RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[Frostlich1228]

Operation En Passant, Pt 1

The skyranger blazed through the air, the isle of manhattan coming into view. Arturo stood inside, grasping onto the handle at the top of the ship as he usually preferred leaving the seats to his soldiers. Ammelia sat on the first seat to Max’s right, hunched over a little with beads of sweat running down her forehead from the anxiety. The day she had dreaded almost since the day she joined had arrived, some alien used it’s resources to trace the funds back from X-Com to her father, and now he, and Ammy’s entire home was being attacked. She hoped that the legion troops would be able to hold the line long enough for the team reach her father’s office, and she certainly didn’t want to think about the workers who weren’t able to evacuate in time.

Maximillian looked over at her for a second, before looking back up, looking over the entire squad. “Alright, we’re going to need Cross’ knowledge of the tower in order to get her father. She informed us that her father had designed a system that would lock off access to certain floors via the elevators to anyone but the staff during a crisis, so we’re going to be forced to fight from one to another in order to reach his office, where she said that he’d most likely be. We have detected an Ethereal on site too, but not anyone too imposing according to the scans. Now, we’re here for Dr. Cross, that means we don’t have to go through all of the hostiles to complete the mission, but considering the path we have to take up to him, we’ll more than likely have to fight them all anyway. Finally, Ammelia has explained that not only would collateral damage destroy her home and her father’s livelihood, it also runs a risk of bringing the entire tower down on top of us, so limit your explosives to grenades only. Any questions?”

Fay raised a hand, indicating that she did. “Some troopers have Seraph armor; possible to use that to breach and clear floors from outside building, so that main team can focus on continued vertical movement?” she asked.

Max quickly considered it, “Yes… That could work… It would also put our snipers in a better position to deal damage and allow us to flank. But you’d be at great risk out in the open like that considering that there are fliers doing battle with our interceptors outside, not to mention you’d need to constantly watch your fuel, those things don’t fly forever. If you are confident you can keep yourself safe out there, we could try your idea.”

Fay glanced between Sutherland and Christel, who merely shrugged and nodded thoughtfully respectively. The psion replied, “Very well. Should be able to find a position in a nearby tower to provide fire support from, while Sutherland and Christel scout floors ahead of the main team.”

“Right.” Max said as he looked back down at her, “Ammelia, you’re going to follow us up the tower, so stay back and take quick shots, we’ll need you against that Ethereal whenever she decides to show up.”

Ammy looked up at him, her eyes a little wet, nodding.

As the Skyranger landed at the base of the imposing tower, the door opened slowly to reveal the corpses of a few sectoids and thin men, along with the wreck of two or three legion mechs. As Max stepped out, he looked up at the imposing tower, seeing nothing particularly stand out except for broken glass and floaters doing battle with the ships in the sky. Max nodded towards Fay as he took Ammelia and the rest of the main team through the front, being greeted by more alien bodies and a few more inoperable legion machines.

Fay scanned around for a suitable building with which to set up a firing position. Noting a rather tall apartment complex, she flipped on the jump jets on her Seraph armor, boosting up to the edge of the fire escape, before continuing her way up. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sutherland and Christel making for one of the Cross Tower’s walls, looking for a suitable window to breach from into the building.

“Sniper support ready in two minutes,” Fay mouthed into the radio. “Call targets when ready.”

Max spoke into the intercom, “Affirmative, we’re moving up.”

Ammelia stayed behind, pointing out the direction they need to head, readying her rifle as she moved through the familiar lobby, now burned and scarred. Max took point, grabbing a corner and peeking around to see a sectoid commander and two of it’s lesser brethren guarding the elevator, the body of one of the staff leaned up against the wall in front of them. Max motioned for the rest of the team to get ready before he moved into the hall, taking shots at the main threat. The commander’s bulbous eyes widened as it ran behind it’s closest friend, using him as a shield to block the blasts of plasma before taking cover behind a large vase near the wall. Alicia moved around the corner as well, blasting the second sectoid underling, leaving it a melted carcass. The commander looked around in panic for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. After finally deciding on something it placed a hand on its head, using it psionics to call for it’s other allies on the first floor. Masambe moved into the hall next, using his plasma novagun to melt through the surprisingly sturdy vase and then the commander itself.

After a few moments of calm, another group of the same type moved into the hall, taking cover wherever they could find it. The two lesser sectoids to shots at one of the uncovered soldiers, but Jub-Jub reacted in time to take the hit, the piny plasma pistol not doing a significant around of damage to it’s armor. Ammelia saw that all the sectoids were bunched together in the hall and decided to lean around the corner to take a few quick shots at them, or rather, where she knew they were. The two plasma bolts rocketed through the two underlings weak cover, killing both of them instantly as the commander attempted a mind control on the obvious leader, Arturo. However, the attempt completely failed as Max’s mind shield reacted, defending him and leaving the commander an easy target for the squad.

Ammelia did her best to ignore the body, but couldn’t stop herself from seeing it, however, she exhaled when she saw that it was no one she really knew; that wouldn’t stop her from avenging the man though, who was clearly a custodian from the style of his uniform. Ammy looked away from him, and towards the elevator, motioning for the team to take it. “This should take us up to the twentieth floor, from there… we’ll have to reach the other side of the building to that set of elevators to go any higher.” They did as she said, moving into the spacious elevator on the right, and taking it up as far as it could go.

With a quick pull-up, Fay boosted herself over the edge of the building she had chosen, and began setting up her plasma sniper rifle. She ran through the motions, ranging the scope, ensuring the power pack was inserted carefully, and that her position was well-braced. After doing so, she flipped on her comms and said, “Position set up, covering floors eighteen through twenty-four. Give me the signal on when to begin firing missions.”

“Right” Max spoke as the elevator reached the peak of it’s ascent with a beep. They filed out, checking that the halls on both sides were clear of hostiles. They confirmed clear, and Ammelia point towards a large metal lockdown door at the end of the hallway on their left. The door was closed but had a massive hole melted through it by what looked like focused fire from plasma weaponry. Ammelia looked up at Maximillian, “There should be a few windows in that room over there, ask if Fay can see anything.”

Max nodded, raising a finger to his helmet, “Fay, we have a room on the left side of the building, it has…”

“I think that room has a four windows spaced out.” Ammy added over the intercom, “Can you see into it?”

“Room located,” Fay replied. She took a moment to look over the room, and continued, “Confirmed X-Ray contact within. Six Thin Men, with civilian hostages. Repeat, six Thin Men, with ten visible hostages. Orders?”

“We can’t exactly blow the place up… We can’t kill them inside that room either, the poison would kill the hostages…” Max thought, “Alright, we’ll try and lure them out to a place where you can get a clear shot on them. If they try to execute the civilians though, don’t hesitate to drop them, I’d rather deal with ten poisoned civvies than ten dead ones.”

“The other hall has a long line of windows, should give her plenty of space to flank them.” Ammy said, motioning in the direction they needed to go while Max fired his weapon a few times to get their attention.

As the Thin men heard the gunfire, the leader of the group ordered three to go and investigate. The three lanky reptiles looked through the halls, as they turned the corner and went into the hall with the large line of windows, Ammelia took a shot, dropping one of the Thin men but unable to hit another as they dodged into cover, still completely vulnerable from Fay’s position however.

That vulnerability became awfully apparent, as a bolt of plasma crashed through the window and struck the rear Thin Man, rending the alien apart in a cloud of acidic and poisonous gasses. A single moment passed before another round followed the first, taking out the other remaining alien.

“Hostiles pacified,” Fay said. “Preparing to eliminate hostage takers on your order.”

“Alright, I think I have an idea…” Arturo turned towards Alicia, “Could you take control of that leader Thin Man? Have him order his men out into the hall and see if you can put them into a position where Fay can take them out easily.

 

[BMPixy]

Lopez nodded, a line of psionic purple energy stretching from her head, but suddenly disappearing as she stretched it too thin to see. Fay could see one of the Thin Men act strangely for a second before ordering his men out into the hall, they slowly obeyed, moving in line with a single window and standing close together, unsure what the purpose of the order was but following anyway.

“Taking the shot, drop connection,” Fay said. The purple psion did so, and the lead Thin Man came to his senses briefly, managing to bark half an order before being struck down by a bolt of plasma. The remaining pair of aliens scattered, seeking cover that gave some measure of protection from the window their leader had just been killed from.

Max grumbled a little, as he fired his plasma rifle at one of the Thin men, catching it in the arm and causing to to fall over, bleeding out on the floor, “Not exactly what I had in mind…”

Ammy readied her sniper rifle as the thin man reared up to spray poison into the room; the plasma bolt slammed through the humanoid creature’s chest, causing it topple over as the gas leaked from his chest.

With the threats dealt with, Ammelia ran into the room and started helping the civilians up, some of whom, Ammelia knew well. The right most hostage, a woman with a braided ponytail running down her back, hugged Ammelia when she stood up, “Ammelia… I knew you’d come for us… I knew it…”

“It’s okay Carol… Are you and the others okay?” Ammy asked, worriedly.

Carol nodded, smiling at her, “They roughed us up a little… But nothing serious…”

Ammy sighed a little, “Good… Do you know where Dad is?”

“I’m… Not sure…” She said hesitantly, “I heard he went out for a walk, but he should be back up in his room by now.”

“Alright… Just… Head towards the front entrance, we cleared out the aliens from here to the Evac, so you should be safe if you hurry.”

“Okay…” Carol responded as the hostages started heading for the elevator, “Be careful Ammelia…”

“You too…” Ammy spoke as she watched Sarah leave with the rest of the hostages.

As Ammy stepped out of the room, she pointed down the hall towards the second elevator, “That’ll take us up to the fortieth floor.”

Max nodded in confirmation, “Alright, lets go.”

They moved as a team towards the golden, intricately decorated elevator, but stopped when they saw the head of a massive Berserker appear from behind the corner. The team instinctively grabbed the nearest cover they could as another two mutons followed behind it.

“Line of sight on hostiles,” Fay called over the radio, “However, friendly forces within line of fire. Relocating to secondary firing position, ETA one hundred seconds.” She pulled her rifle up from the position it was braced in and kicked off her jumps jets, boosting along from rooftop to rooftop to get around the building.

As Fay relocated the Berserker charged towards the team, it took hit after hit but the creature kept going, the close quarters of the tower proving to be it’s greatest boon as it grabbed the closest person to it, Devin Townsend, and slamming him into the nearest wall. Everyone focused everything on the hulking creature to stop it’s assault, but lived just long enough to slam both of it’s bladed fists into Townsend’s chest, filling the squad ears with a terrible crunching sound. The creature toppled and Devin slid down the wall he was pinned against, holding his chest in pain as the armor not doing enough to stop the beast from punching through, after a few seconds, his head fell forwards, the team unsure if he was dead, or had simply blacked out. The other two mutons didn’t give them much time to consider though as they took fire at Ammy, pinning her in her cover while the other took aim at Max, the blast just brush past the armor on his shoulder. He retaliated and fired back, the first two blasts catching it in it’s leg as he climbed up it’s body to it’s head.

At that point Sutherland crashed through the window, Reflex Cannon firing madly at the remaining Muton, tearing through the armor into the alien’s vital organs. The Assault trooper scanned around for any more hostiles, before lowering his weapon. Christel followed shortly after through the same window, checking her corners.

“Alright, so I guess that’s all of the- Holy hell, somebody get a medpack on Devin!” the scout barked, pointing at the downed Support trooper.

“Already on it!” Brown replied, first checking his pulse and was pleased to find a faint, slow heartbeat as she sprayed him down, “He’s alive, but in pretty bad shape. He should be stable now, though, I don’t exactly know how we’re going to get him back to the ship…”

“Someone could take him back…” Max said, trying to think of something.

“That won’t work, until we know if he has spinal damage he has to stay here… There was a significant amount of force behind those blows, who knows what else it could’ve broken…” Brown explained.

“Then we’ll just have to leave him here for now, it’s not like we have a stretcher…” Max spoke, “The floor is clear except for a few sealed rooms, we should go back and clear them since Ammelia has access. “Sutherland, take Christel and the two hover shivs with you up the elevator, see if you can scout the sixtieth floor. Don’t engage hostiles unless they engage you, I just need info.”

“Got it, boss,” Sutherland said, snapping off a quick salute before waving at the scout and SHIVs to follow him as he trotted over to the elevator. The doors sealed behind them, and the elevator car began its ascent.

“Shall I follow them to provide cover?” Fay asked over comms.

“Yeah, make sure they don’t run into anything particularly nasty up there.” Max answered, ordering the main team to clear out the floor.

“Got it, at two-thirds fuel capacity. ETA at next firing site, one minute,” the psion replied, before jetting off towards the next building she had lined up as a potential firing position.

They team scouted out the sealed off rooms, using Ammelia’s clearance to open each of the doors. They didn’t find much however, two were simply empty while the third contained some of janitorial staff hiding out and were grateful that the team had cleared out the aliens as they took off for the Evac.

“Uh… we have a slight problem,” Christel whispered over the radio. “Heavy contact on floor sixty, eyes on a Berserker, a trio of Mutons, a Cyberdisc with a single drone escort, and a pair of Heavy Floaters. Last two groups are by the elevator, former two are trying to open some sort of sealed door.”

“Can confirm,” Fay added in, “Visual on all targets. Orders?”

Max had his team by the elevator, with Brown checking Devin’s pulse once again. “Do not engage… I repeat, do not engage. Head back and meet us at the top of the elevator.”

“Wilco, though hostiles appear to be keeping a keen eye on the elevator,” the scout replied.

“On our elevator? Shit… You have the SHIVs, do you think you could deal with them with Fay’s help?” Max asked.

“Uh, we could probably draw ‘em away from the elevator for a few minutes, long enough for you guys to make it up at least,” Christel replied. “Just say the word when you guys start your ascent. Best hurry, looks like the Mutons are starting to make progress on that door.”

“Understood, on our way up now.” Max replied, motioning for the team to follow him as they boarded, pressing the button and watching the numbers on the dial above them rise.

Through her scope, Fay could see Christel and Sutherland blast off a pair of shotgun rounds at the Mutons, one falling to the floor as its leg was reduced to tenderized meat, the other collapsing with a hole in its chest. The two troopers bolted away, taking the moment of confusion as the alien forces rallied for combat to book it for another firing angle. The pair of hover SHIVs rolled out to provide covering fire, and Fay lined up a shot on the cyberdisc.

A bolt of plasma lanced from the sniper’s rifle, tearing a large chunk out of the cyberdisc’s frame. However, it instantly spun to face Fay, its counter-battery sensors driving it to put off a gauss cannon burst towards the psion. The shots went wide, but she was forced to relocate to avoid further retaliation. Jubjub took this opportunity to open up on the cyberdisc’s exposed internals, the HEAT-modified plasma digging deep and punching through the alien robot, which fell to the floor and exploded as its internal power plant cooked off.

The Berserker and a Heavy Floater chased after the fleeing XCOM troopers, the Berserker batting aside Jabberwock with contemptible ease as it pursued after its prey. The other Heavy Floater remained by the elevator, peeking out of cover to take pot shots at the SHIVs, while the other unwounded Muton dragged its comrade into cover. Fay lined up a shot on the retreating alien infantry, but her visible window space ran out, forcing her to abandon the target.

The elevator door opened and the team stepped out, quickly getting into cover behind the two mutons. The uninjured one turned to fire, but a snap disabling shot from Ammelia jammed his weapon, turning it into a sitting duck as Masambe tore it apart with a hail of energy. Max moved forward, finishing off the injured Muton with a quick blast to the skull as he followed the sounds of battle, ending up behind the Floater and Berserker as he took shots, getting them to turn around and leave their backs vulnerable.

The two SHIVs seized this moment and unloaded with a barrage of point-blank fire at the Berserker and Heavy Floater, the HEAT rounds tearing apart the heavily augmented flyer and taking out the Berserker’s legs, caused the Muton to fall to the floor. The other remaining Heavy Floater dashed to another piece of cover, but a reaction shot from Fay took out its jets, causing the alien to crash and slide along the floor and through a shattered window, gravity taking over as the floater arced through the air.

 

[BMPixy]

“Nice work you guys.” Max said, congratulating them, “So, no more threats on this floor?”

“Nothing in any of the rooms we searched,” Sutherland said, stepping out of his cover, “which was pretty much all of them save that room the X-Rays were trying to get into.”

“Then let’s see what they wanted so bad.” Max said as Ammelia went up to the door, placing her hand on the scanner. The door slid open and revealed three women with styled hair and all white clothes. Ammelia recognized them immediately as her father’s assistants, they would help him organize his office, give him advice on project, and even helped take care of Ammelia when she was younger. Ammelia smiled when she saw them unharmed, but as she looked around again, she couldn’t help but notice that her father’s fourth assistant, Betty, was no where to be found.

The younger woman in the middle stood up and embraced Ammelia, “You’re here, is it really you?”

“Of course it’s me, who else would it be?” Ammy asked.

“That… Tall thing… With the mask… It was trying to get us to her where your father was and trying to persuade us into opening the door… But when whatever it was trying failed, it let those big ones try to open the door as I heard something about it going upstairs. They’re probably going to check the office.”

“Do you know where he is?” Ammy asked, trying to find some clue but all she did was shake her head.

“I’m sorry, Betty’s the one who’s shift it was today and even she didn’t know where he was going, he just said he was ‘going for a stroll’.”

Ammelia quickly picked up on her past tense, “Didn’t? Did something happen to her?”

The woman refused to speak, but the silence said more than enough. Ammelia lowered her head, a few tears running down her cheeks, “Don’t worry… I promise to make whoever’s responsible pay… You have my word…”

“Be careful, we saw her go through those legion mecs easily, though she did have her guards with her at the time.” The assistant replied.

“Thanks for the info… The Skyranger’s waiting outside… The rest of the building is clear, just hurry.” Ammy replied, repeating what she said to the last group as she gripped her sniper rifle tightly. The girls left as Ammelia stood up, “Come on… My dad’s office is on the seventieth floor… We should find him there.”

“Are you… Alright Ammelia?” Max asked, placing a caring hand on her shoulder.

“I… I’ll feel better once we kill that Ethereal…” She said as she looked him in the eyes before walking past him towards the last elevator.

As they rode it up, Ammy focused her mind on clearing out her home and saving her father, pushing the darker, more pessimistic thoughts as far away as she could. He’ll be fine… Dad isn’t a pushover, especially with that mech of his… He’ll be fine…

The lift stopped, and as the door opened they saw a long, stylish hallway leading straight towards the door to David Cross’ office, which was laying on the floor, torn completely off the hinges. Just outside of it lay the assistant’s desk, on fire and melted in several places by plasma blasts. Max looked at it more closely and saw what looked like a charred hand, poking out from under the rubble. He sighed mentally, looking over at Ammelia for a second, but her expression didn’t change, either she didn’t see it, or she just didn’t want to. Finally, a small hallway shot off the right side of the hallway, next to the desk, that led to Ammelia’s old room and the area she lived in for all her life. As they slowly approached, they heard the sound of fighting from inside the broken in room, whoever was in there, they were putting up a fight. Ammy heard this first, and ran up ahead despite Arturo’s order, being stopped in her tracks by the flaming corpse of a Muton being hurled out of the room she was heading towards, a massive hole through it’s chest.

Max and the others caught up to her and proceeded into the large, brightly lit room. The room had a few small steps in the middle of it, covered by the long burgundy carpet that let up to David’s desk that looked out towards a huge broken window, the skyline of New York clearly visible from the overlook. In the sides were a number of bookshelves, filled with hundreds of different types of books on hundreds of different topics, however the flames in the room had destroyed a number of the once intricately decorated shelves and the expensive book that were stacked inside.

In the center of the room stood the source of the deceased Muton, David’s customized legion mech stood, dodging left and right from the plasma blasts of the Mectoid and it’s Sectoid Commanders who were using their energy to shield it from hits, the small drone repairing any damage the may have gotten through. Ammelia and the squad took cover behind some overturned filing cabinets, firing at the sectoids from behind, causing the piloted machine to turn around. ‘White King’ took this opportunity to launch up into the air using it’s jet boots, hovering there while it charged some sort of energy attack in it’s right hand. After a few seconds a glow white ball of sparking electricity formed in it’s hand, then discharged it at one of the Commanders, the piercing white bolt of lightning erupted from King’s hand and slammed through the Sectoid’s feeble body, causing it to explode in a shower of green blood. The shield around the Mectoid weakened from the squad’s continuous fire, and now that one of the Sectoid’s was dead, it began to falter and some hit’s got through, searing the side of the sectoids face.

The last commander now turned towards King, realizing it was trapped, it quickly looked over to the X-Com squad and attempted to take control of the soldier with the most damage that it could see, which was Ammelia. The strand of purple connected with her head, her mind shield failing to repel the attempt. Either this sectoid was unusually strong, or the mind shield had somehow malfunctioned, whichever was the case, David’s mech saw the psionic line reach his daughter’s head and immediately targeted the creature projecting it. Tanks on King’s back transferred gasoline through a flame thrower on the mechs right arm, combining with a custom Tar and oil combination also injected out of the device to create a ball of fire. Rearing up, the mech pitched the ball towards the sectoid, causing him to burst into flames on contact with the hot, sticky tar kept it from being able to put itself out as squealed, cooking in agony on the floor. It’s attempt was stopped dead in it’s tracks as the last source powering the shield failed, leaving the Mectoid vulnerable. As it was pummeled by blow after blow, it backed up closer to King, who launched a small metal disk from it’s arm that attached to the back of the mech. King charged up another lightning bolt that connected with the disk, causing the lighting to arc to the drone as well, causing it to malfunction and spiral out of control, while also searing the Mectoid in it’s over suit.

“Sniper support in position,” Fay chimed in over the radio, laying down her rifle upon the edge of the building she had chosen and beginning the ranging process. “At one-third fuel capacity. Ready to fire in twenty seconds.”

Ammelia walked up to the mech with a smile, “Dad?”

The machine nodded, “It’s me, sweetie…”

“Are you alright? You’re not hurt?” Ammelia asked worriedly.

“I’m fine, they haven’t found me yet.” He said looking over towards his desk.

A memory suddenly appeared in Ammy’s head, remembering that her father built the entrance to a secret safe room underneath his desk emergencies like this, “So that’s where y-”

Ammelia was interrupted by the sounds of someone speaking from the door behind the squad.

M-My Sectoids! H-How could you kill them!? This wasn’t supposed to be this hard! Just eliminate a source of their funding, made it sound simple! He didn’t tell us about all these Mechs!

The team turned to see an Ethereal standing in the doorway, looking over her gruesomely dispatched minions with dread as her Muton Elite guard stepped in front of her raising it’s weapon.

Y-You’ll pay! I’ll make you pay! Garm, kill them! The Ethereal responded, a line of purple energy stretching towards her Muton’s head as it hefted it’s plasma dragon upwards to take aim, firing a surprisingly accurate stream of bullets that clipped Max’s side and threw brown onto her back with a blast to her chest. Thankfully, the armor she was wearing minimized the damage to nothing but a bad burn as a quick shot from Ammelia caused it’s weapon to overheat, forcing the Muton to toss it to the side to avoid an explosion. The Ethereal hid behind the door frame, throwing a mind fray out that made a few of the soldiers extremely dizzy. King rushed towards the Muton with it’s rocket boots while the creature’s weapon was jammed, a superheated alloy blade sliding out of the top of the machine’s right arm. The blade easily pierced the creature’s armor, but wasn’t enough to kill it or even force it to it’s knees as the Ethereals mind merge had the additional benefit of preventing any amount of pain. The Muton pulled a grenade off it’s belt with one hand, and grabbed ‘King’ by the throat with the other. With a quick but powerful motion, the alien shoved the grenade into the chest of the machine and tossed it through the air at the rest of the group. As David’s mech flew through the air, just it’s jet’s to rocket itself upwards to avoid colliding with the team, it instead flew just overhead of them, crushing the ornate desk and the grenade exploded. The metal floor underneath the desk gave way and crumbled, collapsing into the safe room, filling it with shards of razor sharp, burning metal and wood. Ammelia’s eyes widened as she screamed, tears filling her eyes, “Dad!” She clenched her fists, turning back towards the door and firing a shot through the wall that connected with the Ethereals leg, blowing it completely off.

 

[Frostlich1228]

From across the street, Fay lined up a shot on the exposed Muton. She paused for a second, inhaled, and then fired. The plasma bolt flew true, soaring through a shattered window before striking down the Muton, the round digging into the alien’s damaged armor and penetrating into its vital organs. With that, Fay began performing the calculations on her next shot, the high altitude wind necessitating such measures.

As the Muton collapsed, screams could be heard from the other side of the wall as the Ethereal tried her best to crawl away, leaving behind a trail of blood.

No… No… It wasn’t supposed to be like this… I-I want to g-go… H-Home… I w-want to l-live…

Ammelia grabbed her sniper rifle and stepped out of the room. She stood over the wounded Ethereal, pointing her plasma sniper rifle in her face, as tears continued to stream down her own.

W-wait… Let me go... I don’t want to die… P-Please…

“You… You don’t deserve… Anything…” She said, grinding her teeth a little, “Besides… We don’t have enough room for trash like you anyway…”

Ammelia sent a quick round of plasma through her chest, blowing a massive hole through her body as she tried in vain for a mind control attempt. The sniper then moved her rifle upwards, blasting through her neck and severing her head. Ammelia aimed again, planning on taking another shot to ‘be sure’, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Max gave the girl a sad look, “Stop… It’s dead… we have to go…”

Ammelia simply dropped her sniper rifle, refusing to even turn back to look at the room as she headed for the elevator. After a few minutes of waiting she saw Max and the rest of the squad head for the elevator, as they reached it, Max spoke, “We… Looked through the rubble as best we could… But the room is completely filled with twisted metal… I’m… Sorry…”

Ammy refused to speak on the seemingly endless trip back down the tower, memories of a better time filling her head and making the tears come faster and faster. A few team members tried to comfort her, but she didn’t bother to listen, their words turning into nothing but gibberish. As they boarded the final elevator back down and reached the lobby once again, Ammy stepped out first, slowing walking out towards the ship, simply focusing on putting a single foot in front of another. As she reached the front door, she heard a familiar voice speak to her from behind, “What’s wrong? You’re not even going to give your old man a hug?”

Ammelia turned around to see her father standing in one of the side hallways, perfectly unharmed. She rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around his body as tight as she could, her wet cheeks staining the front of his shirt, “H-How? The Saferoom…”

“You thought I was in the saferoom?” He said, smiling as he looked down at her, “I’m fine… Come on… Let’s get to your skyranger then…”

“O-Okay Dad…” Ammelia smiled, but as she hugged her father, she saw something down the hallway, something that the ordinary eye wouldn’t be able to see from his distance. At the end of the hall behind him, a small panel stuck slightly out of the wall, only about an inch, but enough for her SAaIDA to pick up.

Ammy’s dad released her, and motioned at her friends boarding the ship as he smiled, “Let’s get out of here…”

“I…” Ammelia replied, “I’ll meet you there dad, there’s one more thing I have to do…”

He tilted his head a little, “What is it?”

“I need to count all the aliens we killed on this floor,” She answered, “You know, for the logs.”

“I see…” He said before he started walking towards the door, “I’ll be outside then, sweetie… Get done fast, alright?”

“Alright.” Ammelia said, smiling as her father left her sight. She looked back down the wall to the strange panel, this was something she’d never seen or heard about before, especially strange considering how well she knew this building. As she walked up to it, she tried to see what was behind it, catching a glimpse of some sort of small room? The sniper grabbed the edges of the panel and pulled on it, the metal weak from what looked like damage that the wall had taken during the attack. The plate eventually ripped off, revealing a small elevator, not decorated like the others. She climbed through the square hole and onto the lift, seeing that it only went one way, down? This was the first time Ammy had heard anything about a basement to the building, and one so well hidden? Whatever was down here, her father didn’t want her to see, and she intended to find out what. As she pushed the arrow down, the lift decended rapidly, but only for a few seconds. When it reopened, it revealed a small room, tables, notes, and computer monitors lined it, but with no console in sight. At the other end of the room was a solid wooden door, As Ammy stepped into the room, she regretted that she couldn’t see what any of these papers meant, or what was on them due to her SAaIDA.

She stepped up to open the door, slowly wrapping her hand around the knob and she turning it. She opened it slightly to peek in, but the room was completely black. A cold air rushed past her face from the room on the other side, as she pushed it the rest of the way open. As she did, she heard an audible click and light buzzed on throughout the room. She was shocked to see a massive area, filled with nothing but computer racks with consoles filling them for almost as far as her SAaIDA could see, which was about two football fields. She approached what looked to be the main console, standing alone directly in front of the door, however, it was clearly not made for her eyes, so she quickly patched into her radio, changing the feed as to contact only Alice.

“Alice? Are you there? I need your help with something…”

“Ammy?” Alice answered back. “I’m here. What is it?”

“Can you… Look at this computer for me? Find out what’s on it?” Ammelia asked, “My father’s been keeping something big from all of us…”

“A-alright.” Alice patched into Ammelia’s feed. “Where… where are you, Ammy?”

“Underneath the tower… I found a secret elevator hidden in the wall, when I took it down, this is what I found…” Ammy replied.

“I… I see. Um… take… take the panel off the side of your helmet, and pull out the chip on the top. It is the location device, used in case you… disappear or something. You know, weirder things… anyway, find somewhere to plug it into the computer, and I should be able to relay a signal back to it and gain access to the computer.”

“Gotcha…” Ammelia said as she did as she was told, not sure if her father would go so far as to make her, ‘disappear’, but wanted to be ready for anything, “Alright, you’re plugged in, what do you see?”

“I… I’m not sure. I… it looks look an older version of… o-of my memory systems. It looks like a system for storing, not only memories, but thoughts, synaptic patterns, even… even emotions. It looks like the systems have been upgraded over the years, starting very simple, then incorporating technology included in my and Avanix’s systems. I… hold on, I’m bringing up one of the records now. I’ll play it… damn, you couldn’t see it… maybe you’ll recognize the audio. Hold on… there.”

The sounds of tinkering and tools moving around could be heard before a voice that sounds like her father’s spoke, “Alright… Does it work? Can you… See?”

Another voice could be heard, just a few seconds after, that sounded exactly like her own, “I… I can! I can see you, and the bed, and the walls! It’s… I don’t know how…”

“Wonderful!” David’s voice replied, “I haven’t quite got it to work with colors yet, but when I do, you’ll be just like a normal girl!”

“T-Thank you dad… This is… Amazing…” Ammelia responded slowly.

“You don’t need to thank me, sweetie… I just want you to live that life you always deserved… I love you...” David said as the record stopped.

Ammelia remembered the words from the recording exactly, “That’s the conversation we had just after he activated the SAaIDA for the first time… He recorded it?”

“I… Ammy, this isn’t… a recording of the conversation. This is a recording of the memory itself. There are… are enough memories here to extend from that moment until now. There… there are memory files for… yesterday.”

Ammelia’s face became distressed, “Memories… Thought Patterns…. Emotions? All using the systems that were used to make you and Avanix? Is he… Trying to make another me?”

“I… I don’t know, Ammelia. But there is so much of it, I’m sure he would have done so by now.” Alice sighed. “You’ll have to ask him yourself, I’m afraid.”

“I can’t just ask him here… I’ll… Wait until we get back to the Base… I don’t want to think my father is doing something… Like this… But it needs to be explained…” Ammelia said, pulling the drive out, “I’ll have to bring Morrigan to that talk too… He did take data on your creation without even asking… I’m sure he meant nothing malicious by creating… This… But, I need to be positive…”

“Alright, Ammelia,” Alice answered. “I’ll tell her to expect you. Good luck.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
UFO Crash Site Recon Mission

Operation Whispering Woods
The Caledonian Forest, Scotland

Date: November 17th, 2018
Time: 0435 Hours

Briefing:
Recently our Firestorms have began engaging more and more UFOs than previously before, though with the alien chain of command collapsing, it was not that much of a surprise. The alien craft that have been engaged are being taken down more efficiently than before so UFO crash sites have been few and far between.

However, a craft had been engaged about a week ago and went down over Scotland, the craft thought to be destroyed. However recent satellite images of the area have uncovered strange anomalies so the Commander thought it best to send in a small team to recon the area and clear any hostiles that may have survived the crash.

Number of Soldiers for this Mission:
Four (4) Soldiers

Soldier Names:
SGT Chief (Assault/Infantry)*
CPL Hawke (Sniper/Engineer)**
CPL Bull (Gunner/Rocketeer)
CPL Fox (Scout/Support)

*Squad Leader
**Second in Command

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

- Primary Weapon: Either a Plasma Stormgun, a Plasma Carbine, a Plasma Rifle, a Heavy Plasma Rifle, a Reflex Cannon (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer), a Plasma Sniper Rifle (Sniper), a Reflex Rifle (Sniper, Scout), a Plasma Novagun (Gunner, Heavy), or a Plasma Dragon (Gunner, Heavy)

(Blaster Launcher for Heavies and Rocketeers, Particle Cannon for MECs, Superheavy Plasma for SHIVs)

- Armor: Banshee Armor, Aegis Armor, Titan Armor, or Seraph Armor (Four Shadow Armors also available)

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

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

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

Details:
The crash site is scattered throughout the thick forests, the main pieces in five separate sections spread out in a two mile box. Each piece was given a quadrant and in the middle is the biggest of the five. Enemy type or exact numbers are unknown as the thick forest makes it hard to pick up any signatures. However, enemy movements in the forest are being track within the canopy and a small map of the latest scan has given the Elites a general location of where the aliens were and where they are suspected to be.

Troops will drop off in the right hand corner of the bottom right quadrant and will make their way across the forest and search every inch of it. Enemy engagement is likely and caution is advised.

Enemies:
Two (2) Units of Three (3) Sectoids each
One (1) Units of Two (2) Thin Men
One (1) Unit of Two (2) Mutons & One (1) Berserker
One (1) Unit of One (1) Outsider & Two (2) Sectoids

Conditions for Completion:
Recon of the area and elimination of any surviving alien crew.

Civilians:
None

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Whispering Woods Part One

The shaking of the aircraft was a gentle jolt to help keep the Elites awake, given only an hour’s notice before being told they were needed for a special mission. Bull was struggling keeping his head up, occasionally nodding off for a while before a shake of turbulence shook him back awake. Fox was just slumped over with his chin in his hands with droopy eyes and a bored expression.

Hawke and Chief were the only two awake, the latter checking over the detailed map of the area as the sniper just chewed away at some fruity flavored gum. Looking over the two sleepers, Hawke yawned and scratched his head. “Alright, enough silence, time to talk.”

Fox blinked his eyes and shook his head, straightening himself up. “A-About what?” The scout complained.

“Anything to keep you two awake.” Hawke stated sternly. “Come on, eyes open.”

The two grumbled and groaned but they otherwise adhered to the orders. “You are quite annoying, you know that?” The heavy just narrowed his eyes at his brother.

“I have to be, now come on, spill it.”

“There is nothing to say brother, I live a simple life and there is not much to tell.” The heavy protested.

“Bull, stop being a pessimist and just indulge Hawke.” Chief finally stated, speaking up for the first time.

“Well, if you must know, I have been taking an interest in mechanics. I was having a conversation with one of the guys who maintains the Skyrangers and I was intrigued.”

Hawke smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh really? What sort of stuff are you interested in working on?”

“Trucks, Jeeps, big things.” The heavy Elite informed him, a large grin on his face.

“Well good for you big guy.” Hawke changed his eyes to look at Fox. “What about you little guy, any new interests?”

Fox looked up and he thought for a moment, snapping his fingers. “I-I have been learning to cook! I watched a lot of shows on my laptop and I got interested.”

“Well...keep at that. We don’t need food poisoning.” Fox’s face dropped a little. “Come on, that was a joke. Just try your best to get better and i you need someone to test out your new skills, leave me out of it.”

Fox stuck out his tongue and looked a little annoyed at the ramp door.

Chief chuckled and he looked at his men with a smile on his face. “I am proud of you guys. We’ve come a long way together from where we first began. Fox’s girlfriend, Bull’s new hobby, even you are becoming quite the suave one Hawke. Card player, book smart, and if rumor is to be believed, you found yourself a girl as well. Aya no less.”

“Hey, it was one night of drinks and nothing happened. Aya’s a sweet woman and all but I think it is a little early to be assuming things.” The sniper retorted, crossing his arms.

The four man squad took up a collective laugh and the pilot’s voice buzzed over the comms. “We are at the LZ. The dropoff point isn’t clear enough to land so you will need to rope down. Just send the signal when the site is clear and I will circle back around to pick you up. Just don’t take too long, I don’t have an infinite amount of fuel.”

Chief confirmed and the squad got up, putting on their helmets and turning to the door as it opened up and ropes fell out. The Elites ran for the ropes and in pairs of two, roped down and had weapons raised as they hit the ground, the ropes falling from the aircraft and the craft flying off, the engine noise slowly fading as it sped off.

They stood back to back in the clearing, the sky still relatively dark as dawn neared, the forest foggy and the air thick with moisture and the air cool. The sounds of bugs rang from the forest and after a few minutes passed, Chief gave the signal and the four of them moved on, heading west in a jog, going to loop around the middle crash site and search for the enemy.

They made good time, though meeting no enemy contact on the way to the first one in which the enemies were suspected to be. The slowed their pace to a slow walk, taking care not to make too much noise as they stealthed their ways forward. Fox headed out, moving forward to scout out the area ahead from a secondary route. Chief stopped their movement and waited for Fox to call in any sightings, one coming only two minutes later.

“Chief,” The scout said over the comms, keeping his voice low in a whisper. “I got a pod of three Sectoids. They are just...waiting here. Just sitting around not looking to be doing anything.”
“Alright, nice work. Hold position and we will move forward.” The three moved forward with weapons raised and everyone on alert, soon coming upon the group Fox had mentioned. He had been right, the three alien just sitting around as if they had nothing to do. One of the Sectoids were sitting facing the direction of the Elites and it sat forward, squinting it’s bulgy eyes and skittering something in it’s alien language. However, Hawke had put a plasma bolt through it’s head and the others jumped up in shock. Chief put another down with his Heavy Plasma Rifle and as the third tried to run, Fox sprayed him with his Plasma Stormgun as his Shadow armor de-cloacked.

“Nice work Fox.” Bull said, walking forward and looking down at the corpses, nudging one’s head with his foot. “I wonder what they were doing?”

“No idea, but it seems they weren’t expecting company. We should move on, times are a wasting.” Hawke stated, putting his rifle on his shoulder and walking back into the brush as he put a hand on their scout’s shoulder.

It didn’t take long for them to find a small piece of the alien craft, though it was badly burnt and was so small that it was hard to distinguish what part of the ship it was. Seeing nothing of worth, the group moved on for another hour north to the next quadrant, having a few spooks along the way by small animals and distant sounds.

Reaching the second zone, there was a second pod of Sectoids, but there was something wrong with the scene. “...dead?” Hawke bent down and poked one of the alien heads, all three of them looking like grapes that had been stepped on. “The hell could have done this?” He mumbled to himself silently, taking out his pistol and surveying the scene.

“Not a lot that could do that.” Bull added, holding his Plasma Novagun at his side.

“I don’t know, but-” Hawke cried out as a plasma shot hit the back of his shoulder and the group turned as two Thin Men flew from the tops of the trees and landed, holding their weapons up. They seemed to hesitate though, looking at one another but Bull just raised his eyebrow. “Uh...alright then.” He gunned both of the aliens down before they could react and waited for the acid to disperse before taking a closer look. “Damn these guys are skinny, even by their regular standards. Chief...what is going on?”

“No idea, but this is definitely fishy.” He intoned, looking over as Fox worried over Hawke.

He pulled from the scouts grasp and stood up, rolling his shoulder. “I told you I am fine, it just hit my armor.”

“”I-I’m sorry, I just wanted to m-make sure!” Fox said, backing away from Hawke.

“It’s fine, bud.” The sniper told him with a genuine smile and turned back to where the Thin Men had appeared from. “Something fishy is going on here…”

Moving to the east for another forty-five minutes, the squad confirmed craft piece locations and was surprised to see no alien activity. With options running out, and the pilot confirming if they were nearly done with the mission, they made haste towards the center crash location.

The scene was definitely different than the ones they had found previously, a large chunk of spacecraft debris having smashed through the canopy and making a nice clearing in which a large group had set up shop. “Two Mutons, two Sectoids, an Outsider...these guys are just traveling light.” There were canisters spread out across the clearing, almost all of them open and scraps littered the ground, the aliens just sitting around.

“Who else is really confused right now?” Fox stated as he watched the inactive aliens with a confused look, scratching his helmet.

“Yeah...look, let’s just clean this up and go.” Hawke stated, lifting his rifle.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Whispering Woods Part Two

Chief contemplated a plan for a minute but shook his head, a small group of weak aliens being a cake walk. Chief aimed his rifle as well, Fox preparing a flashbang and Bull just holding his gun like it weighed very little.

“Ready?” Fox asked, everyone giving confirmation. Fox threw the flashbang and it went off with a large blast of light and sound. The already stagnate aliens were thrown into a panic by the sudden explosion of light. Hawke easily blew a hole through two heads of vulnerable Sectoids who had been conversing with one another, the shot an easy one and taking out two birds with one stone.

Chief laid down heavy suppressive fire on the Outsider, landing multiple glancing blows on the artificial being and Fox putting an end to it as the scout had landed a lucky burst shot with his Plasma Pistol.

Bull, trying to look as badass as possible, walked out from the canopy of bushes and trees, Novagun blazing as the Mutons were hit hard. The one nearest Bull immediately fell from the barrage but the second dove behind cover, leaving himself open to be easily suppressed. The Muton activated a grenade and tossed it at Bull. The heavy looked down at the ordinance but just simply kicked it away from him and it exploded mid flight, some shrapnel grazing his armor and helmet, knocking him a bit off balance and ending his suppression. The alien let out a mighty roar and raised his weapon, aiming for the wide open Elite but a sniper blast to the head quickly ended that attempt on the soldier’s life.

“Area clear.” Hawke stated in a bored tone, reloading his weapon.

The Elites came out of the brush and gathered in the opening, looking around at the carnage. “What...are these things?” Bull asked, placing his gun down and looking at the refuse littering the ground.

“No idea.” Chief said, approaching the large wreckage of the UFO.

The three others followed suit, and after a few minutes of searching, Fox had found something. It was a small box object with alien writing flashing on a small screen and blue light blinking at the top.

“It looks like a black box.” Bull stated.

“I think we could have guessed that one, Einstein.” The sniper remarked, looking over the object.

“No, I mean it is a literal ‘black box’. Aircraft carry these to record conversations in case a plane goes down. It gives recovery teams an idea of what caused the crash. Some of them also come with beacons, to alert any radars of their locations. At least that is what I think this is.”

“And where did you get all this information?” Hawke asked skeptically.

Bull shook his head. “I told you idiot, I have been hanging out with the Skyranger mechanics. Our ships have these as well...if not slightly different.”

Hawke was silent under his expressionless helmet.

“Well, if anything this will tell us what has been going on here.” Chief said, placing a hand to his earpiece. “Hey, is Alice available? We need her assistance.”

“I’m here,” Alice answered after a minute. “Is everything alright?”

“Everythings fine, we just need some translation. Apparently we found an…” Chief glanced at Bull for a split second. “Alien black box. Would you be able to translate some of it?”

“Um, yeah. I can try, at least. Do any of you have a signal relay you can plug into it?”

“Uh...what?” Chief asked, looking at the plain box.

Bull sighed and slammed a fist on it, one of the sides popping off. Bull took the chip from Chief’s helmet and found somewhere to insert it. “You good?”

“Got it. Translating.” A few moments passed in silence as Alice ran the contents through the translation software Xaver had helped her make.

There was some static for a moment but soon, rough translations started coming through Chief’s earpiece. “*static*...we ha-...*Static*...early a week, they should have…*Static* by now.” A reptilian voice hissed over, sounds suspiciously similar to power tools whirling in the background.

“Supplies ar-*Static* -nning out. We won’t last long w-*Static* -ig guys eating everything. *Static* to do something about them…” Another voice replied.

“Yes...the three *Static* -oublesome…”

The recording ended there and Chief looked over to Hawke. “You heard that too right?”

Hawke nodded. “Yeah…” The sniper stopped, looking around frantically. “Chief...where is Fox?”

There was a blood curdling roar from near by and Bull, Chief, and Hawke all looked where the roar had come from, sounding much deeper than a Muton’s. “There was a third!” Hawke dropped his rifle and broke out into a dead sprint away from the wreckage of the UFO, turning his head, frantically trying to see any sign of the source of the roar, or his brother. “Fox!”

He turned around in a whole circle, trying to find something but seeing nothing but trees. Chief and Bull came running from the wreckage, their guns raised. “Damn it, where is he…” The Elite leader mumbled.

Another roar caused birds to fly up over the trees and all three of the soldiers turned to where the sound originated from. All three ran as fast as they could, Hawke leading the pack with Chief close behind and Bull lagging behind. Nearly tripping on the roots and small shrubs blocking their way, they did their best to move as fast as possible to find their little brother. Running out into another small clearing, they didn’t slow their stride as a big Berserker was beating a fist against his chest in frustration as the scout was pressed up against a smaller part of the UFO wreckage.

Hawke pulled his pistol off of his belt and fired at the alien but his shots went wide due to his running. The Berserker shrugged him off for the moment, Fox throwing his gun to the side as he was out of ammo in it. Reaching out, the alien’s large hand wrapped around the scouts helmet and he lifted the smaller man into the air with another aggravated roar. Hawke pulled out his knife and he drove it into the back of the ribs behind the Berserker, the alien roaring again, more in annoyance than in pain and swung his heavy free arm, sending Hawke off his feet and flying into the air and landing hard about two yards back, no internal damage but a large dent in his light armor.

As Chief and Bull raised their weapons and fired, the Berserker turned in anger and he threw the scout backwards into the metal carcass of the downed spacecraft, hitting it hard with a loud, audible bang and Fox fell to the ground face first, not moving.

Hawke had the wind knocked out of him so he couldn’t cry out for his brother but Chief and Bull more than made up for it, their torrent of plasma slamming into the Berserker in a hail of fire that made the alien furious and charge forward directly at the two. It didn’t last very long against the onslaught and fell to the ground lifeless, just at the two soldier’s feet.

Taking deep breaths now, Hawke threw off his helmet and was on his feet again, falling to the ground but quickly scrambling back up to get to his brother’s side. He flipped the scout over carefully and removed his helmet, a small bit of blood coming from his mouth. The sniper’s hands fumbled at his brother’s chest armor and finally throwing it to the side as there was no rising from the scout’s chest.

Tilting Fox’s head back, opening his jaw and pinching his nose closed, he blew into him twice, watching his brother’s chest rise and beginning compressions on the scout’s chest. His breathing didn’t continue, so he did mouth to mouth again, trying to make his brother breath again.

Chief struggled to watch the scene unfold before him, one of his worst nightmares coming to fruition. Chief yanked off his helmet and he fell backwards to the ground, covering his eyes and trying his best to keep it together. Chief nearly lost it when he heard Hawke begin to cry a little.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Whispering Woods:
Epilogue

Something nudged Chief’s shoulder and when he looked up, Bull had nudged it with his foot and gave his same flat expressionless look. Not wanting to turn his head, Chief slowly did so and saw the sniper clenching his brother tightly in his arms. “You son of a bitch, I should kill you for this…” The sniper said, chuckling to himself as Chief got to his feet and saw Fox wide eyed and breathing.

Chief let out a relieved sigh and hung his head, shaking it slightly and chuckling to himself as he wiped his teary eyes.

“Did you see that! I stood up to him...all by myself.” Fox exclaimed as best he could, still recovering a bit from the near death experience.

“Never again...for now on you never leave my sight...ever…” Hawke stated, falling to the ground tired. “We calling this one in Chief?”

Chief nodded to himself and looked over as Bull handed the leader’s helmet to him and Chief slipped it on, giving the all clear signal.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Ethereal Base Mission

Operation Tempered Humilitas
Cairo, Egypt, Africa

Date: November 24th, 2018
Time: 1100 Hours

Briefing:
A sizeable battleship, as large as Acedia's, but with more fire power, launched a one ship terror attack on Cairo. With the recent increase in aggressive actions by the last Overseer, this was not unexpected, and our interceptors were quick to respond. Despite this, the ship was able to cause significant damage before we were able to engage it, and still took an occasional potshots during the aerial fight.

The fight with the battleship was the most costly yet, by quite a bit. We lost nearly every interceptor in Africa and India before the X-COM HQ's personal interceptors arrived. In all, six manned and eight unmanned fighters were lost. What's more, the ship crashed in the city, refusing to budge despite our best efforts to drive it out. The crash, combined with the initial attack, resulted in damage to 33% of the city. Excessive, though nothing compared to the estimated 93% damage should the ship been allowed to continue its attack unopposed.

Despite the loss, this could be a blessing in disguise. Energy signatures indicate Superbia is on board. One of our greatest fears of the coming battle was how greatly defended Superbia would be, being the last of the Ethereal Overseers, as well as the most powerful and the leader, aside from the Honored Overseer. Catching the Overseer off guard will be our best chance to take him out.

Despite this, we have been warned not to underestimate this enemy in the slightest. We will be sending Field Commander Aya Brea and MSGT Desmond Walker on this one, as well as two more psions and plenty of firepower.

Number of soldiers for this mission:
Ten (10) Soldiers, accompanied by two (2) SHIVs & Two (2) Legion Androids

Soldier Names:
Field Commander 5 (MSGT) Brea, Aya (Scout) (Blue-Green ‘Psionic’)*
MSGT Walker, Desmond (Engineer) (Red Psionic)**
GSGT Martinez, Sergio (Sniper) (Blue Psionic)
MSGT Lopez, Alicia (Infantry) (Purple Psionic)
MSGT Andre, Adele (Engineer) [Bioelectric Skin, Magnified Bicep Structure]
MSGT Harnet, John (Support) [Neural Dampening, Adaptive Bone Marrow, Secondary Heart, Dextrous Muscle Fibers]
GSGT Yamazaki, Ryan (Gunner) {Warrior}
GSGT Lopez, Steve (Gunner) [Adrenal Neurosympathy]
GSGT Hatake, Saka (Shadow)
GSGT Origawa, Minato (Warrior)
Legion XVII (Heavy Role)
Legion XVIII (Rocketeer Role)
Alloy S.H.I.V. Unit 1: "Bandersnatch"
Hover S.H.I.V. Unit 2: "Jubjub"

*Squad Leader
**Second in Command

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

- Primary weapon: Either a Plasma Stormgun, a Plasma Carbine, a Plasma Rifle, a Heavy Plasma Rifle, a Reflex Cannon (Infantry, Assault, Scout, Medic, Engineer), a Plasma Sniper Rifle (Sniper), a Reflex Rifle (Sniper, Scout), a Plasma Novagun (Gunner, Heavy), or a Plasma Dragon (Gunner, Heavy)

(Blaster Launcher for Heavies and Rocketeers, Particle Cannon for MECs, Superheavy Plasma for SHIVs)

- Armor: Banshee Armor, Aegis Armor, Titan Armor, or Seraph Armor (Four Shadow Armors also available, Personal Aurora Armor Available for Desmond Walker)

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

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

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

Details:
You'll be dropped of near a small cafe near the wreck. There, you will find a number of individuals under attack by a unit of Sectoids. Deal with the aliens, and send any citizens back to the dropship should they need medical attention, as, with all high risk missions now, Chandra will be sent in to provide medical assistance from Big Sky.

Entering the wreck from the rear, you will make your way through the cargo hold. Like Acedia's ship, this ship has an engineering bay and a lab nearly as big as a regular base, but unlike Acedia, Superbia actually uses his. Despite our best efforts, the ship was just barely shot down, so expect most of the crew to have survived.

Near the bridge, you will find something new. Superbia's ship has a massive room resembling our psi lab, and a survey of the equipment and computers will reveal this is exactly what it is. The devices here are likely the same as those used by the Honored Overseer to force psionics out of individuals like Buniq, or the captives from the India base. Be wary of any humans encountered in this room, as their loyalty to either side should not be assumed, especially after the discovery of biokinetic reprogramming in Invidia's computers.

Superbia, as expected, will be found in the bridge. Despite his efforts to act humble, his bridge will be decorated as elaborately, if not more elaborately, then Invidia's throne room, though he will argue it is for the comfort of those under him. He also has a number of trophies, including a variety of melee and projectile weapons from across the galaxy, including Earth.

Enemies:
Two (2) units containing Three (3) Sectoids and One (1) Sectoid Commander each
Two (2) units containing Four (4) Thin Men each
Two (2) units containing Two (2) Floaters and Two (2) Heavy Floaters each
Two (2) units containing Three (3) Mutons and One (1) Berserker each
One (1) unit containing One (1) Cyberdisc and Two (2) Drones
Two (2) units containing Two (2) Alien Hover SHIVs each
One (1) unit containing four (4) Chryssalids
One (1) unit containing Eight (8) Outsiders
One (1) unit containing Two (2) Ethereals, Helios & Eos, and Four (4) Muton Elites
Superbia, accompanied by Three (3) Muton Elites

Special Enemy Notes:
The chryssalids are a part of a surviving batch of experimental chryssalids with mimetic skin. Extreme caution is advised, as is contact with Central for research obtain from the captive chryssalid.

Superbia's elite Outsider unit will use covering and rotation tactics to take full advantage of their regenerative abilities, half of them fighting while the other half covers, switching up whenever one needs to heal. Either massive damage capable of taking down an Outsider in one hit will be needed, or an attack that hits them all at once.

Superbia's Ethereal underlings, named Helios and Eos by their master, have obvious experience fighting together, and will do all they can to support each other. It is not uncommon for an Ethereal to occasionally use supportive abilities on another alien, but these two will adamantly defend one another, so our normal tactics of using an Ethereal's focus on self-preservation will not work in this case. Helios, the offensive Ethereal, will use psi lances, pyro conjuring, and rifts to attack, while Eos, the defensive Ethereal, will use biokinesis, shields, and mind merges to support the other, using the occasional illusion when not focused on support.

Finally, Superbia has near mastery over three different psionic spectrums, so expect powerful psi lances, fire balls, telekinesis, rifts, and mind control attempts, as well as slightly weaker but still deadly mind freys, shields, and physical enhancements. Superbia's only apparent weakness seems to be his inability to focus on more then one target or use more then one color at a time. It isn't much, but it is something.

Conditions for Completion:
The death or defeat of the Ethereal Overseer of Africa, Superbia.

Civilians:
There will be civilians under fire in the Cafe at the start of the mission. Additionally, you may find some abductees within the Ship itself.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Tempered Humilitas: Prologue Part One

Desmond slowly stirred from his sleep, his eyes coming open and regaining focus as he rubbed them and looked at the clock. Looking down at the woman snuggled up to him, he smiled and kissed her on the head, slowly getting out of bed as to not wake Ellie up and went to his dresser, putting on some simple clothes. There was a knock on the door and he winced, glancing over at his wife who was sound asleep and quickly jogged over to the door and opened it.

Aya nearly punched him in the head as she prepared to knock on it again. “Desmond!” She glanced into the room, then lowered her voice, though her tone was still urgent. “You… you’re healthy enough for a mission?”

He rubbed his forehead in a little annoyance and he said, “Always, why is there one now?”

Aya nodded her head like a bobble head. “It’s the big one. We’re going Overseer hunting. Care to join me?”

“Really? It is happening now?” Desmond smirked and he took a final glance back in the room before stepping out the door and shutting it. “I think I have the rest of the day off. Let’s go.”

“Good.” Aya took off into a speedy walk, trusting Desmond to follow behind her. “This one will be a bit different. Closer to Ira, really. A massive battleship decided to wreck havoc on Cairo. Its mostly intact wreck is sitting in the middle of the city now. We believe Superbia is there, likely waiting for us.”

“So we are going into a most likely alien infested ship in the middle of a wrecked city with one of the most powerful Overseers we have seen thus far waiting for us at the end of it all?” Desmond cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “Oh, this is going to be easy.”

Aya chuckled. “Well… I like you confidence. Just don’t let that become over confidence. This is one we can not underestimate.”

“Oh I wholeheartedly agree, but let us hope that this being of pride doesn’t turn sloth and try to run.” With a final smirk, his face grew serious. “So have you assembled the rest of the team that will be going with us?”

“I have,” Aya answered as they neared the armory. “We have a good team, balance of psionics and gene mods. Couple of SHIVs and MECs to boot. Not to mention a few people you should work well with.”

Desmond rose an eyebrow. “Dare I ask who?”

As Aya and Desmond entered the Armory, he was immediately greeted with a massive hug from a blonde girl already in her armor. “Hey Dessy!”

Desmond looked at Aya. “You just love to spite me, don’t you?”

“Oh don’t be like that!” Saka said, slapping his chest. “Besides, I can handle myself in a fight. Even if I can’t though, I have protection.”

Desmond looked at Aya again. “Oh you didn’t…”

There was the sound of a core entering a plasma rifle and Minato turned around with a neutral expression and the gun resting on his shoulder. “Don’t get all sentimental, the mission hasn’t even started yet.”

“What are you doing here?” Desmond asked, looking over the shinobi a bit.

“What does it look like, I am coming on the mission. And if you are worried I am not going to follow orders, you can forget it, I have already gotten over myself. Let’s just get this done and we can all grab drinks or whatever it is we do after missions.”

Aya patted Desmond on the back. “See, you worry over nothing. They have confidence in you. You have confidence in them… right?”

“Ask me again at the end of the day.” Desmond put a hand on Saka’s head and gave a final look to Minato, going over to the weapons table and looking them over. “Did the prototype armor Sunny made arrive yet?” Desmond asked away, picking up one of the rifles and looking it over to get a feel for it.

“Yep.” Aya motioned towards the rack of armor, one piece standing out. “Custom made, just for you. Looks pretty badass, actually.”

“Of course it does, Sunny was the one to make it after all. Though I am sure it works just as well as it looks.” He stared at the piece of armor and began to take it off the wall. “No better time for a field test I guess.”

“No, I guess not.” Aya’s smile faltered a bit, and she looked away, obviously wanting to say something but deciding not to.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Tempered Humilitas: Prologue Part Two

“You look worried Aya. Best let it out now while we have the chance.” The psionic soldier stated as he began the process of putting on the intricate piece of armor.

“You… you’re going to…” Aya huffed, and turned back. “I need you to promise me something, Desmond.”

“Aya, I am going to be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.” He glanced over at her and added, “I am carrying more than one life on my shoulder now.”

“And don’t forget that,” Aya said sternly. “If you need help, or if anything seems to be going wrong, tell us. We’re here to help you, and make sure you get back to your wife.”

“Trust me, if I had to choose between a fight with an Overseer or pissing off my wife, I would rather take the Overseer.” He finished putting on the final piece of the armor and moved his limbs around, getting a feel for it. “Definitely a nice piece of tech.”

“Looks great on you,” Alicia said, looking Desmond up and down. “That power up your psionics? They make one in my size?”

“Unfortunately, it is one of a kind.” He looked down at the wrist computer built into the sleeve and he powered it up, the lines on the suit glowing a faint red. “I swear Alice designed this thing. It has her written all over it.”

“Can you link up to that A.I. of yours with that?” Sergio asked, calmly slinging a plasma sniper rifle and looking over the Gauss weapons. “Who knows if we’ll need him to read something or open a door.”

“Hm...good point. No offense to Alice but he is a much better hacker anyways.” Taking time to make the necessary preparations of the mission, Desmond had sent word out for Sora that he would be helping out with the mission. Going to Sunny to receive all the proper files, from the translator among other things before finally coming to the Armory, mostly everyone already ready.

“So am I actually coming or must I call a cab?” Sora asked, looking over the squad.

“Get in Sora.” Desmond ordered, pointing to his head.

The A.I. sighed and shook his head. “I was afraid there was a third option.” He left his body and entered the interface in Desmond’s brain, settling in nicely.

Going to Aya, he smirked. “I believe we are just about ready. Did you tell your sister and boyfriend you were leaving?”

Aya chuckled. “Trust me, I can’t do anything without Eve knowing. She runs my life almost as much as I do. Though… why would I tell her boyfriend?” Her eyes narrowed a bit, as if daring Desmond to say what he was thinking.

“Oh come on, you are among friends. Or at least one friend, not sure about those other people.” He smirked, crossing his arms and expecting an answer.

Aya sighed. “We talked, and shared a few drinks. And I swear, if he is going around, spreading stories…” She rubbed her brow. “Damn it, Morrigan, did I pick the wrong one?”

“Oh, he hasn’t told a soul. Ellie saw you that night in the bar, and you know she is bad at keeping secrets. From what she says, you looked happy. My advice would be go for it. I took a chance and look where I am.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. For now, though…” Aya childishly patted Desmond on the cheek. “Lets focus on this. And if you push me, I might let someone’s special someone know their husband tattled on them.”

Desmond narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Aya grinned, her expression not really saying if she is kidding or not.

“Oh, I already know.” A voice called out, Ellie standing there still in her pajamas and hair messed up. “You are called out for a mission and you don’t even bother to wake me up...for shame.”

Aya patted Desmond on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

As she stepped away, Alicia looked at the couple and shook her head. “Why’d I bother with the psionics. Getting married seems to make you psychic.”

“Maybe she’s a light sleeper,” Sergio stated flatly.

Alicia narrowed her eye. “I was making a… you’re no fun sometimes.” Sergio only shrugged.

As the two soldiers bickered a bit, Ellie wrapped her arms around her husband and put her head against his chest.

“Look, I am sorry for not waking you and saying good-”

“No...none of that.” Elizabeth stated sternly, looking up at him. “No goodbyes. If we do that, it feels like we will never see each other again. You are just going out for a little while, and you will be coming back, that is all.”

Desmond smirked. “Then what should I say?”

“Tell me you love me idiot.”

“I love you Ellie.” He said with a smile.

“I love you too. Now you better come back to me Desmond Walker, or I will make sure you never live dying on me down.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss, the doctor finally letting go and shooing him away. “Now go, you have alien ass to kick. And tell Aya I want to see her.”

He chuckled and nodded, turning around and walking past Aya. “She wants to see you.” He said, walking towards the Skyranger.

“Me?” Aya shrugged, and walked over to Ellie. “Yes, Elizabeth?”

“I assume you already gave him the speech? About...coming home?” She asked, rubbing her arm.

Aya nodded. “I’ll bring him back. All of my people are important to me, of course. But he is… special. And I’d never forgive myself if he died on my watch.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Aya...I’m pregnant.” She stated, closing her eyes and holding her arms crossed over her stomach.

Aya stared at her for a moment before slowly nodding again. “Alright. All the more reason to bring him home. You have my word, Elizabeth.”

Ellie let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you. I haven’t told him yet...I wanted him to stay focused on the mission. I...I plan on telling him afterwards.”

Aya smiled. “It’ll give you something to look forward to.” She turned, heading for the ship, and called back, “Better start thinking about what you’re going to say.”

“Oh..I am sure anything I think about won’t matter. I think I will just wing it.” She muttered to herself, smiling and turning around to go find comfort in her best friend.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Operation Tempered Humilitas
PART ONE

“Big Sky, approaching the mission site.”

Aya looked at the monitors at the city, and all the destruction. Above the downed ship, several base Interceptors and what was left of the ones from Africa circled, making sure the Ethereal couldn’t flee, and no one came to his rescue. At least three or four smaller ships had tried, but all had been shot down or driven away. “Gonna have to leave some of these interceptors behind,” Aya mumbled to herself.

She stood up, holding the side of the plane for balance, and addressed the soldier. “Alright, everyone. Most of you, I’ve only worked with once or twice, if at all. I’m used to working with our less accomplished soldiers, and it is nice to get to work with people whose asses I don’t have to constantly watch. Now, Desmond here is my second, though most of one are more familiar with him. So, unless he immediately tries to defy me or some crap he won’t do, if he gives you an order, follow it, even if it differs from what I said. Saka, Minato, you two in particular will be under his direct command. I know this is your first big mission, but Desmond vouches for you, and that is good enough for me.”

“We’re going to do our best!” Saka said confidently, holding up a thumbs up. Minato was less enthusiastic and just shook his head at his companion’s overeagerness. “We have a job, so let us get it done. Simple as that.”

“It is my job to keep you all alive and well, and Desmond’s to back me up.” Aya smirked. “Though I don’t plan on needing too much. Just hope you can find something to keep yourself busy, Mr. Walker,” she added with a wink.

“Oh I am sure by the end of the day we are going to owe each other multiple favors so why don’t we just call it even right now?” He held out a hand and gave a wink of his own.

“Big Sky, touching down.”

The dropship clattered to the ground, the door flying open. As the soldiers shuffled out, sounds of plasma fire could be heard from a small cafe between them and the downed UFO.

“What are they shooting at, civilians?” Ryan asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s give them something new to shoot at,” Sergio answered, hefting his rifle.

Aya nodded, holding up her hand to silence everyone and pointing towards the cafe. The group to cover outside of the building, and the Field Commander poked her head in and out. “Looks like at least three Sectoids. They’re firing at a group on the opposite side of the building. Also sounds like someone with conventional weapons is shooting back.”

“Three Sectoids are no problem, we can take them out.” Saka noted, looking at Minato who nodded.

“Can you guys keep it quiet? We don’t know how many are in the immediate area.” Desmond asked, looking mainly at Saka.

“Come on, we got this.” The Shadow said, smiling wide.

Desmond turned his head to Aya. “Any objections?”

Aya glanced at Sergio. “Any hidders?”

Sergio closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them again, a blue glow fading from them. “Commander, about two meters north of them. Seems to be relaxing while his men do the work.”

Aya nodded, and turned back to Desmond. “Still shouldn’t be a problem. I suggest you three take out the small fry, then team up on the fat head before he control pull anything funny.”

Minato nodded and led Saka into the cafe with Sergio watching their backs. Just as they had been training for, they traversed the ground with speed, expertise, and stealth that backed up their credibility. Coming up close behind the Sectoid group Minato whispered, “Sergio, get a bead on the Commander, we got the small guys.”

Sergio placed his plasma sniper rifle down and reached back, producing on modified Alloy Strike rifle. His eyes glowed blue as her looked around the room, finally settling on a panel on the ceiling. “On your mark…”

Minato looked at Saka, who nodded in confirmation and the Warrior looked up over his cover. “Mark.” Jumping over the small piece of debris nearly at the same time, Minato blasted the Sectoid on the left with his Plasma pistol and Saka taking down the other two with a knife in the back of the head and a short burst from her Stormgun.

The Sectoid Commander quickly turned to them. It extended it hand towards Saka, a violet glow appearing in its eyes, before a shot rang out, followed by a series of pings, and finally, the Commander flopped to the ground with a large Gauss bullet hole in the back of its head.

Aya led everyone else into the Cafe, nodding to Saka. “Not bad.”

“I don’t boast without reason.” The Shadow stated with a large, appreciative smile.

“You took out two Sectoids, don’t throw a parade just yet.” Minato warned the Shadow.

Saka’s face fell. “Oh, you’re no fun…” She pouted in a soft voice.

Aya shook her head, looking away to hide a smile. She stepped up to the civilians, noting none of them were military, but rather the one with the handgun looked like a normal man in a suit. She motioned towards Bandersnatch. “You all look injured. Follow this SHIV back to our ship, and you’ll be fixed up.”

She received a series of nods, and turned to rejoin the rest of the group. Outside of the Cafe was the downed UFO, the large cargo doors open and seemingly inviting. John’s eyes roamed over the craft. “For a crash, it looks pretty… intact. Don’t suppose we can just hope the Ethereal died, can we?”

Desmond put a hand on his shoulder and walked past him. “One can only hope, can’t he?” Holding his rifle across his chest he looked over the entrance to the ship. “We all know this is a trap, right?”

“Yep…” Aya stepped forward. “Ready to walk head first into it, Mr. Walker?”

“If that is supposed to be a joke, it was horrible. And to answer your question…” He smirked and looked back at the ship. “Who said anything about walking? We are running head first into the gates of hell, might as well make as big a scene as we can, maybe confuse the aliens a bit.”

You know, sometimes you make me question your sanity sometimes. The A.I. said inside Desmond’s head.

Half these people are probably scared shitless. Might as well do anything to lighten the mood.

The team dashed forward, taking cover within the cargo hold behind the various spilled containers. The aliens either didn’t know they were there yet, or hadn’t bothered to warn the troops outside. Ahead, a group of four Thin Men worked to push some spilled weapon part into a container while three Mutons and a Berserker stood watch. Aya glanced at Sergio to see if there were any more hidden, but he shook his head. Sliding up to Desmond, she barely whispered, “What do you think?”

“I can put a well placed grenade in between the four Thin Men so it will be up to you guys to take out the big ones. I would suggest gunners focus Berserker and everyone else focus fire on the three others.”

Aya nodded, and looked at the rest of the team. Ryan and Steve hefted their heavy weapons, and nodded to say the were ready. Looking back at Desmond, she said, “Alright. On detonation.”

Desmond nodded and took a few steps away from the cover. Over his shoulder, a small launcher popped up and he did his best to target the sweet spot to get all four of the enemies. “Damn it...I wish this thing was a little more accurate.” Finding the spot after a little bit of frustration, he struggled not to move an inch as to not lose the spot and he sent the alien grenade flying, landing perfectly where he had aimed it and detonated, killing all four of the aliens.

The rest of the team jumped up, hitting the enemies with all they had. John punched through a Muton’s face, while Adele brought another to its knees, Jubjub finishing it off. Aya lifted her hand, a plume of fire erupting in front of the third, keeping it still long enough for a returning Bandersnatch to finish it off.

The gunners pelted the Berserker, the creature taking hit after hit, but pushing forward, showing a resolve far greater than even their kind normally showed. It slashed at a barrel, a plume of white dust filling the air. The gunners continued to pelt where it had been, only to emerge moments later to the left, and send its blade straight towards Sergio. It stopped inches from his face, its eyes glowing purple. Alicia’s pained expression was a testament to how hard it was to fight this single enemy’s will, even with her training. She slowly lifted her arm to her neck, the alien mimicking the motion with its claws. “Someone… mind… hitting his arm so… I don’t have to… punch myself…”

Minato nodded, slinging his rifle across his back and running at the Berserker at full speed. Hopping up on a piece of cover, he pushed off and sent a strong kick into the brute’s arm, pushing off it and landing on his feet, looking at the results of his effort.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Part Two

Aya let out a sigh of relief, and started to say something when a red light began blinking. From within the ship, eight floaters, four regular and four armored, flew out. The surged into the sky, intent on taking full advantage of their height advantage. “Push towards the ship! Gunners, Desmond, covering fire!” Aya lifted her hand, trying to ignite one, but it was a bit too far. Instead, she fired, her shot slamming into the armor of a heavy floater but failing to bring it down.

Desmond fired at the same floater, missing his first few shots but finally landing one and bringing the hulk of metal down. He looked at the regular floaters that were closing in and he put his rifle down, holding up his arms and his armor flaring, the dim red lines glowing as power surged. Immediately, the four regular floaters were ignited and sputtering around in agony, looking down at his hands. “I really underestimate the power of this thing.”

A look of envy flashed in Aya’s eyes as she shot down one of the panicking, burning floaters, the other three falling to gunner and SHIV fire. The rest of the team made it through the cargo hold to the ship, and covered the others so they could join them. Aya glanced out, muttering, “Not going to leave those three to hit us from behind.” She thought for a moment. “Saka, Minato. I want you to take the Legion androids. Use them to get into a good position, and shoot them up the ass. While we cover you from here.”

Minato nodded, tapping Saka on the shoulder and nudging his head in the direction of a ladder that lead to a raised platform. She nodded in agreement, runing with him and forcing the Legion platforms to follow behind, the two reaching the ladder quick and climbing up with amazing speed to get into position.

The heavy floaters appeared a few moments later, looking around for the squad that ended it’s allies and let out a mechanical roar as it saw the main group. They flew directly at them, raising up their weapons. Suppressing fire came from the side however as one of the Legion platforms opened up as it had finally reached the top of the platform, it’s counterpart still on the ground. Minato opened fire, spraying in burst at the aliens in rapid succession as Saka took a more controlled approach. At the bottom of the ladder, the second Legion platform took a launcher off of it’s back and sent the projectile at the confused group of aliens and it blasted them apart seconds later. “Enemies eliminated.” The android replied.

“Good job.” Aya motioned for everyone to follow. As they carefully made their way through the ship corridor, she smiled at Desmond. “Those friends of yours aren’t half bad. Wish we had them from the beginning.”

“Oh you know...better to have something late than to have never had got it before.”

Aya shrugged, and stepped up to the slightly malfunctioning shield door. She tapped it, and ducked inside. The rest of the team followed suit as the engineering bay came alive. Four Hover SHIVs sprang up, one unleashing its payload of missiles. As the last X-COM soldier rushed in, the door behind them collapsed.

“Yep… definitely a trap,” Alicia mumbled, targeting a powering-up Cyberdisc and blasting away one of its two drones.

Desmond gave the order to fan out and find strong cover, telling Sergio to keep and eye on the Cyberdisk in case it tried anything. He powered up his shoulder launcher again and launched a quick grenade at the four Hover S.H.I.Vs but this one flying high and hitting the wall, bouncing off it’s mark and landing only a few feet away from one of the machines, blowing up and slightly damaging it.

Saka fired at the second Cyberdisk drone but was forced to get down as a retaliation shot came back from the drone and hit her cover, forcing her down.

Sergio switched to his Gauss weapon. With a blue tinge to his eyes, he fired a few shots. They punched into the floating disk from various angles, and it turned rapidly to see where they were coming from. A rare smile spread across the sniper’s face. “Stupid machine.”

Aya hunkered behind cover, cupping her hands together. “Give me a minute to power up.”

“You got it.” Ryan unloaded on one of the SHIVs, and got a blast to the chest a few moments later, his armor barely stopping the blow. As he ducked down to recover. Steve took up the mantle. One of the SHIVs readied it missiles, and the two gunners rushed to new cover. Aya hesitated, popping up and sending a concentrated blast of energy towards them. It consumed the SHIV prepared to fired, and the resulting ignition of its missiles consumed a second one.

Pumping enough energy to take out a SHIV was like a punch to the gut for the still recovering Central Officer. Aya slumped down, panting excessively as the two remaining SHIVs prepared to launch their missiles at her cover.

Minato saw the struggling CO and looked at the SHIVs as they got ready to fire the barrage. Having to think quick, he ripped the launcher off the back of the Legion android and pushed the machine to the side, lifting the launcher up on his shoulder and sending the explosive at the ceiling, causing debris to fall on the machines as the fired the missiles, the explosions destroying their senders. He jabbed the launcher back to the Legion frame and went back to shooting.

Finally seeming to catch on to what was going on, the Cyberdisc located the sniper and opened up. Sergio ducked to the side, a blast from the machine barely missing him. And he recovered his footing, the doorway to the lab flew open, three fresh Mutons and a Berserker rushing in. Sergio fell back, but took a pair of plasma shots to the back. The second burned through his armor, and he collapsed. The SHIVs covered John as he rushed over, pulling Sergio to relative safety and grabbing hit medspray. Free from the pestering sniper, the Cyberdisc turned its attention on Saka as the Mutons ran for cover.

Saka peeked over the cover and saw the Cyberdisk aiming at her, quickly peeking back down and pulling a smoke grenade off of her belt. “Please work…” She threw the grenade and it poofed open into a dense cloud of pink smoke and Saka activated her Shadow armor, moving around and positioning herself behind the Cyberdisk. She took a second grenade off of her belt, this time an AP and placed it under the robot, running away and jumping behind cover as it blew up, severely hurting the Cyberdisk as a weak point was hit but it still was barely functional.

The Heavy Legion frame turned and fired at the Mutons, injuring one but preventing them from getting behind cover. A second shot from Steve finished it off. Ryan pelted the Berserker, this time focusing on it lower body. As it toppled over, Legion XVIII pulled out its rocket launcher and glanced at a recovered Aya, who gave it a nod. It fired, blowing the Berserker away and ripping the cover of the remaining two Mutons to shreds. Easy pickings for a group fire, all the remained was the Cyberdisc, its single Drone trying desperately to repair the damage.

The drone did it’s job quickly, getting the main gun of the Cyberdisk online. It slowly turned and aimed at Aya, distinguishing her as the leader and charging up th blast. As it fired, Desmond was on Aya and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the cover as the plasma blast shredded apart her cover and the spot she had been in. He threw her to the ground, turning around and a small ball of energy blasting out from his hand and directly into the gun of the Cyberdisk, causing a chain reaction that blew it up from the inside and the drone hovering close by.

Desmond let out a relieved sigh and let a hand down for Aya. “Sorry about that one.”

“Heh…” Aya grasped his hand, pulling herself up. “Nah, that’s okay. Thanks. Just hope you aren’t that rough with the little Misses, especially now.”

“I am not going to respond to that one.” Desmond stated with a laugh, reloading his weapon and advising the others to do the same. “So...next room?” He asked Aya with a raised eyebrow.

“Next room.” Aya stepped forward. She gave Sergio a questioning look as he climbed to his feet, but he waved her off, and she had learned not to push any more. Stepping into the lab, a trio of Sectoids, a Sectoid Commander, and four Thin Men poked their heads out of cover. The team ducked down, and Aya rolled her eyes. She smiled at Desmond, and asked, “You as tired of the small fry as me?” She lifted her hand, a flame dancing across her tip. “You been practicing your pryo conjuring?”

“You saw me before, of course.” Desmond did the same and waited for Aya to make the first move.

Aya jumped over a lab table, sweeping her hand and hearing the satisfying cries of burning Thin Men. Desmond followed suit, and the Sectoids were consumed. The only one to survive the blaze was a charred Sectoid Commander, and Minato put it down with a plasma pistol. Alicia grunted, and muttered, “I think this is a sign of how pointless the Sectoids and Thin Men have become. Anyone else remember when they were terrifying to face? Then the Floaters and Mutons came, and these guys kinda… didn’t seem a big deal anymore…”

“Never underestimate an opponent you find weak, Alicia. Usually, they are the most likely to get you in a combat zone.” Desmond warned her, looking at the charred bodies.

“Yes, sir,” Alicia said, feeling silly from the comment.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

PART THREE

Aya’s eyes panned over to a large chamber to the side of the lab. Several humans seemed to be inside, most clearly gone, but at least one of which was still moving. Stepping towards it, she said, “Desmond… Saka and Minato, come with me. Legion, follow close. The rest of you, fan out and see if you can find any useful notes. I want to know what this lab was used for if possible.” She led the three into the chamber, slowly approaching the man, immediately noting that he was in terrible shape.

His eyes were hollow and there were bags under the man’s eyes from a lack of sleep, his body weak looking and pale, his once black hair covered with more grey now, though he didn’t look a day over thirty. When his eyes moved over to them, he slowly tried to crawl away from them. “Get...get away…” He said in a hollow voice that was coarse and softly spoken, as if the air had been sucked from his lungs as he spoke.

“We’re here to help,” Aya said softly, kneeling before the man and motioning for Desmond to join her. “We’re a special force that fights your abductors. I’m Aya, this is Desmond. What’s your name, sir?”

“I-I...I can’t remember...no...this is a trick. Get away! Get away from me!” The man tried to move further away from them but his back was already against the wall. “I...I defied you...once...I will...keep doing it...you alien...bastards.”

Aya carefully extended her hand. “We know all about the aliens’ tricks. But I’m human. Here, take my hand. Feel my skin.”

He looked at her through pained eyes and slowly reached out, touching her skin and his hand trembling a bit. “I prayed...for so long...for rescue...I held out...I defied them...the others tried to join...but they perished…”

“Well, you’re fine now. We’ll…” A loud mechanical buzz rang out, and the door to the chamber started to close. With the soldiers too far to get out in time, the Legion androids decided to duck in, trapping them, Aya, Saka, Minato, and Desmond inside with the survivor. The rest of the group ran over, and Aya pointed to the computers. “Figure out a way to get this open!”

Aya turned back, her foot clanking against something. She motioned for Desmond to check on the man as she looked it over.

Desmond went to his side and put the man’s arm around his neck, helping him up and letting the survivor lean against him for support. “You must have one strong will to defy your captures. How long have you been here?”

The man was silent. “Since...before the war…”

Desmond was silent a few moments, looking a bit worried. “You are stronger than I thought.”

The man chuckled weakly. “Hard-headedness...runs...in the family...I guess.”

Aya approached the two of them. “Desmond, what do you make of this? It… looks like Chitlin plating, but its the same color as my skin? Why would they…” She handed it to Desmond, and it immediately shifted in color, matching his skin tone. “What the hell?”

“Doesn’t this remind you of…” Desmond looked at Aya a little worried. “Doesn’t this remind you of mimetic skin?”

In a shower of sparks, a huge hole appeared in one of the Legion androids chests. As it toppled over, the area behind it rippled for a moment, and the outline of a chryssalid appeared. Aya raised her plasma pistol and fired, but nothing was hit. Trying not to panic as her eyes darted across the room, she whispered, “Seventeen, you’re equipped with an illuminator, right? Now would be…” A large tearing noise rang out, and the other android’s head rolled across the ground. “Shit…”

Minato and Saka were back to back, their side arms out as well as their knives. “In between a rock and a hard place huh?” Saka commented, looking around slowly for any distortions.

“Just keep you eye out Saka.” Minato told her, doing the same as her.

Desmond tried to look around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Where are they…” Desmond was suddenly pushed to the side, the survivor having done so and raised the plasma pistol Desmond had equipped on his belt and fired, a Chryssalid falling dead as it slid at his feet.

“Was...too close…” He said, handing the pistol back to Desmond. “We must...get out of he-” Spikes broke through his chest and the survivor was lifted into the air, a pained look on his face as he was thrown to the ground and the Chryssalid sunk it’s teeth into him. Desmond jabbed a leg into the bug’s side and sent it into the wall, taking out his katana and stabbing it into the alien. He ran to the survivor’s side and his life was quickly leaving him.

“F-Fought...until the end…” He tried to laugh weakly but it pained him greatly. “I just...wish...I could have...seen my niece...one last time…”

Desmond nodded. “Can you remember your name? If you do...we can find your family and tell them.”

He tried to think and he smiled weakly. “I...remember…” His eyes began to close and his final words were, “L-Lyle...Rin...ly…” His eyes closed and his body went limp, Desmond falling backwards and his breathing hitched.

“Damn it… don’t do this to me, Desmond. I’ll match wits with you in psionics and gunfire, but close quarters combat is not my forte.” Aya’s eyes darted across the room. She raised her hand at what looked like movement, and ignited the wall. “I… how many…”

“Commander, dodge left!” Sergio yelled.

Aya did so, a slash leaving a deep gouge in her armor. She turned back to where she was standing and fired, but hit nothing. “How many are left?!”

“Two, I think.” Sergio looked around the room from behind the door, looking through his illuminator scope. “They have some weird shielding, so my ESP won’t work, and they’re mimetic skin is almost perfect, so I can’t spot them until they move. But I think... Minato, directly behind you!”

Minato quickly spun around with a kick, smashing the alien in the face and sending it to the ground, executing it and going back into position. “Now there is only one…”

There was a squishing sound and Saka quickly stepped back, a knife stabbed into the neck of the second alien bug. “Correction...none left.”

Desmond was still on the ground, staring at the corpse in front of him, unable to react at the news he had heard. Aya panted heavily, more from the tenseness of the situation than anything else. She knelt down by Desmond, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Desmond. “This was my fault.”

Desmond shook his head. “I should have saved him...how could I have…” He looked up at Aya. “You heard his name...right? I didn’t...imagine that?”

“I did… I… don’t know what. to…” Aya face turned white as the body started to stir underneath them. “Oh… God, no…”

Desmond looked as the man, the father figure that Elizabeth had spoken so fondly of, rose up and proceeded slowly towards Aya and Desmond. He held up an arm and took his katana back out, walking towards it. His eyes locked with the ones of the undead man, and Desmond couldn’t help but feel grief wash over him. Maybe it is a different Rinly...it is possible they aren’t even related...right? Desmond never got his answer as he closed his eyes, and swung his sword, the head of the man fell to the ground. “Let’s go.”

Aya nodded, and the four stepped out without a room, the door finally opening a minute later. As they slowly moved through the ship, Aya and Saka flashed a concerned look at Desmond, but held their tongues. Even Minato looked a bit concerned. The team stepped into another large room, this one resembling their own psi lab. A few humans were strapped into the devices, but Aya shook her head as Alicia reached for a computer. “Don’t wake them, we can’t risk them attacking us. We don’t know if Superbia can reprogram them like…”

We have guests, Eos. Just as father said we would.

Yes, Helios. Shall we deal with them?

No need to sully our hands. Let the machines deal with them.

Before the X-COM forces, eight Outsider’s materialized, half of them opening fire before the were even finished forming. The soldiers ducked into cover, trying to fire back, but the Outsiders wouldn’t let up. Each time someone tried to fire, they were either forced back down, missed, or hit a target that immediately ducked away to heal. Unable to find sufficient cover, Bandersnatch was pummeled, left a smoking wreck in a matter of moments.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Part Four

Desmond shook his head and was back into the fight a few moments later, looking at Aya with grim determination. “How do we approach this?”

“We can’t keep this up, and our cover won’t last much longer. Adele, give Desmond one of your grenades.” The engineer slid over and did so. “Alright, explosive time. If we can damage all of them, they’ll either have to all stop to heal at the same time, or some will be forced to go without. The two of you chuck a grenade on either side, cluster ‘em up nice and tight. Then Jubjub hits them with missiles, and we hit them with all we’ve got.”

Adele nodded, and prepared to throw when Desmond was ready. Desmond had his launcher at the ready and got the spot he wanted to launch. Giving the command, both engineers launched their grenades at the same time and they landed in almost the exact spots they wanted them to, the explosives blowing up and the team going into action. Jubjub unleashed its payload, taking a few hits for its trouble. As the missiles rain down on the Outsiders, the two that had taken the most damage from the grenades fell. Three more ducked to heal, leaving three heavily damaged ones left to cover them.

“Give ‘em hell!” Aya yelled, and the team opened up on them. As one Outsider fell, then another, Aya shouted, “John, Saka! Shadow! Get into flanking position!”

Saka looked to John and nodded in confirmation, cloaking themselves and moving around the sides, Saka taking right and John taking left. Taking a second A.P. grenade off her belt, she rolled it into the middle of the Outsider group, bringing up her Stormgun and firing away, this time not using controlled bursts.

As the grenade went off, taking two of the Outsiders out, the remaining two turned to Saka, one falling to her Stormgun, the other to a blast from behind by John.

Oh… oh, dear. This was unexpected. I suppose we shall have to fight after all.

I suppose so, Eos. From the rear of the room, two Ethereal stepped forward, one bowing his head. Apologies, but we can not have you disturbing father any further. He is most displeased that his ship should be destroyed. So I hope you will understand why we must kill you.

Desmond turned his head to Aya. “We can’t waste a lot of time with these guys. I can take Sergio and Minato to the throne room. Will you be able to handle these guys?”

Aya laughed grimly. “You want me to leave you to fight Superbia with two people?” Aya shook her head, and looked around the room. “Take… take Saka and Alicia too.”

“No.” He stated sternly, looking at Aya. “I am not leaving you alone. I…” Desmond looked at the pairs of Ethereals and he held out a fist. “We are in this together, so why don’t we wash the floor with these guys together, and take on Superbia once we have had our little warm up?”

Aya laughed again. “Sound like an idea.”

One of the Ethereals shoulders slumped. Brother… they are underestimating us…

Then we should show them why they shouldn’t! Helios lifted his hands, four psi lances surging forward. From behind them, two Muton Elites rushed forward, Plasma Dragons firing. Eos lifted her arms, shields forming around all four of them.

Desmond held out his hand and a Pulsar Core formed with ease, Desmond looking at the enemies in front of him. There is no way I can get in close to these guys...if only there was a way to make these things fly… A brief memory flashed in Desmond’s mind and he looked at Aya with wide eyes. “Aya...this might be a theoretical question but...could you imbue another psion’s powers?”

Aya glanced down at her hands. “I… I’m not sure, I’ve never tried. First time for everything, right?”

“Yeah...here’s hoping, right?” He held out his hand to her and maintained the red orb, looking on as the squad held back the Mutons, but were having a tough time. “And we better hurry.”

“Suppress those Mutons Elites!” Aya reached forward, and her hands glowed. “Hope this works. I’m giving you as much power as I can spare.”

“It’ll work…” The orb began to take on a green aura around the red hue of the sphere and the rotations of it began to go even faster, the direction the orb compressing itself in unifying. “That is why it never worked before...the Core was never a centralized attack so I always needed to pump energy into it. Now that we imbued it, it became self sufficient.” Desmond looked to the group of four Mutons and he smiled. “Excellent…” Desmond stood up, putting another hand overtop the orb and pumping as much energy into it as he could, even adding a bit of pyro-kinesis to make the destructibility of the attack exponentially better.

“Here goes nothing!” He spun around and sent the orb flying at full speed at the group of Mutons, the orb slamming into the ground in between all four of the shielded aliens and it blew up, releasing it’s energy and unfolding itself into an actual rift, the swirling of the hurricane like power with the added rotation speed and fiery effect easily tearing away at the shields and the large aliens underneath. Falling to a knee, Desmond smirked as he recovered from the large expenditure of energy at once, almost blowing himself out like a fuse. “And that...is why you do not fuck with Desmond Walker…”

“Take a break, Desmond,” Aya said, taking a shot at the Ethereals. Plasma shot after Plasma shot bounced off their shields, but nothing punched through as Eos sent a mind merge to Helios, and Helios launched a destructive lance right at Adele’s cover, then hit her in the gut with another powered up psi lance. John pulled her to safety, hoping to stabilize her, and Helios extended a hand, Jubjub flying in the way and being scorched in the support’s stead.

It is hopeless. You can not break our defense.

But they will keep trying, until they are dead.

Sergio tried his hand at a trick shot. As the Gauss round bounced through the room, Eos raised her hand to block it, but Helios’ shield started to crack. She turned her attention to him again, and the round gazed her side, a spray of blood shooting out.

Sister! Are you…

I am fine, Helios. Do not concern yourself. Eos held a hand to her side, attempting to heal it.

Aya sighed. “They’re protecting each other, but I have an idea. Minato, Saka. I’m going to use a lot of energy for this. I need you to be prepared to take that defending one out, okay?”

“Just give us the order, and we will follow it.” Minato stated, looking at the two Ethereals with a determined look.

“Yeah, you can count on us.” Saka assured the Field Commander, grinning and getting ready to jump.

“Good, because after this… I don’t know what I’ll have left.” She cupped her hands together. “Just… don’t let Desmond doing anything stupid.” She jumped out of cover. Holding her hands out, she fired off a shot at Helios. As expected, Eos held her arms towards her fellow Ethereal, a massive shield forming in front of him. Aya pushed with everything she hand, the energy of her attack pushing against the shield. Helios fired his psi lances at her, one scrapping her face, another punching into her leg. “NOW! While it is defending this one, kill the defender!”

The two shinobi jumped into action, running side by side with great agility. Saka took the lead, firing a few shots at Eos to help break down her weakened shield and slashed the Ethereal’s brittle legs, running past and calling out for Minato. The warrior had his eye beamed directly at the Ethereal’s mask, staring at it with contempt as he jumped off the burnt corpse of a semi intact Muton and slammed into the Ethereal, bringing her down. With a final look at the mask, Minato whispered, “Yasuraka ni nemuru.” (Rest in peace.) Before he drove his knife through the Ethereal’s mask and left it planted there, the body of the alien unmoving and blood slowly pouring from it.

Eos, no! The shields shattered, and the remaining Ethereal was hit with Aya’s blast. It slammed into one of the pods, sliding to the floor, alive but crippled. Aya dropped to the ground, panting and heaving, barely awake, unable to move.

Desmond got up from his sitting position and helped Aya by picking her up and placing her in the care of the medic as he walked towards the Ethereal. Saka was with Minato and the rest of the squad looked a little nervous to approach the alien so he did, taking out his katana. “If you have any last words, now is the time to say it.” He said solemnly.

No… no, father… father said… you wouldn’t be… no, please… Helios looked towards the other Ethereal. Please… when you are done, I… want to be with…

Desmond nodded. “Understandable. You Ethereals may have done unspeakable acts but…” Desmond looked at Eos’s corpse and held his blade up at Helios. “Family is family.”

Helios slowly nodded. Thank you…

With a quick swipe of the blade, the Ethereal was killed instantly and Desmond slowly put his blade back in it’s sheath. “Log that as Aya’ kill, it was hers anyways.” He told the squad, turning and looking at the door that led to the throne room.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

PART FIVE

As the squad reloaded, Alicia motioned for Desmond to follow her. The two walked over to Aya, who grinned up at Desmond. “I’m… beat. And I’m afraid Adele is out too. Take her grenades, and finish this. And… and I have something for you too.”

“If it is another knife, I am going to start thinking you don’t trust me.” He said with a chuckle, squatting down to get at face level with Aya.

Aya chuckled back. “Shut up, you smug jerk.” She pulled out a single 9mm round. “I want you to have what's left of my energy.” She closed her eyes, they bullet glowing a deep blueish-green. Handing it to Desmond, she said, “That attack of yours… was pretty cool. Use this… if you need to do it again. Just… don’t do it unless it is the killing blow. They’re in your hands now.”

“No pressure right?” He reached and gave Aya a small friendly hug and nodded. “I better see you in the bar tonight, we may be even, but I still think you owe me a drink after this.”

“You got it, friend.” Aya nodded.

Behind them, the door to the Bridge opened, beckoning the remaining soldiers to enter. As they entered the elaborate room, Superbia stood in the center, watching, waiting. He had no one by his side, but a quick warning from Sergio said there were a trio of Muton Elites nearby.

“We finally meet again.”Desmond stated, holding his rifle pointed at the ground and both his body and armor emanating a deep red glow.

Indeed. I hope you did not find the children too troublesome. You must understand my need to soften you up a bit. It only makes sense from a tactical standpoint.

“Not much of a man to send children to die at the hands of the enemy. I thought you had more pride in yourself than that?”

Your human sentiments are noted, but they were my underlings first, my children second. Superbia folded his arms. So… would you like to end what we started before? You and I, locking psionic fists, so to speak?

“Even though Ethereals are not known for this, but I do hope you will have some semblance of honor in this fight. You and me, no one else. My team takes on your Elites and me and you have each other all to ourselves to determine who is truly the strongest psion on Earth.”

A smile spread across Superbia’s face, though it was hidden underneath his mask. Of course. I would have it no other way. Superbia motioned towards the X-COM troops. Kill them, but leave this one to me.

The Muton Elites rushed forward, opening fire on the soldiers. Superbia floated to the side, lifted his hand, and sent a telekinetic blast at Desmond, like a heavyweight boxer punching him in the stomach.

The soldier took it, sliding back a couple of feet from the blast and holding his stomach as he grimaced a bit. Holding out both of his hands, Desmond fired two separate psi lances at Superbia in response.

Superbia raised his glowing red hand. it slowly shifted from orange to yellow, and stopped the psi lances. You have improved. I would almost be worried if I hadn’t so definitively beat you last time, save for your pesky allies ruining my plans. His hands shifted to orange, and a rift started to form under Desmond’s feet.

Desmond didn’t worry about the rift, running forward, his launcher coming up over his shoulder and firing at the Ethereal with an alien grenade. Again, Desmond attempted using a lance, this time using both hands and using an exponential more amount of power to fire.

Superbia floated backwards, and pushed the grenade to the side. He ignored the cries of one of the Elites following the explosion, and fired a lance of his own. It punched through Desmond’s, and flew towards the charging engineer.

Desmond quickly juked to the right as the blast struck the ground where he was and he continued to charge until he was in close enough range. Setting the immediate shield around Superbia aflame, he jumped into the air, a slightly larger and faster rotating Core in hand and he brought it down at the Ethereal.

Superbia held his hand out, and Desmond’s arm stopped inches from Superbia. As he struggled to hold Desmond in place, bits of flesh burning off his hand from Desmond’s attack, another hand shifted to yellow, and he through up another shield. He released his hold on Desmond, and powered the shield in full. Very impressive! Superbia’s tone showed a hint of anger before returning to its calmness. But that won’t be enough. He shifted back to orange, and the shield dropped. Before Desmond could capitalize, Superbia launched him back with telekinesis, then held up his lower hands, a pair of fireballs appearing in them.

Desmond weighed his opponent in his mind, getting an idea moments later and holding out his hands, trying to expand the flames so the blew up in Superbia’s face as he launched another grenade, this one with the timer on it shorter with Desmond activating it before immediately launching it.

Superbia quickly flung the fireballs away, targeting the grenade instead of Desmond as he backed away. With the sound of Jubjub slamming into an Elite to his right, all he could focus on at first was his charred hand. Damn you… He extended his hands to the wall, four weapons resembling a pair of broad swords, a short sword, and and Axe floating in front of him. I think I’ll enjoy watching you bleed out!

“Oh go shove it.” He muttered, taking out his katana. “You sure do have a big mouth!” He taunted.

Do I, now? Sorry, it is hard not to boast when my foe is so… humorously outmatched. I will let these blades do the talking. Superbia rushed forward, the weapons, floating before him. As the struck Desmond's blade, it was evident that Superbia was a mediocre swordsman at best, but with his control of his telekinesis, it was as though Desmond was fighting four opponents at once.

Desmond focus was on the swinging blades in front of him, but in his mind, all he could do was laugh.

What is so funny? Sora asked, the A.I. quiet most of the mission.

What Superbia doesn’t know, Desmond smirked. Is that I trained like this a lot. Desmond had enough if playing with Superbia, quickly changing the tide of the battle in his favor. As the weapons clashed, one main advantage Desmond had was the durability of his weapon. As the alien alloys and elerium serrated blade stuck the normal iron and steel, small chinks appeared along the blades, weakening them. Another Desmond had was the familiarity he had with his weapon. While Superbia was using four different weapons he otherwise wouldn’t use, Desmond had used and gotten to know his like the back of his hand. The Ethereal may have had more power, but when it came to locking blades, Desmond was clearly the better. One by one, Desmond whittled away at the weapons until one by one they broke and when the last was made useless, he went in for a powerful strike at the Ethereal’s body.

Enough! Superbia caught Desmond will his telekinesis, holding him in place. I am finished toying with you. Tell me, is this arm connected to your nervous system? Superbia focused all of his power on Desmond’s cybernetic arm. With a squeeze of his hands, the arm shattered, crushed as though it was put through a compress and sending waves of pain into Desmond’s head.

His eyes widened and he grasped at the metal socket of his shoulder, screaming out in pain as if he had lost his arm the first time all over again. He fell to the ground hard and the wind was knocked out of him, adding only more agony on his body.

Get up! Superbia reached out, and used telekinesis to lift Desmond by his neck. You have failed to entertain me! If you had simply died for your prideful belief that you could take me by yourself, I would have been satisfied. But you have injured me, and you have humiliated me! And now, I will force your people to watch you suffer!

Desmond stared at Superbia, and all he could do was grin. Then, that grin turned to a smile and Desmond began to chuckle and then laugh, as much as his body would allow.

What… what are you laughing about? You are defeated, and now you will die. What… is so… funny?!

Desmond laughter stopped but his smile remained, the soldier leaning forward as much as he could. “I have you checkmated...bitch…” There was a slow beeping coming from behind Superbia and as the Ethereal turned to see what it was, he was met faced to faced with an alien grenade, a dark red glow surrounding it.

Superbia released Desmond, and tried to throw up a shield. The weak one he could manage was almost immediately shattered, and he was thrown to the side, slamming into the wall, hard. No… no, you… The Ethereal coughed several times, some blood leaking out of the helmet. You… I’ve been watching… you don’t have the strength left to… He slowly looked up, watching as the last Muton Elite fell to the seven other soldiers. No… no, there were… eight… He slowly looked around, and found Alicia, taking cover in the back of the room, a violet glow in her eyes, he hand extended towards Desmond. You… you said… one on… you said just the two… of us…

Desmond smirked. “I said if you had any honor you would fight me one on one...I didn’t say shit about me fighting with any.” He stepped forward slowly, letting the Ethereal getting in any last words.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Part Six

Superbia laughed, a low pitched chuckled that reverberated throughout his helmet. You… in my… attempt to not underestimate you… I over estimated your courage. You are… a coward…

“Well...we have a saying here on Earth, Superbia,” Desmond took out the imbued bullet out of one of the pockets in his armor and held it firmly in his hand. Lifting it up, he used the bullet as a catalyst for a final Pulsar Core, this one the largest and most powerful he had ever made, the suit that boosted his psionic power glowing it’s brightest and nearly overexerting itself from the strain of the power of the attack. Every nerve ending in Desmond’s arm flared up as if it was on fire and it swirled around the air like a tornado, “All is fair in love and war. Say hi to your kids when you see them in hell. They might have a thing or two to say about using them because it ‘made sense from a tactical standpoint’.”

With those final words, Desmond brought down the massive orb on the Overseer of Africa, the size alone big enough to cover the Ethereal’s full body length as he drilled it deeper and deeper into the throne room floor before the Core merely slowed down and grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared and a single 9mm bullet pattered to the ground in front of a helmet. “Damn...I missed the head.” Desmond chuckled, and slowly fell over, a heavy beating in his chest growing fainter and fainter. Damn it...not now...not while I am...overexerted… He hit the ground hard and rolled down the slope of the hole he made, coming to a halt directly next to Superbia’s mask.

“Damn it!” Sergio dropped to Desmond’s side, holding his palm against the fallen soldier’s back. He tried his hand at Biokinesis, but was obviously unskilled in it. “Why didn’t I practice… I’ll do what I can until I pass out! Get Chandra, now!”

Alicia nodded, rushing out, motioning for Saka and Minato to come with her. Saka volunteered to get Chandra and told the others to stay as she ran out, Minato following close behind her so she wasn’t alone. Alicia carefully ran to Aya, rocking her awake, the Field Commander having passed out. By the time she lifted Aya and brought her into the bridge, the speedy shinobi had returned with Chandra.

Chandra dropped to Desmond’s side. “Pull his armor off!” The others did so, and she popped off the nearly spent cartridge of the device on Desmond’s arm, putting in a new one. She placed her head on his chest. Sitting back up, she shook her head as she replaced Sergio. “He pushed himself way, way too far. His heart has stopped.”

As a wave of energy flowed into Desmond’s chest, Aya bent over Desmond’s head, lightly tapping him on the cheek. “Come on, Desmond… don’t make a liar out of me…” She glanced at Chandra, but could see she was struggling. “Come on Desmond. Everyone is waiting for you. Atka is waiting, Morrigan is waiting. Ellie is… come on!” Tears fell from her eyes as she gave the fallen soldier a pained look. “Dont do this, Desmond. Ellie needs you! Your… your child needs you. Do you want him to be born without his father there for him. Please, Desmond. Wake up!”

“Thought I told you...to have a bit more faith in me…” The soldier’s eyes slowly opened and the corners of his mouth turning upwards in a weak smile.

Aya smiled, an ecstatic look on her face as she continued to cry. “You… you son of a bitch, you scared the hell out of me…” She wrapped her arms around his head and shoulders, and kissed him on the cheek.

“I just...needed a little...nap…” He closed his eyes and put his good arm over his face. “A father huh?” Desmond was silent for a few moments before he began to laugh weakly, wiping away some tears that pooled around his eyes. “Damn it...now you got me...all emotional…”

Minato smirked, sitting down next to a crying Saka and he put his arm around her, pulling her on his shoulder. “Always have to be the one for dramatics, don’t you Walker?”

“Fuck you…” The team, along with Desmond and Minato shared a laugh and Desmond looked to Aya. “Mind calling this one in? I think...I have had enough...of this god damn ship...”

Aya nodded. As Minato slowly, carefully, lifted Desmond and the team headed back to the dropship, Ryan grabbing Adele, Aya woozily followed after them, raising a hand to her helmet. “Field Commander Brea, reporting in. Mission accomplished. We have two critically injured, two moderate. No casualties, though we have some cleanup to do on the SHIVs and androids. We have a few civilians as well.” Alicia handed her the bullet Desmond had used, and ran ahead, Superbia’s helmet in her hand. “And we’re bringing back… what’s left of the Ethereal. Just don’t expect much for an autopsy.”

“This is big sky. We’re have some trouble with a fussy civilian. He started acting strange, just because we suggested taking him back to base.”

“Alright, I... I'll talk to him.” Aya sighed, and smiled. “Good work, team. Let’s go home.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Crusade, Part 1

The “Walking Mummy Restaurant”, Cairo, Egypt
10:13 AM, November 24th, 2018
Less than an hour before Operation Tempered Humilitas

The Egyptian businessman chuckled as he sat down, beaming at the sole occupant of the table. “Here early?” he asked.

Agent One, draped as he always was in far too many layers of clothing, inclined his head. “I wanted to make sure this meeting went ahead.”

The rotund form of the businessman plonked onto his chair, opposite Agent One. “I have to admit, I am a little surprised at your choice of venue. I was expecting a dark alleyway somewhere.”

“Most of us are civilized individuals, Mr. Sali. What you are referring to is low-level thuggery.”

Mr. Sali grinned conspiratorially. “Maybe you need a better PR agent. You could borrow mine, she is… exceptional.”

“That would be counter-productive,” One said blankly. “Our objective is and always has been to stay within the shadows, behind the scenes –“

Sali waved a dismissive hand. “Still no sense of humor, I see. Must be part of the contract you sign when you join up, yes?”

The waiter arrived before One could respond, bowing and reading off the menu. One chose pasta, while Mr. Sali went with the fish and chips. Interesting choice from a native Egyptian.

The businessman leaned back in his chair. “I do like globalization. Brings things like this Western-style restaurant to us. I must say, the Americans do know how to cater for slothful people like myself.” When One tilted his head sideways, Sali grimaced. “Don’t give me that. I am not the healthiest man alive, after all. You need only glance at me to know that.”

One shrugged. “At least you recognize your faults.” That’s good. Might make this go easier…

“Recognize?” Sali laughed, his gut shaking in response. “I embrace it!”

The rest of the talk was menial. Small talk, really. Their meals arrived, and the two began eating, though One ate far less than his companion and far slower too – the shroud in front of his face didn’t exactly make things very easy when he was attempting to ingest.

When Sali was done, he pushed the plate away contentedly, exhaling loudly as he sank into his chair a little more. “I hear this is a simple dish in most nations. I might visit those nations one day. But you didn’t call me here on a date. Surely there is a matter of business you wish to discuss, yes friend?”

One nodded. “Business. Indeed. There is the matter of the money you owe –“

Sali shook his head. “Now now, surely you can be reasonable. It is rather a large amount to simply pay. I do not yet have the… liquidity to pay that.”

One’s eyes hardened behind the tinted glasses. “I’m afraid I have to insist. The Overseer was quite adamant that we receive the money in no less than a day.”

“A day?!” The businessman started blinking rapidly. “Surely you are joking? I have that money invested! One does not simply liquidate such assets without significant cost, I need more time.”

“We don’t have time,” One snapped, the sudden anger catching Sali off guard. “We’re spending money on defending this planet, and therefore you. The people responsible for that duty need money, and therefore so do we so that we might continue to assist them. We need that money.”

“No. I cannot give it to you, impossible.”

One watched the Egyptian closely for a moment, then sighed and leaned back in his chair. His tone took on a confident quality, the voice of someone who knows that his prey has nowhere to run. “Do you know how easy it is to pay off a chef?”

“I… beg your pardon?”

“They get paid so incredibly poorly, you know. And that poor man out the back there –“ He pointed to the back of the restaurant, where the kitchen was located. “- is ironically struggling to put food on the table for his own family. The cost to get him to add extra… spice… was relatively little compared to some other bribes the Overseer has had to pay.”

Sali paled noticeably. “… what did he… what have you…”

One leaned forward. “How was the sauce, by the way? I never asked.”

The businessman was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, gone was the laughing and the enthusiastic smiling. Here was the voice of someone beaten.

“What do you want from me?”

“The funds, of course,” One said harshly. “The poison now coursing through your body has an acting time of about twenty four hours, after which the pain will start and you will be too far gone to cure. Conveniently, that time can also be used to transfer a large sum of money… or finalize your last will and testament.” He leaned back. “Should you choose the first option, an agent will come to you within two hours with the antidote. So I suggest you don’t leave your decision to last minute.”

“Please. My wife –“

“Will have no husband if he doesn’t get his ass into gear!” One snapped. Sali hastily got up from the table, walking briskly away from his would-be murderer. “Twenty four hours, Sali. Clock’s ticking,” the agent called after him.

One maneuvered a straw into his mouth. Might look odd to others, drinking wine through a straw, but then again what about him looked normal?

Samuel grunted as he sat down, in the same chair Sali had been sitting. “That was… a little brutal, comrade.”

One shrugged. “We’ve got a quota, Samuel. We have to meet it.”

The Russian grimaced. “But was that really necessary?” When One stared at him, he shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “You can tell the Overseer I’m done working with you.”

One glanced up in surprise. “Is that ethics I hear?”

“We enforce, we don’t terrorize.”

“In this situation, they are one and the same.”

“How the hell are they –“

One’s coat pocket beeped loudly, cutting the argument short. The source of the beep turned out to be a rectangular device which Samuel assumed was a phone. One scanned it for a moment, before making a displeasured grunt and rising. “Come on.”

“Why?”

One showed him the phone. On the screen was a satellite image of the area surrounding Cairo. On the image was a large grey blob. “We’ve got company.”

Then the front of the restaurant exploded.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Crusade, Part 2

The “Walking Mummy Restaurant”, Cairo, Egypt
10:36 AM, November 24th, 2018

The screams were instant. Unlucky patrons who had been standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, struck down from above like some twisted act of God.

The two agents coughed and spluttered as they rose from the floor, the force of the blast having thrown them back, dust from the collapsed entrance filling the air. One hissed in displeasure.

“Shit. Plan B time, if there ever was one. Come on.” He pulled Samuel’s shoulder, bringing the shell-shocked Russian back with him.

“What ‘Plan B’? We have a plan B?”

One didn’t look back as her pushed open the door to the kitchen, ignoring the panicking staff. “Hope for the best…” he said, opening the storage room. Inside were several weapons cases. “… prepare for the worst.”

The two opened the cases and set about grabbing their defenses. Samuel’s were predictable – his personalized CAR-4 assault rifle and Locomotive 12-G shotgun sat gestating in the case, awaiting the touch of their master. The shotgun in particular looked well loved – it’s barrel was blackened from many discharges, scratches lined the sides, and the torch attached to the underside had a tendency to flicker. Still, the Russian smiled when he held it.

One’s were a little less personal. A bolt-action R93 sniper rifle and Bernetti 9 pistol awaited him, the Bernetti boasting a laser sight underneath the barrel. Function was key for One – the rifle for long range, the pistol for medium. Samuel could handle the short. Realizing that his garb was insufficient for combat, One removed the heavier items of clothing he was wearing, replacing them with a light ballistic vest identical to Samuel’s.

When the two stepped out the backdoor, they looked up to see a massive alien battleship locked in combat with Firestorms. The battleship was losing.

They watched the dance for a while, entranced by the lights playing across the sky. “You know,” said Samuel, his natural accent creeping back into his voice, “This would be really good scene for movie.”

One glanced at him. “Don’t trivialize this. We’re about to enter combat with an enemy far surpassing our own capabilities. If we win up there, that thing comes crashing down. If we lose, we’re looking at a full scale terror attack. Either way…” He loaded a magazine into his pistol. “We’re not going to enjoy the next few hours.”

“Says you.”

They watched as a Firestorm streaked across the underside of the battleship, firing a fusion lance repeatedly and directly into its underbelly. It must have hit something important, because the ship began sprouting explosions like flowers, and it started its heavy descent. The engines sputtered, struggling to compensate for the ship’s mass with far less power than before, and instead failed. Too late, the agents realized where it would impact.

They felt the tremor from there, the ship landing forcefully halfway into the city, crushing everything beneath it, the shockwave from the landing flattening everything close by too. The two stood, silent in the knowledge that they had likely just witnessed the deaths of a sizable portion of the city.

The Russian scowled and hefted his shotgun. “Kamikaze strike. Bastards.”

One could only agree. “Come on,” he said quietly, moving towards the crash site.

Samuel blinked in surprise. “Shouldn’t we be moving away from that?”

The black-clad agent stopped, considered, and turned. “We won’t be leaving that way. Army will have it guarded.” He hesitated. “Besides, X-COM’s going to be here soon. From the size of that battleship, I think they’re going to need some help ‘cleaning up’.”

Samuel grinned, much to One’s surprise. “Good. I don’t take mass-murder very well. Shall we?”

The streets were full of people first, screaming and running around trying to get away from the wreck. As the duo went further, however, the streets became empty, eerily quiet. The people here had either already run or were hiding.

Then they rounded a corner, and the streets were full of aliens. None of whom were very happy to see them.

One bolted back around, plasma attempting to follow him and not accounting for the bend. “Bad way that way!” he shouted, barely bothering to disguise his voice anymore.

The Russian frowned, seeing a crop of rubble. “I’ll run out there, attract some fire. You take that opportunity to take some shots. You’re not the Judge, but you’ll do.”

One nodded. “Got it,” he said, but Yokolov had already started running. Plasma whizzed past him, some attempting to lead their shots and failing when he decreased his speed. While the enemy was distracted, One ducked out and managed to take three shots with his rifle before the aliens realized that there was more than one human and split their fire.

One came back around the corner and did a mental tally. Two Mutons and a Thin Man down out of five and three, respectively. Not too big a group, really, considering the size of the battleship. Must be just hitting the first wave. Looking around for cover, he noted a parked car which would give him a small view into the street. He dashed over to it, managing to reach it before the aliens entered his new line of fire.

The first Muton approaching Samuel’s crop of rubble received a bullet to the face as One put his new position to effect, crouching back down into cover before the remaining aliens could get a bead on him. Samuel himself popped his head up and, seeing the aliens panicking, gunned down the remaining Thin Men with his assault rifle. With their attention now focused on the pinned Russian, One could then duck up and take another shot. If there had been more, it would have been rinse, repeat, with breaks to reload. But this time, there was only one left. And he was uncomfortably close to Samuel. And One needed to reload.

Samuel himself did not seem very worried. Indeed, he was grinning, One saw. When he judged the Muton’s footsteps to be close enough, Samuel dropped his weapon and vaulted over his cover, kicking the surprised Muton in the face and sending it to the ground. He lifted a rebar he had obtained from the rubble itself, and brought it down on the unfortunate alien’s head, smashing it with the piece of concrete still attached to the bar.

“Let me show you this drum solo I’ve been working on!” the Russian cried as he whacked. One rose from his position, reaching Samuel just as he finished.

“Done?”

Samuel wiped his brow, and chucked the rebar to the ground. “I’d say so,” he said, gazing at the misshapen lump of bone that was the Muton’s head. It groaned softly, clearly dying. One walked up to it and pulled out his pistol, ending its misery. For a moment, he almost felt sorry for the poor creature, too.

But then he looked up and saw his target again, and his resolve hardened again. Scanning the street, he pointed to a large building nearby, which looked close to collapse. “There,” he said, pointing with his free hand. “Looks like a shopping center. We’ll go through there, and that’ll take us straight to the ship.”

The Russian nodded, taking a moment to reload his own rifle. “Ignoring the large no-man’s land of destroyed buildings and such, I’m guessing.”

“One step at a time,” the other agent grumbled, starting forward.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Crusade, Part 3

Market District, Cairo, Egypt
10:43 AM, November 24th, 2018

The rubble underfoot crunched as the agents walked into the shopping centre, shards of glass and pieces of concrete scattered everywhere. There were bodies, too. Some had plasma burns in them, while others looked like they’d been killed by the building collapsing around them. One spotted an arm sticking out of a pile of rubble. It wasn’t moving.

Samuel scowled, holding his shotgun ready. “Cowardly move,” he spat. “If you’re going to kill someone, make sure they have the capability to fight back, or the option to escape. Crashing that ship in the middle of a city is doing neither of those.”

“Neither is firing on that same city with that same ship,” One added. “It’s exactly the same principle, really.”

“No, it isn’t. There you have inciting terror while trying to defend yourself from the enemy. Here, you have a sore loser.”

“That’s a trivial way of describing it.”

Samuel shrugged. “Making horrific things trivial helps people deal with them.”

“Helps you?” One asked.

Samuel didn’t answer.

There wasn’t much time to continue the discussion. A trio of Mutons rounded the corner of the food court, escorting a single Mechtoid and it’s two Sectoid buddies. The two parties stood frozen there for a moment, each seemingly sizing each other up. Then they both raised their weapons and started firing, with everyone but the Mechtoid running behind cover of some kind.

One and Samuel found two pillars on the opposite sides of the hallway, taking cover behind them as plasma spewed forth from the Mechtoid’s cannons. “How the hell are we going to deal with this?” Samuel shouted. “’Let’s go towards the ship,’ he said. ‘Help X-COM, he said.’”

“Shut it,” One growled, mind racing to work a solution out. The Sectoids, hiding in cover, sent wispy tendrils to their metal counterpart, reinforcing it with a shield. The Mutons, hiding behind pillars of their own, suppressed the two humans while the Mechtoid began its advance, sending forth torrents of plasma all the while.

First targets, the weakest links. The Sectoids. Then, focus on the biggest threat. The question was, which was it? Mechtoid or Mutons? The Mechtoid could flush them out by simply walking up to them, and somehow One doubted that Samuel could pull off another jump-kick takedown on something as large as it. The Mutons, however, had grenades. The humans could be flushed out using those grenades, and cover could easily be destroyed.

Samuel shook his head. “Too long, we need to move! Blitzkrieg time!” With that, he dove around the pillar and began running towards the clustered aliens, pulling out his shotgun and firing.

One turned around the pillar to take a shot while he had one, and came face to face with the Mechtoid. Immediately rethinking his decision to support the rampaging Russian, he swivelled back around the pillar as plasma seared through the space he’d been occupying. Not waiting for the Mechtoid to come around again, he ran down the hallway in much the same manner as Samuel, all the while very much aware that this was likely not a good idea.

Samuel had shot one of the Mutons during his charge and one of the Sectoids when he reached the aliens. Knowing that he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, he decided to take the path of least resistance. With a roar not unlike that of an angry Muton, Samuel dashed forward again, out into the food court. If he was scared of the plasma being flung at him, he didn’t show it. He fired the shotgun with surprising accuracy, hitting two of the three Thin Men who had shown up to investigate the gunfire, and the one remaining Sectoid.

One, seeing the Mechtoid’s shield crumble and fail, turned and confronted his pursuer, sniper rifle at the ready. The shot pierced the Mechtoid’s skull, irreparably damaging the creature’s brain and ending its life.

A Muton attempted to shoot Samuel from behind, but the Russian noticed the attack too early and shot it for its trouble, by now cackling manically. The one remaining Muton, having watched its allies cut down so quickly, decided to retreat. The Russian watched it leave and smiled, jogging over to chase it down.

Which only left one Thin Man. One drew his handgun and crouched down, waiting for the reptilian alien to come closer. When, in search of the agent, it did, he gave it what it was seeking. “Hands up, or I’ll shoot!” he yelled, pointing the pistol directly at its skull. The Thin Man jumped slightly, surprised by the ambush. “On your knees, now! And drop the weapon!”

The Thin Man regained its composure, and aimed. One was faster, however, and shot it in the head, poison spitting everywhere. The agent smiled beneath his facewrap, and lowered the weapon, inspecting the scene. The phrase ‘not bad’ came to mind.

That was when he noticed Samuel had disappeared. And when he heard the shotgun fire amongst plasma. One followed the noises, trying to locate his companion and eventually doing so in the back of a fast food store.

The Russian was pointing his shotgun at the Muton, who was on the ground in a half-pounce position. The alien’s plasma rifle was lying a few feet away. Samuel was breathing hard, that One could see.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” Samuel said. “’Did he fire ten shots, or only nine?’ To be honest…” He examined the weapon. “… I kinda lost track myself in the confusion. But since this is a Locomotive 12-G, one of the most hard-hitting conventional shotguns in the world, I’d say you have to ask yourself one question. ‘Do I feel lucky?’” The Russain cocked his head. “Well? Do you?”

Apparently, it did, diving for the rifle. Samuel followed the creatures head rather lazily with his shotgun, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

The Muton had time to fire one shot before the sniper shot pierced its skull, but that one shot was enough. The plasma punched into Samuel like a swinging hammer, sending him careening backwards. One made a choking noise and ran over to him, ripping off his glasses and facewrap.

Samuel heard the cry, and moments later saw Isaac staring down at him, his usually angry eyes beginning to tear up, scar lining the side of his face. The Russian stared at his friend for a moment, then started laughing in between coughing up blood. “I knew it was you,” he spluttered, smiling. “You sneaky bastard, I knew it was you.”

Isaac gazed down at his friend, the plasma searing into the stomach. “That’s not a mortal wound,” he said, as much trying to convince himself as Samuel. “You’ll be fine.”

Samuel scoffed. “Like you’d know what a mortal wound feels like.” He hacked a cough. “It’s better like this. What better way to die?”

“I can think of a few.”

“No, no. you misunderstand. It was always going to end like this.” The smile became sad. “Dying to a superior alien species that far outmatches us? Better that than some street thug who got lucky.”

Isaac couldn’t help but smile. “Social Darwinism at it’s finest.”

“It’s very finest.” He coughed again, blood staining his mouth. He grinned. “Not long now. Anything you want me to pass on to Helen?”

Isaac shook his head. “No, you’re not dying here. X-COM will be here soon, they’ll have meds, maybe they’ll bring a green psion. Please, you just have to hold on a little longer…”

“No, comrade. I am thinking now, sadly. No getting out of this one. До Свидания, comrade.” Samuel laid his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “At least… this is better than having a walkway fall on me again.”

Isaac cocked his head. “What?” When the Russian didn’t respond, he prodded him. Then shook his shoulder. Then hung his head and let the tears come at last. “Goodbye, friend,” the assassin managed to say before the tears became free-flowing.

That was the second good friend he’d had die in his presence.