RP XCOM2: Liberation of Earth

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 2


The Ranger wasted no time. He vaulted over the alloy barrier he’d been using as cover and kept relatively low as he moved, not entirely trusting his newfound concealment to be complete enough to hide him from the Vipers’ keen eyes. Glancing sideways, his pace quickened. “Muton and two Stun Lancers incoming,” he warned as he infiltrated the Viper’s holding point.

Samuel scowled. “We don’t have time for this!” he seethed, clipping one of the Viper’s frills with his rifle. “They’re delaying us at this point. We need to get moving.”

“What would you suggest?” Lester asked. “We can’t very well just ignore them and keep going, then we’ll have them behind us, and they’ll catch up if we need to stop at any point.”

The unsuppressed Viper felt a vibration behind it just as Arthur fired with his shotgun, killing the alien before it had a chance to react. The other Viper, seeing her comrade fall, hissed and fired at the Ranger. Her movements limited by the hail of magnetically-accelerated bullets flying her way, she was unable to aim the shot correctly, and it went wide.

It was at this point that the Muton and Stun Lancers came close enough to be considered a problem, the brutish alien bellowing as his Lancer assistants charged forward. Realizing that his position had become untenable, Arthur retreated. “They are grouping up in there,” he noted.

“Perfect,” Lester said. “Bonnie?”

“On it!” the Grenadier said, ceasing her suppression to load a HE grenade. She did not delay this time, firing the grenade directly into the bunker. The emplacement was blown outwards or destroyed as the force of the explosion pushed on the structures. The enemy found themselves with no cover.

And Judgement squad wasn’t about to let them find more. With a burst of bullets, Samuel eliminated the Muton, while Holly and Arthur took care of the Lancers. The remaining Viper was stunned when Alan’s Polarity Rifle struck her, resulting in no escape from Bonnie’s Coilgun.

There was a collective lowering of weapons. “No further enemies in close proximity,” Joy announced. “Moving ones, anyway.”

“Then we should get moving before that changes,” Lester instructed, pointing at the passage leading deeper in.

The squad moved quickly, somewhere between a jog and a run. And for once, banter was minimal – with Samuel completely focused on this mission, it would have felt like a mark of disrespect to him. So the normally chatty Holly, Bonnie, Alan… all were largely silent as the squad moved further in, the only sounds being their breathing and the clanking of their boots.

Oddly, the passage was entirely devoid of foes. When they emerged into what seemed to be some kind of furnace room, they were all even more surprised to find it empty as well.

“What do you think this is?” Bonnie asked, keeping her distance from the contained infernos.

“Some kind of thermal power generator?” Joy suggested.

“Unlikely,” Samara responded, shaking her head. “After all, what do you think ADVENT does with all those people when they’ve finished experimenting on them, or interrogating them?”

Samuel made a choking noise. “They could have already burned him, and I’d never know,” he whispered, genuinely horrified at the concept.

Lester glanced at Arthur, both of them knowing he could be right. “Then hope they haven’t,” was all the Specialist could say. “Come. We have dallied enough.”

Leaving the incinerator behind, they came into a short but wide hallway with doorways lining the walls. It too was devoid of defenses. “The hell is this?” Alan asked, diverting his run to peer in the window of one of the doors. “These the cells?”

“ADVENT hides their sensitive stuff at the centre of these kinds of facilities,” Samara stated. “We haven’t gone nearly far enough yet.”

“Astute, Ms. Vermaak,” Lucifer complimented. “You are correct. By my judging, we would only be about halfway inside.”

The Ambusher made a confused noise. “Two tables and chairs? Are they testing how humans date each other?”

Samuel lightly nudged him out of the way, taking a look for himself. “Interrogation rooms maybe,” he said, frowning. “Though there’s a distinct lack of the torture tools I would have been expecting.”

“Maybe they just ask nicely?”

The Russian scoffed. “Doubt it. Come on, we’re wasting time.”

Passing through the line of interrogation rooms, the group found themselves walking through a large door. Before them, the middle section of the facility stretched, prisoner cells running along the walls to an inner triangle-shaped holding area, which branched off in two other directions to the other side of the facility. The cells beside them had previously had alloy metal blast doors draped over the top, though as evidenced by the crumpling at the base of these doors, something had forced each and every one of them upwards again.

Samuel breathed in sharply. The occupants had then been executed. A single corpse lay in just about every cell in a pool of their own blood, evidently shot.

At the far end of the area, a large creature was straining against the final cell door, muscles pulling the plating upwards. The sheer strength of the beast crumpled the metal, though that could simply mean the blast doors weren’t as durable as they appeared. Red plated muscle adorned its body, connected by a pasty white ‘skin’ that seemed more akin to some kind of cartilage. With a roar, its breath misting in the air, it yanked upwards, not quite tearing the metal from the wall. A group of nearby ADVENT soldiers, an Officer, a Medic and a Trooper to be precise, all shifted uneasily at the display of force. A Sectoid Guru adorned in a sleek black armor chirped at the beast, and it continued to pull the door upwards.

The Sectoid turned around, noticing the squad. It chittered a warning, pointing at them, causing the ADVENT soldiers to whip around with guns ready. The large creature moved its attention from the cell it was trying to open, roaring when it spotted the XCOM forces even now spreading into the main cellblock.

“He’s a big one,” Holly noted, immediately shooting the Combat Medic and removing them from the fight.

“She,” Lucifer corrected. “A biological scan indicates that creature is a modified Muton female, bred to be strong and aggressive. I would describe in Newtons the force she can exert with her arms alone, but I would suggest her impact on the cells is description enough.”

“We can argue about whether it has a dick or not when it’s dead,” Bonnie snapped.

Lester frowned at the rather crass reprimand. “Bonnie’s right,” he admitted. “Samara, we need-“

“More contacts on approach,” Joy reported as a Muton and a Codex, attracted by the commotion, entered the room. The Muton crashed a fist against its chest while the Codex prepared to blink, likely behind them.

“Samara! Flashburst, now!” Lester barked.

The Juggernaut had already primed the device. With gritted teeth, she activated it, the intense light blinding most of the enemy organics and disorienting the Codex enough to prevent it using any psionic abilities. The brutish alien charging at them, however, seemed largely unaffected. It had probably been looking away at the time. Or had no eyes. It continued its inexorable charge, while the allies behind it clutched at their faces.

“Looks like we’re finishing this one the old fashioned way,” Bonnie cried as she spun up her Coilgun, unleashing a torrent of mag fire in the alien’s direction. The bullets embedded themselves in the alien’s flesh, but did not cause it to even flinch. “What the hell is this thing?”

Samuel managed to fire one burst of his rifle at the beast before it closed to what could be considered close range. With a roar, it slammed a fist downward, forcing him to dodge sideways. The alien cracked the stone floor with the sheer force of the blow, swiping sideways when its prey escaped it.

As it turned to attack anything else within its range, Arthur raised his shotgun, pointing it at the beast’s head. He pulled the trigger, the blast striking on target.

The bullets clattered to the floor, having merely bounced off. The creature swiped, forcing the Ranger to jump backwards. Tumulis whooped. “Good dodge!” he complimented his master. “No idea how it just shrugged that off, but good dodge!”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 3

The beast glanced sideways as Holly, further back, shot it in the chest. Spit dribbling from its chin now, it threw its head back and roared in anger. “Analysis indicates the creature has shock-absorbent biological armor,” Lucifer informed the squad. “Any shots you take at close range are likely to be repelled by both it and its normal plated skin. Additionally, hormonal imbalances in the creature’s body indicate it is-“

“Very fucking angry!” Alan finished as the brute charged at him, destroying the table he’d been hiding behind. It slammed into the Ambusher, sending him flying backwards a significant distance. The alien continued forward, evidently not finished with him. Panicking slightly, he ignored the protest of his ribs and raised his weapon, noting dully that his Polarity Rifle had naturally been knocked away from him.

The SMG had little effect on the beast other than what Alan could have sworn was a disbelieving look. This was enough, however, allowing the others time to sight in on the beast. Mag fire poured into its back, the brute actually stumbling forward as a result. It snarled, turning around and getting another face full of magnetically accelerated bullets.

It roared in pain, but remained standing. “You’re shitting me,” Samuel swore. “We don’t have time for this!”

“I don’t understand,” Lucifer said, his tone actually worried. “Scans state the creature’s bodily functions are shutting down. How is it still -“ He broke off as the alien swatted at him before attempting to attack Lester, missing both strikes. “Do you not know what hand-eye coordination is, brute?!”

Lester backed away from the beast, which had turned its attention to Bonnie instead. “You say it’s dying?”

Lucifer resumed position at his shoulder. “Yes, sir.”

The Specialist, turned his head to the other enemies, some of whom had now recovered from the flashburst and were taking cover. “Charge forward!” he commanded. “Push up!”

“You want us to ignore this big fucker?” Holly demanded.

“No, I want you to run from it,” Lester corrected, pushing forward himself.

The others had little choice but to follow him, or force him to face a firefight alone. The large alien slammed a meaty fist into the ground in an attempt to squash Samara as she passed, but its movements were sluggish. As the squad took positions on some of the pillars lining the room as cover, the beast seemed to register that its time was limited. With a final bestial roar, it charged forward, slamming into Arthur and knocking him forward like a human bowling pin. As he careened towards the other enemies, the brute stumbled and fell, sliding to a stop, lifeless at last. Opportunistic, Holly decided that it would make very good cover.

The ADVENT Officer, confident that Arthur would be unable to defend himself when he landed, didn’t bother marking him for his allies. It was thus a great surprise to them when the Ranger faded from view before even landing. The sound of alloyed boots landing on the ground caused the two ADVENT soldiers to turn around, firing at the walls in an attempt to hit him. Arthur had already left, however, moving further back and drawing his Las-Blade without activating it. “I am… alive,” the Ranger reported, avoiding using the word ‘unharmed’. “And I am ready to eliminate the Trooper. We want the Officer alive, yes?”

“Least until I can Skulljack him,” Lester affirmed. He recoiled as a blast of plasma scorched the side of his pillar. “I will need to move up. Which means I need to not be shot on my way there.”

Samuel poked around his cover, firing a few bursts at the Muton to suppress it. The alien growled in response, but was unable to return fire without taking some itself. The Russian, satisfied that his target was locked down, glanced sideways to look for the Codex and Sectoid Guru. He frowned when he couldn’t see either. “Codex and Guru MIA, the first is probably trying to flank-“

Holly fired, the Codex recoiling from the shot. With its strange chirping, the being split into two, the clone blinking away from the flanking position it had previously gone to. Lester finished it off with his Irradiator Blunderbuss, evidently startled that it had been so close to him. “You can thank me later,” Holly said smugly.

The clone of the Codex drew its arms back, preparing to use a psionic ability. Which one was left to the imagination as Bonnie’s Coilgun, though largely inaccurate, was all that was needed to finish it off. “Computer bitch down,” she reported. “What’s with the curves on those things, anyway? The Elders into human women?”

Alan’s response was cut off as a marking appeared around him. “Oh fuck that,” he said, pushing himself against his pillar and refusing to move. “Can we hurry this up?”

Samuel checked the distance between himself and the suppressed Muton. Yeah, I could make that… “Holly, you ready to assassinate this Muton?”

The Sharpshooter aimed down her scope. “God, I hate this thing,” she muttered. “Yeah, ready.”

The Russian did not wait. Ceasing his suppression to holster his rifle, he slung out his shotgun and made a run towards the Muton. The alien seemed to register it wasn’t about to be shot in the face if it left cover, and stepped out to take a shot. They were very surprised to see Samuel before them, even more surprised when he blasted it with mag pellets. “Holly!”

The wounded alien quickly made the transition to dead, Holly’s bullet striking it in the skull. “And then there were two.”

The ADVENT Trooper, having given up on their Officer’s marked target ever showing his face, turned their line of fire towards Samuel. A few bullets cracked the pillar formerly occupied by the Muton, but it was no good. The Russian was already behind cover. They muttered a curse before their head was removed by Arthur, the Ranger decloaking and attacking with his Las-Blade. Samara and Lester both pushed up at the same time to support him, with the enemy Officer realizing suddenly that they were alone.

Lester rounded the pillar, Skulljack at the ready. Unwilling to allow the Officer much room to move away this time, he attacked from an angle that would force his target to press against the pillar. As he stabbed forward, the Officer did indeed attempt to dodge backwards, only to be foiled by the very pillar they’d been relying on to save them only a few moments ago.

But then the Officer moved their head sideways, and the Skulljack stabbed into the pillar instead.

Samara was already moving, striking the Officer with her shield and knocking them out of cover and onto the ground. The ADVENT soldier fumbled for their rifle, and raised it before being shot in the head by Holly, the weapon clattering to the floor.

“What the hell?!” Samuel yelled, glaring at her from across the room. “We needed him alive!”

“So what, I was just meant to let him shoot Lester?” Holly countered. “We can find another Officer in here, we can’t find another squadmate.”

The Russian scowled. “We’re on a timer as it is,” he snapped. “The more we delay finding out where my father is, the more likely it is he’ll be dead before we can get there.” He ran his gaze around the walls, where multiple dead bodies were rotting in their cells. “If he isn’t already…”

He turned his vision to Bonnie, who was crouching to look under the one barrier that the brutish alien hadn’t yet gotten up completely. “We’ve got one still alive!” she called, beckoning everyone over.

A fellow prisoner? Samuel wondered, jogging over. Not quite one of the guards, but they might still know where dad is. He peered under the blast door, spotting an old man with frazzled, wispy white hair attached to a largely bald head. The man looked emaciated, though not to the degree that Samara had when she had been rescued. In fact, for an ADVENT prisoner, he seemed in relatively good health. The prisoner raised his head to look at his rescuers, a grin on his face.

“I suppose I owe you all my life,” he said, a German accent prevalent in his speech. “Shame then that it is a gift I intend to refuse.”

“You would have preferred a bullet in the brain?” Samuel asked, his tone gentler than usual.

“Yes. Far simpler to let it all go than try to live without everyone I spent my life with.” The prisoner shook his head. “Wraith, Spectre, Phantom… all gone. All ghosts in more than name, now. I am the last, and I fully intend to join them.” He smiled. “But that does not mean I cannot help you. You are lost, correct?”

Something about the statement caused a twang in Samuel’s chest. “… yeah,” he answered. “Yeah, I’m lost.”

“Then allow me to help you find your way. You need not tell me why you’re here. You are after the Australian prisoner. The Inquisitor’s favorite.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 4

Inquisitor’s favorite? Samuel wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

The prisoner pointed to his right, where one of the walls of cells was interrupted by a secure-looking door. “Through there,” he stated. “The cells of those with more significant information than us are kept separate, as are their interrogation rooms. I would suspect that there is access to the roof from there too.”

The Russian considered. That door would lead south, towards their entrypoint. But there’d been no other entrances deeper in. Was the facility really that large that there would be an entire section they hadn’t explored wrapped within the quarter they had? Even having seen the facility from above…

At the very least, that was where one of the three courtyards in the facility was. Extraction would be easier if Isaac was on the way.

The prisoner coughed. “Of course, with the lockdown that way is barred. Or it was, before that Sectoid ran through.”

Lester nodded. “Understood. Lucifer, if you would…?”

“Of course, sir,” the AI responded, flitting over to begin hacking the door open, having been administering aid to the wounds of Arthur and Alan.

Samuel glanced to the side, spotting the cell controls. “Thanks,” he said. “You want me to let you out, or…”

“Open the door,” the prisoner said. “I will… decide my own fate once you have departed.”

“You could come with us,” Alan pointed out. “Hell, we could probably drop you off anywhere in the world.”

“I’m not certain I want that,” was the response. “As I said, I will decide my own fate.”

Lucifer reported a successful hack as Samuel hit the cell release switch, thankfully a simplistic button mechanism rather than a console. “You take care, you hear?”

The prisoner chuckled, making no move to leave his cell. “I cannot promise that,” he answered.

The squad walked briskly, but cautiously. The corridor was dark and poorly lit, and more cramped than the previous passages. Eventually they came into a better lit area, similar in construction to the main prisoner storage area but smaller and shaped in more of a cross shape than a triangle. The cells here were arranged in such a way that none of the occupants could see each other, assuming there actually were any – the cells here were completely empty.

Save for one.

Samuel nearly tore the bars off himself trying to get in. Within were a number of objects he recognized immediately. A guitar, the associated amp, a case and collection of picks. And a few objects he didn’t recognize as belonging to his father, namely a microphone and what looked like some kind of recording device connected to it.

“He was definitely here,” Samuel muttered. “So where the hell is he now?”

Deeper was the only option, being only one other exit from the cell block. A pinprick of light, muted and grey, indicated that there was a view of the sky at the end of this tunnel. Quiet now, as if even their usual good humor was holding its breath. The tunnel ended, giving way to a smaller version of the facility’s outer walls, now surrounding a green rectangular courtyard. A window running at about head height rimmed the walls surrounding the courtyard, allowing vision within.

The entrance slid open to allow them through. Samuel’s boots thudded on the soft grass, followed by six other pairs. Rifles and other assorted weapons clicked as they were all aimed directly forward. The Sectoid Guru glanced around their master at the noise, and chattered in alarm.

I am aware, said Azazel simply, turning around to face the intruders. Ay, go inside.

The Guru clicked a response, but did not move.

You forget who is still in charge in this relationship, the Inquisitor stated crossly. You will retreat. You will not interfere. No matter what happens, understood?

Hesitating, the lanky alien finally nodded and moved away, retreating through the far door and sealing it behind them.

Azazel audibly sighed, then turned his attention back to Samuel. Apologies, he said. My guard can be overzealous.

“Where is he?” the Trooper demanded. “Where’s my father?”

The two remained motionless at first, staring each other down. Then the Elder’s shoulders sagged. I’m… afraid I have bad news. You were too late.

“No.”

Your father was executed on the most severe charges of treason the Protectorate could assign earlier today.

“No, no.”

Azazel bowed his head. I would like to offer you my most sincere condolences.

“You’re lying,” Samuel insisted. “You moved him. You knew we were coming and you moved him.”

Lester breathed outwards. “Samuel…”

“You shut up!” the Trooper commanded, with a force that made the squad take an involuntary step back. “Tell me the truth, Inquisitor. Where is he?”

Samuel, I understand that you may be in denial. The loss of a loved one is never an easy thing to deal with. The Elder straightened. But he is dead. Out of a desire to spare him unnecessary pain, I myself pulled the trigger. His death was instantaneous and without undue distress.

“Bullshit! You can’t…” Samuel choked. “He can’t be dead. Not him. He found a way. He always found a way, you can’t be telling me…”

His body is in a cold storage room, the first room on your left as you go through the door behind me. It has not been vandalized or disrespected.

“’It’?!”

Azazel may have winced beneath his mask. Please do not make this any harder than it already is, he almost pleaded. It pains me to bear this bad news, but I must. I could easily have left without telling you, and yet here I stand, delivering this in person.

A single sniff was Samuel’s only answer.

He worried about you, the Elder continued gently. The fact that you were still alive and outside of our clutches was what kept him going, I think. Else he would probably have broken down. Like so many others in his position.

“You can’t be telling the truth…” the Trooper whispered. “There’s no way…”

Lester placed a hand on his shoulder. “Samuel, there are times when holding onto hope becomes foolish, a denial of reality. This is one of those times.”

A few taps of rain fell on the Russian’s helmet. “I… I never got to see him again,” he stammered. “Earlier today…”

If it is any consolation, there was nothing you could have done, Azazel said simply. It is unfortunate that you did not find him before now, but unalterable. What is done is done. It is not your fault. With that, the Elder turned to leave, his masked visage unreadable.

A bullet pinged off the door. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Samuel demanded, his rifle raised. “You think you can just walk away?”

Azazel stopped. You can hate me if you wish, he responded. But attempting to engage in combat with me is… unwise. I am willing to leave you this facility. I have been informed that I cannot expect reinforcements on this day, thus there is no point in attempting to hold it. It would be a waste of life. Raid it, destroy it, it matters not. I will not fight you if you will not fight me.

“I say we take that deal,” Lester stated. “If we can avoid this conflict-“

“Are you being mind controlled?” Samuel demanded. “Arthur, tell me he is.”

The Ranger shook his head. “There is no psionic influence here. I detect no suggestion, either. The… mission briefing did stress at multiple points to avoid combat if we encountered an Ethereal.”

The Trooper glanced back at Azazel, who was now watching them warily. “I can’t just let him go,” he said.

What of Ms. Belle?

Samuel’s hands immediately tightened their grip on his rifle. “How the fuck do you know that name?”

The how is irrelevant. I am simply reminding you of what you stand to lose.

That actually gave the Russian pause. “… she’d understand,” he said finally, shaking his head as if clearing away a haze. Or a doubt.

Lester shook his head. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” he stated. “Firebrand, get me the Commander. Samuel needs to be reminded of his duties.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 5

There was a pause. “Uh… N-negative, Advocate,” came the response, a hint of worry present in Firebrand’s voice. “The connection between us and Avenger has been lost.”

“Lost?” The Specialist blinked. “What do you mean, ‘lost’?!”

“It’s… probably just an equipment failure,” the pilot responded, though whether she was trying to reassure the squad or herself was unclear. “Connection should be re-established when they fix it.”

“We should get back,” Bonnie stated uneasily. “What if they’re in trouble?”

Samara shook her head. “It took us several hours to get here,” she noted. “It’ll take us several again to get back. If the Avenger really is in trouble, there’s nothing we could do about it. We continue the mission.”

So that’s why… Azazel bowed his head. I suspect your base may indeed be under attack. I was told in no uncertain terms that no forces could be spared to defend this facility. I believe my superiors would rather remove dozens of Resistance fighters rather than defend a facility like this against seven.

“You heard Samara,” Samuel growled. “There’s nothing we can do except hope everyone else can handle it.”

“Wait just a second here,” Lester interrupted. “That’s no excuse to go attacking an Elder! Are you suicidal? No one, and I mean no one, has ever beaten an Elder in combat. Few have even survived at all. And yet you would –“

“I can’t just let him go,” the Russian said firmly. “I don’t care what you do. You want to back off, go ahead. He’ll probably ignore you. But I’m going in. Any help you people want to provide, I’d be more than happy to accept.”

Behind him, the squad exchanged glances. All were aware of the risks supporting him would entail. But none of them wanted to let him do this alone. Alan was the first to step forward, rifle ready. Then Samara. Then Holly. Bonnie. Arthur.

“I really must advise against this course of action,” Lucifer stated. “No human-“

“-has ever fought an Elder and won, yeah I know. Sick of hearing it,” Samuel muttered. “They didn’t have Gauss weapons. We’ll be the first.”

Realizing that he was alone now, Lester sighed. “If this goes poorly, you’re a dead man,” he stated darkly, stepping forward at last.

“So are you.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Joy said confidently.

Tumulis giggled. “Oooh, I can’t wait.”

Azazel watched them all step forward and raise their weapons. You are choosing to fight me, despite being given the option to avoid the conflict? I will commend you on your bravery at least. But your wisdom leaves something to be desired.

You are not ready.

Judgement squad did not respond. Instead Samuel primed his rifle. “Ready people?”

A chorus of affirmatives.

The Russian cracked an anticipatory grin. “Let’s gut the bastard.”

The Elder shook his head as they all ran for cover and began firing from it. So be it, he murmured as the bullets all seemed to miss him entirely. Slowly, deliberately, he drew two Plasma Pistols from beneath his robes, raising one and firing a shot off at Samara, the only one who hadn’t taken cover behind one of the boulders strewn about the courtyard.

She blocked it with her shield, though the blast melted much of the alloy plating. She widened her eyes at the damage, but held fast. She fired her Rail Revolver at the Elder. “That was on target,” she stated in disbelief when the alien did not fall.

I did attempt to warn you, Azazel stated, choosing to switch his gaze to the group of three that had taken cover behind a single boulder. He was unable to get a clear shot off at any of them, and so he instead turned to his psionic ability. The boulder was wrenched upwards, much to the surprise of Bonnie and Holly, who’d been hiding behind it. The Elder narrowed his eyes, distracted enough to allow them to scarper. There had been three. Where was the third?

His lower right arm, until now uninvolved in the conflict, gripped the hilt of an alloy sword at his waist and drew it sideways, perfectly blocking the concealed Ranger’s strike. Arthur’s eyes widened slightly at his discovery, but he did not allow this surprise to affect him. He swept his own blade sideways in a feint, intending to use the Elder’s block as momentum.

Azazel countered the feint as expected, then countered the follow-up strike too. A swordsman? he asked, seeming genuinely surprised. I had heard the rumors, but I did not seriously believe you would resort to such a method of combat. He swiped his blade sideways, forcing Arthur away from him.

The Ranger waited, now a little wary being in such close proximity. “It has its uses,” he said evenly.

Bonnie poured a torrent of mag fire at the Elder, now unconcerned about hitting her ally. When she’d finished, he turned to face her. “You’ve got to be kiddin’ me,” she said, backing away slightly.


I’m afraid I’m serious, Azazel responded, using his remaining free hand to telekinetically flick her sideways into the wall, knocking her out cold. He then blocked Arthur’s retaliatory strike, sliding his blade down his enemy’s and pushing it downwards, opening the Ranger to attack. Rather than take advantage of this, however, a wave of energy pulsed outwards, pushing Arthur away.

The move proved to be perhaps a little too forgiving. As soon as Azazel was alone in the center of the courtyard again, almost every remaining squadmember threw grenades at him. Samuel’s Incendiary, Lester’s AP, Bonnie’s Slurry via Samara, and Holly’s flashbang all careened to his feet. The Elder briefly registered their appearances before they all exploded, spewing flames, shrapnel, goo and light in every direction.

Samuel glanced back above his rock to see the Elder, still standing and without so much as a scratch. The Incendiary and AP grenades had been completely shrugged off, and the Slurry grenade had apparently only gooed whatever psionic barrier Azazel had erected for himself, as it dripped from midair. The flashbang had had the most effect, as the Inquisitor was holding a hand up to his mask.

“He’s blind!” Holly yelled, taking a shot. “Is that… a barrier?”

“I thought I saw something,” Arthur affirmed. “I have an idea, however.” While the Elder was still disoriented, he circled around behind him, taking out his shotgun and firing. He waited. Azazel did not topple. “It extends in all directions,” the Ranger noted almost dejectedly, holstering his shotgun and drawing his blade again.

“Keep firing then!” Lester commanded, firing his Irradiator Blunderbuss. “No barrier is impenetrable, it will fall eventually!”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 6 (Final)

Arthur circled sideways a bit so as to not attack from the same angle as last time. Satisfied that the Elder could not predict him now, he charged forward, Las-Blade raised. He was wrong, however, as the Elder immediately turned to meet him. Their swords locked, and the Ranger was thrown sideways by a burst of telekinetic energy. He impacted the wall and crumpled, the shock aggravating his earlier injuries.

I do not need my eyes to see, Azazel informed him, sheathing his blade and turning back to the others. And I tire of this. As the rain began to fall a little heavier, it froze, pelting Judgement Squad with ice. Lester was the only one whose armor was not directly threatened by the artificially created ice, his flux shield blocking the majority of the impacts.

Azazel seemed to realize this when Lester was the only one not defending themselves from the heavens with their guns. He reached forward with his free hand, and the Specialist felt something tighten around his chest. He was fished over his cover, flailing in an attempt to escape the Elder’s psionic grasp. Reasoning that it was kill or be killed, Lester unloaded his Blunderbuss, to no effect. Desperate, he drew his Sonic Derringer and blasted Azazel when he’d been pulled to close range.

The Elder recoiled, dropping the Specialist to the mud. What-? He exhaled in an exasperated manner as Lester struggled to his feet. Give me that, he said, whisking the Derringer away from its owner and crushing it with psionic force.

“Step away from the Specialist, asshole!” Holly yelled, choosing to ignore the hail and fire at Azazel. A particularly large shard of ice punished this loyalty to her allies, striking her in the back of the head and disorienting her.

The Inquisitor ignored her. Directing a Mindfray at Lester to keep him relatively docile, he considered the remains. Zeroing in on Samuel, he moved forward at a speed that defied logic, drawing his sword. Alan’s attempt to shoot him with his Polarity Rifle proved little more than an annoyance for the Elder, one for which the Ambusher was pinned by a boulder to the ground. Samara, who was in his way with a shield at the ready, had her defenses yanked from her arm by psionic force. As she unloaded both her pistols into the Inquisitor’s barrier, he pushed her backward. Forcefully. She impacted Holly, knocking the two of them to the floor.

Samuel held down the trigger as Azazel approached. Come on, surely you can’t just take this much punishment!


Evidently, I can. Using the shock Samuel felt at having his mind read to his advantage, the Elder physically charged into the Trooper, using his barrier as a battering ram against the human. Samuel fell backwards with a grunt, and looked up at the Elder as he was pinned by an indeterminable psionic force.

As Azazel raised his sword, Samuel gritted his teeth. But he saw no way out, not this time. Maybe Lester was right. Holding onto hope after a certain point became a fools errand.

He closed his eyes. Damn it. Were we even close?

The sound of metal piercing more metal and mud echoed through the courtyard, the rain now back to standard water. Her heart in her mouth, Holly struggled to her feet. Azazel still gripped his sword, impaled in the rifle next to Samuel’s head. The Russian was breathing heavily, but otherwise unmoving.

They stayed like that for a while, the rain only now seeming to dampen Azazel’s mask. You are not ready, the Elder repeated, releasing his grip on the sword and moving away. Samuel raised his head over his chest, watching as his nemesis padded away over the grass. The Inquisitor stopped at the doorway for a moment, before shaking his head and exiting completely.

The UFO parked on top of the facility departed shortly thereafter.

Samuel simply lay in the grass, Azazel’s sword still embedded next to him, staring into the sky as the rain fell on his visor. His head swam, though whether it was because he’d nearly lost his life, that the rest of the squad had nearly lost theirs from his actions, or his father’s death remained unclear to him.

Dimly, he was aware of Lucifer flitting from person to person, mending their wounds and complaining about the limited charges his medkit held. Holly’s helmet made its way into his vision, thankfully still attached to the body it was meant to be. “You hurt at all?” the Sharpshooter asked gently.

Samuel considered his response. “Not physically, no.” He grunted as he got up, rubbing his gauntlets together to get the mud off. He glanced at the rest of the squad, most cradling some body part or other. The thought that they could easily have all died wormed its way into his head. “You… didn’t have to help me.”

Holly shrugged. “What, and let you take him on yourself?”

The Trooper stared at her for a moment, then chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re insane. I was stupid. I asked you all to jump off a cliff with me. And you actually did it.”

“We could have won.”

“Not against that we couldn’t.”

The two stood watching as the others collected their bearings. Bonnie woke up from her forced slumber, and only began complaining once she was sure everyone was alive. “I… think I’ve finally worked out your callsign,” Holly said finally.

“I think ‘idiot’ sounds good,” Samuel stated. He placed a gauntlet on his helmet. “Commander’s going to kill me. Stacie’s going to kill me again.”

“Maybe ‘Dead Man Walking’ would be a better fit…” the Sharpshooter mused. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of Greek mythology. The goddess of divine retribution. ‘Nemesis’.”

“Yeah?” He watched as Lester got up and dusted himself off, then moved over to where Arthur was kneeling. “I’m not going to tell you what to call me,” he decided. “That’s your choice.”

The prisoner that had helped them was nowhere to be seen. And it seemed Azazel hadn’t been lying – not a single ADVENT soldier remained in the building. A sweep confirmed that Judgement Squad were the only living beings remaining. Lucifer’s attempts to obtain useful information from the facility’s servers came to nothing – all data had been wiped on their arrival. In short, they gained nothing but the remnants of a dead man.

Samuel found his father’s body stored in a stasis pod, where Azazel had said he would be. Aside from a single plasma wound in his chest, Isaac looked relatively healthy. At least there was that.

The items from his cell were also taken, brought to the cargo hold of the Skyranger. Samuel grabbed everything. All of it held sentimental value. And it was all they had to show for their time here - a few musical bits and pieces and a recording, alongside bruises and bruised egos.

The flight back to the Avenger was silent, aside from Firebrand repeating her hope that the loss of communication was the result of a technical failure. Samuel just stared at the metal floor, arms resting on his knees.

Today had not been a good day. And it can still get worse, he thought worriedly.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Gamma Squad” - Part 1

While Alpha and Beta had been assigned to defend locations on the ground - and the operational broadsides were being manned to guard the Avenger’s sides - Gamma was faced with a very different objective. The last direction that presented an entry point for enemy forces was up. The roof needed to be held just as much as the front and back of the ship. For this purpose, as soon as they were done gearing up the soldiers Corporal Likuga had selected were instructed to follow him up the ladder to the helipad. There was not an abundance of cover there, but the various protrusions atop the rest of the ship provided barely-adequate cover as Gamma’s forces moved there.

From this position, the antarctic night sky was given a clear, all-encompassing view. The stars provided the only natural light in an otherwise sunless season on the polar continent. The aurora australis shimmered in the sky, giving a peaceful feel that felt out of place considering the dire situation XCOM found itself in. For now, though, there were no enemy forces - and there was no sign of the UFO that had shot down the Avenger.

“Figures we’d get the assignment to stand up at the top, in the cold, where we’ll either freeze or be easy targets, huh?” Ayame said with laugh, trying to bring some levity to the situation, but there seemed to be none to be had. She held her shard gun tightly, ready to blow anything that got near to bits.

Alexis swallowed hard. Nightmarish images from two decades past, ones she thought would be long gone, but were still there, ran through her head. “Not again. Not if I can help it this time.”

Morrigan only assumed what she meant, and fiddled with her wrist computer. GZ-MO was on the lookout for anything that moved. The last thing they need was to be taken by surprised and wiped out before they had a chance to defend.

The team’s sniper set up a position between two vents of some sort. Valentia had a nervous twitch to her, never having been in a situation quite this dangerous in Chile. Adam set down his shield to allow others to take cover near it if need be, pulling out his heavy rifle. As the rest took up various positions for cover or ambush, the eerie silence held. The air that filtered into the helmets of the soldiers was crisp and cool, even being warmed up by the suits that allowed them to operate in the subzero temperatures.

“This is Sergeant Nash, Alpha has engaged,” Kevin’s voice crackled over comms after a few tense minutes.

Another ninety seconds or so later, and the Commander reported, “Beta has made contact with the enemy.”

The sounds of gunfire from both teams could be heard from the roof, and the soldiers on Gamma squad caught sight of ADVENT dropships coming in from either side. There weren’t many at first, but that number was sure to rise.

Luna shook a little in fear, something she couldn’t help. “H-How are we going to do this?” she quietly asked Qamut, eyes locked on the approaching ships.

“This isn’t a battle we need to win,” Qamut responded, loading a shard grenade into his launcher. “We just need to hold them off long enough for the ship to come back online. Then we lay down some serious covering fire and get back inside for takeoff.”

“I’d like to know how they found our cloaked ship, but I’m guessing they’re not going to be answering questions,” Karen muttered.

Ayame shook her head. “Nothing can stay hidden forever. It was only a matter of time until they figured out how we were hiding, and how to find us. But if we survive this… sorry, when we survive this, we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Qamut nodded and then glanced over at Mark. “Red Hawk, hold onto any missile clusters you have for now. Save them for alien dropships… we’re bound to see some of those.”

“You got it, boss.” Red replied quietly, attempting to calm his nerves before the battle began. “What do you think we’ll be expecting in terms of hostiles?”

“Everything,” Morrigan muttered grimly, checking her mag carbine over.

“Plenty of flying shit, I’m sure,” Valentia offered.

“We’re about to find out, one way or another,” Qamut remarked as a group of four dropships began flying in from the east. “Get ready!” He aimed his grenade launcher in the direction of the transports, waiting for them to get in close.

Two of them were blown apart by the Avenger’s broadside cannons as they approached, the first explosion prompting the remaining three to split up a bit - but did not prevent them from losing a second craft. One of the dropships stopped at the edge of the Avenger’s roof, while the second one tried to drop directly on top of the squad.

“Scatter! Deal with the first group!” Qamut ordered, firing off his launcher at the transport still in motion. A red telekinetic glow guided his grenade as it soared into one of the pulse engines of the dropship, shrapnel shooting into the exhaust and causing it to spin uncontrollably. The other dropship was carrying a sizeable crew, dropping a pair of troopers, a pair of stun lancers, a medic, and a Shieldbearer - while a Gunner remained within, having his gauss LMG set up on a bipod. He began laying down suppressing fire on Valentia, preventing the sniper from taking out the charging six Advent soldiers.

“Time to show them what we’re made of!” Ayame unloaded on the group, unable to do much damage at this range but making the enemies second guess staying still.

Alexis took a deep breath and concentrated. A calming feeling washed over those around her, the young woman knowing everyone would have to hold their cool as much as possible. Luna aimed her heavy mag rifle up at the suppressing gunner. Her shots did little damage to his armor, only glancing shots, but it was enough to get him off Valentia’s back for the moment.

Valentia steadied her aim against the gunner in reprisal. “Eat shit,” she muttered under her breath, firing off a rail-accelerated round that punched through the man’s head and caused him to fall out the back of the dropship. As she lowered her weapon, she noticed the Stun Lancers - surrounded in telekinetic shields - were getting uncomfortably close. “Guys…”

“Doing our best.” Karen fired off a shotgun blast of her own, the magnetically propelled spray hitting both of the shields due to its spread. The yellow bubbles both popped, leaving the more lightly armored soldiers open to attack. Their both drew their signature serrated shock batons, intending to land some blows before that happened.

Hiding behind Adam’s shield, Ayame grinned at Alexis. “Double blast. On the count of three.”

Alexis reached for her shard gun and nodded. “Alright. One…”

“Two,” said Ayame.

“Three!” they shouted together, and stuck their bodies out, one to the left, the other two the right, just as the lancers were closing in. There was no chance for them to dodge, and Alexis’ shot blasted into one of their heads and chest, while Ayame hit the other in the legs, toppling him over. “Hate being short,” she muttered, and fired another shot to finish him off.

The pair of troopers took cover behind the deployable shield the Shieldbearer had brought with him, while the medic followed behind his CO like a living shield. The two white-armored Advent soldiers opened fire with carbine and battle rifle, the former’s rounds nearly impacting with Ayame while the latter was unable to hit Adam.

With a grunt of disapproval, the XCOM Shieldbearer lifted his own weapon. Adam drilled through his opponent’s psionic defenses but was not being able to damage him with the last few rounds of his burst. Behind the squad, the second dropship finally crashed - but did not explode, meaning the occupants were still alive and could become dangerous if they were able to make the mangled ship’s doors open.

“Fucking hell…” Morrigan looked around, and sent her Gremlin out to fire at the medic, keeping him busy so he wouldn’t notice any injured enemies. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain for a moment and said, “You don’t… have to yell. You are practically in my head, I… fuck you! I’ll show you a fucking coward!” She pulled out an HE grenade and took a few seconds to calculate trajectory. Letting it fly, it landed behind the enemy shieldbearer and knocked down the troopers, not killing them but certainly hurting them.

Qamut took advantage with his ATC as he returned to the others, firing into the two toppled soldiers and killing the pair of them with the anti-armor cannon. “Brock, you should shield-” he started to say before the Juggernaut charged the other shieldbearer, knocking him flat onto the curved roof. “Or you could just charge in blindly. Cover him from the medic!” he instructed as the enemy combat medic began to recover from GZ-MO’s electric shock.

Alex fired rapidly at the medic. “Mark, I got him pinned but I can’t get a good shot!”

Mark groaned, feeling the situation might turn quickly if he didn’t make a move. He looked up and noticed his drone idly floating beside him, before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. Red sent the Gremlin over to electrocute the medic once more, as he ran to flank the enemy medic. However, after turning to shoot the medic, Red noticed that the medic was on the ground and had ceased to move. “Huh. Didn’t expect that.” Red murmured, before turning to face the last enemy that Brock was fighting.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Gamma Squad” - Part 2

The more heavily gene-modded Adam seemed to have the upper hand here, grabbing one of his opponent’s arms to stop a punch in its tracks. He balled his other fist, and delivered a strike to the Shieldbearer’s gut that staggered him back. The enemy soldier tried to pull a sidearm as he slid back, but Brock merely turned his back - his opponent’s fate already sealed. The ADVENT Corporal realized too late that he was unable to correct his direction, and fell off the side of the Avenger. As he did, the doors on the other dropship were blown open, and three MEC Troopers strode robotically out of their wrecked transport craft.

“Oh… shit…” Alexis quickly switched to her rifle and opened fire on one, trying to do as much damage as she could. One fired, and Morrigan dived out of the way. She screamed in pain as a round clipped her shoulder, any farther to the side at she might have lost her arm. Alexis quickly pulled her to one of their semi-decent cover spot and started healing her. “Hold on now.”

Morrigan laughed grimly. “Still think… you’re completely useless?”

Alexis shook her head. “Not now. Just concentrate on staying awake. We need you in the fight.”

Luna cursed under her breath and pulled out a pair of AP grenades. She tossed them in the MECs’ path, hoping to shred their armor a little for the others.

The Ambusher got more than she bargained for with her ordinance, the shard grenades ripping up the armor of the MEC Troopers, making it much more frail and even ripping off entire plates from solid damage to their alabaster frames. Karen was able to blow apart one with her shard gun at medium range, while Valentina fired a lightning-quick shot from her rail sniper pistol at one, and then finished off the second with the other high-caliber round.

“That’s the best they can do? Really?” the Chilean sniper remarked, unimpressed.

“Seems like they’re sending troops from a local garrison right now…” Qamut noted.

From both the east and west, as if to challenge Valentina, two more dropships came with range. They didn’t drop off their cargo right away, however. Instead, they opened fire from internal turrets, trying to wear down the XCOM troops. While the turrets set to pin them, a pair of hoverguards flew forward to try and hit them from behind.

Ayame quickly darted to Red Hawk’s position. “I have an idea, but you have to trust me.”

“Lay it on me.” Red responded, as he began to count the number of enemies entering the area.

Ayame watched as the hoverguards grew ever close. “How is your aim… and how much do you think you can throw?”

Red was confused for a second, not understanding what she meant, until it dawned on him what she really wanted him to do. “Depends on where you want to go.” Red replied quickly, as he leaned his rifle against his cover.

“Straight up.” Ayame pulled out her sword. “The moment those hover guards are directly over us, throw me straight up. Got it?”

Red groaned, but picked her up anyways. “Please don’t die. I’ll feel bad.” Red murmured, as he waited for a hover guard to make a mistake. As soon as one flew directly above them, Red tossed Ayame in the air, hoping that she would be safe.

Red’s aim was true, and needless to say, the flying enemies didn’t see it coming. She reached out and snagged one of their arms, and the pair spun, around and around, an incredibly awkward ballet in the sky. With a quick slash, the pair continued to spin, even without the hoverguard’s head on his shoulders. With split second timing, Ayame kicked off the body and launched herself towards the other enemy, driving her blade into his chest and causing both of them to fall, smashing into the top of the ship. Ayame groaned and dragged herself into cover, breaking several bones with that move, but gave Red a thumbs up.

“Is she out of her mind?” Morrigan asked, having recovered and moved to Mark’s side.

“Kind of. Mostly she’s sane, but she’s also a little crazy. I can’t really blame a person who just saved our asses. Let’s shut down those turrets. I don’t particularly want to get shot today.” Mark stated, as he commanded his drone to hack one of the turrets that was pinning the XCOM forces down. The hack barely worked as the automated defense system turned off.

“I like the way you think,” Morrigan said, sending her gremlin to do the same. The pair having stopped the assault for now, eight Troopers, four from each ship, jumped down onto the Avenger. Karen and Qamut’s combined fire took down one before they made it, and Adam and Valentina took down another, leaving six left.

“Seriously? They should have taken the hint to fuck off already…” Mark grumbled, firing at one of the ADVENT Troopers, sending one flying off the ship. Aiming quickly again, Mark took another shot at one of the troopers, but didn’t kill her. “Damn.”

Alexis fired, wounding another, then her eyes widened in shock. A third dropship quickly approached, and prepared to drop off its cargo of two more MEC trooper, two floaters, and a charger. The XCOM troops were about to be outnumbered and have enemies at all angles. “Jesus, no…”

“Anyone hiding anything to at least take out these Troopers?” Luna asked, firing but again only wounding.

A Psionic voice growled loudly enough for all XCOM soldiers to hear. ADVENT has disabled my home, hurt the people I protect, and woke me up from a nap… I will destroy the ones responsible… A violent gust of energy appeared that formed around the Troopers, swirling faster as if it were a tornado, and threw the members off the top of the Avenger, as the psionic voice growled, albeit tiredly, Never piss a spirit off… I think I’m going to take… another nap...

Thanks, Charon. Mark thought, happy that the spirit guide was on his side. He fired at one of the floaters, trying to kill it quickly, but wounding it instead.

“Well, um… that’ll do,” Luna mumbled, and sent a few magnetically accelerated rounds into the chest of a diving Floater, causing it to crash into the ship, dead.

Another few rounds took out the other, and Morrigan smiled at Mark, as did Ayame. Ironically, they didn’t realize they were smiling at him for the same reason.

The Charger attempted to do just that, but this group was expecting more support, and the combined shotgun blasts from Karen, Alexis, and Ayame was enough to drop it like a rock. It was humorous to see the hulking MEC troopers actually hesitate, unsure, and that was just the hesitation Qamut needed to telekinetically launch a grenade right into one of their faces. The remaining MEC fired as best it could, but it was outnumbered eight to one. Every time it suppressed two people, another four fired at it. It was less than a minute until he, too, shared the fate of the others.

Alexis panted heavily, healing the wounds on her sides she had taken during the fight. “Is it… over?”

Morrigan let out a long sigh. “You think we’d be so lucky?”

“At least we have some new cover,” Qamut pointed out, motioning to the wreckage of the two dropships that had crashed onto the Avenger’s back. “Valentia, Luna, get behind that ship. Ayame, Karen, that’d be a nice place for you two to lie in ambush.” The Corporal himself took up cover behind the less-intact second dropship, while the two Specialists used the natural cover protrusions of the Avenger provided between the pair of crashed vessels, along with Alexis and Adam.

Not long after the squad had repositioned themselves, the sky tore itself open as an alien troopship soared in at frightening speeds. It came to an abrupt rest about twenty-five meters directly above the Avenger, and a hangar bay opened to allow a trio of blue-gray dropships to soar out with some accompanying flying units - one heading towards Gamma.

“Looks like you’re up, Hawk,” Qamut called out. “Shoot it down.”

“On it, Boss!” Red growled, taking out his missile launcher. He aimed at the dropship and fired, ensuring that its passengers would never arrive. The rocket blew out one of the plasma engines, causing the dropship to rapidly nosedive into the Antarctic landscape below the area of engagement it had been aiming for.

“Nice shot!” Valentia cheered, but her upbeat expression quickly turned to worry as there was the sound of metal peeling back above them. Several hatches opened up on the bottom of the alien craft, something looking like oversized cannons extending out. They pointed in various directions - one of them in the direction of the dropship that four of the XCOM operatives were using as cover. “Move!” she warned. With a baritone ‘plunk’, a rough-edged container shot down from above, crushing the passenger part of the Advent transport with its impact. A moment later and it would have taken the lives of the two Rangers with it, but they had managed to get out.

“What the hell is that?” Karen muttered, taking a deep breath from momentary relief. “Are they using catapults now?”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Gamma Squad” - Part 3

Qamut’s eyes widened, the old soldier recognizing what the containers resembled. “Get back, those are-” he tried to warn as the sides broke off, and a group of four short, red-skinned aliens with suicide vests dashed out.

Adam lifted his hands, quickly registering that no one had a clear shot that wouldn’t detonate the Sappers far too close to the pair of Rangers. He surrounded both in a telekinetic shield, trying to bolster them for the rapidly-coming. In four separate detonations of pulse explosives, the pint-sized aliens blew apart the shields and tore the armor of the two frontline soldiers to pieces, injuring them both to some degree.

Ayame groaned, slowly rising to her feet. “I thought you guys were exaggerating when you said suicide bombers. What… pricks…” She painfully walked over to Karen, trying to help her up. “You gonna live?”

“Hurts like a mother fucker, but I’ll be alright,” the other Ranger replied, holding her burned arms. “Could use some medical attention, though,” she said through gritted teeth.

Ayame nodded, and quickly helped her over to Alexis. The green-haired woman slowly started healing Karen’s wounds. “You’re going to be fine,” she assured her, adding some psi inspiration for good measure. “You need help too, Kasagi.”

Ayame shook her head. “I’m find. Save you energy for Karen and the others.”

“We’re also going to need you shooting!” Qamut lifted a hand, causing a fireball that had descended from above to be dispersed to the sides of his allies. “Incoming fliers! Seraphim, Cleric, and…” the Grenadier paled.

“Archon,” Adam finished for him as the trio of angelic units rapidly approached on plasma jets.

Ayame unloaded several shots at the Archon, again not hoping for much at long range but to deter it. “Now aren’t you a pretty little alien. But you go down like all the rest.” She pulled out her sword, and started looking for a way to get closer.

Morrigan clipped the Seraphim, and sent GZ-MO out once more. Out of attack protocol, she instead sent it to aid Luna, who was doing her damndest to hit the cleric.

The Ambusher managed to graze the Cleric, who wisely chose to fly behind the Archon from now on. Ayame’s attacks - even the pellets that had hit - had merely glanced off the sturdy form of the regal alien. It was even more heavily reinforced than normal as the psions on the team were able to see - the familiar glow of imbuing coursing along its ‘muscular’ chassis. In retribution for Ayame’s futile attacks, the Archon shot down at the Ranger, narrowly missing her. Then, it stopped its descent, hovering over the squad and rearing its head back with a primal battle cry. A series of custom rockets screamed out of slots in its back, soaring into the air with lightning speed before coming down on the squad.

They seemed surprisingly precise, targeting individual soldiers. One of them slammed into Qamut, punching through his E.X.O. Suit with a shaped explosion, burning his arm and causing him to drop his weapon in agony. A second and third collided against Adam’s shield, breaking it in half. The fourth detonated right next to Ayame, but missed her. The fifth collided directly with the top of Karen’s helmet, collapsing it inward and blowing her head clean off.

Blood splattered on Alexis’ faceplate, and she stared in wide eyed horror at the woman she had just been healing. With a panicked scream of terror, she rushed back towards better cover, wildly firing at the being that had killed her teammate right in front of her.

“D-Dammit! Valentia, AMR, now!” Qamut ordered the sniper, who was frozen in fear. “Valentia!”

The shocked Chilean came to her senses, enough to mutter an affirmative. She pulled her Rail Wrecker Rifle off her back, aiming it up at the Archon. “Ir al infierno, monstruo,” she whispered, pulling the trigger. The magnetic anti-material rifle’s round impaled itself into the Archon’s chest, tearing up the surrounding armor and dealing minor damage to the cybernetic armor’s overall structure.

“Take it out before it can recover!” Luna yelled, her reaction to the death entailing a pissed-off attitude. She hefted up her heavy rifle and rapidly fired, sending out short bursts to keep her aim steady and ripping into the alien. Morrigan joined in, not letting up, partially out of vengeance, partially out of fear that it might have more missiles.

While they did continue to injure the cybernetic abomination, it was anything but stunned. With howls of rage, it returned fire at two of the three separate attackers that it could manage to counterattack in the short span of time. The first shot was a direct hit on Valentia, the plasma staff’s bolt going through the sniper’s armor and causing her excruciating pain from a wound to the torso. The other shot would have hit Morrigan, but instead it collided with the heavily-armored Juggernaut that stepped in the way.

Adam didn’t even flinch as the plasma shot collided with his armor, almost but not quite tunneling all the way through to his flesh. As his armor released a cloud of smoke to offer his team some cover, he dealt some reprisal of his own. Gripping his SS-GL with both hands, Brock fired off an accurate shot, an AT Grenade blasting through what remained of the Archon’s armor and putting it on its last legs.

However, the Archon still had allies. With a snap of his fingers, the Seraphim blew Adam and Morrigan back with a firecracker explosion, while the Cleric infused her plasma SMG and sent a barrage to pin Alexis down while chipping away at her cover. The golden-lacquered alien itself was still in the game despite its sorry state, dodging some reaction fire and slashing wildly at any enemy it could see outside the smoke cloud.

Ayame stepped out into the smoke cloud, hoping it would provide her enough cover. She pulled out an HE grenade, and gripped it tightly. “This is gonna hurt… and expose me. Here goes nothing…” She rushed towards the dying Archon and accompanying Cleric, grenade in one hand, sword in the other. When she was close enough, she jumped at them, sword forward. She did her best to defend, but the Archon was stable in the air and fast, even by herr standards. Maneuvering her arm to act as a shield, she slid the alien’s weapon away from her body, but through her arm, and dropped the grenade on it’s shoulder as she fell back, crying out in pain.

The explosive blew a hole into the Archon’s internals, a spray of ichor-like blood and mechanical fluids mixing into a gray cocktail as it plummeted onto the deck. The Cleric was injured, but survived - allowing her to heal any flesh wounds. The Seraphim, for his part, flew to the side and upwards - charging up a psi lance to finish off Valentia.

“Fuck. Off.” Red murmured, agitated at the loss of a comrade, and at the potential loss of a second. He aimed at the Seraphim, and proceeded to unload his clip at the hostile alien, ensuring Valentia would live to fight another day. Red’s Gremlin - having been given orders already - flew off towards Ayame, and attempted to heal her as best it could.

Ayame was alive, but writhing in pain. The plasma wound that had severed her arm at the elbow was bubbling like a flesh eating virus, quickly moving up her arm, threatening to consume her entire being. When she noted the Gremlin flying over, she held up what was left of her arm. Through gritted teeth she said, “I hope you have some of that medical magic in there.” The Gremlin quickly sprayed her arm, the healing effects meant to treat plasma burns neutralizing the effect. Panting heavily from exhaustion but unwilling to give in now, Ayame pulled out her mag pistol with her remaining hand, and took aim at the Cleric. “Die, you son of bitch,” she muttered, firing with shaking aim.

Alexis, able to swallow her panic long enough to join in, did the same, firing with her rifle, wishing the helmet wasn’t in the way so she could wipe her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Karen,” she whispered as she fired.

The cleric went down in a heap, but the fight was far from over. The drop pod launchers prepared another volley, while a few more flying enemies ejected from the hangar. “Regroup,” Qamut instructed. “We just need to buy a little more time.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Dahlexpert and DarkGemini24601: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Alpha Squad” - Part 4

Alpha squad was assigned to defend the front of the Avenger. As the team of eight made their way out of their mobile headquarters, they were met with an unusual sight. Reaching out of the ice sheets of Antarctica like the desperate hand of a person buried in an avalanche was exposed coastline. Built inbetween the points of visible rock was an old research station the size of a small town, half-buried in snow that had accumulated over the past twenty years due to neglect.

As he approached the first set of buildings - some storehouses and an observation post - Kevin brought up the small holographic projection of his A.I. partner on his shoulder. “Check through the net for me, Niphua. I’d like to know what this place is if possible.”

The doll-like figure bobbed her head. “I’ll get right on that.” She vanished for a few seconds as the rest of the squad found cover, and then reappeared again. “This appears to be McMurdo Station. We stand on the southernmost area accessible by ship in Antarctica. The station was abandoned a few months after the United States fell under the control of the aliens.”

“Well, it’s fortunate we crashed here… otherwise we’d be fighting out in the open,” Kevin remarked.

“As the Commander and her team will be,” Niphua commented.

“Yeah… I hope things go alright for them.” The Sergeant glanced back at the rest of this team. “Everyone doing alright? No one’s thermal suit malfunctioning?”

“I think one of us would have mentioned that by now if it were the case,” Olivia responded cooly, hoping her lightly prodding response would lighten up an otherwise tense situation.

Lilith looked at Kevin. “Me and Luke are good, our people thrive in the cold. We'll be fine.” Lilith said while loading her DMR.

Luke looked over his anti-tank cannon - a weapon he normally wouldn't use but for the occasion he thought it was appropriate. “I’m a red psion so I’m fine, though I might have some ideas if we get overrun.”

Emile looked over his weapons, and his shield. He put on his tactical mask to keep his face hidden out of habit ” Everything is holding up sir, my armor is holding up just fine.” Similarly, Christine, Keloe, and Damien had nothing unusual to report.

“Alright then, let’s move up.” Kevin advanced up to a good defensive position, a set of three buildings that were linked together and provided different points of cover. To their side was three smaller buildings that provided another safe area from which to fight. The Sergeant moved up to the furthest building on the linked trio, taking cover behind one of the walls. He had Luke be across from him behind the first of the row of three structures. The second and third of those were guarded by Keloe and Emile. Lilith was further towards the back to make use of her longer-ranged weapon, while Damien, Olivia, and Christine made up the middle of the pack.

Not long after the XCOM forces were in position, the sound of dropships roared from the north. Some of them flew straight over the team, but didn’t stop there - instead heading for the roof of the Avenger. “Looks like Gamma will have company after all. Good luck Ayame,” Olivia muttered to herself. For whatever reason, the other dropships either headed to the back of the Avenger or parked off on the other end of McMurdo Station. “Why aren’t they just dropping ontop of us?”

Kevin quickly figured out what they were doing. “They’re going to try to amass a larger force before they make a move against our team. Let’s make them regret that decision.” Nash nodded to Olivia. “Go ahead and set up some traps.”

“On it, boss.” Olivia activated her chameleon suit, blending in with the snow and ice as she moved forward, placing some IEDs in strategic locations and then taking up an ambushing position from a rooftop.

A few more troop transports dropped off their able-bodied cargo. “Get ready.” Kevin took aim with his shotgun, waiting for the right moment to attack. He didn’t have to wait long, a wave of Stun Lancers surrounded in telekinetic shields rushing forward. “Hold your fire!” Kevin called out, letting the enemies pop their Shieldbearer-given defenses on the explosions of the traps Olivia had laid out before firing off a shotgun blast. His shot wounded two of them, allowing Keloe to mow them down with her coilgun. Even as the lancers began to fall, troopers began to come out of the woodwork, advancing from various positions and opening fire.

“Finally.” Luke loaded his grenade launcher with a shard grenade and fired it right into the middle of the alien force, damaging a ADVENT Officer, Trooper, Stun Lancer, and MEC Trooper. “Have I gotten your attention?” the Grenadier taunted.

Luke used his pyrokinesis to set the ADVENT group on fire, causing them to panic - all but the mech, which took a shot at Luke. Thankfully, it missed him.Luke pulled out his minigun and fired it at the solders that were on fire- in their panicked state they couldn’t defend themselves, which made them easy targets for Luke. The MEC tried to fire another shot at Luke but got shot by Emile who was flanking it. In response, the mech tried to turn to Emile while Luke used his minigun to shred the rest of its armor. This made it an easy target for Emile to take out.

“Nice team work buddy,” Luke commented.

Emile was going to respond to Luke until he was shot at by an ADVENT Captain. “Damn it, Luke help me out here!”

“On it. Hey, Aunty, time for some target practice.”

“Good. set them up Luke.” Luke used his powers again. This time he blew another Officer up with a firecracker, doing increasing damage to him and destroying his armor. Lilith saw this as an opportunity to fire her DMR right into the chest killing him, Lilith then saw a lancer coming for Luke and shot his knees dropping him to the ground.

Emile watched Lilith finish off the shock-trooper. “He,h so you’re not just all talk are you, Van Dams?”

“We try our best, as for these guys there seems to be no end to them,” Lilith muttered.

“There’s certainly a lot of them,” Olivia remarked, slapping another oversized bullet into her bolt caster and taking aim at an ADVENT MEC. She took a shot that merely tore through the armor on the mechanical soldier’s right arm, but got the result she wanted; in response to the attack, the MEC sidestepped to the left to avoid subsequent fire - one of its soles impacting with an antipersonnel grenade buried in the snow. The resulting explosion blew off the machine’s leg, causing it to topple over and crush an unfortunate Combat Medic who had been using the cyborg as a shield.

Niphua, let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on here. I was expecting a tougher force, Kevin requested of his A.I. He held up his right arm, unfurling his skulljack - attached to an advanced skullmining system built into his armor and hooked up to his PCS where Niphua dwelled.

Understood. I am prepared. Go ahead.

“Keloe, lock down that enemy officer lingering in the back!” Kevin barked an order. In response, a barrage of magnetically-accelerated bullets impacted all around the ADVENT ‘Captain’, preventing the caped strike force leader from moving from his current position. He uttered instructions in Jabberwocky, and then proceeded to highlight Kevin, Luke, and Olivia telepathically to his teammates.

Olivia’s eyes widened, and she had to leap off the roof as a Shieldbearer tossed a reverb grenade up at her. “How’d they see me?”

Kevin ducked behind his cover as a Gunner pinned him down with suppression as good as Keloe’s. “Looks like they can designate several targets now. We’ve got tricks of our own though.” Kevin fired a shotgun blast in the Gunner’s general direction, not scoring any damage but giving him the chance to make use of his shadowstep and avoid any reaction fire to movement the Advent machinegunner was about to send his way. “Kohler, finish the Gunner,” Kevin hissed into his mic as he rushed forward, going for the Officer.

“Roger.” Christine sent Sparks towards the befuddled ADVENT soldier, electrocuting him to soften him up for her highly accurate carbine shot that followed, punching through the enemy’s chestplate and hitting several vital organs.

“I ever compliment you on how good a shot you are, Christine?” Olivia remarked, quite impressed.

“Don’t. It’s just something I have to do,” the Specialist responded simply.

The Shieldbearer hefted his shield as Kevin approached his CO. “Could use some help with him too!” Kevin remarked worriedly.

“Way ahead of you.” The Advent Corporal suddenly fell flat on his face, two small RC drones having tied a steel rope around his legs so that when they rolled away he’d be dragged to the ground.

With a grateful, grim grin, Kevin closed the distance with the Officer, who missed the Ranger entirely with a defensive barrage of bullets. Keloe’s suppression ceased, having fulfilled its purpose. The ‘Captain’ verbally snapped at Kevin, though the Sergeant wasn’t listening to see if it was a threat or a plea. He had a job to do, one that involved him thrusting his skulljack through the enemy’s chin. Killed nearly instantly, the Officer went limp, his chip being datamined by Niphua.

Finding the answer she and her user had been seeking, Niphua connected herself to the rest of the squad’s PCS, speaking over a PA not unlike telepathy. It appears that the ADVENT forces we are fighting are from a garrison well outside of the city called Transantarctica. They were sent as first-responders the minute the Avenger’s crash site was located. From what understanding the late Officer had, it would appear that there was a larger force hunting the Avenger in South America. The UFO that shot us down wasn’t expecting to find us here, I am led to reason.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Dahlexpert and DarkGemini24601: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Alpha Squad” - Part 5

“The worst of this fight is yet to come, then,” Kevin grumbled. “Good to know, at least,” he decided optimistically as he brought his sword down to execute the fallen Shieldbearer. Alpha Squad had more or less cleaned up the enemies attacking them, only Keloe and Damien having suffered armor damage for it.

“Question is, what constitutes the worst of what they’re going to send at us?” Damien thought aloud.

Above the Avenger, the sky seemed to momentarily be torn in half as an alien troopship warped in overhead. It was large enough to carry a sizeable complement of alien troops, the first wave being sent out via three dropships. One soared towards Alpha squad from the south as a fresh pair of ADVENT dropships came in from the north.

“You had to ask, didn’t you?” Keloe complained irritably.

“Heads up people, prepare for further contact!” Kevin warned. “This time they’re coming straight for us. Kohler, can you-”

“-already on it.” The Specialist put away her carbine, pulling her anti-aircraft missile launcher off her back. “Just give me a target.”

“Alien dropship.”

“Done.” Squeezing one eye shut to look clearly through the missile launcher’s sights, Christine sent off a burst of micro-missiles that careened into the side of the extraterrestrial troop transport. Much of the metal plating flew off - along with a singular engine - but it still managed a crash landing that didn’t cause it to blow apart. “Dammit, deflection. Those things are tough.”

“Luke, Keloe, Christine, Damien! Hold off the ADVENT enemies, I’ll deal with the aliens with the other three.” Having reloaded his shotgun, Kevin moved southward after giving his orders, aiming to catch the aliens before they had a chance to recover.

Recovery was exactly what seemed to be on the minds of the three Mecroaches that crawled out of the fallen dropship first. One of them left its belly exposed, prompting buckshot to fill the soft parts of its body and kill it. The other two’s shells merely deflected the stray pellets that came their way, and this pair of Mecroaches took a defensive posture, opening fire to buy time for a pair of Mutons and a Charger to break out of the other side of their crashed ride. The hulking pair of alien shocktroopers laid down suppressing fire against Kevin and Olivia, not wanting the heavy hitters to get closer.

The Charger had different, more aggressive plans. He rushed forward at Emile, slamming his plated hooves into the Juggernaut’s shield while his plasma-spiked tail darted at the XCOM soldier from the right side.

Emile utilized his metal arm to grab the Chargers tail and crushed it, causing the alien to scream. Emile then used his shield officenly, to bash the Charger away from him, he then shield bashed it again, stunning it. Emile pulled out his SMG and fired at the Charger causing it to back up. “Heh, having this arm does pay off from time to time.” The Juggernaut put his shield on his back and drew his battle rifle and went to cover firing at the Charger.

The quick-witted alien managed to recover from its pain enough to dodge the initial gunfire from the Juggernaut’s primary weapon, and it shot in reprisal. The plasma largely missed Emile, though it took down the entire wall near him, leaving him exposed once more. The upside was that he got to shoot at the Charger again, and this time killed it.

One of the Mutons let out a ferocious call for blood, and both of them suddenly ceased their suppressing fire, instead shooting to kill as they both ran forward. Niphua assisted Kevin with his reflexes, while Olivia’s chameleon suit meant they couldn’t get a good bead on her - though destroying her cover made it much harder for her to stay hidden if she took a shot. Indeed, Brown felt like just holding her fire, but as the Mutons converged on Kevin and Emile she had to reconsider that stance.

The former managed to keep up with the Muton, drawing his sword and causing a thrust of the Muton’s chain bayonet to grind off the side of the Las-Blade’s frame rather than kill him. “Too close,” Kevin muttered. The structure of his laser sword broke in half, making it unable to turn on again. “Way too close,” he growled in frustration. He went for his shotgun, but got backhanded into the interior of the building that was missing a wall before he could make use of his primary weapon.

Emile did not have the same advantage an A.I. offered, and Olivia knew she couldn’t just leave him to die. “Dammit!” She lifted her bolt caster, punching a clean hole in the Muton’s armor and wounding it. The shocktrooper pounded its chest as a rush of adrenaline went through it from the wound, and it turned its attention to Olivia, taking at shot at her. The Muton missed. Its Mecroach companions did not, a few of their shots stabbing into Olivia, severely wounding her and causing her chameleon suit to fail.

Lilith decided to cover Olivia and Emile by firing into the wounded muton to give the a little breathing room, Lilith then decided to shoot at the Mecroach keeping it in cover. “Come one I need one little mistake, come on one of you.” The Muton fired at Lilith, missing its shots/ Lilith returned fire at the Muton shooting its neck, causing it to get on hands and knees choking. “Yo Nash the Muton’s down now all we need to do is take down that damn Mecroach.”

Kevin didn’t even have time to form a retort about the other Muton that was attacking him within the building, instead having Niphua focus solely on reflex assist to allow him to dodge a pair of shots from the shocktrooper bearing down on him and grab his shotgun. He pulled the trigger, blowing a hole in the Muton’s helmet and jaw, but it didn’t go down. “...come on!”

Switching priorities, Niphua activated the skulljack again, guiding its pair of blades into the gap in the helmet to puncture the second Muton’s brain. See? We had him. Just have a little more trust.

Easy for you to say.

The Mecroach seemed focus on Lilith as the immediate threat, pinning her down with the pair of pulse pistols integrated into its armor. This allowed Olivia to drag herself behind cover, clutching at her wounds in agony. “C-Christine, can you spare Sparks?”

“On it, just give me a second.” Christine’s Gremlin soon flew over from the other team, spraying a healing mist that allowed Olivia to get to her feet.

Olivia lifted her SMG, firing off a barrage of bullets at the Mecroach that merely plinked off its thick shell. Growling in frustration, she dropped her submachine gun in favor of her cable slinger. With shaky hands the Ambusher tried to line up a shot with it. Pulling the trigger, she sent a pair of spinning ropes forward, and managed to tie up some of the alien cockroach’s many legs, but it wasn’t enough to disable it completely and it kept firing. It was only the return of Kevin and a shotgun blast that blew apart its functional pistol, and allowed Lilith to get the killshot.

“Yeah, I’d say this is a lot tougher,” Olivia grumbled, recovering her SMG and then reloading her bolt caster.

It wasn’t going well for the other team either. Another ADVENT dropship had come, this one having a turret and Gunner inside that had pinned down the four XCOM soldiers for awhile until Keloe managed to take the pair out with an AT grenade. Nevertheless, the rest of the ADVENT forces had forced them back, prompting Alpha Squad to fall back into what was not dissimilar to a parking lot. Even as they did, a fourth ADVENT dropship flew in, and dropped off additional soldiers before flying off again. All in all, there was six Troopers, two Combat Medics, a Gunner, a Hoverguard, two Rocketeers, two Assassins, and a pair of Officers who had the entire squad marked.

“Now is not the time to hold back,” Kevin cautioned as he dropped a smoke grenade to do his best to counterattack how vulnerable the squad was. “Light em up!”

Damien’s hands trembled slightly from fear, but he nevertheless was able to blow away one of the Troopers with his gauss LMG. Keloe sent an incendiary grenade into the midst of the enemy, hoping to scatter them - but it was deflected by a red glow that sent it flying to the side harmlessly into the snow. The culprit was identifiable as one of the Officers, who had a similar glow momentarily around his hand. “Oh come on, they have telekinesis now too?” the Grenadier spat. “Bullshit!”

Olivia took out one of the Rockeeters with a bolt through his helmet as he tried to ready a rocket. “No time for complaints, this is life or death!”

“Agreed, we’ll worry about that later.” Emile fired at the med troopers not wanting the ADVENT soldiers to have healers. Emile took out one of the medics, then aimed for the other one - but the healer went to cover protecting him from attack. Emile threw a HE grenade to draw him out. The med trooper dashed away from the explosion, and Emile then shot the Med troopers legs to make sure he couldn't run. The Juggernaut then unloaded half of his magazine into the Combat Medic, finishing him off.

The Assassins set up shop on opposite sides of the ADVENT lines, moving halfway into a flanking position before digging in and taking aim. The remaining Rocketeer took good cover, while the MEC stood more confidently out in the open, kneeling down and preparing its micro missiles. The Gunner and Troopers all focused on suppressing fire, pinning Alpha Squad down to allow their more skilled superiors to prepare their attacks. Miniature missiles flew through the air alongside alongside an antipersonnel rocket.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Dahlexpert and DarkGemini24601: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Alpha Squad” - Part 6

Someone managed to shoot down the latter, but the MEC trooper’s explosives rained down on the car Damien and Luke were using for cover. The explosions did little damage to Luke’s blast padding, while by contrast Damien’s armor was torn to shreds and he was lightly injured. It wasn’t over though, as milliseconds later the car burst into flames - flames that set Damien’s skin alight, and melted it off - swiftly burning him to death.

One of the Officer’s scored a hit on Kevin, punching into his armor and rendering him more vulnerable to dying from a follow-up shot. “No, no, not again!” Christine pleaded as memories ran through her head. The valiant but futile stand her past comrades took that left all but her dead. “Pavise!” Her Reflection shot forth, putting up its bubble shield hands and expanding them to cover the squad from gunfire. Magnetically accelerated bullets slammed into the shields like hail against glass, cracking it and threatening to break it apart.

“Christine, can you open up holes for us to fire?” Kevin requested, knowing this was merely delaying the inevitable.

“I can try,” the Specialist responded uncertainly. Pavise responded accordingly - creating a gap in its defensive bubble - and Kevin’s shotgun blast escaped, downing two Troopers. “Someone take that Rocketeer down!” he yelled over the pounding the shield was taking.

Lilith lined up the Rocketeer, and fired a few potshots at him - only to force him deeper into cover. “Damn it, come on now.” Lilith reloaded her gun and continue to fire at the rocketeer. “Hey Keloe, think you can force this guy out of cover?”

Keloe got a wicked smile across her face.”Heh heh with pleasure.” Keloe fired an HE grenade at the Rocketeer forcing him out of cover and making him a prime target for Lilith.

Lilith fired at the Rocketeer’s head penetrating the armor and dropping the soldier to the ground. “Hey the Rocketeer is down, whatever you're planning do it now we can’t stay here forever.”

“Plan? Kind of running dry on those,” Kevin admitted as he took down a pair of Troopers with his shotgun. “I just hope Christine can keep this up.”

“No more of you are dying on my watch!” Christine growled, Pavise’s shield holding and creating gaps where needed for the squad to fire out of. For now, her force of will was sustaining her Reflection.

Kevin, if I might suggest skulljacking one of the Officers… we can possible disrupt their coordination and turn the battle in our favor, Niphua offered.

“Anything works for me at this point.” The Ranger nodded, and prepped his device. “Christine, give me a door!” A man-sized hole opened up in the shield, and Kevin dived out. A hail of reaction fire came his way, though for the most part he was able to deftly avoid it and keep a low profile as he ran alongside the cars until he reached one of the Officers. He punched his fist weapon through the enemy Sergeant’s skull, and a moment later most of the nearby ADVENT soldiers clutched their heads in agony. “Attack now!”

The remaining three Troopers and their Gunner ally went down to the XCOM barrage that followed as Christine lowered her shield, but the Hoverguard and the MEC seemed largely unaffected and were able to dodge or seek cover. The latter took aim at Olivia, who didn’t have time to move due to the fatigue of her injuries. Christine stepped in front of her squadmate as the bullets began to fly, Pavise defending the both of them - though mental exhaustion was starting to show on the Specialist’s features.
Luke and Keloe took aim at the MEC and fired their miniguns at the mec destroying its armor and damaging most of their haul. The two Grenadiers as if there one soldier both loaded their launchers with shard grenades and fired it at the robotic enemies, with both yearling. “Fire in the hole!” The combined explosion was enough to destroy the MEC and Hoverguard.

The remaining Officer retreated behind a wall, having his two remaining soldiers - the pair of Assassins - stay in cover. Kevin initially wondered what they were waiting for, but as he glanced skywards for but a moment he saw why. A turret on the bottom of the alien troopship hovering over the Avenger turned towards Alpha Squad’s location. “You have got to be kidding me…” With a barrage of plasma, it fired directly into Christine’s shield, almost - but not quite - shattering it.

Christine fell to her knees, hit by the mental anguish of her Reflection being heavily damaged. The situation only got worse from there, as yet another ADVENT dropship flew in, depositing four Troopers, two Medics, and a Saboteur onto the snow. While their commanding specialist-rank soldier went to ground alongside the Officer in the field, the other six soldiers lined up in front of the Reflection-user. They held their fire, allowing two rail sniper rifles to crack to break the shield and damage Pavise’s torso, leaving parts of him fragmenting into the cold Antarctic sky.

Maverick Squad’s Specialist breathed heavily, pushing herself shakily to her feet. “I won’t… let you hurt Olivia…” she spoke through gritted teeth.

If the Advent soldiers across from Christine showed any respect for her determination, they did not show it through actions nor words. All six merely raised their rifles and carbines, and let out a barrage of gunfire. The firing squad’s bullets went by too fast for the naked eye to follow, magnetically accelerated through the frigid air into Christine’s armor - piercing it. Fractions of a second afterwards, twenty-two bullets perforated Christine’s body - Pavise’s back being the only thing preventing them from continuing on their course into Olivia. Christine’s mortal shell was lifeless before it hit the ground in a crimson heap.

“Damn it.” Emile looked over his gear. “Alright well if we can’t go around them... ugh, this is going to hurt.” Emile deployed his smoke grenade covering the team. Emile emerged from the smoke using his shield as mobile cover. Come and get me your bastards!” The Assassins fired their weapons at Emile's shield his shield taking incredible damage, as well as his armor. “Come on just a little bit further!” Emile finally got close to one of the two Assassins where he shield bashed them to the ground. Emile then turned to the rest of his team and yelled, “Hey I could use some help here!”

Olivia’s eyes were fixed on the bleeding corpse of one of her closest friends. Her pupils were dilated with horror and fear subsuming all other emotions. “N-No… this… can’t be happening…”

Pavise began splinter into pieces, the death of the person that had spawned him naturally spelling the end of his existence. What remained of the thoughtform’s limbs had disintegrated, and much of his torso was breaking apart as well from the holes the 22 rounds had left. His silver domed helmet-head had begun to spiderweb with cracks, one of them causing a blue eye to be put out. In a last ditch effort, he collapsed into Olivia, the Dream Reflection phasing into her body even as most of its form broke into a billion tiny shards.

For those that bore witness to the phenomenon, however, there was too much else going on to question what exactly had transpired. Kevin rushed the other Assassin, quickly batting away their alloy katana and running them through. “Damn all of you!” he spat furiously, having finally lost his cool after two under his command had fallen. “Take those murdering bastards down!”

The surviving members of Alpha Squad took that order to heart. Keloe used her coilgun to demolish the wall that the Saboteur and Officer were hiding behind. The Saboteur managed to dive out of the way as soon as the cover crumbled, but the Officer was not ready to move. This provided Luke with the perfect chance to form a thrumming crimson psionic lance, which he sent through the enemy Sergeant’s skull. With their leader and heavy-hitters dead, all the fresh enemy troops could do was scatter.

While this made them harder to take out quickly, this tactic meant that any shots the Advent soldiers got off were highly imprecise. Emile exploited this to close in on one of the Combat Medics, gunning the medical trooper down with his battle rifle. The other fell to a lucky pistol shot from Lilith, who then followed up by killing one of the regular grunts with her DMR. The three Troopers that remained could not match Kevin’s fury and Niphua’s dodge assistance, being cut down one by one by the furious XCOM Sergeant.

Finally, it came down to the Saboteur. He knew the next reinforcements would not come in time to save him. Rather, he intended to at least take down some of the enemy with him. For that purpose, he targeted Emile, meaning to take out the battered Juggernaut with a launched landmine. The only person with eyes on him was Olivia, and he had disregarded the hyperventilating Ambusher.

This was a mistake. The death of another ally looming before her eyes caused her to act. No, I won’t make her sacrifice for nothing! No one else dies today! Olivia’s eyes focused, burning with a simple desire. In front of her, Pavise formed - his body still horribly battered, and only one of his arms having reformed. He flickered, weaker that he had been with Christine as his user - but Olivia’s request was enough. His bubble-like hand was now only a flat, circular shield, but it was enough. It nearly broke when the mine impacted it and exploded, but it was enough.

Kevin glanced at Olivia, a question almost making its way to his dry mouth. But at the end of the day, there were more ADVENT dropships in the distance. The fight was not over, and the time for mourning and inquiry would only come if XCOM survived this dark hour.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Beta Squad” - Part 7

The icy dust had settled around the Avenger; the powdered ice that had been kicked up by the impact of the mobile headquarters of XCOM had finally returned to coat the ground in a shallow layer of snow that was the only thing contrasting this part of the flat terrain that surrounded the commandeered starship from the rest of the ice shelf. Aside from the mountains peeking through the layers of frozen water that lay directly in front of the Avenger, but they only offered cover to Alpha Squad. The second defensive team had no such cover: they were out in the open.

That is why Atka had chosen to lead Beta Squad in this desperate defense. Beta would need an effective leader; there was no room for mistakes. They would also need power, which was why Yakone was present as well - a skilled psion to stand alongside one of the soldiers who had been implanted with an A.I. Stacie exited the main engineering room down the lowered back wall that doubled as a ramp. She carried with her a spare Juggernaut shield, which she placed down a few feet away from the end of the sloping metal - setting it up as a place to seek cover should the left flank be compromised. Russell did the same for the right flank, taking deep breaths to steady his pounding heart - worry threatening to cloud the Juggernaut’s thoughts.

Grant snapped him out of it. As he was helping Heinrich set up his mortar at the top of the ramp, the Specialist called down to Russell. “Hey, you alright? You’ve been pretty quiet for someone who should be confident.”

“What is there to be confident about? This is a pretty dangerous situation,” Russell replied with a shake of his helmeted head. He look up at Grant, and occasionally glanced back out at the flat landscape.

“I mean, this is your element and all. Icy, cool, collected, completely staid and stuck-up…” Grant rattled off.

Russell couldn’t help but smile slightly. “Fuck off, Imahara,” he told his friend in a mildly playful manner.

“I imagine he’s not willing to do that. If you want me to fuck up aliens, sure, I can do that,” Bauer snarked in response as he loaded a shell into his large secondary weapon.

Maxwell was doing likewise with his alternative firearm, though instead of loading oversized grenades into an oversized grenade launcher he was placing a bulky magazine into a bulky machine gun. He patted his HMG. “Set up and ready to go,” he stated coolly.

“Go assist Espina, Sinclair, and Pierre then,” Atka ordered the Trooper as she went to do so herself. The Sharpshooter, Grenadier, and Juggernaut were in the process of carrying slabs of metal down to the ice shelf. While Maxwell assisted with the heavy lifting, Atka helped direct those who had their vision obscured by the plates they were carrying down the ramp. Once they were there, she showed them where she wanted the fortifications placed into the ground - forming a line perpendicular to the two deployed shields.

“It’s going to be a glacial process to secure these things in the ground,” Carlos quipped as he angled his particular piece and a few others headed back to get more.

Atka rolled her eyes at the pathetic joke, and lifted a hand up with a dark blue glow surrounding it. The hue appeared around the ice below Carlos’ slab, and the frozen water rose around the fortification to secure it in place. Waving the Sharpshooter off to go help the others, Atka continued the process until a proper rampart had been created - one large enough for the whole squad to take cover behind. “Now we have some defenses… the enemy won’t have that luxury.” Taking a peek backwards at the two heavy weapons manned by Heinrich and Maxwell and the guns of the rest of squad, Atka was confident that would be quite an important factor in this battle.

“Remember, Yakone… don’t run up without cover from Russell,” Leon warned the energetic Ranger. “Even with your abilities it’s not going to be safe.”

Yakone sighed irritably. “I’m not stupid,” the Inuit-Caucasian grumbled.

“Keep your cool and focus,” Atka said sternly, eyeing her daughter. You’re only out here because I need all the strength we can muster, the Commander telepathically warned Yakone.

Yeah, I- Yakone began to shoot back, but the step Atka took in her direction when she did shut her up, and she simply nodded in understanding. Yes, sir…

Gwen felt sort of strange being in armor once more with her shield and pistols at her hips, having been some time since she had seen action. She wished that after her willingness to try and start doing things better wasn’t interrupted by explosions and highly advanced spacecraft plummeting into ice but who was she to complain the sick humor of the universe. Speaking of sick… “I feel horrible.”

“I am sure you have time to run and grab an antacid.” Her brother suggested to the Juggernaught, having given Atka and Yakone space since they begun a staring match he could only assume was them talking with their minds.

Despite her strong urge to take the situation seriously, she still found it in her to punch his arm. “I’m worried about my powers. I didn’t really get in a lot of simulations. I must say I am… very wary to use them.”

“Do not worry Gwendoline.” A soft voice said over Leon’s comms. “I will do my best to assist you as well when convenient.”

Under her helmet the French girl rose a very questioning eyebrow. “Does he actually have the capacity to do that?”

Leon had no answer. “Let the kid dream a little.” After that, the Grenadier check his weaponry over once more before settling in. From there, it was a waiting game.

Then, with the hum of pulse engines, the dropships arrived. ADVENT Troopers dropped down from the sky like a black metal rain. Among them was a frontline of Stun Lancers and the occasional Shieldbearer. Backing them up were Gunners and Medics, Rocketeers and MECs. Their success rate against Beta Squad proved to be far lower than it would be against the other two squads. For one, Beta was the largest with a total of ten soldiers. Secondarily, those soldiers included a higher density of superpowered fighters - between Atka and Yakone’s psionics & Leon and Stacie’s A.I., the black-armored bodies began to pile up. And thirdly, while Beta had set up an effective defensive position with plenty of long-ranged offensive options… the attacking forces were running through an open field.

There were few misses on XCOM’s part. At first, the ADVENT troops tried to drop in close - only to be mowed down by Stacie’s blitz coilers, Heinrich’s heavy machinegun, and Leon’s gauss minigun. Even though they were able to get close-range shots, their gunfire was largely deflected off of the shields of the two Juggernauts and the frozen bunker the squad was taking cover behind. This would have slowly whittled away at the integrity of the Juggernaut pair’s defender shields, if not for Gwendoline. Despite her reluctance, even minor use of her psionics proved invaluable; minor applications of a telekinetic field slowed projectiles coming the way of the two frontline soldiers, ensuring that their plated shields didn’t break apart from repeated deflection of magnetically-accelerated projectiles.

Next, ADVENT attempted to land their soldiers further away. This proved equally ineffective. Although they started to deploy Assassins, the Advent snipers were dealt with by the long-ranged XCOM forces. Stacie didn’t fare so well with her DMR at first, but Merlux helped pick up some of her slack even though he preferred to assist with reflexes rather than visual acuity. Carlos didn’t have as much trouble, racking up kills with his sniper rifle. And to ruin the day of the charging troops, Heinrich rained down mortar shells from above - having no limitations on his ordnance supply due to the engineering bay that lay right behind him.

It soon reached the point where the closest outpost that was sending these forces could no longer afford the high casualties they were taking on this front. The tide of blood was immediately plugged as the remaining forces on the ground pulled out, and further dropships were scrambled towards the top of the Avenger and McMurdo Station. Beta Squad was granted a temporary respite, allowing them to cautiously restock on ammunition and cool their nerves - though a certain tension hung in the air. ADVENT wasn’t just going to give up. But what did they have planned next?

The question running through the XCOM soldiers’ minds didn’t stay unanswered for long. The alien troopship appeared overhead not long after silence has settled over the icy battlefield. It deployed three dropships, and some aerial troops - most of which went to the other fronts. The singular dropship that remained didn’t land immediately, instead waiting until another pair could be scrambled and the troopship’s drop-pod cannon could be aimed at the ice sheets.

When the aliens began to send their forces, the real fight began.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Beta Squad” - Part 8

Two of the dropships didn’t even land. They opened up their doors, and out of them flew a swarm of Keepers. The airborne insectoid soldiers were equipped with pulse weapons that weren’t particularly large or powerful (compared to the heavy weapons XCOM was using), but were nevertheless dangerous due to the elevation bonus their wielders boasted. Blue, pulsating lasers streamed down from the sky, prompting Beta Squad to duck behind cover - cover that was quickly being damaged.

“Bauer, you’re on pesticide duty,” Atka informed the Grenadier.

“Fantastic,” Heinrich replied, a bit sacrastically and a bit eagerly. He tilted his mortar’s barrel upwards, and let his first upwards shell fly. It soared past some of the Keepers - prompting them to start trying to spread out - but nevertheless hit something. The explosive capsule collided with one of the dropships, damaging the front and sending it spiraling dangerously - not completely out of control but certainly unsteady. The blast damaged a few of the Keepers and even killed one - and the spinning dropship took out a few more. “Totally meant to do that.”

“I’m not complaining if it works, Panzer! Don’t worry about that,” Stacie stated honestly as she started to go for her DMR. You know what, fuck that. Instead, she drew her blitz guns, and just started firing wildly into the sky - clipping the armor of a few of the aerial troopers and even causing one’s jetpack to explode.

The Keepers weren’t the only enemy the XCOM squad had to face, however. The third dropship did infact land, and let out a pair of Chargers and four Mutons, all of which began charging at the XCOM forces - the centaur-like aliens understandably closing the distance faster. This would have made the Mutons easier to take down if not for the chaos of battle and the fact that a pair of drop-pods collided with the earth to provide them cover to stop behind.

Leon readied his gauss minigun and looked at the two Chargers, prioritizing them first. “Heinrich, keep them at bay.” He ordered, taking out his grenade launcher and loading in an HE grenade, shooting out at a relatively high angle to both get distance and to angle the explosive with the hopes of damaging cover and alien alike. With Psyma to worry about proper angling vectors, he loaded in another round ready to rain down his own explosive fury.

“Man, I am popular today.” Heinrich refrained from reloading his mortar, instead pulling out his ATC and lining up a shot. “Come on…” A soothing feeling washed over him, and he felt like he could discern his target’s trajectory twice as effectively. “What…?”

Don’t question it, shoot!

Heinrich did as he was ordered - recognizing the voice even though it was mental. With a pull of his trigger, he sent two out of three of his anti-tank cannon’s spike-like projectiles through the Charger, bringing it to its knees with two gaping holes in its chest armor. What was that?

Empathy. Not as useless of an ability as it sounds. Atka drew her rail revolver, allowing the synergistic connection to harmlessly disconnect as she quickly aimed at the stopped Charger and pulled her trigger, finishing it off.

Yakone pulled her angled las-blade off her back, pressing the activation switch into the ‘on’ position. “Finally.” The second Charger beared down on her, and she dodged its initial stampede, darting around the ice it had cracked with the charge and slashing its side, rupturing a few organs and bringing it down.

The containers that had fallen from the sky and were now torn up along the sides - but intact due to their alloyed composition - hissed and let loose a faint mist as their doors opened up. From inside, a pair of Sectoids each poked their heads out - unwilling to leave the cover their method of transportation had provided for the open ground. One of them got shot through the head by Carlos, and the other three retaliated psionically.

The first caused the Sharpshooter to panic with a twisted thread of violet, and the second took advantage of this mental state to seize control of his mind. The other sent a mixture of purple and green into the body of the fallen charger, causing it to abruptly rise again. It took aim with its shotgun at Grant, prompting the Specialist to give himself an aid protocol and dive behind the Avenger’s ramp as a scatterblast of plasma flew dangerously close - some of the buckshot damaging his armor. The alien’s tail reflexively shot at an unprepared Yakone, who had still been gloating over her defeat of the enemy and was now caught off-guard.

The plasma-lined tail-spike was abruptly stopped by a small barrier made of tiny hexagons, the yellowness of it almost looking like a honeycomb. Gwen didn’t know why that image popped into her head, just focusing on some sort of shape and creating a barrier of of it. However, the small barrier was done hands free and this allowed Gwen to plant her shield more properly as two sidearms were drawn instead of her rifle with the close proximity and she fired once from both weapons once. Both hit their mark, and unlike Yakone, Gwen didn’t remain to gloat. “Come on, get back in the fight. We need your head in the right place.”

“Fuck off, I had that,” Yakone muttered under her breath, reluctantly switching to her PDW and taking some potshots at the still-troublesome Keepers.

Atka’s eyes quickly followed the spiraling violet line between the second Sectoid and Carlos, who turned his sniper rifle on her. “Shit.” The Ambusher mentally activated her chameleon suit and dropped to the ground, the high-caliber rail spike impacting the ice where her head had been a heartbeat before, burrowing into an icy grave. Moving forward before the puppet soldier could discern where she was, the Commander yanked Espina’s hands behind his back, and then send a watery mental helix at the problem Sectoid, causing it to clutch its head in agony and sever the connection.

The Mutons seemed less than impressed by the psionic trickery of their allies, and moved on to do something themselves other than lay down suppressing fire. Two of them continued to shoot, pinning down Leon and Stacie while another two drew grenades.

“I can deal with the nades if someone gets this bastard off me!” Stacie informed the others.

Counter-suppression ensued from Maxwell’s HMG, being more than enough to minimize what the Muton attempting to pin down Stacie could do. “Do your thing!” the Dominican Trooper called out as the two alien grenades began to fly.

Stacie drew her revolver and pointed at an angle. Two bullets exited her sidearm, and both of the grenades exploded. Thanks, Merlux.

You’re welcome… I hate calculations.

I know buddy.

Running out of tricks, the enemy forces began to whittle down. Few Keepers remained - and those that did fell back into the shelter of one of the dropships for the moments. A mortar from Heinrich and a grenade from Leon later, and the Sectoids inside the drop pods were very much dead. The Mutons were more difficult to remove from their entrenched position though, prompting Atka to take more drastic measures. Pooling psionic energy, the Commander reached her hands forward and seized control of the ice beneath the feet of the alien shocktroopers. It cracked apart, going down quite a ways - dropping the Mutons into the ocean that lay below.

The impressive display did tax the Inuit woman, forcing her to fall back and catch her breath, so to speak. Whether or not the aliens recognized this and chose to exploit it or just had lucky timing was unclear, but what could not be mistaken was the fact that three more drop pods fell down to earth, and the other two dropships returned with an unusual troop complement.

They took a holding pattern, allowing the Domineer in each of them to send their psi drones downwards. The rest of the transport’s occupants totaled up to eight spherical enemies. They were very simple in design, with white metal shells and a single, violet-colored electronic eye. Four of them dropped downwards to a lower altitude, and then fired off psionic energy beams. One of them hit Russell in the shoulder, seeming to partially phase through his plating to damage the armor directly. The other four glowed with violet to those that could see psionics, surrounded in what appeared to be mental flames. And soon, those flames rocketed at the XCOM soldiers, causing any caught within their swathe to feel physical heat and psychic agony.

Unfortunately, Leon was one of those caught in the flames as he had been unable to see anything, Psyma not being able to warn his user as he wasn’t particularly programmed to pick up psionic readings seeing as his owner wasn’t psionic himself. This lack of connection was coming back to bite them as Leon yelled out in pain, causing Psyma to panic as he was flooded with the pain signals through the PCS.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Beta Squad” - Part 9

“Dammit!” Yakone yelled out in frustration, able to gun one down with her mag PDW but not being able to deal with all of them. Things weren’t getting better either. The three drop-pods blew apart, revealing heavier enemy units inside. There was a pair of Infantry Mechtoids, who turned their plasma mini-cannons on the two Juggernauts and began to open fire with abandon. The middle pod revealed a Sectoid Guru and a small cat-like alien that darted forward, escaping the attention of most of the squad due to his larger companions’ imminent threat.

“Carlos! AMR on one of those Mechtoids, now!” Atka barked, closing her eyes for a moment and steadying herself with a deep breath. She empathically connected herself to Leon, Stacie, and Russell who were caught in the soulfire inferno, allowing them to share the burden of their pain with her so they could pull themselves together enough to move from their current location. However, while this enabled Leon and Stacie to reposition, Winslow didn’t have the time. His shield broke apart under the barrage of plasma coming his way, and his armor took a beating. Luckily for him, the former police officer was knocked out of the soulfire’s radius by the force of the hits, and hadn’t suffered bodily harm.

The crack of an AMR soon resounded, and the armor of the Mechtoid that had hit Russell was both damaged and shredded, making it more vulnerable to further attack. Seeing this, one of the Domineers surrounded it in a telekinetic barrier via its Psi Drone. The other Domineer activated an illusion protocol for his Sectoid Guru superior, allowing him to move up without much fear of being shot due to having a holographic double in front of himself. The Priorbrus ‘Commander’ send a flow of purple-green into three of the fallen Sectoids, who rose up and began suicidally charging the XCOM lines - something acidic lurking beneath their ravaged bodies.

Maxwell raised his rifle and began firing at the zombified Sectoid troops, more fear rising up in him the closer they got as he was only able to shoot down one. He soon found himself out of ammo and had to fall back. Gwen grit her teeth and moved to where he had retreated, raising her rifle that she kept for emergencies, firing a burst and successfully scoring a killing blow, though now the third was dangerously close to the out of place Juggernaut.

This time Yakone came to her rescue. Activating her Overdrive, Yakone placed herself between Gwen and the psi zombie, kicking it back as it glowed and then exploded. The acid splashed over Yakone, damaging her armor even through its natural defense and her psionic buttressing, but she suffered far less damage than the Juggernaut would have without her shield up. “This is getting pretty damn serious, huh?”

“I’ll say…” Gwen noted, getting up and grabbing her shield. “Yakone, come stack up on me, I have an idea.”

The Ranger stepped behind her. “What is that?” she had to shout over the sound of a mortar shell going off overhead, blowing up more of the spherical alien psions.

Gwen grabbed her shield and took out one of her two sidearms. “Be a little reckless. Leon, pop smoke! We can stir up quite the distraction. Can you have your Gremlin cover us as well Grant?” She asked their specialist, determined to come out unscathed from drawing the attention of a large amount of enemies.

“On it.” The Specialist sent his Gremlin over the two women, the aid protocol’s distortion column covering both of them since they were closely packed. “Guardian angel’s up.” The Gremlin then fired a disruptor cannon shot at the Psi Drone over the damaged Mechtoid, forcing it to cancel its barrier protocol and back off. “And the imitation’s running scared.” Unfortunately, both Mechtoids were soon shielded by a greater mind merge from the Sectoid Guru.

“If I could seize control of one of the big guys that would really help,” Yakone grumbled. “Think you can cover me while I try that?” she asked Gwen as the smoke cover went up.

“Don’t worry about me. Just focus on getting control.” The French girl told Yakone confidently, activating only a small barrier in front of her shield as she moved to get the Ranger in closer.

“Wish me luck.” Yakone’s body slumped to the ground unconsciously, and for the first time - thanks to her awakened psionics - Gwen could see the green specter that was Yakone’s mental projection offer a thumbs up before spirit-walking in the direction of the Mechtoid with an illusionary double. The Inuit-Caucasian’s ghostly form vanished within the Mechtoid, and the psionic cyborg seized up the moment she did so.

It violently stomped its mechanized feet, aiming its guns in random directions and shuddering as it tried to resist mental domination. Eventually, it stabilized and proceeded to start wailing on the Guru with its mini-cannons, killing its superior in one flurry of gunfire. Both of the Mechtoids then lost their shields, and started exchanging fire with each other in a fight to the death.

Meanwhile, some of the last sphereical Mindleeches were shot down. Those that weren’t destroyed by explosions ejected small, slug-like creatures that fell onto the cold snow. Most of them died before they got anywhere, save for two. The first landed ontop of Stacie’s helmet, and slid thin proboscis into the gaps, using physical contact to exert a strong control over the gunslinger’s mind. Stacie turned her revolver on Russell, shooting the Juggernaut in the side before he had a chance to react - heavily damaging the armor and drawing blood beneath.

The other mindleech landed close to Yakone, and with a joyous slither disappeared beneath the Ranger’s helmet - taking control of the mind while the soul was away. Yakone suddenly stood back up - which sent alarm bells off in Gwen’s head, since the second Mechtoid was clearly still under the Inuit-Caucasian’s control. This gave her the chance to take a step back, precluding the swipe of the Mindleech from cutting down her chest. Instead, the las-blade briefly contacted the icy ground before being raised again in an offensive stance. “Such a delicious meal,” the alien remarked. “And you will be next, little dabbler.”

“God damn that is fucking creepy…” Gwen noted, holding her shield up defensively, little honeycombs spreading over it.

The laser running within the las-blade’s shell was imbued in response - the Mindleech having full control over Yakone’s powers. With a grin that was clearly not natural, she surged forward, slashing rapidly against Gwen’s defenses - testing them, and despite the best of Gwen’s efforts finding them wanting. Not wanting to have to shoot her friend’s body, it was all Saint Pierre could do to defend against the onslaught - and even that might reach its limit as Yakone’s physical enhancement started to flare and put more strength behind her blows.

As she prepared for a particularly nasty swipe, Atka rushed her daughter’s form from behind. With one hand, she seized ahold of Yakone’s helmet, and with the other she drove a wave-charged combat knife into the back of the helm. There was the sound of flesh being penetrated and fried in one breathe, and then Yakone slumped to the ground.

“Agh!” Gwen yelled out, startled, though wanted to think better then her mother really stabbed her daughter. “What did you just do!?”

Atka pulled her dagger back, the burnt remnants of the Mindleech attached to it. Notably, the end was bent. “Relax, her Overdrive prevented me from doing any real damage to her head.” Putting her knife away, the Commander pulled out her cable slinger, and brought Stacie down.

Without warning, there was the horrible sound of flesh ripping. Out of nowhere, a large hairless tiger-like alien was ontop of Russell, exploiting the gap in his armor to swipe down with alloyed claws and tear out his guts. Maxwell and Heinrich both opened fire, meaning to exact vengeance, but with what looked like a smile the alien cat leapt deftly out of the way, landing gracefully on its feet. Why are you so angry? It’s not my fault you didn’t notice I was here.

Meanwhile, another dropship flew overhead, though this one did not stop at all, a pod falling out of the back and slamming into the ground. The front of the pod burst open and out stepped a heavily armored humanoid, the physique of one much larger than normal, denoting modifications. He looked at Gwen and Atka who were standing out in the relative open and reached to the side of his armor, pulling something out and holding it tightly in his hand. A blade of orange psionic energy flared out of it, something surprisingly all the team members could see. Bringing up the blade, it charged at the two women.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Beta Squad” - Part 10

“What the hell?!” Atka lifted up her hands, a pair of telekinetic helixes forming and crossing in an ‘x’ - grinding against the psionic blade as a defensive measure.

Gwen quickly reached down for her own revolver but instead had to put up a hasty defense as the unknown enemy swung his fist to side and batted her away into the snow and ice. This took his attention off Atka for a few brief moments.

Atka didn’t waste the opportunity, keeping her Reflection weapons in place while drawing her revolver. The helixes extended slightly to accommodate the movement with the faint noise of a chain clattering, and Atka fired an underhanded shot at the special soldier’s gut.

The point blank shot punched through the armor, but the soldier only growled in response as it slowly turned its head back to the Commander, lifting a large fist to strike her directly in the head while pushing down the blade she was currently holding at bay, not worry about anyone else other then the immediate threat. The hit went through, staggering the Inuit soldier backwards a good few feet. She went with it, knowing that if she had tried to hold her ground the blow might have taken off her head judging by the force of the strike.

The enemy’s lack of caution proved to be surprisingly well-founded, as the rest of the squad was dealing with the menace that was the ‘Prowler’ alien cat. It was nimbly dodging all incoming fire its way, as if it were seeing everything coming. Come on, come on, you can do better than that! it taunted. Merlux overloaded Stacie’s helmet recording cam’s battery, causing the resulting minor detonation to disengage the Mindleech from his user’s brain. Gathering her senses, the gunslinger fired at the Prowler, but it saw that coming too, and merely leapt back. With a stomp of a foot, the ice around Stacie locked her in place. A-ta-ta… can’t have you shooting at me too, that isn’t sporting.

“E-Excuse me…” A voice said from over Leon’s comms behind the cat, and the physical representation of Psyma formed with his hands behind his back. “How are you doing this?” The A.I. asked bluntly.

Would you believe me if I said I can see the future? the arrogant feline replied.

“I indeed would. That is quite a power I have not encountered before. Would you happen to be an intellectual?” Psyma asked seemingly out of nowhere. “You seem much smarter than the humans around here.”

Why are you asking…? the Prowler questioned suspiciously.

“Well, it is just I don’t hear a lot of intellectually stimulating input from these people. Heinrich does nothing but blow everything up. Grant can’t stop running his mouth, and his stupid Gremlin’s aid protocol does nothing but just slow the inevitable doom of the meatbags.” He said, each word he emphasized he made fun of in an exaggerated tone. “And worst of all is Leon blasting his damn gatling gun in my ears all day long. It is annoying! No one respects what I wish. You know what I mean?” The A.I. asked the feline alien.

The cat narrowed his eyes. Wait, you’re one of those ‘shards’ that were stolen, aren’t you? Why don’t you return with me then, little A.I.?

“Because I didn’t even get to the worst part yet! Stacie never knows when to stay down!” Psyma yelled.

There was a crack of ice as Grant’s Gremlin used his laser to slowly melt the ice around her shooting hand. Meanwhile, Leon’s gun raised and began whirling, and Bauer’s explosive grenade was ready to be fired, the A.I. having sent instructions to Merlux while keeping the feline distracted, allowing Stacie to relay the commands properly as Psyma called them out. “Fire!” Leon yelled.

Stacie flipped out her blitz coilguns, and sent a spray of fast-flying bullets into the Prowler’s hide - ruining its internals far worse than it had done to Russell. “Go to hell,” she spat with disgust.

There was an explosion as one of the Mechtoids fell to the ground. The second disengaged itself from its suit, the limbless pilot falling onto the snow. Then Yakone was back, standing up and rubbing her head. “Ugh… I have a hell of a headache.” Her eyes widened when she saw the enemy swordsman bearing down on Atka, and the Commander’s daughter drew her sword, rushing him from behind.

This time, his focus on his target would prove to be a fatal flaw, as once Yakone reached the hulking man, her blade would slide into a gap in his armor with ease, letting out an inhuman roar of pain as he flailed his sword as he turned, trying to get Yakone as now he was exposed to the slightly battered Atka. The Ranger managed to dodge the blow, though she had to let go of her sword to do so. Stepping back, she flipped out her truncated shotgun.

“Son of a bitch,” she muttered, not happy to have lost her sword. As she prepared to fire, Atka pulled herself together and pulled out her revolver. The blast of a sidearm shotgun and the round of a revolver came at the blade-wielding enemy soldier from both sides.

The blast from the sidearm shotgun ripped into his back while the revolver shot penetrated his chest, the soldier clutching at its own body as suddenly it fell. It bled heavily but was somehow still alive, if immobile for the time being. With the last two enemies on the field dealt with, the battle fell silent for a few seconds. Then, as if an acknowledgement that the XCOM squad had gotten this far, a single drop-pod was shot into the ground - this one being human-sized. A single door opened, and a single enemy stepped out.

It was clad in an advanced, black-and-violet EXO suit - with assisting servos running along the limbs and spine, thrumming with what appeared to be black psionic energy. Most of its armor was fairly humble in design, having no specific ornamentation. It was its mask that was the most interesting part, decorated with various runes in an alien language. It spoke psionically to the nine remaining members of Beta Squad with a powerful mental voice. This one is impressed by your resilience, soldiers of XCOM. The remaining Keepers flew out, backing the alien up. But your resistance ends now.

The nine soldiers lurched forward, a black glow emanating from the alien elite soldier as it telekinetically pulled its enemies towards itself. It drew a pair of plasma pistols not unlike Stacie’s blitz guns, and opened fire on Yakone and Leon, cutting into their armor.

Leon groaned in pain, trying to suppress the pain of being shot by the pistol. “W… What… the hell?”

The Keepers took advantage of Beta Squad’s struggle to fly towards the back of their ranks. Some of them shot at Heinrich, chipping into his armor and blowing apart his mortar - which, serving as cover, ultimately saved his life. Carlos was not so lucky, being yanked into the air by the elite ‘Latticer’ soldier and then shot to death at point blank by three Keepers surrounding him.

“Carlos…” Gwen said, gritting her teeth under her helmet. She tried to draw her weapon, firing at the Keepers. One of them fell to Gwen’s gunfire, and the others scattered as Grant’s Gremlin shocked a second one half to death.

The Latticer was not one to be ignored, however. Your determination is admirable. But all things will come to an end eventually, save for the eternal light of the Elders. The elite alien split into two, forming a psionic mirror image clone. The real Latticer used a combination of psi inspiration, biokinesis, and imbuing on itself, while the copy created a psionic rift that enveloped the XCOM soldiers, ripping apart their armor slowly but violently.

“Trying to copy me with that Overdrive trick?” Yakone snapped, her fury making her attempt at a taunt sound hollow. She gripped her sword tightly. “You want me to get closer? You’re going to fucking regret that!” Yakone stopped resisting the telekinetic pull, instead launching herself straight for the Latticer.

The Latticer’s clone slammed Yakone in the side with a fist. Foolish child. The Latticer himself engaged briefly in a sword duel with Yakone, but with a blue glow surrounding him and physically enhancing his body, it was clear who would win very quickly, and soon a psi blade was sticking out of Yakone’s chest. Stepping back, the Latticer and his clone raised their hands, and sent psi lances through the heads of Leon, Gwen, Stacie, and Grant.

“N-No!” Atka screamed in anguish as the lives of her daughter and those she had cared about were extinguished - snuffed out in an instant. “Not like this… not so easily…!”

This is the fate of all those that would resist the Elders. The Latticer drew his sword out of Yakone, letting her lifeless body fall to the snow. It dragged Atka and the scant few survivors towards itself. And now you shall join them in oblivion.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Operation Ashen Glacier - Beta Squad” - Part 11

Tears welled up in Atka’s eyes, and were then burnt away by dark blue psionic flames. “No! You’re wrong! I won’t let it end like this!”

Behind her formed her telekinetic helixes. They wound together, and stretched out, forming a skeletal form. Blue and white lights etched themselves into existence around the Reflection weapon skeleton, forming a proper thoughtform. It had the appearance of an astronaut, particularly in the helmet - which reflected a blue-tinged Earth - and in its backpack. On the tops of its hands were circular plates like the timekeeping piece of a wristwatch. They currently displayed asymbol one would see on a remote: a play arrow. As Atka’s mind was practically set on fire, those symbols shifted to two arrows back with a perpendicular line on the end. The Reflection encapsulated Atka, and she began to step backwards.

It was not a physical movement. It was not moving in the three dimensions. Rather, Atka felt and understood the sensation of moving backwards along the fourth dimension: time. Backwards the clock ticked, shifting backwards about eighteen seconds. Despite the fact that she had an instinctual understanding of what was happening provided by the Reflection, the situation was nevertheless confusing for Atka - and it made her freeze up.


“Trying to copy me with that… no, forget it!” Yakone snapped furiously, unable to hide her anger. She gripped her sword tightly. “You’re going to fucking regret wanting to draw me closer!” Yakone stopped resisting the telekinetic pull, instead launching herself straight for the Latticer.

The Latticer’s clone slammed Yakone in the side with a fist. Impudent child. The Latticer himself engaged briefly in a sword duel with Yakone, and as it was clear she was going to lose, Atka regained her senses.

The Latticer mentally prepared for the killstroke, and the Commander sent her grappling hook into Yakone’s back - dragging her daughter backwards out of harm’s way. “You aren’t going to kill her!”

What? How did you anticipate… I sensed no mind-reading at work! The Latticer protested, unable to comprehend what had just occured. He and his clone glowed with dark red energy. No matter, you shall all still die.

Prepare to dodge psi lances! Atka warned knowingly. Gwen, put up a shield!

Gwen didn’t need to be told twice, pushing herself to shield the others and herself as much as she could.

This time the Latticer didn’t go for the spread, but rather focused on targets one at a time. A flurry of lances went into Grant, Gwen’s shield unable to fully protect him from the potent onslaught. The Specialist was blown apart by the flaming psionic cannonballs.

“Dammit! This isn’t how it…” Atka growled. Her Reflection took shape behind her, visible to some of her allies but being something they had never seen before. Atka let herself be pulled forward, her thoughtform guardian delivering a thunderous punch into the psionic clone, shattering its telekinetic form into ionized fragments.

Stacie lifted her blitz coilguns, sending a barrage at the real Latticer. The shots collided with a powerful shield, her bullets merely breaking on it. “Damn!” She switched to her DMR, able to do a little damage with that.

Heinrich blew away one of the remaining Keepers, and turned his ATC on the elite alien, causing its shield to shatter with his shot. “Take that goddamn thing down!”

Gwen took both her pistols taking care to aim her shots, Leon beside her taking out his SMG, letting out his own volley of shots at the alien that wounded him. Many of the lower-caliber shots did little damage, but they did stagger the Latticer. Beginning to be unnerved, he reached a psionic hand into Leon’s head, seizing control of his mind and making him pull out his coilgun and begin to fire it at Atka.

The Commander witnessed the domination occur, and moved her Reflection in the way of the shots - the atmospheric astronaut proving quite resilient - if slow. The Latticer pulled out his plasma anti-tank rifle, aiming to shoot Atka before she or whatever invisible entity had destroyed his copy could respond. While Atka’s guardian indeed was preoccupied and couldn’t respond in time, Yakone could. The Ranger stepped in front of the shot, using her sword to deflect the shot slightly off-mark and her Overdrive-empowered armor to take the rest of the hit. Still, it went straight through her upper shoulder, tearing up the top of a lung and putting her into full biokinetic damage-control mode.

“Yakone!” Atka pulled her bolt caster off her back, and aimed it at the Latticer. “This ends now!” she let the powerful round fly, which imbedded itself into the elite alien’s chest. Yet, it still barely stood, and started healing the wound that it had taken. However, so focused on staying alive was it that it no longer was utilizing Leon, and this allowed Atka’s Reflection to switch priorities, and drive the bolt caster’s bullet further in with a punch. The round punctured the Latticer’s heart, and it finally lay still - the centripetal telekinetic field subsiding.

“Leon!” The Juggernaught rushed to her brother’s side, dropping to her knees and holding his arms. She looked back at Atka, asking, “...did we… do it? Did we win?”

The Commander ripped off the alien’s mask - revealing a rather nondescript humanoid within - and proceeded to put a revolver round through its mouth to make sure it was dead. Above, the alien troopship stretched for a moment, and then vanished - warping away. “I think we did.” Atka shakily reached her hand up to her helmet. “Lily… please tell me you have the ship back online.”

“We should be ready to take off,” the Chief Engineer replied.

“Thank God.” Atka shook her head. “Take the fallen and let’s get back in the Avenger. We need to get the hell out of here before another damn ship warps in on us and we have to fight three of this thing.” The rapid chain of events still had a prominent place in Atka’s mind, but she didn’t bring it up - she didn’t know how she could even begin to explain what had happened… or if she even should tell her soldiers. For now, better to deal with the imminent problems, and ponder her Reflection and the implications of its abilities when everyone was safe.

After Leon finally got to his feet, he immediately went to Yakone, where he slowly had Gwen let him down to be beside her. “You okay?”

Yakone took a deep, shuddering breath - verifying that there was no longer a hole in her lung. “Yeah… I’d like to never do that again though.” Her expression darkened, becoming more serious as she looked over the three fallen soldiers. “We didn’t make it through this one scot-free this time, did we?” the Ranger acknowledged quietly.

“No… but we did make it as a whole.” He looked her over, Leon suddenly got an angry look. “And I swear Yakone, if you ever do something that could get you seriously hurt, or god forbid even killed…” He leaned down, and gave her a brief kiss. “I am going to kill you myself. Got that?”

“That doesn’t even make any fucking sense… but alright.” Yakone smiled faintly. “I get it.”

The Commander paled at the exchange, the memories of an outcome that only she had seen lingering in her mind. But she said nothing. They don’t need to know that they met that end. It didn’t happen. It won’t happen. Atka clenched a fist, making that promise to herself as her Reflection sunk back into her mind. I won’t let it come to pass.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

On Board the Avenger
Engineering
Twenty minutes before the First Assault

The engineering bay was a bit messy, tools and supplies scattered here and there, but it was otherwise surprisingly intact. The base toppling into the Antarctic snow had done little to a room where practically everything was bolted down, and Morrigan hoped the rest of the ship was much the same way, or there would be a lot of cleaning to do after they survived the attack.

If we survive the attack.

No time for thoughts like that. Morrigan had to focus on the fight ahead. For the safety of Brigid, who was holed up in the infirmary with the medical team, as well as the few staff members weren't desperately working to repair the ship and get it into the air.

"I should be out there fighting with you," Jack grumbled, helping her rush about engineering, making sure nothing vital or potentially dangerous was in danger of being destroyed and/or blowing up. "I'm able bodied enough. I can fire a weapon. I should..."

"I'm not going to lie and say we couldn't use extra guns, but if we start sending out anyone who can fire, we risk losing more then we need in a clusterfuck of untrained people. Besides..." Morrigan gave him a supportive smile. "The best place for non-soldiers who can fight is in the base, ready to protect the others if someone slips past. Trust the Commander. If she hasn't called you out there, it is for a good reason."

Jack grumbled again, but nodded his head. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be out there?"

Morrigan hoisted one of the containers housing the undesirable Shard A.I. "Yeah, I'm going. Lily just asked me to secure these stupid things. We'll probably never use them, but she wants to make sure they are safe just in case."

The Irishwoman carefully carried the last of them to a container where they would be safe, as opposed to out in the open as they had been, the engineering crew seeing what data they could get off them without activating the A.I. when the ship was hit. Morrigan suddenly let out a soft yelp, something temporarily paralyzing her hand and causing her to drop the containment unit in pain.

"Fucking bloody hell, that hurt..." She bent down to look over the unit and saw what happened. The unit had obviously taken a nasty fall and slammed into something hard. In her haste to put them away and join the fight, she hadn't noticed how damaged it was, the small screen on it sending out sparks that had electrocuted her.

"You... human..." said a voice softly. Morrigan looked to the side, and jumped a little in surprise. Floating a couple feet away was a small, dark red sphere with a black flame surrounding it.

Morrigan immediately thought of old Irish folk tales and smiled nervously. "H-hey, um... look, if you're here to lead me to treasure or something, I'm kind of busy. But if you come back later..."

The flame flickered and grew ever so much for a moment, as if in irritation. "Do not insult the great and powerful Vyssiní as if he were some mere will-o'-the-wisp, human," it said in a deep, almost aristocratic British accent. "You sit before something far greater..."

Morrigan's eyes widened a bit, and she looked down at the damaged container. "You... you're one of the A.I.s, aren't you? The one with the temper..."

"You fear me... good. It shows you have the capacity for respect." The A.I.'s words were bold, but its tone was weak. Tired even.

Morrigan cleared her throat, and smiled, realizing there was little It could do. "Well, I don't know how you were activated, but come on. Back in the complex electric rice cooker. I have a fight to get to."

"Take me with you."

Morrigan sat in silence for a moment, then started laughing. "Oh yeah... that's a good one. Put the unstable A.I. into my PCS so it can do who knows what to me the first time it gets pissed off which, I am told, is very easy for you. Thanks, but no thanks."

"If you do not... I will be lost." The flame dimmed a bit. "The containment system was severely damaged. It is taking all I have to keep my data from being irreversibly corrupted. If you will not take me with you, you must transfer me to another system immediately."

Morrigan ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, uh... Dr. Shen is probably the only one who can make a secure enough unit and she's busy restarting the ship and with repairs to get us out of here. And I'm not about to transfer you into the computers where you could take control of ship systems. I'm sure our main A.I. could handle you, but I'm not taking a chance."

"Then it must be you who takes me!" Vyssiní said irritably. A bit more reserved, he said, "I am no parasite, human. Ours would be... a symbiosis. You would provide me with a safe haven, one that is not the eternal, silent prison of being offline, and you would have the great power that is Vyssiní to assist you in battle."

Morrigan thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Too risky. The notes said you were too unstable to trust, and both Lily and the Commander would kill me... if you don't first."

The wisp that was Vyssiní floated in silence for a few seconds before saying, "I am... proud. It is this pride that has led to the anger that had me labelled as unstable. So trust me when I say it is hard for one like the great Vyssiní to... to plead. Please take me with you. My fate is in your hands. Please... do not confine my to death."

Morrigan's shoulders slumped, and she turned to the control panel on the unit, sighing. "You can transfer wirelessly, right?"

The flame on the wisp perked up. "That I can, human. Let us rend your foes asunder with my riotous fury... well, fury none the less. You shall not regret this."

Morrigan frowned as she carefully typed. "I sure hope not," she muttered, her tone saying she was sure she would.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

"Endurance" - Atka Ipiktok

Unknown Location, Somewhere in Antarctica
0759 Hours, September 11th, 2038
Onboard the Avenger
Floor 5-5, Central Block
Command Central

A somber, suffocating shroud hung over the Avenger's command center. No one spoke. All eyes rested on six caskets, neatly laid in a row across the upper rung of the room. All of the coffins were completely opaque - the wounds the fallen soldiers had suffered were unilaterally too grevious to permit an open-casket funeral. All the attendees had only their memories of their comrades left to picture the deceased warriors in their minds.

With the exception of some engineers and the majority of the maintenance crew, most of XCOM had come to say their goodbyes. Foremost among the attendees were those that had been close to the men and women that were now lifeless residents of burial containers. Cornelia stood nigh-motionless across from her brother's casket. Tears from prior weeping stained her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away, maintaining emotionless, withdrawn physiognomy. Gazing at Christine's coffin in particular were her fellow Mavericks.

Olivia was unable to control her emotions. The Canadian's formal attire - meant to serve as an indication of respect for Christine - stood in stark contrast with her woebegone sobbing. She continually had to produce a tissue to try and clean her face up, but was unable to refrain from crying for long - the guilt she felt feeling as if it were a stake through her stomach.

Next to her, Adam was equally distraught. The ADVENT clone had just started to grow attached to the kind woman from Washington State, only to have her torn away from him in an instant. His state of mind manifested itself as a tense anger - his muscular body wound up tightly, and his hands clenched into fists. Heinrich and Maxwell both felt similarly, but - for now at least - managed to mask it better.

Christoffer maintained a more neutral posture, much as Cornelia was. He had to be strong for his team, even if he felt a profound, drowning sadness that filled his throat as if an ocean were there. He kept his hands in his coat pockets, masking his upset fidgeting. The only outward sign of his distress was the ocassional downward slip of his gaze.

Stacie took in all of the weight of the tragedy with a miserable, forlorn darkness reflected in her eyes. Why Christine? she asked to no one in particular. Why her of all people! The emptiness, sadness, and, frustration she felt made her wonder just how deeply Olivia was in turmoil. Meaning to try and comfort her friend, Stacie froze as she started to take a step to the side. She felt a sensation that caused her sadness to funnel into anger. How dare you take pleasure from our pain!

I'm sorry, Stacie, I can't he- Merlux started to think, but even the A.I. could defend himself fast enough to stop Stacie from yanking her PCS out of her head - taking Merlux with them.

"You can sit this out in a dark corner if that's how you're going to act," Stacie muttered to herself as the Commander - wearing a black suit for the funeral - took the stage.

"We are gathered here on this September morning to pay our respects to the fallen," the Commander began. "To remember them and honor their sacrifices. Death is inevitable in war," Atka stated, "a reality that no belligerent party is excused from. But that does not mean we should become numb and normalize loss. To do so would dishonor those that have died alongside us."

The Inuit woman began to pace. "Why did their give their lives? What purpose did their deaths serve? These are the questions we ask ourselves, but do not always voice." Atka paused in her movement and speech. "Let me make something clear. I do not pretend to know their most private convictions, or the greater purpose of this all. What I do know is what we are all fighting for."

Atka folded her hands in front of herself. "We want ADVENT gone. Be it for personal reasons - vendettas, vengeance - or a belief in a broader need for justice... we're all here fighting. And believe me, I understand all of those reasons," she clarified. "And we will continue to fight, if we want to honor these six heroes."

"Yes, heroes. Disagree with me all you want, if you insist that our fight is but a necessary evil. I have had my doubts, but at the end of the day I think what we're doing is proper and just. We're fighting for a better world. We're fighting for freedom. We're fighting for self-determination!" Atka took a deep breath. "And so on and so forth. We will continue to fight as long as we are physically able. The only obstacle is our will."

"So don't give in. You're allowed to grieve. But don't give up. Fight until we bring the Coaliton crashing down. Fight until we've evicted our extraterrestrial foes! Fight for those that have fallen before us, battling for the same reason we do! That is all I want to ask of you." The Commander saluted her audience - and then the six physical monuments to Karen Driver, Damien Cruz, Christine Kohler, Russell Winslow, Carlos Espina, and Grant Imahara - before departing and dismissing the staff.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Dahlexpert & ZombieSplitter53
Shattered
Parted One

On board the avenger
The Infirmary

After the base defense mission, Luke made his way to the infirmary, hoping that Alexis was alright.

Please be okay, please be ok. I can't lose another person I care for.Luke rushed to the infirmary with Lilith right behind him, who was also worried. The Van Dams made their way to the infirmary, both out of breath. Luke went to the nearest doctor and asked with a little worry in his voice. "Yo doc, where is Alexis Chambers? Is she fine? Is she OK?!"

"Please young man, calm yourself." The doctor typed on one of the computers, frowning at the difficulty the power failure had caused to some of the systems. "Chambers, was it? She has minor injuries, but is otherwise okay. Well... physically, anyway."

Luke breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god she's fine."

Lilith looked at the doc."Wait, you said she's fine physically, what's wrong with her mentally?"

The doctor took in a deep breath. "You want the technical analysis, or for me to just be blunt?"

"We'll take the blunt version, what happen to Alexis?" Lilith asked.

The doctor shrugged. "She's had a complete emotional breakdown. Whatever she went through out there made her snap, and as you know, we don't exactly have any psychiatrists here.

Luke took a deep breath. "Great, she's broken."

"She's a normal person, Luke. She lived her whole life on this ship. Not to mention this is her first mission in gods know how long."

Luke looked at the doctor. "Mind if we go in?"

He gave look a suspicious look after his comment. "I... don't know. She's not very stable right now, and I don't want something you say to send her off the deep end. She's already teetering on the line as it is."

"Yeah, wasn't really asking doc, I was being polite about it." Luke made his way into the infirmary were Alexis was.

"Luke, god damnit. Doc I'm sorry about him. He's just worried. Don't worry, we'll help out Alexis."

"Just make sure he is careful what he says. She's depressed enough as it is." The doctor pointed down the hall Like had gone down. "Take a right, then second door on the right." He walked off to attend to other patients.

"Right, thank you." Lilith ran after Luke, when she caught up to him she led him to were Alexis was. "Alright Luke, remember Alexis is not you, she hasn't been though anything like this before so be very patient with her."

"What am I, an amateur? I know what I'm doing." Luke took a deep breath and slowly opened the door." Hey Alexis, you in here?"

The room was split in two, the well lit right half housing two beds with recovering soldiers. The other half had the lights out, with one bad unoccupied and the other hidden behind a curtain. Behind the curtain, they softly heard Alex. "Luke?"

Luke pushed the curtains aside. "Hey darling how are you doing? They treating you right?"

Lilith also entered. "Hey Alexis, you holding yourself together?"

Alexis had to close her eyes, not adjusted to the light. She was in XCOM's standard patient scrubs, several bandages on her arms, neck, and forehead. Her left arm was in a brace, fractured with Alexis too weak to heal it herself and insisting the biokinetics on board worry about the other. She was curled in a ball, sitting in the corner of her bed. "H-hey, guys. I'm... okay. Just healing... you know?"

Luke put on a weak smile. "Heh, you know this reminds of how we first met, though you were standing."

Lilith shook her head. "Luke, what did I tell you? Be nice to her."

"I-it's okay, Lilith..." Alexis pulled her legs close. The Van Dams could see how hollow her eyes looked as she stared forward at nothing in particular. "After all... I remember when I was the one visiting him here. Of course... he was actually hurt. I'm here because of how pathetic I am..."

Luke's eyes twitched a little out of anger, but he kept his cool. "Darling, what did I tell you about this self loathing crap?"

"Luke, be nice, she going through a rough time right now."

Luke took a deep breath. "Right I forgot, this is not the first time you went through this huh?"

Alexis' eyes darted about. "You don't... understand. I told you before, I'm not afraid of fighting. Yeah... it was hell. But... Karen, she..."

"She died right? Look Alexis, that wasn't your fault." Luke said.

"Yes it is..." Alexis slowly shook her head. "The only thing I'm good for is my biokinesis... and I couldn't even do that well enough. If I had healed her just a little bit faster... just a little bit... she wouldn't have been a sitting duck. I failed her..."

"Alright, to hell with being nice. Look Alexis, this is war. Shit happens. Sometimes there are things you can't control, it's not your fault. You tried to help someone and that one person died. Fine. But did you help heal anyone else, or use your powers for anything else?"

Alex's eyes darted about in thought, trying to think. "I... used inspiration in the beginning... and I healed Morrigan..."

"You see, that right there proves you're not worthless. You saved Morrgian and you helped someone else. You saved people, and I can grantee that if you weren't there, more people would have died. So pick yourself up, lick your wounds, and think about the people you saved alright?"

Lilith just looked at Luke in shock. "Um Luke, when did you get all inspirational? I never seen you talk that way before."

"I'm just giving my girl a confidence boost is all." Luke sat right next to Alexis, and gently hugged her. "So, did you managed to kill anything, or were you mostly the medic?"

Alexis lowered her eyes. "I can't remember clearly. I... I think I took out a few ADVENT soldiers..."

"Well your aim has gotten better. See, all that training is coming to good use." Lilith chuckled to herself, looking at Luke and Alexis. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing. I'll go get Joe and Jennifer. I'm sure they'll be happy to know that Alexis is awake." Lilith said while leaving the room.

Alexis smiled softly for a moment, but her smile quickly faded. "I can't... stop seeing it, Luke."

"Sigh I know Alexis, and as sad as this sounds, you learn to deal with them. It's terrible, I know, but that's how things are."

"Will it ever go away?" Alex asked softly, curling up a little tighter. "Will I ever be able to close my eyes and not see... see her headless body? See the blood rolling down my visor? See her just... slump to the ground, alive then dead in an instant? I've lost people before but... but never right in my face..."

"No... no it won't darling. This is the part of war no one mentions to you. Those visions will never go away. All you can do is cope with it and hope you forget about them.

Alexis gave him a small smile. "If I forget about them, doesn't that mean they went away, dummy?"

Luke patted Alexis. "Glad to see you getting your silliness back at least, so you're going to be fine."

The certain was pulled and Lilith returned with Joe and Jennifer. "I found them, did I miss anything."

"Nope nothing at all."

"How are you feeling, honey?" Joe asked, giving her a big hug.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Dahlexpert & ZombieSplitter53
Shattered
Parted Two

"I've been better," Alexis answered honestly. She looked him over and ran her hand around a bandage covering a large gash on his forehead. "Are you okay?"

Joe chuckled. "Don't worry about it, hon. It's just a flesh wound."

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a flesh wound he got bashing his head during the initial strike. Gave him a concussion, and yet he was still running around, gathering people and helping to get computer systems online. I had to get one of the doctors to tell at him to get him to stop."

"Heh heh, well at least he's dedicated to his work." Luke said jokingly.

"And a good thing to," Lilith added. "If the aliens did get past some of us, they would have found an empty ship. At least that's good to know."

Joe nodded. "We had a nice little defense built up in the infirmary. And everyone being here meant we could prepare to attend to the injured soldiers."

Alexis looked Jennifer up and down. "You look like you came out unscathed."

Jenn scratched her chin. "Well, I wasn't around anything that could hurt me, and I feel forward on my chest, so the only thing that really hurts are my ni..." Her eyes wondered over to Luke, and she blushed.

"Oh no, please Jenn, tell us were it hurts." Luke said jokingly

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Anyway, looks like everyone is alright."

"Yeah." Joseph looked at her. "Did you or Luke even get a scratch on you?"

"I would have if a mech and a rocketteer hadn't launched a barrage of rockets at me," Luke said. "If it wasn't for my blast padding, I would either be in critical condition or dead. If the the rockets didn't, then my cover that was a car would have gotten me. The damn thing exploded. It didn't kill me but it did get Damian."

Lilith shook her head. "Poor Damian, not only did the rockets get him, but burning to death because of the car explosion. A terrible way to go."

Alexis gave them a horrified look. "D... Damien died too? H- how many did we lose?"

Joe looked away sadly. "Six in total."

Everyone lowered their heads in despair until Luke finaly spoke up. "Well... look at it this way. Compared to twenty years ago where you lost practically everyone, we only lost six people. Also we lived, so I would say compared to the old XCOM, we're a hell of a lot better don't you think?"

"Well there is that," Lilith agreed. "I'm sure ADVENT, up until this point, treated us like the XCOM of old, but since we took pretty much the might of them, I'm sure were going to see more aliens."

"I hope you're not saying that to make us feel better." Jennifer sulked into a chair. "Remember, we didn't technically win as much as we survived. The goal wasn't to beat them, but to survive until we could escape." She sighed. "How did they even find us."

Joe shook his head. "Not sure yet. Still looking into it. But we have a few theories."

Lilith shook her head. "Yeah, there's quiet a few theories, either a they added thermal tech to their ships, or, and the chance of this being true is very slim, they knew were we were and planed this attack."

"I doubt that's true. They don't know where we are. Hopefully this is just luck, “Luke said.

"Hope for the best, Luke, but prepare for the worse," Joe commented. "I doubt thermal imaging would pick us up through the cloak, but that doesn't mean they didn't find some other means of tracking us. If that is the case, and we can figure out what it is, I'm sure Dr. When will find a way to hide us."

"And hopefully we don't have a spy telling them where we are," Alexis commented sadly.

Joe nodded. "Regardless, I guess it was only a manner of time until they figured out how we were hiding, and only a matter of time until they used that knowledge to find us."

"Right. For now we enjoy the fact we're alive, and not being tortured by ADVENT," Luke said.

Alexis sulked a bit and laid back. "You sure know how to say something positive in a very depressing way, you know that, Luke?"

"What do want, I'm tired alright? I mean, I just fought the biggest battle of my life."

"Yeah, I think we’re all tired Luke. But come on, you're supposed to say something motivational by now." Lilith smiled.

Joe raised a finger. "I have something to say on that matter. Our fallen allies are beyond regrettable, but they did not die in vain. As Luke said, this was the biggest battle so far, and whether we won or succeeded in running away, the point is we did not lose. They threw everything they had at us and failed to exterminate XCOM again, and even if they could have thrown more, they will not get another chance like this. The Commander and Dr. Shen will see to that. They played their hand and lost. Now we hold the cards. And I am confident we will use this to bounce back stronger then ever."

Everyone looked at Joe. "Um, that was actually pretty good, sir." Luke said.

"Yea I was not expecting a good speech from you Joe," Lilith commented. "Excellent work."

Joseph shrugged. "I was a lawyer... twenty years ago. A good speech is part of the job. Or at least it was. I have no idea what lawyers under ADVENT are like... if there even are any. Somehow, I doubt it."

"Yeah, there aren't any. You're probably the last lawyer that is not corrupted by ADVENT." Lilith said.

Luke looked at Alexis and whispered to her. "Hey darling, you want to get out of here?"

Alexis looked around and whispered back, "Won't the doctors be pissed if I just up and left?"

"Well we can deal with a few angry doctors, so do you want to leave or not?"

Alexis slowly nodded. "Okay... sure."

Lilith looked at Luke. "Luke, what are you doing?"

Luke picked up Alex and put her in a wheel chair. "Oh, I'm sure Alexis is just starving after that battle. I'm just going to take her to the cafeteria for a few minutes and feed her."

"Make sure that is all it is," Joe warned.

Alexis shook her head. "Don't be paranoid, dad."

"Well be fine, don't worry. I'll take good care of Alexis."

Luke putAlexis in the wheelchair, and they left the infirmary. Lilith lookex at Joe and said, "You do realize that Luke is not going to the cafeteria right? If anything, I'm sure it's more of him wanting to be alone with Alexis."

Joe gave her a smile. "As sure as I am that I didn't ask her mother to go out for walks with me because I needed the exercise partner."

Lilith smiled as Joe. "Heh, so you and him are ok then. Honestly I thought you would be against this. Luke might do something hasty."

Joe sighed and folded his arms. "I have to trust them sooner or later. And as much as I hate to say it, the last thing Alexis needs right now is overprotective dad. She had had to watch one too many friends and allies die in front of her to treat her like a child."

"Heh, yeah, alright. Whelp, I have nothing going on. You two want to go eat?"

Joe and Jenn exchanged a look, and they both nodded. "My treat," Joe joked, leading the two out.

"Alright," Lilith said. "That sounds good to me."