RP XCOM: The Story of Defiance.

[BMPixy]

BMPixy and DarkGemini24601: “Five of Cups”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
Main Engineering

“You uh...sure that’s a great idea?” One of the engineers said, looking at Isitoq’s ‘rifle’ arm with a hesitant expression.

“Allowing him a lower power setting would make it no different than a welder. I fail to see how that would be an issue, especially if it is only in here,” Yaralria responded with her arms crossed.

“Okay then...just don’t want anyone getting shot by accident,” the man said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I am not prone to reflexive firing,” Isitoq II affirmed flatly.

With the systems adjusted, the Interface had the mechanized human get to work on constructing some weapons equipment with hand and scalpel, while she looked over the SHIVs. Her pupils split open, one of the rare times she would use the cybernetic eye underneath, and Yaralria analyzed the two Super Heavy Infantry Vehicles. She nodded in approval, glad to see that there were no unintended gaps in the armor, and that they seemed in working condition.

“...and here on the left we have the SHIV Bay,”the guard said, gesturing to the same effect, drawing Fay’s eyes across the bay.

The American paused as she saw the two cybernetically enhanced humans, and asked, “Those two. Identities?”

The guard scratched his neck, thinking for a moment before replying, “Can’t quite remember, the one on the left is Isi-something, and the other is Yarelma? Yaralnia? I dunno. They’re some abductees we recovered from the aliens.”

Fay nodded in contemplation, and responded, “Permission to speak to them?” With a shrug the guard nodded, and waved the Sniper off to go do so. With a look of appreciation, Fay turned from the guard and approached the SHIV Bay.

The Interface noticed the sniper’s approach, and quickly returned her eyes to normal. “Is there something I can help you with?” Yaralria inquired cooly.

“Apologies for interruption, curiosity was piqued by enhancements,” Fay replied, rubbing her chin as she examined the modifications to Yaralria’s body.

Other than the ‘computer blocks’ on the sides of Yaralria’s head, not much else was readily visible. “I was not performing any crucial task. What do you wish to know?”

“Extent and capabilities of modifications to your form?” Fay replied, leaning back slightly and taking in the entire sight of the woman in front of her.

“Minor modifications to the main body, primarily to serve as connection or manipulation ports,” the Interface intoned, as if the information was memorized. She lifted a hand, small connection pieces of metal becoming briefly visible before sliding beneath what was possibly synthetic skin serving as a removeable cover. “The primary modifications, however, are to my brain. Successful mesh with miniaturized-” Yaralria said something that was clearly not any terrestrial language, and winced. “...alien computer systems to allow for processing power exceeding that of a typical extraterrestrial computer core.”

“Interesting,” Fay muttered, before continuing at a more audible tone, “Wetware computer, remarkable feat from the aliens. Much to learn from them. Your name?”

“Yaralria,” the Interface responded. “Though these modifications were not voluntary. I would rather be in Nunavut having never dealt with technology of this scale, but the past is the past. That stated, I would prefer if no more had to go through what I did.”

Fay’s brow furrowed at that declaration. “Without modification, you would lack skills you now possess. While circumstances understandable, why is there regret? You now have power.”

Yaralria’s right pupil shined a silver light, and she quickly raised her hand over it. “I had a simple life I enjoyed. To achieve what they did, the extraterrestrials saw fit to remove the majority of my skull, and perform immensely painful operations upon my brain. Without anesthetic. The power I wield comes at a heavy price, and similar technological power is likely what made the aliens into what they are. With overwhelming power, they believe themselves superior to us. Their leaders...they think they are God.”

“Superiority not without reasoning,” Fay replied, “Greater technology base, mastery of psionic powers, interstellar capabilities. Lack of morals hinders, perhaps, but we have had similar problems in past.” Fay scratched her cheek in thought, before continuing, “Perhaps augmentations could have gone differently. But power could have been worth price, if applied correctly.”

“If not for the alien presence, such power would be unnecessary,” the Interface concluded neutrally. “They force us to fight on their terms. I have no qualms about using this power to end what they are doing, but nothing more is required. If it were possible at the war’s end, however unlikely, I would remove these augmentations.” Yaralria removed her hand, the eye back to normal, and shook her head. “I am not naive, however. The enhancements are permanent by even alien standards. They intended for me to serve for a long time as their ‘Interface’, and acted accordingly. Also extended my lifespan, if my calculations are correct.”

Fay paused for a moment, caught in thought, before tenuously replying, “In such case, find purpose for after war. Numerous ways one could use modifications in post-war world. With a war’s end, life takes new bend.” The American bit her lip, before continuing, “You are tool, find something that can be fixed with your power.”

“Perhaps I could find a purpose, though one wonders what such a world would be like with all this technology.” The Interface gestured around at the room, before returning her gaze to Fay. Her eyes both took on the inner silver glow, and this time Yaralria made no move to cover it up. “However, you are incorrect on the last count. As changed as I am, I am still a human being. No human is a tool, that is the way that aliens think. The minute we think along the exact same lines as them, we have already lost.”

Fay raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Are we not all tools? Each human has purpose, such as each tool has job. Offense not intended, but to perform what one is best capable of is great expression. Fail to understand how this leads to defeat.”

Yaralria closed her eyes, allowing the glow to fade. “Function, purpose, or role would all be more accurate terms. We do have our distinct roles and skills, even more so in socially stratified societies that the world contains for the most part. However, being a tool would imply being discardable when necessary or when one is no longer useful. While war necessitates sacrifice, we would defeat ourselves if we were to disregard human life. In doing so, we would only seek to achieve the technology the enemy had. At that juncture, it would be more logical to join them than fight them.”

“Workers fired when they fail to work,” Fay countered, “Soldiers dismissed when unable to serve. These are normal. Lives are one resource we have in abundance. Why waste, if one saves many? Costs must be paid with currency, survival with blood.” Fay sighed, scratching her forehead. “Goal of war not to replicate technology, goal is to defeat enemy and ensure humanity continues. Why join threat to both goals?”

“Some would consider the goal of survival beneath that of the goal of acquiring power,” Yaralria explained. “I do not argue that we should not fight, but whenever loss of life is preventable, it should be. The difference between humans and tools cannot be easily explained, many have tried, but the truth remains that there is more value in a life than that of a rifle or piece of armor. There is a reason XCOM troops choose to use explosives on the enemy, even if it means the destruction of artifacts.”

 

[BMPixy]

“Experienced soldiers more valuable than fragment of weapon,” Fay reasoned, “Fragment is used for weapon, but weapon useless with soldier to wield it. Experienced soldier learns how to defeat enemy without explosives, thus securing future artifacts.” With a shrug, Fay concluded, “Simple fact.”

“One that I do not disagree with,” the Interface added. “You are not entirely wrong, and I can respect that. I just remain firm in morality, because, as you said, a lack of it can be harmful. Likely as harmful as an overabundance of the same.”

“Opinion noted, but war must be won, at any cost. Peak performance must be ensured somehow, even if some might be appalled in measures taken,” Fay said with a slight shrug. “Else failure to perform will result in failure to live.”

Yaralria narrowed her eyes. “The Council of Nations would be inclined to agree with you on that matter in regards to genetic modification and cybernetic enhancement. However,” the Interface cautioned, “you will find that is an unsavory sentiment among the majority of the staff, even those that underwent such processes. Even the Commander would not take kindly to a coercive policy. If you truly believe that, you will find yourself making enemies with those you will work alongside, and that might adversely affect your performance.”

Fay nodded, taking the comments in stride. “Will ensure that personal opinion remains such, though lack of support for transhumanism… odd. Would have assumed others would wish to perform at apex of skill in a war of this nature.”

“The numbers of genetic modification subjects have rised, as the process is viewed with more approval. After all, they do not lose as much as the MEC troopers,” Yaralria surmised, muttering, “and some of us like keeping our humanity intact.”

“Sensible reasoning,” Fay replied, “Though there is lack of evidence for humanity loss. Likely an instinctual reaction to changing one’s form on such a level. But in some cases, instinct must be ignored, lest fire not be tamed. Prometheus was not asked, but acted for our benefit.”

Yaralria turned around. “I will not attempt to move the immovable. Your opinion is noted, but is a dangerous sentiment. Who is to say the invaders were not in a similar situation, and gave up on free will for the sake of total victory? I find it odd that an American would speak in a manner befitting a totalitarian or communist mindset.”

“Nationality irrelevant to argument, as is your speculation,” Fay replied, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning to the side slightly. “If we take their path, world would turn on us. XCOM is small and contained, transgressions can slide in name of war and be punished afterwards.”

The Interface turned back to face the sniper, and looked over Fay for a moment. “You...are no different than them,” she began in a quiet, contained voice. “If it were to serve goals of ‘survival’ or ‘perfection’, you would have done the exact same to me. You merely happen to be on our side.” Monster.

Fay’s brow furrowed once more, as she responded, “No, would not have done the same. Would have used one with background in technology, as well as anesthetic.” The American paused, thinking over her next words. “Perhaps undue offense has been made. Apologies, will remove self before further duress can be caused.”

“Anesthetic was a ‘waste of resources’, and they could not easily acquire a more desirable subject. Especially if that one could more easily rebel,” Yaralria finished. “The offense I take is partially on my behalf, but also because I do not wish for others to suffer. What I went through...what all of us went through, is inexcusable. If defeat means taking the path that most of us can rest easy taking, then perhaps it is for the best.”

“Then we shall rest easy in a grave,” Fay said somberly. “Regardless, I should go. Again, apologies for any offense to you and your fellows.” With a quiet nod, the sniper turned and left, returning to the guard she had accompanied in.

The Interface was quiet as Fay left, Isitoq joining her. “The sniper is not entirely incorrect,” Isitoq remarked.

“I know,” Yaralria whispered. “And that scares me more than anything.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “Three Pearls and a Crystal”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1400 Hours, July 6th, 2018
Civilian Quarters, Room 12A

Buniq laid down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. I don’t...understand how Isitoq can go out...there...with so many people. The others were in the main lobby, but she could not bring herself to join them. For now, she was alone again, not that she minded all that much.

A light knock came on the door, but no one said anything. The sounds of young voices could be heard talking on the other side of it.

The chryssalid hybrid sat up quickly. “U-uh...h-hello?”

More talking could be heard, then the voice of a young girl with a slight Japanese accent spoke up. “Hello? Is, um…” The was a pause, and the girl could barely heard whispering, “Did we ever find out her name?” After another moment, she spoke up again. “Is the crystal girl here?”

“C-crystal?” Buniq looked down at her hand and the small violet plates on it. “I-I’m here...m-my name is B-Buniq though.”

“Oh, hi, Buniq. My name is Rei. Um… can I, uh, we come in? We wanted to say hello.”

Buniq slowly got up, and creaked open the door. She recognized the three on the other end, and seemed to shrink down slightly.

The three girls smiled brightly. Noting the cautious look on Buniq’s face, the girl who had spoken before, the tallest of the three, with short black hair and glasses, stepped forward. “Um, I see you remember us. We came to apologize to you again. We had a bad experience with… with one of the aliens, but it was no excuse for our actions. So we’re sorry.” She bowed her head. One of the other girls did the same, and reached up to force the third to follow suit.

“I-It’s okay...I-I think w-we were e-equally s-scared…” Buniq responded quietly, a bit overwhelmed at their kindness.

“W-we weren’t scared,” said the other girl that had bowed right away, her accent a lot more obvious than Rei’s. “We were just startled. We don’t think you’re scary at all. We actually think you’re kinda… pretty.”

Buniq looked at her in disbelief. “M-me? I-I suppose A-Ammelia thinks t-the s-same, b-but she’s n-not the b-best judge…”

“Well, we’re probably not the best judges either,” the third girl said, her accent as obvious as the second girl. Rei nudged her, and she added, “What? I meant because we’re so young. I think she’s just as cute as you two.”

The clone nodded slowly, though seemed unsure of what to say. “S-so….w-what now?”

The girls look at each other, and the first of them to speak said, “Well, since you’re so shy, we won’t ask you to come out with us. But perhaps… we could come in?” All three gave Buniq a wanting smile.

Buniq’s eyes darted between them for a few seconds, and she took a deep, wavering breath. “O-okay…” She stepped back, letting the door open further, though she retreated to the parts of the room that were darker, disliking the bright lights of the hallway.

The three girls excitedly walked in, and Rei closed the door behind them. Turning to Buniq, she said, “Well, as I mention previously, my name is Rei. Rei Takahashi. This is Keiko Yoshida.” She waved her hand towards the girl who had readily bowed before. “And this is Hitomi Tanaka.” She motioned for the more casual of the group, taking a seat on one of the beds. “You can feel free to use our given names, if you’d like.”

Buniq seemed confused. “W-why w-wouldn’t I?”

“Oh, sorry.” Keiko stepped forward. “In our country, the ideas behind our family names and given names are a bit more… formal. So we often refer to other by their family names. We refer to each other by our given names when we are close, like with family and friends.”

Hitomi smirked. “What she’s saying is, we want to be your friend, so there is no need to be formal or anything.”

“T-thank you…” Buniq responded gently. “I-I guess I couldn’t under...understand that c-custom. I-I only have one n-name, and i-it’s that way for the I-Inuit too.”

“Really?” Hitomi scratched her head in confusion. “Well, what happens if someone wants to talk about an entire family, or you have another girl in your class that has the same name?”

Buniq titled her head slightly. “W-we would use the n-name of the h-head of the f-family, like ‘I-Ipiktok’s family’, I g-guess. We d-don’t have classes, t-though…”

“Really?” Hitomi seemed to perk up at that last part. “Cool.”

“And they have smaller communities, so there isn’t as much of a chance of two people sharing the same name.” Rei gave Buniq a curious look. “Um… is that right?”

Buniq nodded. “Y-you’re right...i-it would be u-unusual to h-have a shared n-name.”

Rei smiled, obviously proud of herself, and Hitomi simply rolled her eyes.

“Um… Buniq.” Keiko took a cautious step forward. “Why are you here all by yourself? Surely, you must get lonely here? We saw your brother in the main lobby with some others. Why aren’t you with them?”

Buniq looked down, and muttered, “T-too m-many people...I-I get n-nervous…”

Keiko nodded in understanding. “Well… did you ever think to invite them here? I’m sure, if they’re your friends, they be happy to spend time with you where you feel more comfortable.”

The clone glanced around her room. “M-maybe...it’s n-not big, though…” She absently pulled her sleeves a bit further down.

Keiko took a step back, afraid she was intimidating Buniq. Hitomi jumped off the bed, walking up to Buniq and saying, “Well, as you can see, we aren’t the biggest girls around, so it isn’t too big for us. Maybe we can hang out with you, if you want.”

“I-I wouldn’t m-mind…” Buniq concluded. “I-it does g-get a little b-boring here without c-company…”

“Great!” Hitomi knelt down in front of her new friend, trying to get a good look at her face. “How old are you, by the way?”

“Hitomi.” Rei practically hissed. “Don’t be so rude. You’ll insult our new friend.”

“I-I hear p-people are bothered b-by that q-question, but I d-don’t really mind…” Buniq thought for a moment. “I-I am a c-clone...so t-technically I’m only a f-few months o-old...but bi-biologically I’m seventeen.”

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. “A… a clone?” She looked back towards Rei for an explanation.

“I… think she means a kurōn.” Rei scratched her head, unsure if she was translating correctly.

“Does that mean you were… um….” Keiko tried to search for something to say that wouldn’t offend Buniq. “You were… created as a duplicate?”

The hybrid nodded slowly. “T-though...the o-original B-Buniq w-was k-killed.”

“Whoa.” Hitomi bit her lip, suddenly feeling guilty for how she had been acting. “That stinks. But, uh… but you’re cool. I mean, I’m sure the other one was cool too, but, so are… are you…” She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Buniq closed her eyes for a moment. “D-don’t feel b-bad… y-you couldn’t have k-known. I-In a way...h-her memories l-live on in me.”

Hitomi nodded, happy she didn’t seem to hurt Buniq’s feelings. “Well, um, Buniq, can… can I…” She looked back towards Rei, as if asking permission. Rei rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Can I… touch… one of them?”

Buniq blinked. “I...I...I guess...t-the little g-girl wanted t-to for s-some reason…”

The young Japanese excitedly but cautiously reached forward and placed her hand on Buniq’s plating. After a moment, she noticed Keiko at her side doing the same. “It’s… like built in armor. Cool.”

“And it’s so pretty.” Keiko added. “The way it gleams in the light. If only you had butterfly wings or something. Then you’d look like an insect angel.”

Buniq tilted her head again. “T-that w-would be...odd. T-though I c-can have the p-plates cover my s-skin...but it would be p-painful to push them out.”

“Oh can we… ouch!”

Rei pinched Hitomi’s ear, all while smiling at Buniq. “Thank you for indulging my two curious companions, but we don’t want you hurting yourself on our account.”

Buniq shook her head. “I...I d-don’t really even k-know how to d-do it. I j-just know that I can, s-somehow.”

“Well, hopefully, you’ll never have to.” Keiko gave her an encouraging smile. “Though, even without it, I’m sure you’d stand a better chance in a fight then any of us.”

“Pft. Speak for yourself, Keiko.” Hitomi lifted her arms, showing off her practically non-existent muscles.

Rei rolled her eyes. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a pack of cards. “How about a card game, Buniq. We’ve been dying to find a fourth person. Would you like to fill that role?”

“S-sure...b-but you’d have to t-teach me how to p-play.”

All the girls nodded in unison, and they all sat in a square, leaving one side open for Buniq to join them as Rei started dealing out cards. Buniq sat down in the open space, smilingly slightly as she listened to their explanation of the game intently.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and Frostlich1228: “Power to the People”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1400 Hours, July 6th, 2018
Civilian Quarters, Main Lobby

Nouja on one of the couches in the main lobby of the civilian quarters, listening to the others talk idly. Isitoq seemed to be discussing something technical with Yaralria that was way over her head, while Kataktaq was asking how Qamut’s soldier training was going. I wish Buniq could be here too...but I understand that she wouldn’t want to be with a large crowd.

A bright blonde-haired girl walked through the door and into the lobby. She was wearing the standard green soldier’s uniform and asked one of the guards about Buniq.

“The hybrid? Haven’t seen her around, though I think they would know better than anyone,” one of them said, gesturing over to the group of Inuit civilians.

The young girl nodded, “Thank you.” She made her way over to Nouja, giving her a small wave. “Excuse me, do you know where Buniq is?” She asked.

Nouja looked over at Ammelia. “Ammelia, right? Atka told me about you. Buniq is probably in her room right now, didn’t want to come out in such a public place.”

“You must be Nouja, it’s nice to finally meet you!” Ammy replied happily.

The sixteen-year-old nodded. “I didn’t realize you knew Buniq.”

“Mmhm, I met her while I was in the hospital and we’ve been good friends ever since.” Ammelia added, taking a seat next to Nouja.

Isitoq looked Ammelia over for a moment. “You possess a unique form of eyesight, correct?” the mechanized human asked.

The blonde soldier looked over to him and smiled, “I do, you’re Buniq’s brother right?”

Isitoq gave a slight nod, the holographic red irises and pupils on his eyes adjusting. “My designat-”

“Ahem,” Yaralria cut in.

“My name is Isitoq,” he corrected himself.

Ammelia turned to look at Yaralria, “and you’re… Atka’s mother?”

“I am,” Yaralria said gently. Unlike Isitoq, who had mechanical limbs, a few metal plates on his skin, and the obviously robotic eyes, the only sign of her ‘enhancements’ that was readily visible was two input blocks on the sides of her head, having small lights and sensors, but not being unwieldy at all.

“I’m really sorry for what happened to you all.” She said with an empathetic tone.

“I have known only this, so it is not unfortunate for me,” Isitoq II pointed out. “Though I understand it has been hard for Yaralria.”

“I am...adjusting. If slowly,” Atka’s mother responded.

“And hey, I got the ability to throw fire out of it,” Qamut added, fire starting to form in his palm. Kataktaq gave him a flat look, and he put it out. “Sorry…”

“It came at a price, don’t forget your brother…” Katakaq cautioned.

“I know that...I just would rather not remember,” Qamut responded.

“I just wish there was something I could do to help make it better…” Ammelia sighed.

“The XCOM technicians have done a good job of fixing anything that wasn’t working properly,” Yaralria said. “We’ll be fine, your worries should be elsewhere. Just as mine must be focused on piloting the SHIVs while Dr. Randolf is away.”

“I tend to worry about things that are out of my control…” Ammy replied.

“Well, I’m not sure any of us can change what was done to us. We just have to make the most of it,” the older woman returned.

“Living normal lives won’t be easy, but it’s far from impossible. Just look at me, I’ve lived most of my life without being able to see anything and people still accept me. If you give them time, they’ll come around.” Ammelia said, trying to lighten the mood.

Yaralria just shrugged. “I haven’t been treated badly for it. Its just a matter of adjustment.”

“I’ve lived around technology for most of my life. But it would be hard for anyone to adjust to having a supercomputer in their head…” responded Ammelia.

The Interface nodded in agreement. “Though, I never even touched a computer before then. Now… I know more than most people, I imagine.”

“How is Atka taking all of this?” Ammelia asked with concern.

“As...well as can be expected. I think she is more grateful than anything that we made it out alive. The same can not be said for everyone,” Yaralria said slowly. “It is a situation that we will come to accept over time, we have no other choice. Though...when the chance to speak to him arises, telling Ipiktok, her father, will not be...easy. I can’t imagine he’ll enjoy knowing that they turned his wife into...what I am.”

“Hopefully we will have won by then… But if not, perhaps he could-” She stopped. He’s never used a gun before, that’s not an option…

“Atka expressed the hope that he could perhaps come on-base, but knows that is unlikely as we all do. It is understandable why that would be restricted to the Commander...with the, ahem, exception of the Vam Dams. There is the value in one of them being medical staff, but still…” Yaralria trailed off.

“Everyone wishes they could bring their family here, but my father would need to be dragged out of his lab to get him to leave.” Ammy replied.

Qamut stood up, nodding to Kataktaq. “I’m going to head back over to see the results of training. Might be joining the ranks with you soon, Ms. Cross.”

“Good luck then, you’d make an excellent addition to the team!” She said, giving him a smile.

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601 and BMPixy: “Self Awareness”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1832 Hours, Local Time
Refugee Bay Main Hall

Albert gently rocked back and forth on his heels, scanning the central refugee room. A few couches and tables were scattered about, but the room was mostly deserted, the normal occupants out at the mess for dinner. Even so, the Amero-Anglican kept a steady eye out. Even if it’s just a rumor, he thought to himself, best keep an eye out for any… unexpected guests. The sound of a nearby door opening caught the man’s attention, and he instinctively tensed, hand brushing the stun gun on his belt, just in case.

A young man in a business suit raised an eyebrow at the tense security guard. “Something the matter,” he seemed to analyze Albert for a moment, “Mr. Foulke?”

“Just a bit wary,” Albert replied uneasily, “I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened to that one guard.” Pausing for a moment to relax slightly, he continued, asking, “So, what’s a sharp dressed man like you doing down here?”

The assistant manager of records seemed to consider which to respond to for a moment. “I have heard of what happened, though I personally doubt it was Miss Lockheart who killed that woman. As for my presence here, I was actually interested in meeting you.”

Albert nodded in agreement with the man’s statement, and replied, “Really? Pardon me if I suspect you of something when you say you’re interested me. Haven’t had the best of interactions with suits.” Albert leaned back against the wall slightly, gesturing to the man in front of him. “So, what’s so interesting about some temporary security guard that brought you down here?”

The man waved his hands dismissively. “Nothing that would concern you. Lieutenant Ipiktok spoke of you before, and I wanted to meet you, nothing out of the ordinary. Thomas Burrick, assistant manager of records and sometimes a recruiter,” Tom explained, extending a hand.

Albert took the hand and gave it a firm shake, responding, “Albert Foulke, security guard, and I’m sure you’re aware of everything else I’ve done. Atka likely had some choice words for you regarding me, especially regarding our… differences of opinion, didn’t she?”

Thomas chuckled. “Not exactly. While she had her disagreements with you, she certainly sees you as an effective leader and competent soldier. Which, of course, begged the question of why you were here. The psions are indeed troubling, but I hear that the ‘Neural Dampening’ is well on its way. It would be quicker if we had one of our top scientists, however…”

Albert shrugged noncommittally, “All I can hope is it comes, nothing more. Until then, I keep watch. And, for the record - no pun intended -,”Albert’s expression hardened slightly, “psions are a bit more than troubling. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like having your mind torn open like a book, then they go in and add their own words to the end of the draft, rather than yours.”

Thomas nodded. “I don’t think any of us were prepared for them being able to use mind control. Not one of our psionic soldiers are near that capability.” He shook his head. “And also for the record, telepathy is not remotely the same. It’s connecting to surface thoughts, our psions would be noticeable if they tried to read memories or do anything like what the Sectoid Commander did.”

“Still, the principles are the same. One just needs to dig a bit deeper than the surface,” Albert said, “And to be honest, I hope we never get the capability to do so. To have the sanctity of one’s own mind and body violated on such level… and the debauchery that could be performed while wearing someone else’s form.” Albert shivered. “As much as I realize that we need to level the playing field, I really don’t want more psions running around, especially after the war.”

“Interestingly, it seems that Atka and Desmond had these abilities before the war.” And I suppose that answers the question of what he was hiding initially. “I understand the hesitation behind them developing powers such as mind control, and I share the sentiment. I trust the Lieutenant with her abilities, though. And without Major Brea’s power, Alpha, Beta, and Delta would have shared the same fate as Gamma.”

Albert scratched his temple nervously. “Yeah, but what happens if these powers fall into the hands of someone we can’t trust? Or worse, somebody like Scarlet? The ability to kill without yourself being present, or manipulate the very fabric of one’s perception, or hell even reality. It’s horrifying.”

Tom sighed. “Well, aside from the rare cases -as our ‘special’ psions have to be such, or we would have learned of this earlier- it seems that most have to be awakened artificially. We make sure that power doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, and if it does or those that would use them in the horrible ways you describe appear...our own will deal with them. It’s just escalation like it is with the alien weaponry: the enemy has psionic abilities, and we use our own to combat them. I can’t say I fully trust Mr. Walker, but I doubt very seriously that Atka would misuse her abilities. She’s too earnest for that.”

“Yeah, but matching the aliens in weaponry is very different than matching them in psionic capabilities,” Albert countered, “We need the more advanced weapons to deal with increasing enemy strength. But, as you said before, very soon we will likely have the ability to make all of our troops hardened against mental attacks. With such defenses, why would we need more offense?”

“Good point,” Thomas stated before raising a finger. “However, it gives us a further edge to have psionics, and as it stands we already had operatives with them. To tell them to change who they are and not use their abilities would be no different than telling an artist not to paint or a writer not to write. For psionics are not just weapons...that is just the unfortunate reality of how they are used in this war. And if Atka’s telekinetic abilities prove anything...shielding the mind is not enough. Nor would Neural Dampening work on ESP or Pyro-Conjuring.”

Albert nodded quietly, and then replied, “You make sense, but…” Albert paused for a moment, at a loss for words, before continuing. “But, I dunno, it just feels wrong. You haven’t had the same experience I had with psions. The first enemy psion you probably met was behind a shielded plexiglass window. First one I met took over my brain and likely would have used me to kill my friends and allies were it not for it’s own foolishness. So forgive me if I’m… mistrustful of people with such powers as that.”

 

[BMPixy]

“You’re right, Mr. Foulke. I can’t understand that experience,” Tom responded honestly. “Do not let that veiny bastard decide for you how you see everyone else with psionic abilities. Just because Van Gogh cut off his own ear doesn’t mean all artists do that. Atka and the others are nothing like that particular Sectoid.”

“Yeah, and intellectually, I know that. But, what’s a good metaphor,” Albert replied, thinking for a second, “It’s like getting robbed. Sure, you know that your neighbors probably wouldn’t do such a thing, but you intimately realize just how vulnerable you are. And when you know you’re vulnerable, you’d want to do whatever it takes to make sure that that vulnerability isn’t exploited ever again.”

Tom shook his head. “And you’re doing that by volunteering for Neural Dampening. Atka and the others are around to protect you from the abilities that don’t have easy countermeasures. Your…” the messenger hesitated for a moment, “...insecurity about the psionics is not good enough cause to ban them.”

“I understand that. And I know that asking for psionic abilities to be banned is foolish. But regardless,” Albert said, “there will always be that nagging voice at the back of my head that tells me that I should remain wary. Vigilo Confido, and all that jazz.”

“As long as it doesn’t affect your ability to work with those people on the battlefield. Like I said, Atka thinks highly of you, and I expect you will return to duty once you have the desired gene mod. You’re an effective leader. Just don’t let doubt in your comrades undermine that,” Tom warned gently.

“Yeah, once I get back to service, I’ll try to keep my worries on the back burner,” Albert said with a sigh. “Hopefully that time comes soon, but it’s been nice not having to worry about my subordinate’s lives, instead on the mundane things here, like extracting a scared Chryssalid-hybrid from under a couch.”

Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “I heard that Ms. Cross managed to befriend that one. I haven’t had the slightest luck. You would expect a Chryssalid hybrid to be more...strong-willed, I guess.”

“Eh, like my Japanophile XO used to say back when I was back with the British Army, shikata ga nai, it is what it is,” Albert said with a shrug, “Besides, with what’s she’s gone through, it’s no surprise that she’s a bit of a shrinking violet.”

Thomas grinned slightly. “Was that an intended pun?”

Albert stopped for a moment in confusion, before palming his forehead. “Dammit, I’d like to say that was. Man, dad’s probably rolling over in his grave for me missing that one.”

“It’s always easier for the observers to discern what the speaker may miss,” Tom mused. “By the way, how much longer are you on your shift today?”

Albert glanced up at a convenient wall clock, and did a bit of mental math. “Eh, I’d say another half an hour, forty-five minutes. I’ll probably be free once the refugees come back from dinner. Why?”

It was Tom’s turn to curse. “Damn. Well, I was going to offer you coffee, but that would probably be a bad plan with that long left. I’ve had the night shift long enough that you ‘normal’ people seem increasingly odd to me in regards to your schedules.”

“Eh, it’s no matter. I’ll probably have a lot of time to kill after my shift anyways,” Albert said with a shrug, “Bunkmates got back from America a couple days ago, and let’s just say they request some alone time in the early hours of the night.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “I can guess at why.” He chuckled for a moment, thinking about a certain Russian friend of his that shared a room with another and avoided that problem, but then stopped, remembering who his roommate was. “Dammit, almost was in a good mood,” he muttered. “In any case, let’s go get some coffee.”

“A’ight, I’ll see you in the mess later,” Albert said, the murmur of an approaching crowd seeping through the walls. “And here come our guests…” he finished with a sigh.

“Enjoy,” Tom said simply with a small smile, before turning and headed back from whence he came.

Albert stood at attention, mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of people. Slowly the first few entered, before all at once a mass of people entered, chattering in their various languages and volumes, filling the room with a cacophony of voices. The other guards stood to the side, making sure that the stragglers made it in, while the former soldier stood on hand, ready to interfere should any of the conversations turn sour.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

End of the Battle, Back to the War
July 11th, 2018
2200 Hours

Ayame sat up with a start, gasping for air. She clenched her arm in pain, and Sunny ran to her side. "Careful, you'll reopen your wound." As she quickly examined the bandage, she asked, "Bad dreams?"

Ayame slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah. Just... a severed alien head taunting me. The usual. Did, uh... we won, right?"

Sunny grabbed a nearby open laptop and handed it to Ayame. The screen showed the footage of the Indian troops clearing out the Citadel, and the ongoing progress of its dismantling. "They're still searching the city, of course. W-wanna make sure they got everyone. But it looks like the campaign is over. At least, our job is done. We ship out tomorrow, once they're sure the injured are safe to move."

Ayame smiled. "Great. We... um, what happened to the CO? Of the citadel, I mean." Sunny made the motion of shooting herself in the head, and Ayame shook her head. "Pft. Coward. Can't even accept his fate." Ayame's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait! Amanda, Atka. What happened..."

Sunny raised her hand. "They're okay. Atka just pushed herself too far. She needs rest, and a lot of it, but a-at least this time she doesn't have a hole in her stomach."

"And Amanda?"

"She's a bit worse off, but she'll recover. The MEC is toast, though. It'll have to be rebuilt from..." Sunny raised her hands defensively. "B-but that's okay! Really, I'd rather h-have to rebuild a hundred of those things then l-lose..."

"Relax, Sunny." Ayame grinned at her. "I get it." She watched the footage from Atka's view. "How's Atka's self-confidence?"

Sunny frowned. "Not so good. She hasn't said much during what little time she's been awake, but you can see it in her face."

"And Amanda had to help her hold it together during the fight." Ayame noted her young friend's grim expression, and gave her a reassuring tap on the back. "Hey, don't sweat it, kid. We'll help her through this. We'll be there to remind her not to focus on what she did wrong, and remember everything she did right. After all, look at her kicking all kind of alien tail. Even while panicking a bit, she was able to evaporate a bunch of these things with their own weapon. Meanwhile, I..." She trailed off, her smile fading.

Sunny closed the labtop in front of Ayame. "You know, half the soldiers were talking about how awesome it was that you took on that Incubator by yourself."

Ayame shrugged. "I tried my best. I couldn't have done it if Atka didn't do it first, but I..." She raised an eyebrow. "You said half the soldiers? What are the other half saying?"

"That it was s-stupid," Sunny answered without hesitating. "They said you must have been out of your mind to do something so idiotic."

"And which side are you on?" Ayame asked, and got her answer in the form of Sunny's scowl. "Alright, look squirt, we were fighting that huge walking tank thing, and that damn cat would have taken advantage of that. And I knew how to fight it thanks to Atka's fight with..."

"Knew, or suspected?" Sunny narrowed her eyes, and Ayame didn't answer. "Y-you're unbelievable! After what you said to Atka, you did something worse!"

"How do you figure?" Ayame shot back, and Sunny got right into her face.

"Atka's Mectoid might not have been as intimidating as your Sectopod, but she had a bunch of under-trained, non-X-COM soldiers. Y-you had so many more people who could have easily helped you! H-how dare you go off alone like that, e-especially after lecturing Atka a-about the same thing!"

Ayame bit her lip. "I... I don't know." She sighed. "I guess it was because... that Russian chick gave Modya a lot of flack, calling him a coward, but truth is, I've been holding my fear just below the surface. I... I-I had to prove to myself I could do something brave, that I'd be willing to sacrifice myself for others, and not just..."

Sunny's small hand whipped across Ayame's cheek. The young girl looked at hand with more shock at what she had done then Ayame, but shook her head and shouted, "B-Bravery and reckless s-stupidity aren't the same thing! D-don't you p-people think about those y-you'll leave behind? A-at least when Modya got h-hurt, i-it was a snap decision t-to protect others instead of h-himself. B-but between y-you, Atka, a-and Emily n-needlessly risking yourselves, I... I-I can't..."

Ayame reached out, wrapping her arms around Sunny. She pulled her up onto her cot, and slowly rocked her back and forth, much like she had wished her mother had done for her when she was a child. "You're right, Sunny, I'm sorry," she said in a low voice. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure Atka, Modya, and Emily will lecture me all the way back to base. But it won't be necessary. I swear, I'll never be so stupid again." She continued to rock Sunny back and forth, trying to calm the young girl.

After a few minutes, Sunny finally stopped crying. "You... y-you promise to be more... m-more..."

"Responsible? I do." Ayame looked down, and noted her silver-haired friend drifting off. "Are... are you okay, Sunny? I remember Bradford saying that you had to switch to the AI for the SHIVs at the end of the fight."

Sunny nodded. "I just pushed myself a little too much. Guess that's why I'm not mad at Atka." She chuckled lightly. "At least not as much as I am at you."

Ayame shook her head in confusion. "But... I've seen you control four SHIVs at once without too much trouble, and you were just fine afterwards. You're not sick, are you? Or did you do something more that... Sunny?"

Ayame looked down, and smiled at the sleeping girl. "I guess you can tell me later." She wondered when she went from treating Sunny like a little sibling to treating her like a daughter. "Weird family, huh?" She asked the sleeping child. "Little Russian from America, with an Asian mom, an American big sister, and an Inuit aunt. Maybe we should ask Modya to be your Russian uncle, and Desmond can be your grumpy grandpa that always talks about how he lost his arm in the war." Ayame shrugged. She carefully reached forward and flipped open the laptop, watching the dismantling of the citadel while rocking Sunny.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
Office of Commander O'Brien
1100 Hours

"You said this lab would be finished three days ago." Morrigan rubbed her temples in frustration as she stared daggers at the male engineer and female lab tech on her computer screen. "You explicitly said that both Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen would be free to work on other projects, and that this would be with you capabilities to finish."

"Yes, Commander," the two said in unison. They began to explain themselves at the same time, exchanged a look, and the scientist motioned for the engineer to continue. "Commander, we should have been finished by now, but every time we near completion, another problem pops up. We can't explain it. It... it's like..."

"Like some gremlin in the machine," the lab tech finished. "Like something unseen is slowing us down."

"I didn't trust the assignment to you so you could blame your failings on imaginary creatures. Just get it done, or I'll find someone who can, and I'll make sure you two are..." Morrigan trailed off, and closed her eyes. After a moment, she continued in a softer tone. "I'm sorry. I just... need this to be done soon. I'm trusting you with this. And I'm sure I can count on you."

The pair nodded, and in a relieved tone, said in unison, "We won't let you down."

The screen went dark, and Morrigan laid her head on the table. She felt as though this position was driving her mad, and she couldn't explain why. It was hard from the beginning, but it should be easier now with more experience and more support. But even with the recent missions being completed successfully with minimal casualties, even with the completion of the New Delhi Campaign, even with the advancements being made on base, she couldn't help but fell like something was wrong. And it all seemed to start with...

Morrigan opened her eyes, and peaking over her desk were a pair of young, blue eyes, watching her with concern. "Mommy? Are you okay?"

The Commander considered being honest, and saying 'of course not', but instead smiled and said, "Of course I am, dear. Don't worry yourself."

"I'm... I'm sorry I got mad about the green-haired lady." Brigid rushed to her mothers side, obviously not convinced. "I'm sorry if I did anything to make you sad."

Morrigan lifted Brigid up, pulling her close and wrapped her arms around her. "You had every right to be mad at me. I'm sorry I had to put you friend in jail. And I promise, I'll get her out as soon as..." Morrigan frowned at the sight of her screen, the symbol for the Council flashing on it. Brigid turned to look at it herself, and already knew what it meant. She gave her mother a kiss, jumped down to the floor, and walked out of the room to ask the secretary to call for one of her escorts.

The screen displayed the usual silhouette. it was hard to tell as usual, but whoever it was appeared to be the same individual that had been speaking with Morrigan lately based on build, as well as his voice. "Commander. The Council would like to congratulate you on a successful campaign in India. Naturally, our Indian Council members were pleased, and have offered additional funding to the Project in gratitude. Though, I am sure the liberation of the Capital of such a populace country was award enough for you and your people."

"That it was," Morrigan answered, and grinned. "But that doesn't mean we wouldn't appreciate the cash, mind you."

The Councilman nodded in agreement. He reached forward and tapped a few buttons on an unseen keyboard. A few moments later, a document, marked from the desk of Commander O'Brien, was displayed. "I thought you should see this, Commander."

Morrigan raised an eyebrow, and scanned through the document. "This paper... is a letter from me detailing Jessica Lockheart's arrest and interrogation, as well as the possible existence of a saboteur. I wrote no such... where did you get this?" She demanded, slamming her fist down.

"I wrote it," the Councilman answered. "In anticipation for when the Council found out that you were keeping this from them."

Morrigan folded her arms. "I don't understand. Are you... covering for me or something."

"Commander, the Council has been aware for some time that the bug in your room has a tendency to... ahem, malfunction. This is one of many reasons there are individuals on base that report to us. As I am tasked with acting as the Council's representative, most of them report directly to me, but not all of them. So when I discovered you were hiding Ms. Lockheart's arrest, I took measures to delay the rest of them finding out, as well as a means to soften the blow."

The Commander tapped her fingers rapidly, but spoke in a calm tone. "And pray tell, why would you do this?"

"The members of the Council are not stupid, Commander," the shadowed man said sternly. "They would have found out eventually, and you put yourself at risk by letting it get out this way. However, some of them can be... misguided, and too concerned with what they personally believe should be done. Some tend to forget that our vast information net does not equate to omniscience, and that our vast amount of worldly influence does not equate to omnipotence. I am not ignorant of this fact, nor am I ignorant of the actions the Council has taken in the past to damage the trust between us and not only you, but many members of X-COM." The man leaned forward, and Morrigan could swear she could see a grin. "You should hear the things they say about us."

Morrigan nodded slowly. "A... Alright... so what now?"

The Councilman leaned back again. "It would seem that a missed directory sent this document to a spam file. Possibly further signs of sabotage. At any rate, the Commander did inform us of the goings-on at X-COM, we just didn't receive the memo." He cleared his throat. "I hope you realize that it would not be within my best interest to continuously cover for someone who shows me no trust. Do we have an understanding?"

Morrigan smiled. "That we do, my shadowy liaison."

"Good." The Councilman typed on his keyboard again while speaking. "There is... one last thing you should be informed about. You should know, the Council considered keeping this from you, afraid it would effect you capacity to do your job. I agree that it will not be pleasant, and that you'll need time to recover, but better to give you that time now when we have a moment then later at a crucial time while adding more mistrust from us keeping it from you. After all, you'll find out eventually."

Her expression turning grim, Morrigan leaned forward. "What is it? And why do I get the feeling I'll be glad that my daughter isn't here to see how I react." The Councilman didn't answer, but simply continued to type. After a minute, a series of American military documents, most marked as classified, popped on screen. "Am... I allowed to look at these?"

"You are if I say you are." The Councilman folded his hands. "As I am sure you remember, the project would be put in danger should it spread itself too thin. As such, the Council has done what it can to assess low level threats and delegate them to local militaries. One such threat was delegated to the American Military recently. However, it turned out to be more then we expected."

"Did they go in expecting Sectoids and found a Cyberdisc?" Morrigan asked.

"Not quite. The energy signatures were designed to look alien, but the forces encountered were definitely human. Evidence shows that it was likely a squad of EXALT soldiers. Whether they were using them to lure the aliens there, or in the hopes of luring X-COM, whatever the reason, they were prepared with an ambush. I'm afraid of the fifteen soldiers sent in to investigate, only two were able to escape, and only because they were allowed to, possibly to deliver a message about how deadly EXALT is. I've included a list of the soldiers on that mission, and the ones that were lost. You... have my condolences, as does she."

The call ended, leaving only the transferred files. Morrigan quickly searched through them, looking for the soldier list.

Peggy returned to her desk after walking Brigid to her guards. Relieved that no one was waiting while she was gone, she poured herself a fresh cup of tea. As she moved to take a drink, an extremely loud crash made her jump, the tea cup flying from her hands. She hit a switch on her desk and shouted, "Get someone from security to the Commander's office!" She heard another loud crash, and added, "Now!"

A minute later, she and two guards slowly opened the door. The Commander's desk was upturned, papers scattered across the floor. The computer was on the opposite side of the room, sparking on the floor next to a wall with a large dent. Morrigan herself stood seething, staring at a small board displaying information gathered on EXALT. She slowly turned her head towards her uninvited guests, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "GET... OUT!" She practically growled, and the others obligated, if only so the secretary could call Major Brea, and the guards could call the infirmary, as well as more guards.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “An End to Deceptions, Part 1”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
1400 Hours, July 12th, 2018
The Barracks

Atka laid back on her bed, glad to finally have a respite from the constant fighting that had taken place in New Delhi. No longer was there the sound of fire being exchanged, or mortars blasting apart walls to trouble her. She stretched her arms out, and then pushed herself up, going to sit down at the desk with the computer. “Huh, I usually don’t get emails…” She opened an email that had been sitting on the computer for days now.

<To Lieutenant Atka Ipiktok,

By the time you read this, you will likely have forgotten who I am, and I wouldn't blame you. Like the rest of the X-COM soldiers, your responsibilities far outrank those of a lowly security guard, so you shouldn't be expected to remember one such guard you met once. My name is Margaret, one of Brigid O'Brien's personal escorts. I met you shortly before you left for New Delhi so Brigid could see your dog. While there, I confided in you issues I was having with memory loss and a missing bullet from my personal sidearm.

I took your advice, and sought help from the base therapist. He helped me realize that I couldn't have fired the weapon without knowing about it later, with or without memory loss, and that inspired me to do an investigation when I realized that the only common factor revolving around my memory loss that immediately came to mind was my approximation to the Commander's daughter each time it happened.

After acquiring footage from the base's hallway camera's, I discovered what appears to be Brigid near several vital sections of the base, including Engineering, the main Laboratory, and the Elerium Power room. She was always alone, and they were always glancing shots. I wouldn't have even known it was her if I didn't know Brigid personally. This, combined with her never getting caught by base security, tells me she might know the location of cameras, and she either knows security guard schedules and took steps to avoid them as much as possible, or she has other means to get around them.

Talking to staff in these locations led me to speak with a few individuals that had contact with her, but several of them mentioned possible memory loss or actions they took without being able to explain themselves, same same problems I am having.

As hard as all this is to believe, this leads me to the belief that Brigid, despite being the Commander's child, despite being so young, might have some means to alter the memories of another, and she might be using these means to sabotage the base. However, while I am positive Brigid is directly involved, I have not ruled out the possibility that someone might be working with her or manipulating her from behind the scenes. It could be anyone on base, and the most likely culprits would be a senior staff member, someone who has the ability to make her actions unseen to prying eyes. This might even be her mother, our own Commander.

While this puts me in fear for my safety, I can not risk the base for my own sake. I shall go to the Commander myself, and report my findings. If you should find this message before I have seen you again, it likely means I have been found out, and disposed of. If the culprit has not been discovered yet, then I may have put you in grave danger. For this, I am truly sorry. But if you were behind this, I would be dead by now based on what I've told you. Because I am not, that means you are likely the only one I can trust. Please, if no one has done so already, pick up where I left off, but be careful who you trust. I can only hope that your superior training and amazing abilities allow you to succeed where I have failed.

Sincerely yours,
Margaret Suleiman
X-COM Security Staff>

“... she… was the person they were saying disappeared?” Atka muttered with horror. “There’s no telling if she actually made it to the Commander or not, though…” Atka ran her hands through her hair. I’ve only been gone for a week or two, and everything’s gone to hell...I need more information. The Lieutenant printed off a copy of the email, folded it into her pocket, and went to find out just what exactly had been happening on-base.

***​

“Good to have you back, Modya,” Sharron Temple said as the Russian sat down at the ‘rocketeer’ table in the bar, along with Megan and Scarlet. “You missed us fighting EXALT, and some other stuff.”

“Well, considering you’re still around, it must have gone well,” Megan concluded with a smile.

“How’s Jessie been since I last called her?” Modya asked Sharron with a hint of worry.

The other rocketeer immediately paled, and Modya’s concern only grew. “Sharron...what…”

“Uh… Modya… I need you to ca-”

“What happened?” he asked with a deadly calm, though anger was threatening to break out.

Letz spoke up for Sharron. “She was put in the brig. I don’t know the details, but apparently they think she’s a traitor.”

Modya sat back down. “A… traitor? Jessie would never…”

“And we don’t… disagree…” Sharron said finally. “But… its out of our hands…”

Modya shook his head. “I’m not going to sit around while she wallows in some dark cell. I can’t believe… god dammit.” He stood up.

“Where are you going?” Scarlet asked, keeping her cool despite the emotionally-charged situation.

“To have a talk with the Commander…”

***​

“Yeah, the Commander threw her in the brig… apparently there was a bunch of evidence against Ms. Lockheart that suggested she’d been manipulating the Commander’s daughter,” the security guard replied to Atka’s question.

What lead them to that conclusion...I don’t think Jessica quite qualifies as ‘senior’ staff, and there’s no way she would do such a thing. “Anything else?”

The man rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… off the record?”

Atka nodded. “Off the record, what is it?”

“Considering everything that’s been going on lately, and how she’s been…” He lowered his voice. “I think the Commander’s lost her marbles.”

***
​

Atka quickly walked towards the door, not even turning her head to look at the Commander’s secretary. She did notice Modya approaching nearby. “Guess we’re here for similar reasons. This about Jessie?”

Modya nodded. “I just found out…”

The Lieutenant sighed, turning to the secretary. “Is it locked?”

Peggy shook her head. “Um, no, but I’m not sure you want to…” she trailed off, not sure how much she should say. Instead, she just said, “Um… good luck.”

Atka opened the door without a second thought, walking into the room with Modya behind her.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “An End to Deceptions, Part 2”

Behind a slightly damaged desk, apathetically staring at what appeared to be a brand new computer, the Commander’s eyes moved to look at the two soldiers. Putting on a weak smile, she said, “Hey… guys. How was India?”

“If I said nice, I would be lying,” Atka replied dryly. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Hmm?” Morrigan casually turned off her computer’s screen. Her face no longer silhouetted by the monitors glow, the dark circles under her red eyes were more apparent. “Something told me that. Does it have anything to do with your friend’s icy gaze?”

“That would be part of it,” Atka responded, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out the printed email, and unfolded it, planting it not-very-gently on Morrigan’s desk. “There are two reasons Jessica is in the brig right now. Either you didn’t get this because the real saboteur deleted it off Margaret's computer...or you’re the one that’s guilty.”

Morrigan suddenly sprang to her feet, an angry sneer on her face. “How dare you speak to me like that?! Don’t forget your place! I am the Commander of this base, and I will not have accusations thrown at me in such a callous manner!” The Commander stared daggers, but appeared to be looking straight through Atka.

Modya took a step back, concern apparent, but Atka didn’t budge, a dangerous fire in her eyes. “There’s a person dead right now, and another locked up based on false evidence. In addition to all that, it sounds like you’ve got everyone on the base terrified of you, which is completely contrary to how you’ve been in the past. Whatever’s going on, it doesn’t excuse this. Your may be the Commander, but you certainly aren’t acting like one, sir.”

“How dare…” Morrigan’s eyes darted between the two soldiers, a look of blood lust. She noted Modya’s concern, and Atka’s irritation, the latter of which she had only seen directed at one other person in the past to this degree. Her expression softened, and she slumped into her seat, as though all the energy had been drained from her. In a low, almost inaudible voice, she asked, “Is that true? Is everyone on base… really…”

“I won’t throw around names, but when you threaten to arrest people as collaborators, it makes people nervous,” Atka responded, her tone becoming less severe. “From what’s in that email, though, it really doesn’t sound like Jessica is responsible, and if you were… you would have already pulled a gun on me by now.”

Morrigan chuckled lightly. “I… I could never do that, even if…” She trailed off, suddenly incredibly wary of what was in the email. As she reached for it, she looked up at the Russian soldier. “You… you’re her roommate, aren’t you. Something more, I’d imagine. To think what must be going through your mind about me.”

“It is not… easy… coming back from all of that to find out the woman I love is sitting in a cell right now…” Modya explained carefully. “I imagine I was not informed earlier precisely because of that.”

Morrigan nodded slowly. “You were in the middle of a war zone, we didn’t want this to cause you to falter. You had enough to… t-to…” The Commander trailed off as her eyes skimmed the note. She then read it slower. Then again. And again. Her eyes danced across the paper in a panic, her eyes showing a combination of confusion and terror. “I… I-I don’t… where did you get this?”

“It was emailed to me not long after I left. The original’s still on my computer, so Alice and Cheshire can confirm its legitimate. I’m guessing the real saboteur planted the email you guys found regarding Jessica,” Atka surmised apprehensively. Which means we still have a killer running around…

The note crumpled slightly in Morrigan’s hand as her arm shook. She slowly reached for her intercom, and said, “G-get… get me the brig…”

A few moments later, a male voice asked, “Yes, Commander?”

“Uh… Lockheart… release her from her cell. And, um… have someone escort her to my office.”

“Commander? You just want… isn’t there paperwork and proce…”

“Just do it!” Morrigan snapped. She slowly reached into her desk, pulling out a bottle of water and taking a swig. She then just stared forward, looking at nothing and obviously on the brink of a panic attack.

Atka closed her eyes for a brief moment, and then opened them again. “Morrigan...whoever gave you that false information, they were good. They were trying to misdirect you and confuse you, it’s nothing to be ashamed of...we just need to find who is responsible.”

Morrigan slowly nodded. “I… I’m not sure about your first point. And I’m sure Modya here would probably disagree with you. But you’re right about the second point. Someone is responsible for this guard’s disappearance, and they might still be here. They more than likely are.”

Modya tapped his foot nervously. “I do not mean to be...morbid...but...there was no body found, was there? How...the hell is that possible?”

Morrigan took another drink of her water, and shook her head violently, trying to regain her composure. “That’s an excellent question. One that I don’t have the answer to. A concentrated series of shots from a plasma weapon, or even one from a laser weapon, could evaporate a body, but not without leaving evidence behind. So unless… unless they were brought up top and buried somehow… or thrown in an Elerium generator, which I doubt on both counts…” She glanced at the two soldiers, hoping they might have something to add.

Atka held her chin for a moment. “That does bring up a good point. I am in doubt that its a human at this point, since from all the reports of memory loss point towards psionic abilities...and I’m sure myself or Desmond would have noticed another human psion by now…” She sighed. “But that doesn’t add up either. We would notice an alien, this base is too small to…oh, good God.”

Morrigan slowly nodded. “Mr. Walker has done some investigations on the matter. He has mentioned feeling some kind of psionic…” Noting Atka’s expression, she asked, “What is it?”

Atka tried to compose herself, but the horror was there all the same. “In New Delhi...we came across those Incubators for the first time...they are among the most stealthy aliens I’ve seen, they’re sentient, they have psionic powers...it has to be one of them. If one of those things is on base...it’s a threat to everyone. And it could have easily killed Margaret and…” she choked. “...maybe have eaten her,” she finished in a whisper.

Morrigan’s eyes sunk in. She nervously looked back down at the note. “These things… one of them… c-could be near…” She looked up, then to the side, her expression filled with guilt.

“What do they look like?” Alexia asked, slowly walking into the room. She wore a plain but clean set of clothes, and looked tired but healthy.

Modya took a step forward, but hesitating, knowing in the back of his mind the question was more important. Atka turned towards the scientist, answering, “They take the form of a cat with beady red eyes and strange ears, but when they’re in their real form they’re like hairless, mutated tigers…”

Alexia walked behind Modya and wrapped her arms around him, relishing the feel of her body against his. Without letting him go, she asked Atka, “Do they... in their smaller forms, at least, have these really, really big tails, almost as big as their bodies?” Morrigan turned back towards the others, her eyes going wide.

Atka paled, her eyes darting between the scientist and the Commander. “Have you two...s-seen these things in the flesh?” she questioned with apprehension shaking her words.

“It sounds like one of her drawings,” Morrigan muttered.

Alexia nodded. “She showed me those drawings shortly before I…” she trailed off, and cleared her throat. “I thought it looked strange, especially since it was the only animal she drew that looked so different from what they were supposed to be. She said it was ‘Mr. Kitty’, but the way she spoke of it, I figured it was some kind of imaginary friend.”

Morrigan stood up, too anxious to stay still anymore. Pacing the room, she said, “While… w-while you were gone, Mr. Walker offered to watch Brigid from time to time. I thought it was weird, but he explained that her felt there was something off about her, either because the feeling came directly from her, or something was influencing her from the shadows. I…” Morrigan suddenly looked around the room. In a practical whisper, she asked, “You said these things were stealthy, Atka? Do you… feel anything right now?”

Atka cautiously formed the beginnings of a telekinetic spike in her right hand, closing her eyes and reaching out around the room with her ESP. “If it is...it should know I’m going to tear its insides out…”

“Wait!” Alexia rushed forward and grabbed Atka’s arm. “What if it isn’t here, but close enough to know you’re on to it. It could put Brigid in danger, even with Desmond watching her.”

Atka stopped, her concentration with the ESP broken, and opened her eyes. “Where is she right now?”

Morrigan thought for a second. “I, um… I…” She tried to fight the daze that had clouded her mind until Atka and Modya had shown up. “One of… one of her other escorts, John, he brought her to the holo-rec room so she could play in a park.”

“Tell Alice to do whatever defensive measures she can right now. I’m going down there, get Desmond as soon as you can, but I can’t risk waiting,” Atka said, turning around for the door. Modya hesitated, looking down at the pistol on his belt and feeling it would be grossly inadequate against an Incubator.

Morrigan sat back down at her desk and grabbed her keyboard, connecting directly to Alice’s AI program. Alexia stepped towards Atka and asked, “What do you want us to do?”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “An End to Deceptions, Part 3”

Atka shook her head. “There’s not much you can do against an Incubator...all I can say is to get people on high alert. Desmond, Aya, and I are the only ones that could stand a chance against it without weapons,” she said hurriedly.

“You can count on us.” Alexia grabbed Modya’s arm and pulled him along. “Come on. Somehow, I think they’d believe you before me, considering.” She quickly looked back at Atka and cautioned, “And be careful about those memory-messing powers those things have. They can mess you up, though I’m sure you’ve already had to deal with that.”

Atka paused as she was in the doorway. “They can read the future and read the mind. They’ve never altered someone’s memories....”

Alexia shrugged, and ran off, trusting Modya to follow behind her. As Modya went after Alexia, Atka raced towards the elevators, hoping that if ‘Kitty’ was down there, Alice could buy Brigid time.

In the holo-rec room, Alice materialized after receiving the message from the Commander. She looked around the room, trying not to disturb Brigid or her escort until she was sure they were safe. Seeing nothing, she ran to the security officer’s side. The man looked up at her in surprise. “Oh, hey, you, uh… part of this program, cause I don’t remember…”

Alice shook her head. “Not quite,” she answered in a low voice. “We might be in danger. Um…” She closed her eyes, and tried to find any information that had been given about the incubators. Finding field reports, she called out to Brigid, “Hey, I have a surprise for you. Can you close your eyes?”

The child nodded, and did as she was asked. Alice looked a the guard, and he raised an eyebrow. “What? ...oh!” He covered his eyes at well. Alice snapped her fingers, and the rooms holograms dropped long enough for her to do a thermal sweep of the room.

Finding nothing, she said, “Never mind, Brigid. It isn’t ready.”

Brigid uncovered her eyes and shrugged. “Okay. Um… it got hot all of a sudden.”

Letting out a simulated held breath, Alice walked over to the entrance, and watched for any movement while waiting for Atka.

The Lieutenant soon rushed out of the elevator, and sighed in relief seeing that Brigid was alright. I guess we were wrong about it knowing, then.

“Atka!” Alice smiled. “It’s good to see you again. I, uh… I didn’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t here. You said they could read the future, after all.”

“Ten seconds...so not anything outside of combat,” Atka responded. She glanced at Brigid, not knowing how to explain to her that her ‘friend’ was actually a ravenous beast.

“So, um… what do we do now?” Alice scratched her head. “This isn’t exactly within my usual program.”

Brigid. You’re in danger.

Atka put a hand on her forehead as she felt something out of the ordinary. Inexplicable, unless… “Um, Brigid? Can you come with me? We need to go somewhere.”

Brigid looked up from the ‘sandbox’ she was seated in. “Where are you?”

A confused expression crossed Atka’s face. “I’m right here…” Wait...don’t tell me…

That woman. I am convinced she is the one that got your friend locked up. She must have said she was disappearing to India, and stayed behind to hurt your friends.

Brigid slowly climbed to her feet. “But…” She gave Atka a sad look. “But Atka is mommy’s friend.”

“That is correct,” Atka affirmed. “Brigid...whoever you’re talking to...they’re trying to manipulate you. If it’s that cat...we found out what it was. It’s one of the aliens. It means all of us harm.”

“W… what?” Brigid looked confusingly around the room. “M-Mr. Kitty… is…”

She lies! Remember when I saved your mother? Why would I did that if I wanted to hurt you? Ask your guard. Ask him to stop the woman. If I am wrong, he will know, and he will not do anything.

“Brigid, we’re going up to your mother...everything is going to be all right, I just need you to come with me and you’ll be safe,” Atka tried to say, unaware of the Incubator’s designs.

No! She’s trying to trick you into getting you and your mother together at the same time. Do it now!

Brigid nervously looked up at the guard. “Please… stop Ms. Atka from getting… me…”

John smiled, his eyes flashing violet, and the confused look he had been giving Atka changed to a scowl as he ran towards her.

Mind control? Is that how… Atka held up a hand, a mindfray spike forming in her palm. “I’ll apologize later.” The helix launched at the security guard, slamming into his forehead.

John dropped to his knees, grasping his head. After a few moments, he looked up at Atka with a confused and angry look. “What the hell… why’d you do that!”

“I’ve just confirmed that Brigid has some form of ability to control minds...when she asked you to go after me, you did so without hesitation,” Atka explained, while looking around anxiously. “Brigid, the only reason he went after me is because you have an ability that forced him to.”

“I… I don’t understand…” Brigid backed away, tripping and falling backwards.

If that is true, tell her to go away. If it doesn’t work, she’s lying!

Brigid… narrowed her eyes at Atka. “Go… leave me alone! GO AWAY!”

Atka held her head, grimacing. “That’s...n-not bad...but…” she slowly straightened herself, breathing out at length. “I have more training in psionics than you. It isn’t going to work on me, Brigid.” Come on, Brigid, don’t do this, she whispered into the child’s mind. Your mother sent me down here…

“I… I don’t know what to…” Brigid held her head, tears dripping down her cheeks.

ENOUGH of this!

“Whoa,” John placed a finger in his ear, and looked around. “Who was that?”

They mean to kill you and your mother. Order that man to kill her before it is too late!

“That’s our problem…” Atka muttered audibly. “Brigid, don’t listen to a single thing he says. Come on, cat, I’ve killed three of your kind, one more won’t be that hard! she projected around the room.

You… don’t make me laugh. One such as you could never destroy my people.

You can see about ten seconds into the future, you can read a mind...your tricks get old quickly. You’re better suited to going after defenseless people like Margaret, aren’t you? Atka continued to project at large, goading the creature into compromising itself.

I… you think you can fool me? With your weak abilities, my people would have devoured you! Just as I will! Brigid…

The young girl stared at Atka, the tears coming non-stop now. She collapsed and started sobbing loudly.

You… I… this… this is not over!

Whatever you say, asshole, Atka said to him alone, and went over to Brigid’s side. “Sorry kid...we’ll find you a real friend this time…”

Brigid shook her head. “He… I didn’t… he said he was protecting… did I… is it my fault…”

“There’s no way you could have know. That thing’s a clever...uh...thing,” Atka responded. “Come on, let’s go get you somewhere safe.”

John just stared at the two of them in confusion for a few moments, until Alice lightly tapped the back of his head. “Get it together!”

“Oh, right.” The guard pulled out his radio. “Um, I’m gonna need a bunch of guards to escort the Commander’s daughter and a soldiers to her room. And someone tell Desmond Walker to see the Commander once he gets out of training if he hasn’t been told already.”

As Atka gently lifted Brigid, Alice ran to her side and said, “That was amazing. But… you were in a lot of danger. Why didn’t you just ask me to suppress her?”

“She would never have trusted me again...and now not only did I rattle that thing, but we finally figured out the reason for everyone’s memory loss…” The Lieutenant shook her head. “It’s not going to be easy explaining to Morrigan that her daughter can do something like that.”

Alice nodded. “True, but at least we have some answers. As well as a definite goal. In the meantime, I’ll ask the engineers to set up some thermal scanners around her room. There is no way that thing’ll get near her. Though, considering you were able to find it out, I’m more concerned about you right now. What, uh… what did you say to it anyway? I couldn’t exactly hear what you two were… thinking…”

“I goaded it into revealing its true nature. Hard to sound like a protector when you’re talking about devouring the person you’re conversing with,” Atka stated. “Those things are more arrogant that that Samuel Wilson…maybe.”

Alice nodded. She looked down at Brigid, who had finally settled down. “The quicker we find that thing, the better. In the meantime, what are we gonna do about…”

“I...honestly don’t know…” Atka muttered. “A power like that...and she can’t control it. That’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

The Next Step

X-COM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
July 12th, 2018, 2100 Hours
Psionic Laboratory

"I think that's all the bugs," Jean said, wiping his brow and standing up. "It should work. But then again, it should have worked before. Damn, the Commander was pissed."

"Language," Jeanne said. "No need to curse."

"Ne pas me faire la leçon comme la mère..." Jean muttered. "Not that you ever listen to me."

"Mère vous aurait giflé," Jeanne retorted, childishly sticking her tongue out.

Jean rolled his eye. "My point is, she seems to be really irritable. I mean, I know she had a temper coming in, but I heard she smashed her computer. The guys down in engineering had to bring her a brand new one."

"Yeah, news travels fast." Jeanne looked up from the computer, having finally finished her calculations. "I heard that most of her problems came from her daughter. That girl that was arrested? She came back to the labs. One of the bigger chiennes was hounding her, and she snapped back that it was likely an alien infiltrator. Now, can you imagine what it would be like, finding out that not only could there be an alien on base, but your daughter is being stalked by it?'

"I guess that's fair." Jean narrowed his eyes."What isn't fair is why you get to curse but not me."

"Easy." Jeanne turned back to her computer. "I'm older."

"Yeah, by twelve... gah!" Jean waved a dismissive hand.

Walking up behind him, Sunny giggled. "So this is Jeanne, huh? I-If you've had this argument with her so many times, then why do you keep trying?"

"Because he never learns," Jeanne answered for him, smiling. "Maybe when he reaches my age?"

Jean rolled his eyes again. "Anyway, what brings you down here, Dr. Randolf? I'd think, after India, you'd wanna take a break. I know I would."

"The lab is just about r-ready, right?" Sunny examined one of the large pods.

"It is, assuming no one tries to sabotage it again like we suspect was happening." Jeanne typed on the computer, bringing up several specs. "We just need to pop the first soldier in there. We, um... we haven't got the list of the first soldiers yet, though."

Sunny nodded. "Great. Let's do it." Sunny slipped off her jacket, placing it on a chair. She pulled off her shoes, and made sure she didn't forget to remove anything loose.

"Uh... Dr. Randolf?" Jean laughed nervously. "Sunny... I can call you Sunny, right?" Sunny nodded. "Um, we can't test it on you. Even if you weren't, you know, eleven..."

"Twelve now," Sunny corrected.

"...you're not a soldier. You're not authorized to..."

Sunny walked up to the computer. "May I?" she asked Jeanne, and got a nod. The young engineer took a few minutes to pull up some files from both engineering and the labs.

Looking them over, Jeanne muttered, "Incredible. I can't believe you... and this was actually authorized?"

Sunny shrugged. "M-most of it came out of necessity. The abilities were a side effect. The Commander, Dr. Shen, and Dr. Vahlen allowed me to improve on them when I-I convinced them they weren't going away, so I might as well develop them so I don't hurt myself. This..." She waved towards the pods. "...i-is the next step."

Jeanne looked over the files again. Shrugging, she said, "It's been approved." She typed on her computer, and the pod slowly opened. "With what you've already done, if you do have potential, this should only take about a third of the time."

"Good, then make sure we keep this between us. Dr. Shen w-will cover for me." Sunny quickly hopped into the pod.

"A third of the time is still over three days," Jean said. "People are going to wonder where you are, Dr. Shen covering you or not."

As the pod slowly closed, Sunny smiled. "But you forget. I-I'm just a kid. I need the rest anyway, right? Call this a nice, long nap."

The pod closed, and the anesthetic quickly took hold. "I hope we..." Jean scratched his chin nervously.

"Don't worry." Jeanne watched the computer. "All fail-safes are in place. If anything goes wrong, it'll shut everything down. And we'll keep a close eye on her."

Jean shook his head, still unsure. "I... guess this was kinda necessary anyway. I heard that the Commander wanted to do a test to see if her daughter has potential for some reason. Not unlock it, just see if it is there. I... I wonder why."

"Don't know," Jeanne responded. "Je suis sûr que nous trouverons bien assez tôt."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

ZombieSplitter53, MarineAvenger, and DarkGemini24601 present: “There are Many Ways to Skin a Cat: Part One”

XCOM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
2200 Hours, June 12th, 2018

Atka shook her head. “I can’t believe, even with all the evidence and the fact that you had more time to figure things out, that it didn’t occur to you that Brigid was able to do what she did. I didn’t even know she had been in contact with the psionic device until I realized what she was doing…”

“I knew the whole time Atka. I just didn’t want to jump to any conclusions until I had a solid head to back up what I thought. With you off base and Aya busy I didn’t want to accuse Brigid of anything but the suspicion was there.” He scratched his head as the two were looking over notes.

“Well...you know the field reports of what those damn things are like. Fast, strong...but I’ve confirmed time and again that they’re arrogant. They might be able to see about ten seconds into the future and read someone’s mind, but that’s as much of a dual weakness as it is an irrefutable strength,” the Init scout, now a Captain, explained.

“So you fight on instinct rather than attack with strategy...sounds like a reliable plan but if people are fighting in a group what then?”

“Well...it might be a little difficult for both of us to do that,” Atka confirmed. “However, I’m more used to fighting that way...if it predicts your actions, and you leave your mind open...perhaps that’ll give me a chance to overwhelm it with instinct.” She glanced at Desmond’s hand. “Besides, your powers might be a little... unsafe for inside use.”

He smiled and held up his hand. “Don’t worry Atka, I have learned to tone down my power so that it is a little less destructive.” He took off his sword and laid it onto the table. “Besides, I have some new means of attack.”

Atka looked over the sword with approval. “Not bad. I killed one of them with a relic spear charged with telekinetic energy.” She nodded. “It was a nice spear.”

“Well at least we have something to go on. If we face this thing we will be ready. The only problem is finding the bastard. Both of us have tried to search for it but we can’t seem to get a reading.”

A sturdy knock came on the door. From behind it, a voice called out, “Mr. Walker? Are you in there?”

Desmond looked at Atka and walked over to the door, a cautious hand on his blade. “Yes, who is this?”

“Commander O’Brien was looking for you. If you know where Captain Atka is, she’s looking for the both of you.”

“Thank you, I will be sure to tell her.” He walked away and signaled that he and Atka should go and look for their Commander.

***

Morrigan sat at her desk as the two soldiers walked in and took a seat. After several seconds of silence, she finally cleared her throat and said, “I’d like to… thank you for coming down here so quick. I’m sure you both have a lot on you case, considering the circumstances. I’d… also like to thank the both of you for everything you’ve done to help my daughter.”

“We very well can’t just sit by and watch one of these things manipulate a little girl. It is my pleasure.”

“Let’s not kid ourselves here.” Morrigan sighed. “Between you watching over her and investigating, and Atka’s connection to our lost guard and convincing Brigid that her little… friend isn’t what he appears to be, you’ve done infinitely more to protect her then I have. I was… so angry, so enraptured by fear for my daughter, that I was all but useless. I did nothing but show people that I… that there is a reason I wasn’t this projects first choice for Commander.”

The Captain shook her head. “Where or not those things are true, why did you call us here? Did you find out where it is?”

Morrigan cringed a little, but tried to keep her composure. She typed a few keystrokes, and turned her computer monitor towards the two psionic soldiers. “Alice has had her drones sweeping the hallways, as well as the most vital areas of the base, constantly. From what we know, these things can’t hide their body heat from an infrared sweep, at least based on how their camouflage seems to work. We weren’t hopeful of her finding it, per se, but we did expect it to discourage it. Then about twelve hours ago, one of the drones went off line. We haven’t been able to find it, and we suspect the alien got it. We merely sent another to patrol that area, figuring that even if that was were the alien was hiding, it would have moved after being found. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, as another drone in the same area has disappeared.”

“And where is that?” Atka asked with growing apprehension.

“It’s actually on the B1 floor. Between the two areas we lost them, there are a few rooms and facilities, but the most prominent is an elerium generator. It would make sense that it might hide there, considering the massive power readings would hide it from sensors, but… I’m a little worried about it.”

Desmond thought for a moment. “I am worried as well. Who knows what he might do if he is cornered. How sure are we that he won’t blow the generator in a last ditch effort?”

“Indeed. That’s likely the reason he chose that spot over anything else.” Morrigan rubbed her hands nervously. “I also can’t help but wonder, regardless of how much it likes its hiding spot, why it wouldn’t move after the first drone nearly found it. It all seems… a bit convenient.”

“In my best opinion, he doesn’t want us choosing the battlefield. If we fight this thing we will be fighting it on its terms.”

“And you can’t use your psi orbs in there...not a chance,” Atka added. “Even with control over them, you miss by an inch and we’re all dead.”

“We shouldn’t use Gauss or Laser weapons either,” Morrigan added. “Regular ballistics could damage the generator, but a misplaced laser or magnetically accelerated round could set it off. This… this could be a trap.”

“Could be? It most likely is. Though I can’t help but feel there is some other reason that place. Maybe that is where he has been hiding this whole time but the fact still remains...how will we approach this?”

“While I’d like to simply send a squad of thirty to blast this thing, the fact remains that only someone with your unique gifts will be able to sense it. It would likely sneak up on anyone else. So I’m afraid this will have to fall on us. Major Brea is waiting for us to call her down to the generator. Like you, Mr. Walker, the nature of her abilities preclude her from using them. As you are better trained in close quarters hand-to-hand, she’ll keep an eye on the exit, and blast away anything that tries to flee. Meanwhile, the three of us will enter the power room, and confront this thing.”

Atka raised an eyebrow at Morrigan. “The three of us? Are you sure you can hold your own against something like this?”

Morrigan nodded. “This thing pulled the wool over my eyes. It ran amok around my base, did who knows what to sabotage us, and manipulated my child, and gave her some strange ability she is far too young to handle. A woman is dead, and another spent time in the brig for that, and as much blame as I’d like to rest solely on this damn alien, we know that it is partially my fault too. I need to end this, and if I thought it was possible, I’d shoulder the burden myself. But that isn’t possible. I’m not ordering you to help me kill this thing as your Commander. I am asking you to help me, as a woman who a screwed up one too many times, and needs help cleaning up her mess.”

Atka’s serious expression softened. “Alright...I just don’t want you getting hurt, sir. That’s our job, after all.”

Morrigan nodded, and stood up. “Any more questions before we end this?”

Desmond stood up and flexed his metal hand. “None from me.”

“I’m ready to kill this thing if you are,” Atka affirmed.

With one last nod, Morrigan walked out, the two soldiers following close behind.

***

After a quick stop to the armory to get a few standard sidearms, seemingly prehistoric now compared to the newer weapons, the trio arrived to the power room, Aya already waiting with her sister. As the approached, Aya gave the a reassuring smile.

Eve stepped forward, and pointed at the door. “It’s in there, in the back, against the wall. It’s just… staring at the door, like it’s expecting us. There’s also something on the floor in the middle of the room, but I couldn’t tell what.”

“Ominous. He definitely knows how to set a mood,” Desmond stated.

“You think it’s some sort of bomb?” Atka wondered. “That could be a problem…”

Eve shook her head. “It’s not a bomb, it’s too small. It kinda looked like a necklace. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, since I’m not good with such small details. But it’s just there, sitting by itself.”

“Well then…” Atka’s hands were surrounded by the icy, telekinetic helixes tipped with spikes, the constructions having to wrap around her arms a bit. “Shall we?”

Morrigan nodded, and reached for the door. Aya suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. “What are you doing?” She practically hissed. “Let us handle this.”

Morrigan shook her head. “Can’t. I have to see this through to the end.”

Aya’s expression changed from angry to pleading. “Don’t do this. Brigid has already lost so much. Do you want her to lose her mother right after she loses…”

“Enough.” Morrigan pulled her arm free and walked into the power room without another word.

Atka followed behind her. I won’t let her die, I promise you that, Atka conveyed silently to the Major as she came face to face with the creature that had tormented them all for weeks now.

 

[MarineAvenger]

ZombieSplitter53, MarineAvenger, and DarkGemini24601 present: “There are Many Ways to Skin a Cat: Part Two”

“So the mysterious puppeteer finally reveals himself. How long did you think this would last?” Desmond said as he closed the door behind the group.

After a few moments of silence, Morrigan scoffed. “I thought these things were really talkative. Either he’s scared, or he’s trying to creep us out.”

“Either way…” Atka held a hand forward, the helix extending as she launched a telekinetic spike at the Incubator. “...he’s going to die.”

A loud growl came from the back of the room as the spike hit home. A few moments later, the icy psionic energy changed from blue to violet as a feedback of energy was sent straight back to Atka.

Atka pulled up her other icy helix to block, the two telekinetic forces grinding against each other. “What the hell?! They couldn’t do that before!”

Don’t lump me in with the rest of those weak, pathetic creatures! I was not chosen to infiltrate this base by chance, nor was it by chance that I was the only one to succeed! It will NOT be that easy for you!

Morrigan swallowed lightly, and took a cautious step forward. She bent down, and picked up the object Eve had mentioned. Grimacing, she tossed them back to Desmond so he and Atka could see them.

Atka glanced to the side for a moment, and saw Margaret’s name etched onto the dog tags. Her eyes glowed a deeper blue. “I’m going to fucking kill you, cat.”

Desmond ran forward and held his arm in front of Atka. “Calm down! He will get what is coming to him.” He growled. This is the oldest trick in the book you freak. Get your opponent worked up so that they become less able to fight. It may work on my friends but it won’t phase me!

Is that so? So you have no troubling thoughts that I devoured one of your fellow resistance members right where we stand? Then perhaps it will affect you when I do the same to your friends while you watch!

Margaret will get her peace, once you are disposed off you inferior little ingrate. Desmond taunted the creature in hopes that this would get his attention off Atka.

Atka flipped out her pistol, and quickly took aim at the Incubator, hoping his focus was diverted. She let several bullets fly, but was readying a telekinetic attack in the likely event that they would fail to hit home.

The creature flung itself to the side at the last second, one of the bullets grazing it’s side. Taking advantage of it small form, it ran to the side of the room and snuck into a small crevice.

How dare you damage… You have ruined everything! You, male, taking my puppet from my grasp, and you female, exposing my existence. Do you have any idea how much work you have destroyed!?

And do you have any idea we don’t give a fuck. He pulled his blade out of the scabbard and took his stance.

“Where is he right now?” Morrigan asked with a smile.

Atka closed her eyes, reaching out with her ESP. You picked a stupidly small room, ‘Kitty’.

You keep telling yourself that when you have nowhere to run.

Works both ways.

At the sound of the shuffling nearby, Morrigan pulled her sidearm and fired a few shots in the direction of the sound, missing the emerging alien by a mile. “Damn. This wouldn’t happen if I was allowed to use the training room,” she mumbled to herself.

Atka opened her eyes again, and put her gun away, reconstructing her twin icy helixes. Even if they had the potential to be turned against her, a pistol wasn’t exactly ‘instinctive’ for her. Come out, scaredy cat…

From the back of the room came the sound of tearing flesh as the alien transformed.

Cat. I hate cats. I hate having to look like one. The sight of your Commander’s cat made me want to destroy it right there and then. And every time that pathetic child called me ‘Kitty’ I had to fight the urge to pin her down and eat her, slowly, one limb at a time. Of course, I might still do that, when we are done here.

Morrigan shook her head. “Damn… what an asshole.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Atka muttered, her icy helixes drawing back. Let’s see if you can block two at once, abomination. She let them fly at ‘Kitty’ with a sound like a harpoon being fired when he appeared.

Another loud growl rang out, and the creature finally came into full view, jumping out from behind the generator. Rather than trying to block both attacks, it sent a backlash through one while taking the full force of the other.

While one sunk into its flesh, a line of blood tore across the top of Atka’s right arm as she received the telekinetic force of equal measure that tore through her light armor. “D...damn…” she muttered, stepping back and putting her uninjured hand over the wound for a moment. Desmond ran forward towards the monster and went for a few light slashes to grab his attention. Distracted by Atka’s attack, the incubator could barely keep up, its future sight the only reason it wasn’t sliced to ribbons jumping back with several small cuts and a small chunk of an ear missing, to growl angrily.

You… enough of this. I am tired of… After a few moments of silence, it’s mental fortitude seemed to regain some composure. I must commend you. To fight so skillfully, to actually injure me. It must be difficult, with all those painful thoughts going through your head. The thoughts of all the people here that you need to protect. All of the people who you care about that could die because of you. It turned to look at Atka. That is all she can think about. All the men and women that have died because of her. Throughout India. In her missions prior to that. All going back to before she even came to X-COM. So many people have died, and they were all her fault. So many fellow Canadian soldiers. Honestly, she isn’t sure why people keep trusting others to her, and I can see why.

You misunderstand my way of thinking. I have made my peace with my past. The pain just helps remind me that you can’t hurt me any worse than I have already. One other thing. You are wrong about Atka. I trust her because she makes mistakes, it shows she has the sense to learn.

Atka didn’t seem so sure, but said nothing in silence instead. She closed her eyes, having marked the creature’s location with her ESP, and suddenly reached for her gun with her uninjured hand, pulling it out and firing.

The shots wizzed by the alien, missing but making it fall back.

You… you shouldn’t… GRR!

It hunched forward, preparing for a pounce, and let out a howl of pain as a knife was plunged into its back, right hip. It reached back, and wrapped a paw over Morrigan’s throat.

Why… I was reading you, how did you…

Damn it, Morrigan. Don’t make me a liar. Atka ignored the pain in her arm, and summoned up two fresh icy helixes, running forward at the Incubator and shooting them at closer range. The one from her right arm was easily weaker than the other, however.

Seeing the attack coming, the Incubator flung Morrigan to the side and rushed towards Atka, fighting the pain in its leg, and taking the telekinetic attack full force as it closed the distance.

I’ll rip your heart out first!

Not so fast! Desmond took the opportunity to rush the alien. He fired distraction shots towards his direction and had a readied blade at his side.

Two shots punched into its side as the creature spread its powers too thin, trying to read minds, watch the future, and fight off Atka’s attacks at the same time. It darted to the side, and took a step back. Its eyes darted between its opponents as Atka prepared another helix, Desmond pointed his sword forward, and Morrigan pointed a familiar looking revolver at it.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

ZombieSplitter53, MarineAvenger, and DarkGemini24601 present: “There are Many Ways to Skin a Cat: Part Three”

Deciding its best bet was the Commander, it moved forward, and read her mind, seeing she was planning to shoot at its head. Preparing to duck, Morrigan fired sooner than he thought she would, and a round punched into its leg.

How… do you keep doing that!

Morrigan dropped the weapon and squeezed her wrist. “Damn it! This thing has a bigger kick than I thought it would!”

Desmond rushed past the Commander. “Atka! You ready to end this?”

The Captain nodded, and focused a more powerful helix in her good hand. “Not going to come up with a final strategy for Mr. Kitty here to read. Just kill him,” she growled, and fired off her helix at the Incubator, closing the distance between even further.

That… will not… WORK!

The alien rushed towards her, finally showing signs of its injuries and blood loss, but moving strong. As the helix was about to strike home, it suddenly split in two, both spikes driving into either side of its head. It roared in pain, completely caught off guard.

You… can’t… do this!

I’ll see you in hell, abomination.

Desmond took his blade and slid it into the alien, using his artificial arm to yank the sword down before pulling it out and attempting to go for the killing blow. The aliens eyes darted back and forth, trying to find a way out, but saw nothing.

I.. you’ll all be dead soon enough. I only regret I won’t get to see it.

The blade descended in a swift motion at the alien’s neck and dug into the skin, cutting into it like butter and removed the head from the body, effectively killing it.

Atka slowly lowered her hand, grimacing as she started to feel the blood dripping from her right arm. Rest in peace, Margaret. I didn’t forget you like you thought I did.

Rushing to Atka’s side, Morrigan examined her wound and let out a sigh of relief. “It doesn’t look that bad. Good thing too. She’s tormented enough. She doesn’t need this making her feel even worse.”

Atka looked at Morrigan for a moment, understanding dawning on her. “I suppose that explains a lot...Eve. Thanks for the help.”

The door to the room opened, and Aya walked in, carrying Eve’s unconscious body. After a few moments, Eve slowly opened her eyes, and Morrigan rubbed her head. After taking a moment to regain herself, figuratively and literally, she looked between Atka and Desmond and frowned. “Sorry we didn’t tell you ahead of time. We figured it wouldn’t be able to read Eve’s mind, and would instead only see my thoughts, but if we had told you, it might have found out about the ruse. And honestly, without it, I was basically useless in this fight anyway.”

“Makes sense now that I think about it. However reckless that was, it was an excellent idea, Aya.”

Aya shook her head, and was obviously upset. “I wasn’t in on the plan either, until I noticed Eve was being unusually quiet.”

Eve nudged her sister. “Oh, come on. We both know we could have panicked and ran in here at anytime to try and help, and then he would have read you mind too.” Aya nodded in agreement, but still didn’t seem very happy.

Atka nodded, seeming a tad drowsy. “Well...I don’t mind hearing more, but could someone wake up Chandra and get her down here? Starting to feel a little woozy…”

Aya nodded, stepping to the side and pulling out her radio while both Morrigan and Eve made sure to support the injured soldier. Eve looked down at the alien’s severed head with a combination of disgust and curiosity.

Morrigan sighed, and slowly said, “Listen, Atka… I… I’m sorry.”

Atka shook her head. “It sounds like you’ve been through more than I even realized. I can’t imagine all this happening to a child of mine, and something else happened, didn’t it?”

“It… it did.” Morrigan looked down. “Brigid’s father, he… his squad was ambushed by EXALT. He didn’t… he’s gone.”

Desmond tensed for a second but he tried to cover it by wiping the alien blood off the blade. “I-I am sorry Morrigan, that is horrible.” He stated somewhat stoically.

Atka paled as well. “Dear God...why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Because I… was too absorbed by everything that was going on, I didn’t…” Morrigan laughed. “But that’s the problem, isn’t it. I’m letting everything overwhelm me. Even with big things like this, it is my job to hold it together. Listen, Atka, I know how much faith you’ve lost in me. It’s fairly apparent. And Desmond does a good job hiding it, but I’m sure he feels the same way.”

“Not as much as you think…” He chimed in while wiping the sword.

“To be honest, Morrigan, you’re not wrong,” Atka confirmed, but held up her hand. Wincing, as it was her right, she lowered it gingerly. “That said, I would never have met a friend like Ayame if not for you. I haven’t forgotten all the good you’ve done. Without you, I might have been made into a MEC or had my genes scrambled. It just scared me to see a side of you that I couldn’t trust...I stood up to you, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t thinking about the repercussions, and afraid.”

“It was bold of you, and risky. Desmond had to do something similar when he first warned me about Brigid. And how I was acting, I don’t know if I would have taken a similar risk in your place. But I’m glad you did.” Morrigan watched as Atka’s psionic doctor arrived, accompanied by a clean-up crew and a few engineers to assess any damage. “I promise both of you, that side of me is gone. The pain I caused you, the pain I caused that poor girl in the labs, I’ll never let that happen again. I have a lot of work to fix my reputation in base. I only hope I can count on two of my top soldiers to give me another chance.”

“Of course,” Atka responded gently, as a green light started to accelerate the healing of her wound. “We are friends, after all, even if some people would say that’s a bad plan.”

“You have my respect Morrigan. I understand what happened and I won’t turn on you now.” he replied.

Morrigan gave them an appreciative look, and stood up. Grabbing the alien’s severed head out from under a tech that was examining it, she smiled and said, “I think I’ll deliver this myself. I know a certain lab tech that might be happy to see this.” She thought for a moment. “Well, half of her might be a little grossed out. And the other half might ask if she can keep it.” She shrugged, and head towards the door, shouting over her shoulder, “Make sure that arm is completely healed, Atka. I need you in tiptop shape. And I know I’ve said this before, Desmond, but I absolutely love that sword.”

He smirked. “So do I.” Desmond stated as he slid the sword back into the scabbard.

Atka nodded her assent, thinking back to what the Incubator had said about them all dying anyway. That was just a general threat...he was just trying to intimidate us...right?

 

[Adrammalech]

// EVACUATION DAY //
Emily Fischer
XCOM Forward Base
New Delhi, India
10:07 PM

Emily walked up to a small ledge in the X-COM camp, where Dallas was sitting and watching the last parts of the Citadel crumble. All around them, the X-COM and Indian soldiers packed up the supplies, getting ready to be shipped elsewhere in the country or back to the Russian headquarters.

“Watching the fireworks?”

“Yeah,” Dallas said quietly, “hoping it will give me some kind of pride.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know it’s odd to be rattled with all of the close calls we’ve had, but shit, if Sven wasn’t behind me…”

“But he was. Because you were commanding well.”

“We lost people.”

“You kept it together, even when Atka couldn’t.”

“For now, but Atka has been doing this longer than me. And I’m already feeling it.”

“Losing is easy, winning is stressful. And we won.”

“But…looking at everyone like pieces on a board, hearing everyone’s chatter like rules to be bent…I’ve never been good at being detached. It doesn’t feel good.”

“You’ll get used to it. And I’ll keep you sane, if need be.”

“I guess I know who my most valuable piece is, then,” he said with a nervous grin.

Emily smiled warmly at the flirtation. “Are you saying I’m your queen?”

A loud warping explosion came from the tower, like a hundred alien grenades going off at once. A huge, smoldering piece of the citadel splintered from the mass, crashing to the ground. Emily kicked her feet with childlike enthusiasm.

“We should’ve brought marshmallows,” she grinned.

Nika came up from behind and hopped onto the ledge beside them, sighing loudly.

“So, I talked to Bradford. We’ll be on one of the last transports out,” she explained. “They want our help boxing everything, making sure none of those cat things get into a box and get into the base.”

“So we’ll be here for a while,” Dallas noted.

“Maybe a couple more days, only one if we’re lucky.”

“Hardly the worst work we’ve been given in this country.”

“Definitely the most boring though,” Emily added.

Sven approached the ledge, hopping onto the other flank and looking pensively at the Citadel. He was dressed in almost civilian-like clothes, as casual as the man ever looked.

“So, how many kills did you get?” Dallas asked.

“A few. I don’t really count, that’s what spotters are for,” Sven replied.

“But we don’t have spotters in X-COM.”

“Oh well,” he said with feigned disappointment.

“Listen, I wanted to say th–”

“Don’t mention it,” Sven interrupted, turning towards him, “part of the job.”

“There’s nothing wrong with taking recognition, you know,” Nika pointed out.

“There’s nothing wrong with denying it either.”

Another thunderous explosion rocked through the ground, another shard of the Citadel crashing to the earth. The squad watched silently as the product of their work continued to boom and crumble. Eventually, the silence was broken, and they compared their accounts of the campaign. The sky's smoke cover began to thin out, as the fires were quenched and the aliens were hunted down. One thing was constant: the soldiers looked forward to returning to the odd, sterile underground box they called home.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Simulated Terror, Part One

Alexia came around slowly, taking a little longer then she probably needed to getting up, and she was okay with that. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she looked to her left, and smiled at the sleeping Russian next to her. She felt a little bad for him. After all he had gone through in India, and what he must have felt coming home to find his lover in the brig, Jessica had insisted that he take some time to rest. Despite knowing this, Alexia made sure Modya had done anything but rest the night before.

Of course, she wasn't the only one to enjoy herself, and the look on his sleeping face was a sign of that. She considered waking him up, counting on her current lack of clothing to assure he'd be wide awake immediately, but instead sighed sadly, deciding to let him rest. She silently traced her fingers across the fading scars across his body, many of which were fresh. The thought of those aliens, and particularly the cyberdisc, that had given them to him lit a fire in her heart, and she knew she had to find something to get her mind of it before devolving into a blind rage. Quickly getting dressed, she thought it curious that she could be angrier at the machine that hurt her beloved Modya then the creature that had framed her, but figured that it was likely a good thing, a sign of selflessness, and it made her feel a tiny bit better. Not as good as she would have felt had Modya not almost died, but better.

Twenty minutes later, she stepped out of the elevator on the sixth basement floor. She knew she wasn't allowed in the holo-training room, and would likely get in trouble should anyone find out, but after what she went through, she knew all she had to say was 'I was locked up for a week because an alien framed me. Bet the Commander will let me slide'. Not the most ethical way of thinking, but if she was going to forgive Morrigan like Jessica insisted she do, she needed to get something out of this.

Having been told Ayame was down here, she expected some big battle, one in a ruined city scape, or perhaps an alien ship. Instead, she found an impressive, if haunting, ancient set of structures. Based on some old marital arts movies she had seen, Alexia figured it was a feudal Chinese temple. But unlike the vibrant and well lit nature of the movies, the room was dark, the only light simulated from a partially cloud-covered full moon, and a thin, creepy fog flowed through the room. The structures themselves were decayed, falling apart in some places, completely destroyed in others. It all had the feeling of stepping into a horror movies, and considering the capabilities of the holograms and the AI, Alexia suspected she might have done just that.

As she slowly and cautiously walked through the simulation, nothing but morbid curiosity compelling her to move forward, she heard a rustling to her right. She turned to see what it was, and suddenly felt a hand over her mouth as she was pulled back and through a doorway. Pushed against a wall, she looked up at Ayame, who motioned for her to be quiet. Alexia nodded, and Ayame pulled her hand away. She cautiously watched the door for a minute before letting out a sigh.

"What are you doing here?" Ayame narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Wait, you are here, right? This isn't some trick by that stupid cat?"

Ayame cautiously poked Alexia's cheek, and Alexia slapped her hand away. "Knock it off, of course it's me. I wanted to see you. How was I supposed to know you'd be doing... whatever the hell this is."

"What do you mean? I'm training," Ayame responded with a grin. "We've gone from psychic aliens, to human-looking lizards, to robots, to brutes, to future telling cats. There is no telling what is next. So, I'm trying all different things. Keeping myself sharp by trying out all kinds of different scenarios." She glanced out the doorway again. "Should have been here yesterday when I tried out a big medieval England battle, with the big swords and the armor and everything. Sure, I died, like, twenty times, but I learned a lot about fighting in bulky armor."

Alexia smiled. "Good idea. Maybe I can give it a try."

Ayame shrugged. "You could, though I pretty sure you'll get in trouble if anyone finds out." She sat next to her young friend. "Speaking of trouble, are you alright? When I heard you were in the brig, a nearly attacked the guy who told me, nearly attacked the girl that tried to stop me from heading to the brig, and probably would have stormed the brig if one of the guards hadn't talked me down and told me he was making sure you were alright."

Alexia grinned. "That's... faltering, it really is. But you know, Modya was pissed too, but he went to give the Commander a piece of his mind."

"Hey, since when did I claim I wasn't being rash?" Ayame responded, but couldn't hide a bit of an embarrassed look.

"I'm fine though, really," Alexia insisted. "The whole thing gave me and Jessie time to talk, if nothing else. We got some things off our chest that we'd been holding back, shared our own little stories, talked about Modya and the future. I'm not even that mad at the Commander or Desmond anymore, especially after I found out it was that alien behind it all." She put on a devious smirk. "They even let me cut that things head open and peak inside, mostly 'cause Jessie was too nervous to."

Ayame let out a fake sigh. "Damn, you scientist get to have all the fun. All I get to do is cut their heads off."

The pair let out a good laugh, and shared a look that said they had missed their talks. "So," Alexia said, "How about I join you? I mean, I'm no soldier, but these things can't actually kill me, right? What are you fighting anyway?"

Ayame reached to her side, taking one of three scabbards off her belt. "You'll find out." She tied it to one of Alexia's belt loops.

"Cool, but..." Alexia raised an eyebrow. "Why do you have three swords?"

"Always be prepared, dear child." Ayame gave her a mock-serious look. "What if I lost one, or needed more then one at a time? Weren't you ever in the Girl Scouts."

"No, and something tells me you weren't either."

Ayame shrugged, and unsheathed her swords, one made of metal, the other made from a dark red material. Holding out the first, she said, "This is a Dao. More specifically, a Yanmaodao."

Alexia thought for a moment. "A... goose-quill... knife?"

Ayame rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't name 'em, okay?" She re-sheathed it, and held out the other sword. "These were designed from a special molding material to perfectly mimic the yanmadaos except... you know, their ability to cut anything. Except for the holograms, of course. So you won't have to worry about accidentally cutting a finger off."

Alexia nodded. "Let's get to it." The pair slowly walked out of their hiding spot, and Alexia held her sword out with all the grace and skill she had learned from years of watching others use swords in movies.

"Lift your arms a bit," Ayame said in a serious tone. "And don't grip it so tightly. You don't want to lose it when you hit something, but you don't want to snap your wrist even less."

Alexia nodded and did as she was told. She turned to her right as she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She pointed her sword at a tall, humanoid figure with outstretched hands. "What are we fighting anyway, Chinese Frankenstein? Or is it a... is... i-is it a..." Alexia swallowed hard. The figure suddenly jumped five feet closer, landing with surprising grace, its arms still outstretched. It was now illuminated by the moonlight, and the smile faded from Alexia's face, along with any color.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Simulated Terror, Part Two

The figure was dressed in a uniform, coat-like robe and round-top, tall-rimmed hat characteristic of a Chinese official from the Qing dynasty. Its face was partially obscured by a mystical tag hanging off its forehead in portrait orientation, with Chinese words that it was still too dark to make out. But Alexia could see enough of its face behind the tag. Its greenish-white skin. The signs of decay, the torn flesh. The small amount of saliva and blood dripping from its mouth.

"Alright, now get ready," Ayame said, facing another creature coming around a corner. "First, focus on getting rid of that tag. Then you..." Alexia suddenly collapsed on the ground, and Ayame rushed to her side. She slapped her friend on the cheeks a few times and said, "Come, Alex, what's wrong? Don't do this to me, I can't exactly leave you." The creature Alexia had been watching jumped in front of them and reached for Ayame. She slashed it across the chest and it stumbled back, giving her time to stand up and kick it hard, sending it several feet back.

The green-haired girl suddenly jumped to her feet. She looked at her sword in confusion, then screamed at the sight of the half-dozen creatures now surrounding them. "Where am?! What's going on?! Is this a nightmare?!"

"Jessica?" Ayame slashed one of the creatures across the face, taking off its tag along with its nose. "Its just a hologram simulation." Another slash took the creature's entire head off.

"Um... o-okay." Jessica instinctively kicked away one of the creatures, but seemed to forget about the sword in her hand. "Can we, like... end it now?"

"'Fraid not, Jess." Ayame slashed another creature, then smiled nervously at Jessica. "It's programmed to end when I've killed about twenty more of these things, or I die."

"DIE!" Jessica laughed nervously. "I-I... you said this... this was a simulation!"

"These jiangshis are soul suckers. If they get a hold of you and get their face close to yours, the computer sends a pulse through your body to slowly knock you out."

"W-why would you do that?! Are you crazy?"

"If there is zero risk, then it wouldn't feel real," Ayame insisted.

"It feels pretty real to me, with or without my soul being fake-sucked out." Jessica gritted her teeth and finally lifted her sword. She slash a jiangshi in the arm, severing it and sending waves of pain through her wrists. "Ouch!"

"Don't grip the sword so tightly." Ayame roundhouse kicked one creature into another, then drove her blade through one of their heads, tag first.

"You should have said something!" Jessica shuddered as the zombie's arm started crawling towards them by its fingers.

"Sorry, I told Alex, I just... forgot..." She ran forward and kicked the arm, knocking it into its owner. "You need to take out the tags on their faces. Otherwise, they'll keep moving, even in pieces."

Jessica nodded nervously. She rushed towards the creature as it struggled to climb to its feet with stiff limbs and one arm. She reached out with a disgusted face and yanked off its tag. She smiled at the sight of the arm no longer wriggling. "It worked!" The creature grabbed her arm, and she screamed.

Ayame quickly ran to her side and slashed twice, the first severing its arm, the second, the top half of its head. "Focus. Jessica, I love you, you know I do, but I think Alex would be a little better off here. What happened to her?"

"Um, automatonophobia..." Jessica slashed at an incoming zombie, severing its head in an attempt to prove Ayame wrong.

"Automa-what?" Ayame laughed. "What does a fear of robots have to do with this?"

Jessica yanked the tag off the head before its body could grab them. "No, its... i-its the fear of things that simulate living beings, especially humans. You know, dummies, mannequins, wax figures. When we were..." She slashed at another jiangshi, missing and almost getting grabbed again. Ayame took the creature out before it could get her. "Thanks. Um... when we were little, we got trapped in an old warehouse overnight. Some... stupid bet from kids pretending to be our friends. Alexia insisted on taking the bulk of the time since she was the one who insisted on us going in. She hand to spend an entire night with hundreds of old medical mannequins just... starring at her, the moonlight gleaming off them and making them look all the more sinister. She's been terrified of them ever since."

"Bummer." Ayame cut down another monster. Finally clearing a path, she grabbed Jessica's arm and they started running. "And these things? She's scared of them too?"

"Yeah. Um... kinemortophobia, I think its called. Fear of zombies."

"That has a name?" Ayame chuckled. "Are you making that up?"

"No, I just have a tendency to remember weird things." The pair stopped to take down two more jiangshis before they continued running, and Jessica continued talking. "I'm not sure if it came as an off-shoot, since a walking corpse is kinda the most literal example of something that looks human simulating life, or it has to do with the decayed faces of the mannequins in that warehouse. Either way, she watches horror movies like they're comedies, but watches a movie like Night of the Living Dead like six year old watching the Exorcist. Or someone with ornithophobia watching The Birds. Or how I imagine half the people here will watch Alien when this is over."

The pair reached the elevator, and ran up to the computer. "Alright, I'll end this before..." Four more zombies jumped out from a nearby bush and tackled the pair. Jessica was able to roll away before the creatures could get a firm grip. Ayame wasn't as lucky. She kicked one away, but the other knocked her weapon away. She held it up with one arm while reaching for her other sword, figuring it would at least help her keep it off, but the creature's superior strength overwhelmed her. It pushed her arms down, and lowered its face to hers.

Jessica quickly grabbed her sword off the ground and ran towards Ayame. She slammed her shoulder into the jiangshi that Ayame had kicked off, sending it falling back. She lifted her weapon as the monster's eyes and mouth started to glow, and she slashed down, severing its head and slamming the sword into Ayame's chest. As the Asian soldier gasped for air, Jessica dropped to her side. "Oh... oh, God, sorry, I..."

"It... it's okay." Ayame said between gasps. "I'd rather get a bruise then have one of those things on me, hologram or not. I'm just glad these aren't real swords."

Jessica helped Ayame to her feet. The two slowly backed away from the two jiangshis, as well as the other eight approaching behind them. Reaching the computer again, Jessica watched the zombies while Ayame hit a few keys. After a few moments, the creatures disappeared, followed by the rest of the simulation. The pair of women smiled at each other, and started laughing hysterically.

"Well," Ayame said as she stepped into the elevator. "I'm sorry you got dragged into that, but I had fun."

"You know... so did I." She shrugged. "Maybe I should try to me more active, but next time, without the zombies. Do... do you want me to see if I can get Alexia back?"

Ayame shook her head. "Nah, let her rest. Besides, I just realized you and I haven't spent too much time together. Let's get some lunch."

"Alright." Jessica grinned. "It'll give me a chance to share a secret or two about myself, so Alex isn't too upset about what I told you about her."

"Don't worry." Ayame tapped Jessica on the shoulder as the elevator rose. "I'll only make fun of her a little bit."

 

[Dahlexpert]

Those quite moments

Eva and Ashley are walking to Ashley’s room. Ash I want you to explain to me why I’m not death stroke?

You’re not death stroke Eva.

I want you to explain to me why I’m not. I now have a healing factor I’m super strong fast I’m deadly with any weapon that I get my hands on. So tell me why I’m not death stroke?

You’re a woman and you were never an assassin.

OK to address the first one that is sexist, and for the second on I was a mercenary so give me some other reasons.

OK I’ll give you the first one that was sexist and I’m sorry for that, that was me bullshiting you. Now the second there is a difference between an Assassin and a mercenary. An Assassin is some one that is precise a deadly instrument some one that can hide in plain sight and take down a target without being seen. A mercenary is a just a solder that is now working for the military.

OU that’s bullshit you were an Assassin that doesn’t count.

Yes it does, and I’m done with this argument because I’m home good by Eva.

Yea Yea see yea Ash.

Once Ashley enters her room she is met by Cassia how grabs her leg. Welcome back mom did you bring some decent food this time?

No darling you still have to eat the solder food.

Cassia gets a disappointed look on her face. Aw but that food is nasty, I wish you could cook again.

Ashley rubs Cassias head. Now now If I started cooking I would have to cook for ever one on base, and the only people that east’s my cooking is you and you other mom that’s what’s makes it special.

Ou alight I’ll keep eating the soldier food.

Good girl now where is your mom?

She’s in the bath room.

Ou really, Cassia can you put on your headphones for a few moments.

Um ok Cassia pit’s on her headphones and listens to some music.

Ashley opens the bath room door and put’s her hands on Catherin’s waist.

Which Catherin response with a yelp and she swings behind her. But Ashley ducks and kisses Catherine. Which after she calmed down and kisses Ashley back.

You know how much I hate when you sneak up on me like that.

No you don’t, because it keeps you tense and it show that I still love teasing you.

Yea yea I will admit you do keep me busy no matter what, so how was your mission did anyone get injured?

Yea our leader got it bad, Eva kind of did, but because of the augmentations she got she is not hurt at all.

Well that’s nice to hear that not many people got hurt, how about you did you get hurt in any way?

No no I’m fine, but I’m more worried about the village and the commander. I think the commander could us a break every now and then, she could us the break and let Bradford take over for a few days.

Yea she could us a break especially the way she’s been lately and the latest events in India, and the alien bass she could us a break.

Yea but she won’t because she is determined, and that’s what I like about her.

Does the commander remind you of a certain brunet Indian Woman? Who also gets attached to others?

Yea she does every time I talk and see her. We both do what we can for our people and want to see them come back home but things never go the way you plan.

Don’t worry Ash we will make it home in one peace.

Yea I know come on I’m goanna play with Cassia and see if I can teach her anything to day. You better get back to the med bay.

Actually they don’t need me to day with the lack of soldiers being hurt so I guess I’ll be with you two the whole day.

Both Ashley and Catherin leave the bathroom and go to Cassia side.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1228 & ZombieSplitter53

Not-so-secret Secrets: Part One

X-COM Headquarters, Somewhere in Siberia
Secondary Shooting Range
1000 Hours

Ayame lined up a shot down the range, gently holding the sniper rifle and trying to take her time. She would have preferred to use the holo-room, but it was occupied by Major Brea and some of the newer soldiers. But at least, up here, there was no one to annoy her by asking her why a gunner was using a sniper rifle. Apparently no one could envision a point in which she might need to or be forced to use a different weapon then she usually did.

After a few seconds, she fired. Looking up from the weapon, she glanced at the small screen next to her displaying her paper target. Seeing she didn't hit it at all, she sneered. "Damn it. Mother f... gah!"

Ammelia was in the booth next to her, crouching behind the barricade between her and her target. She reloaded her Gauss rifle and quickly stood up snapping her sights on her target and firing a shot as quickly as possible. The shot flew downrange and completely blasted the head of the target apart, bits of burning paper disintegrating as they flew into the air. Ammy smiled brightly, her training with the Marksman rifle having really improved her ability to snap-fire accurately. She was proud of how far she'd come, remembering when shots like that would've only grazed the target.

Noting her neighbors success, Ayame's competitive side kicked in and she quickly lined up another shot. A few more seconds to line up, another squeeze of the trigger, and another miss, though she at least grazed the very bottom of her target. "Son of a bitch!" she shouted louder then she had intended. Turning to face another soldier laughing at her, she shouted, "What the hell are you laughing at!" The smile faded from the other soldier's face, and she quickly walked off. Ayame turned to line up another shot, cursing in an odd mixture of Mandarin and Japanese under her breath.

Ammy looked over to Ayame and gave her a slight smile, "You know, it's good practice to aim slightly higher than where you want your shot to hit. Even though Gauss weapons don't really suffer from drop, it still helps." Ammelia said, wanting to help the woman improve her shot.

Ayame nodded. She tired aiming a bit higher, and fired. She finally scored a hit, but it was still far off target, and this time pulled to the right. The Asian woman shook her head. "I think the real problem is I don't have the patience, or the intelligence, to calculate the shot." She scoffed. "No wonder they made me a gunner. I can shoot a pistol just fine, but when it comes to larger weapons, evidently I can only hit something if I'm spraying it with rounds."

"Holding your breath helps too." Ammelia added with a friendly tone. "The person who trained me never liked Automatic weapons. He told me once that they were 'A crutch that stopped people from actually improving their shot'," she quoted.

Ayame chuckled. "Oh, I saw," She said in a terrible Sean Connery impression. "Very American. Fire enough bullets and hope to hit the target." She sighed deeply. "This teacher of yours probably had a point. Though, when I'm fighting a sectopod and I'm holding a rifle, I'm going full-auto." Ayame lined up another shot. "I'm just afraid I'm too old to learn something I haven't drilled into my head yet. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks."

She gave Ayame a confused look, "You... don't look that old. Also, would you rather use fourteen clips of your Assault Rifle or one perfectly placed sniper round?" Ammy asked with a slight chuckle, "The answer seems clear to me."

"Good point, though that counts on you being able to actually hit with that sniper round, and as we've established, I'm a little crap at this." She looked up from her weapon and frowned. "I'm sorry, how rude of me." Extending her hand, she said. "Kasagi, Sergeant, Gunner class. But you can call me Ayame, on account of this being an informal situation and all. And thanks for the compliment, but I'm 34. Not old, but I'm not exactly young enough to go after college freshman."

"Ayame? I've heard of you, you're quite popular around the base." She accepted Ayame's handshake, Ammy's grip not exactly what you would call firm. "My name is Ammelia Cross, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Ayame smiled. "I know your name too. You've made a name for yourself by somehow getting through nasty situations, even that whole spine thing. My friend... well, half of her, is really fond of you. Has nothing but positive things to say. And you're one of Sunny's roommates to boot."

Ammelia giggled, "Your friend is half fond of me but still has nothing but positive things to say? How does that work?"

Ayame raised a defensive hand. "D-don't get me wrong. Alexia likes you just fine. She just doesn't adore you like Jessie does. I... I-I didn't mean to make it sound like Alex disliked you or something."

"Alexia? Jessica's twin sister? I think she visited me once when I was in the hospital, briefly. I've always wanted to talk to her but I can never seem to find her. Jessie makes it seem like she's always working or doing something important." Ammy responded, setting her Gauss long rifle on the top of the barricade in front of her.

"Well, of course they couldn't both..." Ayame trialed off. "Oh... um, you... she didn't... I mean... sh-she usually is, um... busy. Doesn't get out much, that one..."

"Jessica makes her sound like the best sister ever... I really wish I could meet her..." Ammelia stopped for a second before speaking again, "Is something wrong? You seem nervous."