front of Zeke again. “Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the Bible. You ever see Pulp Fiction, Zeke?”

“Y-yes, I have,” he replied, the stutter in his voice growing. Is she going to...?

“Then I’m sure you know of this particular verse, from the book you were named after.” Sarita stood to her full height, and rubbed her chin in thought. “I believe it goes, ‘The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.’ Sound familiar, Zeke?”

“Y-ye-yes, i-it does,” he replied, closing his eyes and rocking as much as he could with the limited mobility granted by his bindings.

“So, I bet you’re wondering what that verse has to do with anything, eh?” She said, crouching down to eye level with Zeke. “It actually is an accurate summary of the situation you find yourself in. I bet EXALT fed you lies about how XCOM is a bunch of xeno sympathizers and that they’re the ones trying to save the world, in essence, that they are the righteous men.” Sarita chuckled slightly. “How wrong they were. If they were the righteous men, then why is the Lord laying his vengeance upon you? If you were the shepherd, the one leading the weak through the valley of darkness and death, why are you the subject of our anger?”

“B-because t-those in service to G-God mu-must suffer before b-b-being brought into the k-kingdom of h-h-heaven?” he offered pathetically.

Suddenly the Mexican was in the African-American’s face, yelling, “No, you dipshit! It’s because you are the evil men, the selfish, the Judas! XCOM is out there, trying to save the world, and meanwhile all you fuck-faces are doing is sabotaging our efforts to do so!” Now’s my cue. The man’s crying, time for the real interrogation to begin.

“Sarita, that’s enough,” I said, stepping forward. She shot me a feigned look of annoyance at my interruption, but gave Zeke some space regardless. “Listen, what my overzealous partner is trying to say is that where once you were blinded and filled with lies by EXALT, now is your opportunity to repent, to show that you are willing to recognize your wrongs and work for the betterment of humanity, rather than acting like two crabs in a bucket.”

“B-but if I betray them, they’ll k-k-k-kill my family...” he trailed off, the tears flowing freer now.
I glanced at Sarita, who simply shrugged. Time for some improv, then. “Don’t worry, EXALT will never know that you betrayed them. I’ll make sure of it.” I rested a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him.

“Y-you will?” he said, in slight awe. “Y-you’ll protect my family?”

“No promises,” I replied, “But I’ll do my best. Co-operate, and we’ll let you go. So, where are your EXALT buddies hiding now?”

“T-Two California Plaza, forty-fourth f-floor. The s-scatter order was g-g-given two days a-ago, i-it’ll be a w-week before a-all t-the agents r-return, o-only a h-h-handful w-will be present until then,” Zeke said.

“Wonderful,” I said, letting a small grin grow across my face. And now to tie up loose ends. I stepped away from Zeke, drawing my own suppressed pistol and aiming it at the man.

“W-what are you d-doing!?” Zeke exclaimed, shocked by the sudden turn of events. “Y-you said you would l-let me go!”

“I lied.” Crack. Crack. Crack. Smoke filled the air, likely from whatever lube had been used on the pistol partially igniting, as blood pooled from the wounds on Zeke’s chest, spilling onto the floor. “So, you know how to get rid of a body?” I asked, as I shoved the pistol back into its holster and turned away from the corpse.

“I have a friend in the chum business, she’ll take care of him. For now, let’s head out. We got some planning to do.”

“Why not plan here? Not like anybody is going to be listening.”

“Whatever you wanna do, amigo,” she said, raising her hands submissively.

“So, I assume we’re not gonna hit the building tonight.”

“Yeah, I need time to score some building plans, as well as a means of infiltration. We’re also gonna need to plant some gear, as well as give EXALT a little time to think they’ve evaded pursuit. That puts off the op until the day after tomorrow, early morning at best, late night at worst.”

“And then after that, off to the Big Apple,” I added, crossing my hands behind my head. God, that asshole looked so betrayed in his last moments. Which makes sense, because I did betray him, but that’ll haunt me for a while regardless.

“Y’alright?” Sarita asked, looking at me with a hint of concern.

“Eh, just first time I’ve had to kill a man in cold blood,” I replied, walking over to a wall and leaning up against it. “When I was out in Syria, I was usually at the back of the column, so I didn’t see much combat, and when I did, it was all self-defense. Against the aliens, I was neutralizing a threat against humanity, and they aren’t people. But here? He actually fucking believed me when I said we’d protect him! He had no reason to trust us, but he did regardless! And I took that honest, eager trust, and shot him three times for it!”

“That’s the nature of this work,” Quintara said, “After all, spook work isn’t all James Bond escapades, it’s about doing what nobody else is willing to do so that everybody else can get on with their lives, ignorant of the price we pay so they can do so.”

“Whatever,” I replied, a hint of coldness infecting my tone. “Let’s get a move on. You need to make your calls, I need to eat something.”

“Alright,” she said, stepping out in front of me and ascending the stairs. “With all luck, you won’t have to do any more of the work I was cut out for.”

“With all luck, we wouldn’t need to do this work, but the fact that I have to go to New York already says that isn’t the case.” Silence overcame us both, and I followed her up the steps, and out into the garage.

It’ll all be over soon, Foulke, and then you can get back to your regularly scheduled life. What am I thinking? This man put his life of the line when he joined EXALT. No need to get all melancholy over it. But, despite my attempt to ward off the despair, it still hung upon me.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Night Six”
Location Unknown
Albert Foulke

Slowly I stood, shaking my head. I gazed around, examining the environment. I appeared to be in some skyscraper, covered bridges connecting it to others like it. As I stepped over to the window, I gazed down, seeing naught but the tower and some sort of fog covering the ground. A glance up revealed the same thing, only within seventy or so meters were things visible. Turning back to the inside of the room, I examined it.

Post-modern furniture dotted the room, intermixed with the odd potted plant. However, as my eyes approached the walls, rather than the assorted paintings of landscapes I expected, there was a set of hand-rails extending from the wall, which went straight up into the ceiling. Upon further examination, the ceiling was decorated similarly to the floor. Most peculiar.

“So Al, you’ve finally decided to come by and say hello, after all this time,” a familiar female voice said from behind me, sending a slight shiver up my spine. No, it couldn’t be... I froze up on the spot, torn between my curiosity and fear. “What, you can’t even look me in the eye?” she said, stepping out in front of me.

Blue hair, with blonde bangs hanging out over her head. She was several centimeters shorter than me, forcing me to look down into those bright green eyes. Hints of various tattoos poked out from under her plain red t-shirt, and the familiar smirk was splayed across her face. God damn, it is her.

“Zoe,” I nearly spat. “I said I was done with you two decades ago. Why are you here?”

“Oh Al, you know that you never really left us,” she replied, casually strolling behind one of the couches and leaning on the back of it. “The gang’s all here, I’m just the first to arrive.”

“The hell are you talking about?” I glared down the petite teenager, trying to figure out what she was going on about.

“You’ve been using some of the skills we taught you, doing things that we used to do, and you’ve been enjoying it oh so much...” Zoe spun over, stretching herself over the couch and gazing at me from her upside-down position.

“Like hell I have,” I denied, “It’s just a job, one which I have to do.”

A snort came from above me, followed by another voice I dreaded to hear. “You didn’t have to do anything Allie-boy,” the deep voice said, “After all, didn’t she ask for you to volunteer? And you leapt for it like a starving dog after a steak.” Gazing up, I spotted another face I thought I had forgotten, that closely shaved head and ragged goatee, with conniving brown eyes caught in between. The large man stood from his seat on the ceiling, and stepped over to me, with his height coming eye-to-eye to me, daring me to reply.

“No, it’s because I owed her, Gerald. I hid from my duty, the Commander allowed me to do so. When I came crawling back, she let me back in. So, I’m in her debt,” I retorted, gazing intently into Gerald’s eyes. “And I always pay back my debts.”

Now it was Zoe’s turn to scoff. “Please, if that was true, we wouldn’t be rotting away in the prison you sent us to.” As if to punctuate the statement, she raised an arm, which slowly crumbled away into dust, ending at the elbow before regenerating.

“I paid my debt to you by sending the cops your way while you were planning, not while you were operating,” I shot back. “And by sending you to the slammer, I paid a debt to those closest to me.”

“Right, because good ol’ Richie is more valuable than your two best friends and your girlfriend,” the last voice said, stepping out from behind a pillar. Wild orange locks hung across his head, framing those piercing blue eyes. A sneer was present on his face as he continued, “We were your goddamn family, not that pathetic nerd.”

“The fuck did you say about Richie?” I said, stepping forward and raising a fist. “You assholes tried to tear me down, turn me into someone I wasn’t. That isn’t what family does.”

“We brought out what was hidden deep inside you, Al,” Nate replied, “After all, if it wasn’t who you were, then why do you find it so easy to do, even after all these years?”

He... he has a point. But...

“No goddamn buts, Allie-boy,” Gerald interrupted, stepping onto the wall and continuing on until he reached the floor. “You’re the one who killed a man in cold blood, one who trusted you with his last moments, and that makes you worse than all of us combined.”

“No. I did what I had to do,” I replied. “If we had let him go, then EXALT could have been tipped off to our operation, and people could have died.”

“Then you just hold him in that basement until you’re done!” Zoe shouted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “God Al, you’re such an idiot sometimes!”

She’s right. Goddammit, why didn’t I think about it? Let myself get caught up in the heat of the moment, and...

“That always was your problem, Al,” she continued, “That’s why I was the brains of the outfit and the relationship, and you were the heart of it. After all, you don’t think with your heart, you feel with it. Of course you’re going to make stupid decisions.”

“He always made stupid decisions,” Nate said, “Only smart thing he did was join up with us. Then he started asking questions, getting regrets, and then he sent us all behind bars because he wanted to protect his ‘precious little brother’ rather than be with the people who cared about him, both as friends, and in your case Zoe, a lover.”

“Are you just going to keep trying to put me down, tear down my emotional defenses, call into question my motivations?” I retorted. “Because if you are, you’re just wasting my goddamn time. I left you guys in the past, why didn’t you guys just stay there!?”

“Because you decided to revisit your past, Allie-boy,” Gerald said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We never left. You came back. By revisiting your past, you let us back into your life, whether you wanted us or not. As always Al, it’s your goddamn fault. You weren’t hard enough on your Dad, so he died of his addictions.” The other two voices joined in, in some sick chorus. “You didn’t let us wipe away your regrets, and as a result we’re all stuck in prison. Didn’t keep your dear little brother from joining you in the Army, now he’s dead. Holly nearly died because of your mistakes, and Isaac and Imahara did. Qamut bit it, and Buniq was captured because you weren’t goddamn strong enough to kill one Incubator.” The last few words echoed in my mind, resonating deeply. It’s all your fault, Al. And yet, you continue to evade punishment.

“Journey Home, Day Seven”
Los Angeles Airport Mariott, Los Angeles
California, United States of America
0621 Local Time
Albert Foulke

Suddenly I bolted to a sitting position, the ringing of the room’s phone pulling me out of the dream. Rubbing my eyes slightly, I reached over and grabbed the device, putting it to my ear and asking, “Hello?”

“Foulke,” Sarita said on the other end of the line, “I got the things we need for the breach tomorrow. I’ll be over in a bit to talk over the plan with you.”

Shaking my head slightly in an attempt to clear the grogginess out of my head. “Right, just gimme an hour or two, just woke up,” I replied. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later, Foulke,” she said, and the line went dead. I hung up the receiver, and swung out of bed. God, I didn’t sleep well. Must of had some kind of nightmare, but can’t remember what it was for the life of me. Eh, it’s probably nothing important, likely the usual ‘hunted by a pack of raptors’ dream. A good shower and I’ll be all right and ready to take on the rigors of the day.

Just hope I don’t bone everything up, don’t want people dying because of something I did. That is a fate I most certainly want to avoid, even if in my line of work it isn’t avoidable in the slightest.

Right, enough musing, more showering. I pulled off the shirt I had slept on, my eyes wandering over the slight scars on my chest from where I had that damn tat removed. Probably should have seen somebody better to get that removed, but hey, it’s a reminder, I suppose. A reminder of what I left behind, and what I gained by doing so.

Never again, I thought as I flipped on the shower head, letting the water warm up.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day Eight”
Two California Plaza, Los Angeles
California, United States of America
2317 Local Time
Albert Foulke

Once more the cap went on and the bandana went up over the face, as I stepped out of the van. Everything was secure, mission was a go. The tower was closed for the night, which was all the better, as it would likely limit any contact I might run into to almost nothing. After all, if there’s one thing more tenacious then EXALT, it’s security guards trying to vacate a building for the night.

I slid up to the back of the tower. While normally I’d be all for the back door, it led onto the security office’s doorstep, which was something I wanted to avoid. Not gonna have a repeat of the last incident. Instead, I took a few steps back, broke into a sprint, vaulted off a dumpster, and leapt for a fire escape on a neighboring building, barely catching myself on one of the lower rungs. With a heave I pulled myself further up, and scrambled my way up to the top of the escape. I climbed up another couple levels, until I reached the peak of the fire escape, and crawled over on to the roof of the building. Five storeys down, forty to go. Now, if Sarita was right, upon this roof there would be... ah-ha! A ten meter plank! I’d wonder how she got this up here, but she’d probably reply something about having a friend in the construction industry. Now to get this thing into position. With a heave, I lifted the plank, and set it on the upper edge of the fire escape.

Thanks to that window I loosened earlier today, I should be able to do this. Slowly I pushed the plank across the alley below, taking care to keep it angled properly. After a tense moment of nearly dropping the wooden board into the alley, it finally came into contact with the upper edge of the glass. And with a little shove, the window fell backwards into the room, impacting the carpet with a barely audible thunk. I shoved the plank the rest of the way into the building, and then pushed it out a little further, sliding it under the fire escape’s railing. Better safe than sorry.

And with that, I quickly climbed over the railing, steadying myself on the twenty-or-so centimeters wide plank, before gently lowering myself down until my body was flush with the plank. With that, I began crawling my way across the board at a steady pace. I never understood why people in fiction don’t do this more often every time they have to cross something rickety. I mean, it keeps your center of gravity low, and a low center of gravity reduces your chances of falling to your doom in whatever pit of lava you are climbing over.

A minute passed, and at long last I was inside the building, whereupon I rolled off of the plank and onto the surprisingly plush carpet. Moving quickly, I pulled the plank back into the room, and reset the window. Luckily today was not a windy day, else this thing might have fallen off a bit early and my plan might have been exposed.

Quickly I slipped out of the room I had entered, slowly making my way down the halls. If those plans were right, then the staircase should be right about... here! Well, here comes the fun bit: forty plus storeys to climb on foot, because they have security cameras in the elevators and not the stairwell.

I also must note, I mentally added as I began making my way up the steps, that the placement of security cameras on this building is quite convenient. They only covered the top and bottom two floors, along with in the elevators. Probably something to do with private property, waivers, and legal ramifications. Anyways, eighty flights of hell time.

Two California Plaza, Los Angeles
California, United States of America
2345 Local Time

Urgh... god. Damn this... operational security. I leaned against the wall detailing the number of the floor I was heading for, breathing in and out raggedly. Getting soft, Al, if eighty flights takes it out of you. Being cooped up on that base ain’t good for you, you’ve been falling out of your routine, and with the Skyranger you’ve had little need for long marches over hostile territory, with only the hope that the surrounding allies caught wind of any hostiles before they came crawling up your ass protecting you. Once I get back to XCOM, I’m beefing up again. Even if I can’t get the Iron Skin, that doesn’t mean I stop worrying about having abs of steel. Doesn’t help that this damned bandana restricts my breathing a bit.

Pushing myself off the wall after a moment of rest, I stretched my arms, letting loose a short yawn. Probably should be more worried about keeping quiet, but I’m in the stairwell and anybody around is likely focused on something else. Shaking my head, I slid the under-door-camera out of my pocket, and pushed it under the problem it was designed to solve. I took a quick look around, hallway was clear. I placed the device back in the proper pocket, and gently tried the door.

Satisfyingly, the door quietly slid open, and I suppressed a small grin. Probably because of fire safety or something, but it still makes me happy that I don’t have to pick another lock. As I slipped out into the corridor, I flipped on the stealth field, keeping a pace that ensured maximum invisibility as I moved from stack of boxes to piece of post-modern furniture to protruding pillar, gently making my way down the hall. Sliding up next to another door, I ran the camera underneath it. No hostiles, and... hello, server racks. Cautiously I tried the door, and just as I thought, it was locked. Pulling out the lockpicks, I got to work. This in there, a little twist, slide up, wiggle slightly, stop, bring it around town, and click, the door swung open with nary a sound. I quickly moved inside and shut the door behind me, locking it. I flipped off the cloak and moved over to one of the servers racks, removing the AI device from my pocket and unwinding the attached USB cable. I ran a hand across one of the server racks, away from the entrance, trying to find a usable- ah, here we are. I shoved the cable into the port, and set the black box atop the server rack. I’ll give the AI about... fifteen minutes, same as last time. Don’t want to spend too much time here.

 

[BMPixy]

As I lounged about in the room, trying to find some way of passing the time, I heard the distinctive rolling of tumblers from the door. Hurriedly, I fumbled with the stealth device, managing to flip it on just before the door swung open, revealing an EXALT operative carrying a laptop. Oh hell, he’s doing some maintenance. As the clone moved further into the room, taking care to shut the door behind him, I quickly pulled the garrote wire out of my coat pocket. As the operative plugged his computer into a server box near the entrance, I slowly moved around behind him. As much as I don’t want to do this again, can’t risk anything. He might be here longer than I have cloak, and I might be able to score some intel off of his laptop.

Slipping my hands through the loops of the wire and double-coiling it, I made the final approach behind the EXALT operative. I paused for a moment, waiting for him to finish logging in, and then quickly wrapped the garrote around the man’s neck and pulled. Out of panic, the operative tried to pull loose one of the loops of wire, but this caused the second to tighten all the further. A wild elbow hit me in the side, but I held firm, and after a few more seconds of struggling, the man went limp. Still, I held firm on the garrote, pulling even tighter. Only after a minute did I let go, and a quick hand in front of his face confirmed that he was not breathing.

Dead. Alright, now for the intel this man died for. I flipped off the stealth field once more, and moved over the to server rack I had been using, and unplugged the AI. I stepped over to the EXALT’s laptop and plugged the black box into the computer. After a brief pause, a command box appeared on screen.

“Work interrupted. Reason?” the AI asked.

“Target of opportunity,” I typed in reply. “EXALT laptop with connection to servers. Finish work, copy data from server and store on laptop.”

“Very well. I shall continue where I left off.” With a flicker, the command box vanished, and I glanced over at the dead body. I could just leave him here, as when Zeke fails to show up, they’ll be on my trail anyways, especially with this breach. But it’s better if I move the body, gives me time to get to New York, and it’s less likely for the proper authorities to get involved than if I leave it or try to hide it. Yeah, probably for the best that I take the body out to Sarita, she’ll be able to dispose of it properly.

A minute passed, and the command box popped up once more, reading, “Virus uploaded, files copied. Ready for ejection.”

“Good work. Agent out,” I typed back, and removed the USB cable from the laptop and folded up the computer, stowing the form in my pocket and the latter in the laptop case the EXALT operative was carrying. With a heave, I placed the body over my shoulders and flicked on the stealth field once more, the field helpfully concealing both me and the corpse. Quietly, I slid open the door once, and made my way back over to the staircase.

“Journey Home, Day Nine”
Two California Plaza, Los Angeles
California, United States of America
0012 Local Time
Albert Foulke

I could see the mixture of shock and resignation on Sarita’s face through the van’s windscreen as she pulled around the corner, into the alleyway. I offered an uneasy smile, stepping towards the van, body still prominently carried over my shoulders. With an annoyed shake of her head, she motioned for me to put the body in the back, which I did so.

As I got into the passenger seat, she dead-panned, “So I assume this one we’re not interrogating.”

I shook my head. “Nah, but I did manage to score a laptop off him, so that’ll help.”

“Are you always this gusto about murdering people in cold blood?” Sarita asked, pulling out of the alleyway.

I grimaced at the comment, but replied jokingly, “No, only started happening once I got to LA. Probably something I ate.”

“Riiight,” she said. “Anyways, get some sleep, I’ll be taking you back to your hotel while I work on getting you some tickets to NYC and dealing with your friend back there.”

“Alright, will do,” I responded, leaning the seat back and closing my eyes. Thankfully, with the soothing tunes of the radio, sleep came qui...

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Balmadaar Breeding Ship Assault

Operation Killer Queen
Location: Congolian Forests, Central Africa

Date: September 2nd, 2018
Time: 1300 Hours

Details:
Less then an hour ago, our Firestorm Interceptors engaged a UFO matching Ogedei’s description of a Balmadaar breeding ship. According to our Muton trooper, the alien leaders have deemed the female Balmadaar too uncontrollable to be of use on the battlefield, and are only used for breeding purposes.

As the ship is occupied by ‘civilian’ aliens, our Firestorms used our new EMP Cannons. After a difficult dogfight in which they had to dodge the UFO’s powerful fusion cannons to get close enough to attack, the ship was brought down with minimal damage. While this increased the chance of the female mutons’s surviving, it also means most of the crew likely survived.

The retrieval of the female Balmadaar not only gives us an opportunity to gain powerful allies, it will also send a message of peace to any aliens who, like Ogedei, may wish to turn on their oppressive masters.

Number of troops for this mission: Ten (!0) Soldiers, accompanied by One (1) Alloy SHIV & One (1) Hover SHIV

Soldier Names:
TSGT Desmond Walker (Engineer) (Red Psionic)*
SGT Inderpal (Heavy) (Red Psionic)
SGT Chief (Assault/Infantry)
CPL Hawke (Sniper/Engineer)
CPL Bull (Gunner/Rocketeer)
CPL Fox (Scout/Support)
CPL Koslov, Maxim (Infantry) [Adrenal Neurosympathy]
CPL Andre, Adele (Engineer) [Bioelectric Skin]
CPL Townsend, Devin (Support) [Adaptive Bone Marrow]
SGT Ogedei (Muton Heavy Trooper)
Hover S.H.I.V. Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
Alloy S.H.I.V. Unit 2: "Taqukaq"

*Squad Leader

Gear: Players' characters' will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either a Pulse Stengun, a Pulse Carbine, a Pulse Rifle, a Heavy Pulse Rifle (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Scatter Blaster (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Pulse Sniper Rifle (Sniper), a Blaster Rifle (Scout, Sniper), a Pulse Autoblaster (Gunner, Heavy), or a Gatling Pulser (Gunner, Heavy)

(Recoilless Rifle for Heavies and Rocketeers, Pulse Lance for MECs, Superheavy Pulser for SHIVs)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor, Carapace Armor, Banshee Armor, or Aegis Armor (Four Shadow Armors also available)

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Blaster, or a Hand Scatter Plasma Blaster (H.S.P.B.)

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, combat stims, alloy plating, reinforced armor, chitin plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, an alien grenade, a psi grenade, a smoke grenade, a chem grenade, a ghost grenade, a high-capacity magazine, a targeting module, a mind shield, or an Arc Thrower.

(Chameleon Suit available for Scouts, Shredder Rocket for Rocketeers)

Terrain:
The Breeding ship is fairly massive, one of the largest we’ve encountered so far. You’ll find the usual fare; massive loading dock, engine rooms, weapons control (containing fusion cores the engineering team would love to get their hands on intact), a pair of labs, and a control center on one side.

Most of the middle of the rectangular ship is used for containment, where the female Mutons are kept. While arguably well taken care of, well fed and and kept in excellent health, they are kept in long pens, not too different from livestock, such as cows. The cells themselves are reenforced to prevent them from escaping, so opening them by force isn’t an option. However, as the Mutons are selectively bred so that features like strength and battle prowess overrules intelligence, the systems keeping the cells locked should be easy enough to access, as the Balmadaar themselves wouldn't be able to use them, even if they could access them.

Once the Balmadaar have been freed, it will be up to Ogedei to convince them that we are there to rescue them, with TSGT Walker acting as a human representative. Have them return to the extra dropships we will be sending if possible. If they insist on fighting, however, encourage them to stay in the rear of the group unless you can secure weapons for them.

Enemies:
One (1) Unit of Four (4) Sectoids
One (1) Unit of Four (4) Thin Men
One (1) Unit of Two (2) Sectoids and Two (2) Thin Men each
Two (2) Units containing One (1) Mechtoid and Two (2) Sectoids each
Two (2) Units containing One (1) Cyberdisc and Two (2) Drones each
Two (2) Units containing Two (2) Seekers each
One (1) Unit of Two (2) Outsiders
Two (2) Units containing One (1) Sectoid, One (1) Sectoid Commander, and one (1) Incubator
An Ethereal Commander, "Moloch"

Special Enemy Note:
The Ethereal Moloch should be considered extremely dangerous. However, while extremely powerful, its strength equals, at most, a quarter of Luxuria's strength.

Female Mutons are not to be considered enemies unless they attack, and even then you should attempt to calm the situation.

Conditions for Completion:
Successful liberation of the female Balmadaar

Special Completion Note:
The elimination of all enemy combatants is not required, but is heavily advised if possible

Civilians:
The female Balmadaar should be considered non-combatant civilians unless they insist on fighting.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: Operation Killer Queen, Part 1

“Arrival at the crash site in two minutes,” the pilot said over the intercoms, the faint sound of ‘A Day in the Life’ playing in the background. “Get ready, strike one.”

The soldiers gave a nod, but it seemed that Devin and Maxim were still a bit nervous about their large ally. Inderpal, for his part, did not seem fazed by the Muton going over its gatling pulser next to him.

The Elites sat together, not paying much mind to the large ally but Bull had taken a liking to the large warrior. Desmond stood near the door to the cockpit with his weapon already in his hands, eager to help out their Muton ally with this special task. “We all clear on the mission? We go in, eliminate any enemy we see, and we save our big friend’s people. Keep close to one another and try not to engage the females, fighting is only an extreme last option. Got that?”

“Understood,” Inderpal intoned.

“I see why we didn’t bring a dedicated rocketeer…” Adele muttered. “Glad I brought alloy grenades instead of high explosives.”

Desmond smirked. “Does help to be prepared though.” Desmond’s hands moved to the two alien grenades on his hip. “Ogedei, the equipment work for you?”

“Does not quite match a plasma dragon, but will do,” the Balmdaar replied.

“Lets prepare for touchdown then.” Desmond knocked on the metal door to the cockpit. “We are ready.”

The pilot nodded even though Desmond could not see, and came in for a landing. The ship itself seemed eerily quiet, aliens likely lying in wait in the mostly undamaged craft. The exit hatch opened, allowing the soldiers a path out into unusually quiet african forest.

Desmond walked out with the Elites close on his heels and proceeded with his team to the ship. They dropship landed near the rear of the ship so they had to go around the left side of the massive breeding ship.

Ogedei pointed an armored finger towards the side of the craft. “Enter there. Ambush likely set up in the front.” A small door marked the side of the craft, a small balcony like those on the supply ships having a ladder up to it.

Desmond gave a quick ‘thanks’, and swung the weapon over his shoulder, and climbed up the ladder first, followed by the four clones.

Adele held up a hand when they got to the door. “Hide behind the walls, and I can ghost in and see who is inside before you surprise them.”

Desmond nodded and put a hand on the controls. “Ready.”

The female engineer faded from view, the ghostly outline of her smile visible for a split second before it disappeared as well. She went through the door, and on the other end a group of four confused Sectoids regarded the open door. Adele went up behind them, seeing that she was in a long hallway that was otherwise empty, and tossed an AP at their feet from a safe distance.

The four aliens writhed in pain as alloy shards punctured holes in them. The one at the center of the blast died, and the other three scrambled to get away from where the grenade had gone off.

Fox ran through the door first, a Sectoid taking a shot at the fast clone but went wide. Taking cover behind a metal support, he sprayed at the two others. Hawke looked down the scope of his rifle from the doorway and shot one of the small aliens in it’s rather large head before running into a nice piece of cover right near the open door.

As they cleaned up a seeker decloaked from the end of the hallway, and shot a panel. Red lights on the ceiling started flashing, as its companion wrapped its arms around Adele in a murderous hug.

Bull pulled up his LMG and sent a barrage of fire at the Seeker who had shot the panel and Chief took the sidearm at his hip, shooting the back of the head of the Seeker to either kill or get it to release. Sparks flew from the machine as it sustained a bad shot and released its grasp.

Adele shakily brought her stengun up, and seared off the rest of the damage portion, causing the hunter-killer robot to drop. “Stupid thing…”

“Rest of forces will come, save for ship captain and guards,” Ogedei warned. “Need better cover than hallway.” He ran down the hallway. “Power room, then overlook of docking bay. Make it before enemy regroups, and have high ground.”

Desmond gave the regroup order and the team proceeded after the large alien.

The power room had several small elerium generators, but the mainstay was an orange, thrumming power core. “Damn...is that a fusion generator?” Adele muttered. “Never thought I’d see one.” The door on the other end opened, and a scouting force of two Sectoids and two Thin Men burst in, quickly setting their sights on the intruders and opening fire from cover.

“Careful...miss and we could blow ourselves sky high…” Maxim cautioned.

Desmond took a psi grenade off of his belt and flipped the primer switch to activate it. “Let us see if you can outclass us…” Desmond muttered as he rolled the grenade at the group of four. The grenade seemed to ‘release’ the energy inside the grenade and a bright red explosion blinded the aliens with great results. “Take them out!”

Ogedei ran forward with abandon, tossing one of the Thin Men into the wall before shooting it, as to not block the doorway with gas. He was followed up by Inderpal, who shot the other Thin men in the corner.

The Sectoids squeaked, and tried to mindfray the two, but Ogedei’s mind shield protected him from the attack, while Inderpal seemed to shrug it off on his own, grimacing slightly. Good tactical choice, the Balmadaar though in regards to the defense under his helmet.

Chief and Fox quickly shot the Sectiods down as they tried to regain their composure and Chief put a proud hand on Fox’s shoulder. “Hope the lab boys enjoy the precautions we are taking with these engines.” Hawke toned in.

“Enjoy that we don’t set them off on ourselves.” Bull stated with a chuckle, shouldering his heavy weapon. “Shall we move on?”

Ogedei was quick to incline his helmet, and went forward. The docking bay was strewn with crates that had tumbled over in the crash, and below them, two groups of aliens reared their heads. The first was a Mechtoid and its two Sectoid compatriots, and the other was a cyberdisc and its two drone guardians. The first powerful alien received a telekinetic shield, while the other opened up ferociously and fired off its gauss-like cannon.

The squad got low as the cannon ripped into the wall behind them, the cyberdisc luckily missing them. Bull pulled out his shredder rocket and loaded it into the launcher. “I am aiming for the disk. Tear him up.” Popping out, Bull’s instinct quickly took over as he fired off the rocket, the projectile veered a little to the left, hitting the cyberdisc directly on its side and taking out one of the drones.

A burst of plasma fire from the Mechtoid blasted apart Inderpal’s cover, some of it damaging his armor. The Indian glared at the two Sectoids huddled in a corner, and his eyes flashed red. A moment later, the two grays scrambled out of cover, their flesh burning from a conjured flame, before collapsing and canceling the shield by their deaths.

Hawke smirked at the Indian man’s power and looked down the scope of his rifle again, his shot hitting a joint that connected the arm cannon to the Mechtoid’s body and the cannon blew up in a green blast, instantly killing the operator.

The remaining drone lowered itself behind one of the computer terminals, unsure of how to turn the situation back around. “Wait, wait,” Adele said as Ogedei lined it up. “Better plan.” She hopped down, ghosting again to avoid being shot at, and reappeared next to the drone. A electric blue circle of energy formed around the arc thrower’s prongs, and it passed over the alien robot. A moment later, she rejoined the group, the robot following her like a loyal puppy.

“I love that feature,” the female engineer explained. “Have to hand it to engineering for coming up with it.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: Operation Killer Queen, Part 2

The cyberdisc was not out of the fight quite yet and as the body opened up, an alien grenade plopped down in the middle of the group. The weapon beeped slow at first but began to sped up as it got ready to blow. Desmond quickly scooped up the device and tossed it into the air, the explosion hitting some metal supports, the heavy metal landing on the machine.

Chief and Bull took aim at the mechanical menace and blasted it with laser fire until it sparked and blew.

Another cyberdisc hovered into view with its entourage, having been scouting for the occupants of the dropship it had seen landing. Before it even had a chance to open up, part of its armor was blown off by a shot from Inderpal. “Ogedei,” he prompted.

The Balmadaar pulled out a HEAT alien grenade, and lobbed it at the hole in the armor. It didn’t quite go in, but the blast was enough to put the hovering robot on its last legs. The Drones desperately tried to fix it.

Hawke took aim at the hole in the cyberdisc and ceased the operations of the machine. The drones floated away, trying to alert any near by forces of the intruders. “Maxim, David, take care of them!” Desmond barked at his troops.

The infantry and medic ran forward, and set up to fire, hitting one drone and forcing another to ground itself. A follow up shot from Koslov finished it off. “Taken care of…”

Ogedei nodded with satisfaction, though he seemed unamused by Adele’s ‘dog’. The Balmadaar turned around, ready to open the door into the main holding room. “Shall do what we came here for?”

Desmond nodded as his team finished reloading their weapons. “Do the honors big guy.”

The Balmadaar boldly strode through the door, and raised his gatling pulser at the enemy on the other side. A Sectoid looked up from a console, and squeaked in terror as lasers riddled his weak body. This alerted the Sectoid Commander in the room, who had a strange-looking cat on his shoulder. The intruders made it this far? Gheleis, kill them.

The cat leapt off the bulbous-headed alien, and shifted into the form of a hairless, muscular cat in his descendent. Shall we dance? the Incubator taunted telepathically, before leaping at Desmond with his claws and teeth bared.

Desmond pulled his sword of his back and activated his cloak, fading from view. When the Incubator landed where Desmond had been, he decloaked, his sword coming up for a sash to the alien’s fleshy side. “Inderpal, light ‘em up!”

The Incubator leapt out of the way. Can’t have that. A shot from Ogedei missed as well. Please, traitor. Inderpal fired a few shots to add to the chaos, and then lowered his gun, red thrumming around his hand before he launched a psi lance. It tore through the Incubator’s side. Son of a Balmadaar! You bastard! As the Incubator cursed, a mindfray from the Sectoid Commander seemed to have little effect on Ogedei, much to the Sectoid’s chagrin.

Desmond circled the beast with his sword low and smirked, You know, I remember when I cut off one of your creatures head. We disposed of it like it was a piece of trash. That make you angry, kitty?

Silence, human! The Incubator leapt at Desmond again, trying to swerve to the side, but a shot from Devin knocked him back on course...right into the waiting katana of Desmond. It screeched briefly as it was impaled, and then fell silent.

That will be irritating to replace. A new pet, perhaps? The Sectoid Commander raised its hand, and a spiral of purple energy wound itself into Bull’s head, the alien trying to usurp control of his mind.

Bull’s body shuddered as the alien gained control of the large man and he trained his large gun on the XCOM operatives.

Fox sprinted up at the Sectoid Commander and bashed the bulbous head of the alien with the stock of his gun repeatedly.

How...dare…

Ogedei’s hand wrapped around its large head, and squeezed.

Wait, stop! Why are you even- The Sectoid Commander frantically thought before Ogedei crushed his skull, and dropped the lifeless psion to the ground.

The armored Balmadaar turned to the cells, and let out a groan of disgust at how the females were kept like livestock. “Hasn’t changed since then.” He walked up to the glass on the right, meeting the curious gazes of perhaps a dozen female Mutons, and took off his helmet. “Liberation is at hand.”

“Is that so? Or do you come merely as some mocking test?” one of them replied in the Balmadaar tongue.

“He could just be one of the elites playing some cruel game for one of the Ethereals,” said another.

“No, no, he doesn’t look like them, and they all look the same,” a third rebuked.

The first, seeming to be in charge of the others, heaved a sigh. “So you come to free us? Who are your allies?” she demanded.

“Natives of the planet the Ethereal Ones are campaigning against, allowed me to escape the command of the vile beings like one killed here,” Ogedei replied.

“Fine, fine. Open the cells.”

“You may address as Ogedei.”

“Quit with the arrogance, and hurry up!”

“I merely-”

“Open the cells!”

Ogedei looked back at Desmond and Adele. “Will not attack when freed...probably. May release them.”

Desmond shouldered his weapon and urged the men to do the same and walked to the panel the dead Sectoid Commander had been at and tapped on the computer on his wrist. “Your up bud.”

Sora awoke with a start and a small hologram appeared over the screen. “‘Bout time. Was wondering when I could get some action.” Sora connected to the terminal wirelessly and a second later all the cells opened. “That was...surprisingly easy. Either your head is empty for a reason or you are just a lazy ass.”

Desmond shook his head. “If you don’t have anything else to do then get back in here.”

Sora grudgingly obliged and went back in sleep mode.

The female Balmadaar eagerly exited the cells, and their impromptu leader held out her palm to Ogedei.

“Not giving you primary weapon,” the Heavy Trooper retorted.

“Could use something to get payback,” she responded icily.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: Operation Killer Queen, Part 3

As the two bickered, a message came in over Desmond’s comms. “Uh...this is Dave,” the pilot began. “We’ve got a situation out here…”

Desmond put a hand on his ear. “What sort of situation?”

“I think we really, really pissed them off…” the pilot cut out for a moment, the sound of an explosion outside overtaking his voice. “About...four, five of their best fighters came out here, trying to shoot down the extra dropships we’re bringing in for the Balmadaar.” The sound of static and electric pulses came through. “Even the firestorms are getting their asses handed to them! Point is, even if you got what you came for, we can’t exactly extract…” Fires crackled in the background. “...ou right now.”

Desmond sighed and looked at the females. “Get out of here and pull back to a safe location. We need to secure the ship anyways.” Desmond ordered. “Copy?”

“I’ll do my best,” the pilot David responded before running silent again.

“See, if something’s happening we need to fight, then, Ogedei,” the leader continued.

Ogedei looked at the others. “...give your blasters? And extra consumables.”

Desmond looked at the squad and gave them permission to hand over the secondary weapons. “Ogedei, there is a problem.” Desmond informed the Balmadaar. “Our extraction can’t get here right now. Fighters have engaged them and I had to order them to pull back. We need to protect the females for now. They are your people so...it is your call on how we proceed.”

“They will be able to fight…” He switched to his language. “If their skills have not dulled.”

The female leader glared at him, taking his pulse shotgun-sidearm, while the others received blasters or grenades.

Desmond smiled. “Then let us clear this damn ship and go home.”

Chief joined into the conversation and stated, “The bridge should not be far off. Bull is a bit shaken but he is tough. We are ready to move on your call.”

Desmond nodded in acknowledgement and turned to the rather large group of female aliens. “Guess we move on now.”

Ogedei took point again, though almost seemed to be competing with the impromptu female leader for it. Passing through a hallway, they opened the door into a courtyard-like section, though it was not large. There, another Sectoid, Commander, and its Incubator pet were lying in wait, along with two hidden Sectoids powering up a Mechtoid’s shield. They opened fire on contact, the Incubator stalking forward under the cover.

Moving into team into cover Desmond peered over his cover and sized up the enemy.

Bull moved next to cover with Ogedei and smiled at the Incubator. “You thinking what I am?”

“Bullet storm.” Ogedei raised his gatling pulser, and started firing a spray of lasers, the Incubator’s eyes going wide as Bull did the same.

Incoming from there, there, there, there...how the hell am I supposed to…! One of the shots hit, then another, holes being poked in the alien feline as it couldn’t process all the incoming fire.

The Mechtoid raised its guns at the two, and Inderpal sighed.

“Don’t learn.” He fired off another psi lance, draining his energy, but it tore into the telekinetic shield, bursting it.

Hawke took aim at the Sectoid Commander and fired a shot that just grazed the head. “Hm...sights must be a little off.” He muttered as he got low from oncoming fire.

Desmond pulled his second Psi grenade from his belt and flipped the switch again. “Hope this frys them a bit.” Desmond chucked the grenade and it once again burst into red.

The Sectoid Commander seemed to shrug it off a little better than his counterparts hiding behind crates. A series of blaster shots and grenade tosses from the female Balmadaar left gaping holes in the Mechtoid’s armor, and the Sectoid Commander wisely retreated into the bridge.

Fox ran up, wild shots from the Sectoids passing by him as he easily dodged the plasma. Blasting the first with fire, Fox turned around aiming at the second, pulling the trigger but hearing a frightening hiss as his weapon was empty. The Sectoid trained the pistol on him and two bolts slammed into Fox’s chest.

Chief yelled out as Fox fell backwards and jumped over his cover running after the small scout. The Sectoid tried to scurry away but a sharp crack of a rifle ended his retreat.

“Someone get me a medkit!” Chief yelled out as he grabbed Fox.

Townsend went over to the two and pulled out his medkit. Two blasts of plasma hit him in the back, causing him to lurch over in pain, dropping the device. The Seekers charged up for another shot, but were caught in the crossfire of the back rank of female Mutons.

Chief grabbed the Med-Kit from the medic and sprayed it on the small scout as Desmond took another and checked Devin. He was relieved to see the soldier not majorly hurt. “Man, this armor is a life saver.” Desmond muttered as he held out a hand to the medic. “Come on.”

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: Operation Killer Queen, Part 4

Devin slowly got to his feet, wincing. Another message came in through comms as the Seekers fell. “Another contact came in, Walker. But it joined in with our Firestorms...shot down a few of the fighters, and left when we took down the rest. It was definitely alien, so I’ve got no clue why it helped us.”

It couldn’t be… Desmond shook his head and put a hand on his ear. “So you guys able to get here now safely?”

“Other dropships are coming in now,” Dave confirmed. “Any hostiles still active on that ship of yours?”

“We got a Sectoid Commander that went into what we are assuming the bridge. We are moving to investigate now.”

Chief let out a sigh of relief as Fox coughed and rubbed his two burnt holes in his armor. “Ow…” The small scout let out meekly. “That hurt…” Chief chuckled as he put a hand behind his brothers head.

Desmond smiled lightly. “He good to move?”

Fox looked up at Desmond and nodded his head though his Banshee armor had two big holes in them.

Desmond looked over at Ogedei. “The dropships are moving in for extraction. We just need to take care of the bridge and we can pull out.”

The Balmadaar trooper nodded. “Clean up the bridge.” He moved forward with the squad, while the females’ bloodlust seemed sated.

The bridge was reminiscent of the abductor UFO, a balcony overlooking a set of computers. Atop the balcony, the Sectoid Commander cowering behind him, was a robed figure in an ornate helmet. Moloch slowly turned to face the XCOM soldiers. So these are the fools that dared to set foot on the ship of this one. Failure to assist me properly will result in your termination after this cowardice, F-21.

The Sectoid Commander nodded its head rapidly, and reached out in an attempt to mind control Maxim, while the Ethereal formed a powerful psi lance between his hands. The infantry was taken, and started to turn his heavy pulse rifle on his comrades, while Inderpal tried to counter the other psi lance. His own was consumed in the clash of the two, and he was knocked onto his back by the powerful alien psion.

Futile. Moloch looked over to Desmond. Perhaps you shall fare better? Likely not, but by all means, do try.

Your power...heh. Not even near that of Invidia. This might be a little trouble but you guys tend to underestimate people. Desmond held out his hand after throwing his rifle to the ground. “Let us see how you fare.” Desmond told the alien as a red orb appeared.

Ah, that particular power. The Ethereal held up his two additional arms hidden beneath the robe, and formed a telekinetic shield around himself. It is nothing against the impermeable might of the Ethereal Ones.

Ogedei practically tackled Maxim, holding the burly Ukrainian down to prevent him from opening fire. “Kill the big-headed one.”

The Sectoid Commander did not react well to that statement, and fired a twisting stream of purple at Fox, seeing that the clone was wounded and thus more easily panicked.

Hawke held up his sniper rifle and blew the alien’s head in. “Don’t touch my brothers.”

Desmond walked up the ramp towards the Ethereal and glared at him. Running at the Ethereal, his orb slammed into the alien’s protection.

It splintered and cracked, but seemed well-equipped to hold up to the pressure, and only broke after a noticeable amount of effort. When it did, Moloch floated back, and hurled another psi lance at the red psion before him.

Desmond rolled out of the way of the lance and instinctively reached to his hip for a pistol that was there. “Right…” Pulling out his katana instead, Desmond rushed after Moloch as the squad aimed their weapons at the Ethereal as well.

With irritation, Moloch raised two of his hands together, and fives purple mindfray strands shot out, aimed at the Elites and Desmond. With his second left, he put up a smaller barrier of telekinetic force for Desmond’s sword, and used the final hand to panic Devin.

Desmond shrugged off the psi attack with a bit of effort from him shielding his mind. Chief and Hawke weren’t affected, Chief using his mind shield and Hawke after using his own willpower, but was a little light headed afterwords. Bull and Fox however fell over in pain. Desmond slashed his sword across the shield annoyed. “Damn it...hold in there guys.”

The Ethereal turned his attention mostly on Desmond again, putting up another small shield to block some of the incoming fire from Adele. Having doubts now, are we? He formed two smaller psi lances in his lower hands, and hurled them upwards at Desmond.

Annoyed by the Ethereals innate ability to hide behind defenses. Dodging the small lances Desmond put his sword away. Holding out both hands, to smaller orbs appeared in both of his hands. Slamming them into the shield, Desmond reached out to his other psionic ally. When the shield goes down, let us get him together.

Inderpal nodded, and the weaker shield broke. The Indian called upon the last reserves of his psionic pool, and hurled a powerful red psi lance at Moloch. The Ethereal took the hit, and grimaced beneath the mask, an unhealthy-colored spot of blood forming on his robe.

Desmond reached out and grabbed the weakened Ethereal, pulling him down and slamming his helmet on the railing before throwing him over it. The alien slammed into the metal floor hard and Fox walked up to it, holding Desmond’s discarded rifle. The clone brought up the weapon and shot it twice, ending it’s life. Looking up at the squad leader, Fox grinned and nodded his head.

Putting a hand up to his ear, he contacted Command. “Central, this is Strike One. Mission accomplished.”

Ogedei nodded in approval, and went to exit the ship. Outside, the ruins of alien fighter craft lay smoking on the ground, punctured by powerful weapons, mostly. Not the Firestorm’s EMP cannons. The Balmadaar chuckled. “Warlord, no doubt.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Legion Abduction Mission

Operation Fatal Flaw
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Date: September 9th, 2018
Time: 0600 Hours

Details:
Elene Exalt has requested an opportunity to test her psionics on the field. While we are apprehensive about letting her out for field work, her forces have proven their capacity to protect others, so it has been approved.

We have found what will hopefully be a simple mission for her to cut her teeth on. Alien forces have attacked a small mall in Texas, and the local authorities need assistance clearing them out. This is a simple seek and destroy mission, and the known aliens on the scene should give Elene a variety of targets to work with.

Number of troops for this mission: Six Soldiers and three Legion troopers, accompanied by one SHIV to test her new psionic abilities in the field.

Soldier Names:
A.V.A.N.I.X (MECH) *
Subject -0: "Elene" (Exalt Heiress)
Subject 158: “Vee” (Destroyer)
Subject 169: “Julio” (Sniper)
Subject 167: "Tian" (Medic)
Subject 178 “Tiento” (Gunner)
Legion Trooper I
Legion Trooper II
Legion Trooper III
Hover SHIV Unit 1 "Jabberwock"

*Squad Leader

Gear: Players' characters' will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either a Pulse Stengun, a Pulse Carbine, a Pulse Rifle, a Heavy Pulse Rifle (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Scatter Blaster (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Pulse Sniper Rifle (Sniper), a Blaster Rifle (Scout, Sniper), a Pulse Autoblaster (Gunner, Heavy), or a Gatling Pulser (Gunner, Heavy)

(Recoilless Rifle for Heavies and Rocketeers, Pulse Lance for MECs, Superheavy Pulser for SHIVs)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor, Carapace Armor, Banshee Armor, or Aegis Armor (Four Shadow Armors also available)

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Blaster, or a Hand Scatter Plasma Blaster (H.S.P.B.)

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, combat stims, alloy plating, reinforced armor, chitin plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, an alien grenade, a psi grenade, a smoke grenade, a chem grenade, a ghost grenade, a high-capacity magazine, a targeting module, a mind shield, or an Arc Thrower.

(Chameleon Suit available for Scouts, Shredder Rocket for Rocketeers)

Terrain:
The aliens have taken residence in the various stores. Most of them are clustered in the south end, but be wary of ambushes.There are some flying troops taking advantage of the high roof, so keep an eye up. Not that the aliens have started using weapons mimicking our HEAT ammo, so don't let the Legion troopers take hits without reason.

Elene will be accompanied at all times by a SHIV unless it is absolutely necessary for it to leave her. Ms. Exalt is cautioned not to take any unnecessary risks. He safety is more important then her research.

Enemies:
Two units of three Sectoids each
Two units of three Thin Men each
Two units of three Mutons each
Two units of three Floaters each
One Sectoid Commander w/ One Incubator

Conditions for Completion:
The Elimination of all alien forces.

Civilians:
Evacuated.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Fatal Flaw, Part 1

“Touching down now with Strike Two,” Big Sky informed central as he landed in front of the Texas mall.

“Roger that, Big Sky. We’ll monitor the situation from here,” the new Central Officer responded.

Avanix held up the mechanized hand of her M.E.S.H.A. suit as the hatch opened. “I shall go first,” she intoned, her tone echoing through the mechanized speakers. Unlike the MEC suit, the MESHA had a more robotic head, the pilot completely encased within. Its profile was larger, but it was more of a tank.

After the A.I. had exited and confirmed the entrance to the mall, a set of revolving doors, was clear of hostiles, the rest of the squad followed. Vee and her three Adams made up the central force guarding Jabberwock and Elene, while the three automatons under Legion’s control brought up the rear.

“Movement in the clothing store,” Legion pointed out, lifting a thin metallic finger to the left. “Guessing… extraterrestrial profile suggests Sectoid.”

“Vee, take the Adams in and mop them up. Rest of us will keep overwatch in the center here,” Elene ordered, gazing over the mall proper. There was a higher level on either side of the long, grand main section, and in the center of such sets of elevators lead up to the second and third levels.

“Alright then.” Vee ran up, hefting her scatter blaster and scanning the room, the weapon following her gaze. A Sectoid scuttled from behind one of the circular clothes racks, and soon paid for its mistake with a spray of pulse impaling its entire body.

A flash of purple came from one of the clothes’ racks on the side, and a Sectoid poked its head out from behind a set of coats, fixing its gaze on the dangerous woman in black. A wavy thread of purple came from its forehead, and then splashed against Vee’s forehead.

“Was that your attempt at a mindfray, you poor thing?” Vee chuckled, her neural dampening providing plenty of defense to the mental attack, even with the Sectoid mind-merged. “You’ll have to do better than that.” The destroyer snapped her fingers, and Tiento melted the Sectoid with his pulse autoblaster.

The last remaining one lifted its arm-mounted pistol in a mixture of fear and fury, hoping to melt the offending gunner’s head and escape in the resulting pandemonium. Julio ended that foolish dream, a pulsing beam punching through the Sectoid’s face and out the back of its oversized cranium. “Room cleared,” he stated coolly.

A cloud of poison and acid hit the three Legion troopers, weakening their armor integrity. “Thin Men detected,” the robots stated calmly, and opened fire.

“I believe this is your chance, Elene,” Avanix offered, unfolding her alloy shield and blocking two plasma carbine shots.

Elene focused on the one that had spat its poison, hiding behind the hovering frame of Jabberwock. “Suppressing fire, Dr. Randolf.” The hover SHIV responded with a spray of plasma to pin the infiltrator alien down, while Elene closed her eyes, calming herself. You are mine, you feeble creature… you are a traitor. A spiral of pulsing purple wound its way through the glass and into the head of the Thin Man, shrinking as it got closer.

The alien held its head in confusion and panic for a moment, before becoming eerily calm. The suppression ceased, and it stood tall, taking aim at the head of its comrade.

“T-234, what are you-?” one of his comrades protested, before being shot in the face by Elene’s puppet. Tian finished off the other terrified Thin Man as he tried to run, falling prey to the opportunistic medic.

“Now, I believe it is time for you to die,” Elene said to the Thin Man. It did not obey at first, and Elene frowned. “It is time to die, my marionette.”

The Thin Man nodded this time, and let go of his plasma rifle, pulling out a plasma pistol and lifting it to the side of his head. “At once, Mistress!” the alien said with unnerving enthusiasm, a reptilian smile spreading across its face as it pulled the trigger.

Elene turned away from the now-headless alien. “Let us continue.”

***​

Strike Two proceeded into the building, coming across another group of Sectoids knelt over a flickering playstation in an gaming store.

What is this strange device?

It could be a bomb, AT-632, don’t touch it, the most-curious Sectoid’s companion warned.

Or maybe it is like the system that was on ba-The third was interrupted by a kinetic strike ripping through his form, sending body parts flying as the other two scattered in stark terror.

Balmadaar, get over here now! AT-632 practically shrieked.

Three Mutons came out of an ice cream shop, one of them tossing the canister containing strawberry to the side as all of them lifted their weapons.

“Hey, that is a damn waste!” Vee yelled, lifting her recoilless rifle. “Chew on this, big guys.” The gauss-propelled rocket roared into the warriors, the first two being blasted off their feet. The third had the wisdom to duck behind the canister when it saw the rocket launcher being lifted. It pounded on its chest in rage upon seeing its comrades’ fall, calling for the help of the other three.

We can’t have that, now can we? Elene teased, another purple spiral claiming the weak-willed alien for her own. With its oversized plasma rifle, the Balmadaar tore through the two confused Sectoids as the other three Thin Men came down the stairs.

“Mistress, one of them appears to have a heavy plasma weapon with curious modific-“ Avanix got out before the noted Muton on the elevator shot at her. The shield didn’t come up in time, and the plasma ripped through the MESHA’s armor, leaving a gaping hope exposing the pilot. “Criticialdamageregistered…critical…that should not be possible!” the A.I. stammered.

“HEAT ammo variant detected in the enemy equipment,” Legion offered unhelpfully.

Elene growled, and had her puppet turn on his comrades. Kill them! A blast of plasma leapt at the Muton gunner.

Seeing the threat, he lifted his shoulder, the heavier armor there taking the brunt of the blaster, and he tried to intimidate his foes with the adrenaline received. The other two Mutons seemed anguished by the insult Elene was offering. One of them executed his comrade, giving him a swift death, while the other shot at the EXALT heiress hiding behind Jabberwock.

The SHIV spun uneasily as it took a comparative amount of damage to Avanix, but had the luxury of the weapon being a rifle and not a novagun. Fortunately, the other four clones took swift action. While Tian and Tiento suppressed the two unharmed Balmadaar, Vee and Julio took potshots. The sniper took an execution shot on the enemy gunner, while Vee dashed onto the elevator and shot one of the Mutons off it. The other turned on her, but suppressed and facing a swift enemy, it was easily a miss on the destroyer, and she damaged his armor heavily with another shot, emptying her power pack.

Vee put the shotgun on her back, instead pulling out her placeholder for a sidearm, a sword made of alien alloys. “Got a present for you, a warrior’s death.” With a swing driven by Tz6-enahcned muscles, Vee drove it through a gap in the Balmadaar’s armor. The impaled alien fell silent, and Vee slid him off the blade. “Next?” No one seemed to answer, and the Legion forces regrouped.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Fatal Flaw, Part 2

The second floor is where the Floaters came. Six in total, they swooped down upon the former EXALT forces, one of them wielding a HEAT-based plasma rifle that was much too large for him.

“I hate to ask this of you, Ava, but hide!” Vee shouted, before the organic Legion troops opened fire. Jabberwock refused to budge, however, and Elene consented herself with this.

“Perhaps another method will be useful in this situation…” the heiress mused, stepped out and quickly coloring her eyes with a purple glow. “The large rifle is evil…the large rifle is evil…” she stated a hypnotic mantra, and it seemed to catch three of the unintelligent fliers. They looked at their leader with unbridled rage, and opened fire on him. The spray was more than enough to kill the biggest threat, and the other two turned in abject confusion, opening fire as well.

Elene held up her hand as the five remaining…no, four remaining floaters fought amongst themselves. “Let them have their fun.”

“A little creepy, but I like it,” Vee muttered.

Elene’s zealous followers lost out, not exactly sure what to do afterwards but defend themselves. The final living Floater gave a hateful gaze at Elene, but was stopped from carrying out the implied threat by her Destroyer.

“That just leaves the third floor,” Avanix stated as she came out from a coffee shop with the three Legion automatons.

From the aforementioned floor, a hiss of Thin Men came, and three of the accurate aliens leaned up against a crosswalk, aiming down at Strike Two.

“They’ve got the high…!” Tiento warned before two plasma shots slammed into his armor, searing his flesh and making him crumple in pain. Avanix defended him from the killing blow with her worn shield, which was practically broken by further HEAT ammo.

“A rather irritating field test of their copied toy…” The MESHA trooper mumbled.

Before Elene had a chance for another mesmerism attempt, an Incubator leapt off the balcony from behind the Thin Man, on a direct course for Elene. Jabberwock moved to cover her, and was bowled to the ground by the beast, sliding against the railing and falling off. Where is your defender now? The Incubator taunted, stalking towards Elene with bloody intent.

Elene blanched, taking a few steps back while going to pull out her pulse rifle. The incubator slapped it out of her hands.

Can’t have that, now can we? The alien cat echoed.

You’re…being controlled by a psychic…

The Incubator snarled, and leapt at Elene, before diverting its course due to a slash from Vee. “Get away from her, you sick bastard!”

You…I cannot read your mind easily…the Incubator thought worriedly.

“Damn right you can’t.” Vee kept up her slashes, and forced the Incubator to dodge a shot from Julio. Elene picked up her rifle and added to the confusion. As the Incubator tried to focus, Avanix swung at it, the creature barely able to leapt out of the way in time.

As the cat danced, the three Legion troopers used Avanix as a jumping-off point, their servos allowing them to shot up a few feet and fire at the surprised Thin Men before they landed. Two died in this aerial attack, and the third wisely retreated.

Stupid machine…so hard to pre-GAH! The Incubator hooted as the Legion troopers shot three holes in its flank. The alien wobbled, and then toppled off the balcony. Barely alive upon landing on the elevator, it dragged itself to its feed. I…can still…

Jabberwock blew off its head.

***​

A-72 paced with rising fear and frustration. All it had left was one Thin Man. One Thin Man! All because of troublesome troops that had foiled even the HEAT ammo…and they had mind control, too. The nerve, to copy his favorite ability. It was unforgiveable! The Sectoid Commander turned his bulbous head, eyes widening as a mech dashed up the stairs and leveled her pulse lance at him. Defend me!

The Thin Man suicidal blocked the shot, using its own body as a shield, but that left the Sectoid Commander alone. No matter, I shall take control of this ‘MEC’ trooper. Their pilots are organic, after all. A-72 lifted his hand, and sent a spiral into the MESHA’s body…and nothing happened. What? WHAT? WHAT IS THIS?!

Avanix quickly closed the distance between the two, and send her kinetic fist into his chest, blasting him off the balcony. “I am not organic, you foolish creature,” the A.I. explained for the dying creature. Whether he made it to the ground or not is anyone’s guess.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day Nine”
Location Unknown
Albert Foulke

Snow crunched under boot, as I wandered through the pure white landscape, fog hanging heavy in the air, blocking the sky. Despite the casual clothing I was wearing, I didn’t feel the onset of the surrounding cold. The terrain was even and flat, no foliage or hills, just the winter paradise I found myself in. I continued walking forward, unsure of where I was going or where I was coming from.

Hmm? Feels like... something’s watching me. I stopped in place, turning around to face the direction of the presence. As I scanned intently, the fog offered no answers, hanging heavily like a curtain across a stage. Then, slowly, a shape emerged from the fog. Humanoid, slightly shorter than me, one hand raised to their head as they limped forward.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Are you alright?” I moved to approach the figure, but something compelled me to remain still. The hell is...? As the figure exited the fog, their form sharpened almost immediately. Oh god, i-is that Richie?

“Iiiiit hurtss,” he said, shambling forward, hand still clutched over his head. He didn’t seem to register my presence, as he continued limping along.

I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Richie!” I exclaimed. “Y-you’re here! What’s going on?” This seemed to catch his attention, as he turned towards me. Is... is that blood? My brother lowered his hand from his head, chunks of flesh having been torn out- oh God I can see his brain. I stumbled backwards, reeling away from the sudden scent of death that punched its way into my nostrils, eventually losing my balance and falling backwards into the snow.

“Wwwhat’s The matter, Al?” he said, a cunning smile climbing up his cheeks. “Can’t suh-tand the s-s-s-sight of your own little... buh-rother!?” His voice had a jarring hitch to it, holding odd consonants, repeating sounds, unusual pauses, and emphasizing syllables just too harshly.

“W-what h-happened, Richie?” I stuttered, slowly and cautiously pulling myself to my feet.

“Y-y-y-you happened, buh-rother. I’m like this because of you, Allll.” He limped forward, a sickening look in his eyes. “I-i-i-i knew I ssshouldn’t have followed you to my death.” Slowly I gave ground to the specter as he advanced, blood slowly dripping out of the prominent head wound.

“Yeah, I k-know that,” I replied, waving my hands in front of me protectively. “I said the s-same thing, but y-you insisted on joining me after m-mother died.”

With a frightening burst of speed, Richard was upon me, his bloodied finger placed firmly in my chest. “Yyyou d-d-d-didn’t tuh-ry hard enough,” he retorted, “A-a-a-as usual, ev-uh-rything is your fault.”

I locked gazes with my younger brother, trying to wrap my mind around the whole situation. “R-Richie, th-this isn’t you... Y-you were never this h-hostile to someone.”
“Puh-haps it was because you nev-uh listened!” he yelled, turning away. “You nev-uh d-d-d-did! Alllll-ways ‘bout the big man, num-buh one M-m-mister Foulke! Nev-uh ‘bout the l’il bro, the buh-rains of the f-f-f-family!” The words tore at my chest, and I stepped forward until I was within arm’s reach of my brother. I... I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something hidden in this situation, besides the rest of the landscape.

“Richie, talk to me bro!” I said, grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him to face me. “W-what’s eating at you...?”

“Y-y-y-you became the kind of mmmman you were so uh-fraid of,” he replied impatiently. “D-d-d-didn’t you say thhhhat you would nev-uh do those k-k-k-kind of things ev-uh uh-gain?” Dammit, it’s Zeke and that EXALT agent. He’s upset that I not only I fell back into old habits, I went further than I ever did back in that time after dad died. God I’m an idiot.

I wrapped my arms around my younger brother, and whispered gently, “I’m sorry Richie... I’m so, so, sor-”

“No you’re not,” he interrupted.

Somewhere over Virginia, United States of America
1456 Local Time
Albert Foulke

A quick shove pulled me from my slumber, as a voice I couldn’t quite make out said something to me. I shook my head, trying to remove the grogginess.

“What?” I mumbled, finally coming to.

“Are you alright?” the voice of the other passenger in the seat asked, an African-American woman dressed in a business suit. “You were tossing and turning.”

“Ye-yeah,” I replied hesitantly. “Just a little nightmare, been under a lot of stress as of late.” Vague feelings of both terror and calm filled me, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me what caused them. I mean, I’ve always been terrible at remembering dreams, but... I feel like I should remember this one.

“We all are,” she said with a shrug, turning back to her magazine. “After all, not only are we living in some of the worst economic times since ‘08, there’s been rumors circling that the aliens have been shooting down jets.”

I glanced around the relatively empty business compartment of the plan, and nodded my head in agreement. “Yeah, and with what I’ve had to do recently, all this combined has been playing havoc with my attempts to get a proper sleep schedule. Up late...uh, researching, and then catch a couple hours of sleep before heading out to some more interviews.”

“What do you do for a living?” she asked, a curious eyebrow raised. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“Nah, it’s no problem,” I replied. Which cover should I tell her? “I’m a freelance journalist, working on a book at the moment detailing how the alien invasion has affected the world so far, and postulating how it will continue to affect the countries in question.”

“Oh really?” she sat up, curiosity evident in her voice. “Have you spoken to many soldiers about your project?”

I waved an unsure hand back and forth. “A few, but it was mostly Russians and Indians, as they’re the ones with the most experience involving the aliens. No Americans at the moment.”

“Well, if you wanted,” she said, “I could set you up with an interview with a Marine, my daughter. She said last time she called that she’s been mobilized as part of an initiative to help protect our borders from the aliens.”

“Eh, unfortunately I have a packed schedule, hence why I’m catching up on sleep on a mid-day flight,” I replied with a shrug. “I’m pretty much booked out on interviews. Gonna be spending a few days in NYC, then after that I have a series of interviews out in Russia, which will take who knows how long.”

“Well, if you ever get the opportunity, I’m certain my daughter would have some... insightful, if laconic comments for your book.” Pulling out a business card from her coat pocket, she handed it me, adding, “Here’s my number if you ever want to get that interview.” Looking down I examined off the card, which read ‘Pearl Henderson, Stock Analyst, 1-555-555-8492’. No, it can’t be... Probably just a massive coincidence.

“Right, I’ll let you know if I snag an opportunity,” I said. “But again, super unlikely to occur. By the way, the name’s Frank West.” I offered a hand, which she took and shook.

“Pearl Henderson, but you probably got that from the card,” she replied, letting go of the handshake.

“Nice meeting you then.” I gave a small smile in response. “Anyways, if you don’t mind, I’ll be trying to catch up on some more sleep,” I added, trying to find a way to end the conversation before I could say anything that could blow my cover.

“Go ahead, no need to ask for my permission!” she said with a wave of her hand. I nodded thankfully, and leaned back in my seat. Closing my eyes. Unlike last night, I felt it quite difficult to fall unconscious.

Perhaps it could be that I don’t want to revisit the recesses of my mind.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day 12/In Ultimas Res”
Somewhere in Queens, New York City
New York, United States of America
0402 Local Time
Albert Foulke

“Hey, Andreasson,” I said, scanning the vacant neighborhood as we cautiously drove away from the EXALT hideout, mission completed. “Is it just me, or does this neighborhood seem a bit... quiet?”

“No, usually by this time of day people are up and active,” the Dane replied. “Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.”

“Understood.” I slid a hand into my trenchcoat, placing a hand on the Gauss auto-pistol underneath. Hopefully it’s just my nerves getting to me, and we did in fact make it clear. Still, getting in and out of that place was too easy, didn’t even need the stealth field. Wait, what the-!?

“Brace!” I yelled, seeing the oncoming vehicle. With a sickening crash, a van careened out of a back alley, slamming into the side of the driver’s side of Andreasson’s pick-up truck. Glass shattered, and the vehicles careened into the side of a housing complex. As the sudden spike of adrenaline cut my perception of time to a crawl, I could see the glove compartment coming closer, and I tucked my arms over my head as my body impacted the dash. My vision briefly went black and just as quickly returned. I could feel the slight trickle of blood down my forehead, stinging my left eye, as I hastened to try to unbuckle myself.

A quick glance saw that the EXALT agents were pouring out of the van, and I knew I only had one shot of getting out of here. I shoved open the door, pushed myself forward, and upon hitting the ground flicked on my stealth field. In a cloud of rubble my form vanished, and I rolled under the wreck of the vehicle I had just been riding in. Patience, Foulke... they’ll start looking around for you, once they think you legged it, then you can get the radio and call for reinforcements. Until then, just... wait.

Boots thumped as the EXALT troopers examined the wreckage. Five, maybe six of them in sight. Can’t risk moving to get a better angle, they might see the flicker. Orders were murmured at a volume I couldn’t hear over the rumble of the engines, and a trooper glanced under the wreck of the vehicle. I held my breath, mentally willing him to go away. He poked his gun around a bit, but after what felt like an eternity, the man stood up. Soon. Soon I’ll be able to get out of here.

“Journey Home, Day 10”
The Plaza Hotel, New York City
New York, United States of America
0614 Local Time

A knock came from the door, interrupting my work. Gah, dammit, do I get the door or do I make sure the eggs don’t burn? Decide, Albert, they’re knocking again! Is your food more valuable than your job? Gah, close enough! Quickly I flipped off the electric stove and dashed out of the mini-kitchen, pulling open the door.

“Hello!?” I half-asked, half-exclaimed, catching the man on the other side slightly off guard as he instinctively recoiled and reached for the holster inside his jacket.

After a moment he seemed to realize that he was ready to shoot me, and relaxed, replying, “Mr. Foulke, have I caught you at a bad time?”

Shaking my head as I took a set of deep breaths to stave off the adrenaline onslaught that was beginning to make its way into my system, I said, “No no no, just was making some breakfast with some of the ingredients you stuck in the fridge. Please, please, come in.” I waved him inside, wiping some of the sweat off my brow.

The man, about my height with dull blonde hair and bright blue eyes, stepped inside with a nod, making his way over to the couch. I shut the door and returned to the mini-kitchen, inspecting the small pan filled with eggs. Good, good, the heat from the pan finished cooking the eggs. Grabbing a plate from one of the cupboards, I set it down and scraped the food onto the plate, setting the dirty cooking instruments into the sink.

Picking up the plate and sliding a fork out of a drawer, I walked into the living space, sitting down on the couch next to my contact, Bartel Andreasson. “So, to what do I owe the honor?” I asked, starting to eat my breakfast. Hmm, nice, and here I thought I forgot the basics of cooking while I was deployed, this stuff isn’t half-bad.

“Wanted to begin discussions on the plan of action,” he replied, setting a briefcase I hadn’t noticed before onto the coffee table. With a quick flick of the latches, the briefcase opened up, revealing a set of Manila folders stuffed with various papers. He pulled one folder out from the middle of the stack, and flipped it open, checking it, before handing it over to me. With my free hand I set it on the cushion next to me and flipped it open. Inside was a few documents, along with a couple photos paper-clipped to the top of the front document.

“Managed to locate a civilian agent working for EXALT,” Bartel said, gesturing to the man in one of the photos. “Abdel Van Der Akker, a stock broker who in the past several months started purchasing numerous empty housing complexes in Queens that for some reason have next to no tenets. I believe he knows exactly where the EXALT servers are located, and it’s our job to get that information from him.” That last phrase caught me off guard, and I swallowed a chunk of my scrambled eggs before it was chewed all the way, sending me into a brief coughing fit as I forced it the rest of the way down my throat. “Are you alright?” the agent said, reaching out a hand to my shoulder, but I waved him off.

“Yeah, yeah, just swallowed a bit too fast,” I dismissed. “So, when you say ‘get that information’ do you mean ‘gonna go medieval on his ass’, or something else?”

“Something else,” he replied. Thank God. “We’re just gonna follow him around a bit tomorrow once the stock exchange closes, and see if we can pinpoint the exact location of the EXALT facility.”

“Are we gonna bug him as well, or just rely on visual confirmation?” I asked between mouthfuls of egg.

“If possible, we’ll have you slip something onto him, though if the risk is too much we’ll just use the mark one eyeball.” Hmm, now that I think about it, that last name sounds vaguely familiar... I wonder...

“Random question: does this guy happen to have a relative named Alfons?” I queried. A brow furrowed on Bartel’s face.

“No, he doesn’t,” the Dane replied, raising an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

“Have a friend in the British Police Force, who last I heard was working on casing one Alfons Van Der Akker for some charges or another, can’t remember for the life of me,” I said with a shrug. “Name just stuck out for some reason. Wasn’t sure if it might of been important, just wanted to lay my suspicions to rest. Anyways, another thing: why are we only checking him out tomorrow?”

“The firm he works for is closed today, and that’s been the only place I’ve been able to confirm he visits on a regular basis before heading out,” Bartel responded. “Until then, we’re just sitting on our thumbs.”

“So today is essentially a mulligan day?” I asked.

“Indeed,” he said.

“Well then...” I paused for a moment as the conversation died down. Glancing down at my plate, suddenly an idea popped into my head. “Hey,” I added, making eye contact with my contact, “have you had breakfast yet?”

“No, I was gonna head out to grab some breakfast sandwiches,” he replied.

“How about we make a quick supply run instead, and I can whip up some biscuits and gravy?” This caught the man’s attention, and he stood up.

“Sure, there’s a grocer a couple blocks away, we can walk there,” he informed me, as I myself stood, setting the empty plate on the coffee table next to the briefcase.

“Alright then, looks like we have a plan!” I clapped my hands together, and handed the manila folder back to Bartel, who slid it back into the briefcase, which then clicked close.

Well, seems like today is gonna be a fun day.

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day 11”
Somewhere in Queens, New York City
New York, United States of America
1651 Local Time
Albert Foulke

Alright, the target should be exiting the building soon. I leaned back against a chain-link fence, scanning the firm, waiting for the man to exit. With a quick glance, I confirmed that all my gear was in place: audio recorder in one hand, bug cradled in the other palm, credentials in right pants pocket. Ah, there he is. Abdel Van Der Akker, traitor to humanity and the key to taking to down EXALT, not that he knows the latter, of course.

Pushing off the chain link fence, I put on my best eager journalist face, approaching the suited man.

“Hello, sir,” I said, flipping on the recorder, “I’m Frank West. Do you mind answering a few questions?”

The man paused to consider it, before shrugging, replying, “If you can keep pace, have a bus to catch.”

As the man took off and I fell in beside him, I asked, “Tell me sir, how much do you know about the alien attack on humanity?”

“More than I care to,” he said, his expression darkening, “My fiance was abducted near the start of the invasion, haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since then.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” I replied, “So I take it you have a very dim view of the invaders?”

“Aye. It’s why I’m putting quite a few of my spare dollars towards an organization dedicated to taking down the alien menace once and for all. It’s quite liberating, knowing that I’m using my money to benefit humanity, rather than just myself.” More like using it to tear us down, but you probably don’t know that, I mentally snarked.

“If I may,” I asked, “Could you tell me a little bit more about this organization? I’ve heard rumors across the world of various covert organizations working against the aliens, so if you’re involved so much in one, I’d like to learn a bit more than just your typical hearsay.”

Abdel smiled, a menacing shark-like grin, slightly unsettling me. “Unfortunately, they’re covert for a reason. Hell, even I don’t know what they do with my money once I hand them the cash. But hey, it’s all for the greater good, and they have my trust.”

“Makes sense, I suppose.” I shrugged. “Though what have they done to earn such unconditional trust from you? I mean, if you don’t know anything about them, how do you know they’re getting results?”

The stock broker glanced around, scanning the streets. “Listen, can you keep a secret?” he asked.

“Sure, this’ll remain just between you and me,” I replied. After all, you’ll likely be dead or ruined soon, no harm in keeping a secret. At my lie, the man pulled away his suit jacket, revealing a- what the hell, is that a laser pistol!? My look of shock must have been evident, as the man placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me.

“Yeah, shocking, a bit of advanced tech they shared with me in exchange for my compliance,” he said. Now’s my chance. A quick little hand in there, and wallet obtained. Next comes the fun part.

“Huh, so they are producing results,” I said, caught off guard by the braven display of the advanced tech.

“Aye, and that’s why I keep passing them a cut of my dividends,” Abdel replied, covering up the weapon with his jacket once more.

“Well, this certainly has been an illuminating review,” I said, offering a hand to the stock broker. “Thank you for your time.”

“No problem,” he said, taking the hand and giving it a firm shake. “After all, not like I have much better to do with my time these days.” With a wave, he picked up his pace. As he advanced towards his bus stop, I slipped the bug into the wallet. Phase two is in operation.

“Hey, sir!” I exclaimed, holding up the bugged wallet, “You dropped this!”

“Oh shit!” he yelled, turning back and jogging over to my position. I offered the wallet back to him, and he thankfully accepted it. “Thank you very much, would have had a fun time if you hadn’t noticed it,” he added.

I shrugged in response. “Hey, you gave me that interview, it’s the least I could do. Anyways, I’ll be seeing you.” I waved once more, and set off on my way back to the spot where Bartel would pick me up.

Somewhere Else in Queens, New York City
New York, United States of America
1703 Local Time

With a gentle hum the pick-up truck came to a stop a block and a half away from the building Abdel entered. With all due luck, this would be the place where EXALT was hiding out, and the bug would get to work soon enough.

As I mused over the situation, Bartel pulled a pair of headphones and a HAM radio look-a-like device out from under the center seat, plugging the device into the cigarette lighter under the radio.

“Here, this’ll be able to pick-up the bug’s transmissions,” he said, handing me the other set of headphones. I put them on as he turned on the receiver, setting it to the proper frequency. After a moment, a voice came over the headphones.

“Ah, Mr. Akker!,” a muffled voice said, “You’re back! Did you have an interesting day?”

“Eh, nothing much, except for that reporter I ran into, asking about the alien war,” Abdel said. “Don’t worry, I didn’t reveal anything critical.” I snorted at that, remembering the pistol he had shown me.

“Good, good. By the way, Mr. Santaviento requested that you go and speak to him as soon as you got back,” the other voice replied.

“Alright, will do.” A few minutes passed in silence, as Bartel and I quietly listened in for any hints of noise on the other end of the line. Finally, after an agonizing silence, sound came through the bug once more, in the form of a series of knocks, followed by a door opening.

“Ah, Abdel!” a voice came over the other end of the line, eerily similar to that of an EXALT operative’s. A glance at Bartel confirmed that he too had noticed this, and we listened back into the conversation. “How nice of you to come so promptly!”

“It’s all I can do, Santaviento,” the other man replied. “So, what is you wished to talk to me over?”

“In due time, friend. But first, take a seat. Do you wish for a drink, Abdel?”

“No thanks, trying to cut back as of late.”

“Of course, of course. Now, onto the matter I wished to discuss. Abdel, as much as it pains me to say this...” The voice of the operative paused for a moment, and then continued. “Unfortunately, EXALT must be leaving your presence soon.” That confirms it, the building is home to EXALT.

“Whaddya mean? I thought this was going to be your permanent base of operations for the foreseeable future?” Akker replied in shock.

“Sadly, it appears that EXALT is under attack at the moment. First there was a breach at the Hawaiian cell, then two agents went missing over in Los Angeles. A general order has been given to relocate as soon as possible.”

“I... I see. So I suppose this means our partnership is over, Santana?”

“Indeed, Abdel. It was a pleasure working alongside one so dedicated to our cause. We shall be leaving within two days. I cannot disclose the location we have secured, in case you are compromised.”

“Understood, wouldn’t want to risk that damn XCOM taking you guys out because they got a hold of me. Is that all you wished to discuss with me?”

“For the moment, yes. Tomorrow I will want to discuss moving arrangements, but such matters can wait until then.”

“Alright then. By the way,” Abdel said, “I think I’ll take that drink now.”

The operative chuckled, and the sound of glasses clinking against each other could be heard. “To the last days of our partnership, Abdel!” the clone said.

“And to the continued prosperity of EXALT,” the traitor replied. As they said that, I pulled off my headphones, Bartel doing the same.

“Seems this is our location,” the Dane commented.

“Aye. When are we gonna hit the place?” I replied, setting the headphones onto the receiver.

“Probably tomorrow, sometime early-ish in the morning.” With a few deft motions, Andreasson had turned off the receiver, and placed it back underneath the seat. “We’ll have to do some prep before then, but otherwise we’re good for today.”

“Alright then, with all luck, I’ll be on my way back to HQ in a couple days, and EXALT will be done for in America,” I said. Bartel flipped on the ignition for the pick-up, and began pulling off of the curb.

“No, there is no need for luck. We have skill.”

 

[BMPixy]

“Journey Home, Day Twelve”
Somewhere in Queens, New York City
New York, United States of America
0418 Local Time
Albert Foulke

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the EXALT troopers wandered off. Slowly I rotated underneath the truck, scanning for more sets of boots. Good, we’re clear. I flipped off the stealth field and slid out from underneath the vehicle, keeping low to the ground as I checked to make sure all of the agents were out of sight.

Alright, we’re ready to move. But, first things first. I slid back into the pick-up truck, gently closing the door behind me as I ducked underneath the window, scrambling around underneath the center seat for- i-is that blood? I quickly glanced up, finally noticing the broken form of my contact. The crash didn’t do good for him, as a chunk of metal was embedded in the side of his chest and his breathing was non-existent. God dammit, he’s dead.

Compartmentalize Albert, EXALT’s on your ass like that one burro-riding cowboy you saw at the circus one time. Mourn later. After a moment of searching, I extracted the radio from underneath the center seat. Good, it’s intact. I’m not all out of luck, it seems.

Plugging the radio into the cigarette lighter, I flipped a few switches, turning the radio on. What was that frequency Bartel told me? Right, right, that’s what it was. A turn of the dial got me the signal I wanted, and I pulled one set of headphones over my head.

“This is Corporal Albert Foulke,” I said into the microphone, “The X has been crossed, I repeat, the X has been crossed.” God that’s a stupid code, but whatever, as long as it gets me out of here.

“Understood Corporal Foulke,” the voice on the other end of the line said, “I need your location so I can alert the extraction team.”

“What, can’t you do some fancy triangulation shit to find out where I am?” I replied incredulously. Aw hell, didn’t anticipate this happening.

“No, I’d need two sets of receivers a good distance apart, and then I’d need to do some trigonometry, and then even then I might get your location slightly off,” they replied, slightly miffed. “So if you want the extract team to get your exact location, just give it to me.”

“Right right,” I replied, scanning out the back window for a street sign. Ah, there we are. “I’m uh, near the corner of Gipson Street and Mott Avenue, in Queens, New York City.”

“Gotcha. Alerting XCOM, extract team will be on your location in roughly... four hours.”

“What the hell, four hours!? How do you expect me to hold out for four hours?”

“Figure it out, I’m just a radio operator,” the voice replied, “Just find a supply closet and hide or something.”

“Ugh, whatever. Foulke out,” I said, turning off the radio. Remembering the severity of my situation, I quickly shoved the radio back under the seat and slid back out of the pick-up, leaving the door open. Still, that wasn’t exactly bad advice, and I bet that building probably has a few places to hide out in.

Slowly I slinked through the rubble, grabbing a particularly hefty chunk of concrete in one hand. I don’t want the report of my auto-pistol to give me away, and I don’t exactly want to go into a fight unarmed. I peeked around a nearby corner, confirming that no EXALT were in sight, and I slid further into the building. It seemed that we were just on the edge of their turf, as the apartment complex was filled with scattered crates and bits of moving equipment, as well as a few of the walls being torn down to enable better space usage.

Gently I edged forward through the scattered cover, making my way through the building. Hmm, that room still looks somewhat intact, perhaps I can find some cover in there. I slid up against the door, checking once more to ensure that no hostiles were present in the area, and I gently slid open the door, peeking inside to check that the coast was clear.

Oh thank God this door was well-oiled. Inside were two EXALT agents, slowly searching the room. Damn, I can’t close the door, they’ll hear the click, and I can’t leave because they’ll notice the open door. I suppose I only have one option then. The one on the left is closer, brain him with the rock, throw the rock at the second dude, and use that as an opportunity to get closer and finish him off.

As I slid through the opening in the door, I flipped on the stealth field with my free hand, reducing my appearance to that of a shimmering silhouette as the field tried its best to keep up with my movements. Closing the door as much as possible, I slid up behind the first EXALT operative, raising the chunk of concrete over my head as he probed under a coffee table with the end of his laser rifle. Wait, does he have gene mo- Suddenly the EXALT trooper spun around, rifle raised and aiming towards my location. No time for questions, gotta act now!

“I can sense hi-!” the trooper managed to exclaim before I slammed the chunk of concrete into the top of his skull, dropping him to the floor with a thud and a small pool of blood beginning to form. The second trooper turned from his investigation, ballistic rifle raised. I chucked the stone at him, and he reflexively covered his face as it impacted him in the chest. I used this distraction to charge forward and tackle the trooper, slamming him into a chest of drawers and knocking down the cheap decorations placed upon it.

With one hand pressing the man onto the drawer and away from his weapons, I used the other to grab an object- a bed-lamp as I briefly examined it- and raise it over my head. Glass shattered as I brought the ornament over the man’s skull, once, twice, three times, finally ending when the clone’s skull was bent inwards and I could see hints of brain matter amongst the flow of blood.

Stepping back and letting the man’s corpse fall to the floor, I turned back over to face the other agent’s body, and quickly stepped over to check his pulse. I wiped my hand clean of blood on the shag carpet first, and put my fingers on his neck. Alright he’s dead. Hmm, why’s there blood on my hand, I thought I just cleaned it?

As if suddenly realizing that it had been slacking off on the job, my brain registered a jolt of pain shooting from my hand. Ah hell, probably cut it while I was bashing the other guy’s brain in with the lamp. Placing my hand against the cheap Hawaiian shirt I was wearing to stem the bleeding, I quickly scanned the room for something to bind the wound. Damn, nothing in si- wait, maybe the bodies have something.

The agent whose mind I had rocked- dammit Albert, now’s not the time for clever puns- lacked any healing substances, but the other one had a medkit on his belt. Quickly pulling it off, I aimed the nozzle, and depressed the trigger, spraying healing nanites over the wound. Unfortunately, after the short burst, the medkit clicked dry. Damn, the guy probably used most of it patching his friends up from the crash. Hopefully that’ll be enough. In the meanwhile...

Stepping back over to the first corpse, I picked up the discarded laser rifle and the accompanying charge packs, stuffing the latter in the deep pockets of the cargo shorts I had worn and wrapping the former over my shoulder with the attached strap. I briefly considered taking the alien grenades as well, but I doubt I’d need to blow anything up anytime soon. However, the medic’s smoke grenades might be useful... I quickly shoved the items into my pockets, the shorts bulging with all the items they were now carrying.

Right, I’ll need to find somewhere else to hide, as they’ll probably come searching for these bodies eventually. Slipping out of the door and back into the hall, I gently sealed the room on the corpses. That makes four I’ve killed in cold blood.

No, no, they’re clones. They don’t count. They were bred for this, I thought as I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I need to focus on surviving this.

But then what about Zeke? The errant thought sprung in the back of my mind, and I refused to acknowledge it as I pursued further into the building to find a spot to hide from my pursuers. This is going to be a long four hours.

 

[BMPixy]

XCOM Mission Parameters
Covert Extraction Mission

Operation Snake Pit
Location: New York City, New York, USA

Date: September 13, 2018
Time: 0921 Hours

Details:
Our covert operative, Corporal Albert Foulke, has come under attack by EXALT while attempting to extract from the operational area. With his mission already completed, all that needs to be done is to retrieve the Corporal from the area along with any physical assets he may have acquired.

Elimination of any EXALT agents in the area is a secondary priority, however it’s a hornet’s nest out there. EXALT likely has reinforcements ready to deploy should combat take place.

Number of Soldiers for this mission: Ten (10), accompanied by Two (2) SHIVs

Soldier Names:
CAPT (TSGT) Ipiktok, Atka (Scout) (Blue Psionic)*
CPL Thomas, Mary (Gunner)
SGT Cross, Ammelia (Sniper)
SGT Adolfsson, Janina (Infantry) [Hyper-Reactive Pupils, Magnified Bicep Structure]
SGT Nash, Kevin (Assault) [Smart Macrophages, Muscle Fiber Density, Bioelectric Skin]
SGT Ortiz, Amanda (Guardian) [MEC]
SGT Connor, Megan (Rocketeer)
SGT Fujioka, Airi (Engineer) [Dextrous Muscle Amplification]
CPL Grey, Dorian (Medic)
(E) Subject 158: "Emma" (Shadow Operative) [7. 10, 15, 16, 17]

Hover S.H.I.V. Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
Alloy S.H.I.V. Unit 2: "Taqukaq"

*Squad Leader

Gear: Players' characters' will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either a Pulse Stengun, a Pulse Carbine, a Pulse Rifle, a Heavy Pulse Rifle (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Scatter Blaster (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer, Support), a Pulse Sniper Rifle (Sniper), a Blaster Rifle (Scout, Sniper), a Pulse Autoblaster (Gunner, Heavy), or a Gatling Pulser (Gunner, Heavy)

(Recoilless Rifle for Heavies and Rocketeers, Pulse Lance for MECs, Superheavy Pulser for SHIVs)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor, Carapace Armor, Banshee Armor, or Aegis Armor (Four Shadow Armors also available)

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Blaster, or a Hand Scatter Plasma Blaster (H.S.P.B.)

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, combat stims, alloy plating, reinforced armor, chitin plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, an alien grenade, a psi grenade, a smoke grenade, a chem grenade, a ghost grenade, a high-capacity magazine, a targeting module, a mind shield, or an Arc Thrower.

(Chameleon Suit available for Scouts, Shredder Rocket for Rocketeers)

Terrain:
The area of operation is two intersecting streets, along with various apartment complexes in varying states of construction, most nearing completion. Scattered cars will provide cover while advancing through the streets, while the interior of the buildings are littered with construction and moving equipment, crates, and building supplies.

The majority of the EXALT presence is focused primarily on the north-east end of the operation area, the site of a car crash between a van and a pickup truck, with the truck partially embedded in the wall of the neighboring apartment complex. We believe the covert operative is in this building.

Enemies:
Four units of three mixed EXALT troopers each
Three units of two mixed EXALT troopers each
Three units of four mixed basic EXALT troopers
Two units of three mixed gene-modded EXALT troopers
Unknown count of oncoming reinforcements

Conditions for completion:
Extraction with the covert operative.

Civilians:
Fled or in hiding.

 

[BMPixy]

ZombieSplitter53, Frostlich1228, DarkGemini24601, and BMPixy

“Another One Bites the Dust”
Somewhere in Queens, New York City
New York, USA
0923 Hours Local Time

Shit shit shit shit, Albert internally cursed as he sprinted down the halls of the apartment complex, weaving out of the sights of the pursuing EXALT troops, trying to find a place to hide for just another few minutes as he awaited extraction. He turned around, snapping off a pair of shots in the general direction of his foes with his looted laser rifle, before ducking into a room and hopping over a desk, taking cover behind the cheap piece of furniture.

Albert paused in his fire for a slight moment, hearing a strange rumbling echoing through the building. What the hell is tha- Realization suddenly dawned on the man, and he resumed his fire with a savage grin. Help had finally arrived.

Atka gave a nod to the others in the Skyranger as it started to touch down. “Remember, we’re here for Foulke. If we can’t wipe out the EXALT forces in the area, then so be it.”

“I would note, Captain, that my forces are on standby in Cross Technologies, should the situation get out of hand,” Emma offered. “With Viktor’s...zealous amount of clones, that may become necessary.”

“My father may even be able to call in a few favors if we can contact him in time.” Ammelia added, looking over at Emma.

The silver-haired shadow operative smiled slightly. “Dorian picked the wrong place to put a cell.”

The XCOM medic glanced over at the Legion soldier. “Uh...other Dorian, right?” Receiving a nod, he shook his head in irritation. “Hate sharing a name with that guy…”

“Let’s just agree to call him Viktor from now on, easier for all of us.” The Sniper replied, smirking slightly.

Mary looked over at her sister, leaning on her Gatling Pulsar, “Se’ ‘at’s ye’ father gunna’ do ‘xactly? ‘All eh’ airstrike?”

“Maybe, If he has the time to phone a few friends.”

Mary chuckled a little bit, “‘E’some...”

Atka smiled before getting serious again as the door opened with a hiss. “Let’s go.” The Inuit woman lifted her blaster rifle, and lead the squad out onto the concrete.

Amanda turned on her internal suit communications. “Foulke, where exactly are you right now?” the Guardian MEC asked.

Over the radio, slightly muffled by the sound of laser and gauss fire came Albert’s reply. “Building on the north-east corner, with the crashed pick-up embedded in it! Be warned, EXALT’s crawling up my ass like the TSA on that guy who was in front of me in line at the airport! Ah, shi-!” The line suddenly had a blast echo over it, though after a moment Albert’s voice came back over the line, “Can y’all hurry up and make it over here? Not sure how long I can hold out here!”

“Roger that Foulke, we’re on our way,” Atka replied, picking up the pace.

“‘An beh’ ‘ure te’ ‘eep ye’ ass ‘ttached ‘till we ‘et ‘ere” The Gunner replied over the comms, lugging her massive weapon.

“The hell is that accent?” Al muttered under his breath, before cutting the line.

As the group advanced through the intersection, an unmarked van came screeching around the corner, skidding to a stop upon the driver spotting the oncoming XCOM troopers. Before the vehicle had even come to a stop, EXALT troopers were pouring out of the back of the vehicle, all in all totalling six EXALT troopers, two of which bore the signs of genetic modification.

Atka responded quickly, holding out her hands. “Been awhile since I’ve used this…” Two mindfray helixes formed from her palms, and then leapt eagerly at the skulls of the two gene modded troopers. The two held their heads in agony, crumpling to their knees as hallucinations and pain took them out of the fight temporarily.

Mary and her sister set up behind the abandoned vehicle nearest to them. The Gunner steadied her weapon on the hood of the car before firing it at the enemy clones, taking the legs out from under one and burning a hole in the abdomen of another.

Amanda lifted her flamethrower at the three incapacitated EXALT troopers as the two other living clones went for cover behind a recycling bin, one disappearing from view. “Looks like I brought the right weapon.” The flames roared out from the muzzle, immolating the enemy.

Ammy stuck her rifle through the back window of the car, taking aim and sending a precision shot through the window in front of her and into the driver of the van. She then quickly switched targets to the passenger and sent a blast into his side, creating a massive hole that almost sliced the man in half.

Quietly panicking, one of the last EXALT troopers decided that since all of his comrades were dead already, he might as well go out with a bang, and he lifted his rocket launcher, taking aim with a Shredder rocket at the MEC and nearby XCOM soldiers. However, his aim was not steady, and the rocket careened into a neighboring apartment complex, exploding harmlessly.

Amanda sucked in a relieved breath, while Taqukaq rolled up to the disappointed clone and riddled him with holes.

“We should perhaps be more careful around their heavies and rocketeers,” Emma noted calmly.

The last EXALT trooper seemed to note that discretion was the better part of valor, and tossed a smoke grenade on his location, before attempting to leg it off towards the rest of his reinforcements further up the street.

Ammelia aimed at the fleeing EXALT operative through the smoke, the SAaIDA letting her see right through. The blast of energy seared through the clone’s skull, sending him sliding across the pavement and leaving behind a bloody trail.

“Whatever Albert found must be valuable,” Atka muttered, pulling out her blaster rifle again. “Keep moving!” The scout captain ran forward, her squad following behind, keeping a keen eye out. Kevin gravitated to the front, wanting a chance to use his close combat specialty.

Mary and Ammelia followed close behind Atka, sidearms at the ready for danger. As the Gunner passed by the corpse of the rocketeer clone, Mary shook her head. How do you even miss a rocket?

As the band of soldiers pushed further towards their objective, they came across the building that Albert had mentioned, pick-up truck lodged firmly inside the wall of the complex. Inside the driver’s side of the truck was a dead man, a chunk of metal firmly lodged into his side.

Grey poked his head in the window. “Kinda a coincidence to find this at this particular building.” He looked at Atka. “Think he could have been working with Al, Captain?”

“Either that, or EXALT. Not really a way to tell...but it does mean we’re getting closer,” the Inuit woman replied. Grey nodded, and rejoined the squad. Not like his med-spray was good enough to fix this, anyway.

As if to disrupt the mood, a set of four EXALT troopers turned a corner inside the building, spotting Grey as he moved to rejoin the squad. With a few scattered yells, the troopers pushed forward, seeking cover among the various crates and disassembled server racks in the hallway.

Atka lifted her blaster rifle, taking careful aim at the clones as they likely did the same. A beam of pulse shot out from the long range weapon’s barrel, and found a home in the chest of a heavy. It did not penetrate deep enough for a kill, and thus the scout moved as the enemy opened fire, drawing the threat away from her squad momentarily. “Airi, HE grenade!” she requested.

Mary moved to find a place to set up her weapon, moving to a nearby crate. Laser blasts flew past her head as one of the heavies suppressed her, forcing her to hunker down behind her box. “‘Errgh! ‘Astards ‘on’t et’ me set up!”

Airi pulled the pin of an alien grenade. “On it…” she muttered, before catching the covering fire of an EXALT infantry, sustaining a wound through her shoulder. The hand the grenade was in wavered, and the explosive dropped at her feet. “Oh Go-” It went off, blasting its user to pieces.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

BMPixy, Frostlich1228, and DarkGemini24601: “Another One Bites the Dust, Part 2”

Drops of blood splattered onto Ammelia’s face as she turned to witness the carnage. Her eyes widened as she wiped the sticky fluid off of her face. The Sniper tried to steady her rifle at one of the targets but couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, she instead fired a shot with her blaster, only managing to sear the clone’s shoulder.

“A-Airi…” Atka breathed, her hands closing into fists. “You think… you can just...murder…my...” two telekinetic helixes formed around her arms, and their glow darkened from the usage of a ‘green’ ability. The imbued icy helixes thrust forward at the infantry, and pierced both of the clone’s lungs, coming out the other side and impaling him against the side of the building.

Now that the soldier suppressing her had been dealt with, Mary lifted her weapon up and stabilized it on the top of the crate, unleashing a storm of energy in the direction of her enemies. Blood, fire, and rubble filled the hall that the EXALT forces were standing in, and after the smoke had cleared the charred remains of the final two soldiers could be seen sprawled across the ground, feet from where they were originally standing.

Atka lowered her helmet’s visor for a moment to wipe away the moisture around her eyes. “We...we have to keep moving...can’t lose Albert too,” she said weakly.

Emma glanced at the small crater for a moment, and then grimaced, looking away again. “Another reason to kill Viktor.”

The gunner walked over to her sister’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Ye’ al’ight?”

“Y-yeah… I can keep going…” Ammelia spoke, a stutter in her voice, “I won’t let you down.”

“Good…” Mary responded, staying close to her sister’s side.

With a guttural yell, one last EXALT trooper charged out from inside the hallway he had been hunkering in, spraying laser fire from his rifle as he charged forward. A quick glance would note that the operative had affixed a bayonet to his rifle, and he was making a beeline towards the bonding sisters.

Amanda lifted her pulse lance, an immense beam quickly gathering power. “Should have stayed down.” The beam ripped through the EXALT operative, tossing what was left of his corpse to the ground.

Kevin shook his head, muttering something incomprehensible. “Let’s get out of here before more of these motherfuckers try to reenact the civil war.”

Now that silence fell over the site of the firefight, the distant sound of laser and gauss fire could be heard from upstairs, highlighting the likely location of the covert agent that Airi had died trying to rescue. With that realization, Atka pulled out her truncated scatter blaster, and dashed up the stairs.

As the squad followed the sprinting scout up the stairs, four flights of stairs greeted the group as they raced up to the correct floor. After they scrambled out of the stairwell, the sight that greeted them was a dozen and a half EXALT troopers surrounding a slightly blasted out door-way, mixed laser and gauss fire pouring out in a surprisingly successful attempt to suppress the troops, as testified by the six dead troopers lying on the floor.

“Foulke, get behind cover!” Megan yelled, raising her rocket launcher with a shredder loaded.

“Way ahead of you!” Albert shouted back over the din of the firefight from his somewhat fortified position.

With a slight nod, Megan let the rocket fly, and it burst into shrapnel, tearing into the armor of all the troopers in its large radius. “Light ‘em up!”

Janina was quick to follow through, a hail of pulsing lasers taking down two of the shredded foes. Kevin ran up, and got close and personal, taking shot after shot as they tried to run away. “Shooting gallery!” he yelled out with malefic glee. Grey and Amanda took out two more.

Mary took a few steps forward and starting filling the corridor with energy, the force of her massive weapon tearing apart two more foes. “‘Eep ‘iding! I’ll go ‘ough ye’ an’ th’ wall!”

What the hell is the accent? Al mused, as he slipped a new charge pack into his looted laser rifle, keeping an eye out for any targets of opportunity dashing by the hole in the wall he guarded. “Thanks for the assist!” he yelled, “Just a few more and we should be home free!”

Atka blasted one to the ground with her single-shot sidearm, and then stretched her hands out to either side, punching through two more with her icy helixes. “It was at a price.”

Mary moved through the hall behind Atka, looking over the clones she had killed. “Ehm’ ‘ginning te’ wish eh’ ‘ad ‘ionics.” The gunner mused, checking the rooms to the left and right of her with a smirk.

Atka retracted the psionic projections, and walked into the room Albert was hiding in. “Let’s go, we don’t have time to waste,” she explained, offering him a hand.

Albert moved to stand from the rolling chair he had been sitting on behind the desk he was using as cover, but staggered a bit as he reached his full height. He grunted quietly in pain, and used the hand carrying his Gauss pistol to check his leg, the hand coming up bloodied.

“Ah hell,” he murmured, “one of them must have nicked me with a beam. Pros and cons of running on adrenaline for six hours straight.” He waved off Atka’s hand, finally noticing it, and shoved his auto-pistol back onto his holster. “Right, let’s get going. Only one thing to grab on the way out.”

“Grey,” Atka prompted, and the medic went over to help Albert. “What is that, Foulke?” she said hurriedly.

The man’s expression intensified. “Bartel’s body,” he replied. “Want to ensure he gets a proper burial.”

“Foulke, we don’t have time for this...the only one that could reliably carry that is Amanda, and we need her firepower,” the scout captain countered.

“We...could try to throw him on Taukaq,” Janina offered. “But we can’t afford to lose an extra shot right now.”

Albert suppressed a curse, partially out of the stinging from the healing nanites and the truth of the situation. “Fine, alright then. Then, let’s just get moving. Where’s the Skyranger parked?” he said, making his way with a slight limp over to the blasted out door.

“Further south,” Amanda stated, replacing the power pack on her massive weapon before heading downstairs with the others. She instructed Grey to throw Bartel’s body on Taqukaq’s chassis if they had the chance.

Ammelia stood downstairs next to her sister, having calmed down after the incident with Airi. She looked over at Albert and down at the body, “Evac’s not that far, I think we could get him home.”

Mary shook her head a little, “‘E’s ‘ead, et’s ‘ot ‘ike ye ‘eed eh’ body te’ ‘member ‘im.”

Albert shook his head, ignoring the comment. The man opened his mouth to say something, but the rumbling of a herd of vehicle engines interrupted him. A quick glance out of the hole created by the vehicle crash spotted the reason for the sudden tide of noise: six unmarked vans took up a position across the street from the apartment complex in question, and a pick-up truck modified into a gatling laser technical taking up a center position among the vehicles.

The man behind the turret of the technical, obviously not a clone for the fact that he was Indian in appearance, yelled at the troops, “Damn you XCOM, coming in to sabotage our efforts to destroy the alien menace! You will all perish for this!” He punctuated this statement with a barrage of less-than-accurate laser fire. Out of the vans poured thirty EXALT troopers of varying class and gene-modding status.

The two sisters grabbed some cover, setting up their weapons once more in preparation for the waves of EXALT soldiers. “‘Ey ‘eep com’in an’ com’in, if eh’ in’nt’ know eny’ ‘etter I’d ‘ink ‘ey ‘ant te’ die!” Mary replied, keeping her sights on the entrance.

Jabberwock took to the sky, burning through most its flight-fuel as it swayed back and forth, dodging enough fire to get into position. As the targeting systems combined with the silver-haired girl watching through a camera, a panel opened on the back. Moments before the combined fire of a half-dozen EXALT soldiers forced it to drop, it released its payload, the missiles taking out three soldiers, and blowing up one of the vans, killing another three and injuring another four. The hover SHIV dropped like a rock, its backup boosters kicking in at the last second to prevent it from leaving a small crater. The machine joined Taqukaq, its damage making it as grounded as the treaded SHIV.

“Well done, Sunny…” Atka muttered, before lifting her blaster rifle and taking out another EXALT trooper.

“They can do that?” Albert said, slightly shocked by the SHIV’s sudden attack. A sudden blast of laser fire from the technical reminded him of the situation he was in, and he stuck himself slightly further back into cover. “Damn, I thought this asshole wasn’t so fanatical about rocking the EXALT colors,” he added, poking out to snap off a couple of laser rifle shots at one of the troopers, downing him but not killing him.

“You know him?” Atka asked, before forming a mindfray in her left hand, and sending it at the head of the loudmouth.

The man on the technical repulsed the blast of psionic energy with a look of savage glee, and turned the spinning laser cannon over to the offending psion. “Do you think that such feeble strikes against my will would be effective!?” he yelled, somehow managing to be well-heard over the volume of fire that was being poured back and forth between sides.

“Yeah,” Albert replied to Atka’s question, “Some EXALT dude, Abdel Van Der Something or Another. He’s the whole reason I managed to find their hideout.” With another pair of bursts, Albert took a shot at the crazed collaborator, but missed by the slimmest of margins.

Atka sighed in frustration, getting behind cover as well. “Anyone have a combat knife or something?”