RP XCOM2: Liberation of Earth

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and Taxor the First: “A Little Too Much”

South of Mexico City, Mexico
1739 Hours, June 2nd
Onboard the Avenger
Level 2, Rear Block
The Bar

“And so we’ve got the X4 charges planted. We’re all ready to leave, and we start to fall back to get a distance from the statue. We don’t know when it’s gonna be time for it to blow up as part of our demonstration,” Yakone reconstructed the story of Operation Gatecrasher, towards the end of Alpha Team’s tale at the moment, “when suddenly an ADVENT dropship shows up. Of course, by this point we’ve taken out… what was it, eleven of them? So they’re pissed, and they drop two MEC Troopers right on top of us!”

Yakone took a swig of beer from her can before continuing, “At this point I think I spoke for the squad when I said ‘fuck this we’re out’. We call Danielle, and within a second or two she swoops in-”

“Actually, I was already there by the time you had cleared the range of the statue,” Firebrand cut in.

“Hey! You’re ruining the drama of the story. Quiet!” Yakone admonished her, before picking up where she left off. “The Skyranger’s ropes drop down, and we haul ass up into the ship. The MECs got off a shot or two at first, but once we were within the hold the dumbasses just stood there like statues and we booked it out to pick up Beta. Got to see the metal Elder go down from the viewscreen, but you could hear it toppling even from a block or two away.”

“Hmm… well, you’re lucky, Ipiktok,” Sharpshooter Stacie Belle told the young Ranger. “You got to enjoy the drama of that mission. I imagine the vast majority of our future ops will be a lot more low-key than that,” she surmised, taking a puff of her cigarette.

“From how quickly O’Brien uploaded the virus into their newscast it looks like the Gremlins are working just fine,” Specialist Grant Imahara noted. “Good to know.”

“I could have told you that,” Bonnie said, taking a swig of her own beverage. “Mr. Sour’s been using one on the outside for years. He’s still with us, so they can’t be that ineffective.”

Yakone raised an eyebrow, having another drink. “Who’s ‘Mr. Sour’? You talking about that Specialist that’s been lurking around behind closed doors with his bot more affectionately than the Chief?”

Beside the group, a blond-haired man sighed as he sat down, his drone remaining floating behind him. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything,” he muttered, waving the bartender open. “Spreading rumors about me again Bonnie?”

The Scot shrugged. “You do treat that thing like a wife.”

The drone tilted sideways, while Lester merely shook his head. “You’re just trying to give yourself an excuse to say I’m taken,” he said, turning to face them. “Maybe you’ve got some affection bubbling deep down there.”

Bonnie physically paled. “You what.’

“Preeetttty sure you two are at least a decade apart,” Yakone interrupted with a shake of her head.

“Thanks!”

“Now I have to drink to forget that mental image too,” the Inuit-Caucasian went on.

“Now that is a verifiable excuse to keep drinking,” Danielle informed her friend with a roll of her eyes.

Lester accepted his drink with a smile at the bartender. “Mind if I join you? I too find myself in need of removing that thought from my brain.”

Bonnie glared at him. “You brought it up in the first place. And what’s so bad about the idea of me havin’ some fun? I’m not fifty yet.”

“Not far off,” Lester murmured into his glass before taking a gulp.

“Don’t worry,” Yakone assured the Grenadier, “you’re more likely to get some than Commander Iceberg.” A bit less audibly, she muttered, “not that I blame her for that one.”

“Ach, give your mum some credit. That hair suits her.”

Lester eyed the Scot for a moment. “Do you not want any of us to sleep well tonight? That’s another image I didn’t want.”

Bonnie bristled. “Why’re you pinnin’ this one on me? You started it!”

“I blame Yakone for the topic becoming sex around her… she has some sort of psychic aura I swear,” Firebrand said, having a sip of some wine.

“You have absolutely no proof of that,” Yakone complained.

Lester nearly spat out his drink. They have wine here?! Why was I never told? “Well, you are a green psion,” he stated, a bit more dignified. “I’ve heard of a number of... rather interesting things they’re capable of.”

Yakone leaned back in thought. “Yeah, I have considered the other applications of neural biokinesis, but I’ve never had the motivation to test-”

“Enough already, dear God!” Firebrand insisted. “You owe me for extracting your sorry bacon.”

“Fine…”

“We’ll all end up owing you a lifedebt if we’re stepping up our activities,” Lester complained. “Either that or we walk home. Not exactly a fair system if you ask me.”

Danielle smirked. “Hey, you get what you pay for.”

“No one pays any of us anything,” Yakone pointed out.

“You get what we have on hand then. Technically you all already owe dad for transportation fees now that we’re airborne.”

The Specialist sighed. “And this is why the old countries used to go into debt all the time,” he said, taking another drink.

“Why so glum, Mo? You almost sound like you’d prefer ADVENT to me,” Yakone joked for the most part innocuously.

Lester shrugged. “Eh. Gray skin wouldn’t work with my hair. And those helmets? Unless I got the cape, wouldn’t be worth looking like a lamppost.”

“Or giving identification to one all the time,” Firebrand added. “Tygan has no shortage of horror stories.”

“I guess the cape would be the one thing tempting me,” Yakone conceded. “But I expect I’m on the most wanted listed now.” She grinned devilishly. “How many people can say that?”

The man and his drone glanced at each other. “Shall I ask for a show of hands?” he asked dryly.

“Oh, I’m sure the rest of you are on some watch list, but only the original Menace 1-5 are no longer just ghosts,” Yakone countered. “Plus I’ve got psionics so that makes me even more coveted.”

“That part I don’t think’s a good thing…” Firebrand responded. “Unless you like being brainwashed and conscripted if you get captured. At least the others would have a chance of imprisonment and escape in the event they got cornered.”

“What’s the phrase? ‘They’ll never take me alive?’ Or dead for that matter,” the Ranger replied.

“Depends on your infamy,” Lester said. “I wasn’t there myself, but one of my squadmates barely avoided being captured only a few weeks ago, and only because he wasn’t the target. ADVENT pulled out… maybe not all stops, but most of them.” He grinned. “So don’t get too well-known, or you’ll have some interesting people at your doorstep.”

“What, a Charger or a Muton kicked down his door or something?” Yakone asked presumptuously. “Sure those are scary, but hardly unbeatable.”

“Worse. He said an Elder was involved.”

“Bullshit!” Yakone shouted in disbelief. “I’ve never heard of them doing anything more than posturing and then disappearing into the shadows again.”

“Then perhaps you should talk to your mother a bit more,” Lester stated, taking another drink. “It’s rare, but every now and then one pops up. This one in particular is apparently something like a detective. Brought my friend’s father in for interrogation. I… uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t think he’ll be released afterwards, considering.”

“Well, damn…” Yakone was quiet for a moment. “That sucks, though for us… we do want to eventually attract their attention. After all, the end goal is cutting off the heads of the Protectorate and their puppet empire, right?”

The Specialist frowned. “I hope that’s not a literal desire. Decapitations make me squeamish.”

“Hey, I’ve got a sword. I have to use it. It’s not even a desire; it’s an obligation.”

“A stab will get the job done, there’s no need to desecrate someone’s body like that.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Suddenly I’m appreciating Arthur’s reserved manner a lot more.”

“Maybe if they were human, but it’s not like it matters so much for aliens,” Yakone retorted. “I won’t go decapitating any ADVENT soldiers if that makes you any less squeamish, missus.”

“Got a bit of a weak stomach there, Lesty?” Bonnie taunted.

“Forgive me for not wishing to bathe myself in the blood of my enemies,” ‘Lesty’ returned.

“So you’re no fun is what you’re saying,” Yakone said with a smirk.

“If being no fun mean’s I’m not a blood-soaked psychopath with a large knife at the end of this, then so be it. I’d rather not slice my way through life. It’d become difficult to know when to stop.”

“I have no worries. We don’t stop until ADVENT is burning,” Yakone said more seriously. “Not everything gets slashed, but I won’t hesitate or anything.”

“Just… don’t get too into it,” Lester warned. “We kill as a means to an end. Not for fun. We start doing that, we’re no different to the criminals ADVENT portrays us as.”

“Now you know why I call him ‘Mr. Sour’,” Bonnie muttered.

Yakone shrugged, opening another can of beer and downing a good portion of it in one go. “No, I’m not that crazy. Combat is thrilling, but I don’t get off from cutting people down. Way I see it, ADVENT soldiers I fight are more than likely victims of the Coalition itself. The aliens… I’ll let Robert figure out what makes them tick, my job’s just to take them out with bullets or blade.”

“That, I can agree with,” Lester said, nodding. “Though I hold doubts as to whether we can actually achieve what we want in our lifetimes… assuming those lifetimes are longer than ‘a few weeks’, anyway.”

“Again, pessimistic… the time is now or never,” Yakone proclaimed, finishing off the rest of the can - which was perhaps more than enough, as a slur was creeping into her words. “Past twenty have been buildup, but now we kick some serious ass.”

 

[Black0ut]

Black0ut + DarkGemini24601
“Changes”
1736 Hours, June 3rd
South Dakota, Underground Base, Corridor


The corridor echoed with the sounds of boots scraping on concrete, as a large man with braided man ran down the hall, a frantic look on his face. Great…the boss is probably pissed I haven’t reported in by now! Red Hawk thought nervously, I wonder why the boss wants me… I mean, this usually happens if someone has seriously screwed up, but I haven't done anything recently that warrants that kind of action. I hope it's a bit better than that... The large native arrived at the Red Heart’s command office, and slowly opened the door, unnerved to see the leader’s chair swiveled away from the door.


Said leader, Benjamin Carson, did not turn to face Mark immediately. Instead, the man posed a question. “What would you think of the prospect of a choice, Red Hawk. Not an everyday, pedestrian one, but a choice to be part of something greater at the cost of leaving what you know behind?”


The Oglala man smiled nervously, “Um...What do you mean, Sir?”


Benjamin sighed, and turned around, rubbing a thick beard in thought. “Right… you probably didn’t see it considering you were in the field at the time.” He cleared his throat. “Not long ago someone managed to hijack ADVENT’s Unification Day broadcast. They managed something that no one else has since the Irish infiltration of a Megacity in Europe. Tell the truth to people in the city centers. This resistance cell is no ordinary one… apparently they’re that legendary force that fought against the aliens twenty years ago and actually managed to win some fights. XCOM. And they want recruits.”


The Soldier’s eyes widened. “A-and they wanted me? To join them?” The man asked incredulously, “Why? I'm not particularly exceptional by their standards.”


Ben chuckled, reclining slightly in his chair as he reached to his desk to open a can of beer and take a swig of it. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. They’ve taken some pretty run-of-the-mill people. You may not be the best the entire Resistance has to offer, but you’re good enough. You’ve done a lot for us, and more than that…” he sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but as much as you’ve been an important piece of our group, you’re not essential. Right now I need more mechanics than anything to get these old vehicles running. I can afford to let go of a soldier to help them. That’s why I picked you as a prospectable volunteer.”


“I see.” Red replied stoically. I should've seen this coming. Should’ve guessed why no one looked in my general direction this morning. The Native thought, figures, given my luck that something like this would occur. Standing taller, the large man sighed, “So… to put it bluntly, I'm irrelevant?” Mark moved towards a wall, deciding to use it as support for the heavy news. After a moment, Red asked quietly, “I'm going to guess that there is no alternative to this situation?”


“It is still your choice of course. I won’t force you to leave, but I want to send them some kind of help… they’re the only ones poised to really make a difference,” Carter replied gently.


I...I think this is the first time I haven't had an answer for something. I wonder if I should ask him… Maybe...Maybe it'd help. The Sioux thought worriedly. Shaking his head slightly, he responded slowly, “Fine. I'll go to XCOM, wherever they are. Even though I wish you hadn’t put me on the spot, I still wish you good luck. You'll need it for the days ahead.”


“Of course. And the same sentiment goes to you.” Benjamin gestured upwards. “Your ride’s actually on the roof of the abandoned building we’re under. You won’t see it at first, but just… give it a moment.”


Red nodded, moving towards his former leader, and offering his hand. “Thank you for the chance to be a part of your organization, Sir.”


Ben nodded, lowering his hand so that he could shake Mark’s. “I’m sure I’ll see you on ADVENT wanted posters in no time, Hawk,” he said with a wry grin.


“Just as long as you guys keep to the shadows.” Red responded, a small grin appearing on his face. Shortly after, the Sioux relinquished his grip on the leader's hand, and began walking out of the room, stopping just at the doorway, and quietly muttered, “Goodbye, Ben.”, before finally leaving.


Heading up the various passageways, Red made his way outside, the evening breeze refreshing the Native man. Continuing, he navigated the building's stairways, doing his best to not notice how dilapidated the building truly was. After a few moments, the Sioux came to a door with the faded words: ‘Roof Access’. I wonder what XCOM will be like? Maybe… Maybe once I'm have a bit more experience, I could ask for a favor… Ah, what the hell. “Here goes nothing…” Hawk muttered, before opening the dilapidated door.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

If I only had an Metal Brain

Onboard the Avenger
June 3rd, 1147 Hours

Intelligence Officer Joseph Andrews paced around his department's office, watching the progress of his team. Coder Fuchs was going of Gremlin GZ-MO's code to make sure it didn't pick up anything while interfaced with the ADVENT systems. Records keeper Monroe was updating XCOM records with everything learned from the mission. Joe knew Rasputin was in the other room analysing the data GZ-MO had brought back to devise systems for better hacking.

Her leaned down next to Krystal De Luca of Intel. "How is it coming, Krystal."

"It took me awhile, but I am nearly finished compiling the video data from our troops fights with the alien opponents. It should only be a few more minutes, sir."

Joe patted her should as he stood up. "Relax, you're doing fine. As soon as it is done, I'll run..." He turned and nearly ran into the blond girl standing behind him. Skidding to a stop, her lost his balance and fell forward, able to catch himself at the last moment with his hands. He rolled into a sitting position and shook his now sore palms. "Ouch, that smarts."

"I'm sorry!" Brigid held out a box with a dozen data units. "I was just bring this! I didn't mean to get in the way!"

"Hey, no problem," Joe insisted. "I needed the reflex test." He took the box and looked its contents over. "Your name is... Brigid O'Brien, right? How..."

"Hunnigan... sir."

Joe looked up. "Pardon?"

"My name." Brigid rubbed her wrists nervously. "It is Brigid Hunnigan. After my father. It is the only thing I have to remember him by."

Joe smiled. "Hunnigan it is. How is you mother? She did an impressive job on her first op, you know?"

Brigid finally smiled. "Thank you, sir. She is doing good."

Krystal stepped up and handed Joe a flash drive. "Here is all the data. It is too much to send through the systems since our computers are so busy."

"Right." Joe stood up, and placed the data units to the side. "I better head down to the labs then. They'll..."

"I'll do it!" Brigid held out her hand. "It is my job. And I know the fastest way there using the halls, lifts, and access tunnels."

"Access tunnels, huh?" Joe handed her the drive with a smile, and watched her run off. He sat at his computer and started working on reconstructing broken down data files from the Gremlin's hacks to see about improving their hacking speed. Ten minutes later, an exclamation mark popped up in the corner of the screen. "What have you got?" he asked, then grimaced at the sight on the screen. "Good thing I haven't eaten in a while."

His younger daughter didn't look up from the corpse of the hoverguard, simply taking another slice into its lower back. "Sorry, dad. I got your delivery. I'd look it over now, but I'm busy. I need to do this ADVENT guy, and after this, I have that Cleric, and then that grey mush of a brain. Not in the easiest thing, that one."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Commander put a bullet in it or something?"

Jennifer sighed. "Noooo. But it is a mass of bio-electrics and mechanical bits. Not exactly your average human, or even alien brain. That one is going to take work."

Joe grinned. "I'll tell the Commander to bring back some schematics next time."

Jenn did not looked amused. "That would help." She let out a huff. "What sucks is they killed one of those snake things but couldn't bring it back."

Her father shrugged. "Even had your sister not been injured, you saw what they were facing. They had to get the hell out of dodge."

"I said I wish they brought it back. I didn't say I don't understand why they didn't." Jennifer pushed some musculature out of the way with some forceps. "Interesting..."

"What is it?" Joe asked, leaning forward.

"Well... the propulsion system is fragged. Likely an autodestruct from when it died, same as the weapons. But from what remains, I can see this is a much more sophisticated design then those floater things from twenty years ago." She pulling off her bloody gloves and grabbed a camera, snapping a few pics. "I'm sure Lily would like to see these. If we could incorporate some of this design... I just wish I had an intact unit..."

Joe chuckled. "We'll put raid a Hoverguard factory on the list. Keep us informed of anything else of interest you find."

"Alright, dad." Jennifer reached for another pair of gloves. "Computer off."

Joe turned to the rest of his crew. "Alright, everyone... Twenty minute break." He stood up and walked to the door. "Who wants snacks? I heard we have a pretty good cook on board." He grinned as the others all rose their hands, and quickly stepped out.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1228 & ZombieSplitter53
Sunny Side Up: Part One

Onboard the Avenger
The Cafeteria
June 3rd, 1933 Hours

Jack rubbed his neck, strained after a long day's work. This XCOM was really about getting things down, more so then his 'lay low until we're needed' group from before. Of course, Jack didn't mind hard work. He just wasn't used to this level.

He walked into the ship's cafeteria, obviously repurposed over the years from whatever slop the aliens ate. Approaching the counter but not seeing anyone, he called out, "Who's hands do I have to grease to get some grub here?"

Cathy quickly popped up from behind the counter, "Wow! You're big, you should play... Ah... What was that sport? Nasketball?"

"Um... Basketball?" Jack slowly shrugged. "I used to play a little before... you know, the aliens."

"Wait?! You were alive before the aliens came!?" Catherine leaned forwards over the counter, "Tell me, tell me, tell me, hahh..."

Talk about eccentric... "Uh... okay." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Give me something to eat and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

She jumped, before turning around and rifling through the drawers behind her, "Yes! Okay, what do you want? We've got so much stuff in here! Sugar, baking supplies, and even REAL MEAT! Not that weird grey substitute meat that they gave us in the cities, stuff's gross, it always left this weird greasy film on our tongues, it was just, blegh..."

"Yeah, heard they saved the good stuff for the high ups, and by high ups, I mean ADVENT. Um..." Jack raised an eyebrow. "How about a nice, big hamburger?"

"Oooh, Classic! Hope you don't mind if I make myself one too!" She exclaimed, pulling out the required supplies.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. "You know... you are significantly more upbeat then your average... well, anyone."

"Yeah, I know..." She smiled, mixing together bread crumbs, eggs, and custom made ketchup sauce with the hamburger, "It's just how I like to live. Putting on a smile can't hurt, there's no negatives to it, it just makes everyone feel good, including yourself. It makes even the worst of situations just that little bit better."

"I guess," Jack said. "But aren't you afraid you'll rub someone the wrong way?"

"Uhh... What'd you mean? Why would me being happy make someone mad?" She asked genuinely, "That doesn't make any sense."

Jack rubbed his chin. "Well, when you put it that way, it might seem silly. But when someone is really, really down, and thinks there is no room or reason to be upbeat, they could find you... for lack of a better term... annoying. No offense."

"But... I'd be trying to make them happy... Why would someone not want to be happy?" She asked, flattening the patties and throwing them on a skillet with some butter.

"Well, because when someone is really, really upset, they end up not wanting to feel better." Jake gave her a curious look. "You've never felt like that?"

"No..." Catherine shook her head, the scent of cooked meat filling the air, "Who would ever want to just stay sad and sulk when they could let themselves feel better? That's like... A sick person refusing medicine because they'd rather just be sick..."

Jack shrugged. "No one ever said it was rational. But humans aren't always rational. Besides, I'm... getting the impression you have always lived in a Megacity, and never had much to be sad about."

"Hey, I've had plenty to be sad about, if I didn't, I wouldn't be here." She replied flipping the burgers, "I just try not to let the negatives get to me, you know. You can be sad, just don't let it hurt your loved ones and friends by forcing them to see you like that. Not to mention, if you keep a positive attitude, you'll get better, faster. There's always a bright side to things."

Jack scratched his chin. "I bet there are plenty of people here that would envy that optimism." He leaned against the counter. "Mind if I ask what brings you here? Everyone here has a different story, but they usually come down to being burned by ADVENT of the Elders."

Her timer rang loudly, causing her to move the patties onto a plate, "I've always wanted to run a nice restaurant, but the aliens won't let anyone whose not with them run stores, which makes it pretty hard to live my dream... My parents always told me stories, of a world where everyone was free to be whoever they wanted, in that world, I could even be a governor if I wanted to! That's why I'm here, I want to do my part to help bring that world back!"

"That is... a fascinating reason for being here," Jake said, a bit caught off guard. "But you do realize it will be quite hard, and we could all be killed, right?"

She stopped for a second, "Yes... I uh... Do..."

Jack frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't come to deflate your optimism."

"It's alright... I just don't like to think about it is all... No point in dwelling on the worst possible scenario..." She said, throwing cheese, lettuce, and other topping onto the burgers.

Trying to lighten the mood, Jake said, "I... I sure hope those burgers taste as good as they look."

"Oh, you better believe they do." She smiled, bringing them over to the counter and setting them down, "I'm used to trying to make that substitute they gave us as tasty as possible, most people can barely eat the stuff. So if I can make that stuff taste good, then these babies should be like 'Pow!'"

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1228 & ZombieSplitter53
Sunny Side Up: Part Two

Jack chuckled besides himself, and took a big bite. He chewed it for a bit, a placed the burger down, pointing at it. "Young woman... this might be the best damn burger I have ever had."

"Really?!" Her said as her face lit up, "Wow! I thought the Ketchup sauce I used might have been a little too basic, but I guess basic doesn't mean bad!" Catherine lifted up her own burger, pushing it past her lips and taking a bite, "Oh... Oh... Wow... With food this good, we'll have a recruit line like fifty miles long before we know it!"

"I can get used to cooking like this." The large man offered a large hand. "Jake Irons, by the way. Engineering."

She quickly reached over, shaking his hand enthusiastically, "I'm Cathy Thomas, it's wonderful to meet you!"

"Well, Cathy," Jack said after another bite. "I believe I owe you a tale. You wanted to know about the time before the aliens, the megacities, and human subjugation, right?"

"Yes! I've always wondered what it was like!" She exclaimed, "Tell me everything, spare no detail!"

"Okay... let's see. I don't suppose you know what the United States of America was?"

"I've heard of it! From my parents of course. They founded the nation on these basic, unalienable rights, and strictly followed a code called the... uh... Confederations? No... The... C-c-c..."

"The Constitution." Jack smiled proudly. "You would have liked it. It was founded on the belief that everyone had the right to their life, their freedom, and the pursuit of their own goals. It wasn't perfect. But it was a place where you could work hard and succeed, and have the right to all of that success, not have its success siphoned to please some unseen aliens for who-knows-what. A place where you could call the guy in charge a colossal ass and not fear being hauled off in the middle of the night. You could speak your mind, live your life, and be your own person. No ADVENT enforcers, no gene labs, and no aliens hiding in the shadows. And if we can get a piece of that back someday... expect me in line to that restaurant you'll have the right to build. Hell, expect me to be there to help you build it."

Cathy rested her head in her hands, smiling happily, "Ah... That sounds wonderful... And you're from there? The United States?"

Jack nodded. "From a city called Chicago, right in the center of the country. I had the pleasure of most of my childhood being alien free."

"Were there... Psionics back then? " Catherine asked.

"Psionics?" Jack thought about it. "I don't think so. None I ever knew or heard about. This business with people throwing fire and reading minds were works of fiction."

"Huh... No Gene mods either, right?" Catherine added, "I mean, I knew the alien invasion jumped our tech forward a lot, but I never thought it was by that much."

Jack chuckled grimly. "Cathy, my dear... they jumped technology fifty... a hundred... in some fields, maybe as much as two hundred years. The question is... was it worth in?"

"I'm... Not sure..." She answered slowly.

Jake nodded. "Me either. Leaning towards no, personally." He shrugged. "But it is here now. Might as well use all this tech against those bastards."

"Right." She nodded, "While I'm not exactly a fan of killing people, they don't seem to feel the same way about us, they've left us no choice."

Jake grunted. "Believe it or not, I wasn't keen on killing people either in my younger days. But we do what we must." He took the last bite of his burger and nodded in satisfaction. "Well... I doubt you would every have a need of my services building and maintaining our weapons, but you'll see me again in here. Gotta get a belly full of this exquisite cooking."

"Actually..." Catherine smirked, "Do you have any paint I could borrow?"

"Paint?" Jake thought for a moment. "Actually, yeah. Nothing flashy. Just reds, greens, blues, yellows, and black and white. In case we need to camo the weapons up, or someone wants something on their personal weapon. I can get you some with a brush, sure."

"Yes!" She exclaimed excitedly," Now... do you know if it's against the rules to paint our rooms?"

"Paint our rooms?" Jack scratched his head. "I have no idea. But... I don't see why it would be if your roommates don't mind."

She waved her hand, "Don't worry, If they don't like rainbow, Elder forbid, they can paint their part however they like to, even that stick in the mud Russian guy."

Jack shrugged, and stood up. "Well, I better hit the showers. It was really nice meeting you. Um... word of advice, little lady. Don't say 'Elder forbid'. It... won't end well with some people. Trust me."

She instantly realized her mistake, "Oh! Yeah, I guess I probably shouldn't say that anymore... I never did worship them or anything, it's just part of the language."

Jack held up a hand. "It's okay. I understand." He gave her a small smile. "See you around, Cathy. And thanks for the burger."

"No problem, buddy!" She said as she watched him leave, "Man, XCOM is going great so far, now I just need to meet everyone else!"

 

[Dahlexpert]

Fruit of your labor

Southwest of La Paz, Mexico
2300 Hours, June 3
Onboard the Avenger

Level 2, Rear Block
The Bar


Luke is the bar watching the news, there still talking about the unification day assault. “It has been two days since the assault from the terriost group known as XCOM, ADVENT has identified two people of one of the assault groups. This group is the one that attacked the statue, one of the individuals is Lilith Van Dam a former ADVENT officer that turned traitor 3 years ago. The second person is her nephew Luke Van Dam, a wanted criminal for theft and arson. If you see these two anywhere on Terra please report them to ADVENT.

Luke turned off the TV, and took a swing of his brandy “Ha ha I love looking at my work. Ou just looking at that statue being destroyed, boom ha ha that has to be my greatest I taken down.

“Really, that’s the greatest thing you taken down?” Lilith enters the bar grabbing a bottle of beer

“Well I suppose you can relish this victory, this is going to be the first of many.” Lilith took a quick sip of her beer “But, you do realize that this is going to get harder right?

“Yea I know, it’s going to be very interesting to see what ADVENT does further down the line. But what do you think aunty? How despite will ADVENT be to stop us?

“Well for now, we have their attention they know we exist for now they are disoriented. They faced rebels before, but they were disorganized and had very little weapons and were quickly eliminated. Now they have us a true resistance, right now there trying to find us but thanks to the ship being clocked they can’t find us. But since XCOM took this ship it’s heavily damaged so were not going any were anytime soon”

“I’m sure they will change that, not sure when but I’m sure we will get this thing flying at some point.” Luke took another swig of his brandy till it was empty Luke reached around the bar and refilled his glass.

Lilith looked at look shaking her head. ”Luke, you did good out there for your first mission. So good in fact I want to give you something.” Lilith reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a picture

“What’s this?

“That my dear boy is your mom and dad. This was taken when you were three years old.”

Luke looked at the picture, and is surprised at the people in it. “So this is my mom and dad? I look just like my dad. Well a younger version of him but still.”

“Yea you do, and that blond woman is your mom Scarlet. They both loved you very much, and I know I don’t tell you this much Luke. But I’m proud of you, and your making your mom and dad proud. You’re an excellent solder.

“Yea thanks aunty, this this a good little present thank you.

Lilith rubbed Luke’s head “No problem kid you deserve it.”

Spoiler: Luke dad

Spoiler: Luke mom

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Onboard the Avenger
The Cafeteria
June 4th, 1100 Hours

Morrigan quickly tore into a warm piece of corned beef, savoring the taste. She didn't care much for the chef, a woman that threatened to put Morrigan into a sugar coma should she get too close, but damn, could she cook.

"Hey." Alexis sat across from her with a sandwich and some fruit. "Mind if I sit here?"

Morrigan shrugged. "Don't really care, though don't you usually ask that before you actually sit down?"

Alexis shrugged back. "Whatever?"

Morrigan sighed and returned to her meal. She tried to ignore Alexis, but the look she was giving said that wouldn't be possible. "Alright. Out with whatever you want to talk about."

Alexis popped a grape in her mouth. "Just one question, then I'll be out of your hair. I wanted to ask... why did you kill that guy?"

Morrigan took a big bite and gave her a bored look. "I killed, like, three or four guys. You're gonna have to be more specific."

Alexis narrowed her eyes a bit. "I think you know who I mean."

Morrigan put her knife and fork down. "Because he was the enemy. He was dangerous. And I didn't want him to wake up and shoot us in the back."

"But he got hit by a flying door," Alexis said, somewhat insistent. "He probably wouldn't have been able to move even if he somehow woke up."

Morrigan's eye twitched. "Then what? We leave him to recover and potentially kill one of us another day?"

Alexis' eyes darted about, realizing she hadn't thought this through as well as she thought. "We... we could have captured him. Interrogated..."

Morrigan laughed grimly. "Even if we were able to somehow get through all that mental training to keep them from talking, even under torture, how much do you think we could have got from him, a common grunt? And what then? Let him go to possibly expose us? Kill him anyway?"

"Or rehabilitate him!" Alexis insisted. "I mean... w-what about Lilith Van..."

"Lilith Van Dam is an extreme case," Morrigan interrupted, starting to raise her voice. "She was never truly one of them. She is the exception that proves the rule. The rest knew what they were getting into, and within the first month, they do things that make them irredeemable. Trust me. I nearly married one."

"But... but to kill one in cold blood like you did... it seems so... inhuman. They're not aliens. They're still..."

"THEY ARE NOT HUMANS!" Morrigan yelled, drawing the attention of everyone around as she stood up and grabbed Alexis' shirt, pulling her close. "Not anymore! You're right. They're not aliens. They're worse! They're monsters that sold out against their own species! They torture! They murder! They manipulate! Did I kill that me because I wanted to? Yes! And I am sorry that was inhumane of me. I hate that part of me. But I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Alexis was speechless, having nothing she could think to say to defend herself against what Morrigan was saying.

Morrigan sighed, and finally released Alexis, sitting down and taking a big bite of her food. "I envy that humanity in you. But you need to grow up. This is war. Those ADVENT bastards won't show you any mercy. They're machines. Weapons. The Elders' pets. Don't get yourself killed trying to save them..."

She shoveled the rest of her food in her mouth, and left a sad looking Alexis to ponder on what was said, letting her violet hair cover her face so no one could see her.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Odd Guy Friends Part One (MarineAvenger and Dahlexpert)

Southwest of La Paz, Mexico
2300 Hours, June 4
Onboard the Avenger

Rear Block levele 2
The Bar

Luke sat on a stool going through the TV with a bottle of rum next to him wearing a leather jacket over a red t-shirt. "My god is there anything else on? They are still talking about the statue attack."

"What do you expect Luke? It is only the biggest thing to talk about right now." A fellow soldier said to the man. "Though it won't last long. I imagine they will try and silence everything as soon as possible. Or turn it in their favor."

"Yeah I know, but damn I was expecting them to say, ‘No one need to panic, everything is under control’, and all that mess. This is just annoying."

The soldier shrugged, going back to his drink. "Whatever..."

As the pair drank, someone dressed in dark clothes walked in, having a strange look about him. The fact he was the one oriental man in the bar kind of made it obvious he was different, and the black and red jersey and baseball cap he worse with strange lettering on it didn't help much with that image as he got his drink and sat down alone, crushing a peanut at an empty table.

Luke looked over at the weird individual and headed toward him "Hey buddy, mind if I join you?"

"Um... sure, yeah. I guess you can." The man answered, waving to an open seat.

Luke took the seat, and took a swing of his rum. "So you kinda stand out around here, plus I never seen you before… you a soldier?"

The man chuckled and shook his head. "No, not a soldier. I am a doctor. The Head Doctor. Kai Kazuko." He said with a smile, sipping his own drink.

"Name’s Luke, I’m a soldier. Well to be frank, I was on the team that blew up that statue.” Luke pointed at the TV. "They been talking about that for days now, I'm very proud of that moment."

"Right. It seems after almost three years now we are all finally doing things to help." Kai said proudly.

"You can call it help. Me… I'm just happy to be fighting the aliens. Wait, how long have you been on this ship... well with XCOM?"

"Nearly three years now. Like I said, I am the Head Doctor. I was Robert Tygan's student for many years." The Japanese man explained to the other.

"Wow you’ve been here for three years? That's a long time. So since you’ve been here for so long, you dated anyone or gotten any action with the ladies here?"

"E-Excuse me?" Kai asked with a nervous laugh.

"Have you had a relationship with anyone on this ship,or slept with them? Kissed them or anything."

The man's hand unconsciously went to his nose, rubbing it. "I just take care of patients. No women in my life..."

"Hm… well that's odd. I figured women would be all over you being a doctor and all.” Luke looked back at Kai and saw that he seemed uncomfortable. "Um dude you alright? It looks like you're barely keeping yourself together."

Kai shook his head and chuckled nervously. "No, no, I am quite alright. Nothing to worry about!"

"Dude, you're sweating bullets and you look uncomfortable as crap. So is there something wrong with you?"

"Y-Yeah... there is... but it usually isn't something I like to talk about." The head doctor admitted, laying his head down.

"What talking about girls? Are you shy around them or something?"

"...gynophobia..." Kai groaned.

Luke looked at Kai in confusion "What i'm sorry what did you say, I didn't hear you."

"I suffer from gynophobia." The doctor spoke up louder, downing his drink.

Luke looked confused. "Wait what's gynophobia?"

"Fear of women. I get shaky and sweaty if one is close. If one touches me my nose starts to bleed." Kai sat back, throwing some peanuts into his mouth, chewing them slowly.

Luke couldn't help but to laugh. "Oh man, did you chose the wrong career. Don't doctors see people half naked most of the time?"

"I am not the one who usually does that stuff. I oversee staff and do the autopsies. I also help Robert or Lily when needed." Kai explained. "I have one female patient but she is twelve. Little girls aren't so much a problem for me."

"Well that's a good thing, it would look really bad for you if you got a nosebleed from a twelve year old. So you get nervous around any woman?"

"Yep... Any woman. No matter who." Kai explained.

"Uh huh, hey Belle come here for a minute!" Luke called out to one of the female soldiers.

"D-Don't you dare..." Kai warned the man.

Uh oh... he is actually going to do it. Sukuna said in Kai's head.

Shut up, no he won't!

"Hey Belle, can you come here for a second?”

The female soldier arrived at Kai and Luke's table. "What's up Luke? Can I help you with something?"

"Well, you can help me with my drink among other things. But can you sit next to my friend here."

"Sure, I’m fine with free drinks. And your drinking rum too? Sounds great to me." Belle sat next to Kai.

He scooted away a bit. "Luke... t-this isn't funny..."

"Belle this is my... well I just met him. His name's Kai and he's the head doctor."

Belle looked at Kai "Nice to meet you Kai. I'm Belle. I'm a sharpshooter. My job is to take the enemy out at a distance, but it's nice to meet the head doctor." Belle offered her hand to Kai

He didn't take it and even turned his head. "L-L-Luke... c-can we... t-t-talk in private please?"

"Sure mate. Belle wait right here. I'll have that drink with you in a second."

"Sure thing Luke."

Luke walked to the side with the doctor. "Alright Kai, what's up?"

When they were out of sight of Belle he grabbed Luke's collar. "What the hell are you trying to pull!?"

 

[MarineAvenger]

Part Two

Luke sighed. “Okay, let's establish something. Number one, don't touch my jacket. Number two, I'm testing something with you because I think that whatever you call it is real. Let me ask you something, have you ever talked to a girl?

"Yeah... I talk to Lily on occasion because of work and there are nurses under my command... plus Chandra helps me sometimes during certain procedures."

"So if you're around woman constantly, by your logic you should be dead by blood loss. And I say again let go of my jacket..."

Kai released Luke and sighed. "I can act professional you know, and usually it is not long conversations and usually I keep my distance for that time. It is different from being in a bar." Kai slowly shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Alright. Come here." Luke grabbed Kai’s arm and brought him back to their table where Belle was still sitting. "Hey Belle, I hate to say this but Kai here is very nervous around woman."

"Oh that's fine, I'm cool with that… would you like me to just leave?"

"Yea for now. You can take the rest of my rum if that helps."

"Hey it's a free drink, I'm not complaining. Bye Luke, bye Kai." Belle took Luke's rum and went back to the bar.

The Japanese doctor let out a relieved sigh, sitting back down. "Thanks Luke... this isn't something that can be helped. Though... doesn't help that there is just one more person who could spread rumors about me."

"Belle isn't going to talk about you. Truth be told we solders are too busy for rumors. Plus you're a doctor. They have to go to you regardless. Rumors about the doctor being scared of women won't spread."

Kai sighed, rubbing his eyes, shaking his head. "I suppose most the people who have been here a while know. So far none of the new people really know too much, so I am trying to keep it under wraps. I know a majority of women are nice people, but I cannot just deal with them."

"Well you better learn, because with this war we’re waging there will be a lot of injured women. So no matter what you might see woman in their bra and panties. What will you did then?

"I have my ways. Don't worry Luke." Kai said with a serious look.

"Uh huh, right then we'll until that day happens I might send some girls your way."

Kai sighed and shook his head. "Please no..."

"Aw come on now, it would be fun seeing you try to talk to an attractive girl. Maybe I should call Belle back." Luke said with a smile.

"You know I am not a pacifist. I do have a mean right hook." Kai warned, though he gave a small grin.

"And I have this." Luke opened his hand, and showed a little fire ball in it "Now I don't feel like setting you on fire, or this bar. Though I could just hurt you the old fashion way."

"You know what the feeling of a thousand needles in your pressure points feel like?" Kai asked, crossing his arms. "Because I know everyone of those points... And I can really make them hurt." The man put his hand on Luke's shoulder and his eyes flashed green, his shoulder feeling on fire and stabbed at the same time for a brief few seconds before he removed his hand. "Just a thought."

Luke moved his shoulder around. "Not bad, so another green psion. Meh I could show you how psion fire is different than actual fire, but I see you being intense know and yet if I bring a woman here you will tense up. You see the unevenness here."

"Not everyone is black and white my friend. That is something someone like you has a hard time comprehending." Kai grabbed another drink and downed it.

"No, I get not everything is black and white. My life has been in the gray most of my life. And I come to figure out i'm not the only one that suffers from ADVENT, though I probably had it worst than most." Luke stick out his finger and a little flame comes out of it.

"Yeah? Did you waste almost ten years of your life and hard work with them too?" Kai asked the man.

"I never worked for Advent, but the person I made work for ADVENT I probably wasted 17 years of her life. So there's that." Luke stuck up his middle finger and a small flame came out of that.

"Yeah... A lot of regret comes from working with them. Best thing to happen was I was taught by my teacher Robert. Made those years worth it considering he was my best friend... My real only friend since women were out of the question and I was a bit of a shut in."

"Yea well, the person I made join ADVENT she did it to take care of me. I was sick one day so sick it's amazing that I lived through it, and then one day I just got better and got these powers. And well even though we just met, we can try to be friends I need some male friends."

Kai scratched his head, letting out a sigh. "Luke... You are an egotistical, muscle headed jackass." He noted, shrugging his shoulders. "So what the hell? I've met worse guys than you." The doctor said, holding out his hand to the man.

"Ugh huh, I been called worse." Luke shakes Kai hand and slightly burnt his palm.

"Ow!" Kai exclaimed, pulling his hand back. "Don't do that anymore!" Kai scolded Luke, looking down at his hand as the burn was slowly healed with a green glow.

"That was for what you did to my shoulder. Oh and since you're my friend you need a nickname. Hm… how about Genji?"

"No... Call me Kai or nothing else." The doctor said, looking at his watch. "I need to change for work. If you ever get sick come see me and I will set you straight. Won't be able to do much for an STD though, so for the love of everything sacred, stay safe." Kai said, slapping Luke's arm as he walked away.

As Kai walked away Luke mumbled. "Hey I am clean jackass… somehow. See you around Genji."

 

[Black0ut]

Black0ut & ZombieSplitter53

“Shared Guilt”
Part 1
June 5
1328 hours

Red walked through the hallway that ran beside the soldiers' rooms, trying to get his bearings in. "XCOM sure is interesting. I wonder what people are like here..." The Native mused.

From around the corner ran a short, blond figure, the ship's supply runner bumping into the man and falling back.

The large Sioux man, surprised at the sudden disturbance, took a step back, snapping out of his thoughts. After a moment, he looked down, noting that a little girl had run into him. Looking around for the parent, the large man stooped down to check on the mystery girl. "Hey, you alright? I apologize, if running into me hurt you. Can ya stand?" The Oglala man asked worriedly.

She quickly jumped to her feet, and bowed her head until she was nearly a ninety degree angle. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was rushing off to engineering to bring something to my mother, but I got transfixed on the view, and lost in thought, and now my mother will be upset, so I was rushing, but then I ran into you and fell down, and now I am even more late and I may have hurt you! I'm so sorry!"

The Sioux raised his hands, a look of concern in his face. "It's ok, it takes alot to hurt me. Why don't I go with you to explain the situation to your mom?" I feel bad... if I hadn't decided to go for a stroll, then this little girl wouldn't be having a heart attack over something so minor. Besides...why is she running around the ship in such a hurry, that slowing down scares her? Hmmm...

"Would! That would be great!" She stepped ahead of him, looking back as she walked towards engineering. "I'm Brigid Hunnigan."

"Mark. But my friends call me Red." The Sioux responded quietly, "So, your mom works in engineering?"

"A little bit," Brigid answered. "She mostly fights the aliens that make ADVENT act bad. She just got back from a mission."

"I see. Is your mom a nice woman? Is she ever mean to you?" The former P.I. asked gently, hoping to understand the situation before jumping to any conclusions.

Brigid seemed a bit perturbed by the question. "Um... my mom yells at other people a lot... but why would she be mean to me?"

The Native shrugged, "Different people have different lives. You also mentioned your mom being pretty upset with you not delivering her something. Sounded like trouble." Red responded quietly.

"Oh. No... I'm sorry. I didn't mean upset in that way. I didn't mean..." She looked back again. "My mother is always nice to me. Always. Super, super, supersupersuper nice. So nice, you could say almost too nice... you know?"

Hawk chuckled, "Yeah, I know. My mom was like that too. She was extremely nice to me, and could be incredibly mean to others. You have a good mom, kid. Treat her well." The Oglala native advised, a rogue yawn overtaking him.

As they neared engineering, Brigid smiled at him. "Thank you again, sir. I'm sure my mom will like you."

Here's hoping you're right, kid... Red thought nervously. "You and me both, kid." The big man replied.

The pair stepped into engineering and hadn't taken five steps in when an Irish woman with red hair seemed to come out of no where to drop on her knees and wrap her arms around Brigid.

"Where were you!?" she cried out. "I expected you fifteen minutes ago! I was so worried you had gotten hurt!"

"Mom, please," Brigid whined, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment.

"That would be my fault. Your daughter was running late, and I wasn't paying attention, so I accidentally ran into her. I apologize." Red said sheepishly.

"You're not hurt, are you?" She asked Brigid.

"No, mom. Mr. Red was very nice to me."
Morrigan stood up. "Mr. Red. You some piece of a board game?" She looked him up and down. "A really big piece?"

Red coughed nervously, "Um... My name is technically Mark, but my tribe named me Red Hawk." The Sioux explained.

"Red Hawk? So you're one of the, uh... um..." Morrigan scratched her head. "Like... like the Commander, right?"

The Sioux man raised an eyebrow, "Like the commander? I suppose so, but she's of a different tribe than me." Red responded quietly.

"Right, right." She shrugged. "Sorry. It wasn't exactly a subject in school. I don't mean to offend you."

Red shrugged as well, "You didn't. Anyways, I hear you're a soldier, Ms. Hunnigan?" The Native asked curiously.

"O'Brien," she corrected. "My name is Morrigan O'Brien. And you're correct."

A curious look appeared on Red's face, due to the last name difference. Opting for the less invasive question, The large man asked, "Why did you join XCOM? I'm sure the cheery atmosphere of this place didn't draw you in."

Morrigan folded her arms. "Actually, it partially did. The last resistance I was with had me scrubbing floors and cleaning guns instead of engineering or field work. I was blacklisted because I broke some rules to save my daughter from one of the megacity orphanages." She quickly crouched in front of Brigid. "Which wasn't your fault. They were mean people who refused to help me save you."

Red looked away, immediately regretting his question. "I'm... sorry that happened to you. At least you got away from that place. Sounds like a sh- er- awful resistance group." The large man said quietly, hoping that he hadn't upset O'Brien too much.

Morrigan looked up at him in surprise. "What?" She slowly stood up. "So you... you understand?"

Red nodded, "I was kicked out of my own group, and from what I can tell, it was nearly unanimous. I know how it feels to be treated like shi-er- crap." The Sioux elaborated quietly.

"Exactly! To feel unwanted because of one mistake! A mistake others caused! One people should understand but they don't!" Morrigan placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I love me daughter. And now that I have her, I wouldn't do anything to endanger the people protecting her. But my last group... that didn't care! We were supposed to be fighting together, but that couldn't get past pettiness, and through me away. Well, jokes on them! XCOM won getting you and me, right?"

"Maybe...well, truth be told, I have another reason for joining XCOM. But, I'll save that for another day. I want to know more about you. Why did you become a soldier?" Red asked curiously.

Morrigan smiled but her smile slowly faded. "Well, I... ADVENT arrested me, executed my husband, and stuck my daughter in an orphanage. I might bash on my old group, but if it wasn't for them, I'd probably be dead... or worse."

"The bad ADVENT took my mom and hurt her," Brigid explained. "We want to stop the aliens so the good ADVENT soldiers can take over. Soldiers like my dad."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. Is there...uh...anything I can do to make up for bringing up those unpleasant experiences?" Red asked gently, hoping he hadn't touched a nerve. I shouldn't have asked her that question, that was very stupid of me...

Morrigan stepped up to him. "Mr... um, Red Hawk. You haven't done anything wrong. You have been nothing but a gentleman."

"Still, I apologize. I generally forget that I'm no longer a private investigator, so I've pissed a few people off with my...questioning demeanor." Red explained, "If I get too curious about something that's too personal, let me know and I'll back off."

Morrigan sighed. "Brigid, wait here. Mr. Red... can I show you something in private?"

 

[Black0ut]

Black0ut & ZombieSplitter53

Part 2

"Sure. And call me Red. No need to be formal." The large man responded, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Morrigan waved for him to follow her. "Some people used to call me Red. Back when I was a happy house wife with... you know, friends and stuff. Back when I was blind to the world. Ignorance is bliss, I guess." She led him to one of the smaller supply rooms, and shut the door behind them, locking it.

The Native raised an eyebrow, before asking, "Any reason you locked us in a closet?" The big man asked stoically, although he was a bit nervous.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to beat you up. I think you have me handily beat in the physical strength department." She reached down, and started pulling up her shirt.

The large man immediately flushed red, and asked nervously, "U-um, why are you taking off your shirt?"

"Because you are so afraid of asking too personal a question. So I'm going to show you something personal so you won't have to worry about that." She placed her shirt to the side, standing in a modest black bra. She slowly turned, revealing a plethora of scars and burns of various sizes and origin on her back, a vast tale of the tortures she received while captive. With her arms exposed, he could see they had several as well.

"Damn." The former P.I. stated, stunned by the amount of damage Morrigan's body had sustained. After a moment, he followed up with, "Did... ADVENT do this?"

Morrigan slowly nodded. "If we had an X-Ray handy, you could see the internal damage. These... these scars represent my weakness. The pain I had to withstand to know the truth... to see past ignorance. This is why I fight. So no one else has to suffer like this. So my... daughter never has to know this horror."

Red nodded, a somber expression on his face. "That's a good reason. Since you showed me what happened, I'll tell you why I fight." The big man said, sighing before he continued, "My best friend was murdered by ADVENT while we were working a case. He was checking up on a suspect, who apparently had some connections to ADVENT. He walked up and was ambushed by a couple troopers. He came back to the office, filled with holes. He died while I tried to patch him up. His blood, " The Sioux raised his hands up, "is on my hands. I was supposed to go to the perp's house, not Nick. He gave me his revolver before he passed. I still have it."

"Looks like we both carry guilt," Morrigan said, grabbing her shirt. "It is probably a miracle you weren't picked off too."

"Well, I almost was. A day after Nick died, I buried him on a hill. When I came back to my small town, a former client warned me that some ADVENT soldiers had raided the office. Unfortunately, they were still around and I was spotted. Don't know how I got away, but I did." Red elaborated.

"How did you find your resistance group?" Morrigan asked, slipping her shirt back on.

"After wandering for 2 days, without food, or water, I made it to a abandoned city and collapsed. A wandering resistance patrol found me and dragged me into a building and interrogated me. Once they realized I wasn't a threat, they gave me some water and offered me a job. I agreed, and I followed them to their base." Red replied, relaxing a bit.

Morrigan nodded in understanding. "And there you have it. Secrets laid bare... or at least most of them. Feel better?"

"Yeah. Although, if we stay here any longer, we might be discovered. Could be hard to explain why two people are in a storage closet." Red replied, The faint twitch of a smile playing across his face.

Morrigan laughed, grabbed a random box of fuses, and said, "Thanks. I was having the hardest time finding these." She opened the door and let Red walk out first before returning to her daughter's side. "It was really nice meeting you, Red. You're an okay guy."

"Same to you, Ms. Morrigan. And," The big man said, stooping low, " It was a pleasure meeting you too, Ms. Brigid. Until next time." Red stood up, and proceeded to exit Engineering, offering a smile before going out the door.

Brigid leaned against her mother. "He is going to help us stop the bad ADVENT who hurt dad, right?"

Morrigan sighed, and nodded. "Of course, dear."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

ZombieSplitter53 and DarkGemini24601: “Consequences for your Actions, Part 1”

Northeast of ADVENT Railway
Former Republic of Costa Rica
1216 Hours, June 6th, 2038

Onboard the Avenger
Level 4, Port Wing
Gymnasium B

Alexis let out a strained huff as she pushed up for her ninth rep. 115 pounds might not have seemed like much to others, but it was 80% of the 5'5" woman's weight. She pushed up number ten, and struggled to get the weights back up, her arms collapsing as she did. "Damn..."

"You're not going to get much further with that unless you use your biokinesis to fight off fatigue," the Commander noted, leaning against a wall near the door. "Not sure why you feel the need to put in that much towards upper body muscle though, unless you're planning on switching one of your weapons to an LMG."

Alexis struggled to quickly stand up. "Commander. I... I like my all around fitness. There could be a situation in which upper body strength is key to saving myself or someone else, even if unlikely. I... I do still work a lot on cardiovascular exercises, of course."

"Even our best can't wrestle a Muton, so don't expect any amount of exercise to save you in a situation like that. I think you'd be better off trying to expand your psionic capabilities, perhaps unlocking something like the Physical Enhancement I can pull off. But your free time is up to you... though..." Atka crossed her arms, currently covered by her black leather jacket and white gloves. "I'm certain you know what a spotter is. So why are you lacking one?"

"I... I don't need a spotter, Commander." Alexis insisted. "I know my own strength. I don't need to bother someone else with it. And with all due respect, sir, I can think of a dozen things I could use physical strength for. Climbing. If I was caught off guard by an ADVENT sentry that thinks he can take me because of my size. The distance I can throw grenades. Carrying an injured ally out of danger. Please don't assume that just because I do this doesn't mean I don't work on my other training, including psionics. But unlike you, as it would seem, I can't always assume I can fall back on them, physical enhancement or not."

Atka sighed deeply. "I am NOT going to get into some... dick waving competition with you about who has a more balanced training regimen. I was offering advice, Chambers. The proper response is not to goad me - whether you agree with me or not."

Alexis scoffed. No wonder Yakone doesn't talk to you anymore than she has to. "I apologize, sir. I appreciate that advise, and will follow it."

"It's like a plague on this damn ship, isn't it? First O'Brien does this and now you." Atka walked up to Alexis, fury evident in her features. "I'd practically prefer if you'd act disrespectful openly than pretend to not be, because faking respect is the worst offense out of all options!"

Alexis took a step back, nearly tripping over the bench and having to sit. "I'm... I'm sorry, Commander. But you got made when I openly disagreed with you, and now you're mad that I agreed with you. I... I-I don't know what you want!"

"For you to stop acting like a petulant child and actually respect your commanding officer. You're 23 and part of XCOM. Behave accordingly."

Alexis shook slightly, her hands tightening into fists as she suddenly look like she was going to pop, but she said nothing. "Of course. My apologies."

Good enough. "I'll let you return to your training then, but I will assign someone to accompany you if you wind up in the infirmary due to a lack of a partner." Atka turned to leave.

Alexis watched her walk towards the exit. Eight years of anger and frustration threatened to boil over. Some leaked out. "Bitch," she muttered.

"Excuse me, Chambers? Did you say something?" Atka questioned warily, turning partway to glance back at Alexis.

Alexis nearly denied it. Let it retract into that ever growing cesspool in the back of her mind. Before she could, she blurted out, "I don't know why you say I don't show you respect. I must have some not to tell you what a bitch you are to your face." Two men working out nearby overheard, and rushed out as quickly as they could.

Atka smiled slightly - with no humor in it - and turned around a bit more to face Alexis. "Oh? Please do elaborate."

Alexis shrugged. "It is just ironic that, after all these years of you doing everything you can to establish yourself as queen bitch... all these years that you've ruined any chance of the people that should care about you the most after respecting you, I actually have enough respect for you to both only follow your orders, I don't go around telling everyone what a bitch you are. Funny, huh?"

Atka's smile fell. "Christ, you're pathetic. At least Yakone knows what she wants. You're just filled with aimless spite." She turned to leave again. "You're suspended from combat duty for insubordination until I see fit to restore your position - if... I see fit to restore it at all."

"What?!" Alexis rushed forward. "For telling you the truth!? You can't do that!"

The Commander shook her head. "I absolutely can," she said, opening the door for herself.

Alexis let out a grim laugh. "I can't believe this! You started sabotaging me eight years ago when you first called me a stupid, pathetic child, and have done nothing but the same for nearly a decade! I used to respect you. I used to idolize you. I used to love you! You were like my third mother after the first two I lost. But then you just..." Alexis shook her head. "But why should you care? Why should you care about me, or any of us when there's so much spite in you that you are incapable of even caring about your own daughter. You're right... I am pathetic. Pathetic for actually thinking some part of Commander Atka came back from the mission to get this damn ship."

"You haven't changed one bit since then! Veronica is dead, Nouja is dead! Get over it! Your father did eventually." Atka pushed Alexis up against the doorframe. "And you understand nothing. That I don't have fucking time to coddle you and Yakone! I have a resistance to lead, a liberation movement to... Lead..." She let go of Alex, smiling with bitterness. "And let me tell you the truth. I don't really care about any of that shit. I just want revenge. Nothing else matters."

Tears formed in Alex's eyes, mostly from the last statement. "You... You're a monster," she practically whispered. "You're just using XCOM for your goals like... like the Elders use ADVENT. You're just like them... just playing for the other side."

"What, are you going to give me some speech about how we should be better than them? Being on the moral high ground didn't spare a single soldier's life in the past 20 years," Atka spat, a slight quiver in her voice. "The powerful don't care how righteous or pure you are, they'll kill you as certainly as they would anyone else."

"So the solution is to act just like them?" Alex's voice had a tinge of fear in her voice, the woman looking a bit pale. "To use the people under you? The ends justify the means, right? It doesn't matter who dies under you as long as you get your goal. Your image as a protector of humanity is just a lie. Why... why are you here? You belong with ADVENT! You would make an excellent commander! I'm surprised you didn't abandon us for them twenty years ago like the rest!"

"You... You little... how dare you!" Atka screamed. "To compare me to those cowards, to him... You have some damn nerve." Atka's expression darkened. "You... you aren't going to keep quiet about this, are you? I can't let you try and ruin everything..." Icy snowflakes began to surround her right arm, forming into a spike-tipped helix. I could make this look like an accident. It's the only way to... to be...

The Commander stared into Alexis's terrified eyes, and tried to push aside her conscience. But as her gaze drifted down to her Icy Helix, the symbol of her denial - of her defiance to give up - she realized that maybe this was giving up. Good God, what am I doing?! the Inuit thought with horror, letting her Reflection shatter and releasing Alexis. "A...Alexis, I..."

Alexis tried to back up, but only hit the door frame. "I'm sorry, Commander. I... I won't say anything, I... please, just... l-let me go..." Her beat beat rapidly in her chest, feeling a kind of fear she had never felt before.

"I'm sorry," Atka whispered in a broken tone, shakily taking a step back. "I... I owe you an explanation. I'll... be on the landing pad deck outside."

Alexis shakily nodded her head. "O-okay, Commander."

 

[DarkGemini24601]

ZombieSplitter53 and DarkGemini24601: “Consequences for your Actions, Part 2”

After a few minutes had passed Atka got the impression the Trooper wasn't coming. With a sigh of frustration meant to mask a growing sense of dread, the Commander went back into the ship, and headed to the Computer Room figuring Alexis had fled to her father.

When she arrived, she nearly walked into Joseph stepping out. "Commander! I was just coming to find you. I need your help with something."

"I can imagine what..." Atka said dryly.

Joe waved his hand back to the room. "Alexis came in a few minutes ago. She was hysterical. I had to dismiss the rest of the staff. I finally got her to call down a little, but she refuses to tell me what happened. Someone might have threatened her! Maybe... maybe if you talk to her. Order her to tell us or something..."

"I'll speak with her," Atka said simply, before realizing she had no choice but to to elaborate if she didn't want the situation to get any worse. "This is... my fault, Joseph," she admitted.

"Your fault." Joe chuckled. "No offense, Atka, but whatever you might have said it yelled at her about wouldn't make her this scared."

"I nearly killed her in my anger and cowardice," Atka said bluntly.

Joe laughed again, but his smile quickly faded as her saw she wasn't kidding. "You... y-you..." He looked more confused than anything. "W... why? W-what did she do?"

"I let her goad me with talk of how I was a spiteful, empty human being - which isn't wrong. I told her the truth, that I don't believe in the Resistance cause, that I just want revenge. She called me a monster that was no better than those that deserted us - which.. isn't... wrong. And in my fear that she would turn all my allies against me, I considered killing her," Atka confessed, leaning against a wall as if she could barely breath. She whispered, "Maybe this is just how it has to end though. Maybe I don't deserve my vengeance."

She shakily offered her revolver to Joseph. "Well, you know that I've just been using all of you for my personal vendettas now. Do what you will."

Joseph looked down at the weapon, taking it. "Better... better take this so you don't use it on yourself." He shook his head. "Atka... I could never hurt you."

"I nearly killed your daughter!" Atka yelled hoarsely. "I'm not fit to lead... to be trusted with anything... e-even life..." She shook her head. "Christ, I'm pathetic.."

Joe took her shoulders. "Atka... look at me!" He stared into her eyes. "I don't know what exactly is wrong with you, but I do know something is wrong. This is not you. I don't know why you said the things you said, but I know you don't believe them. I know I'm not as close to you as Bradford is, but I am the one who has been by your side for the last decade. So please trust me when I say the person who threatened my daughter... she... was not... you."

"I don't have multiple personality disorder, Joseph... I'm not going to shed responsibility for my actions," Atka insisted.

"Would you calm down?" Joseph looked back and forth. "You're the Commander. The leader of XCOM. I don't think the rest of the ship needs to see you like this." He reached for the door to the information room. "You have an image to uphold, and damned if I'm going to let you ruin it."

The Inuit soldier took a deep breath, surprisingly quick to do as he asked. "Alright." Atka got up and went over to the door with him. "I just hope I can make her forgive me so she doesn't ruin that image."

Joe opened the door and ushered her in, quickly closing the door and pointing the the room to the side. "You won't know if you don't try. Do you want me to go with you, or would you prefer to talk to her alone?"

"I don't think she'll trust it unless you're there," was Atka's reply.

Joe nodded, and opened the other door for her. Within, Alexis was laying on a bed they used to relax during stressful shifts, her arm draped over her eyes. "Please, dad... just let me rest."

"I wasn't going to throw you off the ship you know. We're landed anyway," Atka said quietly.

"Commander!" Alexis sprang up to a sitting position and, over the earlier shock, looked ready to defend herself, even if she wouldn't stand a chance. Not seeing her father at first, she said, "I didn't tell anyone, I swear. I just... I won't tell anyone. Please, just leave me and my family somewhere."

"I'm not going to do anything of the sort," Atka replied, kneeling next to Alexis and hanging her head. "Please, forgive me for how I acted earlier. I wasn't thinking clearly, and I let my fears and pain cloud my judgement. I... won't lie about my desire for revenge. I want to make the enemy suffer. But I'm not going to go to unnecessarily lengths to achieve that. And none of your are pawns. We all have our own reasons for fighting, and while I am certainly disillusioned with the Resistance's idealism that doesn't mean I want to deny those that follow it the solace the ideology offers."

Alexis looked over to the door, noting her father, and looked away for the two. "That... that is exactly what you have been doing to me for eight years, Commander."

"We've... barely spoken..." Atka replied with a shake of her head. "I've avoided you as much as you've avoided me with the hope of avoiding conflicts of mentality."

"But what have you said to me at every instance? Including when I lamented over my inability to help you? You called me a self-righteous, pathetic fool for believing there are any ideals to be had. You were my ideal, Atka. And you called me stupid for having you to aspire to. Quite frankly, I avoid contact with you because I can't stand having to hold my tongue while you tell me what a stupid, pathetic child I am. And look what happen when I finally couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore..."

"I'm not perfect, okay?!" Atka shouted, before consciously making an effort to calm herself lest there be a repeat of before. "They say there are two ways to dehumanize someone... to ignore them and to idolize them. I can't be the perfect, shining beacon of hope you want. I've been through too much, lost too many friends." She took a deep breath. "I can try to be kinder to you, but if you can't accept my imperfection - my humanity - then you're going to find reconciliation difficult for your part."

"Don't worry," Alexis practically whispered, pulling her legs close. "I haven't idolized you for some time now. You saw to that. You're human. And humans are flawed, some more than others. But some humans are flawed enough to have ideals and hopes to cling on to. I guess I'm flawed enough to be one." She placed her head against her legs. "After today, though... I'll probably rethink that."

What the hell am I supposed to say to that? Atka psied to Joseph, almost pleadingly.

Joe shrugged ever so slightly. There might... not be anything you can. Not unless you tell her there are some ideals worth having. But... if you have given up on everything but revenge...

You... Atka cut the mental link. Smartass... "Look, Alex... I may not agree with everything you believe, but you kids are the future. I'm just here to provide the experience and wisdom. If we win this fight we can't have a bunch of disillusioned people rebuild the world. It has to be people that have some sense of optimism, not a bunch of jaded old soldiers like me. It sounds absurd but you have to believe in something even if I don't seem like I do. Maybe you'll show me I'm wrong about a lot of things if you do. But you never will if you let me hold you down."

"But... but you're the Commander," Alex sobbed, suddenly breaking down. "And you always tell me... tell how s-stupid I am to believe in things. To aspire to anything."

Atka sighed. This is why I hate trying to apologize. Instead of saying anything, she merely went over and embraced Alexis gently.

Alexis said nothing, but calmed down after a moment. "I... I might be angry with you. Have been for a long time. But I still respect you. I always will.

"That's good enough for me... I don't blame you for being angry. You should be. And as someone recently told me, I'm probably going to piss you off more in the future." Atka shook her head. "But that doesn't mean I don't care."

Alexis nodded. "I'm okay now. I'm... sorry for what I said. I had no right to speak that way to my commanding officer."

"I think in this case I'll let it go considering the circumstances, Squaddie. I might need you for the next mission."

Alexis smiled, and nodded. Her smile faded a bit. "Commander... Ya..."

 

[DarkGemini24601]

ZombieSplitter53 and DarkGemini24601: “Consequences for your Actions, Part 3”

The Trooper shook her head. "Nevermind."

"That's complicated," Atka stated, standing up.

Alexis quickly shook her head again. "It is none of my business, I know."

"I'm sure you've already heard how she feels. That should be explanation enough." Atka sighed at length. "Some things can't be fixed. As long as she stays in line I'll let her make her own way. She's old enough to have that freedom anyway."

"What... w-what if you tried to... talk?" Alexis cautiously asked, though looked like she regretted asking it.

“Just leave it alone Alexis. Please. For both my sake and hers."

Alexis nodded. "Okay." She slipped off the bed. "I should... probably get out of these sweaty clothes."

"And I could use another drink," Atka said tiredly. Alexis bowed her head, and stepped out, nodding to her father. Joe walked over to Atka and placed a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him neutrally. "What?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Joe asked. "I don't need to assign anyone to watch you, do I? Not that anyone here could stop you..."

"I had a moment of weakness. It won't happen again," Atka stated flatly.

"Of course." Joseph stepped to the side so she could leave, his expression unusually hard to read for a usually laid back man. "Have a good day, Commander."

Atka departed from the Computer Room, and trudged with a languid pace towards the deck again. She did her best not to think on the way, taking a more forceful step every time her guilt threatened to well up in her head like some emotional tumor. After a few minutes containing the occasional clang of a forceful stomp of a boot against the Avenger’s metal floor, the Inuit woman made it back to the hanger, and climbed up a ladder with a defined lack of enthusiasm borne from mental exhaustion to reach the upper deck. There, she had left a container filled formerly to the brim with beer.

Presently, it's meniscus was a few inches lower. The cause was next to the bottle on the railing, where a now-empty glass had contained a drink Atka had consumed while waiting for a person that never came to where she had asked. The bottle’s liquid level fell even lower as Atka poured herself another class and began to drink again. She couldn’t do so fast enough though, as an image of Alexis’s expression of terror and her later despondency clawed itself into her eyes when she closed them momentarily.

The Commander’s expression twisted up in frustration, and she threatened to smash her glass against the deck floor. At the last moment, she took a shuddering breath, and shakily rested the smaller container on the wide railing she was seated on. The glass’s rattling as it steadied itself was almost soothing, but her anger - directed mostly at herself now - did not completely subside. “Save the world?” she whispered bitterly. “Liberate humanity?” she halfheartedly jeered. “People don’t deserve to be saved. Not when they give in so easily to ADVENT, not when they let a few miracle cures and polished cities be an excuse for those siquttipaa to come in and fuck them in the ass!”

Atka held her head, again bringing down her anger, trying to induce catharsis. No, this isn’t like me. I’m not incapable of controlling my emotions, she reassured herself. That said, though, why is this happening now? Her eyes drifted to the large bottle of beer. No, that’s not it. I haven’t had enough, and even then… it has to be something else. Did what she say really unnerve me that much? Why should it? The truth shouldn’t…

The old soldier exhaled slowly. No, it’s not the complete truth. I’m not using them. I explained as much to her, I need to believe that myself. The Resistance and all its members fight for their own beliefs or the general cause. That… includes me as well. The Commander closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift. Yes, there were tragic memories that came to mind. Her wounding at the hand of a Muton’s grenade. The loss of her sister. Being hunted. Losing so many comrades in XCOM. But what lay before that twenty years of strife was happier times. Her life as a Canadian soldier, her home in Toronto. Friends and family that cared deeply about her.

“So many of them are gone now,” Atka said with a sigh, jading memories of the past once again. But still, a glimmer of hope persisted. “But I had the chance to meet them in a more ideal world. Those are the stories… t-those are the stories Yakone lives off of.” She may be like a stranger to me in so many ways, but even a failure of a mother like me knows that much about her daughter. That’s what Yakone dreams about while sleeping or while awake. Atka reached up to the sky, as if trying to cradle the sun in her hand - reaching out for the sliver of light she could grasp onto. “That’s what I fought to protect all those years ago, right?”

Atka lowered her hand. Yes, nothing will ever be quite the same. For me especially. I can probably never have back all that I’ve lost. But I can give the people that should rightfully inherit the future - people like Alexis - the ability to work towards restoring a way of life they’ve only dreamed of. I’m not doing anyone any good believing that all I can hope for is revenge. I’m not going to give that up, but that’s not enough to live on. Today proved that much. The Commander smiled slightly, a largely genuine smile that nevertheless had some menace to it still. But this time her venom was directed at the enemy as it should be. “I sincerely hope you enjoy me tearing apart your facade of a world community to bring back the world you seem to despise.” Revenge in union with renewal. That I can work towards.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Held in Contempt, Part 1

Location Unknown
3:00 PM, June 7th, 2038


This interrogation room looked like it was straight out of a pre-war eight o’clock crime thriller.

Isaac was thrust downwards into his chair by the less-than-friendly trooper escorting him, the handcuffs digging into his wrist. The trooper then got to work fastening a few straps around him, tying him to the chair. They stopped suddenly when the door opened, and straightened, saluting.

I apologize for the delay, certain recent events necessitated my attention. The Elder the door had admitted glanced at their captive. Are those restraints really necessary? Azazel asked. I doubt Mr. Anderson here would try anything in his position. Would he?

The Elder and the trooper both stared at Isaac, who merely shrugged. With considerably less enthusiasm than before, the trooper set about releasing the restraints, ending with the removal of the handcuffs. Meanwhile the Inquisitor remained standing, towering over the prisoner from the other side of the table.

“Thanks,” Isaac said, rubbing his wrists as the trooper assumed a position in the corner. “You may want to loosen those in the future. Those things chafe.”

Comfort is hardly the idea.

“That so? Then why have my bindings removed at all?”

Azazel stared at him for a moment, his mask hiding any of the emotion beneath. If there even was any. I am attempting to make this exchange smooth, the Elder said at last. If it becomes painful to you, then it becomes painful to me, because it means you are dragging things out. You would be best served accepting that I will find out what I can from you eventually, and simply answering my questions as they come.

Isaac leaned back, folding his arms. “And if I don’t want to answer your questions?”

The Inquisitor shrugged. Irrelevant, he replied. You will answer eventually. The question is merely how long it will take.

“And how about lying? Is that acceptable, or…?”

A blank look from his interrogator. Was that a serious question, or are you attempting to amuse yourself?

“What do you think?”

Azazel sighed. If you are going to continue acting in this petulant fashion, then neither of us are going to enjoy the coming weeks.

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Weeks? Did you say weeks?”

You were expecting days? the Elder asked. This investigation is a joint venture, but in the end I am the one in charge. We conduct the interrogations and such as I dictate. This is standard Inquisitor methodology. ADVENT may choose to do things quicker, but I think vital information can be lost from… rushed questioning. What is more, it gives the being answering the questions ample time to… recall answers. And before you ask, no, I am not concerned about that time being allocated to instead fabricate convincing mistruths. I will know if you lie to me. I would advise against trying.

“If you’d know I was lying, why bother interrogating me at all?”

Because I’m looking for your reaction, not necessarily the content of your answer, Azazel explained. I can tell when you are lying by examining how you act when faced with a question. You would best understand it if I told you I was looking for ‘tells’.

Isaac leaned back in his chair, folding his arms as he did so. “Uh huh.”

Fortunately for yourself, such things are far easier to spot when the subject is… not under duress. As such, the purpose of this conversation is to relax you. Threats, coercion, will only make things more difficult for myself. So long as you cooperate, then I see no need to resort to such measures. The Elder paused. That said, I think for your cooperation in surrendering yourself you deserve some news you would no doubt consider ‘good’. Your adopted son… escaped us.

That brought a grin to the human’s face. “How exactly did he get away?” he asked.

I knew he was there. I gave two troopers the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of promotion. I thought that they, armed, trained and loyal, could easily secure an unarmed, untrained fugitive. A shrug. Clearly I was mistaken.

“Any news on where he went?”

None. I have my suspicions, but I cannot confirm anything as yet. The best I can do is to say that he has not been captured or killed by ADVENT, at least.

“Why tell me this?” Isaac asked, suddenly suspicious.

Azazel considered his answer. As I said, you have been cooperative thus far and I thought you deserved to know. You are not my enemy until you choose to become one.

“Hmph.” Isaac glanced at the trooper, who ignored him. “Well… thanks.”

We should begin the questioning, the Elder stated, turning away and beginning to pace very slowly to the side. First, the basics. Your name is Isaac Anderson, correct?

The prisoner’s eyes narrowed. “No, I’m Hugh Jackman.”

I will only ask you once more to cease the sarcastic answers. You may consider it a stupid question, but it is necessary.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Fine. Yes, my name is Isaac Anderson. Next question.”

Previously, at least during the Liberation, you also answered to the title of ‘Overseer’. Correct? The Inquisitor stopped pacing then, gaze intent on the man’s face.

Isaac shifted under that gaze. “Yeah.”

In fact, you answered to this title up to far more recently, at least within the last five years. However, going through the various documents and items you’ve held onto, we discovered something interesting. Every single one pertaining to that role was outdated by at least three years. You are no longer the Overseer. When did you retire?

A smile upturned the side of his face. “You’re pretty accurate there. Three years ago, I passed on the torch.”

Someone else holds the title now?

“Yes.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 2

When Isaac did not elaborate, the Elder continued. … let us go backwards. When and how did you obtain the position?

The prisoner scoffed. “What, you want my whole life story now?”

Azazel shifted under his robes. If that will answer my question, yes, he replied tersely.

A sigh. “Alright then.” Not like I have any other choice. “I used to be a lawyer. Long, long time ago. Thing about becoming a lawyer is you don’t just learn how to follow the law, but also how to circumvent it. And provided nobody finds out about any illegal activities you do, you’re fine. So when this Italian woman comes up to me and offers me a hefty sum for the details of one of my cases, I figure it couldn’t harm much and agree to it.”

Isaac leaned back in his chair. “Then it happened again. And again. And I grew less and less apprehensive about it each time, even though things were getting more and more risky. This woman covered her tracks very well. There was no way we’d be found out. And a free source of income was very welcome. I started getting a little more involved with her… work, and by the time I was disbarred I’d already gone in too deep. Now I was involved, I couldn’t un-involve myself. My first assassination contract was partially taken out of a death-wish, I guess. But throughout that, Maria – that’s the Italian woman – she was supporting me. Helping me. Out of gratitude for what I’d helped her become.”

Azazel nodded. She became the Overseer, he guessed.

“Yep. An information broker, maintaining an odd balance of power within the criminal elements of the world. I already knew her well. In time, I guess I would have called her a ‘friend’. We helped each other help each other.”

Were you two romantically involved?

Isaac tilted his head sideways. “Uh… no? Is that important at all?”

I just thought, given the way you spoke about her, and that ring we confiscated…

The prisoner shook his head. “No, no no. That was… someone else.”

The Elder shifted. I sense regret in your tone. I suspect this Maria turned you down.

“That’s none of your business,” Isaac snapped. “… anyway. We turned our relationship into a successful business partnership, as it were. I became the bogeyman for everyone that wanted to cross her, and her for me. Not that I was happy having to put that to the test.”

There is more to this, Azazel stated. You put this alliance to the test. When and why?

“It’s related to my ring, actually. Throughout this I had met a Chinese woman, Helen. I won’t bore you with the soppy bullshit, but eventually we married. We had a house. I was going through the process of extricating myself from the business. Everything was coming together again for a relatively normal life.” He hesitated. “Then some asshole decided to ruin it all.

“I came back to my house one day to find Helen lying in a pool of her own blood. That day I lost two of my family, because she was heavily pregnant with our first child.” Isaac placed his head in his hands on the table. “I would have had a daughter. I…”

The Elder watched him. I have upset you, he noted.

“I hunted down the man that did it,” the prisoner continued. “I interrogated him until he gave up the identity of his boss, and so on up the line until I met the man that started it all. And I made sure he paid for it. But… that didn’t change the fact that Helen was dead. I had nowhere to go back to. So I threw myself back into crime. I went back to Maria, and she gave me work. I continued like that for a few years, with the Overseer being the only real human in my life. And then lung cancer took her away from me too.”

Lung cancer?

Isaac shrugged. “She was an avid smoker. On her deathbed she gave me everything. All her passwords, her methods. She passed the torch onto me. Ever since then I’ve wondered whether it was a gift or a curse.”

Azazel lowered his head. But you do not regret it, he surmised.

“Life dealt me a shitty pack of cards,” the prisoner growled. “I did the best I could with them.”

Which meant harnessing the resources and scope of the Overseer.

“It did.”

The Elder examined Isaac for a moment before stepping backwards. I believe that will do us for today, he stated. I will not continue this questioning whilst you are dealing with inner turmoil.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to throw me back in that cell for another few weeks, are you?”

Just one, Azazel assured him. You should be thankful we’re not populating those weeks with frequent visits to the –

“The torturer? Yeah yeah, whatever.”

The Inquisitor shook his head and turned away, making to leave. Take him back to his cell, he instructed the trooper standing to attention. And do not... cause him undue duress. That would be counter to my efforts.

Isaac frowned internally as the Elder took his leave, considering that yes, things could easily be far worse. What was Azazel’s game here? So far he’d avoided asking about anything really useful to ADVENT. Why? Was he really trying to find a path of least resistance here? As the trooper set about binding him again, he came to a conclusion. If the Elder continued like this, then this would indeed take weeks.

He began to grin, subtly so as not to set off the trooper. Perhaps there was hope of escape after all.

 

[BMPixy]

BMPixy and DarkGemini24601: “The Heart’s Impenetrable City, Part 1”

Northeast of ADVENT Railway
Former Republic of Costa Rica
1017 Hours, June 7th, 2038

Onboard the Avenger
Level 2, Rear Block
Helipad Mechanism

“Alright, that’s clear,” Giorgos muttered to himself, briefly removing the tiny stump of his pencil from between his teeth to scratch off a check on the clipboard he carried. “So then what’s causing that jerk...?” The Greek scratched his ragged mess of a beard as he bent down to examine one of the pistons responsible for the raising of the helipad. As he finished pouring over the piston - even removing one of the side panels to make sure all the internals were coming up green - he added, “No, not this one either. That means it’s either the number six piston, or I’m going to need a few more tools…”

The back door of the bar slid open to admit another person into the room. Cautiously ducking her head under an array of wires that were barely shielded, Lily made her way over to where the Chief Mechanic was. “Hey, Giogios. What’s up?” She asked.

“Eh?” Giorgos asked, turning his head to look at the Chief Engineer - and stopping a hair’s breadth from smacking his skull into the still open panel. Taking a brief moment to recover, he replied, “Oh, Shen, didn’t see you there. Just checking for some problems - Firebrand mentioned something about the helipad jerking unevenly when it was coming down. So far, everything seems to be fine, but… well, that’s what worries me the most. Anyways, what brings you down here?”As he finished his question, Giorgos slowly stood and closed the panel on the piston, making sure to screw it securely into place.

“Damn… I thought I fixed that a month ago. Wonder if the braces I installed are coming loose. Probably should have asked the guy that sold me the metal how old it was.” Shrugging at the reality that it was too late now, Lily braced herself against a panel that wasn’t going to electrocute her, and answered his question. “I just figured we should get a chance to… I dunno, talk. We’re going to be working closely together considering how our roles overlap, so knowing each-other better would probably be a good idea.”

“Well, suppose better now than never,” Giorgos said, shrugging slightly. “Not much to know ‘bout me - I was a mechanical engineer back in the day, lost my job, ended up in one of the LA resistances out of desperation , then found my way here. That’s really all that can be said ‘bout me - and from what I’ve heard about you, you were pretty much raised by XCOM and that this ship might as well be your sister from rumors of your father’s attitude. That ‘bout right?”

Lily chuckled. “That would describe me pretty well. I’ve pretty much been destined to be an engineer since I was a kid, and I’ve worked on all sorts of things since then. Although I don’t take it as far as Yakone, I’m very much a firm believer in the cause, and pretty much everything ‘fuck aliens’ related. Am I biased towards them? Sure, but who here isn’t?”

“Eh, to be quite honest, I could care less on the whole alien issue,” Giorgos answered, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m just here because that’s the way things ended up. I mean, it was either that or starve to death in Mad Max’s California franchise.”

“California never did quite recover from the whole nuclear war thing, did they?” Lily shrugged. “Well, Yakone would tell you to show more spirit than that, but as long as you’re helping out it doesn’t really matter how zealous you are. I’m just glad we have a proper skeleton crew now. It was damn hard to maintain everything on the ship with only a few people with technical knowledge or hands-on skills, but now that your team exists mine can focus on building new things instead of fixing the old.”

“Yeah - though don’t build too much, only have so many hands to keep your messes in a functional order,” the Greek said, a mirthless smile crossing his face. “Otherwise you’ll be back to square one.”

“Hey, I don’t make messes. Just inscrutable art,” Shen joked. “Though if we build more facilities we probably will need more staff. But for now I was talking more stuff for the armory, even if expanding into the wrecked center of the Avenger would be nice. Last I heard we might be getting laser weaponry in a few weeks if not a little ahead of schedule.” The Chief sighed, passing a calculator between her hands idly. “We used to have beam laser tech already before the old base got wrecked. Problem is, when that happened we lost a lot of the research data, especially my… the old Chief Scientist’s notes on how to maintain them. After about twenty years the ones we had left went through so much wear and tear that we just chucked them into the labs for study rather than field use.”

Giorgos nodded at that. “Yeah, saw some stripped down bits when I was doing some checks in the labs, figured that’s what they might be,” he said, allowing himself to relax slightly. “I’m sure the kids in the field will appreciate some new toys - even if they’re remakes of old ones as well.”

“Well, most of them will be able to appreciate. I dunno that we’ll be making any machine lasers… they haven’t proven terribly effective in the past. Not only were there a lot of problems with overheating but they tend to contradict the advantage the beam weapons had - that is, focused energy that could pierce armor. The pain the rapid-fire lasers dish out is just too spread out.”

“Well, I’m a mechanical engineer, not a weapons tech - I’ll leave that kind of balancing to you and the science team,” Giorgos replied, raising his hands to signify that what was going on was out of his hands. “I’ll just wait until one breaks and then step in.”

Lily chuckled. “I suppose that’s a fair enough stance. Sorry to bother you with stuff that doesn’t really affect you. Mostly just talking to myself, which was not the intention. Shifting the subject back to what we were at before… hm… what things do you enjoy doing off the job?” the Chinese-German decided on inquiring.

“I drink, I eat, I sleep, I listen to what people say, and maybe read a book every now and then,” Giorgos answered with a shrug. “I’m not one for interesting hobbies - just a quiet life for me.”

“Not too much different for me. Work takes up most of my time, and when I’m not working I’m usually exercising or hanging out with friends. Have you made any of those here yet?” She queried.

“It’s been two years here, would be odd if I didn’t,” Giorgos replied. “Mostly on the mechanics crew, to be fair, but that’s to be expected. I assume - given your history - that you have quite the friend collection here, Shen?”

“I’ve got my friends, I’ve got my enemies… not an incredible amount, but not a small amount either,” Lily responded vaguely. “Not about to try and count though, that would just sound conceited.”

“Plus you’d probably have to add the entirety of ADVENT to that number, and they’re not exactly publishing their troop counts,” Giorgos added. “Though from the size of the rail network, that number is probably more than excessive.”

“Funny you should mention the rail network… did you hear from the grapevine what our next op is going to be?”

“Yeah, we’re not just becoming insurgents, but also Old West bandits,” Giorgos replied. “Hopefully we’re hitting one of the lines that Yuri’s group worked on - never liked that man’s attitude.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Yuri?”

“One of my old coworkers, back before I lost everything,” the Greek explained. “Our company was contracted to help with some of the railway construction, and from what I heard that man was a regular slave driver. ADVENT loved him of course, he got fast results, but it was hell even working near him.”

“Dunno if his work would have stretched all the way down to Costa Rica, but who knows?” Lily shrugged. “Wonder if that new engineer on my team knows of him. His file says he was made to work on the rail lines at some point, so it’s possible.”

“Could, could not,” Giorgos answered ambivalently. “Still, I will admit some measure of pride in the sections I worked on - even if that labor I poured into it would make it quite difficult to pull a good raid on,” he added, rubbing his palms together with an apologetic look on his face.

The Chief Engineer frowned. “Well… you did help the enemy, but at least not in the way our medical staff do. It’s easier to undo that work with some well-placed strikes than it is to rescue all the people abducted by Gene Therapy Clinics.”

“Yeah, I had heard rumors of that kind of thing going on, but never really put much stock into it, to be honest,” Giorgos said. “Just too absurd to imagine, y’know? But since Bradford was rescued, it’s starting to seem much more likely than I’d like to believe.”

An-Yi gave him an incredulous look. “So you didn’t even buy into it after joining XCOM? I mean, come on, when we brought Tygan and Kazuko to the Avenger we had snuck them into a van that was taking people to some facility in the middle of nowhere.”

“I wasn’t in on the details of ops back then,” Giorgos said. “I mean, I had been here for what - four, five months? Just a maintenance worker, wondering when we suddenly got some scientists but not willing to ask any questions and seem foolish.” With a non-committal shake of the head, he added, “I’m not the most observant of men, before you ask.”

“Well, I’ll concede that point, but surely the Resistance you were part of wasn’t totally unaware of the rumors from the Megacities, right?”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

BMPixy and DarkGemini24601: “The Heart’s Impenetrable City, Part 2”

“Yeah, they were aware, but, well…” Giorgos rubbed his neck as he tried to figure out how to word this. “The Princes were the kind of group to have dedicated tattoo artists and piercing… whatever you call a person who does that. They weren’t in it so much for ideals as to just rebel for the sake of rebelling. The background radiation may not have helped, either. To put it bluntly - they probably didn’t care.”

Lily placed a hand on her forehead. “Oh jeez, they’re like modern hippies or something then? I suppose it’s a good thing that there are no targets of importance on that side of the mountains that we’d need their help with.”

“Yeah - they were a good lot, don’t get me wrong, and they did cut quite an imposing figure racing down the streets of Bel-Air in their gun-trucks, whooping and hollering, but if they had been anywhere important they all probably would have died,” Giorgos answered, sighing heavily. “Hopefully they’ll be able to reintegrate into society after all this is done and over - would hate to see what those kinds of people do in a power vacuum.”

Lily waved her hands. “Don’t ask me how that’s all going to work out. I just want to save the world. I’ll let others figure out how to rebuild it.”

“And here before you were mentioning how much you’d look forward to building - what happened to that?” Giorgos asked, a slight smirk crossing his face. “Where’s that engineer’s spirit? Not up to one of the biggest challenges of the century?”

“I build physical… things, not political bodies,” Lily responded with a shake of her head, though she seemed amused as well. “I’ll certainly be around assessing what to do with the Megacities, but I’ll be more concerned with their architectural structure rather than their societal one.” She sighed. “Though that’s probably getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a long way to go before we get anywhere near toppling ADVENT.”

“Hey, it’s always good to have an idea on how to build the bridge you’re going to cross, even if you’re not there yet,” the Chief Mechanic said, glancing up at the ceiling that was all-too close for his liking. “I mean, even if plans are useless, it’s good to have them. Just like the US had a plan to invade Canada despite their bonds of alliance.”

“Huh… I’ve never heard of that one. Though I never did have a formal education on history.”

“It’s one of those little known facts that only ever came up on trivia shows, to be honest,” Giorgos responded. Furrowing his brow slightly, he asked, “Jeez, do they even still have those? I can’t remember for the life of me.”

Lily gave him an exaggerated shrug. “I don’t watch ADVENT TV so I couldn’t tell you. Too mind-numbing. My media experience consists of movies and shows from the old world. I thought it was funny that you compared us to the Old West and train raids associated with that, since my friend’s favorite sort of movie is those sort of ‘spaghetti westerns’.”

“I could never really stand those kinds of movies - too formulaic for my tastes. Call it weird, but I was always more of a soap kinda guy, though I doubt many of those survived the transition to the new administration.” Giorgos sighed slightly, and shook his head. “But anyways, at least those had twists to keep you interested, rather than being a handful of cliches repeated until the cows came home.”

“Haven’t seen many of those myself, so I’ll trust your judgement there. Yakone would never accept such criticism though,” Lily replied with a grin.

“Well, one more reason to keep quiet at the bar - don’t want to piss off the boss’s daughter with my taste in television,” Giorgos said, drooping his shoulders a touch. “Though if things are as bad as the rumor mill says, doing so might get me points with the boss herself,” he added with a strained and grim smile.

Lily shook her head. “They… don’t have a good relationship, but I don’t think she’d approve of you giving her daughter shit by a long shot.”

“Never said I would, just a consolation prize if it were to happen,” Giorgos said, raising his hands defensively. “I try not to leave much of any impact on people, so it wouldn’t behoove me to piss people off, after all. Aiming for a quiet life and all that, y’know?”

Lily nodded. “I didn’t think you meant to. I just don’t want you confused on what their relationship is like. I don’t understand it all myself anyway, and I’ve lived around them for the past 20 years.”

“That bad, huh?” Giorgos said, raising an eyebrow. “And here I thought me and my ex had it bad, but apparently there were bigger fish hiding out in the pond.”

“Yeah…” Lily sighed. “I’d rather not talk about it though. That’s their business, not mine.”

“I can respect that kind of decision,” Giorgos responded with a light nod. “Focus on your own stuff, rather than going around rooting out problems, that is. After all, there’s a hell of a lot of disappointment lying in wait for an overeager soul, don’t want to go grabbing it.”

“Well, yes it’s bad to be overeager, but it’s also bad to be the opposite of that,” Lily said, giving Giorgos a meaningful look.

“What’s with the look?” Giorgos asked. “Do I have some grease on my face or something?” he added, rubbing his face to try and remove any such thing.

Lily smirked. “No, that advice was directed at you.”

Giorgos shook his head annoyedly. “Sorry, but I’ll have to refuse that advice - keeping my head down and rolling with life’s punches has helped me survive this far, not going to just up and abandon that. Sure, it’s gotten me into a lot of messes, but it’s also brought me out of them. I’ll leave the driving forward unto tomorrow to you kids - I’ll just keep everything working, if you don’t mind.”

“Surviving isn’t the same thing as living, you know,” Lily responded. “The bad times the Commander has gone through have proven that much,” she added dryly.

“Yeah, but I’m content with survival,” Giorgos said, scratching his beard. “People may not like it - hell, I know at least one who down right hated that - but that’s just who I am. You only fix what doesn’t work - like that damn lift.”

“And if your heart isn’t quite working properly? What then?”

“You get a cardiologist,” the Greek answered dryly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Lily said, crossing her arms.

After a long moment, Giorgos let out a drawn-out sigh. “Listen, Shen, I advise against trying to chase the thread you think you’ve spotted. It’d likely ruin whatever professional relationship we have, and considering what we do on this ship, that isn’t something that can be afforded. I may not be the happiest with how things have turned out for me, but I am content with them - so please, accept that and drop this line of conversation, okay?”

Lily narrowed her eyes, and was silent for a few seconds before replying, “Fine. For now.” She pushed herself off the panel she was leaning against. “I’ll see you around, Megalos.”

“Take care out there,” Giorgos replied restrainedly, evidently holding in a curse as he cradled his forehead in exasperation. “Great - just great…” he muttered to himself.

 

[BMPixy]

“Aftermath”
Congo City, Central African Precinct
1421 Hours Local Time; June 7th, 2038
ADVENT HQ, Congo City Central District

“-the worst tragedy since the West Bank incident in March 2037-”

“-we’re cutting live to our correspondent in the field-”

“-next thing I know is I hear an explosion and the Speaker is being shuffled off-stage-”

“-this group that styles themselves after a dead organisation are no more than terrorists intent on tearing down everything ADVENT and the Elders have built up-”

“-these ‘Founders’ claim to have enabled every instance of insurgent activity with their supposed ‘Resistance Network’, proving them not only malicious but utterly hubristic-”

“-I believe the Speaker did a fine job pulling the populace of Caldera, nay, the world, together after that tragedy, especially on such short notice - he truly is a fine orator-”

“-to think that this ‘XCOM’ - a band of xenophobes and reactionaries - would have the audacity to attack during one of the largest Unification Day celebrations on the globe shows they have a reckless disregard for civilian life! Only through the brave sacrifices of the best of us, the soldiers of ADVENT-”

“-we give these people of the Shanties the freedom to live a life on the peripheral of our benevolent Coalition’s attention, and look what we get in return! We should forcibly integrate these people into the Cities, and show them that ADVENT isn’t the police state they think it is! That should-”

“-they even had the audacity to broadcast dead bodies on live television, where children could see them! How many parents had to explain to their children what ‘terrorism’ and ‘death’ and other things like that-”

“Uncle Fooo~nz, why aren’t any of my shows on?” Benjamin pleaded, looking up at his uncle in-between flicking through channels of the television that dominated the north side of the room.

“People are scared, Bennie,” Alfons answered, scribbling his signature on the datapad before tossing it away to pick up another. “This hit close to home for a lot of people, they’re going to want to hear as much as they can - and the networks know that, so they show this to reassure people that everything is going to be alright.”

“But you said that when you’re scared, you should try to be happy!” the kid replied, flicking off the television after deciding that nothing worth watching would be on. “So they should start showing funny shows again - especially that princess one, uh... Glol- Gloris- what’s the name of that one, Uncle Fonz?”

“Glorious Shotgun Princess?” Alfons replied, lifting an eyebrow curiously. “I didn’t know you watched that.”

“Hui showed it to me when I visited her place last week - it’s really good!” Benjamin answered, sliding off the couch and over in front his uncle’s desk. “She said they were showing it today, but with what happened…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alfons said, reaching over to ruffle the kid’s hair affectionately. “Don’t worry ‘bout it - in a week or two, this will all be over and you’ll be able to watch all the shows you want.”

“Promise?” Benjamin asked, peering over the desk.

“Promise,” Alfons answered, giving a light smirk. “These people - well, they’ll know why I’m in charge of the greatest military in human history soon enough. And they’ll be sorry for hurting all those people. Trust me.”

“I do, Uncle Fonz,” Benjamin replied, nodding. The boy moved to add something else, but a small buzzing from Alfons’s phone interrupted him.

“One moment, Bennie,” Alfons said as he glanced at the number. Right, should have known they’d call sooner or later… best get this over with. Picking up the receiver, Alfons said into it, “Give me a second.” Just as quickly, he set it back down, and said to Benjamin, “Hey, this is going to take a little while - go see if Officer Henderson is available, I think I might have heard her boasting about surpassing your skill at ADVENT Heart. You know what to do, right?”

“Kick her ass!” Benjamin replied cheerfully.

“Atta boy, Bennie,” Alfons said, as the kid scampered off. Picking up the phone once more, the Lord-Commander said, “Sorry about that, had to send the nephew off. What is it, Pliskin?”

“Best you see for yourself - put me on holo,” the man on the other end replied. With a slight sigh, the Danish-American tapped on his keyboard and set down the receiver. After a brief moment, a small red screen winked into existence above his desk.

“Alright, you’re on,” Alfons said, setting down the telephone and leaning back. “Talk to me.”

“We think we’ve got an ID on these insurgents, Lord-Commander,” the man on the other end replied, a simple line across the screen flickering as he spoke. “You aren’t going to like this.”

“I’m not liking much these days, Pliskin - just get on with it.”

“Yes sir,” Pliskin answered half-heartedly. In the bottom left of the screen popped up a familiar image to Alfons - the face of that woman that had appeared on the global news to proclaim XCOM’s declaration of war against ADVENT. To the right appeared a second image, this time from an ADVENT security camera, showing the same woman mid-battle with a Codex. Above that same image was a slightly flickering image - signifying that it had been copied from a memory - of the Inuit woman speaking amicably to whomever this memory came from. And then, filling out the final quarter of the screen, another ripped memory - that same woman leading a band of misfits through some winter forest.

“You’re not telling me…” Alfons narrowed his eyes as he scanned the images with a critical eye.

“Unfortunately I am,” Pliskin said. “This woman - one Atka Ipiktok - is an XCOM survivor - not just that, but from the memories of the Tacitus that was stolen during the incident, she’s their Commander.”

“So they really do have a claim to that name, huh?” Alfons said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Right - get me all the records you can on her, and anybody else that was on that mission.”

“I would have sir, but, well,” Pliskin paused for a moment in thought, “when I tried, I was unable to find any matches in the registry for several of those people, both pre- and post-Unification records. I was able to get a lead on a couple, but all the rest, well, what little there was was beyond even my clearance. I was only able to get the top left image through some clever social engineering - any more would be straining my considerable talents.”

“Well, hopefully the Inquisitor is able to pass some information along from that captive of his sooner rather than later, and I’m sure you’ll be able to weasel your way into those files given time,” Alfons said, rubbing his forehead. “What can you tell me about the ones you did find?”

“Every bit of data is in the files I’m going to send you - it'll be quicker if you read them, though we are still analyzing some DNA samples we found in a bloodstain at the blast site,” Pliskin answered. “Hopefully that should give us another lead, but I doubt it will.”

“Right - get those files over here, and get the faces of those responsible on the news, and get a good reward on them, I’ll see about increasing your budget to cover the costs,” Alfons said. “And more importantly, begin trying to locate their base of operations - we need to hit these bastards hard and fast if we want to send a message to every individual who doubts us. Every day they’re alive, another joins their cause.”

“I’ll have my agents start looking into it,” Pliskin responded. “I assume we have your authorization for… retaliation, Lord-Commander?”

“Yeah - whatever is necessary. I’d hand you the blank check in person, but, well…” Alfons said, trailing off slightly. “Anyways, is that all?”

“Yes sir - I’ll leave you to your work,” Pliskin replied. And with that, the hologram returned to a blank screen, with a brief file reception notice popping up in the bottom corner. Sighing, Alfons tapped on his keyboard, and the display vanished.

“I really hope I’ll be able to keep that promise to Ben,” Alfons muttered, glancing at the photo of him and his sister - both happy and cheery - that was propped on the corner of his desk. “No, no, I will. I’m sure of it - really should stop doubting myself, eh sis?”

 

[Dahlexpert]

Lukes failed psi power

Onboard the Avenger

June 7, 13:27

On top the Avenger

Lilith and Luke are on the landing platform of the Avenger. “Alright Luke were going to do some different training today.”

“Does this kind of training really involve us being on top of the avenger? I mean what are you trying to teach me?”

“Were going to work on your psionis powers, I want to see how far you go with your powers when your serious.”

“Is that why were up here, well that explains that. Don’t want to burn down the avenger.”

“You damn right I don’t. Anyway Luke you studded psionics in collage, so you know what powers you could have right?”

“Yes. According to the books I read, I can learn psi lance. Shockwave. And magnokinesis”

“Well you studded pretty hard on the subject, but then again you were pretty curious about psionis once you developed yours.”

“Anyway while were dwelling on me being a psi specialest. You wanted me to practice with my fire right?”

“Yep.” Lilith brings out what looks like a pitching machine. “I had the engineers make this for me, a pitching machine. This is so I can see how fast you are with flames.” Lilith loads a rubber ball into the machine, the ball is sent into the Air.

Luke immediately shot the ball down. “Really one ball, come on Aunty that’s nothing.”

“I know it’s not, that was a test of reflexes.” Lilith filed the machine with at least 30 rubber balls, and aimed it at Luke. “Have fun.” Lilith activated the machine and it fired all 30 balls going 80 mph


Luke put his hand forward and us his flames like a flam flower, and milting the rubber balls like there nothing. “Is that it? Come on aunty that’s nothing, you used to do this to me back in Alaska.”

“That’s true, seems you have gotten better and doing some secret training as well. Alright then let’s try something else. Can you do psi lance?”

“Um well ugh. Luke takes off his jacket and tries to do a psi lance, his arms start to show a red aura around them Luke places his arms forward trying to call a valley of bullets. But when he tried to fire he was pushed back and knocked to the ground. “Ow damn it again.”

“What was thet?”

“Feedback, see my psi lance is like a bulled and a bulled needs a gun to fire. My body is the gun and the gun powder, so it also acts a recoil for now my body seems to be pushed back. So yea I need to work on that.”

“I’ll say, if that’s the case you need to work on that power more and more every day. If this feedback is messing you up you need to work on this more, you pyro powers you seem to have mastered so work on pyro from time to time but work on that psi lance got it.” Lilith said while heading back down to the Avenger

“Yea yea I got it.” Luke stood back up and fired up his psi lance again, only to be blasted back to the ground. “This is going to be very hard to learn, but hay if I’m going be the greatest red psionic I better get moving. Can’t rely on my fire forever I need to learn this move, then I’ll learn shock wave next I’m going to be busy.” Luke stomach started to growl.

“Ugh getting hungry, well I never been to the cafeteria so why not try there.” Luke took the elevator down to the Avengers hanger, and head to the cafeteria.