Okay, here is the rewrite to adapt and survive. I hope I did better this time, and if I didn't, well then I deserve to be snarked again. Please, if there are any issues please tell me, and Ill fix them.
It has been two weeks since the alien temple ship had been destroyed. This should have been a time for celebration for XCOM, it certainly was for the rest of the world. Parties have been thrown all around the planet celebrating their victory over the aliens, and the festivities were still ongoing. People were all together for once, and it was thanks to Colonel Rolf Anderson. Rolf had sacrificed his life to destroy the temple ship, and as a result of that, the people of earth could continue living.
In Rolf's final moments, he shoved his friends out of the door, and told them to go. They left, reluctantly, while Rolf seized control of the ship, and flew it away from earth, where it exploded, taking Rolf with it.
His best friend Hector Barros bore a pained look on his face everywhere he went. Hector was born in Canada, and had earned the nickname 'yeti' because of how hairy of a man he was. He was an ugly guy, but he tried to make up for it by growing a magnificent beard that covered his chest when it wasn't braided together. Hectors green eyes were filled with experience, he was a heavy weapons specialist in the Canadian military, and was regarded as one of the best in his home country. This lead to him being recruited into the XCOM project, where he and Rolf met. They both were new to the project at this time, being some of the first soldiers to combat the invaders, tragically, the others that were first also died, and now Hector is the last one left from the original team.
Rolf and Hector didn't meet on good terms, and would often fight with each other over seemingly petty arguments. They were both opposite from the other, Hector disliked Rolf because of how greedy of a man he was. Rolf disliked Hector because of how obnoxious of a man he was, often yelling loudly in the middle of a quiet conversation. Eventually though, they did warm up to each other, and became best friends. Every soldier in the XCOM project that is still alive remembers the time when Hector and Rolf started singing karaoke together in the barracks. Rolf and Hector saved each others lives on more than one occasion, and started keeping score of the amount of aliens they killed, so they could compare at the end of the month. However, Rolf no longer has his karaoke buddy to compare kill counts with.
Devin Shropshire was born and raised in New York, and he was well known throughout the military for saving the lives of two of his squad mates in a seemingly hopeless firefight. Commander Dwayne decided that Devin would be a great asset to the project, so he requested that Devin join. Devin accepted almost immediately, he thought it would be great to contribute to saving the world.
Devin was the only one who volunteered for the MEC augmentations, he immediately regretted his decision afterwards, he didn't like the feel of the robotic limbs, and he didn't want his family to see him like this if they beat the aliens. Devin was considering leaving XCOM after several missions of intense combat. Rolf stopped him however, and told him that it was pretty cool having a robot man on the squad. Rolf reassured him that what he did was not a mistake, and he pointed out the several missions they went on together where Devin saved the squads lives, and assured him that his robot parts were not hideous. Devin then did a complete turnaround with his attitude about his augmentations, he no longer resented his mechanical parts, he embraced them, and even, on occasion, bragged about them to his fellow squad mates. After Rolf died, he masked his pain with sarcasm, but everyone knew that it was just façade.
Takeshi Higurashi was born and raised in Japan by his father. His mother had sadly died during childbirth. Takeshi's father was obsessed with leaving a message to the world, and having the Higurashi name known. He wasn't successful in this venture, so he decided to pass this task on to his son. Takeshi thought that the easiest way to get that goal, was to join the military. He quickly rose through the ranks, and was soon noticed by the XCOM project as a deadly marksman.
Takeshi met Rolf when he first showed up on XCOM base, Rolf had tried to be social with him, but Takeshi wasn't a sociable man, Takeshi resented most people around him, he thought that all people were the same, no matter where he went, greedy, malicious bastards, and tended to avoid most people. When Takeshi was requested to join XCOM, he accepted immediately, this would be his message to the world. He didn't think that anything, or anyone else, was more important than that message. Rolf changed his mind by giving him some important advice: "Listen Takeshi, your LIFE is your message to the world, just make sure it's inspiring." Takeshi realized then, that he was living his life wrong, Rolf was right, a message should be left about who you are as a person. Takeshi began to open up more to Rolf, and eventually, to his fellow squad mates. When Rolf died, Takeshi began to regress back to how he used to be before he met Rolf.
Thomas and Lisa Williams were twins that came from the United Kingdom. They both had sparkling green eyes, and brown hair. They have been together everywhere they went, and always had each others backs. When they were requested to join XCOM by their government, they both looked at each other, grinned, then accepted the offer. Though they were close, they contrasted each other heavily. Thomas was a slob, and had a very sarcastic look on life, while Lisa was neat, and was rather serious when it came to her outlook on life. Another parallel they shared was classes, Lisa was a sniper, and Thomas was an assault. After they met Rolf, the three got along immediately, and Thomas and Lisa considered him their 'brother from another mother.' It was no surprise then that after he died, they grieved as if they had lost a family member.
Laurie Cunningham was a very shrewd and bossy person, often complaining and berating those around her. When she first came to XCOM, she was fully intent on being squad leader, but as it turns out, there was already a permanent squad leader in place, a man named Rolf. Laurie would often try to belittle him into quitting his field position, but Rolf would just look at her and grin, then say something completely off subject to what they were talking about. An example would have to be when they were exercising together, and when Laurie tried to get him to quit for the umpteenth time, he said
"After this, I'm going to go straight to commander Dwayne and beat him in chess! I've been practicing, and he will go down, this time for sure!"
Every time he did something like that, Laurie stopped trying to get him to quit, and would just go about her day. She was fascinated at how kind Rolf was to everyone in the squad, including her. The other troops didn't like Laurie, they thought she was a pathetic wannabe trying to be in charge, but Rolf never listened to his friends when they told him about how much of a total bitch she was. He would merely nod at their statements, and change the subject much like he did with her. Eventually, Laurie stopped trying all together to get Rolf to quit being field leader. On a mission to a crashed UFO, Laurie's cover had been destroyed by a Muton berserker. She would have been done for if Rolf hadn't showed up. He jumped in front of the aliens punch, and was sent flying in the opposite direction into a few boxes.
Laurie then shot the alien in the head after she reloaded, and side stepped out of the way of the falling Muton. All the aliens in the area had been neutralized, how was Rolf though!? She ran over to him to find that his arm was bent at an odd angle, and some blood was dripping down the sides of his mouth, and he had raspy breathing. Laurie stabilized him and after they got back from the mission, Rolf was immediately rushed to the infirmary by paramedics. After a few hours, the doctors came to the troops and told them what the damage was, one broken arm. Obviously. All of his ribs were shattered, and he had some internal bleeding. He was going to be in the infirmary for a while. Ironically, while Rolf was in the sick bay, Commander Dwayne decided to give Laurie leadership of the squad. It was always going to be a temporary job, but of course, the team didn't like having to listen to her. Commander Dwayne did give most of the orders on the field, but Rolf's job was to handle the small stuff.
When Rolf was cleared for visitation, Laurie was the last to show up out of all of his friends. They talked for a little bit, and she thanked him for taking that blow for her, which he merely responded to with a shrug. After he was released from there, Rolf and Laurie got close… a little closer than expected from professional soldiers. After Rolf had died, she hadn't spoken to anyone, and whenever someone saw her, they could swear that she looked like a walking corpse.
Rolf always met the rookies when they first showed up at XCOM base, gave them a tour, conversed with them, and trained with them as well. They all looked up to Rolf, and after he died, they did things to honor his memory. The more artistic rookies would draw him, one rookie wrote a poem about him, and one rookie even aspired to write a book about the man. Every rookie wore purple though, as that was Rolf's favorite color.
Tyrone Wilkinson was born and raised in Chicago by his mother, he never knew his father, the man left before he was born. Tyrone didn't care though, in fact, Tyrone had a hard time caring about anything. He can't feel emotions, at least not to the level that his fellow squad members can. Tyrone has only been sad a few times, and is rarely happy, he joined the military because he thought it would be easy for him. Tyrone wasn't scared to take a life, and he was almost looking forward to the day when he would pull that trigger. That changed when he actually did pull the trigger, Tyrone thought that he would feel good if he killed another man, but he was wrong. After he killed him, he felt… odd, and he soon realized that killing his fellow man was something he did not want to do. The military took note of his skill however, and offered him a place in the XCOM project. If he joined them, he wouldn't be fighting his fellow man, he would be fighting alien invaders, and when he arrived to the XCOM base for the first time, Rolf looked at him and seemed to know what he was. Tyrone didn't like that look.
When Tyrone killed his first alien, he didn't get that empty feeling when he killed another man, he felt fulfilled, as if this is what he was meant to do in life all this time. It was exhilarating, and he wanted to kill again, to feel that feeling of fulfillment. Rolf confronted Tyrone on the subject, to which he denied. He did NOT want any of his squad mates thinking that they were working with a psychopath. Rolf saw through him however, and told him that it was okay to act how he was. Tyrone did think that the thought of that was appealing. He had been putting on a mask of clever sarcasm and dry wit, but he didn't like doing that, he felt fake. Rolf encouraged him to be real, and he did so. Tyrone never really cared all that much for Rolf, but he did respect him, so when he died, he wore a purple wristband to honor his memory.
Zhang was surprised that he was quickly able to join the XCOM project, despite his triad background. When he first met his future teammates, he killed a sectoid with a pistol, and Rolf looked at him and smiled. Zhang didn't care at the time, all he cared about was getting out of there at the moment. Zhang had wanted to join the XCOM project as soon as he got back to the base, and he had this tugging feeling in his gut that Rolf vouched for him.
When the genetics lab was built, everyone eventually got gene modded, but the first was Zhang. He was the first to receive the adaptive bone marrow, and as a result, became an even more important asset to the team. Rolf was second, he seemed a bit scared of being put into a tube for an extended period of time while the scientists tampered with his DNA. Zhang assured him that it would be a painless process, and that afterword's he would feel amazing. Rolf and Zhang never got that close, but Zhang respected Rolf for never wavering when it came to conflict. When he died, Zhang realized that humanity lost one of its greatest heroes.
Commander Dwayne Warren was an old war veteran that served in the navy. His combat experience eventually led him to being promoted to general, and after that, commander of the XCOM project in the United States. When recruiting soldiers, he always made sure that he was looking at the crème of the crop. This was a war for humanities survival, they needed the best of the best for the project, and when he saw Rolfs file, he was very impressed. Apparently, his jeep was blown up in the middle of nowhere by some Taliban, and he survived. Two of the other passengers had died however, but the driver was still alive, but with a broken leg. Rolf had to haul himself and that man back to their base, and they were deep in enemy territory, but against all odds, they made it back. Dwayne knew that they would need a medic as smart and lucky as this one when it came to combating the aliens, so he requested that he join the XCOM project. Rolf agreed of course, and he and Dwayne met.
Rolf was like his son, and Dwayne was like the father Rolf never had. When Rolf died, the commander decided to set up a funeral, and that day was today, they were going to honor his memory.
All of the soldiers were gathered just outside of the facility, and dozens metal fold out chairs were lined up alongside each other. In front of the chairs, was a small wooden stand with a brown table in front of it. On the table were some mementos from Rolf, his pictures, his dream catcher, and Rolf's chessboard. On each side of the table, there was a member of the base security personnel, just in case something happened that required force to quell.
All of the troops took their seats, while Dwayne stepped up to the stand. This was going to be harder than he thought.
"We are here today to commemorate the memory of this great man. Rolf Anderson. Rolf and I were like father and son, and it pains me greatly that he died before I did. I will miss him, and I won't forget what he did, for the earth, and for us, no matter what." Dwayne said. He stepped off of the stage, and saluted the table with Rolf's mementos. He felt a small tear trace down his cheek. Dwayne then sat down in the front row, next to Hector.
Thomas Williams was the next to climb those steps and speak into the microphone
"Rolf and I were good friends, and it's a tragic that he can't be with us today to celebrate our victory over the aliens. I know that we ALL miss him and that we are here to remember him and honor him. Some of you may forget some of your precious memories of him at one point, but there's one thing that we shouldn't forget about him, and that's his courage, the courage to stay on the temple ship, the courage to sacrifice himself for the entire world. We are here to honor his memory." Thomas said.
Thomas then stepped off of the stage, same as Dwayne, and took his seat next to his sister. Hector was the next one up.
"I just got to say, this man, this hero did great things in life, and I am going to miss him. We were best friends, brothers really, now that he is gone, I don't know what I'm going to do. We used to have talks that lasted hours, oh I wish that we could do that one more time, just sit there in the bar and talk until the sun came up. He changed who I was as a person, and I think that I can say the same for a lot of you. I'm never going to forget Rolf, and I'm going to do my best to make this world an even better place." Hector said.
He stepped off of the stage, and placed something on the table. It was a penny, Hectors penny, he took that penny everywhere with him, he considered it lucky. Hector saluted, then sat back down next to Commander Dwayne, trying his best not to tear up.
The next on stage was Lisa Williams.
"I just want to say that I am going to miss my pseudo little brother… he was a great guy, and like Hector said, a hero. Rolf told me about how he always wanted siblings... I think he considered me, Hector, and Tom as his siblings, and we did too." Lisa's eyes quickly became red, and she hid her face.
She came off stage, and saluted with tears in her eyes.
Takeshi was up next, no one knew what he was going to say about Rolf.
"I respected the man for who he was, and he gave me some life changing advice, I'm going to follow that advice, and try to be the best person that I can be. That will be my message to the world. Rolf, you left your mark on the world before you saved it, and that is commendable." Takeshi walked off the stage, saluted, then sat back down next to Tyrone, who then went up next.
"I always thought of Rolf as a very cheerful person, he seemed to accept everyone around him, even me. I don't really know what to say about the man, other than thank you. Thank you for saving this world. Rest in peace Anderson." Tyrone said, before saluting, then heading back to his seat.
Zhang then went up next, and his face held a deep frown.
"This great hero, this legends life, has ended. However, Rolf is not dead in my eyes, to me, he is alive in all of us, he affected all of us in some manner, and that is something that I can't forget. Rolf had the ability to befriend anyone, and that is something rare in this ugly but beautiful world of ours." Zhang stated, before saluting and sitting back down.
Devin stood up and went in front of the microphone, his metal limbs clinking as he made his way up them.
"The guy is an inspiration, and I'm going to tell you a story about this inspiration. There was once a man who had thought he had made a terrible choice, but a man named Rolf made him rejoice. He no longer hated his metal limbs, he embraced them, and faced he faced the foe that you all know. The enemy that was unknown is now gone, now the man who defeated them should be known, as a true hero, and anything, but a zero." Devin stated with a depressed voice.
He saluted, went back to his seat, and took a shot of alcohol.
Now it was Tyrone's turn to speak.
"I don't really have that much to say, I'm not good at this kind of thing, so I'm just going to say that I had respect for him. That's it." Tyrone said, saluting, then going back to his seat.
Laurie didn't budge from her seat, but no one was expecting her to go up on stage anyway. Laurie's auburn hair was matted and dirty, and her skin was almost as pale as a ghost. She sat away from everyone else at the funeral, she didn't want to converse with anyone there.
Dwayne went back up to the stage to give one last speech about Rolf.
"I'm going to miss that boy, I'm going to miss playing him at chess, and I'm definitely going to miss him as a person. Everyone, you know that Rolf was a hero, but the thing is, you are ALL heroes. You fought the aliens the same as Rolf did, and you succeeded. The invaders are gone, and the earth has you all to thank for that." Dwayne said.
"I just need to let you all know about something that the council decided-"Dwayne stated, before his eyes suddenly glazed over. Dwayne kept looking off into the distance ahead of him, his hands tightly gripping the wooden stand. All the XCOM operatives looked at Dwayne with a dumbfounded look on their face. What was happening to their commander?
They then noticed that something was materializing behind Dwayne. It was darker than night, and it had an ominous feeling about it. When it fully appeared, it was revealed to be a man in a black cloak, not so different looking than the grim reaper. It walked up behind Dwayne, grabbed him by the throat with one hand, and then threw him to the ground. A couple of base guards drew their assault rifles and fired at the cloaked being, which the thing simply raised its hand, and the bullets were deflected back at the people who fired them. The bullets went through both of the guard's heads, ending their lives.
The cloaked being walked up to the microphone and spoke in a gravelly voice.
"You all no longer need to be in this world, now, time for you to go." The cloaked man said.
All of the XCOM operatives attempted to move, but some kind of force was holding them down, they couldn't escape what was about to happen.
The cloaked being raised his open hand, then squeezed. After that, all was dark for XCOM, everyone in, and around the base had fallen unconscious. A few hours later, the council had tried to make contact with XCOM, only to be met with silence. They sent a chopper out there to see what was going on, and what they found baffled them. The entire base had disappeared, there was now a large chunk of land missing from the ground. The XCOM base was gone, it just simply disappeared, how had this happened? The council had thought that the aliens must have had something to do with this, but how? The Temple ship was destroyed, and there have been no UFO's in the sky ever since then. The council would be trying to solve this mystery for a long time, but they would never find the answer, however, there had been theories as to how this happened.
Maybe the Gollop chamber had somehow done this? Maybe it was the hyper wave relays fault? What blunder could have caused this? XCOM's satellites also were no longer functioning. What the hell happened?
Alright, there it is, done. What did you all think? Was it worse, or better than the original first chapter? Please tell me its better, because the original was awful. Please review.