RP XCOM: The Story of Defiance.

[Adrammalech]

// ONE STEP AT A TIME //
Emily Fischer
XCOM Headquarters – Holo-Training Room
Siberia, Russian Federation
October 26, 2018 - 5:32 PM

The Sectoid tilted his head and gave a brief skitter, then stuttered and returned to his idle state. Emily let out a small grunt as her sphere of energy fired directly on track, but far too slowly to be lethal. The Sectoid stared forward impassively as the lance hit him, and at this point, Emily could swear the tiny hologram was openly mocking her with its existence. She shook off her arm and walked a small circle, getting ready to do the exact same process again.

“I will kill you, you little gray bastard…” she mumbled.

Emily fixed her stare on the Sectoid, and then back to her hand. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her growing frustration into something useful, and she began feeling energy glowing in her palm. She took a few steps towards where she knew her target was, shouting angrily as she propelled it at the target. She opened her eyes to see the solid lance flying forwards with incredible speed, flying far to the right side of the Sectoid.

She sighed and dropped her hands onto her knees, wiping the small amount of sweat forming on her forehead and clearing her throat. Her eyes caught on the small bandage on her left arm, covering up the spot where Elene had took her blood for cloning. She thought for a moment, wondering if it was so bad to try to dip into Luxuria’s knowledge again, just to see if she could nudge things along. She shook her head quickly and straightened out, taking up a stance again. She repeated the process and shot at the correct speed and direction, but the lance broke apart into wisps in midair.

“God damn it,” Emily cursed, stomping her feet.

She let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her palm into her temple. The headaches from her prolonged exertion pecked at her head like a bird to tree bark, and her feet were beginning to hurt as well from standing up so long. She knew if Desmond were here, he’d give her some line about not being able to do everything in a day. She glanced up at the clock in shock, seeing the hour hand 3 notches farther than she had planned to use. The holographic display of the Sectoid faded away as Emily shut down the room, tossing the tiny amount of gear she was using to the side and heading out the door, resolving to be done for today but come back tomorrow.

As she walked out of the training room, she noticed Dallas nearby, talking to a particularly attractive engineer with long flowing hair and slim and trim body sheathed in a standard lab coat. As he talked to her, she smiled and laughed, touching his arm and shoulder excitedly. Emily’s nose scrunched up and she marched forwards, barging directly into their conversation. She wrapped her arm possessively around him and yanked him towards her.

“Hey Jack,” she gave a forced smile, “who’s your friend?”

The woman looked at her with some kind of half-smile and eyes of excitement, as if she wanted to scream ‘I know you’ but couldn’t.

“Em, don’t be rude,” he chuckled nervously. He turned towards the other girl, “this is Emily, my-”

“His girlfriend,” Emily stated firmly.

“Y-yes, my girlfriend, and this is-”

“Just a factory nerd,” the woman chuckled, smirking towards Emily. “Don’t worry about me, I’m just leaving.”

The woman backed away a bit, then nodded towards Dallas before turning away and scurrying down the hall. Emily turned and gave him a sour look.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Just some lady I ran into coming to see you.”

“You seemed to be closer than that…”

“Nope,” he shrugged. “Just really friendly, I guess. Anyway, where have you been? You’ve been missing for hours…”

“I was training,” she scowled. “What were you doing?”

“Is something wrong? You seem…angrier than usual.”

“No, nothing’s wrong.”

“Alright,” he said, looking unsure. “Do you want to go get dinner? Nika’s already there, I believe.”

“Sure, sure…dinner.”

Dallas took up her hand and laced his fingers between hers, smiling shyly at her. “Let’s go then.”

Dallas gave her hand tiny squeezes as they walked together, the sweet and small gestures telling her that he was oblivious to her jealousy. There was some small comfort in knowing that she could advertise that they were together, the idea that they weren't being thoroughly hole-punched by all of their public kisses and hugs over the last two months. She tried to banish her worries about the woman in the coat, her mind desperately needing the period of relaxation that he was leading her towards.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Phantoms of the Past

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
October 26, 2018
1800 Hours

Laying on the bed of his cell, Asher blinked slightly and rubbed his face of tiredness, the fact he had nearly no indication of the passage of time, his sleep patterns were very erratic. It was nearly the only thing he could do, though the guards were forced to remove his sheets when he had gotten the bright idea to try and terminate himself. Luckily the room was well heated so he didn’t miss them much.

Standing up from the bed, Asher walked to the door of his cell and peered out the small glass window. Things went on as normal outside his confines, techs and lab assistants passing from time to time outside. Each time he saw one he had the small hope that they would be coming for him but to his dismay, they never did.

He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the door and turning around so he was leaning against it and slowly sliding down till he was in a sitting position. He covered his head, trying to quell the racing thoughts in his mind.

The battle replayed in his mind over and over and over, trying to find ways that it could have ended differently. I could have shot her earlier...I could have just aimed and killed her right there...why didn’t I? I don’t think I hesitated so why couldn’t I have just killed her in the first place?

His thoughts moved from the battle to the aftermath, and the first person who had visited him. That woman infuriated me to no end. I wish I could have killed her right then and there, ended her snide remarks and gloating.

And then there is her... Asher thought of the green-haired scientist who checked up on him often, and his hand balled up in anger. She must be the worst of them. Trying to act like my friend but she must be playing me. What gives her the right to judge me? To judge my choices...I don’t need to have love and compassion. That stuff just gets in the way of the mission…

And what mission would that be? A voice called out in the back of his mind.

She has to die...I have to die...they all have to!

But what would that solve? I made you better than that. I always thought you were such a sweet boy...you were just dealt a bad hand, that is all.

Asher closed his eyes and held his legs up to his chest. Why do you continue to torture me? You are dead...you never mattered to me to begin with.

The voice chuckled softly. Because you mattered to me.

Flashback

115 looked around, the artificial light hurting his eyes as his foot touched the cool tile and he fell forward, spitting up the fluid that had been left in his body from the pod. There were shadowed bodies all around him and he tried to lash out at them, the people backing away.

“Now, now...can’t you see the poor boy is terrified?” A soft voice called out from behind the men, and an older woman with wrinkled features smiled at him with a warmness that just caused him to stop. “See? You don’t need to stand over him like a bunch of wild dogs, now step back and let me handle this.”

115 jumped back when she got closer to him, but her smile persisted and she had a blanket in her arms, going to wrap it around him. He grabbed the edges of the towel and wrapped it around himself, the scientist rubbing his back with her hand. “See? Everything is just fine.”

He shakily nodded his head and she pulled him to lay on her shoulder, the clone shivering from the cold. “Now just relax. We aren’t going to hurt you...just stay calm.” A sharp object pierced the clone’s neck and he gripped the woman’s arm hard as he felt himself slowly slip from consciousness.

Two Days Later

Asher shifted uncomfortably as he slowly awoken on a hard metal surface, his body covered with a blue sheet. His head ached horribly and it swam as he tried to sit up. The first thing he noticed was how cushy his head was when he laid it down back on the table and when he felt his head, it was wrapped in layers and layers of gauze. When he open his mouth to call out for someone and no sound came out, he got confused, trying over and over to talk but nothing coming out. A horrifying realization came to him and his hand slowly went to his neck and he felt the rough texture of the medical wrap. His eyes widened and he put his hand around his neck, looking around for anyone.

“Goodness...you are awake already?” The old voice called out as the scientist from before entered the room and smiled at him. She approached him and put a hand on his shoulder but Asher jumped up and wrapped his hand around the old woman’s throat and he began to press and squeeze, pushing her back against a table as he choked her.

The whole time, Asher was mouthing ‘You lied’ as his voice had been taken from him. The woman looked scared but she didn’t try and fight back, instead just reaching up and touching his cheek with her shaky hand, her eyes saying she was just as sad as he was. A tear rolled down his face but she wiped it away, along with another and another after that. Finally, he released her, the woman gasping for air and coughing as her breathing was no longer restricted.

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to do that to you, but I had to. He told us that was our job. I’m sorry my boy, I am really sorry.” The elderly woman walked her way to Asher and put her arms around him, the tears still going down the clone’s face.

Present Day

Asher silently cried to himself, the memory flooding him with the same emotions that they had when he experienced them. You did this to me...I hated you for that...I still do. Asher reached up to his neck where the large scar was, a constant reminder that he would never talk.

You never hated me. You were just a scared boy, not even a man. I was forced to take your voice, yes, but I never wished you harm. I never looked at you like a test subject. You were like a son to me. The voice told him calmly, Asher having the vague feeling that if the person whose voice it had once been were still alive, she would be smiling.

I don’t believe you…

I always loved you. Why can’t you see that my boy? Why do you fight the feelings you deserve to feel?

Because it’s almost like everything is trying to break me down, like everything wants to keep me from leaving and finally be happy!

There was silence in Asher’s head. Death won’t bring you happiness my son. You deserve to live life, and be happy as a normal person.

Is it such a crime to want death? To end my misery?

No...it isn’t. But the worse crime would doing nothing while you wish for death when you have the chance at life.

And how would you understand my pain...you are dead...I am alive.

Because I felt the same.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1288 & ZombieSplitter53
"Every Time we Touch..."

X-COM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
Infirmary, Recovery Ward
Oct. 26th, 1200 Hours

“See, I can make it with the same skin tone, so it would look just like your other hand,” Sunny explained. “And… well, I’m afraid Sunny’s sense of touch comes from a synergy between her skin and artificial brain, so I can’t simulate touch quite as well, but it will be… close. There would still be a semblance of it, even if it isn’t the same.”

Ayame slowly nodded as Sunny went over the finer details, listening as best she could, but somehow disinterested. She watched Sunny through tired eyes and a forced smile. Her eyes wandered to the side, watching the other child slowly walk into the room and stare at her. Her smile waned, and she looked down a bit. The boy approached her, as if insulted that she would try to look away.

Look at me.

The boy climbed on to the bed, and slowly crawled towards her, his eyes hollow, a bit of bile leaking from his lips, Ayam squeezed her eyes shut as he got directly in her face.

Don’t ignore me!

“Ayame?” Sunny tilted her head, looking concerned. ‘Are you okay?”

Ayame slowly opened her eyes, and smiled again. “Yes, of course. I was just thinking that you… you shouldn’t rush things for my sake. I know you have a lot on your plate…”

“W-why not?” Sunny asked in confusion. “I… I tried to rush with Sven. And with Desmond. So why wouldn’t I…”

“Just… don’t push yourself for my sake, is all I’m saying.” Ayame patted her on the head with the only hand she could. “It… it isn’t like I’m going anywhere.”

Sunny nodded slowly, looking at Ayame with sad eyes.

Mary took a few steps into the room and saw that Ayame was awake, a look of concern on her face, “Ay’me…”

Ayame’s eyes widened, on honest smile crossing her face. “Mary! I’m happy… to…” He smile wavered a bit as she moved her left arm to the side and under her covers. “I mean, you… you didn’t have to bother yourself by coming here. I’ll be out in no time anyway.”

“‘On’t act ‘ike ye’ fine…” She said walking up to Ayame’s bed, “Ye’ lost ye’ ‘and… Ye’ al’ost lost ye’ arm te’...”

Ayame shook her head dismissively. “I’m fine, really. I mean, we… we lost

two people on the mission, so what’s a hand compared to their lives. You don’t have to worry about me. I… I won’t let this keep me down. I-I can still fight, I can… I can still…”

“Neh’... Shut up…” Mary stopped her, “An’t ye’ je’ let meh’ ‘orry ‘bout ye’?”

“Oh, I… I’m sorry, I didn’t… mean…” Ayame looked down.

Sunny looked between the two of them, and scratched her head in confusion. “Um, can… c-can I ask you something outside, Mary?”

Mary looked over at the young scientist, “Eh’... Sure…”

Sunny stepped out with Mary, and looked up at the British soldier. “I-I don’t… know what is going on, Mary. She… she seems fine. She isn’t complaining, she doesn’t even seem upset. So I don’t understand why I feel so off. And when I came in, she was just… staring at the wall, like she was watching something.” The young tech held her stomach. “I’m scarred, and I don’t even know why…”

The gunner’s face only grew more concerned, “Es’ ‘ere enythin’ eh’ ‘an do te’ ‘elp ‘er?”

Sunny thought for a moment. “Well… she was lying, for one. She was asking about you earlier, wondering what you were doing. So she obviously wanted to see you.” Sunny sighed. “I… I’m going to work on that prosthetic, whether she wants me to or not. You… should just talk to her. I think if there is anyone who could get through to her, figure out what’s wrong, it is you. I wouldn’t understand, Atka wouldn’t push her, and Alexia wouldn’t see anything wrong. I… hate to push it on you, but… it has to be you.”

Mary took in a long, deep breath, and nodded, “Yeh’... Eh’ll do e’erythin’ eh’ ‘an…”

Sunny nodded back, and took off, yelling back, “You know where to find me if you need me.”

Ayame squeezed her eye shut again as the feeling of cold, dead arms wrapped around her arm. “Leave… me… alone…” she mumbled quietly.

Only a matter of time until you hurt her too. Kill… her too. She’ll suffer with you. Just like I did.

“Go… away…” A few tears rolled down Ayame’s cheeks.

Mary stepped back into the room and took a seat by Ayame’s bed, “Ay’me… ‘Ow are ye’ ‘eeling?”

Ayame’s eyes snapped open. “I’m… I’m feeling that I want everyone to stop asking me how I’m feeling. I’m feeling fine! Why… why can’t everyone just except it? I’ll just… replace the stupid hand. Or I won’t. I can fight fine without it. So just… just l…” Ayame squeezed her eyes shut again. “I-I’m sorry, I… I didn’t… mean to, I… I couldn’t…”

“Ye’ ‘ouldn’t what? Save ‘em? Es’ ‘is ‘ome ‘ort of ‘urvivor’s ‘uilt?” Mary said, giving her a serious look.

“I… don’t…” Ayame gave Mary a pleading look suddenly. “I… love you, Mary. I can’t… please, I can still be there. I promise I won’t hurt you. Please, don’t… don’t leave…”

“Why ‘ould eh’ ‘eave ye? ‘Ow ‘ould ye’ ‘urt meh’?” Mary asked, leaning a little closer.

Ayame shook her head, looking down. “I… I can’t… please you, I… I’m too old for you, I… I’m…” She lifted her arm. “Look what I’ve… done. I wanted to save her, I… I had to save her, and I don’t even know if I did it for her, or for myself.”

“Ye’ ‘anted te’ ‘ave ‘er, an’ ye’ did… Yer’ prob’ly ‘er ‘ero now...Why are ye’ ‘utting ye’self ‘own se ‘uch?” Mary gently placed her hand on her shoulder, “Eh’... Eh’ dun’t ‘ant je’ sex… If eh’ ‘anted ‘at eh’d ‘ave ‘eft ye’ ‘as ‘oon as ye’ ‘anted meh’ te ‘op see’in o’her women… ‘Ure, th’ sex es’ ‘ice, beh’... Eh’ ‘ayed wit’ ye’ ‘cause eh’ ‘anted ye’ love… Eh’ love ye’...”

Ayame slowly looked up. “You…” She started sobbing, and wrapped her arms around Mary. “I… I-I don’t deserve…” She squeezed Mary tightly, as if afraid to let her go. “After everything… I-I’ve done, I… don’t…”

“Ye’ ‘ow ‘at you’ve ‘one? Ye’ ‘aved ‘at ‘irl ‘rom eh’ ‘ife of prostitution… Ye’ ‘aved one ef’ our ‘eople ‘rom dyin’ at that ‘thereal’s hands… Ye’ ‘in’nt’ e’en ‘ow ‘er ‘at well… Eh’ ‘on’t ‘ink e’en eh’ ‘ould’ve done ‘at…” Mary smiled, “Eh’ may ‘ot ‘ave ‘own ye’ ‘en ye’ ‘ere eh’ merc’... Beh’ eh’ ‘an see ‘at you’ve ‘anged alot ‘ince ‘en…”

Ayame nodded slowly, finally releasing Mary and wiping her tears away. “Thank you, Mary, that means a lot to me. I… I’ve been trying to prove I’m different. I… have a lot of sins to make up for. A couple I haven’t shared with you. But I’m trying. I just hope… my dear Mary will be with me…”

“Eh’... Eh’ ‘ourse eh’ll be wit’ ye’... Eh’ve ne’er ‘elt th’ ‘ay eh’ do wit’ you ‘fore… Th’ ‘ast ‘ing eh’ ‘ant is te’ ‘ose ye’...” Mary replied, a few tears welled up in her eyes as well, as she brought her lips to Ayame’s mouth.

Ayame kissed her passionately, trying to hold on to the moment as long as possible. After a few minutes, she finally pulled away, chuckling a bit as she wiped her eyes. “I… I don’t know why I ever questioned you. I’m sorry. And I’m as here for you as you are for me.”

“Ye’ ‘ow… Eh’ rescheduled meh’ ‘isit te’ th’ psi labs te’ ‘ome see ye’... Eh’ ‘ould ‘ait ‘till ye’ get ‘etter ‘fore eh’ go in ef’ ye’ ‘ant.” She said softly.

Ayame reached forward, kissing Mary gently. “No, I think you should go. By the time you get out of there, I’ll be out of here. It’ll give us both something to look forward to.”

“Ye’ ‘ure? Eh’ dun’t ‘ant te’ leave ye’ ‘lone ‘less yer’ feelin’ ‘etter.”

Ayame nodded. “Trust me, Mary. I feel better now then I have in a long time. Though I’m sure, once we’re together again, you’ll be able to trump now.”

“Eh’m sure ‘eh will…” She spoke, playing with Ayame’s hair a little, “Eh’ ‘on’t ‘ake ye’ ‘ait te’ long…”

Ayame kissed her one last time, then laid back, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, but honestly feeling better than she had before.

 

[MarineAvenger]

MarineAvenger and DarkGemini24601: “(Un)wavering Feelings”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1515 Hours, October 26th, 2018
Quarters of Markus Grathem

There was an outburst of laughter coming from inside Markus’s room as he was finishing up a video call between his siblings and himself. Glancing up at the clock, he rubbed his eyebrow and sighed, waving a hand to his siblings as he gave them a good bye and assured his sister the next time he would get in contact with them, even Riley hopping up and barking to say his own good bye. Pressing the end call button on the screen, the scientist sat back and looked at his furry roommate.

“Don’t worry buddy, I am sure your brother and sister miss you too.” The dingo gave a loud couple of barks in reply, Markus chuckling and running the pet on the head, throwing him a treat. A gentle knock sounded on the door.

He looked to the door and raised an eyebrow as he rubbed his buddy’s head one more time and got up from his chair and went to answer. “Yes?” He asked as he opened the door.

Elene was standing there in her typical attire. “Good afternoon,” the clone intoned.
“Oh, hey Elene...how have you been holding up?” Markus scratched the back of his head, a little surprised by the visit.

“...well, I suppose? I do not usually attempt to decide on a sum total of current events,” the heiress responded.

“I have to be honest, I didn’t expect you to drop by. You guys have been so busy lately, I had...well, just given you your space.”

“Well… I’m always ‘busy’, but that didn’t interfere with us spending time together during work or otherwise before,” Elene replied neutrally.

He sighed. “Yeah, but we were also close by. Now, I am in the gene-labs most of the time and by the time I get out of them, things usually got in the way of visits.”

“Regardless, I could use a change of pace. A few that I have to work alongside are rather… irritating people,” Elene muttered.

“Finally getting tired of Vee, huh?” He joked with her, stepping out of the way so she could come inside.

The clone walked in and sat down in an extra chair. “Try Emily Fischer. Sure, she offered something useful from Luxuria, but it is odd that she is close friends with a being that attempted to overwrite her existence. And then there’s Alexia Lockheart as always… plus difficulties with Poinsettia, if indirect.”

Riley trotted over to Elene’s legs and laid down next to them, giving a sigh and putting his head on one of her feet. Markus just took a seat in her computer chair and rolled up in front of her. “From what I heard of the Ethereals, they are pretty bad news. I just hope Ms. Fischer knows what she is doing...and I know Ms. Lockheart can be a little out there but from what I have worked with her, she seems to keep it together for the most part.” He looked at Elene and tilted his head slightly. “I guess the best advice I can give is just try and keep it together...I know I didn’t like all my classmates in school and college but I still needed to tolerate them. What’s the story about Poinsettia anyways? I haven’t heard a lot about her since her capture.”

“Well, she’s very slow to even begin trusting us, since she was programmed to believe Viktor was an ideal father. Lily is making slow progress to work around that roadblock, but no major breakthroughs yet,” Elene explained.

“Well, I wish her luck then. Have you considered using that other guy though...the other we captured to try and help you get through to her? Maybe seeing a comrade will make her feel a bit better.”

“Perhaps… though I can’t be sure about that. He seems a bit emotionally… unstable, to say the least,” Elene responded hesitantly.

“Well...it was only a suggestion.” He stated, shrugging his shoulders. Markus looked down, just staring at the pet at her feet. “Hey Elene...this is going to work right? I mean you're still in love with me?”

Elene looked at Markus with clear surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean...of course I still love you, I always will but if this starts to become too much for you…” Markus sighed and looked at her. “I am just worried you don’t love me anymore. I just don’t want to be a hindrance for you.”

“I am unsure of what has brought this on, but you are incorrect. My feelings for you have not changed, Markus,” Elene replied.

“I guess I am just being a bit paranoid. I’ve just been over thinking things too much lately…” He gave a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his head.

“I think we are all a little fatigued,” Elene stated, walking over to Markus and giving him a gentle kiss. “But it’s almost over.”

He smiled lightly, looking back down. “Yeah, I guess it is. To think when all this began I was just a regular college student and now I work for a top secret alien fighting organization. Not really something that I will be able to put on a resume after all this is over.”

“We have access to an abundance of technology the world has never seen,” Elene agreed. “However, I have no plans to just bury it all once the war is over. To do so would be a waste of unimaginable proportions. Without the Council to try and hoard everything for themselves, it is only a matter of convincing the Commander that the benefits of what we have uncovered will outweigh potential pitfalls.”

Markus’s smile dropped. “E-Elene...there is something I need to tell you…”

“And that is?”

“Well...how do I put this? I don’t know if I will be continueing all of this when the war is over. I was actually talking to my family about this and...well they think I should come home, go back to school. And...well, I am considering it.”

Elene fell quiet for a moment. “I would not oppose you if you wished to do such a thing. Is this why you expressed doubts earlier?”

“Not completely, but it was part of the reason, yes. I was afraid you would be mad or disappointed. But altering the genes of a human and knowing how to clone someone won’t get me a job in the future…”

“While I will allow you to pursue whatever you wish… you do realize that the fields of biology and genetic modification we have uncovered have many practical applications, don’t you?” Elene rebuked. “Better harvests, correcting genetic disorders, terraforming, even… not to mention Tz6 can pull off projects already conceived with ease. I believe one such one was creating luminescent trees to replace streetlamps. Even with Elerium it would still be an ideal for more rural communities… am I getting my point across?”

Markus nodded, but he still was a bit hesitant. “Well...have you been able to successfully replicate Meld yet? I mean, it isn’t like this stuff grows on trees and who knows how long it would take to run out? I’m just so uncertain of the future that I don’t know what to do…”

“I nearly have, actually. Unlike the Elerium, it isn’t something that can’t be reproduced with terrestrial materials,” Elene offered optimistically.

“Why do I bother to question the best person to prove me wrong on these sorts of things?” Markus mumbled, smiling for a brief second at Elene.

“Now, if you wish to live more of a ‘normal’ life regardless, I won’t stop you… but our paths will diverge in terms of occupation.” Elene tapped the side of her head. “This is a job I can’t really quit. Though I probably wouldn’t want to, even without that final order.”

Markus looked away from her for a brief time, sighing to himself and rubbing his eyes. “I-I don’t know…”

“I don’t expect you to come to a decision right now. Just something to think about,” Elene said quietly.

Markus had got up from his seat and walked to Elene’s side, wrapping his arms around her. “There is something I want to tell you.” He whispered to her.

“And what is this second thing?”

“Elene...I love you. I don’t say it enough but I do. No one I have ever met makes me as happy as you have for the past few months. I just want to say thank you, for being by my side and accepting me for who I am. I may not be the strongest...or smartest...or really not anything that makes me stand out but I am grateful for you...for being with you.”

“I appreciate that,” Elene said quietly, embracing Markus as well.

Squeezing her a bit harder, he let go of her and smiled. “Is there anything else you would like to talk about?”

“Talk...not particularly… but…” Elene leaned into Markus’s ear, and whispered. “But there are things I could show you.”

He smiled lightly and put his arms around her again. “Just as long as I get to be with you.” He said, running his hand up and down her leg.

“Might want to lock the door,” Elene mused. “We might be here for awhile.”

“Time to make up for lost time then.” He stated, quickly running to the door and doing as she said.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Frostlich1228 & Zombiesplitter53
"Gemini Psionics"

X-COM Headquarters
Psi-Laboratory
Oct. 26th, 1600 Hours

Jeanne sighed deeply, slowly typing on her computer one finger at a time. Jean leaned in close, asking, “What’s wrong!?” loudly in an attempt to startle her, but she just stared at the computer.

“I’m… bored. Now that practically every soldier has been tested…”

Jean shrugged. “Well… we have the occasional person come back to check out your research. And you’ve compiled enough information to write a book or two. And then there are the lectures we work on.”

“I guess…” Jeanne sighed again. “I just miss that feeling of popping someone into a pod, and being excited when we found something. Without that… you think we could convince the Commander to start testing the civilian staff?”

Jean chuckled. “Don’t count on it.”

A thick British voice came from somewhere near the pods, “‘Ello, ‘enyone ‘ere?

Jeanne jumped to her feet, ignoring her brother’s yelp of pain as her chair slammed into him. “Hello, yes, right here.” She rushed to the door, her eyes lighting up at the sight of an unfamiliar face and a soldier’s uniform. “What… can we do for you?”

Ammelia smiled at female scientist, “Uh, yeah, my sister would like to… unlock her powers.”

“Great! I mean… I mean… great…” Jeanne grasped Mary’s hand, shaking it firmly. “I’m Jeanne, and this is my brother…” She looked back and frowned. “Don’t be rude, Jean.”

“Don’t be rude, I’ll give you rude,” he mumbled as he limped over. “Hey. Jean, engineer. What’s up?”

Jeanne rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He doesn’t know how to speak to a woman he isn’t flirting with.”

“‘Ell he ‘an flirt wit’ meh ‘all he ‘ants, eh’ ‘ertainly ‘on’t mind.” Mary smirked slightly, shrugging.

Jean’s eyes widened a bit, and he stepped away for a moment. “Gotta girlfriend, Eva will kill you, you’re loyal, you’re strong, be… strong…”

Jeanne ignored him, and said, “Now, will it just be you, or will your sister also be tested today?”

Ammelia’s eyes widened as she hadn’t really considered it, but after a few seconds she shook her head, “Uh… No, I don’t think so… I doubt I even have psionics.”

Jeanne nodded. “Alright. We’re all about choice here, of course. Though…” She frowned at Mary. “Not going to lie to you. Not everyone who comes in here has potential. So… don’t get your hopes up too much.”

“Eh’m pretty ‘ure eh’ do,” Mary replied, “Eh’ ‘id steal ‘art of ‘at thereal’s ‘ower after ell’...”

Jeanne raised an eyebrow. “I… don’t understand. You stole… an Ethereal’s power, what do you mean? Who? When?”

“‘En eh’ ‘ent en’ th’ mission te’ take ‘own ‘Cedia, she ‘aid eh’ ‘ole ‘ome of ‘er ‘ower ‘en she ‘rapped us en’ our own ‘inds.” The gunner answered, “‘Efter we ‘caped she ‘aid eh’ ‘as eh’ psion.”

“Interesting,” Jean said, rubbing his chin. “Must be similar to what happened to Ms. Fischer. You wouldn’t happen to know what color you are, would you?”

“En’ th’ ‘ream eh’ ‘ad eh’ green aura ‘round meh, so eh’ ‘ppose at ‘eans eh’m eh’ green psion.”

“Excellent!” Jeanne shook Mary’s hands up and down. “That means we don’t have to worry about checking for powers or finding the right kind for you! We can go straight to unlocking with you, which will cut the time down!”

“So… How long will this take then?” Ammy asked, looking into the eerie room.

“Well, taking out the time we would normally test for… including the fact that we know the color, and combining what we learned test Mr. Walker and Ms. Atka… three days.” Jeanne smiled. “Three and a half tops.”

“And we have an opening now,” Jean added, looking towards the room of empty pods.

“Ounds ‘ood.” Mary said taking a few steps forward but being stopped by Ammelia speaking.

“You, know… I think we forgot to tell you our names in all the excitement.” She gave them a friendly smile, “I’m Ammelia and this is my twin sister Mary.”

Jean raised an eyebrow. “Ammelia Cross?”

“Mmhm.” She nodded, “You’ve probably heard of my father.”

Jean shook his head. “No… I mean, yes, I have. But you’re Dr. Randolf’s roommate, right? I helped build Alice’s body. I… I ironed out some of the details she couldn’t.”

“Did ye’ get te’ make ‘er tits bigger? Would ‘plain why ‘ere ‘at ‘ize.” Mary said, chuckling a little.

Jean folded her arms. “Her breasts are the perfect size. Not too big, not too small. They don’t need to be any bigger then they are now. Not.. ahem…” His eyes wandered a bit. “Not that… there is anything wrong with… slightly bigger…”

“Ye’ ‘ave ‘ore control ‘an meh’ en’, Jean.” Mary responded, “Beh’ ‘eh ‘uess ‘at’s why eh’m not eh’ ‘gineer.”

Jeanne smiled at Mary. “And are you the Mary Ayame was complaining about not being able to help during the… uh…” The smile faded from her face. “I-I’m sorry I got her trapped in here, I… it was stupid, and I… I’m sorry…”

“Et’s ‘ine.” Mary said, waving it off, “Eh’m ‘ure she ‘gives ye’ too.”

Jean placed his hands behind his back. “I’m surprised we haven’t all met before. The engineer and scientist fraternal twins and the identical soldier twins. You think we’d be pointed each others direction or… something.”

“Well, Mary joined the project after the aliens attacked and I… I’ve been avoiding the psi labs for a while…” Ammy replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

The French twins exchanged a concerned look. “Why?” Jeanne asked. “Do you not… like the idea of psionics? Because… because you aren’t the only one, you know. There are plenty of people that avoided the lab, so you shouldn’t feel bad. But we’re here to help above all else.”

“It’s not that I don’t like the idea of psionics… I’ve just... had a particularly bad experience with them…” She admitted.

Jeanne frowned, and stepped forward. She suddenly wrapped her arms around Ammy, squeezing her tightly. “Don’t you worry, Ammelia. It is our job to make sure psionics are safe, and they are used responsibly. We won’t let anything bad happen if there is anything we can do to avoid it.”

“Y-Yeah…” She said, still being squeezed, “I... trust you…”

“Good!” Jeanne stepped away, and kicked her smiling brother in the shin.

“Damn it, what was that for?” He asked.

“For whatever dirty thought you were having.” Jeanne smiled at Mary. “Ready? Go ahead and strip down while we set up the pods.”

“I guess that’s my cue to leave.” The sniper said, “I guess I’ll see you in a few days. I’ll make sure to watch Ayame while you’re gone too!”

Mary looked back over to her sister, “Dun’t get eny’ ideas ‘ile eh’m ‘one, or do’, if Ay’me ‘ants te’ play wit’ meh’ ‘ister eh’m ‘ot ‘oing te’ stop ‘er."

“I already have a girlfriend, Mary.” Ammelia replied.

“‘En you’ll ‘ave te’ get ‘er en’ on ‘et!” Mary said as her sister left the room.

Jean grinned at Mary. “You know… if you and Eva-OUCH!” Jeanne kicked him in the stomach, and he rushed off to get the pod ready before she could assault him again.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Headquarters
Primary Infirmary
October 27th, 0900 Hours

"I don't know, Jake, I... is it strange?" Ayame shook her head. "I mean, to feel like this after I've been assured by so many people..."

Jake smiled, folding his hands. "It isn't strange at all. You experienced quite the trauma, so it is only natural your negative emotions would flare up from that alone, and the attack from that first Ethereal just made it all the worse." He leaned forward. "The problem with this kind of guilt, Ayame, is that reassurance doesn't help as much as you might think. It only offers a temporary relief, but little more until you find the strength to reassure yourself."

Ayame sighed, laying back and closing her eyes. "I... I just find it hard. After everything... how do I know I am who I am because it is what I've become, and not... I don't know..."

"An act?" Jake asked, and Ayame nodded. "One of the underlying issues here is you seem to view the desire to help others for the sake of them and doing it for yourself as completely separate things. Just because you want to help someone in order to prove you are a good person doesn't mean it is all an act. Because if it was, you would only pretend to care. And no one who doesn't care would do what you did."

Ayame looked away. "Yeah... maybe."

"No, not maybe, Ayame." Jake leaned back, his voice unusually stern. "I haven't known you for long on a personal level, but I asked around quite a bit before coming here, watched some of your missions, and so forth. There is a definite, clear improvement. In almost everything. The way you talk to people, the way you fight, your courage on the battlefield. And the way people view you. Those who know you speak of a fun, energetic person, and when asked if they used to trust you out on the field, several said no, but all of them trust you now."

"But... what if it isn't real? What if I'm only pretending to be this way so people look at me that way." Ayame gave him a sad look.

Jake only shrugged. "Is it so wrong to want people to like you? To me, what that means is you care about them and their opinion. So you do things to please them. You view a situation, figure out what is right, and do that. That you can do that without being told to means you have a clear sense of what is right and wrong, and make an effort to do what is right. Regardless of any benefits it might entail, you want to do what is right. And if you died on that battlefield, what good would have it done you if others smiled on you? You had a split second to react, and did something to put yourself in danger. End of story."

Ayame smiled lightly, but the smile quickly faded. "I... I just can't get over my past, I suppose."

Jake nodded. "It is understandable. And that the Ethereal would drudge up things about your brother... is terrible. But the past is the past, and you can't change it. You can only learn from it, which is exactly what you do." He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you still having the nightmares?"

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, but... they aren't as bad since my talk with Mary. I just... it hurts, you know. Even after all this time."

"I know," Jake said. "But you didn't do what you did out of malice. You did it because you wanted to protect him from your mother. And you did what you could to make it up to him in the end, right? What was the last thing you saw with him?"

A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "He, uh... h-he was smiling. He..."

"And do you believe he could have been faking it?"

Ayame thought about it, then shook her head. "He... he never smiled. He was always so... I almost didn't think he knew how." She laughed lightly. "But he was smiling. Laughing. I... I never..." She wiped away a few tears. "I'm sorry, I..."

Jake reached over and patted her on the arm. "It's okay. But I need you to hold on to that, alright? Like I said, you can be reassured by everyone, over and over again. But it won't stick until you accept it for yourself. You tried to be a better person, and you succeeded. And regardless of your relationship with him, your brother was happy in the end."

Ayame nodded, and wiped more tears away. "Thanks. Just... I hope you know, if you tell anyone about me crying like this, I'll have to hurt you."

Jake laughed, and nodded. "I know. You got it."

 

[DarkGemini24601]

A Humble Sacrifice – Atka Ipiktok

Wisps of dust blew by in streams, though they proved as little distraction to Atka in whatever desolate chamber she stood in. From the darkness of the other end an Ethereal slowly hovered into view, its mask gazing over her fallen companions, perhaps dead, perhaps not.

Atka muttered a name distaste, settling into a defensive stance. For some reason, she couldn’t make her own words.

“Cat got your tongue?” the being uttered aloud, surprising the colonel. “Or do you realize your guess is incorrect. The Ethereal pulled down its hood, and revealed itself to not be one of the ancients at all. Rather, Atka was staring into her own face, though her double’s expression was twisted into a malicious grin. “Surprised?”

“What the hell? You can’t be…”

“Can’t be you? But I am. You can’t deny it,” the copy replied gleefully.

Atka clenched her fists, telekinetic double-helixes wrapping around them. “Then try this on for size.” Hurling them forward, she went for the kill on the copy, but it raised its hands and did the same. The copied helixes, the exact same light blue as Atka’s, wrapped around the other two, stopping them dead in their tracks.

“I know the thoughts going on in your mind. ‘It must be an illusion of some sort! Perhaps I’m trapped in an enemy’s dreamscape?’” The other Atka laughed, holding her sides with the psionic projections still attached. “How absurd… you cannot truly deny yourself.”

“I’m certainly not as crazy as you!” Atka retorted.

“Are you not? You do have that reckless nature… and what was it you said the other day? So what if my power consumes me… what a load of self-righteous garbage. You’re admitting to be just as bad as the Ethereals. Just as reckless with power. Hence, the clothing I, or rather you, wear.”

Atka’s knuckles whitened, her psionic attacks struggling to push forward, but couldn’t make any headway. “That’s not what I meant… I’m doing everything I do for the sake of those I fight alongside, those I fight for…”

“Saying that makes it untrue, doesn’t it? Humility cannot be admitted.”

“Oh, to hell with you!” Atka snapped, but was paid back with two more helixes from her double. One slashed against her side, and the other cut across her forehead. Blood got in one of her eyes, and when she refocused her vision, the copy was no longer there, nor was the enemy attacks.

We’re one in the same, aren’t we? If you really mean what you say… then you know what you have to do.

Atka fell silent, understanding what her other side was saying. She looked up, a pedestal not like a throne stretching before her, with an Ethereal in an ornate mask turning to face her. A mask she had only seen in a special dream.

You have to sacrifice everything for those you care about. Victory comes with a price, you know this all too well. We… know this all too well, the other side continued.

Atka nodded slightly, charging forward at the Uber Ethereal. Tendrils of psionic energy, spiked like her very own helixes, punched through her right leg, then her left arm, then the opposite appendages, her stomach, and finally larger ones pierced a lung, a kidney on the other side. The Inuit woman found herself smiling wistfully even as blood ran down the side of her mouth, and the blood from before clouded her vision.

“You’ll die with me,” she muttered, sending a powerful helix through her opponent as her vision reddened. The psionic tendrils piercing her body faded away, and blood began to pool in large droplets around her.

“The price…” we pay… “… for those we care about.” Death.

Atka eyes snapped open, the room dark in the middle of the night. Unlike most of her nightmares, however, she didn’t cry out, didn’t sit up straight in her bed. “That… can’t be right,” she said quietly to herself. “That isn’t my fate… is it?” I don’t want it to be…or is that selfish of me? she thought quietly to herself.

 

[Adrammalech]

// MEMORY: TROUBLE //
Emily Fischer, 19
Police Department Conference Room
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
November 29th, 2010 – 2:15 PM

I looked up at the glass looking into the workspace of the police station, wondering when someone would enter. The cuts on my hands were long since cleaned and sealed by the doctor at the embassy, then looked over again by the medic on the U.S. Navy boat, but I was still worried they’d somehow scar. Mom always said I was destined for scars, as unladylike as they were, with all the climbing and running I did. Even she couldn’t imagine this though. An officer walked in with a buttoned-up shirt and khakis, looking tired but curious. It was easy to tell that he was worried or occupied by something else, although he still cared for my safety. He seemed nice enough.

“Miss Fischer, my name is Dixon,” he said with a comforting expression, dropping a small bundle of papers onto the table. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” I replied.

“That’s good, but there’s no shame in asking for help. We know you’ve been through an ordeal.”

“It’s over now though,” I said, giving him a subtle smile. “Trust me, I’m okay.”

As if to spite me, I heard the screams in my ears, and shook them off quickly.

“Mmm, well, that’s good to hear,” he gave a small smile, scratching his chin. “Your parents were worried sick, and your disappearance was in the news for months. The boy who drove you to the harbor, Clay, almost got time for bringing you there.”

“Only almost though, right?”

“That’s right,” he nodded, “he was in some hot water for a while, but there was no evidence he did anything to you. It was a pretty clean vanishing act.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I smirked.

“Your lab work has come back…no drugs, no abuse obvious other than your hands and your cheek.”

“I tripped and fell.”

I felt the glass digging into my palms again, right before the gurgles and the angry shouts.

“I understand you’re scared of sharing, for trespassing or border crossing or something else,” he said, “but we know you’re the good guy here. I’m not here to judge or sue you, I want to help in any way I can.”

I stared at him perfectly, and gave a shrug. “I fell, I don’t know what to tell you. Ships are dangerous.”

“If you say so, then I can’t very well prove otherwise,” he looked at me doubtfully, “but do remember we’re here for you. We have therapists, protection programs, escort details…no matter what happened, we can deal with it in some way.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” I nodded. “But I’d rather just go home.”

“I understand, and we won’t keep you any longer. An officer will escort you to your parent’s house, they’ll be thrilled to see you again.”

The officer flipped to his last paper and pulled off a card fixed to it with a paper clip. He slid the little slip towards me and I picked it up, the card reading his name and ‘Missing Persons,’ along with a few phone numbers. He gave me another smile of comfort and optimism, practiced over years of dealing with sobbing mothers and broken victims.

“Should you ever need our help or just someone to talk to, you can contact me on those numbers, day or night,” he assured.

“Thanks, Officer,” I said, standing up. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

As we left the conference room, a pure-blue uniform officer rushed over, marking him as my escort. The patrol officer gave a quick hello and put his hand on my shoulder, causing me to instantly recoil. Dixon hit him on the arm firmly, giving him a look like one would a dog who chewed up the newspaper. The other officer lavished me with apologies and rushed towards the door instead, holding it open for me and then heading to his car. I rode in the back, terrified to see my parents again, wondering if they would be angry at me. I would be…so why wouldn’t they? After a few minutes, the old patrol car came to a squeaky stop, and the gears shifted into park.

“Go on in,” the patrol officer smiled. “I’ll make sure you get in safe before leaving. I’m sure they can’t wait to see you.”

“Thanks for the ride,” I replied politely.

I walked out of the car and stood on the pathway made of small gray garden stones, seeing the old flowers in the garden, the fresh cut lawn, and the withered dull-brown mailbox. It was all perfectly familiar, asking the question of if they did it on purpose, or if they had just been on pause since I left. My feet tread across the stones towards the door, and I shuddered in mixed worry and anticipation. I remembered everything I had gained and lost, both physical and mental, while this place stood firmly. I still couldn’t tell you which was better.

The door opened as I stepped onto the front porch, and my mom and dad stood there in shock. Mom, red-eyed with quivering lips, in an old dress and apron like she was straight out of a sitcom. Dad standing firmly in a polo and jeans, looking as simple as ever, as he always did. Mom immediately began crying and a tear of sympathy formed in my own eye, and Dad simply held out his arms. I rushed forwards and they both wrapped me up, our voices giving out to excitement, our smiles growing impossibly large.

“Thank God you’re okay…” Dad whispered.

I smiled sadly and nodded vigorously, pressing my head into his shoulder.


Emily Fischer
XCOM Headquarters – Supply Closet #4
Siberia, Russian Federation
October 27, 2018 - 5:32 PM

Emily blinked quickly, shaking off the memories.

“That was right after…the incident, right?” Ben asked.

“Yeah…two weeks after. It was hard working through that, hiding it, and adjusting to solid ground again. I had enough of a hard time sleeping without missing the rocking of ships as well.”

“But you still did it.”

“Not really. I spent every second I could in my memories, running around in the yard and playing games with friends…long before anything running away. I couldn’t sleep…I just passed out whenever I was tired enough.”

“Understandably, though,” Ben nodded. “Why weren’t you interested in seeking help? You seem to have quite a hatred for psychiatrists…”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I just liked dealing with my own problems.”

“You know you don’t have to be so brave now though, right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now,” she smiled.

“Now I just have to wonder if history’s repeating or if you mean it,” he smirked, getting up. “I’ll see you soon again though, I hope.”

“Yep.”

“Cool. I’m glad we’re doing this again.”

“Me too,” she nodded, getting up herself.

Emily left after a few moments of him leaving, ducking right back into her room. As she opened the door, she noticed Dallas going through her top drawer, where she kept her personal mementos and valuables. She rushed forwards and tapped him angrily, and he quickly backed away.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, I…uh, I dropped something when we last…you know,” Dallas said nervously, “I thought you may have picked it up.”

“This is my stuff, I don’t like people going through it,” she sighed, closing the drawer.

“Sorry. I wasn’t really looking at the things, just focused elsewhere.”

“Okay…don’t worry about it.”

Dallas kissed her on the cheek and left the barracks, leaving her with more questions than answers. She shook her head and dropped into her bed, sighing loudly and looking at the other beds idly. She pulled out the scratched up necklace from underneath her shirt and started to fiddle with it, wanting to remember simpler times before she actually locked herself into a real relationship.

“Why’s he being so weird…” she whispered to herself.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53
"To Take a Chance: Part One"

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1700 Hours, October 28th, 2018
The Bar

“So, there we are,” Ayame explain, grinning widely and waving her arms to and fro for dramatic effect. “We’re trapped, super tiny room. Barely big enough for us to be there, let alone the bigun. She stomps towards Fedor, and starts munchin’ on him. SHIVs run in, and BAM, Chrysie kicks ‘em away like toys.”

Airi tilted her head. “Why didn’t you just blow…”

Marina tapped her on the back on the head. “Too confined. Don’t interrupt.”

Ayame looked out on the crowd of soldiers listening to her. “So we got our metal leader being munched. Luckily, Janina’s like ice despite the tense situation. Starts focusing our fire, coordinating and all the shit. Not caring at all about pressure or anything.”

Fedor chuckled, taking a swig of his beer. “Hey, leave me alone, the thing was eating me.”

Ayame grinned. “Now, we start busting through its belly, and it backs off. Never seen that before. So I try and get the SHIVs up, and of course, Modya has my back. Ruskie gets a leg through the… uh, leg for his trouble, though.” She sent an apologetic smile to the Russian in question before continuing. “But Janina keeps up the counter strike. And we finally start breaking it down. We’re in a tight spot? Well so are you. And just as the creature falls, belly exposed, ammo starts to run dry. Luckily, Modya here fights through the pain, and just… frickin’ melts the thing’s heart in a shower of plasma.” She leaned back in her seat. “Not bad for a man with a hole in her leg.”

Several of the soldiers smiled widely, a few even giving a few cheers. Ayame wiped some sweat from her brow, getting all excited taking a bit out of her. She turned back to the bar, a mostly untouched bottle of sake sitting next to a couple empty bottles of soda. She sighed, hoping she was over her short but frightening bout of self-doubt, and being able to cheer some of her fellow soldiers helped with that.

Modya rubbed the back of his neck. “It was probably just adrenaline, you know… people tend to do crazy things when they get wounded. Our esteemed Colonel, for instance?”

Atka shook her head. “I think we’ve established that I’m probably just a closet masochist.”

“You’re both crazy,” Ayame decided. “But, that’s why I love you guys. I can always count on your crazy actions to turn out to be in my favor.”

Atka shrugged. “Well, don’t expect me to be doing anything tactically unsound. I may get myself into trouble, but I’m not going to take any unnecessary risks in regards to others.”

Modya chuckled. “Does that not that make you a hypocrite?”

“I… well…” the Inuit woman mouthed, not really having a response.

“Pft. Everyone is a hypocrite. Just make sure it is for the right things.” Ayame smiled. “I mean, look at me. I’m up Atka’s butt all the time about getting hurt trying to save people, and then I go and do this. But at least you’re helping people. Could be worse. You could be talking down to people for being a coward while hiding yourself.” She nudged Modya. “Though I think you’ve made the most improvement in the bravery department.”

“I’ve already had one person affirm that,...” Modya replied sheepishly.

“Hope that one person is taking care of you.” Ayame looked down and to the side. “The, uh… the leg healing okay? ‘Cause, we got that triathlon tomorrow, and you promised all those kids you’d save the rec center.”

Modya sighed. “I’m fine… MELD does wonders for that sort of thing.”

Ayame nodded, and looked down at her hand. “Think I can regrow one of these with the MELD?” She asked with a big grin.

“If they could, I think that clone of Lily would have normal arms by now,” Modya replied simply.

“Good point.” Ayame shrugged. “Guess it is a prosthetic for me. I hear that Sunny does good work, though… ahem.” She shrunk down a bit. “I heard it hurts like a bitch to put it in…”

“Well, it would only be the one time,” Atka offered reassuringly. “Not like they’d need to detach it.”

“Until it needs maintenance,” Ayame said grimly. She gave Atka a concerned look. “How, uh… how’s Janina doing? If she’s anything like you, she’s probably feeling guilty about things out of her control. Um… no offense.”

Atka shook her head. “None taken. She’s doing… okay, though I think she just needs time.”

Ayame gave her a serious look. “You made a good choice, you know that?” She took a quick drink of soda, and smiled. “There aren’t many people I’d like to work under besides you, but she is definitely one of them.”

“She was an officer before, after all. And she’d been my second enough times that I could count on her,” Atka explained, having a sip of her water.

Ayame’s grin widened. “Come on, I’m trying to compliment you. Not easy when you’re so humble.”

“...sorry. I just… hesitate to get confident about things like that. There’s such an easy line between excessive pride and humility,” Atka responded. Though by lecturing her like that, isn’t that no better?

Ayame simply continued to smile at Atka, though there had been an obvious shift since later days in the way she looked at her, her smile that of a woman enjoying a good tease on a younger sister. “Can’t let that pride get away from us, I guess. Though I’d like to think you’re above that.” Her hand shifted from the bottle of soda to the sake bottle. “Speaking of Pride, though…” She took a quick shot. “Only two Overseers left, and they’ll likely be sending you, Desmond, and Brea after them. I… I don’t know which one scares me more. The super powerful one from their attack, or the one that clearly had it out for you.”

“Well… I’d have to go with Invidia,” Atka responded after a moment. “After all, I’m probably going to face that one. I feel that dealing with Invidia is something I have to do myself, considering the history we have. Though that amount of hatred will lead to irrational decisions, right? Even if it seems scary at first glance…”

“If I might make a recommendation...maybe all of you should bring mind shields so you cannot get possessed?” Modya offered cautiously.

Atka nodded. “That’ll probably be wise, even if we have to cut down on consumables.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

"To Take a Chance: Part Two"

“Leave those to the others,” Ayame agreed. “If you are on that mission, you’ll likely be in charge. Leader is usually that last person you need being controlled.” She took another quick drink, and asked, “You think their leader will come after their gone? If he isn’t already on his way here, I mean.”

“I think if the Council of Overseers falls, his second might have something to say to him,” Atka mused. “And… that being is not really one I’d like to face in combat, but if we’re truly to end this… we have no choice.”

“You think you’ll be ready by then?” Ayame nudged Modya. “We could probably squeeze another mod or two in, but what about your powers? Alex said you were working on something with her.”

“Well, yeah…” Atka stated vaguely. “Nothing major.”

Like hell it’s nothing major. You’re just being stupid now. Are you really that afraid that I’m right?

Ayame frowned a bit. “Well, she made it sound major.” She shyly circled her finger on the counter. “‘Course, you don’t have to share, if you… don’t want to…”

“I just…”

Come on, seriously? You CAN talk to your friends about your powers, you know.

Atka sighed. “After what happened with finding the Uber Ethereal, Jessica called me down to the labs. She was studying that Incubator she had captive, and we managed to awaken a similar recognition ability in me through a combat test.” Happy?

It’s still hilarious that you challenged a pregnant woman to a duel.

A duel? What is this, the dark ages? It was a sparring match. Atka sighed again for no apparent reason.

Ayame tilted her head slightly. “That sounds pretty cool. Um… you alright? You seem… spacey.”

“Me? I’m fine… just a little tired from all of this,” Atka was quick to reply. She scratched her head, looking down for a moment. “Nothing I cannot handle.”

That’s more like it.

Shut up.

“Anything… we can do?” Ayame smiled. “Or how about your little boyfriend. I’m sure he could help you relax a bit.”

She’s blunt. Though I sorta like that… dunno why we never…

“M-maybe… I just…” Atka exhaled, trying to clear her thoughts. “Do I ever seem like… a staid person to you? Someone who’s too busy following rules and codes of conduct to ever truly live?”

Ayame looked at Modya, then back to Atka. “I… I, um… you know I… I respect you a lot, it’s just…” She rubbed the back of her neck. “You could… stand to not take some things so serious… sometimes…”

Don’t you enjoy it when you don’t lie to yourself? When you just… be yourself? Be who we are?

Atka nodded hesitantly, reacting to both the voice and Ayame. “I know… I just… worry that if I let myself be a little more free, I won’t be able to do my job. I don’t want anyone to die because I decide to get reckless.”

“Well, I can understand that?” Ayame scratched her chin nervously. “I know I’ve had some trouble with that. But when you’re off the battlefield, it wouldn’t hurt you to… loosen up a bit.” She quickly raised her hands defensively. “N-Not that I’m saying… I just… feel like you’re afraid to be happy right now. I want you to be happy. Your friends want you to be happy. Jake… was saying he… ahem…”

Atka frowned. “Well… I don’t want to get my hopes up and then end up with the people I fight alongside… you know.”

Ayame scratched the back of her neck. “Well… isn’t that part of life? You take a risk wherever you go, whatever you do. You took a risk on me, after all. I… I know it is scary, but… would you rather take a risk and potentially be hurt, but be otherwise happy, or go through life playing it safe, never be disappointed, and… look back on a list of what-ifs and regrets?”

Atka sighed. “I know you’re right… I just…” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Dammit… I don’t know why I’m acting like this!”

Ayame reached out, quickly changing from her left arm to right, and grasped Atka’s shoulder. “Because you’re scared. And that’s alright. But… but you have all our support. We just want you to be happy. And I know you’re just being you. But, sometimes, it feels like you don’t want to be happy. You need to want to be happy. To want to take those risks. And no one will try to push you… no matter how much we think you should.”

Atka slowly nodded. “Sorry… that I’m causing all this trouble. I guess I thought the pressure couldn’t get to me, but…”

Ayame scoffed. “Pressure get to you? Trouble? You realize who you’re talking to?” She leaned forward. “How many times did I freak out at the start, and needed you to save my butt? How much trouble have I been, but you always stuck with me? Even if I didn’t want to help you, how could I not when I owe so much to you?” She leaned forward, and grabbed her soda. “So don’t feel bad. And live a little! Enjoy a few hours off! Pick a fight with someone with an attitude problem! Show that boy-toy of yours a good time! He’s too nervous for his own good. Just… I-I don’t know, relax a little! You’ll live longer...”

Seriously, take this lady’s advice. Especially the part about a ‘good ti-’

Atka smiled. “Thank you Ayame. I… really appreciate having you around, you know. I didn’t make a mistake back then.”

“Good to hear.” Ayame raised her drink. “To friends and allies. May our devotion to the pay off by watching their backs… while they watch ours in turn.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

“Strike of Midnight, Part 1” - Thomas Burrick and Vee Exalt

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
2400 Hours, October 29th, 2018
Main Gymnasium

Thomas Burrick took a sip of his black coffee as he walked down the dimly lit hallways. “Some things never change,” he remarked to himself. The distinct feeling of midnight on the top-secret base was always the same… relaxing, foreboding, and oddly charming.

“Though the things that do bring a smile to my face, don’t they?” the assistant manager of records quipped. He was referring to the fallout between XCOM and the Council. No longer did he have to submit bullshit reports or put morality aside for the sake of their desires. Not all of them were bad… Ms. Carter seemed like a fairly amicable person, and Russia’s member still lent support to the base that was hidden in his country. Something’s honestly wrong with their speakers, though, the mexican-american thought to himself.

“They might as well be the Mexica high speaker. Acting all high and mighty and making all the decisions,” Tom joked, taking a twinge of pride in his knowledge of the Aztecs that allowed him to make the comparison. His perhaps shallow musings were interrupted by the sound of punches as he walked by the gymnasium.

It wasn’t long ago that I walked by here and found a certain someone passed out from exertion… specifically psionic exertion, Thomas mused. “I wonder who’s here now…”

The messenger soon got his answer as he peered inside. At one of the punching bags was a woman with long, coarse black hair sending the bag in a pendulum with a particularly strong right hook. The lights were dimmed, but somehow she could still see, though Tom had to squint to make her out. A bit of sweat was beaded on her forehead, and other droplets were noticeable due to her choice of attire. The young woman, perhaps twenty, was wearing a black sports bra as her top that showed off a bit of her impressive athletic figure and bust. For the lower half of her body she contented herself with black jeans that were cut off halfway above the knees.

Thomas whistled quietly, in spite of himself. Is that… Vee Exalt? Damn… I didn’t expect her to be this beautiful in person. The ‘Queen of Destruction’ didn’t imply such a nice… Tom flicked himself in the side off the head. Stop being a pervert, Tom. She probably wasn’t expecting anyone in here, so you’re probably intruding… you should just leave.

Despite that warning to himself, the messenger didn’t budge, watching Vee as she continued her training routine. She stepped around to the side the still-swinging punching bag was going to reach, and then sent a roundhouse kick that snapped the training device off its chains. “Ah, crap. Went too far, didn’t I…” the clone muttered.

She probably wouldn’t even be interested in you. I mean, wasn’t there a rumor she had a threeway with Kasagi and Thomas? Tom raised an eyebrow at his own thoughts. Damn that Brit having my name as her last… that’s ‘bloody’ confusing. Or… is it a sign that I’m destined to… oh, what the hell am I thinking?

Vee pulled the detached punching bag over her shoulder, and carried it to an equipment locker. “Maybe a simulation would suit me better right now…” As she turned to walk out of the gymnasium, her orange eyes met the brown ones of a surprised XCOM staff member. “Uh… hi?”

Oh shit. You’ve done it now, Tom. You look like a stalker, and you probably are, with all those racey thoughts you’ve just been thinking. “Hell...o…” Tom managed to get out, before trying to compose himself and act natural. “Sorry for the intrusion. I just wasn’t expecting someone in the gym that lately, and I got distracted when I stopped by.”

Vee raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you awake, buddy?”

I don’t think that helped… shut up, me. Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I work the night shift… I’m the assistant manager of records. Fun sounding job, I know…”

The black-haired soldier shrugged. “It doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, Avanix is like the master of data, so you get to know everyone’s secrets too.”

Avanix… that’s the A.I. Lusett Exalt created. Tom shrugged, a smile starting to spread across his face thanks to that lifeline. “Yeah, it can be interesting. Though I’m not allowed to tell anyone details, even with the Council no longer giving the orders.”

“And mystery like Emma. Hell, for a non-combat job, that sounds like a killer one. If you’ll pardon the pun,” Vee said, returning his smile with her trademark grin. “I wonder how much you know about me…”

She couldn’t possibly be… but what if she is? “Well, I can tell you that I know you’re heavily gene modded… eye enhancements, improvements to different organ systems, and an enhancement per location that we do here at XCOM. Lemme see… Adrenal Neurosympathy, Neural Dampening, Iron Skin, Hyper-Reactive Pupils, and Muscle Fiber Density?” Tom offered, drawing upon his memory of the file.

Vee’s grin widened. “Damn, you’re good. All correct on those counts… though my eyes are a bit more special than just hyper-reactive. How do you think I was training in the dark?”

“Night vision… not bad,” Thomas stated. “Hey, did you say you were going to the simulation room? Want to get a cup of coffee first?”

The clone of Eva looked over the cup Tom was holding for a moment, and then gave an exaggerated shrug. “Why not? Enjoy the ‘night life’ of the base and all that jazz.”

Success! Tom spun around and walked down in the direction of the bar, Vee following him without his sudden excitement. More normally, one could say. Once they arrived, Tom sat down in one of the bar chairs, Vee sitting beside him. He ordered a fresh cup of coffee for himself, and one for his companion.

The bartender set to brewing, and Vee turned to Tom. “So, I didn’t catch your name…”

“Thomas Burrick, though you’re free to call me Tom,” the messenger replied. “Nice to meet you, Vee.”

“You must call me ‘Lady Vee’,” the clone responded sarcastically. “Seriously, Legion tries to pull that shit and it drives me nuts. Do I look like nobility?”

Well, if you mean in terms of beauty… ahem. “You are the ‘Queen of Destruction’ after all. Or… Black Bishop, if I remember correctly.”

“Yep. You sure you don’t have a super-memory like that Emily chick?” Vee asked.

Tom chuckled, and shook his head. “Nothing that impressive. I just have a penchant for retaining information, hence why I worked in the CIA, then in this capacity.”

“Alright… and you know all about my weird family tree, I’m sure…” Vee guessed.

Tom shrugged. “To an extent, yes. Lusett Exalt and Eva Aergerter are the two ‘mothers’ of the Exalts, though you are mostly the product of the latter’s DNA, and Lily is mostly the product of the former. Elene and Emma are more of a… mix?”

“Sorta, though I’d argue Elene’s more Lusett than Eva. Not that it makes Eva any less of a mother… she’s a pretty good one, even without any real experience prior,” Vee remarked, folding her hands behind her head. “And Emma’s a direct copy of Elene, though she’s more of an engineer than her basis.”

Thomas nodded, committing the information to memory as best he could. “As for me… I’ve got a sister, sixteen years old. Sofia… she can be a pain sometimes, but I don’t know what I’d do without her… don’t go assassinating her.”

Vee rolled her eyes with an amused sparkle in them. “Don’t fret, Tom… assassinations are Emma’s thing. Mine is more wanton destruction, as my original nickname suggests.”

“I have got to watch some battle footage now…”

“What about a personal experience? Wanna spar?” Vee suggested.

Tom waved his hands in protest. “I’m not very good at that sort of thing… I can shoot a gun, sure, but I’d be vastly inferior to you, I’m sure.” Smooth, Tom. Smooth.

Vee’s coffee came, and she took a hearty swig of it. “If you insist,” she said finally after setting it down. Tom took a sip of his fresh cup, having finished the first.

“Well… I still wouldn’t mind your company for a bit longer. Perhaps I could watch your combat simulation?” Tom offered weakly.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

“Strike of Midnight, Part 2” - Thomas Burrick and Vee Exalt

Vee’s expression lit up again.”Sure.” Grabbing Tom’s wrist, she dragged him off to the shooting range. Like the gymnasium, it was deserted in the middle of the night. Vee started rattling off specifications, and the room came alive, a line of eight Legion troopers forming to defend a mountain outpost build into the side of said terrain. From two opposite paths, small columns of Mutons started to advance upon the base, and from the middle Heavy Floaters made their ascent.

The Queen of Destruction got into position, equipped with plasma dragon and blaster launcher, as well as titan armor. She stood behind cover, and the Legion troopers performed likewise defensive maneuvers. Creative, too. Tom smiled slightly at the thought. At first it was just a physical attraction, but he was truly warming up to Vee. She came off as a little rough, but she was a wonderful person to be around.

The more gentle thoughts were cut off as the Mutons reached the defensive lines, and opened fire. Vee hit the right column with a blast that destroyed part of the path. The blaster bomb also took out a good portion of the enemy, leaving the Legion troopers to focus fire a storm of plasma on the other group of Balmdaar. The Floaters swooped in, hard to hit or damage as always, though nothing as horrifying as Ira’s special aerial guard.

Vee adapted to the situation well, though. She leapt upwards with her leg enhancements, and used other muscular superiority to grab hold of one of the Floaters. As the paraplegic Muton swerved in confusion, Vee opened fire in a torrent of plasma, damaging the other three fliers. Quickly tiring of her, the Floater she had mounted flew towards its comrades, wishing for them to scorch the pest off of its chassis.

That was exactly what Vee wanted. She left a grenade ticking next to the Heavy Floater’s own explosive, and leapt back down into position. The bomb went off, and chained the grenades on the four fliers, blasting them all out of the sky. Tom whistled in approval, and the destroyer grinned at the approval of the spectator.

Clapping, the messenger stepped over to Vee, the simulation not ending quite yet. “That was… amazing. Not sure how else to put it… but you certainly earned the singular title of your class.”

Vee rolled her eyes again. “You flatter me, Tom. Are you going to knight me now?”

“This isn’t medival Europe,” Tom responded. He looked around at the simulation, a bit confused as to why it wasn’t over.

Vee noticed his gaze, and shrugged. “I’ll let Legion control these holograms and do some practice. I wanna show you something inside.”

No perverted thoughts. Not going there, Tom cautioned himself as he followed. Inside the base was a command center not unlike the one the Exalts currently occupied. It had computer desks, a storage tank for gene modding, a set of four beds, and two couches facing a oval table.

“Welcome to my world,” Vee intoned dramatically. “This is where they do most of the work… I’m not really the smartest one.”

“I disagree,” Thomas countered. “You’re an amazing tactician, and you’re great at thinking on your feet.”

“You’re not just saying that?” Vee questioned.

“I just saw that great mind in action,” Tom affirmed with a smile. Winning points here?

Vee smiled briefly, but then looked down. “Damn, this is awkward…”

Tom raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “What is?”

“I’ve never really… hung out with a guy like this. So far my only experience is with girls,” Vee muttered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Wait… she really IS going there! Tom looked to the side, the embarrassment being contagious. “So you’re...interested in me?”

“Well you’re smart, funny, and a nice guy… so yeah. Though… I suck at staying in one place. Maybe I should just… stay the third wheel, enjoy things that way,” Vee mumbled.

Tom shook his head. “No, I…” He scratched his head. What do I say here… “Look, I feel the same way about you. I get it if you don’t want to be tied down… I’ve never been the sort of guy for a crazy sex life, but if it makes you happy…”

Vee looked at him incrediously. “Now you’re just saying things to win points with me.”

Shit. “I… honestly, I guess so. Not sure how I’d really react if we had something and then you…”

“...well, like Mary tells Ayame, her feelings are with her girlfriend even if she wants some of that ass… or something like that. If I’m interested in you… you won’t hate me if I have some sort of escapade elsewhere if I… damn, I sound like a bitch.”

Tom sucked in a breath to give himself courage, and laid a hand on Vee’s shoulder. “Well, first of all, we’re talking as if we already did something. If you’re not comfortable, that’s fine… but I’d love to be in a relationship with someone like you.”

Vee looked him over with her Tz6-modified eyes. “Well, this has been a hell of an interesting night. Tell you what, I’ll stick with you for now, Tom… but if I am feeling adventurous… I’ll do my best to include you. Deal?”

What did I do to get such good karma? Tom smiled. “Deal.”

Vee nodded. “Alright, perfect.” She suddenly grabbed Thomas, pushing him down onto the nearby couch. “So… now the fun begins.”

“You...said you’d never done this with a guy, right?” Tom asked, doing his best to keep his breathing steady.

Vee reddened. “W-well, yeah… but I can learn, right? You gotta know something, right?”

Tom’s embarrassment began to match his partner’s. “Well...I’m...kinda…”

Vee pressed her lips against his. “Shush. I was too until recently… so I’m not about to make fun of you. Let’s… make this memorable, then. Just… be gentle, okay?” Vee sighed. “Well, not too gentle…” she muttered as she guided Tom’s hands to pull down her sports bra.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Into the Belly of the Beast...So to Say (Don't know if required but just a warning, I don't think I made this too icky for the squimish people.)

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
0900 Hours, October 29th, 2018
Laboratory-Autopsy Exam Room

Markus sipped a mug of coffee as he got some last minute jitters out of his system as the crew loaded the alien corpses into the dissection rooms. Markus had briefly assisted before on some of the alien autopsies before but this was the first time Doctor Vahlen had asked him personally to head these ones. Taking a quick sip of the black, bitter drink, he looked down at the tablet and reviewed over the notes from the original Chryssalid autopsies to try and get a feel for their anatomy.

When he was given the green light, Markus set down his coffee and walked to get himself prepared for the surgery. Gear on, tools checked and recorder activated, Markus walked into the room and he looked down at the pair of corpses on the tables, shuttering a bit at the oversized bugs and pressing the record button.

“This is Markus Grathem, a scientist from the gene-labs who will be overseeing and conducting the alien autopsies on the Chryssalid Queen and a specimen from her brood. At first glance, the alien’s exterior’s are much the same, the Queen’s color pigmentation a slightly darker shade of purple.”

Markus picked up the laser scalpel and began to cut into the Queen’s alien chitin plating. “It appears that the chitin protecting the alien is harder and thicker than a normal one’s, maybe an indication to either an age and development difference with the aliens or maybe a genetic modification by the aliens.”

After getting through the chitin, Markus swallowed hard as he cut into the soft underbelly of the alien. Carefully, he went inch by inch through the Chryssalid’s abdomen. “It would appear that the alien’s guts seem primarily unaltered from the original design, a slight differentiation in the lung size leads me to suspect that the alien’s added this modification to give the Chryssalids an added mobility boost.”

Displacing the innards of the alien into a waste bin, Markus silently thanked his layers of protection between him and the alien insides. Shaking his head clear, Markus moved on to the Chryssalid’s head. “I am now attempting to get inside the brain cavity...a major goal of this autopsy being to figure out why the nature of the alien bugs were different then the rest of the enemies XCOM has dealt with in the past.

Taking a deep breath, Markus cut open the skull of the alien and began the slow process of removing the organ, a very complicated procedure since the brain had been the focus of the study, the green blood and other various fluids seeping from the alien making it not an easy process.

Once the organ was removed, he placed it onto a tray and sliced down the middle of the brain, trying to get a look at the inside. Raising an eyebrow, Markus took a sample of the brain and ran a quick scan of it. “Now this is interesting...the chemical balance of the brain is much different from that from the original Chryssalid autopsy. The frontal lobe of the alien, particularly the cerebellum, has been severely altered. With this information it is safe to assume that the Chryssalid Queen indeed did have enhanced brain capacity, allowing it to be more intelligent and tactical in battle.”

Taking a pair of tweezers, Markus reached into where the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes had met, pulling out a metallic object. “To add to the brain upgrade of the Queen, it appears the aliens had implanted the Chryssalid Queen. My best inference from the activity of the alien and the location of the implant leads me to believe that this implant may have been used to help make the Queen more controllable, or perhaps even less aggressive, though I will be sending the implant to engineering for a full analysis.”

Markus placed the implant into a plastic bag and sealed it, placing it to the sigh and thinking to himself, One down...one to go…

Moving away from the Queen and onto the regular Chryssalid, he began the same procedure he had for the Queen. “Now, from the the outside, the second ‘drone’ Chryssalid appears to be identical to the original notes from the autopsy.” Cutting through the chitin plate and into the belly of the alien. “And as to confirm, much of the insides of the grunt seem to be wildly unaltered, showing no signs of changes.”

Again, placing the insides into a waste pale, Markus cut open the skull of the alien, waiting for the fluids to drain before he removed the brain. “Now...onto the brain. From first sight, it appears that the drone’s brain is significantly smaller to the Queen’s.”

Cutting the brain apart. Markus was a little surprised to see the same implant in the same location as the Queen’s. “An interesting find has come up, showing that indeed the drones were implanted as well with what I am guessing is much the same upgrade that the Queen had received if not something very similar. Whether this means that all Chryssalids in the future will be fitted with these implants is up in the air but from what I have seen from these two specimens...the aliens may be learning from their mistakes and adapting the Chryssalids to be more vicious and dangerous to our troops. I submit these findings to Doctor Vahlen for further analysis as well as any other notes taken from these autopsies.”

Turning off the recorder, Markus wrapped up the second implant and brain, exiting the exam room and removing his alien blood covered gear, being sure to wash his hands even with the protection he had on and went to the observation window where the Head Scientist was waiting for him. “Here you go Doctor, my recording for the autopsies. The proper samples have been wrapped up and submitted so you should have those results on your desk soon.”

“Thank you Mr. Grathem, you help with this work was much appreciated.” Vahlen took the notes and with a smile, turned to leave.

“Doctor Vahlen, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you come to me to do this autopsy? Why didn’t you just go to the regular people who do this sort of stuff?”

Vahlen thought on the question. “Perhaps it was because of your area of expertise. The brain is a very...complicated organ and not many people on my staff understand it as in depth as they should. Plus, it is always good seeing recruits put to use in the labs.”

“Well...thanks, I guess?” Markus said, scratching the back of his head.

Vahlen gave a brief smile and turned. “Good day Mr. Grathem.”

Markus sighed and walked out of the labs, hoping to scrub away his jitters from cutting open the alien bugs and hopefully getting another cup of coffee. “Just after nine and I already want to crawl back in bed...geez this job will be the death of me.”

 

[MarineAvenger]

On the Whetstone

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1300 Hours, October 29th, 2018
Desmond's Lab

Desmond stood on the middle of his lab, the tables and stools pushed back against the walls so that he had adequate room to try and test out his powers. A problem he ran into was that although Desmond was regarded as the strongest, he used his powers very conservatively in battle. Whether it was due to the range of most of his abilities or just the plain disregard of his powers, he was determined to prove to himself that he hadn’t lost his edge.

With Talia out exploring the base, Sora too occupied with himself to care about Desmond, and Ellie safely tucked away at her job, Desmond thought there was no better time than now to try and train. Looking over his attire, Desmond wore just a regular gray t-shirt and green shorts, not really seeing the need for armor when he was in the confines of his lab. His black revolvers were on his person, the first being on the left side of his hip while the other was on a chest harness with the holster on the right side of his ribs. On his back, like it always was, was his katana.

Closing his eyes, Desmond focused inwardly to himself and began to store up psionic power. Got to give it my all. Let’s see if I can live up to the name I have been given. “Begin simulation.”

The sound of thruster soared overhead as two Floaters weaved a path up above Desmond’s position, quickly zeroing in on their collective target with a roar. Desmond opened his eyes and they flared a menacing red as he held up his arms and the two aliens burst into flames, screaming as they barreled to the ground in agony. Pulling out his blade, one of the floaters wizzed past Desmond’s left as he sliced into the alien machine hybrid and quickly flicked the blade to his right side, doing a left spin and cutting down the other Floater as it flew past his right.

With the Floaters down, new enemies took their place as Thin Men fell from the ceiling. Pulling out the revolver out of the right holster out, he took a few seconds to take aim at the Thin Man as he shot twice, one bullet striking the alien in the chest and the other grazing his head, the alien blowing into a cloud of acidic gas. The other two Thin Men hid behind stone walls that had materialized and bode their time as the soldier slowly advanced.

From the cover, instead of Thin Men coming out, were two Sectoids. One was Mind Merged with the other, the one that was benefitting from the merge turning to face Desmond. It shot out a total of three blasts, the three easily dodgeable as Desmond slid to the ground, taking aim again and shooting a well placed shot into the bulbous head of the easy alien target.

With Desmond on the ground the Thin Men behind cover used the advantage to shoot at the downed soldier. Desmond rolled to the side and got up from the ground, shooting twice to force the Thin Men back behind their cover, and using the sixth and last shot to put down the Sectoid that tried to advance in the confusion.

Now with the Thin Men his prime concern, Desmond set a fire by to panic the enemy, forcing them to retreat in which Desmond picked them off each with a lance of psionic energy. Satisfied, there was a quick thump from behind Desmond that indicated a fourth Thin Man that open fired, forcing Desmond behind the same cover the now dead Thin Men had to use. The alien used the suppressing advantage to get behind a good piece of cover of his own.

Now that the suppression had stopped, Desmond vaulted his cover and ran for the Thin Man, the alien popping out of his cover and aiming the plasma weapon directly at him. The Thin Man didn’t get a chance to react as the red psionic soldier was already on him, Pulsar in hand. Slamming the torrent of condensed psionic energy into it’s chest, the Thin Men went flying backwards, a decent sized hole drilled in it’s chest as it exploded into gas.

Taking a moments breather, Desmond turned to see his final opponent that the program called for, the Beserker. The massive alien pounded it’s fist together, roaring loudly and charging at Desmond. Desmond looked down at his alloy arm, the gray metal shining slightly glow a wispy red as he filled his arm with psionic power. Taking a deep breath, Desmond charged head first at the Beserker, the massive alien bringing it’s fist back and turning into the swing as hard as it could. Desmond did much the same, his left arm colliding with the alien’s right with a massive strike as Desmond actually matched the alien’s strength with his enhanced strength in the metallic arm. He couldn’t hold it forever, the energy already dispersed and the alien now pressing him down to almost his knees.

Taking out his sword with his free right hand, he plunged it into the Beserker’s arm, causing it to roar out in pain, Desmond yanking it out and ducking under his swinging arm, slashing his leg next, the alien stumbling a bit with the wound. Holding his left arm forward, energy built up in his arm and formed a perfect sphere just offset from his hand, the orb growing larger than usual as Desmond pumped a lot of power into his charging move as the alien was down. He built it up more and more until he thought it was large enough, sending the powerful lance through the Beserker’s back and out the other side, the large body falling forwards.


Satisfied, Desmond breathed a sigh of relief as his training was over but his guard was quickly up again when he noticed the simulation didn’t end. The cover was still there and the fake bodies still covered the room. Turning around, Desmond looked up at a simulation of an Ethereal with his arms crossed, looking down at him as if it was real. Taking the gun still on his hip, he sent all six shots at the Ethereal, the alien’s shield brushing it away as if it was nothing.

“What is this...I didn’t add an Ethereal to the simulation…” Shaking his head, a Pulsar core formed in his right hand and Desmond charged forward. The Ethereal just ‘stared at him with his arms still crossed and a line of energy shot out from it’s head, Desmond’s eyes widening as he thought back to the first alien base defense and his first encounter with Superbia. He faltered for a split second and it was all it took for the tendril of energy to strike his head and causing the simulation to end in a failure.

Desmond fell to a knee and he looked at where the Ethereal had floated, wiping the sweat off his forehead and looking around the room. “Sora!” He called out, sounding in a pissed off tone.

“What is it mate?” The A.I. asked, his hologram appearing in front of Desmond. “And you don’t have to yell…”

“My simulation just now, did you add an Ethereal to the list of enemies?” He implied, crossing his arms in annoyance.

Sora just looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. “As a matter of fact, no I didn’t. I was accessing and going through some data streams until you were here going off like a mad man.”

Desmond rubbed his eyes. “Sora...I am not playing-”

“And neither am I mate...honestly, I didn’t mess with your bloody simulation you gibbon!” Sora stated, raising his own voice.

Looking at Sora, Desmond finally nodded and waved him away. “Alright...just go back to what you were doing.” The A.I. didn’t say a word to respond and just disappeared. Desmond grabbed a stool and sat down, rubbing his face with both of his hands. “Must have just been a glitch…” Desmond didn’t sound so sure of himself, not knowing the last time the system had ever glitched on him.

 

[Dahlexpert]

MarineAvenger and Dahlexpert

Moving out

XCOM HQ, Somewhere in Siberia
October 29, 2018
Room of Desmond and Eva
1630 Hours

Eva walked towards her room drenched in sweat. “I really need to cut back on my training sometimes, I have to make time for leading lessons or something like that. Eva rubes her head man this leading stuff is harder than I thought.” Eva opens the door to her room and sees Desmond.”What’s up cyborg.”

“Well, I was trying to sleep.” He turned and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his face with his hand and looking up at his roommate. “You never stop, do you? I swear everytime I see you, you are either in the middle of training or just getting back from training.”

“Hey gotta keep myself in shape, also I can’t get rusty. But I do other things like mess with my guitar work with Jean and mess with Morrigan’s second in command who is giving me lessons.” Eva lays on her bed exhausted.

“Never was really a big music guy. Though Saka had told me once I did have a good singing voice. Never really took it up though.” Desmond got up from his bed and went to his desk, opening one of the drawers to try and find something to pass the time.

“How are you and Jean by the way? I really do hope you haven’t scarred him too much.”

“Great actually, in fact he recently admitted to me that he loved me. Eva says and can’t help but smile at the fact that someone loves her. “So me and Jean are doing just great.”

“You know, it is almost funny.” He stated, still going through the drawer.

“What’s so funny?

“For a moment there,” He stood up straight and looked at her with a smirk. “You almost seemed like a normal girl.” Going back to sifting through his items, he began to take them out one by one. “It would have been interesting to have met you before Exalt. In my opinion the shy, nerdy girl would have been a lot more better than your current modded up super soldier routine you have for yourself.”

“Aw that’s sweet.” Eva stands up and hugs Desmond leaving him confused”It's cute that you like my nerdy side so much, I wish the two of you could have met. Well she is still around she’s just more confident now. Eva let’s go of Desmond “So how are things with you and your future wife?”

“Things are...going pretty well I would say.” Looking at the various items on his desk, ranging from a small wolf statue to a stack of old files, Desmond just sighed and sat down in his chair. “You two only met briefly before I believe, though I am sure you guys at least got each other’s names.”

“Yea I know her name, but something has been bothering me Desmond.”

“What is it?” He leaned forward and rested his chin on his knuckles.

“You...you didn't propose to her because you were on deaths door did you?”

Desmond thought for a moment and he shook his head. “No, not entirely. I mean it sorta made me bump up when I thought I was going to ask her but I was already planning on marrying her at the time. My illness just sort of moved things along. Why do you ask?”

“Because, it kinda bugged you asked her to marry her because you were dying. But since you were planning to marry her anyway that’s good to hear, which means I need you to do something Desmond.”

“You need me to do something?” He asked a bit skeptically. “Alright, I will at least her you out, what is it?”

“I want you get the fuck out of this room and move in with Ellie!”

He stared at her for a moment and smiled, even chuckling. “Oh and here I was thinking you were finally starting to warm up to me.”

“I am, and i’m asking this for your benefit. See when you’re married, you’re going to be around each other a lot, well i’m assuming you’re going to be buying a house. Any way, look

I want you to move in with her so you can get used to living with each other, and move in after this war is over and not like each others company.”

His smirk persisted and he sat up straight. “And you obviously get the advantage of having a room for yourself. I can ask but I don’t know if it will happen. She is part of the civilian staff after all. We will see. Any other concerns about my love life?”

Eva rubs her chin “Oh, this is a more a curiosity question but one i’m sure you though a lot about. So this is a twofer one Can you have kids and second will your kids get your….well sickness?”

“Of course I can have kids. It is not like Lusett neutered me or something. As for the sickness...well that one is still up in the air. It is genetic so the possibility is there but hopefully by that time a cure would have been found. It is already a possibility I brought up and she understands.” Desmond scratched his head and sighed. “Hasn’t stopped her from trying so far…” He mumbled.

“Damn, the world is truly damped a little without Lusett and to have her die because of some petty shit. Eva calms herself down. “Any way, that pretty much cover what I have to say about my future sister in law. ou yeah that reminds me. Lily told me that she kinda repressed your sickness. Eva smiled “You kinda thank me for that, I teached Lilly this party trick and apparently she used that to help you. So in a way I did help you like I said I would.”

“Don’t think that means I owe you any favors.” He warned her with a cocky smile. “And in all reality, Ellie really isn’t your sister in law, cause for that to be possible that would have to mean that you and I would have to have the same mother. And since me, Elene and the rest of them are brother and sister, but to be your kids, that would mean your mother would have had to have been sleeping around quite a bit…” Desmond busted out laughing and he rubbed his forehead. “I think we just leave it as you and me as friends rather than family members.”

“Yea probably best that way, Sigh any way I have some more things to do. I need to sleep before I go back tacking lessons and review the last mission.”

Desmond got up from his chair and stretched out his back. “I will leave it too you then. Meanwhile I will see about getting a room transfer.” He walked past Eva’s bed and knelt down, giving her another hug before he left. “Don’t be a stranger after I do leave, I still need to prove that I can kick your ass.”

“And you still can’t, but it will be fun fighting you again and that’s all that matters to me. But with you go I can bring Jean in and give his sister some much needed alone time.”

“Try not to break the poor guy.” Desmond warned, letting go of the other soldier and walking to the door. “You know you should drop the tough girl side of you. I think you will tend to find that more people will like your more sensitive side.” With that, he stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

Eva mumbles to herself “ says the guy who only has a tough guy persona.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

"The Courage to Face Yourself" - Atka Ipiktok

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
0730 Hours, October 30th, 2018
Room of Atka Ipikok

The Inuit woman sat at her desk, putting the final touches on two whale bone carvings. The first was a ocelot with a fierce stance, crouched down with its tail out straight, but its eyes belied a kindness within. Small depressions for the spots were painstakingly carved into the form of the cat, and there was careful detail on the paws and expression to convey what Atka saw. She glanced at her sleeping roommate suspiciously, making sure the Asian gunner wasn't going to wake up and get a sneak peak at her guardian spirit.

Ayame was sleeping soundly. With a relieved smile, Atka patted the ocelot on the head lightly, and looked at the other 'guardian spirit' she had etched from the gigantic mammal's bones. It was a falcon situated on the shell of a turtle as if guarding the shell and its occupant. The grooves of said shell were meticulously cut, and there were light marks to distinguish the feathers of the bird defending it. Amusingly, the falcon's head had wavy feathers, almost like the somewhat spiky hair of the man it was to represent and guard.

"Hope Jake likes you," Atka spoke softly to the falcon.

I know something else he'd like...

Atka glared at no one in particular. I have a hard time believing you're 'me'. You speak in ways I never would.

Don't lie to youself, that's going to get us nowhere. I'm just reminding you of all your suppressed desires.

Suppress- I'm not interested in Ayame that way!

Have you forgotten already? The voice replied indignantly. There was a time in which you were willing to change yourself to make her happy.

That... was wrong of me. Even if it is selfish to say that, Atka explained, glancing down at the sleeping form of a husky.

And on the other hand, you deny yourself enjoyment of life. You can't loosen up like you did when you were a child... This isn't the way to discuss our faults. Open up your dreamscape.

Atka narrowed her eyes in suspicion. How do I know this isn't some sort of trick?

Oh, come on. If it was, you'd be able to handle it anyway, the voice snapped. You can't cover your ears or close your eyes.

The colonel was silent for a few moments, before closing her eyes and traveling to the realm of her mind. The dream etched itself into existence like strokes of a carving knife. A night sky with the aurora borealis shining over an arctic landscape was created from nothing. But to the north, there was a collection of skyscrapers marked with signs in an eastern language. One Atka quickly recognized. "Chinese... is that Shanghai?"

A parka materialized in the area, and Atka slipped it on, before walking through icy winds towards the glowing city. The temperature continued to drop, and it seemed like 'Shanghai' was getting further and further away. "If you really want the truth you'll have to do better than that," the taunting voice called out on the wind, and suddenly reality shifted. The snow-covered ground Atka was trudging through rotated so she was standing on the sheer face of a cliff. At the top, multicolored lights signified that the city was not far from the cliff's edge.

Atka's eyes widened, and she quickly drove two telekinetic spikes into the rock face as the snow tumbled into a void. "Why the hell are you making this difficult?!"

"I don't know. Why is it difficult for 'us', for yourself... that's what you should be asking yourself. What we should be asking," the voice replied. Peering up, Atka noticed the robed figure looking down at her, before disappearing out of her line of sight.

Gritting her teeth in determination, the Inuit woman started to ascend using her telekinetic helixes like ice picks. The going was tough, but she now found herself desiring the truth more than ever. "Is this why it's so tough?" The colonel remarked. As if in answer, the cliff hardened, and Atka was forced to imbue her psionic projections to drive them back in. "Thanks..." she muttered halfheartedly.

After what must have been fifteen minutes of climbing up the unnatural cliff, Atka's arms rested against the edge. With a growl of satisfaction, the Inuit woman pulled herself onto flat ground again. She took a breather, and then stood up, the city in sight. An odd gate was waiting for her, and on the other side, her double was in her Ethereal robes. "Why here?" Atka asked gently, walking over to the black gate.

The double shifted, a hand reaching to toss the cloak aside. Beneath it was indeed the double of Atka, but in her true form. Frazzled black hair was matched by street-punk clothing that showed off a bit more than Atka was comfortable with, even if this was her mind. After a moment of looking at the copy, Atka stepped back in shock. "You're... Xifeng."

Xifeng. The persona Atka had created to sneak around Shanghai doing her covert operation. That is who she was when she went to the club and met Huojin. When she acted like the reckless and mischievous person she was as a child. "And you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Xifeng concluded, as if reading Atka's thoughts. In truth, she was.

Atka nodded slowly, unable to deny what she herself was saying. "I... did. But it wasn't long after that I was injured."

Xifeng rolled her eyes. "Bad luck is all. Letting yourself live isn't reckless, for God's sake. All I want... as the repressed part of you... is to be free. So we can truly enjoy life without regrets."

Atka bit her lip. "There are some parts of you I'd sooner forget. I told you earlier, I made up my mind about Ayame. That unwarranted desire can remain repressed. But... I do need to enjoy life more. To 'live', as you say." Reforming her helixes, Atka boosted her mind with a psi inspiration and her body with physical enhancement. She imbued the helixes, and slashed them at the gates, carving the metal into four separate pieces that fell away. Xifeng ran up to Atka and hugged her tightly, smiling happily.

"Thank you..."

"You are part of me, after all," Atka responded softly. "A part I ought to have accepted a long time ago." Xifeng's form glowed, becoming dark blue psionic energy, and flowed into the helixes, darkening them briefly. A smile spread across the Inuit woman's face, and she opened her eyes. "I feel complete again..." Atka realized.

"...huh?" Ayame mumbled tiredly.

Atka quickly shielded the ocelot and falcon from sight with her arms, but as she did their forms distorted, an illusionary field wrapping around them. The Inuit woman was surprised for a moment, but then realized how, or rather, why this new power had shown itself. "Oh, nothing. Go back to sleep."

 

[Adrammalech]

// CONTRITUS //
Emily Fischer
XCOM Headquarters – Alien Containment Unit
Siberia, Russian Federation
October 29, 2018 – 12:12 PM

The doors to the Alien Containment Facility opened around Emily, and she put her personal feelings aside as she prepared for another meeting with the Ethereal. She almost anticipated it now, being something that she could understand, unlike Ben’s problems or Dallas’ recent actions. As she walked into the room containing Luxuria, she was again surprised that the Ethereal did not instantly turn towards her. Instead, she was enraptured by her computer, looking over several windows of notes, apparently reading them all at once. As she came close enough, Luxuria sensed her presence and shut down the computer, floating closer towards her. She didn’t summon her avatar as usual either, instead addressing her directly as her Ethereal self.

Emily…it’s good to see you. I assume…

“He’s dead,” she nodded. “He put up a fight and had quite a few troops, but our squad got out relatively scotfree. He didn’t suffer, for what it’s worth.”

I did not care for him…but I suppose I’m glad he didn’t spend too much time in agony. What about my request? Has your Commander vetoed it again?

“No. Elene is working on a clone for you right now, and I believe the labs are working on a way to contain and inhibit it, for the sake of safety.”

Ah, thank you… Luxuria raised a yellowed arm to her face again, sighing contently. Soon, I’ll be able to make this motion and be happy doing so. Even a faceless clone has a greater al-

“It won’t be faceless,” Emily interjected.

What do you mean?

Emily showed off the band-aid on her arm, and a spike of surprise burst from the cell’s confines. “I gave Elene my DNA…it won’t be a perfect clone, but it’ll bear a resemblance.”

Even within its mental confines, the Ethereal could not put its thoughts to word. I…I cannot tell you what this means for me. I cannot describe…

“An Ethereal being speechless?” Emily smirked. “That’s new.”

Pure joy was practically bursting out of the cell, so much so that it lifted her spirits just being beside the Ethereal. I will…I should reward you. I will give you more powers, or knowledge, or something.

“I’m not going to complain about that,” Emily smiled. “I’m working on Psi Lance by myself, so I wouldn’t like help on that…but if you have anything about Superbia or his bosses, or even about your race, I wouldn’t mind knowing more.”

Yes, yes…if you would lower the dampeners, please.

“Sure thing,” Emily nodded, walking up to the controls.

Luxuria hovered closer and closer as Emily moved, within an inch of the glass as her hand turned the dial down. The thrum of the dampeners began to quiet, and Luxuria’s four arms fanned out, each glowing a powerful gold. Emily backed away at the display, beginning to feel a little dizzy before the sensation subsided. She stared awkwardly as Luxuria froze in place, merely flexing her slender and energy-harnessing arms. A ragged breath escaped the mask, and her hands fell one at a time to her sides.

 

[Adrammalech]

I…I can’t…

“What’s going on…?”

I wanted to force you to tell me everything you knew about Avaritia…maybe even unlock my cell, but my methods would hurt you. I can’t do this…

Luxuria hovered low to her computer, a chair behind her springing to life and whipping underneath her. She slumped down and stared away from Emily. As the feeling of shame and embarrassment radiated from her, Emily thought she looked suspiciously human, more so than the gangly alien ever had.

I should hate you…you humiliated me, your infernal thoughts are stuck in my mind, you’re murdering my closest friends with the help of my power, and I can’t do anything about it. But here you are, about to fulfill my greatest wish, coming to me every week as if I were a close friend. No doubt we’ve manipulated and violated each other, yet…so have they…

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Yeah, we have a complicated relationship, but that’s just the way it is sometimes. The bigger wars get, the less personal they become. And by ‘they,’ do you mean the Ethereals?”

Yes…I feel as though I can hardly relate to them anymore. I tire just thinking of them…I’m far more interested in seeing those who visit me or yearning for more of Avaritia’s damned lectures about your culture. I…I would like to revisit one of your older thoughts.

“What is it?”

Well, you’ve seen what familial love means to Ethereals, and you asked me if I loved Avaritia, to which I expressed my doubt.

“Yeah, you think you can’t love or something like that I imagine.”

Luxuria gave a chortle behind her mask. When this invasion began, I would’ve laughed you out of this room the second you mentioned such an idea. Love is just a buzzword, something for children to talk and dream about. Real love in Ethereal society is your work, your passion for our people and our sciences. I thought when I left my father’s research facility, I was becoming free…but I was only giving myself to my leaders instead of him. It’s only now, so separated from my duty, that I see how depressed I was. How empty and alone I truly am.

“I thought you loved your work,” Emily replied. “Just because you were dedicated doesn’t mean you were depressed, necessarily.

I do…I did love my work, but I look at my notes, from so long ago…do you remember saying that your brain is essentially part Ethereal since our meeting? That to gain my knowledge, you will become even more Ethereal?

“Of course, I remember it every time we talk. There are upsides and downsides to the whole thing…”

I never quite realized how I have become more human as well…every time we have met, I find myself with curious thoughts. Sympathy, loneliness, individuality, compassion, impulse. The bundle of contradiction that you would call “humanity,” I’m sure.

“Really?”

Yes…and I have noticed something.

The interface turned back on, several windows of notes and reports popping up from the machine. Emily could barely make out some of the words, but reading fluidly was difficult due to the distance and complexity of the words. Luxuria raised a withered finger to a lengthy, slowly scrolling window.

This was my finest work of this cycle. A report on you – the New Ones – after years of study and deliberation with the Overseers. It is how I secured my spot in your Asia. We chronicled your strengths: your speed and adaptability, your capacity for intelligence, and your bodies’ malleability. Then weaknesses: smaller brains, resistance to change, hubris, individualism…I firmly believed the latter belonged there.

Emily remained silent, looking over Luxuria’s formal writing. It was entirely different tone than the one she was used to hearing from the Ethereal, filled with mob mentality, technical writing, and excessive honorifics.

There is not a single personal opinion in this essay, nor an “I” or “myself.” I was the sole author, and I had such pride in it…yet I did not mention or credit myself once. There is no ‘hope,’ ‘belief,’ and certainly no ‘disagreement.’ No matter how enraptured I was with my pets, or how ambitious I would be with my prospects, I showed no regard for your feelings or desires. Worse yet, I showed no regard for my own feelings or desires.

“Are you saying you wanted to be more individualistic?” Emily asked, confused. “Avaritia and yourself seemed to have plenty of projects and resources going…I doubt being selfish would’ve changed much.”

You have missed the point. Luxuria sighed. Even Superbia, the hardest and most prideful worker amongst the Overseers, does so to please the one above him. Ethereal society has been about groupthink since our bodies began decaying…all of the science went towards the priorities given to us, all of the troops went towards the planets shown to us. Our morals and our dreams were wiped away when we were children, and we became focused on the bigger picture, painted for us long in advance. ‘For the betterment of all.’ That is why I kept your ‘Sybille’ in a cage. That is why Avaritia incinerated your friends. That is why millions of you die by our machines and our allies. We believe you are animals because we were told you were animals…because I said you were animals…

Luxuria stopped the scrolling window at its end, pointing towards the last paragraph, the glyphs of their language being understood by Emily. “Although humans are almost 100% sentient and appear to possess potentials close to Ethereal levels, it is undisputed fact amongst the Overseers and our governance at home that they are inferior to the Ethereal Empire and her subjects. As with operations done on species with similar judgements, limitations by Ethereal law on invasive testing and surgeries, psionic control and suggestion, and termination of life should be ignored as necessary for our goals during the upcoming invasion.”

I have done this…to please a superior, to secure a career, to gain a better laboratory. I knew what you were, and I let this happen. I can scarcely remember such a state where I was so callous, so…inhumane. And soon, there will be another Ethereal writing a report just like this one, even now, to get the position vacated by me. They will be proud to damn you to this war, just like I was.

“There…there has to be a way to stop it. Right? Cycles are meant to be broken, and we can open their eyes to their mistake.”

Our Path may be a worthwhile goal…but our methods are too far gone. We torment the races we look to for salvation, destroying their ecologies and eroding their trusts. We mistake wise words of sternness and resolve and twist them into excuses for malice and irresponsibility. The Empire needs to be jarred from our zealotry; our leaders need to be exposed, our actions humiliated.

“How do we do that? We’ve killed several Ethereals already, and there’s never been a larger response. Meter was basically cannon fodder for your father…”

Superbia holds a direct line to the supervisor of this invasion. Invidia will try to stop you like the rabid beast it is. But once they both die, you will force our leaders from their towers. Then we both may focus on something greater…

“Even with your helpfulness…I don’t know if you should be making plans,” she said sadly. “People are still reluctant to forgive the things you’ve done.”

I do not blame them. But when this conflict ends, you will have people to comfort, leaders to rein in…and when you do, I will become a dismantled corpse in your labs or the first revolutionary of the Ethereal Empire. Luxuria turned back to her computer and switched it off. The end point is likely similar.

“If you did become the latter…you wouldn’t have to do it alone. We could help you with whatever you wanted to do, I’m sure.”

With the state our people are in, I wouldn’t be capable of much reform with humans in tow. Luxuria waved a hand dismissively, turning away. But thank you for the offer.

Emily nodded gently towards the Ethereal and walked away, heading back towards the Legion room to check on the clone.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

As the image flickers on, the large, vibrant eyes of a young Ethereal look forward for a bit, before Jan’tiala steps back, and turns to Sunny. Dressed in her usually work attire of a striped yellow and green shirt and overalls, Sunny smiles and shakes her head. "You need to speak. Our cameras can't hear telepathy."

"They can't?" The Ethereal taps her chin. "I thought, due to the speed your Commander found us out... then how do you record the thoughts of Luxuria when she has guests?"

Sunny shrugs. "We... don't, I guess."

"Hmm." Jan’tiala nods to her. "Perhaps there is something I can do to change..."

"Wait, you said the camera was on?"

Jan’tiala looks back at the camera, and the screen goes blank. When the image returns, Jan’tiala and Sunny are standing side by side. Sunny bows her head slightly, and Jan’tiala slowly does so in turn. "Sonya Randolf's engineering report, October 30th, 2018. After some discussion, some deliberation, and a good word to the Commander by Desmond Walker, Jan’tiala's...um... guardian, she has been authorized to work with me in engineering. She wished to pitch in, and with the increasing demands of the labs pulling Ms. Lockheart away, I could use a consultant in biological matters, as well as in regards to psionics."

The Ethereal girl bows her head again. After a moment of silence, Sunny nudges her. "Oh, right! Apologies." The slightest hint of red appears on her dark cheeks. "I... I-I am honored to serve, and for the chance to repay the kindness I have been shown."

Sunny nods. "With the stress of developing the plasma weapons off of our shoulders, I have had time to work on a few side projects. But first, I have a gift for the woman responsible for said relief, Dr. Anderson."

The young Russian girl reaches into one of the desks, and pulls out a large bottle, a shaking sound indicating it is almost entirely full. "These are my personal pep-pills," she explains. "Special, handmade blend. Only available from a small apothecary in... uh, an undisclosed location in China. Lots of energy, no side effects, completely non-addictive. A, um... a little expensive, but I'm sure Mr. Zero won't mind. I don't know what else to get her, and she works a lot of late shifts, so..."

Jan’tiala steps out of view, returning a moment later with a large cart full of various trinkets. "Now, I've been working on a few pieces of equipment for my friends." Sunny lifts a mannequin arm with what appears to be a woman's hand on the end of it. "First, of course, is Ayame's new hand. As I mentioned last time, I have used what I learned to make it look and feel very much like the original. I could have got it closer, but Ayame asked me to prioritize combat efficiency over cosmetics, and that is where Desmond's research and experiments on his own prosthetic comes in handy... um, no pun intended." She looks the hand up and down, and it moves its fingers a bit.

A helmet floats in front of Jan’tiala. "This is for Albert Foulke," she says. "Mr. Foulke evidently fears mind control from the alien forces after a particular event. A reasonable fear. This helmet, modeled after the one he usually wears, has a built in mind shield that has been directly attuned to Mr. Foulke's brainwaves. Combined with his Neural Dampening, not only will he be able to resist all but the strongest mental attacks, but the device will send a backlash to the attacker that will... leave quite the headache." Jan'tiala tilts her head, the helmet returning to the cart and a bag floating up. "What are these?"

Sunny looks them over. "Another one of the engineers asked me to make them for him. Said he'd... share his candy, or something. I believe they are for Fay Henderson. A dozen tungsten bullets. I also made a few with a similar weight as them. Not as strong, but she can practice with them without having to waste the other ones."

Jan'tiala nods, then asks, "What is candy?"

"Um... treats, sweet snacks, um..."

"Oh, confectionery food. I... am not familiar with many. We had to prioritize nutrition over... taste."

Sunny pouts a bit. "Really? That's too bad. I'll share some with you. Um... I think I have some chocolate in the bottom draw over there." As the Ethereal floats away, Sunny lifts a scope. "This is for Ammy. The scope fits all of the sniper rifles we use, and can wirelessly connect to her SAaIDA, sending her various combat data. It also has a special sensor that will block her sight if she is looking through it when any particularly bright explosions happen, which means she'd likely not have time to turn her SAaIDA off herself." She puts it down, and struggles to lift a plasma charge clip. "And this is one of several charge packs for Mary, which work with our SAWs, LMGs, and assault rifles. It holds enough charge for three extra shots compared to the normal packs. They're pretty heavy and cumbersomeness, but will effect the overall weight of Mary's weapon very little thanks to the enhancements to her biceps."

"I can not find it," Jan'tiala says. Sunny looks in the draw for her, and Tiala resumes where Sunny left off. "To assist Ashley Van Dam for the kindness her cousin showed Dr. Randolf, I developed this emergency stimulant for her. Given the Van Dam's tendency to... overexert themselves, should Ashley use too much of her psionic energy and risk passing out, this will temporarily shut down her abilities, diverting the energy her body normally spends on them towards keeping her councious." She puts down the stimulant, and lifts a Plasma rifle. "And Alice asked us to make the same changes to this that she did to Ms. Aegerter's other custom rifles."

Sunny returns, handing the Ethereal girl a chocolate bar. As Jan'tiala carefully unwraps it, Sunny waves her hand over a blaster launcher, the weapon too heavy for her to lift. "A custom made launcher for Modya, perfectly balanced with his strengths in mind, and made stronger but heavier, again because his bicep enhancements can handle the weight." She rubs her hands together in excitement. "And now, something extra special. Tiala, if you would..." She looks her companion up and down, who is swaying ever so much, her cheeks flushed, her face the picture of delight as she places another piece of chocolate in her mouth.

Sunny shakes her head, and calls out for Alice. The android girl, in her younger body, wheels in a covered rack. Alice's cheeks also look flushed, but for an entirely different reason. She lets out a loud, barking cough, and sniffs loudly. Rolling her eyes, Sunny says, "I told you to wait until I wasn't so busy, Alice."

Alice sniffs again, and with what sounds like a stuffy nose, says, "Th-that's why... it had to be now. Because... you're not supposed to be able to predict it."

"Just... go lay down or something." Sunny waves Alice off, and pulls down the cover, revealing three very different sets of armor. Standing in front of the one on the right and moving left, she says, "Here we have a piece of shadow armor, custom made for Emily. It will fit her perfectly, and is specifically made for her body's shape. It will make her as invisible as she could possibly be, even more so then the usual armor, and has a battery with a slightly larger charge.

"For this one, I have combined the titan armor and seraph armor into Archangel armor, and made the first piece specifically for Atka. I've also ironed out the control system, and added a larger fuel tank and a slightly louder buzzer for the low fuel alarm.

"Last, but not least, this is from our new psionics-enhancing armor, or Aurora armor. I made this one special for Desmond. While not the strongest of armors, it will give him a larger degree of protection then the garb her wore during the base defense while still retaining his potential agility. What's more, it has the ability to draw on his psionic energy to enhance it's structural integrity, though this will drain him quickly. It also has these special nodes to help him focus his energy, which will not only make his abilities slightly stronger, it will also increase his willpower. Jan'tiala worked really hard to improve on my design, right, Tia...la?"

Sunny watches as the Ethereal girl slowly twirls around, placing the last piece of chocolate in her mouth and shuttering in delight. She wraps her arms around Sunny, and rubs their cheeks together. "Can I have some more?" She asks unusually slow. "Please?"

Sunny laughs nervously. "Um... s-sure." She pulls out her remote, pointing it at the camera and shutting it off.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Taxor the First and MarineAvenger

Exodus
Siberia, X-COM HQ, Civilian Quarters
9:37 PM

Penny almost fell onto her bed, despite it only being halfway through her day. A break was sorely needed. As she lay there, she ran her eyes over the room, coming to rest on the bottle resting atop her cabinet. She frowned. Have to thank Dr Randolph for that later. Might even need one now. But she remained laying there, refusing to get up.

After a moment, she noticed that something was different. Sitting up, she scanned Ellie’s side of the room and noticed that half her things were gone. “The hell?”

A few moments later, the door opened and her roommate walked in, carrying a stack of small empty boxes and she put them down on the floor, turning to see a surprised Penny, “Oh...hey, wasn’t expecting you here till later tonight.”

Penny faked fainting from exhaustion onto her bed. “You’d think once we discovered plasma we’d have far less work to do. I just needed a break.” She indicated the boxes. “What’s with those?”

“Oh...those?” Elizabeth smiled and sat down on her own bed. “Well...I’m moving out.”

Penny blinked, then sighed. “Tell me it’s not because you hate my dress sense.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Yes, I find your fashion sense appalling and it makes me sick to my stomach.” Shaking her head, Ellie smiled. “Well...apparently one of my fiance’s friends told him that since we are getting married, we should share a room together. Low and behold, it was able to get approved and here I am.”

Penny was silent for a moment. “I’m not gonna act like I’m not disappointed. Being lonely is never fun. But, nor am I going to say I am.” She smiled. “I’m actually really happy for you. That’s a pretty big step. Not as big as getting married, but still.”

“I’m sorry, to be honest I was a little hesitant to move out. I know we didn’t really see each other much but I did enjoy our times together.”

The scientist made a ‘don’t worry about it’ wave of the hand. “It’s fine. Really. I mean, what was the other option? Have him move in here?” She shuddered. “I’m not sure I could take washing both your sheets.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes and snickered a bit. “Are you implying what I think you are?”

Penny’s face took on an expression of mock horror. “Why would you say such a thing? I would never suggest anything untoward.”

Ellie looked to the side and blushed a bit. “Well...you aren’t entirely wrong, we have been a little more active than usual.” She waved her hand dismissively. “But...you don’t need to hear about that.”

“Just so long as you don’t go eating Meld sandwiches. We know how that turned out for the last woman in a relationship.”

“If I am going to be honest...I wouldn’t actually mind...you know?” She shrugged her shoulders meekly and looked down.

Penny raised an eyebrow. “Alright. That’s your choice, I guess. None of my business to dictate that sort of thing.” She looked at the boxes again. “Do you want help with that? Not that I’m trying to get you out of my room quicker or anything.”

“Oh, already calling it your room already? I think you really do want me out that fast.” Elizabeth smiled wide and nodded her head, just going to her closet and taking some of them out, folding them, and putting them in one of the boxes.

With a grunt, Penny rose from her bed and started helping with the packing. “So what’s this guy like? I haven’t met him yet, and I want to make sure he’s… you know. Right.”

Ellie paused for a second, thinking of how to exactly put her thoughts about him into something concise and not a jumble of a bunch of words. “Well, for starters he is a pretty good looking guy for all things considered...he is very well built, smart, caring, a little hard on himself from time to time and he gets himself hurt quite more often than I like. He is also one of the top soldiers on base, is great with kids, and...and…” Ellie just flustered trying to think of more stuff to describe Desmond.

“Sounds pretty good so far. Just add in ‘rich family’ and you’re pretty much set.”

“Well...technically his family is the leader of Legion...does that count?”

Penny stopped for a moment, considering. “Yeah, that works,” she decided. She turned to Ellie. “Hang on, as in those weird clone women who act all imperious?”

Ellie nodded her head. “Yeah...though they aren’t all that bad. Didn’t I mention that Desmond was a clone? How did I blank on telling you that one?”

“Ellie, this is important information! That’s like forgetting to tell me he’s a guy! Should have been one of the first things you mentioned.” Penny shook her head. “Who’s he a clone of? D’you think you could get… you know… two?”

“What! No, he is a one of a kind! I didn’t mention it because you never asked, and besides, it never really matter to me…” Elizabeth rubbed her arm and looked to the ground. “And...you don’t really want to know who he was cloned from…”

“Ah, come on. Can’t be that bad. It’s not like he’s Viktor Dorian’s clone or anything…”

Ellie looked down and pressed her index fingers together.

“... right?”

She still looked down. “Well...technically his...brother?” She looked up at Penny with a nervous smile.

Penny stared at Ellie, a shocked expression on her face. “‘Not important’, she says. You don’t consider that little detail to be at least somewhat important? One of those things that you probably should have told me?”

“Well it is not something I just go around blabbing about!” Ellie growled a bit and she crossed her arms, making a ‘harumph’ noise and glancing at Penny. “I don’t care who he is cloned from, I just care who he is now, and he is the best person I could have ever asked for. Nothing will change my mind about that.”

Penny narrowed her eyes, but let it drop. “Alright. I’ll trust your judgement on that. Knowing you, he’d probably come out of it with a few needle punctures if he ever pissed you off.”

“And don’t you ever forget that!” Her expression lightning a bit, Elizabeth threw her arms around Penny. “Thanks for caring roomy.”

Laughing, Penny reciprocated the hug. “It’s been fun Ellie. We’re not done yet, though. I’ll be expecting a weekly report on my desk about his behavior. If he gets on your nerves, you’re always welcome back in here. Not like I’m short on room now.”

“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem…”Ellie leaned against her roommate and put her hands together, smiling wide. “‘Cause I’m in wuuuuuv!” she stated with a bubbly little girl voice.

Penny merely rolled her eyes and allowed the doctor to stay there. After all, this was probably the last time in a long time they’d be seeing each other.

Pulling off the other girl, Ellie adjusted her shirt and sighed. “Seems like yesterday when you first stumbled through the bar doors and we met for the first time. It was only a few months ago but it feels like years!”

Seems like yesterday, feels like years. Sometimes I wonder if she’s permanently drunk. “I still can’t go through that thing without banging something.”

“Why is that? I swear sometimes you make me think you are permanently drunk…” Ellie said, putting some folded up shirts away. That sounded a little lewd Penny...

The hell? She psionic? Penny rubbed the back of her neck. “I have no idea, really. Just clumsy, I guess. With hinges. Anything with hinges, I end up injuring myself.”

“Even toilets?” Elizabeth giggled, imagining in that instance Penny slipping into the bowl of a toilet.

Penny scowled. “Especially toilets. Sneaky bastards, they are.”

“I swear, we must be some weird pair…” Elizabeth finished putting the last of her clothes in the box and sighed in relief. “Done...that was the last of the clothes…”

Penny sighed. “So that’s it then? You’re out of here?”

Ellie nodded. “Pretty much, my clothes were really the only things left I had to get.”

Tears beginning to form in her eyes, Penny hugged the doctor again. “I know we didn’t talk as much as we should have, but I’ll still miss you.”

“Ohhhh, I am going to miss you too. I will be sure to visit though whenever I can...I just hope you will be around more.”

Penny held her there for a moment, then released her. “Just don’t forget about me, hey? I want to be there at your wedding.”

“Of course!” Elizabeth was reluctant to let go of Penny and she looked down. “When we finally decide on the bloody date…” Ellie mumbled under her breath before she looked up and tried to be cheery again. “It was fun...I had a great time with you.”