RP XCOM2: Liberation of Earth

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53

North American Continent
Canada
Specifically, the Yukon Territory
Morning of September 18th, 2027
1938 Hours, Local Time

A snowball whizzed through the air, impacting with a dry 'poof' against the trunk of a pine tree. Its trajectory had gone by a black-haired Eurasian girl in a narrow miss, and the intended target laughed. "You plan on fighting bad guys with that aim, Yakone?" a now-teenage An-Yi Shen chided her opponent. She straightened her jacket - acquired from a family of lumberjacks that no longer needed it - with intentional overconfidence.

The girl two meters away from her growled, reaching down with green gloves that mismatched with her red coat, and tossed another white sphere at Lily. She cheered triumphantly as it splattered against the side of her foe's face. "Not if they're as dumb as you!" Yakone taunted.

You didn't have to throw it so hard, An-Yi thought to herself. Outwardly, the Chinese-German teen grinned, and formed another snowball that she hurled at Yakone. This time she only sought to fumble halfway, pelting Yakone with a glancing shot to force her to hide amongst the trees. "The arrogant enemy strikes back Yak!"

"Ahhh!" the Inuit girl cried out with mock fear. She abortively peered out from behind her hard cover to stick out her tongue at Lily before ducking back down to avoid the reprisal barrage that followed. The forest fell solent again as Lily began preparing another cluster of ammunition.

After a minute had passed Lily looked up from her collection and frowned. I get the feeling I'm being stalked. Sure enough, not a moment more passed before Yakone flew out from behind the the tree An-Yi had set up in front of. The Inuit-Caucasian girl threw all her weight around Lily's back, tackling her to the ground. Lily glanced up to meet Yakone's fiery expression with one of her own, and then they both broke down laughing.

When the two finally calmed down they were both on their backs facing the fall sky. The days were beginning to shorten now and thus the lit blue dome above was a sight to be treasured. Lily spun her wrench idly, lost in thought, while Yakone's gaze was lost in the sky. The latter's smile persisted for a minute of supine repose longer before fading.

She asked Lily a question out of the blue: "Why doesn't mommy play with me like this, Big Sis?"

An-Yi was speechless. Closing her eyes to try and think, the flashes and sounds that had burnt themselves into her mind at an age close to the one Yakone was at now danced on the edges of the blackness.

Quietly, Lily gave the best answer she could. "She's been through a lot. She - "

"So have you," Yakone said knowingly. The younger girl rolled onto her side to face Lily, leaving an indentation in the snow where she was before.

"Yeah. Let me finish. Your mom takes the weight of the world onto her shoulders. She might know we're here to help but that doesn't stop her from giving more than she has. And maybe overworking herself is just one of the things that keeps her sane. But I believe she loves you." Despite everything she couldn't be so callous not to... at least deep down she has to care. "I can't know for certain. I'm not a mind reader," An-Yi qualified.

"She can't read minds... not yet at least."

"Figure of speech..."

"Neeerd!" Yakone jabbed.

"Says the girl that is always trying to steal science books from Jenn," Lily shot back, tossing her wrench into the air and catching it again as it came down without a spin. "I'll stick with my applied sciences, thank you very much."

Yakone pulled an old science textbook out of her bulky coat. "I was done with this one anyway..." What I could understand anyway.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Then come on. You'd better return it. And no blaming ADVENT spooks this time."

"Go swim in the Arctic," Yak complained, but got up after An-Yin to reluctantly return to camp and return the book to its rightful owner.

Back at camp, young Jennifer sat by the fire with a face buried in a book, her eyes dancing across the page in her usual speed reading manner.

Alexis sat across from her, staring at her. After a bit, she bluntly said, "You're boring."

"I know," Jennifer said quietly. "Nothing I can do about that."

"You can play with me," Alexis countered. "You never play with me."

Jennifer sighed as she turned the page. "What are you talking about? I play with you all the time."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Not all the time..."

"But that is what you want. For me to always play with you, and never study."

Alexis shrugged. "You could just be a soldier when you get bigger."

Jennifer shook her head. "I don't have you brawn. I'll leave the fighter to you. I'll be the nerd."

Alexis let out a frustrated huff, and fell back off her log. "So booooooring..."

Nouja smiled. "You're both entitled to your idea of enjoyment," the Inuit woman said as neutrally as if she were Swiss.

"If you're bored you should learn how to help me and Dad repair the portable Resistance Communications Array. The thing breaks down way too often," An-Yi told the older sister, having just returned along with Yakone - only Nouja having noticed them arrive.

Alexis looked at her with surprise. "You working on your stealth? Like of those... stealthy people?"

"Ninjas?" Jennifer guessed, but Alexis only shrugged.

"No, I think you're just oblivious," Yakone replied with a grin. "And obviously Jenn wouldn't notice us coming. Didn't notice this missing?" she asked, waving a familiar textbook in her hand.

"Stop stealing my text books!" Jennifer rushed over to her and grabbed the book. "I was looking for this all morning! You better not have lost any of the papers I had in it..."

"I may have moved them but they're not gone," Yakone muttered.

Jennifer murmured angrily to herself as she checked to make sure the papers were there. Alexis grinned at Yakone, and said, "So Lily... the Communications Array? Can I ask you a question?"

An-Yi shrugged. "What is it?"

"Why is it whenever I'm bored, you fix it by finding me something even more boring to do?" Alexis asked.

"I..I hardly...!" Lily stamped her foot down. "How is that possibly more boring that doing nothing at all?"

"Because at least i can think of things to do while doing nothing," Alexis answered. "Doing that will have me thinking of better things to do."

Jennifer scoffed. "Don't listen to that butthead. I will help you and your dad, An-Yi."

An-Yi scoffed. "At least one person here appreciates what we do. Come on." As she walked off, Nouja turned to Alexis.

"Alex..."

"What?" Alexis said, placing her hands behind her head.

"Why do you treat her like that?" Nouja asked gently. "She is Yakone's friend."

"Like what?" Alexis frowned. "It... it's just a bit of teasing. I doubt she even cares."

"She takes her work about as seriously as Jenn takes her studies," Yakone mumbled.

"Hmm... I guess that is pretty serious, huh?" Alexis pouted. "I'm sorry. I'll... tell her I'm sorry."

"That's all you really need to do," Nouja told her calmly. "Just be careful what you say in the future. It's better to think before you speak."

Alexis folded her arms. "Well... sometimes she makes me feel like a dummy. I could learn that engineering stuff too if I wanted..."

"Then why don't you try and prove that you can?"

Alexis lowered her eyes. "B... because I want to be a fighter one day, not an engineer. Besides, I don't think Dr. Shen likes me very much."

"You don't know that," Nouja replied.

"I want to fight too, but we don't have any scientists besides Flammel so I plan to at least help," Yakone offered.

Alexis scratched her wrists, and looked like she was searching for an excuse. Not finding one, she gave a defiant look and said, "Fine. I will. I'll prove I'm no dummy."

Nouja smiled. "I'm sure you will. I certainly don't think you are," the younger sister said with a light laugh not often heard from someone who was 24.

"If you were anyone else that would be sarcasm," Yakone pointed out, but shrugged. "It's not with you though I would guess."

"Why don't you learn that biology stuff with my brainiac sis, Yakone?" Alexis asked her.

"Because, as you said, she's kinda.. boring. And I don't think she likes me anyway," Yakone explained whilst scratching the back of her head.

"Oh?" Alexis shrugged. "That's okay. I don't think she likes me either, and I'm her sister. So... wanna go play?"

Yakone shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53

North American Continent
Canada
Specifically, the Yukon Territory
Evening of November 2nd, 2028
1938 Hours, Local Time

Flashes of red heat distortions cut through the darkness of the evergreen forest, disturbing its peaceful autumn silence with scattered snow and splintering wood. It was a frightening tumult that scared away nearby wildlife, but it was a minor relief for the actual intended targets that the shots failed to connect with. “They just don’t give up do they?” Joel Brown - a former X-COM security guard and member of Atka’s ragtag band of survivors - growled in a fading Scottish accent as he returned fire on the black-armored troopers armed with the powerful magnetic weapons with a beat-up laser rifle.

As the red light briefly illuminated her face, Atka ducked behind a tree - her attempt to discern the enemy’s formation foiled by the bright gunfire. “They’re certainly dedicated, I’ll give them that.”

“Any idea how many this time?” Support Gabriel Ortiz questioned the Commander.

“Didn’t get a good look; our guns are not doing us any favors with their flashes right now,” Atka explained, but did give her best estimate in a followup: “I’d say about four of them.”

“Only one more than the last patrol,” David “Big Sky” Slater offered for what it was worth, managing to land a hit with his assault rifle onto one of the ebon soldiers Kevin had damaged earlier in the firefight with a pistol. “And now just three,” he replied as the dying soldier fell to the snow with a scream in an inhuman language.

“Hard to believe these guys are human,” Kevin mumbled, alluding to their unmasking of the first ADVENT Troopers they had encountered. While they had gray skin, the Coalition ‘Peacekeepers’ were still mostly human - though what else had been added to their DNA was impossible to discern with the equipment the group presently had.

Qamut raised a hand, a small flame forming in it as he prepared an attack. “Regardless, let’s end this.” He flipped around the corner of the sturdy pine tree that he had relied on as cover, and sent a gout of pyrokinetic fire in the general direction of two of the surviving ADVENT Troopers, immolating them and causing them to run out of cover in a panic - a move that made them easy targets for the sniper rifle of Sniper Sarah Wong and the LMG of Heavy Booker Bryan.

The last remaining trooper moved to flee, but Atka raised her laser strike rifle and shot him in the back. Silence once again overtook the forest until she spoke up. “Looks like that’s it for them.” She began to turn back towards the civilian members of her staff. “You can get up n-” she began to say, but her words were silenced by the sound of plasma laser and magnetic ballistic gunfire. Flanking from the right, a Muton - with a sleeker yet still hulking form and equally sleek armor - claimed the life of Booker with his plasma rifle. One of his two ADVENT bodyguards narrowly missed Kevin, and the other didn’t miss Joel.

"Damn!" Joseph grabbed Joel, and dragged him into cover. "They're serious this time. Stay with me, Brown."

The bleeding out soldier didn't reply as Chandra tried to mend his wounds. Atka clenched her fists and brought forth twin icy helixes, slashing them with one just above the other to sever a line of trees in half and bring them down to crush the trio of enemies. This proved effective for the human foes, but the Muton merely roared in denial and smashed the timber off itself. It had to drop its weapon in the process though, and that left in vulnerable to combined fire from the rest of the team.

This would have been the end if not for the arrival of yet another group, this time being a pair of Stun Lancers escorting an ADVENT officer in red. The two sleek crowd control units rushed forward, seeming intend on finishing the job with Joel. "Get out of the way! Nouja shouted at Joseph, pushing him and Chandra back along with their dying patient and firing her assault rifle at the foremost lancer. That didn't seem to be enough, but she had a secondary attack up her sleeve.

When the lancer got close she narrowly dodged a swipe of his shock lance, darting to the side and placing a hand against him. A biokinetic pulse effectively stopped his heart, and the zealous soldier fell to the snow in a heap. However, her dodge meant she couldn't do the same to the other lance, who pulled out a combat knife and drove it through the chest of Joel to finish him off.

Of course, this meant the murderous ADVENT soldier was left open to a shot through the head from Atka's weapon, but the damage had been done. Seeing he was outmatched, the ADVENT officer fell back just as the Trooper from before had, vanishing into the darkness of the forest.

Silence finally overtook the forest for good this evening, and Atka slowly assessed the scene around her with a detached expression. Coming to a decision, she muttered, "They're not trying to win these skirmishes, they're just trying to whittle us down to nothing over time. They know we can' t keep running forever."

Joseph looked down at Joe sadly. "And their strategy is working. We might have a chance against it if they had any humanity, but they have no problem sacrificing a hundred soldiers as long as they kill one of us."

"We're being pushed up to the ocean..." Nouja said shakily. "There's only so many more places we can run and hide before we can't flee anymore."

"We need a plan," Atka snapped. "I just don't know what could possibly work at this stage... I can't think of anything that would convince them to stop hunting us."

Joe ran a hand through his hair. "The only thing that'll stop them is our deaths. Or... believing we're dead..."

Nouja tensed for a second. Atka glanced to her. "Think of something?"

"I...n-no," Nouja replied evasively.

Her elder sister gave her a suspicous look but sighed, not wanting to pressure her to explain after she what they had all just been through. "Well... we'll think about it as we keep moving. Joseph, get the kids out from the brush and get them moving again. No looking back. They shouldn't have to see this..." she replied, sending a blanket of snow to cover the bodies of the two fallen.

Joseph nodded, and walked off to get them. He avoided looking down at his allies, the pain from the knowledge that they would probably have to leave their bodies tearing through him.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53

North American Continent
Canada
Specifically, the Yukon Territory
Night of December 28th, 2028
2314 Hours, Local Time

Nouja sat in the darkness of the cave the team was hiding in, mulling over the thought that had occurred to her . It was a simple plan, really, and one she knew would break her sister's heart. The team had avoided further patrols for three months now, but they were closing in and rations were running dangerously low. There was no one nearby to support them, nor was there any means of escape. The younger Inuit sister had come to the harrowing realization that the minute they were found they would be fighting a battle that would likely end in the death of them all.

What is the plan? Nouja asked herself, dismissing the darker thoughts so she could focus on her desperate bid. I become the sacrificial lamb. For that day months ago, she had come up with an idea that she had refused to bring up with anyone. Under Chandra's tutelage she had surpassed her teacher and become a biokinetic expert. Healing, harming, neural modification... she had been able to harness all of those variations of biokinesis. And with that, she realized, came the power to rewrite her own memories.

It was a thought that would terrify anyone, and it certainly put a pit in her stomach. But if I don't do it, then if I'm captured or if they can use their technology to access my memories even after... killing me... then it'll all be for nothing. All of the fighting, all of our unwillingness to give up. So the plan was simple but unique. Rewrite her memories such that she sincerely believed she was the last survivor - and the aliens would be tricked into thinking that too.

With her eyes closed, her ESP - a power she and Atka shared - detected the presence of ADVENT forces nearby. She saw their measured movements, heard their quiet comm chatter, and made her deadly decision. I have to do this. Rather than warn her sleeping sister and the guards that were still awake as she was supposed to as sentry, she sought out the sleeping children: the two Chambers sisters, her niece, and Big Sky's daughter. Rousing them gently, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry to wake you, I just want to say a few things," she said with a calm that hid the nervous energy she felt threatening to overwhelm her.

"What's going on?" Alexis asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Is everything okay?" Jen asked with concern.

"Everything's going to be fine," Nouja replied. "I just want you four to know... you're the future of this world. You have the power to change it for the better - not just restore it to how it was before. All you need to do is work together. Get along with eachother. Be friends and comrades, and never give up hope."

"Why are you telling us this?" Danielle asked drowsily.

"Auntie Nouja, what are you..?" Yakone asked, seeming to pale with fear as she heard the sound of metal boots beyond the wall behind her.

"One last Inuktitut phrase for you, Yakone," Nouja spoke gently. "Anirnialuk sapummivaa ilissi. May God continually protect you." With that, she turned and ran to the boulder they used to seal the entrance to hide. Before the surprised Kevin could act, she froze the inside shut with a wave of ice to lock it in until her sister had time to undo her cryokinetic seal.

"Nouja, why...?" he pleaded faintly from behind the barrier.

"Do not open this until they're gone or you'll all die," Nouja told him quickly before running to the side. The ADVENT Troopers seemed to have heard from the other wall of the cave and began marching around the wide corner. Nouja placed her hand to her head, tendrils of biokinesis winding their way along her brain. "I love all of you. Thank you for everything," she whispered even if they couldn't hear to reassure herself of her course one last time.

And then Nouja Ipiktok constructed a grand lie that masked the truth from herself. The rations had run out completely, the others had starved and been picked clean by scavengers. Tears ran down her cheeks as she became convinced that all those she had ever known and loved had perished out in these northern wastes. Awash with despair as the last of her authentic memories of the past three months faded away into the void, she ran like a terrified animal from the ADVENT forces as they spotted her, unarmed and defenseless.

"Kevin, what the hell is going on? Where is my sister?" Atka demanded as she rounded the corner, hearing a commodition. Her eyes became fixed on the ice, ignorning Kevin's horror.

"She... I tried to stop..."

The sound of magnetic rounds ripping through the air, the environment, and eventually a human form reached their ears, and a strangled cry was soon replaced by relative quiet and the investigations of the ADVENT forces. Atka dropped to her knees, her dark blue eyes seeming vacant now. She was too shocked to even cry out or scream in denial, despair, anything at all.

Joseph stared forward in shock, trying to wrap her mind around it. "Why? What will that do? It... I can't." Tears formed in his eyes. "Nouja, why?"

Jennifer collapsed and started to sob softly. Alexis wrapped her arms around her sister, tears starting to roll down her cheeks despite her tough exterior.

Yakone seemed to be in a state similar to Atka initially, but rather than fall down she shambled towards where Nouja had been standing guard, noticing a piece of paper that her aunt had left behind. She picked it up and read it silently, not being able to keep from crying at it's content - the most recent draft of Nouja's plan complete with apologies to the rest of the survivors and reassurances. Unable to read it out loud with a dry throat she merely gave it to anyone else that wanted to see it as Lily came out and wrapped her arms around her friend, aghast as well but having to be strong for her sister.

Joe took it, reading it over. "She... she altered her own memories. Of they read them... they'll think we're all dead..." He looked appalled. "This is my fault. I... I put that thought into her head..."

A hand rested against his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself... she would have done something like this... she and her sister are selfless like that," Qamut spoke quietly.

Contrasting with his slightly resigned demeanor, Atka suddenly reached up, slamming her fist into Kevin's gut and forcing him against the wall. Consigent enough not to get them discovered, she quietly hissed, "Damn you, you just let her do this! You could have stopped her!"

"Atka, no!" Jennifer ran over to them with her sister. "It wasn't his fault!"

"It was ours!" Alexis insisted. "She talked to us before she walked out! We knew something was wrong! We should have stopped her!"

"You..." Atka let go of Kevin, turning with a gaze that almost appeared murderous, before she calmed down and sighed. "No... you couldn't have had any idea. Sorry, Kevin."

"I've been beat up worse..." he said quietly. "Atka... she... she gave us a chance. Once they depart we can finally go wherever we want, actually join up with the resistance we've been building."

"I know that." Atka leaned against the wall, covering her face so they wouldn't see tears silently stream down her face. "Why couldn't it have been me... they already broke me... why'd it have to be you, you were so pure... so white... I'm already stained with darkness," she murmured.

"Maybe... because she knew you were the only one who could guide us through this." Joe stepped up behind her. Maybe because she thinks your stronger than you think. Just like the rest of us."

Atka shook her head. "I don't know... all I know is that I want to leave this place and never come back."

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

North of the European Continent
Former United Kingdom
Not-So-Specifically, Somewhere in England
Night of January 3rd, 2029
2219 Hours, Local Time

Bradford sat in the back of the van as his team drove onwards to their next safehouse, the man looking down at the tablet as he tried contacting his old friend and leader, it having been too long since their last talk.

It almost got to the point where he was going to hang up, but then Atka’s voice came through, seeming tired and angry at the same time, though it was unclear as to what the latter emotion was directed at. “You kill any aliens recently?” she asked icily.

“Excuse me Commander?” Bradford asked a bit nervously, something only she seemed able to make him.

“If you haven’t recently try to, they all deserve to die,” she growled. After an extended pause, she explained herself. “They killed Nouja.”

His eyes widened in horror and he leaned forward. “W-What!? Explain everything that happened!”

“I haven’t contacted you because ADVENT was tightening the noose in their hunt… we lost some of our team, and we were getting to the point of being cornered… Nouja… She…” Atka’s anger cracked, giving way to hints of despair. “When we were at the point where discovery would damn us all she… tricked them into thinking she was the last one, used her biokinesis to make herself seemed starved… and the last I saw of her was being shot by a drone’s laser through the chest.”

The Inuit woman barely held back a sob. “the worst part is she altered her own memories to ensure they couldn’t extract any information about our whereabouts from her brain… she convinced herself we had all died and died in that much loneliness…”

“Oh, Atka…” Bradford said, closing his eyes as he bowed his head, shaking his head. “I’m sorry… Nouja… she was a good girl. I’m sorry for the loss. I should be there… I should have been there. It seems that I am failing at my job of keeping you guys safe all the way over here.”

“What, so you could die with her?” Atka said weakily. “I don’t want to lose anyone else… but I know that’s a vain hope.”

“Atka… we all know the cost. Nouja… she knew the cost too. You shouldn’t…” Bradford tried to think of something comforting to say, but he was blanking on what. “Atka… you are the only thing that keeps this resistance going. Everyone gladly follows you so that one day we may take back our home. We all want a better future. That is why we fight. We should… not mourn the ones we lost in a way but… be happy that they would give up everything to make things better.” He had to force it a bit at the end there, Bradford letting out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head, never the greatest at cheering people up.

“I told Cham… told Joseph this a long time ago, but don’t butter it up. This situation is hell. It’s horrible. That’s why I need to see the Protectorate and their ADVENT puppets burn.”

“Stop it Atka.” Bradford told her, looking down at the screen with heavy eyes. “Step away for a few days. Be with your daughter. Hold up somewhere until you are better. You can’t work yourself to near mental breakdown. That’s an order from a friend Commander. It would be a shame if I had to go AWOL because I needed to whip you back into shape, now wouldn’t it?”

“I’m not going to get myself killed. Nouja allowed us to fall off ADVENT’s radar, so we’re finally leaving this place behind and heading south. I’ve gotten word La Paz has a durable resistance willing to operate the Shanty City there as our HQ. And the aliens don’t care about Baja California so we can militarize while continuing to remain off their radar. This chance just came at an ugly price.”

“Atka…” Bradford pushed. “Take time off once you get there. I will be at La Paz within the month.” He finally told her. “I am not allowing you anything else at this point. With Nouja gone, you need your second in command, so I am coming back. Is that understood?”

“It’ll probably be awhile before we even get there, and what are you going to do, take a canoe across the Atlantic?”

“If I have to. I’ll swim if I can’t even get that.” Bradford shook his head. “You have people to lean on Atka. Don’t deal with this yourself. Let the others take care of you. You hold the weight of the world on your shoulders. Don’t be afraid to hand it over for a few days.”

“If you insist on coming back you are given permission, but leave the resistance in England in good hands,” Atka ordered. “Don’t let ten years of field work be for nothing.”

Bradford chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Yes ma’am.” Her second-in-command joked. “Take care Atka…” Bradford looked down at his rifle and loaded it. “I didn’t do such a good job with Ross. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” He said, the screen going dark once more.

***​

He never arrived. Not in Mexico, nor in the United States or Canada. Central Officer Bradford was presumed captured or killed by ADVENT forces en-route to North America.

***​

North American Continent
Former United States of America
Specifically, The Great Plains in Nebraska
Morning of October 11th, 2030
0913 Hours, Local Time

The wind reached out in a measured manner, caressing the tall grasses of the plains. The grass oscillated back and forth, unsure of whether to accept the wind’s beckon during sessions of its touch and leaning in during cessations of the breeze as if wanting to give the wind another chance. It was with equal uncertainty that a group of wanderers sat around a fire - a fire deadened by the wind’s breath - and prepared to discuss information their leader had recently learned.

“Run that by me again. I’ve got everyone here to listen now,” Commander Atka Ipiktok spoke into a radio before shifting it in her white gloved hands so the speaker was facing the others.

“Alright, um…” the person on the other end began, a bit nervous from being put on the spot. From the pitch of the voice she sounded like a fairly young convert to the Resistance cause, something that was becoming less common due to ADVENT increasingly indoctrinating the youth. “We have intel on an alien project just south of you guys in Kansas.”

“How reliable is your source?” Raymond Shen inquired, the wizened old man raising an eyebrow even if their contact couldn’t see it.

“Came straight from the Overseer’s agents in the States,” the informant replied adamantly. “They decrypted an alien datapad gained in a convoy raid with the guide you and your daughter created,” she added thankfully.

“Our pleasure, Bronze Cub,” Lily responded using the woman’s codename.

“Anyway,” Bronze continued, “The Elerium they were transporting was apparently meant for some sort of experimental spacecraft. A supply ship outfitted with a massive cloaking device.”

The eyes of both Shens lit up at that. “Damn, Bronze Cub! Well done!” Lily exclaimed.

“U-Uh, thanks…”

“We ought to-” Lily was cut off by a hand held up from Atka.

The Commander flipped the flip radio back to herself. “Thank you for the information. We’ll let you know if we need the South Marauders for anything related to this discovery.” She shut off the line, and explained why she shut An-Yi up. “My line of thinking is the same as yours,” the Commander reassured the young engineer. “I want that ship. But that’s a high profile target, and I don’t want to involve the Marauders in even a discussion of that prospect.”

“Can we even afford to go after it?” Sarah Wong questioned, adjusting her simple ponytail and locking eyes with Atka. “If we seize an alien ship they will retaliate, and we’ll just be hijacking an alien alloy tomb.”

“That’s why I brought it up to you all. We need a plan to somehow take this craft and prevent the aliens from even finding out we did it,” Atka proclaimed.

“A tall order,” Raymond cautioned her.

“...but if there’s anyone that can come up with a daring plan for that, it’s us!” An-Yi finished for him.

“It’s certainly good timing,” David Slater - callsign “Big Sky” - noted. “We just got the new Skyranger finished in the hangar a few miles from here.”

“The one I want to pilot,” his teenage daughter Danielle muttered.

David chuckled. “If we get this alien ship, you can have the Skyranger,” he told her. “I’ll go and become bigger sky.”

Atka shook her head, seeming unamused. “Get to planning. We don’t have much time to waste, so we’ll go to the hangar today and hopefully go after that ship in a few days’ time. I’m going to call in those two agents of the Overseer’s… we’ll need all the help we can get.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemin24601 & Taxor the First

North American Continent
Former United States of America
Specifically, The Great Plains in Nebraska
Morning of October 15th, 2030
2005 Hours, Local Time

Alan brushed a lock of black curly hair away from his face. “Do you have to do that?” he asked the woman across from him, who merely looked at him oddly.

“Why?” she asked, a Scottish accent tinting her voice. In her left hand, she threw the grenade up again, catching it.

The young adult glared at her before shaking his head and returning to his SMG. “Maybe I just don’t like you tossing a high-explosive object up and down like it’s an orange. I’m sure I’m just being paranoid here. Don’t worry about it.”

The Scot laughed, placing the lethal avocado down. “I know what I’m doing, child. Don’t worry.”

Alan’s hands clenched slightly. “Shall I call you ‘mother’ now, Bonnie?”

Bonnie scowled. “I’m not old enough to be your mother.”

“No, but you certainly act like it.”

“Girls, girls, you’re both gorgeous,” a young girl - seeming to be just before her teens - informed them with a sardonic tone. “They’re waiting for you behind the Skyranger.”

“Thank you, dear,” the Scot said, resisting the urge to ruffle the girl’s hair. “Come on, sulker. Some idiot wants to talk to you.” Alan gave her a hostile look before sighing and moving away from his gear.

“The same idiot that hired you?” he asked.

To his surprise, Bonnie merely laughed. “Now you’re getting it,” she said.

They found a large group of people crowded around the new and improved Skyranger, most of which turned to face the newcomers when they approached. One in particular - their leader, a woman wearing tattered brown khakis and a white dress shirt half-covered by a black leather jacket - spoke up. “On time,” she noted. “Or close enough. I assume I’m speaking to the correct two agents and not ADVENT spies?”

“The healthy skin give that away?” Bonnie said dryly. She glanced at her companion. “In one of our cases anyway.”

Alan ignored her. “We’re the Overseer’s people,” he confirmed.

“Can never be too sure,” Atka replied. “Raymond, if you’d fill them on the plan...”

“Of course,” the elder Shen agreed. He laid out a diagram of an alien ship that looked as if it had been sketched out by hand. “This is the prototype vessel the South Marauders managed to steal a blueprint for. There are going to be two phases to this assault, the first of which is quite simply to breach the hangar and get to the stealth generator for the ship… here.” Shen pointed to a wide central room surrounded by two adjacent chambers and four above and below. “The second phase involves these peripheral rooms.”

Lily picked up from there. “We were trying to think of a way that we could take the ship without the aliens simply pursuing us and taking it back,” the nineteen year old began. “Thankfully, the entry is made easy by signal jammers on the Skyranger that will mask it from any ADVENT satellites, and the aliens don’t appear to have the ship armed with any significant weaponry. However, a more… creative approach will be required for the actual commandeering of the ship.”

Her alien drone nudged over a package of explosives, of which there were many. “We’re going to make it appear as if the ship detonated in a freak accident. The explosives are going to slag the rooms around the Ghost Field Generator, all of which are power coils of some sort. That is going to provide convincing debris, while ROV-R here is going to hijack control of the stealth field and make it project an illusion of the ship being blown to bits. As long as we prevent the aliens in the ship itself from sending a distress signal, this will work.”

“And for that part, once we’ve secured the central rooms, we’ll need a team to head to the bridge to kill the pilots to make sure they don’t give conflicting information to their superiors when things start going sour,” Atka added. “We’re only going to have nine combat-capable operatives for this one, so most likely it’ll be up to a team of three to accomplish the elimination task while the other six protect Shen while he sets this up. That’ll be myself, Kevin, and Qamut, while the other six will be Big Sky, Sarah, Gabriel, An-Yi, and you two.”

Bonnie looked at the nearby package of explosives, almost hungrily. “You don’t mind if I start blowing things up early, do you?”

Alan shook his head. “We’ll follow your lead,” he said, nudging his colleague in the side roughly. “Are you… sure you can take the bridge by yourselves? Not that I’m questioning your skill or anything, just…”

Atka held open a palm, a spike of ice forming in it, while Qamut formed a small fireball that rotated around him. “We’re capable. Consider this little display the tip of the iceberg, since you can’t see our more subtle powers.”

The Scot shrugged. “I’d say she’s got a good handle on what she can and can’t do,” she told Alan. “Have a little faith. Boss certainly does.” Alan grumbled something in return, but it remained inaudible.

Atka glanced at Alan’s weaponry. “Good to see you have the electric rifle we sent you. I have a feeling we’re going to be encountering a lot of robotic units on that ship… but the one thing that the blueprints didn’t provide was enemy compliment. In that respect we’re going in mostly blind, so that will be the most dangerous aspect of this mission.”

“There ought to be a lot of worker drones on the ship. Once we take it over that should prove really useful… the team heading to the bridge will see if they can disable any from a command terminal to make our job easier.”

“Ideally that won’t be entirely necessary,” Alan said. “But I’m well familiar with… plans falling through.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Bonnie said, a playful smile on her lips. “Boss thought it would be a good idea to send you someone who lays plans and someone that ignores them.”

Atka nodded. “Astute of him, as always. Though I don’t need to compliment him. He already knows how instrumental he has been in building the Resistance.” The Commander shook her head. “If they’re aren’t any questions, let’s suit up and get this show on the road.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

North American Continent
Former United States of America
Specifically, 12 kilometers above Kansas
Evening of October 15th, 2030
2118 Hours, Local Time

The Skyranger came into sensor range of the alien supply ship, which was displayed on a screen within the cabin. The intel had proven correct, and there were no visible gun batteries near the rear hatch where they would be breaching from emergency access panels on the roof. The ship wasn’t moving fast at all, seeming to be in a holding pattern over the area.

“Guess we’re lucky it’s cloak isn’t active… maybe they’re having issues optimizing it and it’s recharging,” Lily mused, going over her assault rifle nervously one last time.

“Whatever the case may be, let’s not waste this chance.” Atka nodded to her teammates. “The minute that hatch goes down, Bonnie will move forward and place a blasting charge to get us down the hatch. The enemy won’t be expecting us, so we should use the element of surprise to its fullest before their surprise wears of. We secure the hanger, then move through an auxiliary room to the Ghost Field Generator. Once we’re there, the forward team will split up while the other team will clear the other power coils and set up the blasting charges. Protect Dr. Shen, and let’s make this ruse work without any word reaching the Protectorate.”

The Skyranger reached the slow-moving ship, and skidded down onto its surface near the target position. The hatch sprung open, and Atka yelled to Bonnie over the wind to blow the hatch so they could rapple inside. The dropship shuddered, but magnetic clamps kept it from flying off from the air resistance blanketing the supply ship itself.

The Scotswoman obeyed, moving rapidly to the assigned hatch, the breaching charge already in her hands. She placed it, primed it, and moved back, activating the detonator. “If you ever wanted to thank someone for dropping in, now would be the time!” she cried gleefully, sliding through the hatch. Alan and the rest of the team followed, albeit less enthusiastically for the most part. Their caution was rewarded where Bonnie’s excitement was punished - within the hatch were two worker drones, neither of which seemed particularly pleased to see humans in the ducts.

With the near-vertical nature of the shaft, it was difficult for Bonnie, leading the fall, to react appropriately. By the time she’d drawn her shotgun, she’d already reached the two robots. She crashed into them, one becoming trapped beneath her and the other flipping over her head, buzzing angrily. While close quarters cause some difficulty, it also made a shot from Kevin’s scatterlaser more deadly - even if he had to aim it high to avoid hitting someone on his side. The blast seemed to damage the robotic unit, but didn’t take it down, only for what looked like an icicle chainsaw to slash the robot in half.

A short distance down the human and drone crashed through a vent in the roof of the team’s desired location, Bonnie’s descent suddenly slowed by a gravity lift detecting an organic presence. The drone, now freed, whizzed upwards, preparing to fire some kind of weapon at the Scot. She fired her shotgun, but the pellets weren’t as effective as she would have liked, and the drone continued it’s charging, oblivious to the other humans now exiting the tube. Alan, who was number three in line, already had his Arc Rifle ready, firing it when he worked out where the drone was. The shot was direct, and probably a bit lucky, striking the drone’s main chassis and disabling it permanently.

The two alien drones lay in smoking ruins as the rest of the squad was lowered gently by the gravity well onto the metal floor of the largely-empty cargo bay. Only scattered alloy crates provided cover, and this was certainly a concern, as the room wasn’t devoid of occupants. There were two Floaters - having streamlined silver armor and two red eyes, appearing entirely mechanical - flanking a Muton carrying a box. The leader of the two robots roared a challenging cry and tossed the box, forcing Qamut to lift a hand and surround it with red energy. His telekinetic counterpush stopped the box, making it fall to the ground as an additional piece of cover.

It was a defensive position Atka rushed into, narrowly ducking under a pulse laser blast from one of the Alloy Floaters. She lifted her AT Rifle and fired its high-caliber round into the plating of one of the hovering enemies, scoring a direct hit that ripped through its armor and blasted it back onto the ground. The other Floater was shot by Sarah’s Laser Strike rifle, and suffered burn damage but seemed to cling onto its functioning condition. It returned fire at the sniper and blew apart her cover.

By this time, Bonnie had recovered and assumed her own position behind another crate. Hauling her Minigun up above the crate, she began spraying bullets towards the Floater, attempting to eliminate it before it got the chance to take advantage of its target’s missing cover. Enough bullets found their way into the mechanoid’s chassis to finish it off, and it exploded, pieces of metal ringing off the nearby crates. “Move before the big guy gets any ideas!” she yelled, retreating behind her box.

Aware of the grenade on the Muton’s hip, the team of eight scattered, not giving him one target in particular. A laser rifle shot from Gabriel singed his armor, but didn’t remove it, and the Balmadaar responded by charging the support, chain bayonet grinding loudly.

“Take that thing down!” Atka shouted, being too close to use her rifle now and switching to her revolver, missing the alien trooper in her rush. Lily managed to land a hit despite shaky hands, punching through the armor narrowly. Still the brutish alien charged on, until Qamut finally denied it one last time. Flames surrounded the beast, and its skin caught fire with surprising ease, immolating it with the chilling scream of a sentient with its throat melting away.

Alan slowly lowered his Arc rifle, instead of shooting the beast’s leg like he’d been intending. “I… think we’re clear, then,” he said, reloading the weapon despite only having fired once.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

“I doubt that’s the last of them, and…” Red lights flashed in the ship as Atka spoke. “We no longer have the element of surprise. We need to move.” The team advanced to the large door into an empty hallway save for a single drone that fell quickly to the combined arms of the XCOM survivors and the two Overseer agents. Another real challenge presented itself in the room adjacent to the generator. Looking up from a power coil was a rather perturbed Sectoid flanked by two Vipers. The three scampered and slithered into cover.

“Careful about the power coil, we don’t want to blow it up when we’re in the room with it,” An-Yi warned, instructing Rover to give Kevin an aid protocol to allow him to do what he did best. The First Ranger charged forward with sword in hand, shutting the Sectoid down before it could perform any psychic attacks with a slash that cut its torso open.

Atka lifted a hand from behind cover towards one of the Vipers. “Your death is nigh,” she whispered in a cold tone, and the alien suddenly cowered behind cover, dropping its weapon and letting out a shrill hiss. That just left its companion, confused as to what Atka had just done, to lash out with its tongue and pull Gabriel into a strangling embrace.

For now abandoning her AT rifle on the ground, Bonnie charged forward after the trapped support. “Ach, I’m no good with precision,” she lamented as the Viper dodged sideways from the shot, Gabriel still locked in it’s mortal coils.

“That’s why I’m here,” Alan muttered, firing his Arc rifle at the snake’s ‘tail’. It struck, the shot jolting the Viper’s muscles and forcing it to relinquish its prey.

Gabriel coughed, but the embrace had a catch - it had kept him with laser rifle pressed against his chest. Now freed, he could simply push it into the alien’s stomach, and drill a hole through the snakewoman. The other Viper was easy prey for Sarah to shoot down as it tried to flee with movements dulled by neural damage. “Three more down, thousands to go,” Sarah mumbled to herself.

The squad couldn’t give Gabriel a chance to breath, however, as they had to keep moving. The door was electronically locked, and thus Lily sent her Gremlin to the access panel to override in a way the former alien drone could do better than an organic. The door opened, revealing the team that had been assigned to guard the Ghost Field Generator. There was another Muton flanked by two Sectoids and three Alien Drones immediately apparent, and a container of some sort beside the control console was beginning to light up.

“Uh-oh…” Lily whispered before the alerted enemy opened fire. Most of the team dived into cover - save for the support still catching his breath. Gabriel was caught square on by the shots of the drones, their pulse guns poking holes out his back and sending the old soldier into the blackness of death.

“Dammit!” Atka growled, her eyes flaring up with a dark blue glow that only the psychically sensitive could witness. She thrust a wave of ice forward to encapsulate two of the Drones, and with a follow-up tried to cause one of the Sectoids to panic. It resisted, and instead began charging up a swirl of violet and green energy that started to flow into Gabriel’s body.

Qamut threw a ball of fire onto the Muton, but with its armor intact the alien trooper was spared from the flames worst effects and pinned down the Grenadier with suppression. Kevin dared not advance into the room just yet, but with a scatter laser shot he shattered one of the drones and severly damaged another to allow it to be finished off by Sarah. Lily took a shot at the last remaining drone, but her fear after seeing one of the team die prevented her from making it a hit.

Alan was already targeting the remaining drone, however. He fired his rifle, the shot grazing it’s side. “Ah, come on,” he muttered, seeming more frustrated than scared. Behind him, Bonnie was already removing her grenade launcher from her back.

“Now the fun starts,” she said, loading an incendiary grenade into it and firing it, the grenade exploding near the centre of the room. The Muton seemed almost unaffected, but the two Sectoids each caught alight in the conflagration, howling their screeches in pain.

Despite that, the ability the First One on the right had been casting did go off, and Gabriel rose from his metal resting place, held up by biokinetic strings. He lunged for Atka, who responded with a reprisal born of vengeance for the death of the man now nothing more than a puppet, and ended the zombie with a slash of her icy helixes. However, that distraction coupled with a shot that whizzed over Sarah’s head from the other Sectoid left the Muton open to act.

Almost. Kevin opened fire again, scoring a hit on the Muton that punched through its armor and let the fire start to lick at its skin. Qamut raised his minigun to finish it, only for the canister to open and reveal a threat completely foreign to the guerilla fighters that looked upon it. It was a being that seemed composed of light, and its form seemed in constant flux save for a jet black ‘brain’ with eyes like flashlights. A weapon materialized in its hand, and it teleported, reappearing behind Qamut. He only had time to duck out of the way to turn certain death from a streak of energy into a glancing blow that left him badly wounded. He fired wildly with his minigun.

The Codex shifted as if in agony for a moment, but it didn’t go down. Instead, it split into two separate forms. The squad looked on in disbelief, and the Muton shouted a war cry. Intent on taking down an enemy with it, the warrior alien primed its plasma grenade as it began to burn, and launched the explosive between Atka and Sarah. The latter narrowly ducked out of the way of the blast, but Atka was pinned down by a shot from the new Codex as the grenade flew, and was backed into a corner by her positioning.

The plasma grenade exploded, and Atka’s left arm and leg were obliterated as shrapnel impaled her right eye. The Inuit woman was blasted through the wall she had been using as cover, and came to rest near the burning aliens, lying still.

Alan turned around from finally shooting down the drone to see the scene behind him in absolute chaos. He ducked a shot from the original Codex, cursing and quickly switching to his SMG. A short burst later and it emitted a bloodcurdling scream before dissipating into yellow particles, the black ‘brain’ dropping to the ground with a clang.

Bonnie, meanwhile, had had enough. “If this doesn’t qualify as an emergency, I don’t know what does,” the grenadier stated, firing her remaining HE grenade directly in the middle of the Muton and its Sectoid friends. The blast was enough to finish off one of the Sectoids, allow the other to melt away from fire, and sent the Muton on its way to whatever warrior’s heaven it believed it was going to.

Sarah flipped out her pistol to finish the last active enemy. “Room is clear!” she shouted, seeming shaken but doing her best to remain calm. “Raymond, get in here! Lily, get it together and help him! Chandra, Atka needs you!” she rattled off, adding quietly, “If she’s still alive…”

The Chief Engineer rushed in as fast as a man of his age could, shaking a bit of sense into his daughter and going over to the control console with ROV-R to begin the process of hacking the Ghost Field Generator. The Indian biokinetic healer knelt down beside Atka, and began pouring green energy into her. “She’s alive… barely,” Chandra spoke softly. “But it’s going to take all I have just to stabilize her… and I can’t do anything about…”

“We have to complete the mission,” Sarah responded adamantly. “We can’t let these sacrifices be in vain.” She glanced over at Qamut and shook her head. “I’ll take Atka’s place in the forward team. Qamut, you ought to stay behind… so I need one more besides Kevin.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

The two agents of the Overseer looked at each other. “I’ll go,” Alan said, turning back to their hopefully-temporary leader. “Bonnie here’s pretty much used everything she has anyway.”

Sarah nodded, and advanced with Kevin and her other improvised ally. Raymond nodded to Bonnie, Qamut, and Big Sky - the third soldier having just arrived. “Begin setting up the X4 charges in the surrounding rooms. We don’t have time to spare. Move sequentially, stay together, and let’s hope this works.”

The forward team advanced upwards, encountering the occasional drone and a lone Sectoid, but the singular enemies posed little threat and seemed disorganized. It appeared as if they had dealt with the majority of the crew - the ship large but understaffed due to its experimental status, it would seem. However, once they came to a room littered with computer consoles and having a large platform in the middle, they encountered true opposition to their ascension to the bridge. Rising up out of a compartment built into the platform was a hovering mechanical, the design one Sarah had seen before.

“Goddammit, they stole our SHIV plans?” she growled as the alien Hover SHIV turned its Plasma HMG on the group. The Chinese Sharpshooter didn’t waste any time in shooting it directly in its chassis, but even her laser weapon only cut lightly into its armor plating. Kevin didn’t have much more luck with his scatterlaser at medium range from the robot. And matters only became worse as the door leading up to the bridge opened and an armored alien that could only be described as a centaur charged out, jettisoning at Alan with horizontal jetboots.

“What the-” The agent fired a reflexive shot at the fast-approaching centaur, grazing it’s head with a bolt of electricity.

Kevin shot reflexively as well, but only managed to graze the marauding creature that appeared to have a shotgun of the plasma variety. It began a threefold attack. With its hooves, it battered Alan back. With its Burstjet, the Charger shot at Sarah, missing but breaking the ground around her and putting her into a precarious position. Finally, it whipped forward a tail coated in alloy plating like the rest of its armor, but additionally having a blade with a plasma laser line running along its length.

That final attack succeeded where the shotgun had failed, punching through Sarah’s chest and only giving her a few moments of surprise before her vision went red and then white.

Kevin, in a fit of rage, ran forward at the Charger. The move saved his life, for a spray of missiles from the Alien SHIV impacted the ground where he had been standing moments before, and the Ranger blasted the charger at close range. The centaur-like alien reeled from the blow, while the SHIV lit up Kevin with a targeting sensor.

Even with the Charger so close to him, Alan was forced to ignore it and hope it was taken care of by one of his allies. It was either that, or let the SHIV fire whatever barrage of death it had planned. He zapped the mobile turret at range, the electricity destroying the remaining internals and disabling it. But the Charger was still alive, he noted dully as a hoof swung towards his face. He jerked away, enough that the true force of the blow did not connect. “Uh, Kevin?”

Kevin slowly came to his senses, and shot at the Charger with his shotgun. And missed. His eyes widening as the Charger began to swivel, its tail slashing just over Alan’s head, Kevin stumbled back, and used the last thing at his disposal. He pulled out his high explosive grenade, and tossed it to the side of the charger. The explosive radius wasn’t enough to kill the charger, but it did drop it to a lower floor, and the fall ensured its demise.

He took a moment to catch his breath, and glanced at a fallen Sarah solemnly. Shakily, he cautioned, “We should… go make sure the pilot’s dealt with. Somehow I don’t think that Charger was our pilot.” He put in a fresh charge pack into his scatter laser - the last one he had, and began heading up the ladder. In the bridge, there was but a single enemy left - a Sectoid in an unusual form of power armor that turned with a Plasma SMG-esque weapon attached to a mechanism on its arm.

The Sectoid Guru shot forward a thread of violet, and seized control of Kevin’s mind.

Alan glanced at his forcibly traitorous ally. But instead of recoiling or flinching, he simply grunted. “Kill or bust,” he muttered, bringing up his Arc rifle and firing. The electricity shocked the being inside the power armor, which not only caused it pain, but strangely severed the connection between the master and his puppet, allowing Kevin his freedom again. The agent looked him up and down. “That works too,” he said, clearly surprised he was still alive.

Kevin seemed equally surprised, but a grim grin spread across his face as he turned to the not-so-empowered Sectoid. “Surprise motherfucker,” he said before blasting it with his scatterlaser, once, then again at the stunned enemy, ripping through it and ending any chance of a distress beacon getting out.

The Ghost Field Generator

“Come on, Rover…” Lily muttered as the robotic drone hovered before the access panel, a connecting rod locked in and exchanging data between the terminal and the hacking machine.

“Chandra, how’s it going?” Raymond asked as he looked over LIly’s shoulder to see how her drone was doing.

“As well as… can be expected…” Chandra said through clenching teeth, her biokinesis taking all her concentration. Not only was she having to seal up ragged wounds left behind from the detachment of Atka’s left limbs, but she was having to maintain a flow of regulating chemicals circulating through the Inuit woman’s body to prevent her from going into shock. “And there’s still that shrapnel,” she noted with concern between quiet reassurances to Atka, who was partially regaining consciousness and beginning to notice with horror that she was missing an arm and a leg.

“You’re going to have to remove it,” Raymond told her with a steely tone. “Otherwise it might be driven in further once we set off these charges. An-Yi, go help Qamut, Bonnie, and Big Sky with that, there are still several power coils to cover!” he instructed, the old engineer doing his best to take charge of the situation.

Lily glanced worriedly at Atka, but nodded. “Alright, dad.” She grabbed the last two packs of X4 charges and dashed out of the generator room into the previous chamber. Seeing it had already been set up, she hopped down into a ladder shaft and slid to the bottom on her protective gloves before placing her charges in critical areas.

“Sorry, Atka,” Chandra mumbled, sending a flow of positive endorphins through the semi-conscious woman before swiftly and cleanly removing the shrapnel lodged through the Commander’s retina. The Indian psion winced as her patient convulsed in pain, incoherently crying out and convulsing. “It’ll be alright… it’ll be alright…”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Lily met up with Qamut as he was finishing up placing the last of his charges. Giving the Ranger a nod, she pulled out the microphone attached to her helmet. “Status, you two?” she asked the other explosive-bearers. Finding out both were finished, the young engineer met them back in the stealth core room, Qamut following behind her. “We’re ready,” she told her father.

“And so is ROV-R,” Raymond replied with an anxious smile, the drone displaying on its flip-open panel a successful uplink to the ship’s systems. “The bridge is secure, I’m told, so we won’t have any interference.” He had also been told that Sarah was gone, but he reasoned that was information the others could find out for themselves when this was all over.

Lily ran over to the command console, using Rover as a sort of interface and keyboard hybrid alongside Raymond. “Alright, let’s see if we can get our program to work… Rover, translate the program now and prepare it to initialize in one minute.”A set of mechanical whirs and buzzes sounded the drone’s affirmation of the plan, and clicks from the terminal showed something was working. Lily handed Raymond a detonator. “I figure you should do the honors.”

The Chief Engineer chuckled quietly, taking it from her. “Very well… though my reflexes aren’t as good as they used to be. There’s a reason I hung back.”

“I doubt a second of delay will make all that much difference,” his daughter replied with a roll of her eyes, doing her best to forget her worries about Atka for the moment. “Program’s through, ready to activate in twenty seconds.”

“Fifteen.”

“Ten.”

“Five.”

“Zero!”

Chandra braced Atka with Lily’s help while the others braced themselves, and Raymond pressed the button on the top of the activation stick. Simultaneously, all of the final components of the grand ruse the two Shens had devised fell into place.

The X4 charges beeped twice in rapid succession before detonating, rocking the ship with a series of internal explosions that blew up the power coils surrounding the GFD. The sheer force of the elerium-propelled explosions blew alloys, advanced wiring, debris, and charred remnants of alien corpses out of access shafts and ventilation tunnels. As the wreckage began to exit the violently shuddering craft and many of the infiltration team were blow off their feet - only protected from the blast by the reinforced walls of the secondary core room - Rover’s program took effect.

To an outside observer, the alien supply ship seized motion from a sudden trembling for a split second. Then, the main power core along with the auxiliary coils detonated with a flash of light that escapes the confines of the ship wherever it could before a massive doublefanged explosion obliterated the majority of the ship. The very real part of the illusion that sealed the image of utter destruction was the scant debris that escaped the blast - the ruined interior of the legitimately destroyed but not breached power coil chambers - that rained down kilometers to the earth in a shower of ignited, melting sharpnel.

When the only partially-simulated explosion cleared, the Stealth Field Generator was activated for its original intended function, and the alien spacecraft was absent from view in the sky as if completely removed from the skies. In reality, the new crew pulled themselves off of the ground. Many were now nursing bruises in addition to any combat wounds they had suffered. Luckily for the badly-wounded, their job was over for now, and they were tended to by Big Sky’s limited triage skills while Chandra began to finally stabilize Atka and let her slip back into unconsciousness.

The job of the Shen duo wasn’t quite over yet, and they went up to the bridge escorted by Qamut in the event that there were any more alien forces milling about in the ship. That didn’t seem to be the base aside from the occasional drone not consumed in the blast - but by the time they encountered any of the automated responders they found the robots far too preoccupied by the damages to the ship to care about the intruders.

Lily smiled with what amusement she could derive from that as the robots started to perform repairs on their maintenance tunnels and the main hull’s integrity as a priority. “Well, that’s helpful for us…”

“We should still deactivate them so they don’t get any ideas about taking over the bridge once they’re done,” Raymond insisted, to which his daughter agreed. The two made it up to the computer room just before the tunnel up into the bridge.

Lily swore in frustration when she saw the wrecked Alien SHIV lying on the ground. “Those damn thieves…” she growled, but was quickly sobered by the sight of a fallen Sarah, Kevin having laid some cloth respectfully over her wound - the tan material stained red by dried blood. Trying to hold back tears but failing, An-Yi knelt by the Chinese sniper. Raymond stood nearby, but did not pry with his dulled hearing, letting his daughter say her private, murmured farewells in peace.

After a few minutes, An-Yi got up again, audibly saying, “Thank you for everything,” to the First Sharpshooter before rejoining her father. “Let’s go fly this ship somewhere safe,” she said with a sniff.

Raymond put an arm around her, and walked to the bridge alongside his young protegee to do just that.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53

North American Continent
Former United States of America
Not-So-Specifically, Somewhere in Northern Mexico
Afternoon of October 20th, 2030
1605 Hours, Local Time

Atka slowly came to in a side room of the captured alien ship. The lights were slightly dimmed as to not bother her when she did wake up, but she nevertheless squinted at first. She had a moment of panic when she tried to shield her eyes from the light with her left arm and got no response. Chandra gently laid a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

“You’re awake… I was beginning to worry. Relax,” Chandra tried to reassure her.

“M-My arm… it’s… it’s really…”

“You’re alive. Let’s take this one step at a time, alright?”

Atka held up her remaining hand, noticing the light was only blinding her out of one eye. “My right eye… that… that too?”

Chandra nodded sadly. “I’m afraid so. There’s… not much we can do about the eye, but Lily swore she’d find your some prosthetics or make them herself.”

Atka didn’t offer much of response to that, laying back down and taking in the reality of her situation. “We… got the ship, right? This is it?”

“Yes. Everything went according to plan.” Chandra reassured her. She can find out about Sarah later. “Please, just continue to rest for now.” She allowed Atka to drift off again, and walked outside briefly to reassure her daughter and her daughter’s friends that she had awoken and would likely be able to see them tomorrow.

North American Continent
Former United States of America
Not-So-Specifically, Somewhere in Northern Mexico
Afternoon of October 21st, 2030
1715 Hours, Local Time

The next day the Indian doctor kept her promise, allowing Yakone, Lily, Alexis, and Jennifer to see Atka. The Commander was still on her makeshift medical bed, a somewhat hollow look on her features.

“Commander.” Jennifer stepped up to the bed, looking Atka up and down. “How… h-how are you feeling?”

“‘How are you feeling?’, she asks.” Alexis rolled her eyes. “What kind of question is that?”

“You hush,” Jen said back. She smiled at her Commander. “You… y-you did a great job at least… right?”

“I fought for two engagements before being bested by one of those brutes,” Atka replied bluntly. “No point in buttering it up.”

“Being defeated by one of those is hardly something to be ashamed of…” Yakone insisted.

“It doesn’t matter!” Atka snapped. “I can never fight again… I’m essentially useless now. For my part I’ve failed.”

The room fell silent for several minutes. Alexis sighed, breaking the silence. “I knew this was going to happen if we didn’t have enough people. I told dad…”

“Not now, Alex,” Jennifer interrupted. “This isn’t about…”

“I TOLD DAD… that he should have let me go with. What does it matter how old I am? I can fight now.” Alexis waved her hand to Atka. “And I could have been there to protect our Commander!”

“Did you really come in here just to act and sound like a fool? Because the last thing I need right now is listening to you go on a self-righteous tirade!” Atka yelled at Alexis. “Christ you’re selfish.”

Alexis’ eyes widened, and she turned her head away. “I… yeah. I guess you’re right. Um… I can… I should…” She suddenly rushed out the door, a few tears spotted rolling down her cheeks as she left.

Jennifer looked to the Commander with shock. “She… she was just saying how she wanted to help you!”

“I don’t need people heaping their frustrations on me,” Atka replied coldly, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s really pathetic to dump your problems on someone who can’t even leave to drown them out.”

Yakone looked down and clenched her fists. “M...mother… I don’t think that’s…” she tried to say, seeming to struggle to even give her the benefit of the doubt now. Lily remained silent, not wanting to take sides.

“Well, I’m sorry about what has happened to you, but that doesn’t mean you should take it out on us!” Jennifer placed her hands on her hips. “What kind of Commander acts like that? Starts going off on the ones that are worried about her?”

“Are you seriously lecturing me? You’re just a child, you don’t understand anything about this struggle. You, your sister… all of you try to romanticize this fight. There’s no ideals that hold up anymore, no ‘perfect leaders’ you envision,” Atka said bitterly.

“...b...bullshit! Then what would we be fighting for? What did we take this ship for? What did Sarah die for?” Yakone screamed in denial.

“S-Sarah is…” Atka fell silent, shock registering on her features. “I didn’t…”

“Would you even care at this point? You don’t care about anyone! You’re just a cold-hearted person… if anyone’s a selfish fool it’s you!” Yakone spat angrily, though undertones of sadness marked her tone as well. “I’ve tried so hard to make you care about me but I was just wasting my time, wasn’t I… I hate you!” Yakone said with an air of finality, and stormed out of the room to go find her friend and try and comfort her.

Joseph stepped into the room, looking back at the girl that had just run past him. “Where is she going in such a hurry?” He looked around the room. “Where’s Alex?” Jennifer didn’t answer, only looking down at the floor. “What did I miss?”

“Children being a terrible mistake,” Atka muttered.

“I only see one child in this room,” Jennifer snapped, storming out.

Joe folded his arms. “What is going on? I remember four young women eager to come and cheer up their Commander after giving her all for their sake and the sake of others, and now… what?” He looked to Lily for an explanation.

The young Shen gave none, merely averting her eyes from his gaze. Instead it was Atka that responded. “Your daughter thinks she can save the whole world by herself… she’s going to get herself hurt or killed with that attitude. And your other daughter’s as self righteous as her and Yakone.”

“I see.” Joe slowly grabbed a chair and sat down. “That almost sounds like a… young and eager soldier I met years ago, fighting against an unknown enemy. Of course, that soldier was tempered, trained, and encouraged to develop, not ridiculed and put down as self-righteous.”

“Get out.”

Joe looked over at Lily. “Why don’t you go join your friends. I’ll come check on you in a bit.”

An-Yi glanced at Atka with a sympathetic look before nodding and exiting.

“So…” Joe let out a long sigh. “That’s it then? You throwing in the towel?”

“There’s nothing a cripple can do to directly help the Resistance. I can continue to offer tactical advice or whatever, but I’ve been robbed of any direct role in any of it. All the power I had is rendered useless. You could never understand,” Atka insisted.

“Oh… I understand that I can’t understand. That isn’t what is at issue here.” Joseph scooted a bit closer. “What is at issue is that the young women that will be a big part of the coming years of XCOM wanted to check on the Commander they look up to… and she just shot them down. Were you… trying to make them feel as bad as you do? Is that it?”

“I’m not that spiteful. I just don’t want anything to do with them right now.” Nor do I want anything to do with you. “I’m not going to coddle them, and I’m not going to try and mend things with my daughter. I never had a chance of being a proper mother to her. It’s better for both of us if we drop a facade of having an actual relationship.”

“I see…” Joseph stood up. “Well, than… maybe… I’ll go see to her then. I’ll let her know her mother has given up on her. Tell her I’ll care of her now. You can lay here, feeling sorry for yourself, snapping at everyone that wants to help. But some of us have a war to fight.”

Atka tried to push herself up to a sitting position. “You have a really fucking sick sense of - “

“Enough!” Chandra spoke up, glaring at Atka but then adding, “both of you.” The doctor turned to Joseph. “It’s better if my patient rests. You two can bicker all you want when you’re both healthy but I draw the line here.”

Joseph nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll… let you rest, Commander. Sorry to have bothered you.” He turned and left.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & ZombieSplitter53

The years went by as An-Yi and her father worked tirelessly to rebuild the Avenger. The shelter of the Gulf of California gave them all the time they needed.

"So Yakone wanted the ship to be called the Avenger. Does that work for you dad?"

"Of course. Sounds about right... Doesn't look like there's much hope for the power coils... most of them at least. We'll need some means of providing auxiliary power and upgrading the main core so we can move at something other than a crawl. Any ideas, An-Yi?"

"Let me get back to you on that."

***​

"I think I've got it. The connections on some of the ancillary generators may be beyond repair, but we can move the actual power sources given time."

"To where?"

"Well, we'll need the help of the Resistance to get us the parts and provide the manpower, but I had an additional piece to add onto the Avenger to solve our power and speed problems. Four of them. Remember those huge turbines that guy from N.A.S.A. showed us? The Marauders found the blueprints in Houston."

"And all we need to do is adapt the designs and upgrade them... well done."

"Well, I'll definitely need your guidance for that, but thanks."

***​

"That's one down... man, these things take a long time to build. A year for each one... damn."

"Patience, dear... we'll have the Avenger flying eventually. We can't afford to rush this and risk discovery. We aren't ready yet, and the Commander..."

"Yeah... I wish I could so more for her. If I could only figure out how to adapt the alien's cybernetics for our use."

"You'd need a trained doctor or two for that. Give Jennifer time, maybe you two can work something out."

"That'll be easier to heal than a mother-daughter relationship anyway... I wish Yakone and her mother could be better off than this."

"...An-Yi, I ought to tell you..."

"Vahlen told me. A few days before the attack on the base. I wish she could have made it out with us."

"Believe me, I feel the same way."

***​

"The last one's here! We can start attaching it and rigging up all the turbine cores and their systems and structure... are you alright dad?"

"I'm fine. Just slowing down a but. I'll... be with you in a minute. I want to see it all come together as much as you do."

***​

"Morning, dad. You up for looking over the optimizations I made today? We're operable now but I'm not sure... dad? Dad!"

***​

North American Continent
Mesoamerican Precinct
Specifically, La Paz in Baja California Sur
Evening of February 8th, 2036
1834 Hours, Local Time

An-Yi Shen knelt by a roughly carved stone just outside of La Paz, a humble marker for where her father, the first Chief Engineer of XCOM, was now laid to rest. Most of the others had dispersed from the modest funeral now, though Lily hardly noticed them go. She was too overcome by melancholy and emptiness, and it was all she could do to keep from breaking down into tears again.

A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, Jennifer not wanting to leave her alone. “Lily… I just want you to know… I’m here. For anything. Just remember that.”

“I know…” the Eurasian engineer replied quietly. “I wish he was… he never even got to see the Avenger fly… never got to see his work be used to actually make a difference...”

“Maybe… but it will make a difference. His work, more than most, is what has kept us going all these years. He left us with so much. His work… his research… and his daughter.”

Lily nodded sadly. “I… knew I’d have to take over engineering eventually… I just… didn’t like to think about it. I’m not sure I can compare.”

“You made those Gremlin things out of a that robotic patrol ADVENT sent after us,” Yakone pointed out. “You may not have the same skills as your dad, but you have your own talents you know.”

“She’s right.” Alexis rubbed the back of her neck. “I know… you probably don’t realize this. You know, with me always… ragging on you. Calling you a nerd and… such. But you really know your stuff, Lily. I think you’re… pretty awesome. I… I wish I was half as smart as you. And I just hope I can make my dad half as proud as your dad was of you.”

The new Chief Engineer did seem a little surprised at that. “You… mean that? Seriously?”

“It seems like we’re speaking to honest-Alex to me,” Yakone affirmed.

Alexis blushed a bit. “Y-yeah… I mean it. I know I can… can be a bitch sometimes. But… if someone had to be my boss… I’m happy it'd be someone I call friend.”

“I appreciate that. I really do.” Lily glanced back down at the headstone. “Thanks for everything dad. I’ll make you proud, I swear,” she whispered, before getting up and finally walking back to the Avenger with her friends.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

North American Continent
Mesoamerican Precinct
Specifically, the Megacity Dahlsworth
Evening of May 4th, 2036
1901 Hours, Local Time

Doctor Robert S. Tygan stood before a polished glass window facing out of the house he lived in with his associate, gazing over the Megacity beyond. Skyscrapers rose into the sky, making even the evening feel as bright as day. Cars raced down the streets to an extent, only coming to a stop at various checkpoints manned by ADVENT forces that looked small from this distance, like soldier ants milling about. The view he had was not one he enjoyed entertaining the idea of abandoning, but he had made his choice over the past few months, and now it was a matter of convincing his partner.

The door opened, and Robert didn't initially turn, but greeted the person that came inside. "Good evening, Kai."

The Japanese scientist walked in with a rather surprised look on his face as he closed the door and locked it. "Robert... I was half expecting to either come home alone or find you neck deep in lab reports."

"Not today." Tygan shifted to face his assistant, and swept his hand out towards the window. "I've been... thinking about all of this. About ADVENT. More and more we're tasked with projects to increase the effectiveness of the Peacekeeping forces. And never have we been able to have complete control over our work." The scientist sighed. "Those Personal Combat Simulators we've been working on? I'm not sure I can hand those over to our superiors now."

"W-What?" Kai laughed nervously and shook his head, shaking off his lab coat. "Never figured you a comedian."

Tygan tapped the back of his head. "No one is listening in right now, but how long is it going to be before even our thoughts aren't private? Before we're nothing more than puppets?"

"Well... I guess... It is the hazard of the job?" Kai asked, slowly walking to his teacher, and his best friend in all honesty aside from someone else. "Where... Are you going with this Tygan?"

"It may be time I... resign from my positon. Let someone more willing to continue on following orders blindly take up the role. I may be able to find work... elsewhere."

Kai's heart sank and he went to his teacher's side. "You can't! What... What will happen to all the progress me and you made? I thought me and you were a team. I don't know if I could work as well with anyone else if you were to resign."

Tygan raised an eyebrow. "I was hoping you'd come with me."

"Well I'm not letting you go to just-... wait what? What do you mean go with you? Where would we even go?" Kai questioned a bit skeptically, scratching his head.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors ADVENT has tried hard to suppress," Tygan responded, lowering his voice. "the Resistance would be our only chance of getting out of this city."

"T-Them?" The oriental asked with a raised eyebrow. "I do have a full life ahead of me Tygan and... this sounds like a stretch. Do you have anything solid that they will even help us? Or how to contact them?"

"To be honest...it's going to require a great deal of luck. I know the Resistance listens in on a wide range of old radio networks... So if we leave them a message on those maybe they can find us. The only issue is that ADVENT will likely hear us too since we don't have the ability to encode our messages like the Resistance does." Tygan shook his head. "But when we do that I'd like to be in the outer districts of the city; we won't find any help here. And the only way we have a prayer of getting past security is if we remove our chips so they can't I.D. us as ADVENT staff via the checkpoint scanners."

Kai rubbed the back of his head. "Well..." He looked like the man was about to tell Tygan that he was crazy and that the plan was horrible but he stopped himself and finally, Kai sighed. "I will find a woman and get my nose to bleed so I can swipe some stuff from the medical closet. After that... will have to rely on my powers so we don't bleed out."

"I hope your biokinesis will be enough... You're going to need to keep us both conscious so we can perform the procedure. And we'll need to do it here, out of the way of prying eyes."

"Don't worry my old friend. Not even ADVENT or you know everything about me." Kai said with a proud smirk.

Tygan gave him a questioning look, but reasoned he'd find out soon enough.

***​

Oh stop being such a baby about this Kai. You really need to get over this phase of yours. Sukuna said smoothly in the man's head.

This isn't a phase. It is... w-who I a-am... Kai thought back as he walked to the medical closet, his nose bleeding profusely.

Oh it was just a little touch on the cheek my dashing Asahi. Sukuna teased her host.

Don't do that. Kai demanded as he entered the pantry like room and shut the door and began taking what he needed.

So... You sure about this plan? This man could ruin your life with his ambitions. Besides, I was going to try and hook you up with that cute secretary on Floor Six. The Kami groaned in a displeased manner.

That just gives me more reason to want to go - on top of if he leaves, something bad WILL happen to me... not might. That and he is my teacher. I might have grown up but I still have some things to learn from him. And lastly... He is my only friend. I would be lonely.

You have me my Asahi. Sukuna said in a cutesy tone.

Kai pinched his nose harder. You are a devil, not a goddess. The Japanese man collected his stuff and quickly made sure not to stay too long so no one got suspicious, having to carry the stuff on him till he could return to the apartment later in the night after work.

Tygan was waiting for him there, having cleaned out a room upstairs save for two tables. He took note of the equipment Kai had. "Good. So let's review. We're going to have to remove the implant in the back of the other's skull. I need mine removed first so you can keep me conscious for your procedure. I will do my best to finish even if you pass out halfway through. Are you ready?"

"Yeah..." Kai shook his head and pulled out one last thing. "This was extremely dangerous to take but... well... this is already dangerous." Kai said, taking out a small vial and two syringes. "Either of us will only be able to get half but it will keep us conscious and numb the pain."

"Not confident in your psionics?" Tygan questioned with a trace of grim humor. "That should make things a little easier." Let's begin."

"Yes sir..." Kai mumbled as he put on a pair of gloves and pulled the scalpel out of its packaging, next pulling out the syringe and pulling some of the anesthetic into as as he stuck Tygan and injected him. It took a few minutes for it to kick in and during that time, Kai closed his eyes, the entire room falling away as he left himself in a blank place with only himself, Tygan on the table, and Sukuna standing on the other side of the table to him.

"So... what is the plan?" The Kami asked with a small smile, tapping her chin.

"Just... keep him not feeling anything, and help guide my hands. This will be a delicate operation, but I need it done quickly. And when Tygan does me well... just do that self-heal thing you do when I meditate."

"Yes master." Sukuna said in a suggestive tone.

Kai's eyes bulged and he shuddered a bit, shaking his head. "Not the time..." He said as he started dragging the blade down the back of his teacher's head, Sukuna holding out her arms and closing her eyes, sending out healing energy into the man to keep him from feeling pain, or passing out from the medicine, and simultaneously staunching his blood flow so he didn't bleed too much. It took some time, but Kai finally removed the chip with some forceps. Kai let out a relieved sigh, and he began stitching up his teacher just as the anesthesia would be wearing off, now only Sukuna keeping him from freaking out in pain.

Tygan slowly came to, and with surprising force of will picked himself up despite a headache. "The tools, please," he said in a slight daze.

Kai slowly opened his eyes, coming out of his meditative state and he let out a deep breath. "Um... but... Robert, you should give yourself a few more moments..."

"I'll be fine... we don't have a lot of time. They run a psychic PSA every evening, remember? That's in three hours... once the signal fails to reach us they'll know something's wrong."

Kai closed his eyes and nodded, quickly handing over the tools as he climbed onto his table and laid down. Don't fail me Sukuna.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

Yes sir. The Goddess responded, and although Tygan could not see her, she stood over Kai in his dreamscape, her hands hovering over him as Tygan injected Kai.

The scientist got to work, his incision relatively precise even if his hands shook ever so slightly from a dull pain that was slowly becoming sharp in the back of his head. He pulled out a device with mechanical forceps that clasped around the back of the chip in Kai's head, and pulled. The implant came free. Tygan wavered, but began stitching up the back of his assistant's head, knowing he couldn't afford to pass out now.

Sukuna helped from her end, and after the stitches were in place, they instantly sealed up, Tygan able to remove the thread like he had instructed beforehand to just let the wound heal. Sukuna let out a sigh of relief and released her energy from Kai, only to begin transferring some to the scientist to keep him awake, the glow of her energy invisible to him.

"Fascinating..." Tygan murmured, wondering how Kai was still renewing him even after he was semiconscious at best.

It took a long few minutes but after those past, Kai's eyes opened and he pushed himself up, shaking his head. "Is it... over now?"

"This part is, yes," Tygan replied. "Now we just need to get past security. I've already sent out a message over radio, so if the Resistance decides to help us I have a feeling they'll find us." Tygan grabbed a woolen beanie to put over his head to hide the fresh operation scar from view. "We should get going as soon as you can stand again."

"We can go now, just support me." Kai said, trying to stand. "I can get rid of your scar you know Robert..."

The scientist helped him up, and shook his head. "No... I'd prefer to keep it. I'd like a reminder of my mistakes, so that I might not make them again."

"Hope this isn't a mistake in itself my old friend..." Kai whispered to Tygan, needing a few minutes of support until he could finally walk on his own.

"In the mortal sense perhaps it will be, but that's a risk we have to take."

***​

The pair of now-former ADVENT researchers walked down the city streets, their footfalls making slight tapping sounds against the orderly-organized concrete tiles. Streetlights unnervingly like spotlights were coming on around them as the city’s systems shifted into the night phase. The two were lucky to have made it this far, as the city edges were close now, and they had made it to one of the only streets near the peripherals of the Megacity that was still open at this time of night. On side streets small automatons and a few ADVENT soldiers were waving people onto the main road. Their mag rifles gave little room for argument, even for those that lived in these outer slums that were often new to the bastions of ADVENT’s power.

Even with the increasingly levels of security in proximity to the city limits, Robert reminded Kai of the most important thing to bear in mind. “Continue to act natural. If we look nervous they will stop us, and even in informal civilian clothes they will recognize us. I’d rather not find out if they’d question us and take us captive or just outright shoot us.”

“I’m not nervous, you are the nervous one.” Kai shot back, though took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Must admit never done something like this. Kind of exhilarating really. You know… never snuck out for girls, mainly stayed inside and did science homework.”

“It’s probably for the better that you didn’t. You know how they can be about ‘meaningless liaisons’, especially when it comes to staff. Though I have noticed a degree of hypocrisy when it comes to some of their military forces…” Tygan shook his head, seeing they were coming to the gates that would allow them to exit the city. “Now comes the hardest part… Kai, they’re more likely to recognize me so perhaps you should do the talk-”

“Citizen!” An ADVENT Trooper called out, holding up a hand while advancing. “Turn around slowly,” they ordered, speaking directly to Tygan.

This… may be bad, the scientist said, but the click of the weapon made him cautiously swivel to face the Coalition soldier. “Is there… something I can help you with, sir?”

The Trooper placed their rifle on their back and roughly grabbed his arm. “Come with me.” They pointed a pistol at Kai. “You too.”

“Yeah… alright, though this is a little strange don’t you think?” Kai asked the guard, going towards Tygan.

What is it the young people say in this century… you are fucked? The voice inside Kai’s head said, causing him to shudder a bit.

Shut up! Getting a nosebleed would be very bad right now you! Kai yelled in his mind.

Don’t have to yawp you barbarian… Sukuna said.

“You have been selected to be transferred to Mexico City. Follow me,” the soldier replied, and then lowered their voice. “Play along and you might just survive this, Doctor Tygan and Kazuko.”

Tygan paled. That was quick… for which of them? Did ADVENT discover our absence and respond or is this man…?

His question was left answered, as the ADVENT Trooper fell silent and escorted them to a truck. “One more for the personnel and equipment transfer,” he told an ornately armored soldier, one of the ADVENT Officers.

"̵͏̡P҉҉҉̛͏ù͞͞ţ͠ ̢̀͟҉t̷̴̡h̷̡̕͜͏e͘͡҉̴m̸̵͠͞ ̷̸̸̀ẃ̶̀͝í̷͠t͢͠͏̛̀h̨ ̛̀͘t̨̧h̷͜͡͠e͏̶̵̛ ̛̀o̸̷̵̧t̛͏ḩ̢e̴̛͡ŕ̀҉ ͏̛̀t̡͘w̨̨̡o̕͞,̴̶̧̀"̴̡̧ ̷̵̸́ the Officer replied in the strange ADVENT language. The Trooper paused for a moment, and then nodded, pushing the scientist and doctor into the truck almost uncertainly. The Officer and that trooper went into the front of the truck, while another trooper and a medic followed Robert and Kai into the vehicle’s back. There was an assortment of strange equipment in the cargo hold, along with two terrified-looking people.

“Do not touch anything,” the ADVENT Medic instructed the four occupants. She and her bodyguard sat down on small benches on either side of the truck interior, while the four civilians had to sit on a small space in the ground.

“Where… are they taking us?” Tygan dared to ask one of the other occupants.

“I don’t know… we went in for gene therapy but after we were done they said we had been selected for some sort of distinguished service to the Coalition… I just want to go home…”

“Quiet. There is nothing to be concerned about. Remain silent,” the medic insisted coldly.

Kai looked over everyone and tapped his foot. “Kore hontōni kami ga Tygan, nō ga…” (This really was hairbrained Tygan…)

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

North American Continent
Mesoamerican Precinct
Not-So-Specifically, Somewhere in Mexico
Morning of May 6th, 2036
1032 Hours, Local Time

They were on the road for hours, the medic and trooper conversing in their language and paying little heed to the civilian occupants of the vehicle. In the front, the Officer was more silent. The Trooper next to him was thankful for that, for he didn’t understand a word of the language his friends had dubbed ‘Jabberwocky’.

I’m never taking a job like this again, the middle-aged man from prewar New York thought to himself with sigh. Too high-stress. Give me the straightforward shit.

The officer next to him glanced away from the wheel for a moment, noticing his irritation. "̢͡͡͏̵M̢̛͡o̷̶̡r̵̶͘͟͢ ̧̡B̸͟a҉̧͜͠l͝͠à̷҉͝҉t̕͘e̢̨̢n̢̨̡͟͟?̴͘҉̶"̴̡̡̧͝ he asked.

The Trooper had started to smile as he saw what they were approaching, and turned to his ‘commanding officer’ with a shrug. “Sorry, what the fuck are you idiots saying?” he asked before grabbing onto the nearest handhold as a mine disguised under an oddly-marked rock exploded beneath the truck, throwing it onto its side with a tumultuous rumble.

The occupants of the back were thrown around suddenly by the hit, the force enough to slam them against the side of the vehicle painfully. Thankfully the blast wasn’t strong enough to do much more than topple and stop the vehicle, or they might have impacted more fatally. But then again, that wasn’t the intent. As the medic and the trooper composed themselves, drew their weapons, and opened the back doors, they were immediately shot by conventional weapons fire and killed.

Their death cries were echoed by one from the front, and the killers of the two wardens revealed themselves. There was three of them in total, soon joined by the Trooper from before that took off his helmet to reveal perfectly healthy skin. One of the other three wielded some sort of modified minigun, the second a regular assault rifle, and the third the same as the second - though she was escorted by some sort of robotic drone resembling earlier ADVENT models.

“Could have used a less powerful bomb, you know,” Kevin muttered, tossing his ADVENT helmet away. “That hurt.”

“Not like we had many alternatives on short notice,” Qamut replied with a shake of his head. “Walk it off, Kevin…”

“Tell that to them.”

“Speaking of which…” the man in the middle motioned for them to come out. “You’re safe now. We’ll take you somewhere where you won’t be shipped off to some facility for god-knows-what now,” he said. “Name’s David Slater. We’re with the Resistance.”

The two from the Gene Therapy Clinic seemed unsure, but Tygan stepped forward, brushing himself off. “You had me rather concerned there, ‘Kevin’,” he said to the false ADVENT soldier. “I wasn’t sure if the Resistance got my message or not.”

“It was a sloppy and hasty way to contact it, but yeah, we got it,” the woman with the drone said bluntly.

“Be nice, they just got blasted on their backs out of nowhere…” Kevin reminded Lily for the second time.

Lily shook her head. “I heard you the first time. Come on, let’s head back to HQ.” She began walking off towards a set of run-down cars the three soldiers had apparently come in.

“Sorry about Lily, she doesn’t… quite trust you two yet,” Qamut apologized to Robert and Kai. “Though I doubt you would have risked your lives unless you were serious about wanting out. We could really use the help of a scientist and another skilled doctor… especially ones that helped perfect a lot of ADVENT tech.”

“Something I’m not highly proud of anymore…” Robert admitted.

“I have no doubt,” Qamut responded. “But you’ve got a chance to make up for that now.”

“Another skilled doctor?” Kai asked a bit curiously, rubbing his head. “This is a rather pleasant surprise. Who are they?”

“Chandra Bandyopadhyay,” Qamut replied with surprising fluidity. “She’s a biokinetic like you. She’s got almost two decades of experience with her psionics, though considering how they are unlocked and pretty much ready-to-use that experience doesn’t outweigh the technical knowledge you have over her. We were hoping you two could fill the roles of Chiefs of Staff for Science and Medical. The skeptical girl’s the head of engineering.”

“I would probably accept that position… I don't want to stop using my talents of course,” Tygan told him. “Though I''ll put them to use for a different cause this time.”

“Not much choice now, huh?” Kai asked with a nervous chuckle. “Don’t wanna die in some desert in the middle of nowhere because I wasn’t exactly gracious.”

“We’re not going to kill you if you don’t accept kid, we don’t operate like them,” David said from by the vehicle, hefting a crate onto the ground and opening it. “Uh… Likuga, we could use these…” He brought the crate over with the lid under his shoulder.

Qamut looked inside, seeing some unique-looking cybernetics lying within. “You don’t say… but I’m not sure we have the… expertise...”

He and the other two soldiers glanced over at Tygan and Kai. “No, we definitely do have the expertise…” Kevin corrected. “You guys worked with some advanced prosthetics in the past in Dahlsworth right?”

Tygan nodded. “I imagine you have someone that could make use of them… though I don’t recognize those particular designs.”

“You’d be right. You’ll meet her once we get to base,” Kevin replied. “And believe me, if you can make them work I think Chief Shen will start liking you two a lot more…”

“Cybernetics huh?” Kai rubbed his hands together. We can do those kinds of cybernetics right?

More or less… His Kami replied, mentally shrugging in his head.

“Yeah, I would say we could help whoever needs them. Just um… lead the way.” Kai told the men with a nod.

North American Continent
Mesoamerican Precinct
Not-So-Specifically, Somewhere in Mexico
Afternoon of May 7th, 2036
1450 Hours, Local Time

It took a day and a half to get to La Paz, but eventually the resistance fighters and their four refugees arrived in the worn Shanty City. That didn’t prove to be their final destination, however, as Kevin and the others dropped off the extraneous two civilians in town and brought the scientist and doctor to the top of an old and still operable medical facility with a less operable landing pad. David pulled out something looking a lot like car keys, and from thin air a dropship seemed to materialize. He opened up the hatch, and had the group climb aboard.

“You… have Ghost Field Technology?” Tygan murmured in amazement. “You aren’t just any resistance fighters unless my information is severely inaccurate.”

“It’s not… we’re special,” Kevin affirmed with a grin.

***​

The Skyranger took them outside the city to a stretch of dry plains where a massive alien supply ship sat amidst the chaparral, dust blowing around it. The dropship landed ontop of its 'big brother', and Kai and Robert were escorted inside. “Welcome to the Avenger,” Qamut announced. “This is our mobile base of operations. Took us awhile to get this up and running, but we haven’t got a chance to use it yet. We need more personnel… and you two are the first step in that direction.”

“You three can go handle your own stuff, don’t think the Commander wants to deal with you all at once,” An-Yi said to the other three soldiers, and they nodded in agreement and dispersed. “You two come with me,” she told the former ADVENT staff, moving to climb up a ladder to an upper floor.

“So uh… your name is Lily Shen, right? Or at least that is what I picked up from the other guys.” Kai asked as he climbed after Robert.

“Yep,” she replied. “If you’re trying to place me you’re gonna be wasting your time. None of our names are in any databases. We’re essentially ghosts.”

“Not trying to place you, just was wondering who we exactly had the pleasure of guiding us around to this Commander of yours. What should we expect? I mean this person needs cybernetics so what are they missing?”

“Half of what’s in that box,” Lily answered grimly. “Need a right eye, a left arm, and a left leg.” She reached the floor she needed to get to - a white marking labeling it as ‘command central’ - and stepped out. “Hey, Commander. I’ve got the two we went to retrieve.”

The two found themselves standing across from a woman with old-style prosthetics attached to a badly-scarred left side - likely from plasma burns - who turned to size them up with her one good eye. “Dr. Robert Tygan and Dr. Kazuko. Welcome to my ship,” Atka said neutrally.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Tygan replied, not one to be unnerved by wounds but understanding why the matter would be of importance to Shen.

Why did she use Tygan’s first name but not mine? Kai asked the woman in his head.

Shut up and say hi, you will look creepy if you stare, or she might get the wrong idea… by the way keep the nose blood in.

Screw off… Kai said, unconsciously rubbing his nose. “Um… same.”

Atka raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me, Kai Kazuko. Is something the matter?” she questioned, seeming about as suspicious as Lily had been.

“Sorry, what? What gave you the idea something was the matter?” He questioned back.

“Looked alot like a nervous tell to me,” Atka explained flatly. She sighed, glancing back at the holographic depiction of Earth for a moment. “...I understand my team found some sort of cybernetics with them. And that you two might be able to… make them work for me.”

“I have had a chance to look at them,” Robert informed her. “From what I can tell they’re a design that a colleague of mine in Africa worked on awhile back. Some sort of… experimental psionic cybernetics. I was told those would work just fine for you.”

“They would… if you know how to attach them.”

“The process shouldn’t be too different from operations I have done with my partner in the past. The only difference is that they will synthesize nerve tissue from your own to allow you and only you to control them.”

Atka turned back to him, and chuckled without much humor in the laugh. “You know, I would have refused such a procedure immediately eighteen years ago. But now, I’d rather be able to actually fight than have to make do with these…” she explained, moving around her prosthetic left arm to demonstrate a limited, jerky range of motion. Lily seemed to flinch, not at the motion but at Atka’s words, but said nothing.

“Well… they don’t at least look to be that bad, but yeah, I am confident me and Robert will have you up and running in no time. Cybernetics shouldn’t feel much different from actual flesh and bone if we read the reports right, so it’ll be like being back to a hundred percent.” Kai looked back to Lily. “You going to take the rest of the cybernetics and reverse engineer them or something?”

Lily grit her teeth briefly. “They’re a little too advanced for that… they’ll likely go into storage for now.” Ass… Composing herself, she weakly admitted, “This operation will be up to you two. There’s… not much I can do to help with it. The cybernetics are already built, they just need to be attached.”

“Easy enough.” Kai noted. Sukuna… question… is that a guy or a woman?

The asian looking one? The Kami questioned.

Yeah…

I would hazard a guess the latter… she does dress a bit boyishly though. And looks… a bit on the masculine side.

Oh great… this will be hell to work with. Kai couldn’t help but shudder and put a hand in his pocket because it was shaking.

The Commander squinted at Kai for a moment. “Let me know when you two are ready to go through with it. I’ll be ready whenever… not much I can do until then.”

“Right. Do we um… have a workspace or anything so me and my teacher can do prep work in?” Kai asked calmly, but flashed a nervous smile.

“Lily can show you where our medical labs are. They’re fairly empty right now save for Chandra, but she can help you get set up.”

“Right… was hoping to meet this… woman?” Kai asked, now his nervousness in his voice.

“Yes, she is of the female gender,” Atka said with impatience. “Why does that matter? Are you some sort of backwards person?”

“B-Backwards?” Kai asked, holding up his hands defensively. “W-What do you mean by that?”

“Do you find women to be less capable than you? It sounds like you’re refusing to work with one.”

“W-What!? No, of course not, I just… don’t like… being… around…….. women….” He scratched the back of his head and looked to Tygan with pleading eyes.

“He has gynophobia,” Robert explained both helpfully and not-so-helpfully.

“That’s… actually a thing?” Atka chuckled briefly, this time mildly amused, before shaking her head. “Figure out how to deal with it then… I’ll be here when you’ve resolved that issue and are ready to begin.”

“I-I can deal with it…” He complained, obviously embarrassed. “I just need to adjust.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 & MarineAvenger

After getting settled in and preparing the operating room, the procedure was prepared. Atka was lying down on her back on the table, with Tygan checking the various pieces of equipment they had available: surgical and welding implements, a vitals monitor, and little else. The old prosthetics had been discarded, and the new ones sat in their packaging in the corner of the room. Robert held in his hands a round device that looked suitable to be attached to the base of Atka’s shoulder where her original left arm would have come from.

“Upper Attachment Port is clean and ready to be attached. Are you ready, Miss Ipiktok?”

“I am. Let’s get this over with,” she said dryly; a bit apprehensive despite her intense desire to be fully functional again.

“Very well, Let me remind you that we cannot dull your nerve centers with biokinesis during this procedure. These Tier ‘S’ psionic cybernetics require a proper connection to be established and we’ll need to ensure nothing will disrupt that. We only have one shot at getting your body to accept the initial nervous link, lest it not recognize the synthesized tissue and reject it.”

“I haven’t forgotten. I’ll deal.”

Tygan nodded. “Kai, give her the painkiller the city kindly donated us. It may not be much, but it will make the pain possible to bear.”

“Glad we got lucky with this one…” Kai said out loud, taking the syringe with the painkillers inside and flicked the edge, as he walked over to Atka, taking a bit to control his nerves as he stuck the woman quickly, injecting her and pulled the needle out, throwing it away. “Alright… t-time to do this Robert.”

The older man placed the disk against the stunp of Atka’s arm and a series of metal clamps automatically extended. “Make the incisions and push these in. They’ll bond with the tissue and begin cloning nerve tissue.” Chandra laid down an odd liquid basin the cybernetics had come with - a stable and sterile place for where the nerve cords could be generated. In it she laid down the bottom half of the cybernetic arm, a long narrow cavity indicating exactly where the tissue would go.

Meanwhile, Kai assisted Chandra with the shoulder implant, having quickly read up to refresh his memory before starting the procedure. “Everything good so far?” He asked.

“Vitals are holding stable,” Tygan observed by looking at the monitor. “Keep going and repeat the same procedure for the leg. Then we’ll move to the optical connection.”

“Save the worst for last, huh?” Kai asked, placing the connection port on Atka’s left leg and clamped it into place, Kai bringing the leg over and repeated the process they had for the arm. “Now… Chandra… you will… Need to hold her eyes open for me while I connect the eye to her eye cord. Just… just holding it open would be fine, this requires… Delicacy.”

“I would imagine.” Chandra did so, holding open the eye of the Inuit woman who was still conscious but hadn’t yet showed more than gritted teeth to indicate pain.

“Make it quick,” Atka muttered, her face paler than usual from apprehension and pain.

Kai nodded and closed his eyes. “May wish to restrain her now Tygan.” After that, Kai escaped into his mind, every distraction falling away till only the table with Atka on it, himself, and Sukuna across from him.

“Poor woman…” The Kami noted.

“Please Sukuna… try and at least keep the rest of her body calm. We are jacking into her brain.” Kai said as he slowly lowered the cybernetic eye towards the socket and the back of the prosthetic opened, a small neural cord guiding itself towards its destination, the dreamscape able to keep Kai steady as he placed his hand on Atka’s forehead, pushing down hard to restrict her movement as the eye made the connection.

Atka cried out in pain as the cord began grafting itself onto what remained usable of her preexisting nerves, consuming all of the rest as organic material to use in replacement cells. Robert and Chandra both had to keep her restrained until the process completed and she stopped struggly - remaining anything but relaxed.

“Stabilizing… let’s continue.” Tygan brought a synthesizing tool to the exit port on the end of Atka’s left shoulder and took a sample. Although invasive, it was much less painful than the eye had been. As the process completed, the space in the lower half of the mechanical arm began to be filled with a fragile, delicate structure - an artificially created nervous system extension.

Chandra clamped the other half of the arm down. “Repeat the process for the leg, Kazuko,” she said while preparing to attach the arm.

“Kai… woman says it is time for the leg.” His assistant said helpfully, overseeing the arm as he moved down to her leg and began making the connection there, and while on the inside he had a mixed look of determination and nervousness while on the outside he was a complete calm.

“Alright… material looks stable. Now comes the difficult part,” Robert announced. “Chandra, attach the arm. If it is accepted, Kai will follow up.” With a word of acknowledgement Chandra went to connect the exit port with the entry point.

A small screen lit up, analyzing the process as Atka grimaced in agony from the nervous shock of the sudden surge of sensory information and her psionic flow being altered. Her expression shifted several times as a headache overwhelmed her and continually shifted from dull to splitting to sharp. After what felt like an hour it finally subsided after ten minutes, and the screen indicated success.

Kai immediately followed up with the leg, unfortunately having her subjected to another ten minutes of pain until finally a success reading came and he nodded.

“Now there’s just one more thing. Ipiktok, I need you to stand for me. We need to confirm you have fully range of motion.”

“Go… to hell…” Atka grumbled, shakily moving her organic hand to push herself up - and was momentarily surprised when her left arm responded for a similar movement. She found herself able to stand, and moved both legs with equal precision.

“Both limbs seem to be in working order… The eye?” Robert queried.

Atka slowly opened her shuttered cybernetic eye, a soft dark blue glow flowing through it like sleeping lightning. “I can see you. It works,” she breathed. She comfortably lifted her left arm, forming a mindfray helix Kai and Chandra could see from it. Its form sputtered and wavered but slowly took more uniform shape. “Little rough on the edges with the psionics… but it’ll do.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I can fight again… I can fight again!” She yelled triumphantly, pumping her mechanical hand into a fist to disperse the helix. I’m no longer crippled and weak. I have back what they stole from me, more or less.

Kai shuddered and shook his head as if coming out of a trance and looked at Atka for a few seconds before smiling. “Well then… successful I would say, huh Robert?”

The scientist nodded. “Indeed… I hope it will be the first of many successes here.”

“Well, you have my confidence now. Consider yourselves officially part of XCOM.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

The Original Quartet: The Icy Liberator

North American Continent
Former United Mexican States
Specifically, Baja California Sur
La Paz, May 16th, 2038
0600 Hours, Local Time

A sharp, continuous buzz permeated the confines of the worn-down hotel room. The noise and mechanical gyrations of the alarm clock roused the modest chamber's occupant. In her usual morning ritual, the woman rolled from her right side to her left to face the offending rusted object. She muttered something obscene in a language other than Spanish, groped drowsily for the alarm clock with her right arm, and finally found the solution to her frustration. A button was pressed. It failed to work and she pressed again. The noise finally ceased.

Sighing, the hotel guest laid back in a supine position. She glanced upwards at the floor above that was pockmarked with holes - signs of decay - and then to the side. Thin, haphazard shafts of light lazily crept into the room. As she sat up, the woman reflexively tried to shield her eyes with her left hand, and was dourly reminded there was nothing attached to the metal-covered stump that was her left shoulder. Pushing herself to her feet, the old soldier walked over to a table across from her bed to rectify that problem.

The floor creaked, particularly from the footfalls of her left leg. It was not significantly heavier than her right, but its composition - a mixture of steel ‘skin’ plates, aluminum ligaments, and a zero alloy skeleton - was more durable and thus had a different impact on the warped wood. The nerve cords within that leg were more complex than the rough metallic exterior, for they were an organic replication of the cells in the woman’s nervous system - ones capable of conducting psionic energy almost as well as her original nerve cords had been.

Reaching the table, the psion picked up an arm of identical design and function. Taking a deep breath, she quickly pressed the connection port of the limb against the opposing access panel integrated into her shoulder. She gritted her teeth from the flames of pain that spread through her, lingered for a few seconds, and then subsided. She put on a leather duster, a pair of boots, and a wide-brimmed hat - in addition to the plain white shirt and brown pants she already was wearing - and stepped out the door.

The hotel manager at the front desk smiled as he saw her walk down the stairs, greeting some of the refugees lying on cots in the dilapidated lobby. “Buenos tardes, Liberador!” He greeted her.

“Please, Guillermo, I haven’t done anything yet,” the woman replied with a frown.

“You don’t count the RCN and the ‘vengeful whale’ as - ”

“Tangible,” she amended. “We haven’t done anything with it yet.”

“But you will soon, correct?”

“Correct. Though even after that I’d prefer you call me by my name, nothing more,” the woman replied, reaching the front desk to face Guillermo with tired yet fiery dark blue eyes. The Mexican man was always in mild awe of them, for they were not a natural color on an Inuit such as she.

“Very well, Atka,” Guillermo corrected himself. “We will miss you when you go off to fight, of course.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Atka returned, shaking his hand. “But I can wait no longer. We’re ready to make a difference,” she continued, her tone simmering with a directed energy.

The manager chuckled, concluding the handshake. “I understand. I was beginning to worry that you would have burst until those two arrived.”

“Their presence gave us the final groundwork we needed,” Atka agreed, “as well as allowing me to be able to fight in person again.” She sighed. “I’m not good at farewells.”

“They are hard for everyone,” Guillermo assured her. “Don’t worry about it. Just do me a favor.”

“And what is that?”

Guillermo patted the short woman on the shoulder. “Smile. Enjoy yourself before Firebrand comes to pick you up.”

Atka raised an eyebrow, but gave in with a mild grin. “Alright, alright, I’ll do my best.”

“There is no try - ”

“Don’t remind me why I’ll never scavenge movies to watch with you again,” Atka snapped lightheartedly. The Inuit soldier stepped back. “Farewell, Guillermo.”

“Farewell, Liberador Atka,” Guillermo replied. Atka muttered a curse - this time audibly and in Spanish - and departed the hotel.

The Inuit woman made her way through town after that. She stopped at various vendors she got her meals from, knowing many of them personally and thanking them for all they had done. Rarely did she ask for or accept gratitude in the same way she gave it out. Ultimately, she ended up at the largest hospital building in the city. Waving off a concerned nurse that hadn’t seen the soldier with the cybernetic right eye and left limbs, Atka made her way up to the roof seven stories above the ground. There was a weathered helipad there with no functional guiding lights. Appearing as if she was leaning against empty air was a younger woman in a flight suit with a helmet masking her features.

“Dammit, Danielle, be more inconspicuous about these things,” Atka chided the pilot, shaking her heat disapprovingly.

Firebrand rolled her eyes behind her helmet, standing at attention. “We’re in friendly territory sir.”

“Yes, we are, and that’s why you shouldn’t risk getting them into trouble,” Atka explained harshly.

“O-Oh, right,” Danielle acknowledged, seeming to deflate in confidence. “Sorry, sir.”

“No more of this from now on,” Atka insisted. “The people you’ll be taking to battle will have to stake their lives on your skill and discipline. Don’t let them down.”

Firebrand saluted. “I won’t let you - or them - down, sir. Dad and you would have my head, sir.”

“Good to hear.” Atka walked over to the side of the pilot, who clicked a button on her wrist to reveal the cloaked dropship. It was a compact craft with twin silent plasma engines and a set of emergency booster rockets above the hatch on the tail. “Let’s head home,” Atka declared as she walked into the Skyranger with Danielle to prep for takeoff.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

The Original Quartet: The Marauding Crusader

Southwest of La Paz, Mexico
0914 Hours, May 16th
Onboard the Avenger
Level 4, Port Wing
Gymnasium ‘A’

Right hook. Left hook. Right uppercut, left head-on strike. Mix it up. The only pattern should be the lack of one. Be unpredictable. Yakone Ipiktok went through a series of practice punches in her indomitable training target, those thoughts echoing as a mantra in her head. The mental process reflected her learnings in relation to combat techniques quite well. Yakone did not display any one martial arts method, but rather a haphazard yet effective blend of styles:

The young Inuit-Caucasian woman pulled back after several more erratic sequences. As the punching bag swung from side to side at an angle, tunnelvison gave way to a normal field of view. Yakone sighed. Can’t wait for the new recruits to start pouring in, if only so it’s not so damn quiet. The gymnasium was currently devoid of exercisers aside from her, and that solitude left Yakone feeling irritable and anxious. In all fairness, though, she was often in the former emotional state regardless of a room’s population.

Thinking further on it, Yakone shrugged noncommittally. Well, not “if only”. More soldiers means we can finally act. Although she had been aware of XCOM’s impending resurgence for some time now - the hyphen be damned - every time she thought about being able to fight back against ADVENT’s tyranny the nineteen-year-old was filled with an energetic vigor. All her dreams of truly being able to go to battle as a freedom fighter - to be part of the resistance movement - were going to be fulfilled. Come on Danny, can’t you bring the cavalry here faster so we can commence the charging?

Her daydreaming was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. “What in the world are you doing?” An-Yin ‘Lily’ Shen questioned with her hands on her hips.

“Working out. Why is that remotely a surprise?” Yakone questioned right back, squinting slightly on the left side of her face while raising and eyebrow on the right.

“Not… that… blockhead…” Lily began to correct her and further clarify with incipient exasperation. “Why are you in your underwear?”

Yakone glanced down at her black sports bra and its companion piece before crossing her arms in defiance. “These are exercise clothes,” she defended.

“Ohhh no they aren’t, Yak,” An-Yi insisted. “This was fine in the past, but we’re going to have a bunch of recruits soon. You can’t be parading around in your undies. And besides, if Kazuko walked in here right now you’d strike him dead.”

Being unable to argue with her adoptive sister’s first point, Yakone countered the second to try and salvage her pride. “He wouldn’t come in here. And besides, I doubt you’d care all that much if I was the death of him.”

“I don’t dislike him that much. And if he died, who would patch you up after missions?”

“Chandra. But I’ll be able to keep myself safe,” Yakone proclaimed. “If I do get hit they’d hardly be able to do any damage to me that I couldn’t fix.” The young woman held up her right hand, and clenched it into a fist that an emerald green glow wrapped around. Pulses of light shimmered but did not distort the shape the energy had taken in and around her flesh.

“I remember the first time you tried to imbue yourself. About a year ago, right? You sure as hell needed medical treatment then,” Lily said with a chuckle.

Yakone frowned sullenly. “How the hell was I supposed to know it would make me bleed like a pig, huh?” she snapped. Begrudgingly she admitted, “though I am glad Doctor CB taught me biokinesis so I can merge the two powers and remove the negative effects of the first one.”

“A living tank that can possess people… that’ll be a sight to see. Though, seriously, try to avoid getting hit by magnetically accelerated rounds and plasma laser beams. I’d rather not find out the hard way my little sister’s ability isn’t enough to save her life,” Lily cautioned with genuine concern in her voice.

Yakone grinned, and in an attempt to lighten Lily up pointedly crossed her arms underneath her chest. “I may be younger but I’m not sure you get to call me ‘little’,” she teased.

“Well not all of us can have plush pillows for boobs,” An-Yi shot back. “Really, though - ”

“If you’re gonna accuse me of using biokinesis to enlarge them, for the last… time! I can’t do that!”

“You sure sound paranoid for someone who can't,” Lily snipped playfully. “But no. Please put on your damn clothes already, you exhibitionist.”

With her arms raised in defeat, Yakone walked over to a bench and began pulling on her black jeans. “Can I at least wear my sports bra here instead of drenching my limited supply of shirts in sweat? I have basketball shorts but you know I haven’t found a good jersey.”

Lily rubbed her cheek. “I mean, I could say yes, but you might still be too much with your gigantic - ”

“I am a large C cup not some otherworldly E!” Yakone growled, leaning forward.

Lily smirked at how the teasing tides had turned. “Alright, fine, but I’m counting on you to kick anyone who gets looky or touchy.”

Yakone shrugged. “They can look if they want, I don’t really care,” she said, messing up her frazzled black hair more than it already was on purpose.

“So you admit exhibitionism.”

“No… I…” Counterarguments came to mind but they were all terrible. “Dammit…” I’ve been cornered.

Lily laughed, and after awhile Yakone joined in. It took the two awhile to calm down as her usual, but when they did Lily asked, “By the way… would you mind testing something out for me?” Lily asked her friend and practical sibling.

“I do have to help Robert with some stuff soon, but I’m game if it doesn’t take too long,” the younger woman answered. “Lead the way,” she then offered after getting up again.

Lily departed from the gymnasium with Yakone, and the two headed through a hallway adjacent to the other two gymnasiums and decorated with practically nothing other than some lights illuminating the gray pathway with numerous wires visible along its length. The path had formerly been an access tunnel, and while it was safe now it was still claustrophobic and raw. They rounded a corner and came to one of the main ladders - having entered the central block of the ship - and climbed down three floors to the bottom. Finally, they walked into the rear block of the ship and up a wide set of stairs, and entered main engineering.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

The Original Quartet: The Steel Blossom

Southwest of La Paz, Mexico
0925 Hours, May 16th
Onboard the Avenger
Level 1, Rear Block
Manufacturing Bay

At the moment, there was only one other person in Engineering aside from the two girls. Peter McCaffree was hard at work customizing a shipment of assault rifles to suit XCOM’s needs. The rest of the chamber - consisting of an expansive workbench, smaller workstations, and numerous bolted down supply cabinets, storage crates, and assembly lines - was unmanned. “Can’t wait to have a larger team,” An-Yi muttered, waving to Peter before going over to a centralized table. On it sat a small machine that was the Eurasian woman’s version of a loyal canine companion. The Chief Engineer knelt down by the offline machine. “Give me a sec,” she told Yakone. “I was applying some software and hardware upgrades so I had to shut Rover down for awhile.”

Yakone opened her mouth to retort something like ‘robots can’t feel pain’ but decided on remaining silent. She had learned that if there was one thing Lily could be sentimental about it was her machines. I guess I understand. Always wanted a dog myself, but the Commander...

While Yakone assessed yet another reason to hold her mother in contempt, Lily was already bringing ROV-R back online. She had in her hand a screwdriver that she used to burrow a set of screws into the drone’s chassis and attach a fresh, less rusty metal plate on it’s upper right wing. When An-Yi had first attained the ADVENT robotic unit, it’s left hover panels had been blown off by laser fire from her protectors (weapons that were now all so much scrap from wear and tear). A necessary move at the time, the damages had forced her to move one of the remaining panels to the other side to stabilize the machine as well as replace the destroyed metals with corroded iron.

Of course, coding in a new set of loyalties was equally difficult and time consuming, but at least that felt like more of an adventure. Lily smiled, comparing that reminiscence to the present with satisfaction. Having scrapped all of the alien worker drones that were aboard the Avenger, she had managed to use the spare parts to create five new XCOM drones based off her original prototype in Rover. Aside from her work on the Avenger, there was nothing else the Chief was more proud of than her Gremlins. She had saved upgrading the prototype drone to the current model made from a steel-alien alloy composite ADVENT used in abundance for last.

“And now it’s time for you to shine, little buddy.” Shen turned her wrench on an inconspicuous panel, priming the activation sequence, and pressing a button on her wrist control pad to turn ROV-R on. Rover’s optics lit up and a shimmering indigo glow surrounded its four winglets as it hovered off the table. “Good morning,” Lily greeted her robotic companion.

The Gremlin turned towards her based off voice recognition, but did nothing more than that.

Lily patted the robot. “Let’s test out your experimental trick with Yakone, shall we?”

No direct response.

“I’ll make you a more complex AI someday…”

“Are you trying to create Skynet?” Yakone uttered with feigned horror. “Local engineer dooms the human race…”

Chief Shen rolled her eyes. “I should never have watched that movie with you.” She paced over to another counter - Rover following dutifully behind - and picked up a sheathed alloy-coated machete, then offering it to Yakone. “Your toy is ready just in time for our test.”

Yakone took it with a greedy look, unsheathing an otherworldly ebon metal blade. “Cool…”

“It still will have trouble against heavier armor and isn’t as durable as a full-alloy blade but at least now it’s useful against the enemy period,” Lily explained. “Alright, Rover, engage testing mode E. Yakone, take a swing at him.”

The teen paled. “I don’t want to break him…”

“Don’t put too much force into it, but don’t worry either. This should work out just fine.”

“This is a tall order, asking me to hold back.” Lily glared at her menacingly. “But if you say so… I bear no responsibility for damages that will probably not be made. I can do this right.” The Ranger stepped closer to the airborne robot and took a cautious swing at it - only for the Gremlin to dodge out of the way. She tried again, then a third time with more seriousness, but couldn’t land a blow.

“Evasive maneuvers. I made them able to have threat recognition and self-preservation,” An-Yi stated.

“He’s a slippery bastard now, I’ll give him that,” Yakone grumbled, putting away her sword. “I guess anyone that becomes a Specialist won’t have to worry about their robobuddy now.”

“Yep. Once I make sure there are no bugs, I’ll apply it to the other five,” Lily affirmed. “Cool, right?”

“Very. And thanks for the sword.” Yakone smiled, high-fiving her sister. “I’ll be off now… though you might want to come with.”

“Do I have to? I can’t put up with him like you,” Lily complained.

“Don’t,” Yak corrected. “He irritates me too you know! We mutually grind each-others gears but at least I learn things,” the Inuit-Caucasian countered. “But I do think he needs your help with testing out an upgrade to the tac armor.”

Lily groaned. “Alright, then, I’ll go… I know what he’s testing, and that is important.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

The Original Quartet: The Inquisitive Pioneer

Southwest of La Paz, Mexico
0936 Hours, May 16th
Onboard the Avenger
Level 1, Front Block
Avenger Core Room

A walk up the spiral staircase at the bow end of the central block floor one access tunnel took the pair into the main laboratory where the ship’s main power core thrummed without faltering. Around it was a wide walkway, the side they came out to having a set of tables with a variety of scientific equipment. Amidst the writhing mass of test tubes, beakers, and monitors, a space had been cleared for a suit of tactical armor laid on its back with two mechanical weapon holsters crossed over each other. Looking over it was a man in a plain set of clothes with a labcoat that turned to face the newcomers.

“Ah, Miss Ipiktok, Dr. Shen. Welcome,” Doctor Robert Tygan greeted the two. He pointed up to a skeleton of rafters above him. “I do not currently need your assistance, Shen, as I believe I have the additional carrying capacity system operational. If you could work on the facility expansion, that would be much appreciated,” he informed An-Yi.

“Gladly,” Lily said icily. Needs my help… yeah right… she thought ‘audibly’ to her psionic friend.

Sorry! I thought he hadn’t figured it out yet! Yakone complained while trying to keep a straight face outwardly. To herself, she added a reminder. Never underestimate Robert.

As Lily went across the room to grab a ladder and brace it against the side of the room, Tygan continued his instructions. “Ipiktok, if you could serve as my guinea pig for this, that would be much appreciated.” He gestured towards the armor to invite her to put it on. With a nod, Yakone went over and began fastening the armor on over her normal clothes, laying down her sheathed sword on the counter. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, having a rough exterior of lightweight padding and advanced fibers. But it’s functional, Tygan reassured himself. With shock absorption capabilities and ablative linings, it’s able to take just about as much punishment as ADVENT’s armor plating without a weakness to any one weapons technology - though plasma lasers certainly do more damage than even magnetic rounds.

Yakone finished putting it on, and met Robert’s gaze. “Uh… what now?”

The Scientific Chief walked over to the counter beside Yakone, and knelt down, unlocking a drawer and opening it to reveal an assault rifle, sniper rifle, and shotgun. “Pick two of those and fasten them into the weapon slots on your back.” Yakone did as asked, sliding a shotgun and sniper rifle into the crossed holsters. There was a mechanical whirr as experimental robotic arms shifted to accommodate and support the added weight. “Move around a little. Tell me how weighed down you feel.”

The young woman paced back and forth experimentally, and tried a few hops. “Hmm… I definitely can’t jump quite as high, but movement doesn’t seem to be much more impaired than it would be with my normal gear,” the learning scientist reported.

“Good,” Tygan responded. “That’ll be important for our sharpshooters with their dual long rifles and our grenadiers with their… often excessive armaments to be able to keep up with the rest of the squad without being hindered.”

Yak raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you have me test this out with a minigun and a grenade launcher, anyway? Isn’t that the ultimate test?”

“Later…” Robert shook his head. “I’d need someone to carry one of those ‘man portable’ miniguns in here, even scaled down they’re quite heavy. Nor do they fit in my drawers, as is clear to see,” he explained.

“By the way, when are we starting work on laser weaponry?” Yakone asked eagerly as she put away the weapons on her back into the cabinet oncemore. “I can’t wait to have a beam PDW instead of a conventional one.”

“I imagine specialized weapons will have to wait until the primary research is completed,” Tygan admonished. “But soon. I don’t want to delve into the fragmented files from the old organization and the damaged prototypes we have with us until we have a bolstered team to increase our speed. As good as Miss Chambers may have gotten with biology, weapons technology is… not her expertise. Though you have shown…” Tygan thought for a moment before deciding on a description. “...an inkling of promise in that field.”

Yakone winced. Ouch…

“Regardless, I do have one more thing to do with you. I think it’s time I begin installing the PCS system onto our present soldiers so we aren’t worried about a mad dash to do so when recruits begin coming in.”

Yakone rubbed the back of her head. “That gonna hurt? Or require anesthesia? I’ve got stuff to do…”

“The process is swift and painless,” the African American scientist informed her. “Come with me.” He walked over below where Shen was hard and work welding on a floor to the skeleton of a catwalk, and had Yakone lay down on the operating table. “On your back. Just hold still and give me a few moments.” The scientist grabbed a pair of thin pads with electronic chips hidden inside a soft exterior, and laid one down on either side of the back of Yakone’s head. “And don’t worry,” he said to the tense young woman. “I’ve run plenty of tests, and I’ve already administered them to the Commander. She insisted on going first.”

Yakone seemed to relax a little, allowing Tygan to activate the PCS pair. Harmlessly, they sunk below the skin, and attached themselves unobtrusively to the back of the girl’s brain stem. The Ranger had to take a moment to process as she felt a tingle wash over her as her body accepted the implant and the device ran a simple test that felt like a brief adrenaline surge. “Is it done?’ She asked as the feeling subsided.

“It should be. Get up, and retrieve that sword of yours,” Tygan told her. “Then see if you can charge across the room without wasting energy. If you can, it worked.”

“It’s a little far to do a dead sprint…” Yakone complained, her voice becoming quieter as she walked across more than a dozen feet to retrieve her Extreme Close Combat Weapon. Taking a deep breath, she then charged straight for the operating table - not once faltering in a steady sprinting speed - and hopped onto it. She slapped the flat of her blade down with a clang, and smiled. “Damn… that actually works.”

“Of course it does. I wouldn’t have applied it - ”

“It’s just a statement of accomplishment,” Yak cut him off.

Tygan sighed and shook his head. “In any case… I’ll let you resume your daily activities. Though I expect you to be here more often once research actually is going in full swing. Understood?”

“Alright, dad,” Yakone said with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll get on that.”

As she departed, Tygan shook his head. “I do hope our additional staff are less… pugnacious than her,” he quietly pleaded with whoever might be listening.