Chapter 1: Unification Day
Andre waded through a huge crowd while pulling a small girl along. After a good ten minutes of searching Andre found a seat. Andre admired the speed that ADVENT had erected the bleachers in the city square. In just an hour, the city square was a chaotic mess of booths and tents there was even a rock climbing wall. The only thing that stood in the square was huge set of bleachers and a massive screen which was now in the middle of the square.
After a couple of minutes most people began settling down and City Minister Erwin walked up to a podium and began to speak, motioning for the crowd to quiet. "I would like to thank you all for coming to the celebration of Unification Day."
He paused briefly as the crowd waited in rapt attention. "As most of us know, this is the fifth anniversary of the formation of the ADVENT Coalition and the end of the terrible conflict that resulted in so many deaths," the Minister paused for a moment."We've had a great amount of support today. Which is why it's a great honor that we close today's celebration with a message from the Speaker himself!"
A huge screen turned on behind him, and a tall man with long wavy hair walked onto the stage to the applause of the crowd. "People of ADVENT," he began somberly as the crowd quieted. "It has been five years since the war ended; five years ago humanity fought a misguided war against the Elders, and unfortunately, forced their hand."
There was a brief, contemplative pause. "But the Elders are gracious and merciful; they have given humanity a second chance and have helped them rebuild from the ashes, such destruction caused by the reckless actions of a few, and have bestowed many gifts to aid in this task."
The Speaker lightly banged his fist against the podium. "Yet there are still misguided individuals who refuse to accept that the Elders only offer peace and friendship. These individuals strive to return to the violent and regressive days of old."
The Speaker leaned on his podium. "They wish a return to the days where fear was prevalent throughout society. The days where humanity was divided and corruption was rampant. The days when humanity killed each other over trivial disputes."
He paused for obvious effect. "Those days are over. The Elders have been working tirelessly to make humanity whole and relive it of the troubles that have plagued it for so long. ADVENT has already made significant strides in rebuilding, improving, and expanding humanity. Though the Elders have removed the cities of the old world, it was necessary to make the city centers we have today."
The Speaker pushed his glasses up on his face. "The people no longer have to be afraid of walking down the wrong street at night. Those who want to kill, rape and steal are no longer protected by a corrupt system. ADVENT and the Elders are devoted to uplifting humanity."
Another pause as the Speaker's gaze traveled over the crowd. "That is why it is an honor to announce the new ADVENT Clinic Initiative, which will establish a gene therapy clinic in every city center which will assist all citizens with their medical needs. This initiative will bring humanity into a new golden age and usher in untold centuries of peace and prosperity." The huge screen shut off to the crowd's cheer.
Afterwards a large column of troops lead by a general clad in gold armor wearing a black cape with a golden ADVENT insignia n the center marched down the main road flanked on both sides by mechs and soldiers behind him, while Archons flew over the column. ADVENT officials walked up and down the sidewalks and offered ADVENT burgers to the crowd.
Andre smiled to himself and brushed a strand of black hair out of his eye. He looked at the little kid holding his hand. She started to pull on his hand. "Andre, I can't see." Andre had to oblige her, so he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. Andre motioned to one of the officials. "Can I have two ADVENT burgers please." The official pulled out two wrapped burgers and passed them to Andre.
"These burgers are amazing." She said, stopping to eat her burger.. " I can't wait to see if there are any cool new action figures!" Maggie exclaimed excitedly after she'd finished. "I want an ADVENT Captain. I like the color scheme better, don't you think so uncle Andre?"
Having only been one year old at the time of the invasion, Maggie didn't know much about it. Andre smiled, and thought of how good it must feel to be that innocent.
"I like the ADVENT Lancer. I think that the ADVENT Lancer design is sleek and elegant, the colors are very simplistic." Andre advised, although he kept pulling her along. "But we have to go home now. Your mom expected you back at eight, and we're already late."
"Yeah," Maggie yawned. "I feel kinda sleepy."
Emma's House
"Thank you for taking Maggie to watch the Speaker," Emma said. "It must have been very exciting for her, getting to see all the soldiers in their dress uniforms. You know she loves watching the soldiers in parades."
Andre couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry about it Emma. Besides, who can resist a smile like Maggie's?" He glanced down at his watch. "It's getting late and I want to be home before the curfew, so I have to say goodbye." Andre bent down and gave Maggie a hug and kissed her on the forehead. He went to hug Emma but she stopped him and motioned him to follow. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?"
They walked into Emma's bedroom " Thank you for stepping in and looking after Maggie. It's been really hard after Juan died. He was something wasn't he?"
Andre cracked a small smile. "He was a badass." She then pulled out a small box from her dresser.
Inside the box was a set of dog tags, various medals and a couple of photos containing soldiers in various poses. The one soldier that was in all the photos was a short man in light armor. The mask the man wore was a full face mask with most of the front made of bulletproof glass with a skull drawn on it. The man held a shotgun and an auto pistol was hanging from his waist.
"A few weeks before the war ended I received these from XCOM. With all that happened during the end of the war I misplaced these. Some of this stuff is addressed to you." She pulled out a photo of Andre and Juan together, a couple of medals and a set of dog tags.
"You don't want the dog tags?" Andre asked.
"No, you were closer to Juan than I was," she shook her head. "And besides I already have him close to my heart." She then motioned to a heart shaped locket.
"Thank you, this means a lot to me." Andre said, while giving her one last hug before going into Maggie's room to find her already fast asleep. He walked in and kissed her on her forehead gently and then he left.
Unfortunately for Andre, he lived on the outskirts of the city center and it was a rather long walk from the closest bus station. Andre reached into his pocket and pulled out an A-phone and carefully put the earbuds in.
Since the war ended ADVENT has been slowly erasing and replacing human culture, but phasing out phones was a daunting task so they had begun integrating ADVENT-approved devices. As he was walking down the street, he noticed a new sign but didn't bother to look at it. Not paying attention, he ran directly into an ADVENT Officer.
"What are you doing here?" The Officer demanded. With English being one of the primary languages of the world, ADVENT had made it standard for all ADVENT officials.
"It is past curfew," the Officer warned again, taking a step forward. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Why not?" Andre asked, confused.
"There is an active investigation in this area," the Officer answered, towering over him. "There were signs everywhere." The Officer then noticed a bulge in his pocket. "What is in your pocket? May I see it?"
Andre hesitantly handed the Officer the parcel. He opened the parcel and found the medals and photo of Andre and Juan. "You realize that this is contraband?"
Andre didn't say anything, leaving the Officer to stare down at him. "We need you to come with us for questioning-" he began, before a single shot rang out in the distance and the Officer suddenly fell to the ground.
Andre quickly dropped to the ground as gunshots rang out. After what seemed like five hours, the gunshots stopped then he got up and sprinted into the nearby alley. To his surprise, he saw a wounded man in strange-looking armor who seemed to be badly hurt. Andre got closer to the soldier to look at how bad the wound was.
He lifted the armor, saw the wound, and winced. The soldier was dangerously close to death. "Stop!" An ADVENT Trooper suddenly demanded. " Step away from the body!" The Trooper slowly walked down the alley and Andre stayed still, either out of fear or defiance, he wasn't sure, which made the soldier repeat his words. "I said step away from the body!"
The trooper raised his rifle and began speaking unintelligible words into his helmet. Now Andre backed away slowly, but his brother's dog tags dropped and he bent down to pick them up. The soldier saw the XCOM emblem, raised his gun and fired.
It happened too fast to comprehend. All he saw was a strange man sprinting towards the Trooper with what seemed to be a sort of blade made of purple energy. Andre then felt a hot pain in his shoulder followed by more pain in his arm. It was immense, and as he was thrown to the ground, bleeding badly and starting to feel a bit light-headed.
The next thing he knew, a strange man was standing in front of him taking out a roll of gauze. Most of what the man said was incomprehensible and all he heard was something about ADVENT reinforcements and he kept hearing "Follow me. I can help you. Follow me and you'll be alright."
Andre followed for as far as he could. His vision was starting to get blurry, and he had a hard time moving forward but the voice of the strange man told him how close he was and that he was almost there. Andre couldn't go on much farther and the last thing he saw before collapsing was a red van.
Andre's vision was blurry and he started to feel his arm and the pain started to return to him. As his vision returned, he started to notice certain things about the room. It was naturally dark, and he saw a set of purple jars on the table next to him along with an impressive amount of guns that hung on the wall.
He then noticed a tall skinny man with dark brown hair walk in the room. "Good, you're awake," the man began, standing above him. "How are ya feeling?"
He paused briefly. "You know you're lucky to be alive. The standard gauss weapon would have killed you, except for Amos who killed the Officer right as he was firing. Your shoulder is now shattered and you got a permanent scar on your lower arm." He briefly paused to give some time to absorb the rush of information. "Anyway, you're here now; we patched you up and ran some tests on you. Good news: you're capable of interacting with our technology and once your shoulder is healthy you can fight, but for now, you have to rest."
The man looked down at Andre. "We're in a grim situation and need a person like you. That's why my superiors and I want to give you a humble invitation to our merry crew of fighters. We could use you for many things."
Many thoughts crossed his head what technology? Who was Amos? What does he mean fight? "Listen, I don't know anything you mentioned, but I don't want to have any part of this. I know they will bring my family into this."
The man gave him a sour look "You're already blacklisted. They saw you helping one of our guys and they have probably already taken action against your family."
An idea popped into Andre's head "Maybe if you go check on them and keep them safe, I may be open to helping you."
"No," the man quickly replied "Like I said, we're in a grim position and don't have agents to spare. But if you join us, you could protect them yourself."
Andre thought about his offer, the man continued "You can't go back to normal life and you're kinda stuck here."
After a short pause Andre replied "I'll think about it."
The man looked at him with a small smile "Good. I'd advise you not take too long though." Then quickly left the room, leaving Andre alone with his thoughts.
