RP XCOM2: Liberation of Earth

[DarkGemini24601]

"The Furtive Spark"

Former Republic of Serbia, Eastern Europe
SIN-B, hidden within the Balkan Mountains
0441 Hours, September 15th, 2038

Halfway up the steep slopes of the mountain range running through Serbia stood the secondary yet significant base of the Serbian Independent Nation. The primary Serbian headquarters was much smaller in size yet housed the leaders of this particular Resistance cell - consisting mostly of military personnel and a few former government officials. S.I.N. Base Beta, on the other hand, contained the bulk of the actively campaigning freedom fighters. SIN-B was contained within the stone of the mountains themselves - constituting a hastily-dug bunker built on one side of a narrow valley between two peaks. A basic encampment sat outside it, made to appear abandoned in the unlikely event that an ADVENT satellite managed to get an eyeful of the secluded location. The main base - including the armory, living quarters, and regional command center - was encased in roughly-hewed rock. All that could be seen of the actual base was a pair of metal doors, which were themselves hidden from the gigantic orbiting security cameras above by a rock face.

Standing in front of the dual steel slabs was a man wearing black-camouflaged body armor, which blended well with the pre-dusk darkness and matched his ebon biker helmet. The soldier had his shaded visor raised, revealing a pair of intense amber irises to the cameras aimed at him from within SIN-B. He tapped his foot idly, clanking his boot lightly against his augmented sports motorcycle. The vehicle was on the bulkier side, appearing much like a police cycle, but remained sleek. The latter trait was highlighted by the curved glass half-windshield and the manner in which the motorcycle's chair snugly fit into the overall design. The wheels were not at all conventional however, stolen from a broken-down all-terrain vehicle and combined with a nonstandard, robust engine to allow the bike to handle years of use on rugged, inclined ground.

No longer desiring to wait in silence, the motorcyclist soldier spoke up. "So Vera, are you planning on letting me in, or am I going to miss breakfast?" he asked in a lighthearted fashion.

"You know what the protocol is. Take off your helmet so I can verify its you, Tomislav," a female voice retorted over an external speaker.

"Surely you can recognize me by my sexy golden eyes and my devilishly seductive voice?" the man questioned, amusement reflected in those eyes of his.

Silence. "You're just making my life difficult on purpose, aren't you?" Vera accused.

"And why would I do that?" Tomislav questioned, putting up a facade of being emotionally hurt by the inquiry. "I just don't think following the rules is necessary here."

"You never think protocol is important," Vera shot back with a scoff. "You're still trying to get payback because I broke up with you, Tom."

Tom held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, you got me. Now let me in."

"Take off your helmet."

With a sigh, Tomislav complied, revealing an impressively handsome face with features that looked almost like that of an animated statue. His hair was buzzed down to a minimum on his head and chin; what was left comprised a buzzcut and stubble. "Happy?"

"To see you humbled? Very." There was the sound of a massive deadbolt being mechanically and manually pulled open, and then after a brief pause the click of a few electronic locks. The doors swung ajar, and a raven-haired woman with dark brown eyes shut a laptop connected to the wall as Tomislav entered. The doors automatically shut behind him after a few seconds, and he took the courtesy of pushing the physical lock back in place to speed up the otherwise slow machine process.

"You owe me a drink in advance for potentially getting me into trouble because of your antics," the gatekeeper informed Tomislav as he turned to face her.

"Fair enough," he agreed gracefully. "Not that you'll have to worry about me for much longer," he added as the two walked down a long underground hallway.

Vera frowned. "Are you sure about this? You're a pain in the ass, but you're a good officer - I'll admit that much. I won't really miss you personally, but the troops certainly will."

"Sure you won't," Tomislav teased with a vindictive grin.

"Not an answer," Vera replied seriously.

Tom quickly matched her expression, save for the ghost of his easygoing smile. "I trust my second-in-command to hold things together. It hasn't been all that active around here, after all. I mean, come on!" Tom threw his hands up in the air. "When was the last time we had a skirmish with ADVENT? Three weeks."

"I guess I understand," Vera stopped at the door to the mess hall - which also had a bar - and Tomislav opened the portal for her.

"You should come with me," Tom offered. "Already have my two R&D buddies coming with."

Vera rolled her shoulders. "I dunno," she responded in a lukewarm way.

"You want to work in a more idealistic organization that doesn't have a massive grudge-stick up their ass, where your talents with electronics will be properly appreciated? Or do you want to keep playing locksmith, and make a fraction of the difference you could in XCOM?" Tomislav pressed her, his expression fully serious now.

Vera sighed. "You continue to remind me how you convinced me to take a risk dating you in the first place," she muttered.

"I'll take that as a complement directed at my charisma," Tom replied with a smirk.

The black-haired woman held up a finger. "If I go with you, don't have any illusions about dating me again."

Tom winced. "Ouch. Wouldn't dream of it." The pair walked into the bar, Tomislav making sure to get them both drinks. The officer brought over his comrades-in-arms for a going-away celebration.

"Gonna miss you, you glorious bastard!" one of the freedom fighters admitted readily, the young man raising a mug for a toast.

A cacophony of clinking glasses ensued as Tomislav chuckled. "I'll be in your heart. And I'll be damned if you don't see me kicking ass on TV as some 'horrid XCOM terrorist' on the headlines."

The crowd laughed, and another man wrapped an arm around Tom's shoulder. "Cheer up, boys," the man closer to his superior's age - somewhere in his late twenties - reassured his allies. "You'll have me ordering you around now!"

There was a collective groan. "That might be an uphill battle for you, Alek," Tomislav pointed out mirthfully.

Alek sighed. "Yeah... make us proud to make up for it, buddy."

"Wouldn't dream of doing otherwise," Tom replied.

***​

As the sun began to rise, Tomislav journeyed to his workshop, which had a screen hooked up to the security cameras outside. Thus, he was able to vicariously experience the dawn as he packed up his equipment. He lovingly laid his heavily modified assault rifle into a duffle bag first. The Augerrifle had a special capacitor (powered by a large battery) hooked up to it that caused the bullets to spin like drill bits as they exited the barrel. It toted ammunition that made use of the destructive rotation and expandable hooks at the tips of the bullets to tear gaping holes in armor on impact. It was altogether a fearsome weapon.

Next came concepts that had yet to be implemented. A fuel-ineffecient blueprint for jetboots that would allow jumps to impressive heights - if not sustained flight like a jetpack might. A design for explosives that would evenly distribute destructive power - kept from completion by the flaw that they would need someone remote controlling them with calculating power most people couldn't produce on the fly. And a heavy weapon mount for armor, only made useless by the fact that it would need a good power source and some means of stabilization - correcting factors that XCOM was able to implement as far as Tom knew.

Finally, Tomislav packed up his trusty secondary weapon - a weapon painted dark red on its short barrel, and black on the rest. His flamethrower. The freedom fighter stared at it with deep admiration, losing track of time until -

"Hey, Kasun!" a voice called out, followed by a loud knock on the door. "The XCOM transport's arrived. You coming or what?"

Snapped out of his daydreaming, Tom took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll be right there with you."

***​

Tomislav approached the Skyranger's unfurled ramp with a self-assured step. The scientist-engineer duo that had signed up with him were already strapped in alongside a pair of women from another cell that Tom didn't recognize. He cracked a smile when he saw Vera in one of the seats. "Hey, pilot," he then addressed the accordingly-dressed Danielle Slater.

"The callsign's Firebrand, for your information," the snarky woman interjected. "And does your question have to do with that damn bike at your side?"

"Yeah, it does. You're perceptive, though it's a good thing you are considering your line of work," Tomislav noted. "I was hoping I could bring this with me. Looks like your cargo hold could potentially fit-"

"I am not trying to fit your damn motorbike into my bird," Danielle cut him off. "That's going to be a huge hassle."

"I don't think it'll be that bad, and why not? Do you already have motorcycles at your HQ?" Tomislav questioned with a wry smile.

The younger Slater paused. "...no, no I don't." She waved her hand. "Alright, fine, I'll help you with getting that thing aboard." Firebrand approached Tom, quietly clarifying, "but you have to let me ride it, or I'll drop it out of the sky when you aren't looking."

Tomislav chuckled. "That meant to be an advance of some sort."

The pilot paused, grumbled something under her breath, and grabbed the side of the bike. "Just help me with this..."

Tom shook his head in amusement. "I think we'll get along well."

"In your dreams."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “Partnership Preamble”

Unknown Location, Somewhere in Antarctica
1515 Hours, September 16th, 2038
Onboard the Avenger
Level 1, Rear Block
Main Engineering

A cacophony of machine noises reverberated within the Avenger’s cargo bay, signalling that XCOM’s engineering team was indeed in full swing. Dr. Shen had set her staff towards a new task the minute the final repairs to the Avenger’s electronic systems had been confirmed. That was 36 hours ago. On the second day productivity was nearly at the same heights it was at the start, the urge to be apathetic being checked by the urgency of the work at hand and the fresh memory of what could happen even when the Resistance’s finest cell was prepared.

None worked harder than An-Yi, though. The Chief felt partially responsible for some of the trouble the combat staff had gone through, even if she knew there was no way the attack could have been predicted. The question that kept coming up in her mind was: ‘would a life have been saved if I haven’t stripped their weapons of their attachments?’ Ultimately, though, as painful a consideration as that was, there was nothing that could be done about it now. What was important at the moment was pushing the project she’d begun using the scavenged parts towards completion.

What did that project entail? Granting the advanced weapon attachments that had been initially given to Judgement Squad to the entirety of XCOM’s fighting personnel. Each class would have their own specialized weapon modification, and each class would have their own specific armor augmentation. That was the goal, and the engineering staff had nearly arrived at it. The varied designs were mostly finished, even though they had to be revised. Tygan’s proposal - detailing that several of the soldier classes should be divided to compensate for the upper limits of the PCS - had necessitated revision of Lily’s plans, and she had compensated well enough.

Though I still owe Robert some sort of payback for the all-nighter I had to pull to make up for the new classes, Lily thought to herself with a vindictive grin. In truth, though, she wasn’t all that upset - he had communicated as well as he could. In the past, he might not have told her in advance at all, so this was progress at least. Finishing up work on a codebreaker vest for Red Hawk, Lily stepped away from her work for a moment. A break for her was simply refraining from getting her hands dirty for the moment to check on her subordinates. “How’s the implementation of the HE Rounds coming, Irons?” she asked the older man as she approached.

“Smooth and on schedule,” Jack answered. “Hopefully these will put a dent in ADVENT. They won’t like it if they’re stupid enough to attack us head on again.” He rubbed his eyes, and reached for his coffee, taking a large gulp.

“Hope you’re holding up alright. I know it can’t be easy building stuff for our most saturated class,” An-Yi noted, seeming oblivious to the fact that she was under plenty of strain herself from the amount of work she’d been doing.

Jack waved his hand dismissively. “All I care about is getting these things ready. I can rest when we’re done. I’m more concerned how you’re holding up.”

“I’ll live,” Lily responded with a shake of her head and a yawn. “Had to hold this place together when it was only me and Peter, after all. Goes without saying that I’m grateful for all the additional help, you guys have really made the difference in terms of our manufacturing power. And you keep coming,” she added, glancing over at one of the recent additions to the engineering team, a Serbian named Svetomir.

Jack followed her gaze and smiled. “Been so busy I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself,” he called over. “Jack Irons. You must have just got here, huh?”

“Svetomir Ibricic,” the young man responded with an accent that sounded vaguely Russian. “Arrived last night,” he spoke in broken English. “Should be two more here soon,” he continued, addressing the Chief.

Lily raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware Firebrand was taking another trip to Europe.”

Svetomir shook his head apologetically. “Not arriving at ship, in this room,” he attempted to correct the misunderstanding.

“Ah, alright. Do you know their names?” Lily asked for future reference.

“Vera… Gavran,” Svetomir said slowly, seeming to have to spend some time recalling the first name. He introduced the second one with much more confidence, and a good deal of admiration. “And Tomislav Kasun.”

“You sound like you know Kasun a little better,” Jack commented. “You guys old buddies or something?”

“Yes and no,” the Serbian engineer replied. “Kasun is friend and inspiration to all of us from the Serbian Independent Nation.”

“Is that so?” Irons turned to face him, interested. “So we’re getting someone pretty important, huh? I hope it doesn’t hurt your old group too much with us taking him.”

“Well, part of reason he came was there was not much action in Serbia,” Svetomir explained. “He believes XCOM needs him more.”

“Hmm… I see what you mean.” Jack rubbed his chin. “What about the other person you mentioned? Gavran? What are they like?”

“I do not know Vera so well. She dated Tomislav at one time,” Svetomir answered with a shrug.

Irons shrugged. “I guess I’ll find out myself.” The engineer did not have to wait long, as soon Tomislav and Vera arrived in engineering. The former was dressed in a black overcoat over a brown shirt, the former article of clothing matching black pants. The latter’s clothing was comprised largely of black, save for a red scarf around her neck.

Tomislav glanced around the room as people worked, and was the first to speak up. “I am looking for the Chief Engineer,” he asked in much better English than Svetomir was capable of. “Might I speak with him?”

Lily waved over to the newcomer. “Over here. Your name’s Tomislav, right?”

“It is, though you may call me Tom if you prefer,” Kasun replied with a calm shrug of his shoulders. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Chief Shen. Apologies for my mistake,” he noted, “as you are clearly a lovely woman.”

An-Yi chuckled, taken a bit aback by his flattery. “U-Um… thanks. It’s nice to meet you too.” Taking a deep breath to gather her thoughts, she asked, “What did you want to speak with me about?”

“I am here as a soldier,” Tom prefaced, “though I would like to work as a… part-timer on the engineering team, if that is acceptable,” he requested. “I’ve worked extensively with invention in the past.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Plenty of other soldiers do that as well,” Lily agreed.

“Some of my friends here in engineering are also soldiers. Though I’d like to say we’re all friends… as cheesy as that sounds.” Jack stood up and walked over, offering his hand. “Jack Irons.”

“I would think we’d all be friends due to our common cause,” Tomislav replied with a friendly smile, shaking Jack’s hand. “Tomislav Kasun, though I imagine you already knew that.”

“Your friend let us know a bit about you,” Jack said, nudging his head towards Svetomir. Turning to Tom’s female companion, he said, “And you must be Vera Gavran. Is Vera alright?”

“That’s fine,” the raven-haired woman replied, seeming a little out of her element surrounded by so many people. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Large team you have here.”

“Yeah, a lot of the staff is here right now. Busy busy.” Irons frowned. “But like I said, we’re all friends. No need to be uncomfortable or anything.”

“It’s just noisy is all,” Vera replied with a shake of her head.

“She broke a radio once when someone was blaring heavy metal from it,” Tom noted with a smirk.

Vera punched him in the shoulder. “I promptly fixed it,” she recalled. “дупе.”

Jack laughed, and walked over to his work station. He then approached Vera and offered her a large set of headphone. “Noise cancelling. I have a spare pair. Call it a welcome gift for a new member.”

The female Serbian smiled slightly. “Thank you,” she responded gratefully, placing them over her ears.

Jack smiled, and turned back to Tom. “So what’s your specialty?”

“I invent things. I’ve designed some devices that I’ve been able to apply in SIN, and others that I hope to make work with the advanced equipment you have here,” Tomislav described, pulling his customized rifle off his back. “I call this the Augerrifle.” He placed a hand over the drill capacitor. “I have a battery hooked up to this modified assault rifle that causes the bullets to rotate when they exit the barrel, which makes them a lot more destructive in nature. The rounds it uses are tipped with… I believe ‘expandable hooks’ would be the best way to describe their coatings. They tear holes in plating.”

“Interesting. Sounds pretty devastating using conventional rounds, as opposed to lasers or the like.” Jack looked the weapon over with interest. “Does it use a lot of power?”

Tomislav sighed. “Unfortunately, it does. The drill capacitor gives out after about thirty seconds of sustained fire… though I assume you must have better batteries here if you’ve been using laser weapons in the past, and magnetic guns now.”

Jack glanced over to Lily. “I think we can figure something out, right?”

“An elerium core would probably do the trick,” Shen decided with a nod. “Add that to the smaller elerium shard batteries our magnetic weapons use, and we can make a magnetic ‘Augerrifle’ most likely.”

“If you’re capable of working with elerium cores,” Tomislav began eagerly, “then perhaps some of my additional designs will prove viable.”

Jack nodded. “We’re always interested in new ideas. Once we’re finished with our work now, I’m sure Dr. Shen would like to see them all, and with her approval, I’ll help you make them a reality.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Black0ut & ZombieSplitter53
Beneath the Book's Cover
Part One

Unknown Location, Somewhere in Antarctica
0900 Hours, September 11th, 2038
Onboard the Avenger
The Infirmary

Several medical staff lash on the ground, disbelief of the rudeness of the man that put them on the ground in the first place. Red hurried to Ayame's room, having extracted his information from a timid doctor. He still wore his formal attire, the funeral having rattled him more than the actual combat. He arrived at the Chinese Vampire's door, gently opening it in case Ayame was resting.

Ayame looked up at him in surprise. "R-Red? Hey. What's... going on?" Her eyes danced across him, and she frowned, remembering that they had lost She had cared a lot about.

"How are you doing?" Red asked gently, his frazzled demeanor changing into a calm one. "I came as soon as I could, but the funeral was mandatory, so..." The Oglala Sioux man entered the room closing the door behind himself.

"Not if you were injured. Of course, even then, you could go if you wanted. Not me, though." Ayame looked down at her left arm, the top half still missing. "Damn it. I told them I was fine. At least tell me it was dignified."

Red sighed and leaned on the door he'd just opened. "Can you please promise me you won't do that again? I... don't want lose someone I care about." Red murmured quietly, looking away from Ayame for a moment before returning his attention to her.

Ayame sighed. "I'm sorry. Just... after Karen died, I kinda lost it. I'm not used to having other people I need, or want, to protect. All I could think about was killing that alien." She chuckled grimly. "Though to be honest, losing my arm was part of the plan. I knew there was no way I could take it in the air, so better lose my arm then my head."

Red nodded, before he moved over to Ayame's bed and sat down. "That sums up how I feel. You... umm... want to hear a secret? I mean, not to change subjects, but you're kind of my closest friend." He asked hesitantly.

Ayame smiled. "Of course, Red. Lay it on me."

A deep sigh accompanied her answer, as Mark tried to avoid looking miserable. "So... before joining the resistance, I was a lowly detective, with a salary that'd make a part-timer happy of his wages. I loved the job, solving the occasional crime, being, well, a detective. Nick, my partner and mentor, helped me out. You would've liked him... he was a sarcastic asshole, but he was kind and thoughtful. Nick always thought about others before himself..." Red trailed off, losing himself in nostalgia.

Ayame's shoulders slumped. "He... he died, didn't he? That's why you're so intent on not losing anyone... losing anyone else."

Red's expression darkened, as some tears came out. "Yeah, he... he got ambushed by ADVENT, because of my affinity to Charon. And... because I let my heart blind me from the truth. He went in my place and... came back, half-dead and bleeding everywhere. He... that revolver is his. Nick... he made me end his suffering..." Mark finished bitterly, looking away from Ayame in shame.

Ayame reached over, placing her hand on his arm. "How did it happen? What do you mean your heart blinded you?"

"I fell in love when I was younger. Her name was Sage, and she happened to be pretty influential in our town. Nick always said she wanted me more as a tool than as a lover. Anyways, she came in one night, looking terrified. She said she'd heard something tumble in her house, so I jumped on the bandwagon to help her. Nick said it sounded fishy. He was right." Mark growled bitterly, handing his traditional flask to Ayame, "Sage is now in ADVENT ranks, and is doing pretty well for herself. I mean high ranks are reserved for traitorous murderers after all." The Oglala man put his free hand to his head, staring blankly at the door, before standing, his pain too intense to stay seated.

Ayame stated down at the flask. "So she set you up so they could get Nick. They sure enjoy using people that way." She looked up at Mark. "What about you? Why didn't she let you die with him? Did she actually care about you?"

"As far as I know, I was the real target. I told Sage about Charon a few months prior. Shouldn't have done that. I was such a fucking, stupid kid then. Head-in-the-clouds level of naivety." Red murmured sorrowfully, before sitting back down. "So... that's my secret. A mistake that killed my best friend, ended a town's freedom, and destroyed my trust in people. Oh, and also landed my ex in a comfy job in ADVENT." Red looked over, his guilt overcoming his will, " I shouldn't be burdening you with my past. Sorry."

Ayame shook her head. "You're not burdening me, Red. I'm... actually touched that you'd be so willing to open up to me." Ayame looked to the floor. "Besides... my relationship with ADVENT is so much worse. Compared to me, you shouldn't feel so bad."

"I won't pry if you don't want me to. After all, 'Detectives never pry if they don't have to'." The large man quietly replied, murmuring the second part of his sentence.

"Not like it is much of a secret if you think about it..." Ayame slowly unwrapped her arm, now regenerated past the elbow. "Thanks to a generous doctor's assistant, it won't be long until my arm is back... and everyone starts asking questions. When they find out..." She sighed. "Most people know about me and the Balmadaar and why I am here. But they look at me like they look at someone like O'Brien. I'm and ignorant child that didn't know better until I witnessed ADVENT's evil. What will they think when they think when they find out I actually spent most of the occupation turning a blind eye?"

Red put a hand on Ayame's shoulder, an empathetic look on his face. "Hey... don't worry about it. If anyone hurts you, let me know. I'll make sure that most people don't act shitty towards you." Red offered, a gentle smile forming on his face.

"Thanks, but... what if I deserve it?" Ayame gave him a sad look. "For sixteen years I refused to get involved, figuring it was the humans' problem. Think of all the lives I could have saved. All the good I could have done. Talk about having great power and wasting it on being selfish and apathetic..." She hung her head. "I should have fought the aliens the moment they arrived. Instead, it wasn't until they upset me personally that I decided to join the war..."

Red hugged Ayame, trying to comfort the Jiangshi, "I'm actually happy you didn't. Too many good people died in the initial assault that we barely have any left. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to meet you."

Ayame couldn't help but smile, and hugged him back. "You are way too sweet of a man to be as hard on yourself as you are, you know that?"

Red shrugged, " Well, I can't stand to lose people, so by fucking up so badly in the past, I feel I need to atone for it." Red replied, looking away once more. A thought came to his mind causing him to break out of his melancholic state."You know... I never asked what made you into what you are now."

Ayame sighed. "Honestly? Anger. Anger and an exotic poison made from a plant that doesn't exist anymore. I died in horrific, paralyzing pain, and the last thing I saw and heard upon my death was my killer telling everyone I had killed myself. I was just... too mad to stay down. So I didn't. And now I am here."

"And now you're here, improving everyone's lives." Red quietly replied, "You act tough when people challenge you, hiding your caring nature from everybody. No selfish person would lose a limb to save another's life, nor would they continuously throw their life on the line in order to protect others. You, to sum it up, are one of the best people I have gotten to know in this cruel game called life."

Ayame made a sickly face and held her stomach. "Oh, God... the cheese... the sappiness... the love and friendship and unicorns... gonna hurl..."

Red rolled his eyes, and smiled, "Alright, smart ass." He joked, his expression turning dark, " Although... can Jiangshi heal themselves normally? Or do you need docs like everybody else?" Red's face took on a brighter hue, as he mentally cursed himself for being insensitive. "Sorry for the hailstorm of questions, I know you're pretty tired, with your current condition..."

"Yeah, a little, but just from all my energy being out into healing." Ayame crawled back and laid down again. "I can heal, but it takes time and energy. A lot of energy for something like this. Luckily, a few people have been generous with that."

"So... you got psions to help you, by giving you energy? Remind me not to piss you off... I already got beaten to a bloody pulp already by a psion, so group sounds far scarier..." Red rambled, his thoughts mostly on the Ranger. After a moment, he shook himself out of his stupor, and offered an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that, I occasionally get lost in my thoughts."

"I've noticed. But it's okay. I'd be lying if I claimed I didn't drift off from time to time..."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Black0ut & ZombieSplitter53
Beneath the Book's Cover
Part Two

A knock came from the door behind Red, the slightly ajar door slowly opening and Morrigan sticking her head inside. "Hey... I was just stopping in to say hi and see how Ayame is doing."

"As we'll as can be expected," Ayame said with a smile.

"Good... good. Um, Mark?" Morrigan smiled nervously. "Can I... talk to you for a bit. I wanted to... ask you about something from the last mission..."

"Sure." Red replied, turning to the Jiangshi, "Rest up, Ayame. I'll visit you later." Standing up, the Sioux Specialist walked out into the hallway, shutting Ayame's door behind himself. "So... what's this about?"

Morrigan looked between him and the door nervously. "U-uh... you... um..." She started walking away, waving for him to follow her.

Red obliged her, a confused look on his face. After a few minutes of walking, Mark asked, "So... what's wrong?"

"W-what is she?!" Morrigan asked urgently. "I-I heard you two talking! Is... is Ayame some kind of monster? Or am alien?"

Red's face hardened, but his voice kept the same tone, albeit a bit sternly. "Does it matter? That woman still saved our asses on the roof, and is still wounded from doing so."

Morrigan's eyes widened. "B-but... but what if she's dangerous?! W-what if decides to turn on us! To... to eat one of us or something?"

Red's eyes narrowed. "Morrigan... before the invasion, people viewed psions the same. But are all of them bad? No. Ayame's too kind to do something like that, even if she likes to pretend she isn't." Red argued, a disapproving look on his face.

Morrigan sulked down, feeling like she was in trouble from a parent. "I-I... th-then why does she hide it? Why does she lie?"

"If your reaction is any indicator, probably because she'd be treated horribly. Would you want to be viewed with suspicion and hostility?" Red asked, as he leaned onto a nearby wall.

Morrigan looked to the floor. "I... n-no. But... but she..."

"Is still a person, who can feel emotions and cares for others at her own expense." Red finished, raising an eyebrow towards Morrigan.

Morrigan rubbed her arm nervously. "S... sorry, Mark."

"I ain't the one you need to apologize to, Morrigan." Red replied, his hardened demeanor softening. "Just... don't judge a person by what others label them." Mark took a few steps towards Morrigan, and nodded his head in the direction of the bar, "Want a drink?"

Morrigan smiled softly. "That sounds nice. Thanks."

As they headed towards the bar, Red relaxed, offering a lazy grin, despite his constant stoic countenance. "So... is Brigid okay? I knew some of the civvies got hurt in the attack, but I don't know who or how many."

Morrigan tried to relax a bit herself. "She's okay. Most of the injuries came from the initial crash. Brigid was actually crawling through one of the service tunnel she uses for short cuts. She was able to brace herself and only came out of it with sore knees. She's smart for her age, even if a little immature."

"Well, that's good to hear. I was hoping she wasn't too hurt." Red let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. His face took on a more serious look, as did his voice."Why did you grow so paranoid over Ayame?"

Morrigan looked away. "I-I... she... to find out she is something different from what I expect... I know it sounds stupid, but when I found out my husband was a different person then I thought... well, you know what happened."

Red nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I see. Well, if Ayame starts hurting people, I'll stop her with peaceful means. Does that put your mind at ease?"

Morrigan nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. But it won't come to that, right?"

"As far as I know, no. Like I said, Ayame is a big softie, kinda like me." Red replied, his lazy smile returning. A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination. "So, what kind of drinks do you like?"

Morrigan thought about it. "You know... I've never tried Irish whiskey. Maybe I should. Almost seems a crime for an Irishwoman not to."

Red nodded to the bartender, who despite his short time on the Avenger had grown accustomed to listening to newcomers and what they wanted. Returning the nod with one of his own, the man quickly busted out a pair of rock glasses and set them on the counter, the whiskey following close behind. Pushing the drinks forward on the bar, the tender in question quickly left to attend to his other patrons, leaving the two soldiers alone.

"Well... down the hatch." Morrigan down a mouthful, and followed it up with a coughing fit. Blushing a bit from embarrassment, Morrigan said, "S-stronger then I thought..."

Red gave a knowing smile, as he took a larger drink. Giving a smirk, he mouthed 'lightweight', before winking at Morrigan, anticipating that she'd do something in return.

Morrigan gave him a pout, and chugged the rest of her drink, trying her best not to hack and cough and failing miserably.

Red laughed, Morrigan's reaction proving to be hilarious for the Oglala Sioux Specialist. Unfortunately, he was drinking his glass of whiskey, causing him to cough a couple times. Glancing at his companion, he blushed ever so slightly, "T-that was totally on purpose..."

Morrigan coughed again, and gave him a big grin. "I'm sure it was." She looked down at her glass. "Not bad. Maybe I'll try more. Just need to watch I don't develop a drinking problem. Last thing Brigid needs."

Red nodded, his carefree smile disappearing fast. "What do you plan to do with her, when we no longer need to fight?" The large man asked quietly, contemplating an answer to his own question.

Morrigan's smile dropped as well, and she continued to stare down at the glass. "I... I'm not sure. Find some place where we can get away from all this death and destruction, I hope. I... I just want to do right by her. I've made so many mistakes... and she has suffered because of it. I hope I can make it up to her, and help beat these aliens before she's expected to do more then she already does."

Red gently put a hand on her shoulder, doing his best to comfort her. "You're already doing good by her. You're her role model, and she adores you. She's lucky to have you, as well as me." Red conveyed quietly.

Morrigan placed hand on his and smiled. "You're too kind to me, you know? Especially after I upset you ten minutes ago."

"Well, I forgive pretty easily. Holding onto something isn't healthy, so I tend to let things go pretty easily." Red replied, returning her smile with one of his own.

Morrigan simply smiled at him for a few seconds before blushing and clearing her throat. "I, uh... th-thanks, um... want another drink?"

Red, still retaining his smile, nodded. Raising his hand to call for the barkeep, Red found that the man was quicker than he seemed, as he seemed to teleport to them. Nodding once, the man set to work, refilling their glasses. Gazing upon the mastery of his job, he promptly, walked away. "Well... that was surprisingly fast." Red murmured, before returning his attention to Morrigan.

Morrigan stated down at her glass, holding it tightly. If Mark didn't know better, he'd think she was embarrassed about something. She took a small drink, and smiled softly. "Easier the second time."

"Everything's better and easier the second time." Red agreed, taking a sip from his drink. Setting it down, the Sioux man turned to his companion, and after pondering about asking why she seemed to be embarrassed, he decided to not press the matter. If she wants to tell me, she will... I shouldn't pry.

Morrigan smiled at him once more. "Mark... you're... would you ever want to... a-are you seeing... would you, um..."

Red's eyes widened, slightly caught off-guard. He quickly regained his composure, and offered the sweetest smile he could muster. "I would be happy to, Morrigan. After all, how can one refuse beauty when it's presented in front of you?"

Morrigan laughed nervously. "Great... great, um..." She slowly stood up. "W-why don't we... h-have a drink again later, okay. O-or maybe... we can do something with Brigid. The three of us."

"Both of those options are appealing, so I'm happy to do either one." Red replied quietly, his countenance being of a more shy version of his typical bravado. Standing up himself, the man nervously ran a hand through his hair.

Morrigan rubbed her hands nervously, her eyes searching for what she should do next. Finally, she stepped on her tip toes so she could give Red a quick kiss on the cheek. She then turned red, muttering, "Sorry. I'm acting like a child, aren't I?"

Red leaned down and returned the kiss, "Not at all. In fact, I think you're the most sophisticated woman I know."

"Heheh... heh..." Morrigan, all flustered, took a moment before saying. "I-I should... ch-check on, um... on Brigid. We can... have another drink... um... later?"

"I'd be happy to have another drink with you later." Mark replied quietly, a small smile on his face. D-damn it! I-I can't think of anything else to say... Red mentally panicked, his dating game had long since gone rusty.

Morrigan didn't luck that confident either, not having been with anyone besides her husband in so long. "I-I... I-I'll see you later, Mark." She quickly turned, and walked to the door, waving back at him.

"S-see you!" Red responded, the big man cursing himself for not being able to maintain his confidence.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Friends, Allies, and Vampires

Ayame slowly stepped into the bar, aware of the looks and whispers of the soldiers and staff around her. She tried to ignore it, tried to pretend it didn't bother her, but it clearly did. She stepped behind the bar and grabbed a some cranberry juice, sitting in the corner and pouring a glass that she simply stared at sadly for the longest time.

"Not a big drinker?" a familiar voice asked. Ayame looked up and watched as Morrigan sat across from her, a bottle of whiskey and glass of her own in hand. "A few shots are usually the first thing soldiers want after being in the infirmary for so long."

Ayame shrugged, and took a sip of her juice. "Alcohol doesn't agree with me. I have trouble breaking it down, so I get really drunk, really fast, and stay that way for quite a while. As you can imagine, I save it for big occasions and only around people I can trust."

"Getting out of the hospital isn't a big enough occasion?" Morrigan sipped the whiskey, trying to hide that it would be a while until she got used to it. "How, uh... how is your arm?"

Ayame lifted her previously missing hand, opening and closing it. "Well, um... I..." She found herself too worn out to come up with her usual lies.

"Those are some neat abilities," Morrigan said softly. "Regrowing limbs and such. You... don't have to hide it. I already know. Mark explained it."

"Red?" Ayame thought for a moment. "Assuming he didn't just blab about it to you, that means you were listening in the other day, huh?" She slowly shook her head. "So what now? Gonna tell everyone?"

Morrigan frowned. "N... no. Ayame... I'm not going to lie. When I find out, I freaked out a little... maybe more then a little."

"You and me both, sister." Ayame couldn't help an amused smile at Morrigan's reaction to another drink, and leaned forward, pouring some cranberry juice into the glass of whiskey. "So why aren't you freaking out now? I'm no less of the freaky monster."

Morrigan shrugged. "Mark, mostly. He helped me push all those negative thoughts to the side and see that you are still the woman who has given your all for us. And even gave your arm. You must have realized that it would likely expose you once it grew back."

"Calculated risk. I had a split second to decide what was more important, and I'd like to think I made the right choice." Ayame sighed. "Look... if this is too weird for you, I can stay out of your hair. Just promise, when we fight together..."

"I-I don't want to stop being friends." Morrigan took a satisfying drink from her glass. "I... I'm sorry I was so close minded, and needed Mark to tell me I was wrong instead of figuring it out by myself. But... if you are willing to forgive me for that, I'd like to... try and treat you the same as I always have."

Ayame smiled, and nodded. "Sounds like a deal." She poured herself some more juice, and made a more proper mixed drink for Morrigan. She held up her glass and said, "To friendship. Faults, doubts, undeadness, and all."

Morrigan raised her glass, clinking it against Ayame's and drinking. She laughed lightly. "You make a good drink."

The Asian Vampire laughed heartily. "I might not drink often, but that doesn't mean I can't make some drinks. You pick up a few tricks being around as long as I have." She winked and said, "Hopefully I'll be able to show off a few more from now on."

 

[Dahlexpert]

Dahlexpert and DarkGemini24601: “Old Soldiers”


Unknown Location, Somewhere in Antarctica

0923 Hours, September 17th, 2038

Onboard the Avenger

Floor 4, Port Wing

Gymnasium A

Lilith was in the gymnasium, doing some shadow boxing to practice her form - but it was mostly for fun. Sighing, she muttered to herself, “Man, it’s been awhile since I did this. After the attack it’s nice to see people go back to normal.” Lilith started to kick the air. “Well, nice to see I still got it and still move pretty good at my age.”

“What makes that more impressive is the fact that you manage without the revitalizing effect psionics have had on me” the similarly-aged Atka commented as she approached the Sharpshooter. “Then again, your alien DNA might have something to do with it.”

“Hey, it’s not like I chose to have alien DNA implanted in me, but it was a small risk at the time to help my boy. Anyway, it’s nice to finally meet you in person, Commander.” Lilith extended her hand. “One of your best Sharpshooters, and someone who is too old for this. Lilith Van Dam, at your service.”

“I would have met you sooner, but I’ve admittedly been less than sociable in the past. Though I’ve had my reasons.” Atka shook her subordinate's hand.

“I don’t blame you, you've been in this war for a very long time. Trust is very hard to come by. Hell, I didn’t trust anyone since my family died either.”

At least you didn’t have your own family betray you, Atka thought privately. “I’d be lying if I wasn’t initially wary of letting a former Advent soldier into our ranks, but you’ve since proven yourself. I’m fairly certain that Delago and Contreras would have something to say about your claim that you’re the best Sharpshooter, however,” the Inuit woman remarked with a slight smile.

“Oh my God, the Commander can smile. Someone stop the presses,” Lilith said mirthfully. “I won’t lie, it suits you, Commander. You should do it more often,” Lilith returned Atka’s smile.

Atka shook her head, her expression becoming subdued again. “Oh, don’t be so melodramatic… you just haven’t seen me in the rare times I’m off-duty. I’m still human, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

"I know you are, still I have to ask commander how are you holding up after the attack. I know losing people is no surprise, but how are you holding up?”

“I’ll be fine so long as we avoid it happening again,” Atka replied with a sigh. “I’ve been having the research team refocus their efforts to improve our stealth technology to prevent us being tracked down again - though hopefully that UFO just got lucky.”

“I’m not sure. I mean - speaking freely - don’t you think the attack seem to coordinated even for ADVENT? I mean they not only took us down with a UFO, but they also sent a small army on us in minute that seems a little to planned don’t you think?”

“I’m certain they’ve been coordinating an effort to hunt us down. Alien craft were seen all over South America not long after we left. But I’ve yet to discern how exactly they found us in the first place… it’s unclear if they have the technology to see through our cloak or not.” Atka straightened her shoulders. “I honestly doubt it though. Think about it this way, Van Dam… if they had that capability, we probably would have been attacked again by now.”

“Good point, maybe it was just luck.” Lilith paused. “How are things with your daughter? I’m sure Yakone has been rather... OK after the attack?”

“I haven’t spoken with her since then. I don’t think there’s anything I could say that would help,” Atka replied tersely.

“You could try, after all there is the old saying: ‘you won’t know if something won’t work unless you try’. I mean, Luke and I have our problems, but we work well together and thanks to Joseph and the sisters he’s starting to see me more like his mother.”

“It’s… really not any of your business,” Atka insisted. “I don’t have anything more to say about that.”

“Very well, Commander, but may I ask if I can help in any way? I know I might not have known you long, but is there any way I can further help the project or assist you?”

“All I ask is that you continue to be a competent soldier, and make use of any civilian skills you have to provide aid to the other divisions,” Atka responded, adding, “there’s nothing special I expect from you.”

“Very well then. Might I ask what you were like before the war? Using my civilian skills, why don’t we just talk?”

“That is not remotely what I meant by civilian skills… I was talking about engineering experience and the like,” the Commander rebuffed. Why is she so determined to pry into my past? Atka gave the prospect of turning and walking away serious consideration, but her desire to appear less menacing to her staff precluded that option. “I was a soldier in the Canadian armed forces before I joined XCOM, so I’ve been involved in the military for a very long time,” Atka answered. “Before that I lived in a first nations village in Nunavut. Ended up joining modern society some time after an army recruiter visited.”

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 2

“Huh, old world military - that’s not to surprising seeing how you lead us now. Me? I was a U.S navy solder for a short time, and before that I lived in my village. It was pretty decent sized settlement in Alaska made up of a small army of mercenaries. We took military experience and brought it back there.” Lilith ran through a mental list. “We had all kinds of people there, from the Navy to the Army to the Marines; you name a division of the military, we most likely had someone that was in it. Hell, some of us were in the Rangers. Even though we were mercenaries, we still had a military training and coordination, if XCOM found us we might have been able to help you guys out twenty years ago.”

“No point in daydreaming about it now. The past is the past,” Atka responded adamantly. “I can see how we might have some similarities, but obviously my people lived a traditional lifestyle, whereas yours… I’m not sure what I’d call that. Alternative living?”

“You can call it traditional, we did live off the land. Alaska is a harsh place, especially if you live outside the cities and much further north. It’s cold with very little resources, but it was home. I do miss it. The village is still there, though it’s in ruins but if something does happen we could go there. Plus I’m sure ADVENT wouldn't find us there, the aliens found us by luck and wiped us out as far as i know anyway.”

“I feel much more confident in a mobile, cloaked base… if we had to flee to northern Alaska I would probably just abandon the hope of actually fighting ADVENT anymore,” Atka said with a sarcastic bite. “Wouldn’t be much point in going to my home village either. Everyone from there is either dead or used by the aliens in some way or another, be it for experimentation or brainwashing.”

Lilith sighed. “It would seem neither of us can go back to our old home, huh. You ever miss your people and your home Commander?”

“Of course I do,” Atka responded. “I just know there’s nothing I can do to bring my home back, to bring my friends and family back.” I can’t rewind time that far, no matter how much I wish I could.

“Heh, so our Commander is human after all. Nice to see you like this, Atka, it shows everyone that even our Commander is not made of stone,” Lilith acknowledged.

“That’s the idea… I don’t want anyone to think of me that way. There was a time when I would have been fighting directly alongside you all. It’s only by necessity that I lead,” Atka stated.

“Well that doesn't matter now. You’ve gotten us this far with what little we have and we’re still alive for the most part. Have to find a way to recruit more people but that’s a whole different matter I’m guessing.”

“I doubt we’ll be able to get all that much more in terms of staff, but by coordinating with the rest of the Resistance we should be able to make up for a small team. The real struggle is going to be getting the rest of the world on our side, though we’re close… there’s just a few more pieces to that puzzle.”

“Hmm, yeah. The small victories are piling up. I’m sure things can’t be good in the Megacities, and hell if we're lucky we might find some more engineers and scientists to join us. Luke did know one, not where she is now but I doubt she’ll join us. Then again she was Luke’s friend so I’m not sure.”


“Unless you have an untraceable phone number or something, I doubt it really matters either way,” Atka responded with a shake of her head. “We just have to deal with the hand we’re dealt.”


“That seem to be what we're good at. Anyway Commander, it was fun talking to you. Unless you want to train with me, I need to get back to my workout.”

“I ought to get back to my duties… maybe another time,’ Atka said apologetically, moving to leave.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: "Eastern Europe and East Asia, Part 1"

Unknown Location, Somewhere in Antarctica
1105 Hours, September 18th, 2038
Onboard the Avenger
Floor 4, Central Block
The Mess Hall

The doors to the mess hall opened, admitting two men into the room. The former was a man named Heinrich Bauer, a member of Maverick Squad. The other was one of XCOM's recent recruits, a Serbian named Tomislav Kasun. The two had just concluded a conversation with Maxwell, and were now headed to get something to eat. They walked through the line and received what had once been rations and were now proper meals thanks to the skills of XCOM’s chief chef. Tom shook his head in disbelief, the Dominican Aerotrooper still on his mind. "So he really has taken care of three kids for years?"

Heinrich grabbed some silverware, a smile borne of amusement brightening his features. "Unless you count some of the squad occasionally babysitting them, then yes, that is the case."

"Wow..." Tomislav responded. "I can't imagine taking care of even one. Keeping a team alive on the battlefield is one thing, raising a kid is another."

"Believe me, if you have a girlfriend for a long time, you start to think about those things. Eventually, it becomes less of a question of whether or not you'll have kids, but when..." Heinrich muttered, momentarily lost in thought.

A chuckle from Tom brought him back into reality. "That is seldom a concern for me, considering my track record."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Tomislav finished putting together his meal, and turned to look for a table. Rather than answer, he noted a pair of people seated that caught his eye. "Hey, Heinrich, who is the busty American and that cute Asian chick?"

I guess that answers what Tomislav meant by his track record, Heinrich mused with both birth and disapproval. "I'll just warn you now, the 'busty American' is taken. I don't think you want to piss off her Russian boyfriend."

The Harrier nodded. "That would be wise. Please tell me the other one isn't underage," Tom noted after closer inspection. "Or I'm going to feel bad."

"No, though it doesn't look that way. It's... a long story," Heinrich responded evasively. I'm not going to even bother trying to explain that... I'll let her do it.

Tomislav let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, that's good to hear. And her name is...?"

"Ayame Kasagi," the Grenadier answered. "I might as well introduce you to the two of them, since they're part of my squad," he decided, walking over to the pair of women with Tomislav.

"I can't even begin to describe how embarrassing it is to try and explain having a sword as your carry-on is," Ayame said before noting the newcomers. "Hey. What's up?"

"Who's your friend?" Stacie questioned her comrade-in-arms.

"Someone I met recently. He's a new recruit, and has been working with Chief Shen on a new class to suit his unique fighting style," Heinrich answered, sounding impressed.

"Tomislav Kasun, at your service," the Serbian named himself with a smile. "Nice to meet you two lovely ladies."

"Oh, a charmer." The Asian Phantom smiled. "Ayame Kasagi. Always eager to meet a new person with a new fighting style."

"Oh?" Ayame giggled lightly. "You're a nice guy. Though I'm not used being called that. Cute, yes. Pretty, maybe. But most people think I look too young to be beautiful."

"Well, I am assured by your squadmate that you aren't quite as young as you look, so I don't see the issue," Tomislav responded, taking a seat. Heinrich followed suit.

"Oh, I like him already, "Ayame said not-so-quietly to Stacie. "So what's your pleasure, Tomislav? What do you enjoy?"

"Well, aside from the reason we're all here - fighting ADVENT and the aliens - I am an inventor," Tomislav responded confidently. "I've come up with a specialized assault rifle, as well as various utility designs that Dr. Shen is implementing as we speak."

"Is that so?" Ayame placed her hands under her chin. "Well, you seem like the full package. Looks, brains. If you're also a skilled fighter, we're in good hands."

"I have the experience to back that up. I hope to become an officer here, but I am aware that will take time," Tomislav noted.

Ayame leaned forward a bit, seemingly interested. "Do you have experience leading? Where are you from anyway? Based on appearance, dialect, and mannerisms, I'm going to say a resistance in... Serbia?"

"I'm surprised you could pick me out from the rest of Eastern Europe," Tomislav admitted with a hint of surprise on his features. "I was a Captain in the Serbian Independent Nation, or SIN... you may or may not have heard of us, we have a bit of a scary reputation," he explained, shaking his head. "Though I'm sure few here take ADVENT news calling us murderous terrorists seriously."

"I would hope not." Ayame popped a piece of broccoli in her mouth, an odd choice considering what little nutritional value she got from vegetables - but she had developed a taste for it at some point in the last century. "If what ADVENT says is true, that would make XCOM, what? The worst threat to the future of the planet ever?" She giggled. "Unless they are still trying to deny we are even worth their time. You guys must have been a real thorn in their side to get that kind of recognition."

"We've disconnected the rail line between Skopje and Hallstatt more than once, and we're constantly stealing supplies they try to send between the cities. There's a reason ADVENT's never tried to make a Serbian Megacity. It's not just worth their time," Tomislav replied with a grin. "They can consider Serbia part of their Coalition all they want, but they'll never truly take our sovereignty."

Ayame laughed, and nodded. "That's really impressive. Though you don't look nearly old enough to have been with them since the beginning. How long have you been fighting, Tom? Can I call you Tom?"

"I'd prefer that you would, considering that's what my friends call me," the freedom fighter informed her. "To answer your question, I've been battling against ADVENT for nine years now."

"Longer than me. I should have been fighting for longer..." Ayame's eyes wandered over to the other two. "Oh... sorry. Didn't mean to ignore you guys."

Stacie waved her hands dismissively. "You two enjoy your conversation. I need to help fix that damn washing machine sometime today anyway." The Gunslinger got up from her seat.

"It's broken again?" Heinrich questioned with disbelief prevalent in his voice. "What the hell is it with that thing?" he asked as the two walked off to leave Ayame alone with her newfound friend.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: "Eastern Europe and East Asia, Part 2"

Tomislav waved to Heinrich for a moment, and then turned back to his Asian companion. "I mean, I joined the Resistance at eighteen... I wouldn't fault you for not doing so earlier than that." He shook his head. "I can't imagine you're any older than your mid-twenties, after all."

"Well, no, I..." Ayame fell silent, and sighed, leaning back. "You know... when your spend your entire life lying to everyone about so many things, from who you are, to what you are, to how old you are... you start to feel hollow inside. Makes you disconnected, not only with others, but with yourself. And since word is getting out about me anyway... I figure I should be upfront with you from the beginning."

"I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're talking about," Tomislav responded, his confusion evident.

"I know." Ayame cleared her throat. "I'm gonna tell you something about me, so try to have an open mind. I mean... we live in a world of aliens and gene mods and psions, right? A little more weirdness won't be that bad. Just don't... flip out, okay?"

"O...kay," Tomislav promised, still not entirely sure where she was going with this. What, are you a test subject - some sort of unique alien-human hybrid? he mentally ran through a checklist of strange possibilities, but ultimately dismissed all of them and internally conceded he had no clue what Ayame was going on about.

Ayame took a deep breath. "I am a Chinese undead being that is like a combination of a zombie and a vampire. I was killed over 530 years ago and resurrected by a rare poison alongside rage. I'm cursed to live off the essence of the living, though I use my abilities to fight alongside humanity."

"I..." Tomislav fell silent, raising his eyebrows at her, and then rubbed his forehead. "Okay, I'm trying really hard here, but I'm going to need some proof. You have any flashy magical abilities or something," he inquired, seeming to have trouble with how ridiculous the question sounded.

Ayame shrugged. "Well, the Commander said I'm not allowed to shoot myself to prove anything. So the best option I have is for you to let me see your hand."

Tomislav hesitated for a moment, and then took off one of his insulated gloves - cautiously moving it forward. "This won't... you know, kill me, will it?" he asked, half-joking, half-serious.

"No. Just... try not to pass out. I'm only going to do it for a second to prove a point." Ayame gently took his hand in hers and concentrated. A soft, ghostly blue glow emanated from her eyes, and for a few seconds, Tom felt himself weakening, as though the energy was being drained from him.

The Harrier winced, but otherwise endured the strange feeling until Ayame pulled away. "And you're... sure that's not just psionics?"

Ayame looked down at her hands sadly. "Over five centuries of... loneliness would say no. Besides, if you ask some of my teammates from our latest life or death struggle, I'm sure they'll inform you I was missing an arm a week ago." She slowly shook her head. "Weird, huh? Still think I'm beautiful?"

"That could be biokinesis for all you know. Sectoids can revive the dead after all," Tomislav contested. "And... you're not as cold as death, so even if you were some sort of pseudo-vampire that doesn't really bother me. You still look cute."

Ayame smiled softly. "Thanks." She slowly sat back. "I-I don't know. Who knows? Maybe you're right? Maybe I labelled something as supernatural since there were no psionics five hundred years ago. But it doesn't feel like I'm human anymore. Haven't felt that way for a long time."

"Who can tell at this point? Does it really even matter?"

"It kinda does." Ayame stared down at her food. "Not everyone is going to be comfortable working with something that isn't human, especially in a war against non-humans. What do you think people are going to believe? That I'm a supernatural being, or I'm some kind of experimental spy? I’m sure only the faith they put in the Commander is keeping them in check.”

Tomislav shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ayame, but that's bullshit," he told her frankly. "If you were in my position and had this secret, maybe that would be the case. But your comrades are not going to turn on you when you've fought with them for months."

Ayame refrained from responding for about half a minute, before she finally conceded, "People here are pretty cool. Much more than I've ever seen. Something to do with being united under such an important common cause, I guess. I just... get paranoid. I've been chased by villagers with pitchforks and torches before." She gave her Serbian comrade a sly smile. "And I mean that literally. Silly when you think of how far weapons have advanced."

"I imagine people were a lot more superstitious 500 years ago than they are now, so there's that too," Tom offered.

Ayame smiled a little wider. "That's true. I mean, look at you. When I just told you, you were trying to rationalize it as being an unusual form of psionics. That's... that's probably what the others will do too, right?"

"Yes. You should stop worrying so much, it's unhealthy," Tomislav responded with a calm, dismissive wave of his hand.

Ayame nodded, and continued to smile. "You... you're pretty cool yourself, Tom."

"I'd prefer if you used the opposite temperature to describe me," Tom replied with a shake of his head, "but I'll take what I can get."

"Well I don't see why a man like you can't be both at the same time." Kasagi looked him up and down. "Tell me, Tom. You, uh... you have a special someone right now?"

Kasun smiled. "No, I do not."

"Do you... want one?"

"If you're volunteering yourself, you don't have to be so shy, you know," Tomislav responded with a widening smile. "I'd love the honor of being able to call you my girlfriend."

Ayame slowly stood up, walking around the table and sitting next to Tomislav. "I hope you don't mind a girlfriend who is a little high maintenance... just a little."

"I think I can deal with that," Tomislav responded, placing a hand around Ayame's shoulder.

Ayame leaned close to him and sighed contently. "Been awhile since I had a real boyfriend. Looking forward to this."

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Master Chariot, Part 1

Avenger, Somewhere in Antarctica
2:15 PM, September 18th, 2038



Samuel nearly retreated when he saw Arthur alone through the viewport, sitting serenely in the center of the small room. The Ranger – No, “Scout” now. - had long ago taken over one of the unused maintenance closets near the gym as a spot for him to be alone, to mull over the events of the day in quiet solitude. Here, he would allow the world to pass him by. Here, he was at peace.

The Russian wanted him to share a little of that peace with him.

But he hesitated at the door. Arthur was entirely still, sitting upright with his legs crossed and his hands resting on his ankles. Disturbing that felt… wrong.

Samuel came to a conclusion. Later. He would ask the Scout his questions later. But before he moved away from the door, Arthur raised a single hand and beckoned. Muffled through the door, he heard the Chinese man say “Enter.” Swallowing his irrational nerves, Samuel obeyed, closing the door gently behind him.

Arthur cracked open his eyes, and eased his posture slightly. “Afraid you would be disturbing me?” he asked with a slight smile.

“Yeah,” the Trooper answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m kinda intruding on your personal space in here.”

The Scout waved a hand dismissively. “I care little,” he responded. “This is one time in the many weeks since your arrival that you have even remotely inconvenienced me. I believe I can tolerate it.”

Samuel raised an eyebrow. “Don’t count the last mission as ‘inconvenience’?”

“Of course not,” Arthur answered. “I count it as a misjudgement. Any injuries we sustained in that fight were not your intention, hence it is unfair to blame you for them.” The Scout spread his hands. “And in the end, what injuries did we sustain? A few bruises, both physical and to our pride. That is all.”

“We could have all died thanks to me.”

“But we didn’t. It is pointless to wonder about the could-have-been when the time has already passed. We have chosen our path. There is no point wasting time and effort bemoaning that choice. Instead, we should devote that effort to dealing with what comes next.” Arthur shook his head. “But you did not come here to talk about that, did you?”

Samuel sighed. “No. Well… not really.” The Trooper looked away, running his gaze along the featureless shelves. The room was completely empty save for its two occupants and the mat on which one was seated. “I realize I made a mistake. I want to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Arthur frowned. “And you believe I can help you in this regard?” the Scout questioned, evidently confused as to his role.

“I made a bad call because I was angry,” the Russian explained. “I let emotions tell me what to do instead of any kind of logic. If I’d kept a cooler head, I probably wouldn’t have done what I did. Meanwhile you and Lester always seem to be in control of yourselves. You in particular. I can’t say I can remember you getting angry even one time.”

“Of course I get angry,” Arthur stated, indicating for Samuel to seat himself. “I am no machine, after all. I feel emotions just as you do.”

Something occurred to Samuel. “Where’s Tumulis?” he wondered, interrupting his friend for a moment.

A shrug. “He considers my meditations ‘boring’, and chooses to engage in a sort of hibernation mode instead. He became… snarky when I pointed out the hypocrisy in that action.”

The Russian smirked. “I’m not saying you don’t get angry or sad or whatever,” he continued. “Just that you can keep it separate from your decision making. You don’t let frustration cloud your judgement when there’s a tough obstacle in your way. You have the presence of mind to work with it.”

“And you want me to teach you how to do this?” Arthur asked, clearly amused by the prospect.

“Yes.”

The Scout watched him thoughtfully for a moment, studying the Trooper’s facial expression, his body language. Or reading his mind. When the moment had passed, Arthur nodded. “You desire improvement,” he summarized. “You seek a means of increasing your effectiveness both on the field and off it, by stamping out imperfections in your attitude. You wish to see the world as it is, not as you perceive it.”

Samuel shrugged. “Yeah, we’ll go with that.”

That brought a chuckle from Arthur. “Apologies if you consider me too verbose in this. Consider it part of your lessons. I must ensure you understand my words, and understand yourself in the process.”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting you to tell me your secret and then that’d be the end of it,” the Russian stated. “I’ve seen enough pre-war movies to know it wouldn’t be that simple.”

“Then let me start by reinforcing that,” the Scout murmured. “And remember that, when it comes down to it, you are a soldier. A warrior. And a warrior’s greatest weapon…” Arthur’s mouth began to curve upwards in a grin, growing steadily as time went on without an end to his sentence.

Samuel gave up waiting. “Is-?”

“- Patience,” the Ranger finished.

“… you’re an asshole.”

Arthur chuckled. “You see? No one is immune to the basic emotions that we as humanity call happiness, sadness, anger, hate, amusement, fear, excitement… That is why we are human. To feel otherwise is to cast away your humanity in favor of the cold reasoning of machines or the delusions of psychopaths. First and foremost, you must accept that you will always feel, regardless of how much you might distance yourself.”

In a way, Samuel already knew that to be true. He’d seen it a number of times over the years in someone very close to him – his own father. Isaac’s past before the subjugation of Earth was steeped in blood – Isaac himself had admitted that – and had left the contract assassin feeling colder towards the plight of his fellow man. But over the years Samuel had seen him laugh, cry, and rage like everyone else he knew.

“I… can accept that,” the Russian said.

“That in mind, you must also realize that sometimes an emotional response may not be pertinent to the situation,” Arthur continued. “The argument that mourning over a lost comrade can be done after the battle is finished is grounded in this logic. The enemy will not allow you to grieve, nor should you allow them the same luxury. In a battle, the fight is all that matters. Push through it, and you may allow your emotions to come forward again when all is over.”

“That’s easy to say,” Samuel responded dourly. “Hard to put into practice. You think I’m not going to be pissed off when, say, Alan bites it? Or you?”

The Scout frowned, something obviously occurring to him. “Only once you have accepted your imperfections can you strive to improve yourself. You cannot seek to cure someone when you do not know the sickness from which they suffer. Fortunately for you, you have already taken this first step.” He rose. “Come.”

The Russian raised his eyebrows, standing up with him. “What, out of metaphors?”

Arthur chuckled. “Of course not. But not all of my teaching can be done in this humble dojo.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Part 2

“You must find an action you consider calming,” the Scout instructed, allowing his sparring partner to pick themselves up from the ground. “I… would not recommend CQC practice. You will only become agitated by it.”

Samuel thumped a fist on the ground. “My partner is someone whose class specialization focuses on melee combat,” he complained as he dragged himself upwards. “You had an advantage.”

“Then overcome it,” Arthur instructed, shrugging. “That berserker alien we fought had the rather significant advantage of size, strength, and ability to withstand damage. Had we not overcame those advantages, it would have smashed each and every one of us to a pulpy mass.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

Samuel scowled, rubbing his wrist. I mean, it’s not like you would have killed me if I lost. “Of co-“

“Who’s to say I wouldn’t have?” the Scout asked, unpleasantly reminding the Russian that he was capable of reading thoughts as easily as hearing him speak. “Just because the stakes here are supposedly lower than on the field does not give you an excuse to pull your punches, as it were. You must treat every fight as your last, on the off chance that it turns out to be such.”

“I wasn’t ‘pulling my punches’ when we fought Azazel, and he still beat all of us easily.”

“I never said you were.”

“Then what the hell are you saying?” Samuel demanded.

Arthur bowed his head, as if realizing he may have pushed a little too hard. “You follow the doctrine of picking your fights,” he began to explain. “Knowing when to dedicate your full effort and when to not. You are correct in assuming relatively safety here, but everywhere else you can assume no such thing. You must be prepared to fight for your life at all times, against ADVENT or not.”

“And beating the shit out of me was meant to teach me that?”

The Scout shook his head. “It was meant to allow you to vent your anger.”

While the Russian seethed, a shape detached itself from the wall where he’d been watching the two. “Samuel,” said Lester as he approached, “Still having issues keeping yourself under control? No wonder the Commander took you off the active roster.”

“That’s low,” Samuel growled. “Especially coming from a man that, with a press of a few buttons, murdered hundreds of people. Back at the Blacksite? Or did you forget?”

“Speaking of low blows,” the Specialist muttered. “No, I hadn’t forgotten. In fact, I don’t forget every single day. I don’t forget every time I see that Shieldbearer we rescued walking through the mess hall. I certainly don’t forget every time I see one of those confounded stasis pods.”

The Trooper’s face blanched. “… sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I’m just proving you right.”

“Work that out before you start spouting rubbish next time,” Lester snapped. “Or sending us into oblivion.”

“Alright, I get it. It’s not like I’ve been tearing myself up about it since the mission or anything.”

“Although to be fair on you, I should have put my foot down and ordered you to back off. Whether or not you would have listened is a whole other question, but the others might have thought twice at least.” He turned his head to Arthur. “I certainly didn’t expect you of all people to follow him, though.”

The Scout shrugged. “I did as I thought was correct. We had no reason to trust the Elder's word when he said he would allow us to leave. In any case, it has been long enough. You are learning from your mistakes, yes, but you are sticking with the lesson for too long. It is time to move on, as even the more steadfast mourners of those lost in the attack on the Avenger have.”

“I will move on when I see improvement,” Lester sniffed, before turning and striding away imperiously. “And you, Samuel, will not move anywhere until then either.”

“Go fuck your robot,” Samuel muttered darkly, quietly enough that the Specialist did not hear him before departing. “The nerve of that asshole.”

Arthur looked at him. “Was there any moment where you considered attacking him?”

The Russian glared at him. “You tell me,” he answered.

They held their gazes for a moment before the Scout finally smiled. “Good,” he said. “You have passed my first lesson.”

Samuel nodded slowly, before blinking. “Wait, what?”

Arthur chuckled. “Now I believe is the time when I reveal I summoned Lester here myself. I psionically instructed him to antagonize you, to work you up. To anger you.”

“The hell for?”

“You have identified your emotions as causing you to act irrationally,” the Scout continued. “And as I said earlier, knowing your problem is the first step towards fixing it. You came to me for help with a problem you were already starting to rectify.”

Samuel tilted his head sideways slightly. “I’m still confused,” he stated.

“You may also recall I stated you pick your battles. Something I didn’t tell you is this – emotion can be a powerful motivation. The trick is knowing when to allow anger, grief or joy to work their magic, and when to shut them out entirely.” Arthur smiled. “Once I had ascertained who you are as a person, I merely had to test to ensure I was correct. Lester was my test.”

“I… you manipulated me,” the Russian accused.

“And I learned that not only was I correct, but you have already begun bringing your emotions to heel. Why did you not attack Lester?”

“Well… I’d be thrown out for that, wouldn’t I?” Samuel rubbed the back of his neck. “Commander’s already shitty with me. I doubt she’d tolerate violence with me involved.” He glanced at the door the Specialist had left through. “That, and it wasn’t worth wasting my effort on. I’ve still gotta work with the prick, right?”

“So you chose your battle,” Arthur stated. “And you chose not to let your anger work against you. You see? You have already taken the first step towards bettering yourself.”

The Russian scratched his head. Arthur’s logic was solid. And yet… “Is it really that simple?” he asked. “Just tell myself it’s not worth getting worked up over?”

“Of course it isn’t,” the Scout replied. “In the future, you will need to weigh the pros and cons in every situation, not unlike making a tactical decision. But you have proved to me, here, that you can do it.”

“Just a case of applying that theory,” Samuel said nodding. “Alright. I think I can do that.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
Strength Through Unity

Kai slowly rolled his pen through his fingers, sitting in his exam room bored out of his mind. The aftermath of the base defense and other such things either were no longer his concern or being handled by others. He was bored, and anxious. Sukuna's silence which he asked for didn't help much, but at least they weren't arguing."

"Doctor?" a familiar voice called out, followed by a knock on his door. "Are you in there? It's Jennifer Chambers."

"Yeah, come in Jennifer." Kai called out, sighing as he laid back in his chair.

"Do you have a minute?" Jenn asked as she stepped inside. "My, um... my shoulder hurts, and I was hoping you could take a look at it."

"Simple." Kai told the woman as she stepped inside. He stood up, waving a hand for her to come over.

She nodded, and sat down on the examination table, rolling her left shoulder. "It just started hurting while I was working. I... I thought maybe you could make me feel better, doctor."

Kai moved over to the table and slowly turned Jenn so her back was to him. "How's your sister and her boyfriend?"

Jenn flinched a bit, and slowly answered, "They're good. Nice and healthy. They spend most of their time together."

"That's good." The doctor responded neutrally as he slowly rubbed the back of her shoulder with his palm and sent slight healing energies into her to relax her muscles up.

Jennifer closed her eyes and smiled. "Mmm... that feels so much better, doctor."

"Good." Kai removed his hand and stepped away. "I know how annoying it can be to have aches."

Jenn looked back at him, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "O-oh... is it done already? You... you work really fast, doctor."

"Easing an ache is a simple matter for me." Kai said, then released the void and gave her a soft smile. "But that isn't the only ache you have, huh?"

Jenn's eyes slowly dropped. "We... we don't... exactly have someone... professional to talk to... and you're the only one I feel I can confide in without worrying that you'll blab to everyone about my silly problems."

"I may not have a technical degree in psychiatry but if you wish to talk anything we say stays under doctor patient confidentiality." Kai sat down and crossed his arms. "What's bothering you?"

"I... A-Alexis liked to make fun of me... saying that I was jealous that she has Luke... and I would insist that she's wrong. And she is. Or at least half wrong." Jenn turned away, letting her green bangs fall over her eyes. "I am jealous. Jealous that she has anyone. That Yakone has someone. That other friends have someone. I'm surprise Lily doesn't have someone yet while I... stay in my lonely corner."

"You're talking about relationships? Now you really aren't in my field of expertise." Kai noted with a sigh. "Just as a question, are you uh... At all... Gay?"

Jennifer didn't answer at first. After some silence, she finally asked, "What... makes you ask that?"

"Asking to see if... You know, that holds any levity to the situation." Kai shrugged innocently. "Am I wrong?"

Again she remained silent for a few moments before answering, "I... I-I don't know. I... I-I like guys. At least... I think I do. But... B-but there was this... one time..."

"Isn't there always? Explain a bit." Kai urged her, putting his cheek on his fist.

"Well... when I was seventeen... we were hiding out near this supportive slum town. I grew close to this... this other girl. She was a couple years older then me, but less mature... in a charming way. Then... we were about to ship out... and me and her spent our last night hanging out. She... said she liked me... really, really liked me. She kissed me... and I didn't stop her. And things... e-escalated."

"You two had sex?" He guessed, raising an eyebrow at the development he didn't know previous about the woman.

Jennifer blushed, and slowly stood up. "I-I should... check on the, um... thing in the... thing." She took a step towards the door.

"Jennifer, you came to me for help. I cannot help you if you run at the first moment things become uncomfortable. You solve nothing by running you know." Kai told her, closing his eyes as she neared the door.

She slowed to a stop, standing there for a moment. Finally, she kept her head down as she returned to her seat. "Y-yes... we did. A-and I... I-I... enjoyed it."

"You act like you should be ashamed of that fact. What's so wrong with enjoying something like that? Does your sister act ashamed? At least I assume with how Luke is they have done something at least."

"Um..." She thought on that. "No. Maybe embarrassed... but not ashamed. But it is different."

"You are a different girl. Fits I suppose." Kai opted as a way to encourage her.

It did elicit a small smile from her. "Thank you. Though... I-I guess we still... I still have the same problem. I'm a wallflower... I don't have anyone... and I don't even know who to even look for. I know during this war I shouldn't... be thinking about it. But I get lonely, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand you. It is not unusual to feel lonely. Everyday we risk our lives after all. The best advice I can really give is go out there and make it known. "Don't be afraid to admit you are at least bisexual. Others might be too and are embarrassed as well."

Jennifer nodded. "How... N-no do I be... less shy." She chuckled grimly and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know I'm being insensitive to you and your... phobia. I shouldn't be burdening you with it."

"I've taken more control over it. It is fine. I'm sure you notice I go into sort of emotionless state? It is like a waking meditation. Detaches my phobia from myself."

"Well, that is wonderful!" Jennifer gave him a genuine smile. "That means you can have more female friends now. And maybe... you and I can... you know, hang out and stuff. It would be nice to have a male friend."

"Yeah, maybe. I would like that at least." Kai replied back honestly.

Jenn swirled a lock of hair in her finger. "We can hang out, and you can help me come out of my shell a bit, and in exchange... maybe I can help you get used to girls so you don't need the meditative state. I mean... you're a nice guy. You deserve a nice girl. It isn't fair that you should be held back by this phobia."

"I don't need a woman in my life Jenn. I've grown used to not having a woman in my life other then Sukuna. Besides, the only girl I might like won't share such feelings."

Jenn frowned. "Oh. My I... ask if it is someone I know? I promise I won't say anything."

"Well An-Yi." Kai noted casually with a sigh. "But I believe that ship has sailed in terms of anything being feasible. So I'm fine remaining single with no other options."

"Really?" Jennifer smiled again. "Well... I can help you be more comfortable with women regardless. Who knows? Maybe someday, Lily will open up to you, and we want you to be prepared... just in case."

"Well I am not holding my breath for that one. But if you want to help, I won't hold any objections. Thanks Jennifer." Kai said with a smile.

"Of course." She stood up. "I should probably head back to the labs." She walked over to the door and paused looking back. "Doctor?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you." Jenn laughed. "You really made me feel better. You're a good friend." She stepped out, quietly closing the door behind her.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Colossus Interrogation”

In the early hours of the morning on the Avenger, Leon was somewhat bright-eyed and dress in his - for lack of a better word - standard XCOM uniform. This outfit consisted of a simple white shirt and gray colored pants. It seemed to fit that for a resistance network unity that how they looked wouldn’t really matter, but if they had to fight at any moment’s notice again, he wanted to be dressed in something comfortable. Especially with the arctic cold the ship’s own heat systems kept away.

Glancing over at the person who accompanied him, the Sergeant asked his commanding officer, “To be honest I didn’t really expect you to want me to accompany you on this. I haven’t been too up to date on the engineering stuff, so why the sudden change?”

“Keep in mind that you’re the fourth-highest ranking combat officer in XCOM, Sergeant Sinclair,” Atka responded, adjusting the white gloves on her hands as she walked down the hallway. “If we can garner any useful technology from that thing, I might end up giving it to you.”

“Planning on turning me into a hulking man then Commander?” Leon posed the question as serious as he could but it was a humoring one in meaning to lighten the tension he, at least, was feeling.

“I doubt we can use the armor, but I’d like to see what the hell that sword is… my guess is that it's some sort of psionic amplifying device like the ones we use, but more advanced and possibly more specialized,” the Commander theorized.

“I’m not a psion.” Leon noted bluntly, crossing his arms. “Such a device would be better used by Yakone or even you. You are our strongest psion. Can’t hurt to have more power.”

“There’s also the concept of spreading power around,” Atka stated. “Though in that respect, perhaps I’ll give it to one of the Phantoms that needs it more if it turns out to just be a sword… we’ll have to see.”

“I see no reason to disagree. So enlighten me as to what is going on with our development. Any new breakthroughs Lily has for us that could prevent another base ambush like last time? Or at least make it easier so we don’t lose six people?” He asked, knowing he didn’t have to sidestep the point with her. At least, he hoped that was the case.

“In terms of how they found us? We still have no idea, and likely never will. The only solace I have to offer there is that they haven’t upgraded their satellites to detect cloaked ships. If that ever happens, we’re frankly done for… but I don’t think they have the capability bypass the Avenger’s experimental shadow field. Taking the ship also had the bonus of pushing back any research in that direction,” the Commander pointed out. “As for field capabilities, well, you’ve been briefed on the change to the structure of our combat roles, and in addition to the developments we’ve had there, Shen has made additions to our armory that should serve us nicely.”

“That girl certainly is one of a kind, I will give her that.” The Grenadier admitted as they neared the engineering bay. “I guess I should ask how Yakone is. I haven’t seen her at all. Since what went down.”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask her yourself,” Atka replied, approaching the door to prompt it to automatically slide open.

As they entered into the engineering bay, a stride up the stairs led to the two arriving where they wanted to be. In the center of the room, the large enemy that they fought outside the Avenger was in an equally large containment unit, a collar around its massive neck in order to suppress any inner ability he might have. From its posture the ‘man’ almost seemed to be sulking, on his knees leaning against one of the almost indestructible glass walls. Behind the mask it wore, it seemed to glare at Atka.

“It should go without saying, but this had better be worth the trouble of containing him,” Lily stated, in the process of running an analysis on the contained enemy unit.

“Did you have to make that cage yourself or did the aliens just have plus sized boxes like this conveniently made?” Leon asked the engineering head as he got closer to observe the man better.

“Had the maintenance crew slap it together with a few hours of oversight from Tygan to make sure it was actually suppressing psionic energy.” Lily glanced at her Gremlin. “Finish this up for me, Rover,” she instructed the drone before approaching Leon and offering him the psi amp ‘hilt’ that the alien soldier had been carrying. “I’ve tried to activate the damn thing, but so far no luck. Doesn’t make any sense to me… I ran a test with one of our own psi amps, and I was able to perform low-level telekinesis just fine…”

“Weird.” He took the hilt from Lily and looked it over. It was made of faded metal with the grip wrapped in beige colored wrappings. The wrappings themselves seemed like an addon to replace whatever wrapped around it originally. The guards were plain looking enough but were slightly curved upwards with the pommel at the bottom just a standard sphere. It felt faintly warm (likely from Lily’s hand) but overall he felt nothing from it. “Yeah, certainly weird.” He held onto it and turned to the cage. “Try talking to him yet?”

“He hasn’t seemed much for conversation. I haven’t bothered,” Shen replied with a shake of her head. “Figured Atka could just read his mind.”

“Suppose that is one way to go about it. Wait, you can just read someone’s mind just like that? I didn’t know that.” Leon informed the Commander, seeming slightly put off by that little mention.

“Relax, I only use my powers for good,” Atka sarcastically snipped. She closed her eyes, and then mentally invaded the captured enemy soldier.

 

[MarineAvenger]

At first she was hit with minor feedback, likely something put in place to make sure something weak couldn’t control him but after getting past that the invasion was easy. The weird thing was there was little unity to thoughts at all. One moment he thought about one thing and the next another that held no correlation. Themes changed from dark thoughts to mundane ones and after more and more probing she found something to hold on to. It came in the form of a voice.
GET OUT. A deep, rough and mechanical voice demanded, not yelling at all but the thought held weight in which he did not need to yell. It was naturally booming. NOT WELCOME.

Atka outright ignored him, instead prying deeper into the soldier’s mind to search for an answer to how its weapon worked. More and more as she looked, she finally found his memories and delving into those were a challenge all onto itself. There were horrific scenes of experiment after experiment done, pain and anger being the main emotions associated with them. Finally she found something that might help, a memory of how the hulking soldier activated the sword. It was a similar feeling of calling on her ice helixes, but slightly more simplistic in nature. She heard the voice once more. OUT. OUT!

“Is it… some sort of Reflection?” Atka wondered aloud, severing the mental connection for now. “If that’s the case, though, it may not be possible to use that blade while the user still lives.”

There was a loud thud from in the box as the occupants fist hit struck the glass. There was a sharp, raspy sound as the abomination clutched its throat. “WOMAN. KNOW. NOTHING.” It said in the deep mechanical voice, the sound going away as it seemed the man’s chest began heaving visibly.

“If you want to live, why don’t you elaborate, then?”

The hulking man seemed to glare once more behind the box, holding its throat once more as the rasping continued again. “NOT. REFLECTION. WEAPON. NOT. YOU. USE.” Allowing itself to breathe once more, it pointed to its head, hitting the glass again. “TALK.” Atka opened a telepathic channel for the alien.

CAN’T TALK NORMAL. ALIEN DID SOMETHING TO VOICE. CAN’T BREATHE AND TALK. HUMAN UNDERSTAND?

I understand what you’re saying, though I’m confused as to what precisely you are. You’re referring to the Protectorate as ‘aliens’ as if you aren’t one yourself, but you refer to me as a ‘human’ as if you are in fact an extraterrestrial.

PROTECTORATE LIES. WARMONGERS. EXPERIMENTED ON ME. I WAS ONCE SOMETHING HUMAN. NO LONGER. NOT HUMAN. BUT AM. I WAS GROWN. TALKING SKILLS WEAK. LEARN NOT MUCH.

So you’re a vat-grown hybrid, then. Hmm… and what were you trying to say about this strange weapon of yours?

IT NOT PSI THING HUMAN NAME. IT LIVING THING. MUST HAVE CONNECTION. CONNECTION FORCED ON ME.

How the hell can a weapon be living? Is it supernatural in origin?

HOW I KNOW? COMMUNE WITH ONCE. CHOOSE USER. TAKE TIME WITH IT. SHOW WORTHY. FIGHT HELP.

Atka sighed, and cut the connection again. She relayed what she had learned to Leon and Lily. “Sounds like we’d have to test it out with different wielders and hope for the best. It might just be junk.”

“That’ll take some time. What do we do about this guy now? Did you have any plans other than throwing him out of airlock like you seem so eager to do?” The Sergeant asked.

Atka glanced at Leon and narrowed her eyes. “If I made that decision, I would expect you not to question it.”

Leon rolled his eyes in response. “Come on, no need to be paranoid. If you keep suspecting everyone of insubordination at the slightest drop of a hat, people might start getting wary of you again. All I am saying is he poses no threat to us at the moment in that box. Sure we have little reason to keep him around now that we have what we need to know for that psionic device, but what if something comes up we need his knowledge on. Would suck if we had chucked him, huh? Always helps to have something and not need it, then need it and not have it.” He suggested.

“I doubt that he has all that much knowledge, but for now I’ll have him held in stasis like before,” Atka decided with a sigh.

“I can deal with that decision.” Leon assured Atka with a smile. “After all, any great leader listens to those underneath them.”

“Save the flattery for my daughter,” Atka muttered under her breath. “In any event, I’ll have the weapon trade hands until someone proves themselves capable of using it. We got the information we came for.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

XCOM Mission Parameters

Alien Blacksite AHF018, beneath the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica
2000 Hours, September 20th, 2038 [No Time Pressure]
Discover the ultimate fate of abductees.

XCOM Forces

**CMDR Ipiktok, Atka [Ambusher]
*SQ Kasun, Tomislav [Harrier]
SQ Knight, Jaime [Gunslinger]
SQ Kasagi, Ayame [Phantom]
SQ “Red Hawk”, Mark [Specialist]
SQ Van Dam, Luke [Grenadier]
SQ Chambers, Alexis [Aerotrooper]
SQ Brock, Adam [Enforcer]

Operation Sinister Savior

The task of recovering from the attack on the Avenger has not been easy, but XCOM is now back in business. In addition to all the technological developments that we have undergone, we have finally unlocked the classified data Seshat was holding. Contained within her was the coordinates of an alien blacksite located in Antarctica. We will be raiding that facility, recording and collecting all evidence we come across.

Unfortunately, we have no details on the interior of the Protectorate base. All we know is the location of the entrance and the access codes to get inside. This means that Menace 1-5 will be going in blind, at least until we can find a terminal to hack for a floor plan. The status of civilians within is unknown. They might be treated as experiments as was the case in India, but that was 20 years ago. Be ready for anything.

We may not get another shot at this, so operational success is crucial to our goal of waking up the citizens of the ADVENT Coalition to the machinations of their vaunted Elders.

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior”

Only the howl of the wind could be heard over the Ross Ice Shelf as an invisible aircraft circled over it. The snow swirled in the air over the massive slab of ice, a few stray flakes vanishing being the only indication of the Skyranger’s presence. Within the dropship itself, Firebrand checked over her instruments for a second time. “And you’re… sure it’s here?”

“I am positive that these are the coordinates of the facility designated ‘AHF018’,” Seshat’s disembodied voice confirmed over Danielle’s radio.

“Well, I sure as hell don’t detect anything on my sensors.” Shaking her head, the pilot turned on the internal PA. “Alright, boys and girls… apparently we’re here. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll have Seshat send that confirmation code, and we’ll… see what happens, I guess.”

“Understood.” Atka glanced around at the other seven occupants of the transport. “I think we’re ready. Do it.”

“Command accepted.” A transmission was sent from the Avenger - which was holding a position a good distance away from the Skyranger to avoid further retribution - and then the Skyranger’s radio systems were used to send a signal instead of jam radar. An electronic pulse shot out from the aircraft, and moments later, there was a tremendous grinding noise from down below.

The ice split open with surprising speed, and the reason why became quickly apparent. Under the ice - rapidly melting and being drained away from a circular space - was a network of metal plates that opened up to reveal a vertical hanger. The Skyranger dipped downwards, but didn’t land at the bottom of the hangar - instead holding a position just above a catwalk surrounding the hollow column. Danielle pressed a button, and the ramp extended into the air a few feet above. “This is your stop. Can’t risk my bird getting trapped in there and shot up.”

“Roger that, Firebrand.” Atka acknowledged. The XCOM squad exited the Skyranger, clanking down onto the catwalk. Their initial descent was unmolested, though soon a few worker drones popped out from access tunnels. Running quick scans, they determined that these humans were most certainly not facility personnel and did not have authentication codes to make up for that fact. In short order, a swarm of assault drones flew out from various nooks and crannies and launched an attack on Menace 1-5.

These basic security machines did not stand a chance, however. With a barrage of magnetically-accelerated rounds, the squad dropped the robotic defenders like flies. The turrets on lower rungs of the catwalks proved to initially be troublesome, having heavier armor than the Resistance forces were used to. However, as collateral damage dealt by Luke and Tomislav proved, they were on rather unsteady emplacements. Destruction of the catwalks caused the automated defenses to be ripped out of their sockets, and they were damaged by the fall and unable to continue performing their duties.

With the machine guards out of the equation, Menace 1-5 experienced no further trouble on their way to the bottom of the hangar. There was currently no UFO there, though it was large enough to accommodate larger saucer craft - not just scouts and fighters. “Looks like they didn’t expect anyone to find this place,” Tomislav surmised with a shake of his head. “That was pretty easy.”

“Man, you're going to learn that when you're with us - it’s never this easy.” Glancing at Alexis, he noted, “It’s been awhile since we worked together, huh Alexis? Bet I kill more aliens than you.”

“I’m sure you will,” she stated with a smile. “But I bet I’ll keep people healed and protected better than you.”

“Not really fair comparison, is it?” Ayame noted.

Alexis shrugged as she checked her ammo. “Not my fault Luke mostly just blows stuff up.”

“Hey, what can I say? I’m good at my job. Now, I’m sure the Commander is done hearing us talk, and probably want to cut her ears out.”

“I’m just reassuring myself with the fact that most of you can fight as well as you can talk,” Atka responded with a shake of her head. “Hawk, get this door open for us,” the Ambusher instructed, having the rest of the squad seek cover in case a response force was waiting on the other side of the hangar’s exit.

“You got it, boss. Now, let’s see what this beauty has to offer…” The Specialist murmured, his thoughts turning to the hacking it would take to open it. After a few moments, with the occasional groan, Red finally had the right code in hand, but hesitated. “Tell me when to open this, Commander.”

“Hold on.” Atka closed her eyes, coalescing her mental energies to observe what was in the next room. “Hallway’s empty. Unlock the door,” she ordered when she opened her eyes again.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior” - Part 2

The half-circle sides of the door both slid to the side. Putting his LMG on his back, Adam swapped out so that he had his SS-GL in one hand and his shield attached to the other arm. Despite the fact that there were no visible enemies, he was still cautious as he entered first - the others following behind him. This proved to be the correct mindset to have, as the minute he crossed the threshold an alarm went off, and wide tubes on either side of the walkway lit up with a blue-violet light. There was a set of synchronized whizzing sounds, and then four blue-and-white MEC Troopers - having heavier armor than the ADVENT variants and wielding scaled-up pulse rifles instead of magnetic weapons - touched down in the room, and took aim at the squad.

“Shit…” Ayame quickly sheathed her sword and pulled out her primary weapon, darting to the side and reaching cover just as the firing began. “Guess it was stupid to hope the easy would last a little longer.” She pulled out a grenade, and started looking for a way to get closer without losing another limb.

Alexis did her best to shield herself and Luke, but still needed a lot of practice to do so efficiently. “Think you can soften…” She yelped as a chunk of her cover blew away. “...soften them up, Luke?”

“Oh, can I ever.” Luke pulled out his coilgun at fired it at one of the MECs, shredding its armor plating to pieces. “Did I mention I love these new HE rounds by the way.” Luke continued to fire at the MEC slowly destroying it. He then used his firecracker to keep pressure on a second robotic trooper.

While Luke was able to keep two of the mechanical guardians from doing much damage, the third continued to pound Alexis’ shield until it shattered. The fourth took advantage of this to aim at the Aerotrooper. It had a highly-accurate shot lined up, and let a few bullets fly - only for Adam to block them with his shield. Before it could get off further attacks, Atka whipped out her magnetic cable slinger, and shot the magnetized set of bolas around the Facility MEC’s torso. Its arms were bound to its body, and it only managed to create blackened depressions in the ground with erratic, confused gunfire.

However, another four soon arrived. Two laid down blanket suppressing fire, making it hard for most of the XCOM soldiers to get off accurate shots at them. The other pair prepped their micro missiles, planning to capture their pinned targets in a pair of explosive blasts. Dammit, they’re just going to keep coming from those elevators! Atka realized, conveying this knowledge telepathically to the rest of the squad. Red, try to find a way to close up those hatches.

“On it.” Red began to command his Gremlin forward, past the torrential swarm of enemies, when several streams of fire converged on his cover. Looking for a suitable person within shouting range, Red’s eyes settled on the new ‘rookie’ that had joined the ranks. “You with the PDW! Lay some covering fire down before they take my damn head off!” Satisfied with the startled reaction the gunslinger gave, the Specialist resumed control of the drone, and reached the terminal that commanded the elevators the MECs were coming out of.

The recruit in question merely smiled after the initial callout, offering a few bursts of fire with a content smile. “XCOM sure has it’s moments…” The gunslinger murmured, focusing on the MEC closest to her position.

“Stopping more from coming is all good, Commander,” Ayame yelled out. “But we still have six MECs to deal with at once.” She watched them, grateful that the numbers at least made their enemies crowded.

“Most of my psionics are going to be useless against them, but I did bring a new toy that’ll work just fine here,” Atka informed the Phantom, the Inuit woman blending in with her surroundings as she spoke. Using her ESP, the Commander did her best to get a mental picture of where the laser streams from the MECs were, and ran through one of the gaps. Without the risk of her grenade colliding with a hail of energy, she was able to pull out a rust-brown sphere, and toss it into the midst of the MECs. An electric burst shot out around the device, and the all of the robots’ weapons momentarily shut down. Take them down now!

“Sounds like a plan!” Ayame darted out of cover, moving with incredible speed. She fired her grapple and hooked a MEC, pulling herself onto its chest. She fired into it twice with her shard gun, leaving a big enough hole to shove a grenade in. With a smile, she darted back, and the grenade blew out the inside of the mechanized enemy.

Alexis followed suit, stepping as far out of cover as she dared and unloading at another MEC. “How long is that going to last?” she wondered out loud, trying to do as much damage as possible.

The answer proved to be something to the tune of ‘not very long’. With a computerized beep, the weapons of the remaining five MECs came back online. One of the ones preparing its micro-missiles was swiftly taken down by the combination of a beating from Tom’s Augerrifle and a rapid set of shots from Jaimie. The other was able to open fire anyway, and was only prevented from wreaking havoc on the armor of the squad by a telekinetic field from Adam that mitigated the effect of the explosives.

While the MECs focused on the soldiers firing at them, Ayame peaked out from her spot next to the terminal. “Hope you almost got it,” she mumbled to the Gremlin at work, and took off towards the back of one of the MECs, and using a combination of her blademaster skill, shadowstrike, and the engineering prowess that made her arc blade, along with her own strength, slashed a large gap into the back of it. She reached for her sidearm, but was surprised that the MEC reacted by turned and swinging at her.

Alexis watched as the damaged MEC turned to fire at Ayame. “That one is exposed!” she shouted to Luke, and started firing at it, several rounds penetrating it thanks to the damaged Ayame caused and causing it to explode. She grinned, the fallen enemy a good morale boost, that not so much that she didn’t avoid losing her head by not ducking back into cover. “Three more to go.”

“Oh, I’m getting sick and tired of this, we need to move.” Luke loaded his grenade launcher with a Shard grenade and launched it at the three MEC severely damaging them.”Next!” Luke fired his coil gun at one of the MECs, easily destroying it, and the other two MEC started to fire at Luke. Forcing him into cover, Luke loaded his grenade launcher again with a Endopolarity Grenade but held off firing it. Luke launched a volley of psionic bullets at the MEC as a decoy to fire his fire his endo-grenade at the MECs, taking a second down and leaving the third easily dealt with by the others. “Great now can you get the damn door open now!”

“Done! Elevators are offline!” Red yelled tiredly, as his Gremlin returned to him. “Commander, can we choose a easier place to hack next time? This place is pretty solid in terms of security…”

“Don’t slack off on me,” Atka responded, a quiet chuckle indicating that she wasn’t being terse. “Stay frosty, people. If they weren’t sure what to make of our intrusion before, the whole base has to know we’re here now.”

“This is the base going easy on us?” Ayame shook her head, and walked over to join the rest of them. “Guess that means it only gets more tense from here. Enjoying your first mission yet, Tom?”

“Well, it certainly hasn’t been dull,” the Harrier replied, reloading his weapon. “Although I am disappointed by the profusion of mechanical enemies. Haven’t been given a chance to use my heavy weaponry yet.”

“I’m sure you’ll get your chance. They wouldn’t automate all of this place’s defenses,” Atka surmised.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior” - Part 3

The squad left the smoking wrecks behind and ventured further into the base, down a wider, secondary corridor. It wasn’t by any means a straight shot, instead turning sharply every few dozen feet for unclear reasons. The floor, ceiling, and walls all had a very clean look to them, but the facility did not feel anything like a hospital. Rather than white walls, they were instead met with black tiles made out of materials from beyond Earth. Despite the twists and turns, the pathways felt orderly and purposeful. The XCOM soldiers never felt that they were lost, the direction further into the base being clearly marked with rows of blue lights on the ground.

They were warm in their insulation suits, but the holographic heads-up display in the helmets of the Resistance soldiers indicate that the interior temperatures - at least in this winding corridor - were no warmer than the subzero temperatures outside. The aliens clearly weren’t concerned with heating the entire base, which thankfully precluded certain enemy types - like the cold-blooded Vipers - from being present. Atka was proven right, however, that there was more to the security forces than just machines.

After about a minute of foraging deeper into the base, the squad ran into a group of Mecroaches that served as both mechanics and grunt guards. They initially tried to put up a fight, but as many of their number were quickly mowed down in the initial gunfire from the XCOM forces, the cowardly alien cockroaches tried to run - but were finished off before they could round the bend. Another such encounter quickly followed the first one as the defensive forces in the facility began to mobilize, and the second time two of the cyborg soldiers did manage to skitter away.

When they came back around, the pair of Mecroaches were accompanied by a duo of Chargers, a Sectoid in TIU garb, and a ferocious Prowler. The Sectoid chose to hide in an adjacent room, but not before mentally linking itself with the hairless alien cat and providing it with empathic synergy. The Mecroaches stayed back as well, merely laying down covering fire to allow the Prowler and its two flanking Chargers to surge forward and go on the attack.

At last, I can change the color scheme here! the Prowler gleefully and viciously declared. How does blood red sound? he taunted, easily dodging their shots with his sensory prediction abilities.

“I don’t know. Is your blood red?” Ayame fired several shots with her quicker mag pistol, and missed several times. “Annoying bastard. Stay still!” She had to quickly switch to her blade, defending against the strikes of a Charger. “I’m busy!” she shouted at it, narrowly dodging one of its bladed strike and slashing its chest armor, causing it to back off a few feet.

The Prowler merely gave a feline grin as it attempted to rush Ayame was she was distracted. Atka put up an icy barrier to try and block its approach, only for the Prowler to tap that wall with its paws and caused it to shatter with cryokinesis of its own. I don’t think so, human. You won’t keep me from my prey. With a snarl, it leaped at Ayame and tackled her to the ground, trying to follow up with a bite at her throat.

With a growl of frustration at her fruitless attempt to keep it away from Ayame, Atka instead switched to a less physical tactic. She sent a watery mindfray helix into the Prowler’s head, causing it to lift its head backwards in irritation that quickly turned to pain as Atka put the pressure on, and overrided its mental defenses just barely. The Prowler wasn’t stopped by the attack, but pained squeals from the side indicated the Sectoid’s assistance had been disrupted.

The distraction was enough for Tomislav to close the distance with the alien cat without it noticing. He fired off a shot with his magnetic pistol to poke a hole in its armor, and then followed up by pressing the barrel of an extension of his wrist armor into the gap. “You a fan of barbeque, cat?”

Wh- the Prowler started to question, before howling in agony as a stream of burning flames filled up its armor and lit the creature’s flesh on fire. It leapt off of Ayame, rolling backwards and desperately surrounding itself in a cryokinetic mist to try and put itself out - leaving it vulnerable to further attacks as its focus was completely diverted from precognitive predictions.

“Aw, poor kitty, if you think that is bad you should try mine.” Luke threw a fireball at the already-burning Prowler. This caused flames to dance on the beast’s armor, but did little damage to the alien inside.

Luke almost wanted to laugh at the Prowler but he started to trail off as he started to hear a voice. Kill your comrades, use your powers on them. Luke eyes started to glow purple. “Yes sir.” Luke pointed his grenade launcher at Alexis. But sir there is a problem.” Luke pointed his grenade launcher were he thought the sectoid was hiding, but instead of firing it he use his pyrokinesis instead. His eyes started to glow red out of anger. “You really think i'm that weak willed?! Get out here!”

Rather than give the Prowler a chance to recover, Atka finished it off with a magnetically-launched round from her EM caster. The single shot was enough to penetrate its heart, and cause it to paint the floor with its own blood. “Hate those things,” Atka muttered to herself, unsure of the source of her perhaps-excessive distaste for that particular type of alien.

The Chargers were still a problem, however. The first one tried to go after Ayame again with its lightning-fast tail, forcing Tomislav to take the hit for her. Luckily for him, his heavy armor rendered the melee attack largely ineffectual. The other one had been harassing Adam, shooting up his shield with its plasma shotgun while keeping him pinned with its tail.

Mark open fired, slightly annoyed at the aliens before him, but missed, the shot slightly off it’s mark. Jaime grinned grimly, before switching to her blitz guns, hitting the charger that was harassing Adam, and drawing it’s ire in one fell swoop. “I’m going to guess we can’t talk about this?” The gunslinger murmured, as she took a couple steps backwards. The Charger took a few steps forward, and then collapsed in a bloody heap, earning a sigh of relief from the Gunslinger.

Alexis fired into its side of the other charger before it could cause any more damage to Tomislav. It staggered and turned towards her, only for Ayame to jump on its back like a horse and hit it in the back at point blank, toppling it. Aiming her weapon down the hall and firing at the remaining aliens, she knelt by Tom’s side. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, it hardly scratched my armor,” the Harrier spoke confidently. Pretty high-strung, aren’t we?

“Right… right, I knew that, of course.” Ayame blushed. “Just making sure.”

The remaining three enemies took the opportunity to flee from the scene, leaving the squad the time to reload and resume their movement. However, as they rounded the corner, the glow of a computer screen caught Tomislav’s eye. “Commander, there’s a terminal in the room that Sectoid ducked into earlier,” he noted to his CO. “Want to give that a look, Mark? We could get access to a floor plan or something.”

“O-ok…” Mark practically groaned. Hooking up to the terminal, The specialist groaned once more. “Boss, we got a problem. This one’s a bit tougher to crack. And by bit, I mean, I have a slim chance of cracking it. Your choice though, Commander.”

“Try it anyway. Worst case scenario they get a fix on our position. They already know we’re here, so that doesn’t matter all that much,” Atka decided.

“Alright.” Red responded, immediately diving into said terminal. “Ooh… State of the art… bots trolling for insertion points and viruses… and some nasty Software to kill the insertion device... Shen would love this… Okay… I might have it? I’ll insert the code on your orders boss.” So if it fails, you won’t be mad at me...

“Do it.”

“Let the shitshow begin.” The specialist murmured as he plugged in the code he had found. When the nothing happened, Red double-checked to see if any alarms had gone off. Then triple-checked. Afterwards, he let out a sigh of relief, as he walked back over to Atka. “Alright… so, Boss, we have a security checkpoint coming up. Nasty stuff that would cripple our squad, and make the group of enemies we fought earlier child’s play. However, the aliens have tubes to carry abductee pods, as it were. We can use it to bypass the checkpoint and move forward. But… if we don’t deal with those guys now, they could show up later, when we really don’t need them there. Your choice, Boss.”

“Not if we block the way,” Tomislav responded, having taken a look at the map. “The tubes will lead us down into a lower level… we could just use some of our ordinance to collapse the elevator shaft and trap them on the upper floor. Even if they send troops down the tubes after us, they won’t be able to fit anything large like Mutons.”

“Use their own base against them.” Ayame nodded in satisfaction. “I like it. And at the very least, they shouldn’t see it coming.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior” - Part 4

With Atka’s approval, the plan was put into action. Menace 1-5 advanced a little further until they came to the loading bays. The tubes were currently closed, but a manual override was all that was needed to force them open. There were capsules that had once contained living humans, but all that remained now was burnt corpses and shattered glass. Evidently, the aliens had a protocol to kill nonessential test subjects in the event of an intrusion. There was nothing that could be done for them, and so Atka merely steeled herself and then slid down one of the tunnels, arriving at the bottom with the rest of the squad.

From there, Luke and Tomislav combined their firepower with some support from the other six to bring down the elevator shaft. The explosions tore holes in the hybrid alloy supports, and Atka exploited the gaps with her cryokinesis, causing the Ross Ice Shelf to reclaim part of the base with a cave-in. Turning to face the ebon hallway before them. It stretched for a considerable length, with a conveyor belt on either side feeding containment capsules past several checkpoints reminiscent of airport security stations. On guard duty was a group of two Facility MECs, two Shieldbearers in the same blue and white as their towering mechanical allies, and a Cleric/Seraphim duo.

On their own, this wouldn’t be an incredibly dangerous group. But there were two enemies that the XCOM forces had never seen before. The first of them was a silhouette-like, near-amorphous being. It was composed of digitized dark blue light, which constantly flickered and blended in with dark shadows. The only light that came from it was a pair of eyes and a mouth that seemed like windows in a brightly-lit interior, that shifted into a crooked smile as it looked over the enemy forces while they scattered to cover.

“Do not shift just yet,” the strange creature’s commanding officer ordered. It was - surprisingly - a Viper variant. This one was distinctly male, with blue armor containing a cape like the ADVENT ‘captains’ and a crown with a holographic orb in the center. It had stark white scales, and spines along its frill that added to its regal appearance. “Target their strongest warrior.” Leaning into the being’s ear, the Jormundur added, “I will draw out their power for you to copy.” The flickering construct smiled even wider, and its superior sprung into action, lunging forward at Menace 1-5.

A flurry of machine gun fire from Adam - secure behind his deployed shield that he was using as a bipod - flew at the alien, but with reflexes as fast as lightning it navigated out of the way of the gunfire. “What the hell is a snake doing here?” Tomislav questioned, lifting his flamethrower - intending to barbecue the alien officer. When the flames leapt forward, however, the alien countered with vomited cloud of endothermic gas that quickly quenched the flames and froze the heavy weapon attachment solid. “You have got to be-” he started to say before the alien reached him, knocking the pistol out of the hand that reached for it and wrapping him in a constricting grip. Ice quickly started to spread out from the alien’s form onto its captive.

“An ice snake. Wonderful.” Red murmured as he sent his drone to administer a minor shock to the new alien, simultaneously firing at the same time.

“Ewww… snakes are really gross.” Jaime groaned, as her eyes turned yellow, “But I don’t like people hurting my friends.” With that statement, she formed a ball of electricity in her hands before sending it down towards the new combatant.

Rushing to the Jormundur’s aid - as it uncoiled itself from Tomislav and shoved him to the side - was the undefined enemy. Its eyes flashed as it registered the electric attack, and then it took an identical posture to Jaime. The electric attack swirled into the digital foe’s hands, and it sent the attack at Tomislav instead, shocking him into a stunned state. “I don’t like people hurting my friends,” it echoed robotically.

“Well, that’s unnerving…” Ayame broke off her assault on one of the shieldbearers and rushed to Tomislav, pulling him out of range of an easy shot. “Hey, asshole!” Ayame pointed her sword at the mimicking alien. “Wanna try that with me?”

With a wry grin, it looked over Ayame, and its eyes flashed again. “Analyzing.” Part of its body split off as it shrunk down a bit to her size, and formed into a sword. It didn’t just copy her body shape, though, going so far as to fully copy her appearance. “Hey, asshole.”

“Oh, hell no!” Ayame rushed the alien, slashing with her weapon, and was shocked when it was able to easily parry. “What the hell are you?”

The Jormundur grinned at her distress from the side, and lifted its plasma rifle - a weapon thinner than the standard-issue variant, with an advanced attachment not unlike the XCOM Sharpshooter’s muzzle brake on the end. It aimed to finish off Tomislav with a precise shot, but before it could properly respond a grappling hook clinked onto the Harrier’s boot and forcibly yanked him into cover behind a defensive emplacement. “Two can play at that game,” the serpent muttered, flicking a tongue coated in some sort of strange device. It spat out the appendage at the cover Atka was hiding behind - and with a ghostly aura surrounding it the muscle phased through the metal, latching onto Atka and causing her to become momentarily incorporate until she was within her foe’s grasp. “But I can play better!” it taunted.

“Damn you!” Atka growled as the coils tightened around her. The Commander’s body was lit up with a blue glow, and with a snarl she pushed back - separating the alien’s coils. They were parted long enough for her to open a palm and slash across the enemy’s chest armor with one of her icy helixes, and that action caused the Jormundur to rear back.

“Truly a difficult opponent,” he muttered. FAC-091! That weapon!

The Facsimile created a burst of electricity to ward off Ayame for a moment - long enough for it to sneak a peek at Atka and create a helix of its own - though the creation was telekinetic rather than supernatural as was the case with Atka’s Icy Helixes. I will advise that I am reaching my mimicry limit. Do your fair share of the combat, sir.

I am doing my best! The Jormundur smirked viciously as Atka started to flee, and reflexively shot at her back with its Tinerifle.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior” - Part 5

The only thing that prevented the shot from going through the Commander was an abruptly erected shield from Adam. “We need to take one of them down!” the former Shieldbearer growled, taking some fire from one of his genetically identical enemies.

“Oh good Lord! Well, the ice snake seems to be a problem. Wait a minute, Ice snake.” Luke looks at the snake, and yelled, “Hey ugly! Fresh meat right here, come and get me, I taste delicious I’ve been told!”

“If you think I will be so easily goaded you have another think coming, human,” the Jormundur snapped, seeming offended by the prospect of that taunt working. The holographic sphere in the center of its crown glowed brighter, and cryogenic generators fired up from the ‘horns’ of the stately helmet. “Freeze for your foolishness,” the serpent declared, sending a blast of frozen hell at Luke.

“Perfect, Adam I need you to flank it on my mark. If you want to know what the mark is, you’ll know when you’ll see it.” Luke eyes started to glow as he used his pyrokinesis to its fullest stopping the Jormundur attack in an explosion of steam. “Now Adam, Alexis give his some cover too!”

As covering fire began to rain down from the Trooper in response, Adam activated one of his gas capsules, coating himself in a concealing, energizing mist filled with stimulants. With a war cry, he rushed forwards, passing through the steam to completely mask his approach before rushing the Jormundur. With one genetically-enhanced fist, he smashed away one of the snake’s arms that rose in protest, and with the other hand he lifted his SS-GL - loaded with the other grenade he had brought. Brock fired it into the open mouth of the Jormundur - who was in the middle of crying out in pain - and lodged the reverb grenade between the serpent’s jaws. What is that? the Jormundur mentally questioned, before clutching its head in agony as the sonic grenade went off, causing enough damage from inside the alien’s body that blood streamed out of its ears.

The likely permanently-deafened alien was a sitting duck. “Kill it,” Brock stated brutally, stepping back into the steam to avoid retaliation fire from the Jormundur’s subordinates as it writhed.

“On it!” Alexis ducked away from the fire of her target shieldbearer and opened up everything she had on the giant serpent. “Die, you slimy snake!” The magnetically-accelerated bullets from Alexis’s assault rifle suffered no friction as they pounded into the alien soldier. The first volley tore open its armor, and the second round of shots blew off its head. The crown - coated in blue-green blood now - clattered to the ground, and the holographic sphere in the center shattered into fragments.

“Oh, hell no,” the mimicking Facsimile spoke in Ayame’s voice upon taking note of the death of its commanding officer. It seemed utterly unfazed, however, swiping at Ayame with a telekinetic helix launched from its elbow like an extra arm. Forcing her back, it charged a great deal of electricity around itself, and then prepared to unleash it not unlike a Codex’s electron bomb.

“Fuck, no you don’t,” Atka muttered, running towards the Facsimile as it lifted the electric sphere for a toss. The icy helix in her hand linked with another one, and formed her astronaut-like Reflection. “Blue World!” she declared its name as it swung a mighty punch at the digital enemy.

With Ayame’s speedy reflexes, it took a step back out of the way. “Oh, how I’d love to mimic that form,” it remarked, shifting back to its original shape while it took a snapshot. This proved to be a mistake, however, as it allowed Blue World to get another punch in - smashing the Facsimile onto the ground - momentarily stunned.

Towards the back of the room, Ayame shoved her sword into the back of one of the Shieldbearers and held him in place to use his shield for herself. “Mark, finish that stupid thing off before it can get up!”

“With pleasure!” Red growled, a malevolent grin on his face as he emptied his entire clip into the shapeshifter. Ducking back into cover, Red noticed how exposed Ayame was to the Shieldbearer’s allies, “Someone get those assholes off Ayame!” The specialist called, slightly more panicked than normal.

Jaime responded quickly, aiming at one of the MECs’ exposed weak spots. She fired once, causing the enemy to turn in her direction. She quickly changed from her PDW to her more favored dual blitz guns, she fired in quick succession, only using one pistol for each enemy so she could duck back into cover. Her bullets hit each of the MECs, but narrowly missed the last Shieldbearer. With a groan due to her missed shot, she turned one of her weapons towards the downed shapeshifter and fired, with the hopes that either Red’s fire, or hers killed the monstrosity off.

It proved to be Jaime’s barrage of bullets that finished the job, as with a mechanical shriek the Facsimile shattered into thousands of blue shards that flew every which way like the shrapnel of a grenade, though didn’t seem that sharp - shattering against whatever surface they hit. The enemies that remained were soon cleaned up by the rest of the squad now that the two most dangerous foes were out of the equation, and the hall fell silent. Nanomedkits were applied to repair flesh and armor, and the squad began to approach the vault-like door at the end of the hall.

Ayame looked back and the scattered remains of the Facsimile. “Damn… bet the lab boys would have liked that thing more intact.” She glanced at Tomislav. “You okay? You took a direct hit from that thing.”

“More like I took a direct hit from Jaime’s electrokinesis,” he remarked glumly, though quickly amended, “not that it’s your fault.” He took a deep breath. “I think I’ll be fine though. Heart’s not pounding like it's about to explode from overstimulation anymore.”

“Good.” Ayame stopped in front of the large door, grasping the hilt of her blade tightly. “Something tells me we aren’t going to find treasure hidden in here. At least not the kind we want.”

Atka sighed. “We’re not going to like what we find. And neither will the rest of the world, once they see what the aliens have been doing. But they have to know. Let’s get this door open.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601, and ZombieSplitter53: “Operation Sinister Savior” - Part 6

One more hack alongside some interference with the hydraulics, and the door was forced open. The sight that greeted the squad was accurate to the Resistance’s suspicions, but still shocking beyond compare. It was a grotesque refinery. On the right and left walls there was stacks of human storage capsules that the conveyor belts fed into. These ‘towers’ could have their individual pieces lifted from their positions by mechanical arms on the ceiling and deposited into a central vat in the center of the room. When the door opened, one such transit was occurring. The pod sunk into what could not have been simple water, and there was a horrible hissing sound. When it concluded and the capsule was lifted back out, it was empty.

“What the hell are they doing this for?” Atka breathed in horror and cold fury. “What could possibly justify this?”

“This is…” Alexis held her stomach, feeling sick. “H-how can they just… use people like test animals. No… worse then test animals…”

“Maybe one of these computers can tell us,” Ayame offered. “For now, though, we need to worry about shutting it down and securing this base. We surely still have enemies ahead.” She kept a cool facade, but was clearly at least a bit uncomfortable.

“You shall do no such thing,” a deep, rumbling voice declared - hints of an electronic static underlying the words indicating some sort of translation was taking place. From behind a tower of blinking machinery, a Muton stepped out - decorated by an intricately complex crimson suit of heavy power armor. In its hands it held a massive plasma weapon comparable to a minigun. Through a black visor framed by intense yellow lights, he scrutinized the eight soldiers that stood before him. “To think that the enemies of the Path would arrive here, attempting to obstruct it further. Your heresy knows no bounds.” Rather than reply, Atka lifted her EM caster and fired off her shot at the hulking alien. He quickly lifted his left hand, and a localized force field flared up. The shot punctured it, but broke against the enduring armor of the alien.

“Savages,” the Muton Elite muttered. Two more Mutons stepped out to assist their leader. “I will show you no mercy, then.” The four opened fire with a torrent of plasma.

Plasma tore through Ayame’s shoulderplate before she could duck into cover. She gave it a panicked look to make sure it wasn’t melting into her, then practically growled at the Mutons. “Bet that red one would have a lot of secrets if we can take him alive,” she muttered into her comms, and fired at one of the other Mutons. It did little damage at this distance, and she started looking for a way to get closer.

“Yeah, get the talking Muton, but first we need to handle the other Mutons.” Luke fired his exopolarity grenade at the two mutons, getting there attention and destroying a bit of their armor. “Hey, uglies! Why don’t you capture one of the strongest soldiers in XCOM? When it comes to psi powers, I’m the second strongest, right behind the commander. I’m sure your masters would love me.”

The alien shocktroopers glanced at one another, and then opened fire on the impertinent human, pinning him down with a double suppression. Alexis moved to help him, but had to duck back into cover from the Elite’s attack. “

“Damn it, Luke,” Alexis mumbled.

“Trust him to take care of himself,” Ayame told her from wherever she was hiding, moving closer to the Elite. “We take this guy out, then we will be free to help him.”

“Fine,” Alexis said, muttering, “But I don’t have to like it.” She pulled out a smoke grenade, tossing it around the Commander, Adam, and Jamie.

Luke, staying in cover, noticed that his plan worked. “Alright, now that they're working on the Elite, how am I going to do this?” Luke looked at his his weapons and at his hand. “Alright Luke, you got yourself to this point, it's just two enemies. Luke’s decided to go all out with his powers. He hit them with a barrage of small psi lances, then switched to his coil gun and fired at the mutons. The Mutons decided to split in two and grab cover. One started to suppress Luke again while the other tried to move forward.

Luke loaded his HE grenade and fired it at the muton that was suppressing him destroying its cover. The Grenadier then shot the other the other while moving to flank them. The Muton Luke was shooting at decided to charge him, using his bayonet on Luke, dropping him to the ground. With a blood call the alien shocktrooper tried to cut into Luke armor. The other came forward to aid its comrade. Luke eyes glew even brighter and Luke used his fire cracker to get the Muton off him. His eyes filled with rage as he used his psi lance to making a psi cannonball and launched it in the Muton that used his bayonet on him.

The psionic attack went right through the Muton’s chest. The other tried to go for cover but Luke used firecracker hitting him with a barrage of explosions obliterating it’s armor. Luke pulled out his coi gun and mowed down the Muton taking it out. Luke fell to a knee using his gun as crutch. Don’t you dare pass out, the mission is not over yet. So get your ass up boy and move forward. Luke got up and headed back to the team.

***​

The Commander glanced at Tomislav as the two hid behind a column of abductees in suspended animation. The Muton Elite chose to fire on others, apparently not keen on killing vital test subjects. Atka noted this, and resolved to see if it could be used against the heavily-armored Balmadaar. “Tomislav, I’m going to be using Blue World to focus on defense and distraction. I need you to take charge. Show me what you can do.”

Tomislav took a deep breath. “Got it, boss.”

Atka nodded, and without wasting a further move she jumped out of cover and ran towards the Muton Elite. Blue World was in a position to act as a shield, but against the extraordinarily powerful weapon the Muton wielded she wasn’t keen on using it as such. Instead, she kept it following her - while the Ambusher herself was concealed thanks to her chameleon suit. Even luckier, it didn’t seem like the alien officer could see the Reflection - his mind too filled with Path dogma to accept the supernatural. Rather than question her luck, she merely closed the distance.

But not before the Elite managed to target some of the other squad members. Taking a look at Adam, Mark, and Jaime, the brute grunted his displeasure and then momentarily put down his plumegun, instead lifting his arm and using a heavy weapon similar to what Tomislav used. A burst of metal burning with plasma overlaid on it shot out, and ripped the armor plating of all those caught in its blast to shreds - ruining Adam’s shield and still managing to damage his armor through its protection.

“Dammit, we need better cover!” Tomislav cried out. Then, the same thing that occurred to Atka crossed his mind. “Hide behind the vats! They won’t risk shooting the test subjects!” His plan seemed to work, as the shredded XCOM soldiers found that when they ducked behind the containment capsules, the Muton did not dare to attack them.

“Cowards! Come out and fight!” the Elite growled in fury.