‘So all would not die. Huh.’ The civilian contractor, codenamed in XCOM ‘Twisting Wagoo’ closed the book he had been reading. The late Commander (his real name turned out to be Christopher- who knew?) must have been driven mad by his attempts to catalog his soldiers’ journals. The number of entries was staggering; Loki the Savior had left no detail unturned in His campaign. His fellow comrades seemed to keep not as many, with ‘McBackstabber’ not putting out anything until after the campaign, while Presariov brought plenty of shenanigans about the base. ‘LocoRojo’ had only written one log, much to the chagrin of many; the similarities he shared with Him would have perhaps brought more to light. Jaspervth had started to write, but eventually stopped, but he still lived, so that was no problem. Rosen00000 had done plenty from when he joined, the perfect second-in-command to He- at least until he vanished without a trace. Not to mention everyone else; the Gin family had massive records throughout.
“Twisting Wagoo to the Commander’s office, Twisting Wagoo to the Commander’s Office,” The female voice rang throughout the base. Returning the book to the shelf, Wagoo set out to the Situation Room. He got there in a relatively quick manner- the message had only repeated five times. The door was always big and imposing, but never too grand- just like most of the stuff in the Brazilian headquarters. Wagoo knocked, quietly and quickly, on this door.
“Enter at your own will,” a deep voice rang out. Wagoo stepped through, careful not to get his lab coat caught in the door. Closing it, he walked to the Commander’s desk- only for the coat to fall off, having got it caught in the door anyways. Sighing, he opened the door, got it unstuck, closed the door, and stood up at the desk, lab coat kept under his arm.
“Reported as asked, sir,” Wagoo said.
“Sit down,” the Commander stated, already quite comfortable in the Spartan chair. Wagoo did as he was told, dropping on the opposing chair.
“Is there a problem sir?” Wagoo asked, worried for his career.
“None that gets you fired,” was the Commander’s retort. “What is a problem are Germany, France, and Mexico. Ever since Grelite blew the Ethereals out of the sky, returning those countries to a relatively stable life is just not working. The living conditions are like how North Korea used to be until that Alien Battleship crash-landed on top of the Kims. It is difficult to decide how to best handle it. At least, unless you have finally figured out to synthesize Elerium.”
“Wait… THAT was what that project was for!?”Wagoo exclaimed, mouth hanging agape. The lost three were absolutely destroyed and eliminated to a point that would make Hitler himself blush, and if Elerium was finally able to be synthesized, XCOM could go rogue. Become an actual nation, with Mexico, France, and Germany as chief territories. The idea was mind-boggling- could it actually be gotten away with? “Have you thought through the political ramifications?”
“Yes,” the Commander smiled creepily, off. Something was not right. What could be going on?
“I’m shutting down the project, and calling the Council to fire you Jasper,” Wagoo declared. “You cracked.”
A surging pain came across Wagoo’s neck; Jaspervth started choking him. It was hurting every second; not a single breath was allowed to pass. Death slowly descended upon him, like a soft blanket… then the Plasma pistol was noticed on Jasper’s belt. Quickly, Wagoo reached and managed to grab the pistol out of the holster. Jasper let go, trying to reach for the pistol- that was a mistake. Wagoo rolled away, shooting at Jasper’s general direction in the process. The sound of plasma hitting human flesh occurred, and Jasper dropped.
Wagoo got up, slightly burning; the pistol had singed him as well, bringing about all sorts of pains. He looked about the office. Burn marks were everywhere, certainly annoying the cleaning lady. Jasper’s head had partially melted, brain tissue a gooey mess. The desk was broken to pieces, and so was the Sectoid corpse underneath.
“SECTOID!??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
Wagoo limped over, hand holding onto the desk remains to keep him up, and looked upon the xeno corpse. It seemed like a typical Secotid, having a big head coupled with a small body. But it also seemed to have gills and fins, as well as an aquatic color. The blood was a different color from the Sectoid, and the eyes were black with a red center. A small pistol-esque thing was on the wrist, broken into fragments. It seemed like a Sectoid, but had new modifications as well for swimming.
The door was kicked down, and six soldiers burst through, laser weapons at the ready. Their reactions changed to shock as they surveyed the mess before them- Commander Jaspervth dead, a scientist wounded, and a Sectoid-esque creature under the desk. The leader looked at Wagoo, and rushed over, kneeling at his side.
“What happened?” The squad leader said, still shocked by the disaster. Wagoo looked at her, wheezing from pain.
“That thing,“ Wagoo pointed at the Sectoid-esque creature- would Aquatoid work as a name?- lying down on the ground, “managed to mind control the Commander. It wanted to have XCOM go rogue as it’s own nation- why would it want to do that?”
“Didn’t you notice the purple psionic hue?” the leader asked.
“… There wasn’t one. But you KNOW that the Commander wouldn’t do that.”
The squad leader grimaced, with a hint of fear in her eyes. A new threat, some sort of Terror From the Deep, was at large, with better abilities and new weapons. If this was possible, could worse happen? “Someone get this guy to Medical Wing,” she ordered “and call in McBackstabber. He’s the only one left suitable to lead now. Especially considering laser and plasma won’t work underwater.” She sighed, wondering what would happen now. As long as it isn’t Cthulhu, it wouldn’t get too bad as last time, right?
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After the original X-COM game ended, a sequel came out called Terror From the Deep. I figured a framing device for the logs posted here, along witha segway into that game, would be interesting to post here. At the least, it provides an epilouge to some of the events.
