DarkGemini24601
Well-Known Member
BMPixy, Frostlich1228, and DarkGemini24601: "Another One Bites the Dust, Part 3"
Ammelia slipped the combat knife from her belt and slid it across the floor towards Atka, “I have one, here!”
Atka took the weapon, and slid it into a telekinetic lance in place of the spike. “Should come back in one piece.” A dark blue glow surrounded the blade, and she got out of cover, dashing to the side with her chameleon suit and lightning reflexes being enough to dodge the incoming fire. The scout captain shot the imbued knife-helix at the head of Abdel. Resist this.
“Wha-!?” Abdel managed to exclaim, instinctively recoiling as he saw the knife heading in his direction. The knife embedded itself in the man’s eye, and he uttered a short scream before falling backwards off of the technical, where he was silent.
Still despite the small victory of taking out the man on the technical, there were still just over two dozen EXALT troopers pouring fire towards the XCOM forces. A burst from Albert brought it down to exactly two dozen.
“Emma, I think it’s a good time to call for some back up, don’t you!?” Ammelia spoke, unable to even peek her head over the cover.
“...perhaps so,” Emma responded over the clamor of laser fire, and clicked a button on her wrist, then a screen on the resulting holographic pad. “Mr. Cross, I have a request...”
David’s face appeared on screen with a familiar looking news report in the background. “Ah, Emma. I suppose it has something to do with that doesn’t it?” He said as he motioned towards the flatscreen in the back.
“We have a bit of a...situation on our hands. I request that you send the two stealth drones I left you, as well as a squad of my forces stationed in Cross Tech,” the clone of Elene confirmed.
“Already sent.” He said calmly, “I figured I was going to get this call sooner or later. I’ve also sent a little project of mine along with them, no better time for a test run right?”
“I’m sure Ammelia will be impressed,” Emma affirmed. “Thank you, Mr. Cross.”
“Hey, what was that call about?” Albert asked, flinching back from a laser tearing off a piece of cover close to his head. “I thought you guys were the reinforcements?”
“Well, my associate is providing additional backup. In fact, he already has.” Emma looked to Ammelia. “Your father has some sort of surprise, though I’m not quite sure what it is.”
“I certainly hope it can save us from being pinned down here…” Atka mumbled, wiping off the bloody knife before returning it to the sniper. “Thanks.”
“No problem, you can put it to better use than I could anyway.” The sniper replied, sliding it back on her belt.
As they were talking a Exalt soldier maneuvered around the boxes stealthily, coming up behind Ammelia with his knife raised. Mary turned just in time to see the assassin and instinctively flung Ammy behind her, trying her best to hold the knife back. However the clone’s physical augmentations were too much for her to bear as he slid the knife into her stomach.
“Mary!” Ammelia screamed as she quickly slid the knife out of her belt, lunging forward and thrusting the knife though the clone’s neck with both hands. The clone feel backwards, gurgling as he attempted in vain to pull the blade from his windpipe, slowly drowning in his own blood as Ammelia turned towards her sister.
Mary slowly looked down at her injury, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the knife and slowly pulling it out. Mary dropped the knife on the floor next to her and Ammelia tried desperately to stop her sister’s bleeding. “Dorian! I need help!”
The medic quickly ran over, assessing the situation. “Shit...was there poison on that?” He muttered, noticing the toxins on the knife. Grey pulled out his medkit, applying the medspray to stop the virulent substance from causing too much damage, and did his best to seal up the wound.
Mary looked up at Ammelia and cracked a pained grin, “Eh’ ‘ever ‘ought eh’d… take ‘eh knife fe’ ‘omeone… Eh’ ‘uess ‘at’s pr-prog’ess’”
“Don’t talk… please…” Ammelia begged, looking up as gauss fire hit the soldiers in front of her from somewhere outside the building. Legion troopers marched robotically towards the dozen clones, sandwiching them between the two forces. At the back of the group there was a unique robotic soldier adorned with an an alloy crown and kevlar cape built into the model, firing grenades from a grenade launcher mounted on it’s arm.
“Okay, that’s one hell of a back-up,” Albert muttered, lowering his rifle as the EXALT began to rout from the sudden onslaught of high explosives and gauss fire. “You think I could get the Commander to send a grenade launcher like that my way?” he added, directed to no-one in particular.
“After Scarlet Van Dam brought one into her office…” Atka left it at that. She got up from cover, and took aim, easily taking down an off-guard operative. Janina followed with a shot of her own, as did Grey.
Following the captain’s lead, Amanda and Kevin ran out from cover, charging the enemy. Amanda took some hits, but her armor was more than enough as she let loose her flamethrower, laying waste to the enemy. Kevin jumped out from behind her, and blew a sniper off the back of one of the trucks. “Home run, right?” he said with a grin.
Amidst the wreckage of the ruined, burning vans and dead EXALT, the sound of the firefight slowly came to a halt as the last of the enemies perished and the scattered troopers came to this realization. Slowly Albert stepped out of cover, rifle lowered but at the ready.
“Well, that certainly was a fun excursion,” he deadpanned, scanning the ruined environment. “Good thing most of this was EXALT’s turf, else we might have to find out how much insurance we have.”
Emma nodded, distracted, and walked over to the customized legion trooper, a small grin forming on her face. “Your help is appreciated, ‘King’.”
The regal looking machine bowed, “It was my pleasure. How is Ammelia?”
“Safe, though we have had more than one close call today,” Emma responded, leaning over slightly to see if Ammelia had noticed her talking to her father’s machine.
Ammelia was kneeling next to her now unconscious sister as she helped Dorian bandage her wound. Her father’s machine approached her as she looked up at it, a few teardrops welled up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here myself, but I couldn’t afford to have them discover my identity. It would’ve put you and my entire company at risk.” The Machine spoke in her father’s voice.
“I understand, dad… Thank you…” The sniper replied, smiling slightly at the avatar of her father.
Rubbing a palm over his eyes, Albert stepped over to Atka, and asked, “So, uh, didn’t want to mention this earlier, but isn’t the squad normally a soldier larger?”
“...Fujioka didn’t make it,” the scout captain explained.
The Amero-Anglican muttered a curse, shaking his head somberly. “Shame. She was a good soldier…” he trailed off, unsure of where to lead the conversation. “Anyways, seems we’re clear on hostiles, you want to give the extract order?” he asked.
Atka merely nodded.
As the Skyranger lifted off into the distance and Cross Tech’s forces returned to base, a single, charred hand lifted from behind the laser technical. A heave brought Abdel onto the bed of the vehicle, one hand clutched over the hastily healed wound on his face. He slowly glanced around the desolate street, the bodies of his allies littering the floor.
The distant sound of sirens approaching caught the man’s attention, and he quietly whispered, “From ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The hand that was not clutching his face reached into his coat, pulling the laser pistol from within. “So we all return.”
The signature fizzle of the laser pistol echoed through the silent street, and the man crumpled to the bed of the truck.
Ammelia slipped the combat knife from her belt and slid it across the floor towards Atka, “I have one, here!”
Atka took the weapon, and slid it into a telekinetic lance in place of the spike. “Should come back in one piece.” A dark blue glow surrounded the blade, and she got out of cover, dashing to the side with her chameleon suit and lightning reflexes being enough to dodge the incoming fire. The scout captain shot the imbued knife-helix at the head of Abdel. Resist this.
“Wha-!?” Abdel managed to exclaim, instinctively recoiling as he saw the knife heading in his direction. The knife embedded itself in the man’s eye, and he uttered a short scream before falling backwards off of the technical, where he was silent.
Still despite the small victory of taking out the man on the technical, there were still just over two dozen EXALT troopers pouring fire towards the XCOM forces. A burst from Albert brought it down to exactly two dozen.
“Emma, I think it’s a good time to call for some back up, don’t you!?” Ammelia spoke, unable to even peek her head over the cover.
“...perhaps so,” Emma responded over the clamor of laser fire, and clicked a button on her wrist, then a screen on the resulting holographic pad. “Mr. Cross, I have a request...”
David’s face appeared on screen with a familiar looking news report in the background. “Ah, Emma. I suppose it has something to do with that doesn’t it?” He said as he motioned towards the flatscreen in the back.
“We have a bit of a...situation on our hands. I request that you send the two stealth drones I left you, as well as a squad of my forces stationed in Cross Tech,” the clone of Elene confirmed.
“Already sent.” He said calmly, “I figured I was going to get this call sooner or later. I’ve also sent a little project of mine along with them, no better time for a test run right?”
“I’m sure Ammelia will be impressed,” Emma affirmed. “Thank you, Mr. Cross.”
“Hey, what was that call about?” Albert asked, flinching back from a laser tearing off a piece of cover close to his head. “I thought you guys were the reinforcements?”
“Well, my associate is providing additional backup. In fact, he already has.” Emma looked to Ammelia. “Your father has some sort of surprise, though I’m not quite sure what it is.”
“I certainly hope it can save us from being pinned down here…” Atka mumbled, wiping off the bloody knife before returning it to the sniper. “Thanks.”
“No problem, you can put it to better use than I could anyway.” The sniper replied, sliding it back on her belt.
As they were talking a Exalt soldier maneuvered around the boxes stealthily, coming up behind Ammelia with his knife raised. Mary turned just in time to see the assassin and instinctively flung Ammy behind her, trying her best to hold the knife back. However the clone’s physical augmentations were too much for her to bear as he slid the knife into her stomach.
“Mary!” Ammelia screamed as she quickly slid the knife out of her belt, lunging forward and thrusting the knife though the clone’s neck with both hands. The clone feel backwards, gurgling as he attempted in vain to pull the blade from his windpipe, slowly drowning in his own blood as Ammelia turned towards her sister.
Mary slowly looked down at her injury, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the knife and slowly pulling it out. Mary dropped the knife on the floor next to her and Ammelia tried desperately to stop her sister’s bleeding. “Dorian! I need help!”
The medic quickly ran over, assessing the situation. “Shit...was there poison on that?” He muttered, noticing the toxins on the knife. Grey pulled out his medkit, applying the medspray to stop the virulent substance from causing too much damage, and did his best to seal up the wound.
Mary looked up at Ammelia and cracked a pained grin, “Eh’ ‘ever ‘ought eh’d… take ‘eh knife fe’ ‘omeone… Eh’ ‘uess ‘at’s pr-prog’ess’”
“Don’t talk… please…” Ammelia begged, looking up as gauss fire hit the soldiers in front of her from somewhere outside the building. Legion troopers marched robotically towards the dozen clones, sandwiching them between the two forces. At the back of the group there was a unique robotic soldier adorned with an an alloy crown and kevlar cape built into the model, firing grenades from a grenade launcher mounted on it’s arm.
“Okay, that’s one hell of a back-up,” Albert muttered, lowering his rifle as the EXALT began to rout from the sudden onslaught of high explosives and gauss fire. “You think I could get the Commander to send a grenade launcher like that my way?” he added, directed to no-one in particular.
“After Scarlet Van Dam brought one into her office…” Atka left it at that. She got up from cover, and took aim, easily taking down an off-guard operative. Janina followed with a shot of her own, as did Grey.
Following the captain’s lead, Amanda and Kevin ran out from cover, charging the enemy. Amanda took some hits, but her armor was more than enough as she let loose her flamethrower, laying waste to the enemy. Kevin jumped out from behind her, and blew a sniper off the back of one of the trucks. “Home run, right?” he said with a grin.
Amidst the wreckage of the ruined, burning vans and dead EXALT, the sound of the firefight slowly came to a halt as the last of the enemies perished and the scattered troopers came to this realization. Slowly Albert stepped out of cover, rifle lowered but at the ready.
“Well, that certainly was a fun excursion,” he deadpanned, scanning the ruined environment. “Good thing most of this was EXALT’s turf, else we might have to find out how much insurance we have.”
Emma nodded, distracted, and walked over to the customized legion trooper, a small grin forming on her face. “Your help is appreciated, ‘King’.”
The regal looking machine bowed, “It was my pleasure. How is Ammelia?”
“Safe, though we have had more than one close call today,” Emma responded, leaning over slightly to see if Ammelia had noticed her talking to her father’s machine.
Ammelia was kneeling next to her now unconscious sister as she helped Dorian bandage her wound. Her father’s machine approached her as she looked up at it, a few teardrops welled up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here myself, but I couldn’t afford to have them discover my identity. It would’ve put you and my entire company at risk.” The Machine spoke in her father’s voice.
“I understand, dad… Thank you…” The sniper replied, smiling slightly at the avatar of her father.
Rubbing a palm over his eyes, Albert stepped over to Atka, and asked, “So, uh, didn’t want to mention this earlier, but isn’t the squad normally a soldier larger?”
“...Fujioka didn’t make it,” the scout captain explained.
The Amero-Anglican muttered a curse, shaking his head somberly. “Shame. She was a good soldier…” he trailed off, unsure of where to lead the conversation. “Anyways, seems we’re clear on hostiles, you want to give the extract order?” he asked.
Atka merely nodded.
As the Skyranger lifted off into the distance and Cross Tech’s forces returned to base, a single, charred hand lifted from behind the laser technical. A heave brought Abdel onto the bed of the vehicle, one hand clutched over the hastily healed wound on his face. He slowly glanced around the desolate street, the bodies of his allies littering the floor.
The distant sound of sirens approaching caught the man’s attention, and he quietly whispered, “From ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The hand that was not clutching his face reached into his coat, pulling the laser pistol from within. “So we all return.”
The signature fizzle of the laser pistol echoed through the silent street, and the man crumpled to the bed of the truck.
